The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: Difference between revisions

* [[Ability Required to Proceed]]: Firmly established as a ''Zelda'' series tradition at this point. While the world of ''Link to the Past'' isn't ''as'' ridiculously open as the first game, there's at least a fair amount of flexibility to [[Sequence Break]] when completing the Dark World dungeons (especially once you obtain the [[Drop the Hammer|Magic Hammer]]) - that said, you'll still generally need specific items to even reach some dungeons and/or take on the bosses. ''Link to the Past'' also introduces the recurring Big Key, which is required in order to access the dungeon's special item(s) and the boss chamber. As far as what's required for what... you may want to sit down a while.

** The Bow in the Eastern Palace is required to defeat the Red Eyegores that block off two rooms leading into the boss chamber, and remains required for later tasks such as activating Eyegore Statues. They're not required for the Armos Knights bosses, but are the quickest way to dispose of them by far (with each going down in three hits).

** The Master Sword can only be obtained with the Book and all three Pendants from the dungeons above, and is required to gain access to Hyrule Castle Tower and defeat Agahnim - not by direct damage, but by reflecting his fireballs back at him.

*** Both dungeons are examples in themselves - Misery Mire requires you to cross a gap in the very first room which is typically done with the Hookshot, although it is also possible with creative use of the Pegasus Boots; it also holds the Cane of Somaria, whose block-making magic is required to hold down a switch in the lower basement floors. Turtle Rock cuts off access to the rest of its dungeon in a similar manner - the only way to cross the "rails" spanning throughout much of the dungeon are the Cane of Somaria's blocks, which turn into rideable platforms; some rooms require you to light torches with the Fire Rod as you pass by. Its boss is the stony-shelled [[Multiple Head Case|Trinexx]], which requires both the Fire and Ice Rods to take out two of its three heads.

** And '''finally''': beating Misery Mire and Ice Palace unlocks the Super Bomb in the Dark World shop where Link's House would be in the Light World, which is needed to open the Fairy Fountain that can upgrade your arrows to Silver Arrows. Said Silver Arrows are the only hope you have of defeating Ganon and reclaiming the Triforce. Phew!

* [[Dual World Gameplay]]: ''A Link to the Past'' is the first game in the ''Zelda'' series to do this, and the first to employ the specific Light World/Dark World variant.

* [[Dummied Out]]: In the original and Virtual Console releases, a skull statue was apparently planned for [[Dark World]] dungeons (most likely Skull Woods due to its name), and is found unused in the tilesets for those dungeons; the large skulls at the entrance of Yarna Desert in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening]]'' bear some resemblance to them. The GBA [[Updated Rerelease]] uses them proper in the Palace of the Four Sword, a [[Bonus Dungeon]] located in the Dark World.

* [[End of the World Special]]: Link gets the full Triforce at the end of the game, and uses his wish on it to restore things to normal.

* [[Epunymous Title]]: This is the case for the English version of the title.

* [[Hero with Bad Publicity]]: Link is declared a criminal after he rescues Zelda in the introductory dungeon. Some citizens of Kakariko Village will actually call the guards if Link gets too close to them.

* [[Hijacked by Ganon]]: Apparently played straight, then subverted. Agahnim is the main baddie through much of the early part of the game, but revelations from rescued maidens reveal that Ganon is behind it all, {{spoiler|and finally Ganon himself says Agahnim was his alter-ego, meaning he was a disguise for Ganon, making Ganon the man behind ''himself'' - so there was no new villain, just an old villain in a new hat}}. Then again, the method that Ganon reveals himself does imply [[Demonic Possession]].

* [[The Key Is Behind the Lock]]: There's one locked treasure chest whose only key is supposedly inside the chest, and you can never open it. Fortunately, you can drag it with you until you find a master lockpicker.

* [[Killed Mid-Sentence]]: Your uncle survives long enough to give you his sword, but dies as he tries to tell you something very important: "Zelda is your..." [[Unexplained Recovery|He gets better]] after you beat the game, presumably because of Link's wish on the Triforce. Averted in the GBA re-release, which alters his "dying" speech to tell Link that it's his destiny to save Zelda and that he really enjoyed their time together. See also the [[Mythology Gag]] entry.

* [[Literal Genie]]: When Ganon obtained the Triforce, he wished to rule the world. The Triforce could not judge between good and evil, and so made him the ruler of the [[Dark World]], where he was then imprisoned.

* [[Living MacGuffin]]: Seven of them, each trapped inside a crystal. Poor girls.

* [[Mirror Boss]]: The [[Bonus Dungeon|Palace of the Four Sword]] exclusive to the [[Game Boy Advance]] [[Updated Rerelease]] has [[Sequential Boss|a set of Dark Links]] {{spoiler|formed from the cursed components of the Four Sword}} as its main bosses]. All four have their own copies of the primary endgame items, and move similarly to Link; they will run at Link and try to slash at him, and even use the Pegasus Boots against him. Each subsequent Dark Link adds an additional attack to the previous one's strategy - the second uses a Hurricane Spin, the third adds a jumping down-thrust, and the fourth has twice as much health as the others with the ability to fire sword beams.

* [[Mirror Mook]]: Koppis (known as Green and Red Goriyas in English versions, despite being unrelated to the boomerang-wielding monsters seen in the other games) mirror Link's movements in opposite directions, and the red ones shoot fireballs if they make eye contact with Link. Both are weak to arrows from the Bow.

* [[Mythology Gag]]: In the GBA re-release, Link's Uncle's dying speech is rewritten to omit the infamous line, "Zelda is your..." - in [[Post-Endgame Content|The Palace of the Four Sword]], Link encounters a stronger Blind the Thief, who appears impersonating his uncle and says the original dialogue before apparently "dying" and transforming into his true form. The reference is somewhat lost in the American localization which translates the original words more accurately:

{{quote|"You must rescue Princess Zelda... You are... the Princess's... ... ... ..."}}

* [[Pants-Free]]: The official artwork for this game makes it pretty clear that Link's not wearing any pants underneath that tunic.

* [[Platform Hell]]: Not the original game, which is one of the easier entries in the series, but some of the mods. Parallel Worlds and Goddess of Wisdom are probably impossible without save states. Two examples: There are several points in Parallel Worlds where you actually need to use bombs to propel yourself forward across gaps. This wouldn't in itself be so difficult, but the platforms you need to propel yourself onto are only a few blocks wide, and you need pixel-perfect positioning to be able to propel yourself onto the platform and not into the abyss between platforms. There's basically no way to do this except trial and error (or good old fashioned cheating). Meanwhile, there are two points early in Goddess of Wisdom where you need to fight bosses from the Dark World. Unfortunately, you can't have the Master Sword at this point of the game, and LttP expects you to have it before you fight them, so the regular sword only deals damage from a charged sword attack (arrows will also work on one of the bosses, but you only have a limited number, although the game is nice enough to give you more; in the other, not only do you need to use the Hookshot in addition to charged sword attacks but your space to manoeuvre is severely limited). Beyond this, they deal four hearts damage each time they hit you (there are no blue or red mail in this hack).

* [[Prequel]]: To the first two games.

* [[Prison Episode]]: Early in the game, you break ''into'' prison to save princess Zelda.

* [[Schmuck Bait]]: "Curses to anyone who throws something into my circle of stones." {{spoiler|You have to do it at least once to beat the game, [[Tempting Fate|though doing it again is rather funny]].}}

* [[Sealed Good in a Can]]: Both worlds have an example. In the Light World, the legendary Master Sword is sealed in its pedestal unless the three pendants are gathered. In the [[Dark World]], Link has to rescue the seven maidens, who are descended from the seven sages in the game's backstory, due to the fact that Agahnim has imprisoned them in crystals scattered in the dungeons of the [[Dark World]].

* [[Second Coming]]: Agahnim sets himself up as this [[All There in the Manual|in the back story]]. In a period where Hyrule is simultaneously ravaged by plagues, famine, drought, and other hardships, he appears out of nowhere and works miracles to set things right. He becomes a hero to the people and the King declares him to be the second coming of the Sages of old and appoints him his priest and second-in-command. Granted, he does herald the return of ''someone'' from the past...

* [[Shifting Sand Land]]: The Desert of Mystery.

* [[Shout-Out]]: The boss of the Desert Palace is a trio of worms named Lanmolas. They resemble the Spice Worms who live in the desert planet Arrakis from ''[[Dune]]''.

* [[Swamps Are Evil]]: It's even called the Swamp of Evil.

* [[Sword Beam]]: Link, fill up your hearts, so you can shoot your sword of power...

* [[Tube Travel]]: In the Turtle Rock dungeon.

* [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: Hey [[That One Boss|Mothula]], have a look at this cute little bee I've found!

* [[Weather Control Machine]]: The Ether Medallion functions this way to open one dungeon.

* [[World-Healing Wave]]: With the help of the Triforce.

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{{quote|''Do you understand?''