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

As Link rescues Zelda, he learned that the evil wizard Agahnim is capturing girls from across Hyrule, specifically seeking out the descendants of seven Wise Men (later referred to as the "Seven Sages") in order to spirit them away and consolidate his power: the only way to defeat him is to obtain the three Pendants of Virtue from dungeons across Hyrule, and then retrieve the Master Sword. Of course, saving the world isn't that easy - Link confronts the wizard and is forced into the [[Dark World]], a parallel version of Hyrule distorted by Ganon's wishes after he was sealed in the Golden Land. There, he must navigate both worlds to save the captured maidens and finally defeat Ganon.

''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'' was the first to cement the overarching plot structure proper and translate it to full 3D gameplay, more directly conforming to that formula compared to ''Link's Awakening''. Chronologically, it would be established as directly leading into the events of this game in the "Downfall" (or "Fallen Hero") timeline: Ganondorf defeated Link in the final battle for Hyrule and obtained the complete Triforce, forcing the Seven Sages to seal him in the Sacred Realm (turned into the Dark World of ''A Link to the Past'') as a last resort. The original ''[[The Legend of Zelda (video game)|Legend of Zelda]]'' and its sequel, ''[[Zelda II: The Adventure of Link]]'', were later established as taking place within the same timeline many years later.

Released to critical and commercial success, ''A Link to the Past'' was a landmark game for Nintendo and is considered one of the greatest video games of all time. It was re-released in 2002 on the [[Game Boy Advance]], sharing a cartridge with the multiplayer-only ''[[The Legend of Zelda Four Swords|Four Swords]]'', and sold 6.5 million copies across both platforms by 2004; the game was subsequently re-released on the Wii, Wii U, and New Nintendo 3DS via the Virtual Console, the Nintendo Switch via Nintendo Switch Online, and the Super NES Classic Edition. A spiritual successor, ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds]]'', was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013.

* [[All There in the Manual]]: The backstory, and a sealed booklet explaining how to beat some of the tougher puzzles. It should be mentioned that [http://www.zeldalegends.net/files/text/z3translation/z3_manual_story.html the translators of the American manual took a few liberties with the text.] It was arguably a [[Woolseyism]] at the time, but [[Dub-Induced Plot Hole|it created a few inconsistencies with later titles]].

* [[And I Must Scream]]: Some of the trees in the Dark World are ''actually people'' (and not to mention, they talk to you). The seven maidens are also each found trapped in a crystal after being sent to the Dark World.

* [[Arc Number]]: The number 8, as pointed out by [[Zeta Plays]] in his LP of it.

* [[Arc Words]]: See the page quote.

* [[Bad Future]]: [[Word of God]] stated in the timeline included in the [[All There in the Manual|Hyrule Historia]] that ''A Link to the Past'' (and by extension, the ''Oracle'' games, the first ''Legend of Zelda'', and ''The Adventure of Link'') occurred had Link failed to defeat Ganondorf in the Adult Timeline of ''Ocarina of Time''. While the sages still manage to seal Ganondorf away, presumably the Imprisoning War cost many more lives than would have been lost if Link had won.

* [[Baleful Polymorph]]: Most residents of the Dark World are at least somewhat displeased with having been transformed against their will. Link the pink bunny arguably handles it well, but given his [[Heroic Mime]] status, it's hard to know what he really thinks of the situation.

** [http://www.zeldapedia.wiki/wiki/Bunny_Link He doesn't seem ecstatic] with the change, if this piece of artwork is any indication.

** The missing [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|dwarven]] blacksmith who works near Kakariko ended up in the Dark World trapped as a frog within a wall of heavy stones. Link has to [[Escort Mission|escort him back to his partner in the Light World]].

* [[Bladder of Steel]]: Admittedly not as bad as some other examples of the trope. But if you want to have a file with "000" for the "Total Games" count, you'd better have a few hours of time set aside. Dying and saving increase the count.

** The [[Virtual Console]] version makes this task much easier, thanks to save states whenever you quit out of the game using the Wii's Home button.

* [[Bonus Boss]]: The GBA version has four differently-colored Dark Links as the bosses of the [[Bonus Dungeon]].

* [[Bonus Dungeon]]: Palace of the Four Sword, in the GBA version.

* [[Bubblegloop Swamp]]: It has several examples: The Great Swamp in the Overworld, which is portrayed in a more positive light but has no lack of critters and monsters like other areas. The [[Dark World]], however, sports ''two'': The [[Swamps Are Evil|Swamp of Evil]] and the unnamed, Dark World version of the Great Swamp, each with its own dungeon.

* [[Call to Adventure]]: Zelda telepathically contacts Link in the beginning.

* [[The Cameo]]: A pair of [[Super Mario Bros.|Chain Chomps]] appear in Turtle Rock.

* [[Chain-Reaction Destruction]]: It is known that perfectly good sandworms and other bosses are known to go down with series of small explosions.

* [[Clear My Name]]: After helping Princess Zelda escape in the early part of the game, Link is accused of her abduction and the castle guards try to arrest him on sight.

* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: The armor of the enemy soldiers as well as Link himself is green for the weakest form, blue for the stronger version, and red for the even stronger version.

* [[Cutscene Power to the Max]]: When Ganon reveals himself in Ganon's Tower, Link uses the flute to summon the bird to give chase and take him to the Pyramid of Power. Link can't normally summon the bird in the Dark World (presumably because the bird is a denizen of the light world) or indoors, so playing the flute doesn't do anything but play music in those areas, but in this scene he plays it indoors in the Dark World and the bird nevertheless appears.

* [[Dark World]]: [[Trope Namer]].

* [[Death Mountain]]: The [[Trope Namer]] returns and even has a [[Dark World]] counterpart that it shares a name with.<ref>Well, except in the Japanese version. In it, only one was called Death Mountain, and considering the names of the [[Dark World]]'s locations, naturally it was the [[Dark World]] version. The Light World mountain was called Mt. Hebra instead, despite being the one of the two that contained the Spectacle Rock feature that was present in the Death Mountain incarnations in the previous two games.</ref> (Unlike the Light World counterpart, the [[Dark World]] counterpart has more ominous (but still [[Awesome Music (Sugar Wiki)|catchy]]) music than the rest of its world's overworld to go with its more twisted nature).

* [[Decoy Damsel]]: {{spoiler|Blind}}. You really ought to know better though; Unlike the other Maidens, 'she' is trapped not in a crystal, but a dingy cage.

* [[Disconnected Side Area]]: The Swamp of Evil in the Dark World, which even has a sign indicating "No Entry, No Escape." {{spoiler|1=You have to reach it via a transporter tile in the Light World, which can only be reached via Flute/bird transport. The Ice Palace requires a similar trick}}. [[All There in the Manual|According to the lore]], it's because the swamp was overflowing with rain water that threatened to flood the rest of the land, so a mountain range was put up to prevent that from happening.

** And earlier in the game, there's Dark![[Death Mountain]], which falls under the "sneak preview of a later area" category.

* [[Doppleganger Attack]]: One of Agahnim's moves.

* [[The Dragon]]: Agahnim, the first time in the series that Ganon has someone doing his dirty work for him. {{spoiler|It is subverted late in the game that Agahnim is actually Ganon in a form which can travel to the Light World, though only with limited powers. On the other hand, the way Ganon reveals himself (his spirit rising out of Agahnim's body, with the latter not even disappearing when Ganon turns into a bat) would suggest that Agahnim was a victim of [[Demonic Possession]]}}.

* [[Dual World Gameplay]]: The light world/ dark world.

* [[Dummied Out]]: In the original and Virtual Console releases, a skull statue that somewhat resembles the large skulls at the entrance of Yarna Desert in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening]]'' (which didn't get [[Dummied Out]]) exists that was apparently planned for [[Dark World]] dungeons (most likely Skull Woods due to its name), as it is part of the tileset for [[Dark World]] dungeons, but it was never used... in those versions. About a decade later, these very statues could be seen in the GBA version's added optional dungeon, the Palace of the Four Sword, which is located in the [[Dark World]].