The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

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The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, known as The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods in Japan and commonly abbreviated as (A)LttP, is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the SNES, and was released in 1991 in Japan and 1992 in North America and Europe. It is the third game in The Legend of Zelda series, and is commonly considered among the best of the 2D games in the series - it shifted gears from the side-scrolling gameplay of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in favor of returning to the top-down adventure format of the first Zelda, as well as featuring more of an emphasis on puzzles alongside combat.

May the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce.

The story is set many years before the events of the original Legend of Zelda and its sequel, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, as stated by the game's manual (and reinforced by the official timeline of Hyrule Historia). Link receives a psychic message from Princess Zelda, telling him to come and save her from her imprisonment in the castle dungeon. Link's uncle, a former knight in service to the royal family of Hyrule and the lad's guardian, is about to leave the house with a sword and shield in hand; seeing Link awaken, he promises to return in the morning and suggests Link remain in bed. Ignoring his instructions, Link later sneaks into the palace via the sewers in an attempt to rescue the Princess himself, and finds his uncle mortally wounded, unable to go on; he entrusts Link with the task of saving the Princess and gives the boy his sword and shield before dying.

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 basic plot formula of A Link to the Past - gather three items, get Master Sword, huge plot twist, gather more items, fight final boss - is known to some fans as "the Legend" and would be repeated many times throughout the series. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, a direct sequel to the events of this game, would continue the use of top-down perspective and focus on puzzle-solving and tailor it to a different setting, with more notable divergences from the "Legend" formula that gave the game a unique feel and established many of its own precedents.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the fifth entry in the series, was the first to cement the overarching plot structure established in Link to the Past and translate it to full 3D gameplay, more directly conforming to that formula in comparison 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.

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 given an Updated Rerelease in 2002, titled The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords for the Game Boy Advance, which coupled the enhanced port with the new multiplayer-only game The Legend of Zelda Four Swords and ties their save slots together; this enhanced port sold 6.5 million copies across both platforms by 2004, but has not been released in any form since. The base game has seen re-releases 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.

The game is incredibly popular for speedrunning, to the point that it was once the fourth-most played game as reported by Speedrun.com in 2019; though it still has a considerable player base, it has since fallen to a lower position (being just outside the top 20 as of November 2022). It is commonly run at the Games Done Quick charity marathon, where it is often considered one of the highlights of the event. A Link to the Past Randomizer is a Randomizer Game Mod created in 2016 that attempts to evoke the uncertainty and excitement of playing the game for the first time by shuffling item locations within dungeons and across the game's worlds - the mod commnunity has since expanded to incorporate various other challenges and randomization.

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The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is the Trope Namer for:

• Dark World: A Link to the Past is the first game in the Zelda series to use this specific form of Dual World Gameplay. The Dark World here is said to be the corrupted Sacred Realm, transformed by Ganon's wish on the Triforce after he was sealed there. Many Light World dwellers have disappeared into the Dark World and been turned into monsters or other objects - Link himself is turned into a defenseless bunny upon first entering the Dark World, though he can use the Magic Mirror warp back to the Light World; soon after being given the Mirror, he can obtain the Moon Pearl which allows him to retain his form whenever he enters the Dark World.

Tropes used in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past include:

• 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 the translators of the American manual took a few liberties with the text - it was arguably a Woolseyism at the time, but it created a few inconsistencies with later titles.
• And I Must Scream: Some of the trees in the Dark World are actually people and will even talk to you). The seven maidens are also each found trapped in a crystal after being sent to the Dark World.
• Animated Adaptation: An adaptation of the manga is currently in the works, starring Todd Haberkorn as the voice of Link.
• Arc Number: Seven Wise Men and their seven descendants The number 8, as pointed out by Zeta Plays in his LP of it. Eight Dark World dungeons,
• Arc Words: A recurring phrase that serves as the page quote.
• Bad Future: The timeline included in the Hyrule Historia and The Legend of Zelda: Encyclopedia books published by Dark Horse contain commentary indicating that A Link to the Past - and by extension the Oracle games, the first Legend of Zelda, and The Adventure of Link - occupy a timeline where Link failed to defeat Ganondorf in the Adult Timeline of Ocarina of Time. While the sages still manage to seal Ganondorf away, the Imprisoning War presumably 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. The manga adaptation has an artwork where he doesn't seem ecstatic with the change.
  • The missing dwarven blacksmith who works near Kakariko Village ended up in the Dark World, trapped as a frog within a wall of heavy stones. Link can optionally escort him back to his partner in the Light World - doing so is recommended, since he can then pay the pair 10 Rupees and wait a while for them to upgrade his Master Sword into the twice-as-powerful Tempered Sword.
  • Use Magic Powder on the Cucco hiding in a pot in the house of the white-haired woman that sics a guard onto you in Kakariko. Said chicken is not amused.
• Bladder of Steel: This trope only comes into play if you want to have a file with "000" for the "Total Games" count - dying or using the "save and quit" option will increase this count, so you'd better have a few hours of time set aside. Re-releases avert this trope generally: the GBA Updated Rerelease only increases the count whenever you die, and the Virtual Console uses save states whenever you quit out of the game using the Wii's Home button.
  • It's completely fixed in the GBA version. In that version, only dying raises the count. Turning the game off does nothing.
• Bling Bling Bang: Link's strongest sword is made out of (presumably magical) gold.
• Bonus Dungeon/Bonus Boss: The GBA Updated Rerelease has the Palace of the Four Sword, unlocked only by completing the multiplayer Four Swords game on the same save file. The bosses include rematches against stronger versions of the first four Dark World bosses and culminates in a Boss Rush against four differently-colored Dark Links.
• Bubblegloop Swamp: The Great Swamp found to the south of Link's House and the Dark World counterpart, the Plains of Ruin, are treated as this: visually, they more resemble grassy (or badland-like in the Dark World) fields with a few lakes and ponds. The Plains of Ruin are home to the Swamp Palace, the second Dark World dungeon that is only accessible by opening the dam within the Swamp Ruin to drain the reservoir in the Light World. There is also the Swamp of Evil, the Dark World counterpart to the Light World desert; unlike the dry humid area you reach it through, this swamp is constantly beset by torrential rains - the sixth Dark World dungeon, Misery Mire, can only be accessed by controlling the weather with the Ether Medallion.
• Call to Adventure: Zelda telepathically contacts Link in the beginning of the game.
• The Cameo: A pair of Chain Chomps appear in Turtle Rock. GBA-exclusive Bonus Dungeon
• Chain-Reaction Destruction: Serves as the death animation for various bosses - the three Lanmolas, Moldorm, the Helmasaur King, and Trinexx.
• Clear My Name: After helping Princess Zelda escape in the early part of the game, Link is accused of her abduction; this establishes the presence of the brainwashed soldiers that are scattered across much of the Light World, out to arrest him on sight. Kakariko Village in particular has two women at opposite ends of town that will call a guard and lock themselves in their house if they spot Link; after retrieving the Master Sword, the village is overrun by guards, and upon defeating Agahnim in the Hyrule Castle Tower the amount of guards in the overworld increases further.
• Color Coded for Your Convenience: Green, red and blue are recurring colors throughout the game. The armor of the enemy soldiers indicates their general strength level: green for the weakest form, blue for the stronger version, and red for the strongest version. This also applies to Link's mail as well, which can be upgraded to blue and then red. The Pendants of Virtue are also obtained in this order
• Comic Book Adaptation: Three of them:
  • The western comic adaptation by Shotaro Ishinomori serialized in Nintendo Power and later published in graphic novel form.
  • The first manga adaptation by Ataru Cagiva published in Japan after the SNES release.
  • A second manga adaptation, this time by Akira Himekawa. It was originally published after the GBA release and was released in the states in 2010.
• Cutscene Power to the Max: When Ganon reveals himself in Ganon's Tower, Link uses the flute to summon the bird and give chase, following Ganon to the Pyramid of Power; this is typically not possible either indoors or in the Dark World.
• Death Mountain: The Trope Namer return and is known as Mt. Hebra, and still features Spectacle Rock as a landmark as in the previous games. The name of Death Mountain is given to its Dark World counterpart, and has more ominous (but still catchy) music than the rest of the Dark overworld to go with its more twisted nature.
• Decoy Damsel: One is found within Thieves' Town. She's a bit conspicuous, though: 'she' is trapped not in a crystal, but a dingy cage, and is escorted through the dungeon similar to the escape sequence with Zelda near the beginning... Until she gets antsy when you're about to exit the dungeon. Using a bomb on a cracked floor catching light from a window will cause that light to shine into the chamber below - take 'her' to that chamber and walk her into the light, and it'll force her into her true form of Blind the Thief.
• Disconnected Side Area: The Swamp of Evil in the Dark World, which even has a sign indicating "No Entry, No Escape." You have to reach it via a transporter tile in the Light World, which can only be reached via Flute transport. The Ice Palace requires a similar trick. 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.
  • Earlier in the game, there's Dark Death Mountain, which falls under the "sneak preview of a later area" category.
• Distress Call: Zelda psychically sends one to Link and his uncle to start the game.
• Doppleganger Attack: One of Agahnim's moves used in the second battle within Ganon's Tower.
• The Dragon: Agahnim serves as one to Ganon, and marks the first time in the series that Ganon has someone doing his dirty work for him. It is subverted late in the game - 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) evokes an image of Demonic Possession.
• 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), as it is part of the tileset for Dark World dungeons, but it was never used; they somewhat resemble the large skulls at the entrance of Yarna Desert in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. The GBA Updated Rerelease uses them proper in the Palace of the Four Sword, a Bonus Dungeon located in the Dark World.
• Easter Egg: The Chris Houlihan room is an extremely well-concealed chamber filled with Rupees that was named for the winner of a contest in Nintendo Power.
• End of the World Special: Link gets the full Triforce at the end of the game.
• Epunymous Title: For the English version at least.
• Escort Mission: Rather brief compared to most examples of the trope due to how short the walking distance is, but in the Dark World, Link finds the missing blacksmith turned into a frog and trapped behind some heavy rocks (which he can lift with the treasure from the dungeon north of there) and has to take him back to his shop in the Light World. This is of course required to obtain the Infinity-1 Sword from the blacksmiths (which is upgraded to the Infinity+1 Sword later).
  • And escorting Zelda out of the castle dungeon and through the sewers which was longer...
• Everything's Better with Monkeys: You have to bribe a cute little monkey to show you how to find the entrance to one of the dungeons.
• Evil Chancellor: Agahnim. According to the manual, after he miraculously fixed the numerous ills Hyrule was suffering at the time when he appeared, he more or less became the King's right hand man. This transitioned to Agahnim being the de facto ruler and finally "eliminating" the King.
• Evil Sorcerer: Ganondorf, Agahnim.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: Ganon's Tower.
• Faceless Eye: Several of the bosses, most notably Kholdstare and Vitreous, who is nothing but a bunch of eyes in a pile of slime.
• False Innocence Trick: This is how you trigger the boss fight with the boss underneath Kakariko Village. You are told he kidnapped one of the maidens, and in some way you can say he did it, but he also disguised himself as her.
• Fanfare: The first game in the series to play the overworld theme as such.
  • Likewise, the ending fanfare.
• Fisher King: The Golden Land became the Dark World in reflection of Ganondorf's dark desires.
• Fisher Kingdom: The Dark World transforms everyone into a different species (except for Link, once he acquires the Moon Pearl).
• Free Sample Plot Coupon: Unlike in the game, the manga adaptation has Link getting the first pendant from Sahasrahla, instead of getting it after some difficult dungeon exploration as in the case of the other two pendants.
• Game Mod: Parallel Worlds, Tower of the Triforce, and Goddess of Wisdom, among others. Made possible with Hyrule Magic and Black Magic editing programs.
• Gotta Catch Em All: The three pendants in the Light World, and the seven maidens in the Dark World.
• Grappling Hook Pistol: The Hookshot, the first time such an object shows up in a Zelda game.
• Guide Dang It: Two puzzles of note in Dark World dungeons have hideously obscure solutions, the only way to really find them being (a) Try Everything or (b) consult an online guide. What makes them reach the Guide Dang It level is that the solutions to these are not even hinted at during the course of the game and that they're completely arbitrary things to do, especially the first one.
  • In a way, the game does sort of hint at the solution for the statue puzzle: The statue is shaped like an Eyegore, an enemy first encountered in the Eastern Palace, one kind of which (the red kind) can only be killed with an arrow to the eye.
  • It's much, much worse in some of the fan-made hacks. In Parallel Worlds, the combination for the Lost Woods isn't even hinted at in the game. The only ways to find it out are by trial and error or by looking it up on the internet (and this is even lampshaded in the game, which flat-out tells you the combination is nowhere in the game). And if you have the misfortune to enter the Ice World without getting the Cane of Byrna (which is only accessible through the Lost Woods), good luck beating the game. You won't be able to return to your homeworld until you've climbed the Parallel Tower, which will be quite a chore without the Cane. Some of the other dungeons are probably impossible without it (or the Magic Cape, which is in the Ice World, but is probably itself close to impossible to obtain without the Cane of Byrna).
• 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, 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.
• Honest Axe: Used to upgrade the boomerang and basic shield at the beginning of the game, and to obtain the best sword and the silver arrows at the end. Also a way to get free magic-refilling potions if you throw in an empty bottle.
• Iconic Logo: The first time the series' distinctive logo appears, with the title in front of a sword and shield.
  • Interestingly enough, the original Japanese version had a far more plain in-game logo with the title in front of the Triforce on a black background.
• I Fought the Law and the Law Won: Averted, the guards who are called to arrest Link in Kakariko Village are some of the weakest enemies in the game, although the rarely-summoned trident-wielding variety is noticeably stronger than the normal variety with swords.
• Improvised Weapon: To defeat Agahnim, you need to use the Master Sword to deflect his magic blasts back at him, but in a pinch the bug catcher's net will work just as well.
  • It's become an Ascended Glitch, with Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess allowing Link to use empty bottles to reflect Ganon and/or Phantom Ganon's attacks in the same manner. In Twilight Princess, you can also use the Fishing Rod to distract Ganondorf during the final duel, allowing for a couple free hits.
  • Not that you'll be able to fight Agahnim if you don't already have the Master Sword, since the dungeon you fight him in requires that you have it before you can enter.
• Infinity-1 Sword: The Tempered Sword is a result of skilled blacksmiths taking the legendary Master Sword and improving it. It even makes a more forceful-sounding sound effect when slashed. However, it would seem the blacksmiths still didn't unlock the sword's full potential.
• Infinity+1 Sword: In this game, the swords don't get any better than the Golden Sword, which is more than just a prettier version of the Master Sword. One fansite did an analysis of all the swords in the entire series and found the Golden Sword to be the strongest of them all.
• Insurmountable Waist-Height Stones: Par for the course for The Legend of Zelda.
• Invincible Minor Minion: The thieves.
  • Also, the sparks that circle around blocks or walls in the dungeons.
  • The rodent-like Deadrock enemies that roam the Light World's Death Mountain can't be killed normally; they simply turn to stone after being struck. However, sprinkling Magic Powder on them changes them into Slimes, which are not only killable, they're also the least dangerous monsters in the game.
• Invisibility: The Magic Cape, used to bypass the dreaded Insurmountable Waist High Fence and the Spikes of Doom. Also good for hiding from enemies.
• Item Get: When Link gets a new item, he usually holds it above his head while victory music plays. This is even Lampshaded by a merchant. He tells Link to hold the bottle he just bought above his head because it's good for business.
• 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..." 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.
• Last of His Kind: Link is "perhaps" the last one to carry the bloodline of the Knights of Hyrule.
• 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.
• The Lost Woods: As with Death Mountain, the Trope Namer returns, and it's significantly foggier and more mysterious than in the first game. Its Dark World counterpart, Skeleton Forest, is creepier (and more confusing) and also shares its ominous-yet-catchy music with the Dark World's Death Mountain.
• Magic Mirror: Used to create portals between the Light and Dark Worlds.
• Magic Music: The Flute -- whose design, interestingly, would later be reused for the titular Ocarina of Time and other ocarinas appearing in the series.
• Magic Wand: The Rods of Ice and Fire and the Staves of Byrna and Somaria.
• Mercy Invincibility: Useful for saving time and glitching your way past stronger enemies by getting hit by weaker ones. Also invoked when standing on lowered blue/orange blocks if you raise them by hitting a crystal switch... even though this doesn't actually damage you. This was most likely done to prevent the player from being stuck in a solid object.
  • You also get this when you come out of a portal or flute-transport, which is very important since you can easily drop on top of enemies/spikes/whatever.
• Mission Control: Sahasrahla.
• Mission Pack Sequel: The BS Satellaview Japan-only sequel, for the Super Famicom add-on. The ALttP Link is gone, and you are controlling a hero who must complete 8 dungeons to regain tablets needed to seal again Ganon. Also, you'll have to complete the game under 4 hours. It has a score counter, full voice acting for Zelda and Sahasrahla (lost forever in the backup roms found), guiding you throughout the game with gamaplay advices and sometimes triggering the medallion spells you can't use yourself, or rendering for a couple of minutes your bomb/arrow/heart number infinite.
• Money for Nothing: The game can be finished with a minimum of 710 rupees, but the game loves giving out huge sums of money in treasure chests and dungeons throughout the second half.
  • Fortunately, there's a convenient and useful Money Sink in the Pond of Happiness. However, this is exhaustible, and once you've finished upgrading your bombs and arrows you'll basically have nothing to spend money on except medicine. If you're particularly obsessive about collecting rupees you'll probably have already bought everything you can buy by about the fourth Dark World dungeon (except for the Super Bomb, which only becomes accessible after completing the fifth and sixth dungeons, but that's only 100 rupees).
• Mythology Gag: In the GBA re-release, Link's Uncle's dying speech is rewritten to omit the infamous line, "Zelda is your..." - in 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:

"You must rescue Princess Zelda... You are... the Princess's... ... ... ..."

• Not the Intended Use: The bug-catching net can reflect Agahnim's fireballs.
• Opening the Sandbox: After you complete the first Dark World dungeon, the game is as linear as the original Zelda.
  • In fact, completing the first dungeon isn't even necessary: once you have the Magic Hammer from it, the sandbox is bust wide open. You can even leave King Helmasaur for until you've gotten everything else in the game short of the Red Mail and a single Heart Container (a practice this troper, admittedly, has made standard when playing this game).
• 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).
• Player Nudge: If you fall off the platform when fighting Ganon, you see a telepathic tile telling you that you need Silver Arrows to defeat him; it's possible to not even have Silver Arrows yet.
  • However, thanks to what may be a glitch, if you repeatedly spin attack Ganon while he's attempting to teleport in the last stage of the fight, you can defeat him without Silver Arrows. It takes about five times more hits than if you're using Silver Arrows, though.
• Prequel: To the first two games.
• Prison Episode: Early in the game, you break into prison to save princess Zelda.
• Ribcage Ridge: Not really a ridge, but The Dark World's counterpart to The Lost Woods, Skeleton Forest, is named as such because of the large skeletons, which are in fact ribcages. Fortunately, whatever they came from is never seen.
• Schmuck Bait: "Curses to anyone who throws something into my circle of stones." You have to do it at least once to beat the game, 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 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...
• Sequel Difficulty Drop: While not an easy game, it's still easier than the first two, a trend which has stayed so far.
• Sequence Breaking: Though it seems like you need the Hookshot to access a significant part of the Dark World, there's actually a portal that takes you there if you take the time to explore. You also have a lot of freedom in the Dark World to complete the dungeons in the order you want, though the Palace of Darkness has to be done first, and most of the Dark World dungeon's items are required to either access or finish Turtle Rock (which is labeled in-game as being the last dungeon). In particular, completing Misery Mire (6th dungeon) before the Ice Palace (5th dungeon) gives you the Cane of Somaria, which creates a block when swung. This almost completely eliminates the need to do the block puzzles in the Ice Palace and makes it a lot easier to complete (it doesn't hurt that the Ice Palace's treasure is just an armor upgrade, which simply reduces the damage Link takes rather than being used to get past obstacles or solve puzzles, so there's no rush to do it before the one listed after it due to this example of Sequence Breaking).
  • The trick with the Pegasus Boots of running into a wall and being thrown back also makes the hookshot unnecessary in several places. The Satellaview sequel actually makes it mandatory for a few heart containers (including the first one visible in the game). Bombs can also be exploited, since the distance they throw you upon exploding can allow Link to cross gaps.
  • You don't actually need the Master Sword if you know how to do the Death Mountain Descent properly. Complete the Tower of Hera up until the Moon Pearl, escape said dungeon without bothering with the boss, descend... And start the Dark World progression as normal. You can upgrade to the Tempered Sword directly from your Uncle's sword, get Ether for the Misery Mire. The only thing that you can't actually get is the Piece of Heart from the Lumberjack's tree in the Light World, but you're otherwise good to go.
  • Aside from the fact that the Palace of Darkness has to be done first, the order of the Dark World dungeons isn't as strict as those of the Light World. See the main Sequence Breaking page for a way to beat the Dark World's dungeons almost completely out of order without even needing to backtrack.
    • Keep in mind also that you need only complete the Palace of Darkness enough to get the Magic Hammer. Actually defeating the boss isn't required to continue to the other dungeons.
• 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.
• Spikes of Doom: Averted; spikes only do minor damage.
• Stripped to the Bone: In the game's intro, the King of Hyrule, recently "eliminated" by Agahnim, is shown seated on his throne as a skeleton.
• 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...
• Sword of Plot Advancement: The Master Sword - you're finally worthy to wield the legendary weapon, probably a good time to go Save the Princess then, eh? Notable in that this is the first appearance in the series of the Master Sword.
• Tactical Suicide Boss: You'd think that after the first time you reflect Agahnim's beam back at him, he'd only use the other two non-reflective attacks. It's even worse when you encounter him again in the Dark World, since there's two copies of him and all three versions only use the reflective attack, meaning that the fight can actually end up being easier than your first encounter with him.
• Take Up My Sword: Link's Uncle does this to him as the quest begins.
• Tele Frag: Averted; if you teleport via Magic Mirror from the Dark to Light Worlds, you'll be kicked back to the Dark World if you wind up inside a solid object. Can be annoying, since if you first teleport from a spot next to a solid object in the Dark World, and then approach the sparkling gateway from the wrong side, you get forced back to the Light World to try again.
• Tennis Boss: One of the oldest examples, and would start a trend in Zelda games.
• Tube Travel: In the Turtle Rock dungeon.
• The Un-Reveal: We never do learn exactly what Link wishes when he touches the Triforce. Clearly it involves restoring Hyrule to its former glory, but it would have been kind of neat to see his actual choice of words.
• Underground Monkey: Stronger varieties of soldiers simply have differently colored armor. Interestingly enough, the color coincides with the colors of Link's own armor upgrades obtained later in the game (green being the standard version, blue being stronger than green, and red being the strongest). The Dark World's version of soldiers, Tauruses, come in red and blue varieties, though the red ones are rarer, and unlike the soldiers their weapons are different (they wield tridents instead of spears).
• Unique Enemy: The weird blimp-like creature on the southern shore of Lake Hylia is the only one of its kind, and Lynels appear only on two screens of Death Mountain. There are also a few dungeon-specific monsters like Freezors and the unnamed-in-English antlion-like enemies in the Desert Palace.
• Updated Rerelease: The Game Boy Advance version released in 2002 added voice bits for Link (taken from Young Link in Ocarina of Time), and a Bonus Dungeon unlocked after beating Four Swords. Also a new riddle sidequest for the Hurricane Spin.
• Useless Useful Stealth: An aversion; the invisibility from the Magic Cape is quite useful to go through certain boss fights and other situations without taking any damage.
• Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Go ahead. Keep attacking that chicken cucco.
  • Also the first appearance of Cuccos and their punishment.
• Villain-Beating Artifact: Your regular arrows become these after the upgrade, but they're called Silver Arrows.
• Warp Whistle: The Flute, again.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Hey 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.
• Where It All Began: You have to return to the introductory dungeon to get to the Disc One Final Dungeon and you're transported to the first location in the dark world for the Final Battle.
• World-Healing Wave: With the help of the Triforce.
• You Are Too Late: Agahnim decides to wait until Link arrives so that he can send Zelda into the Dark World right in front of him. D'oh.
• You Gotta Have Pink Hair: If you look closely, Link's hair in this game is pink (though official art shows he's supposed to be a muddy brown). Presumably this is the reason that his rabbit form in the Dark World is also pink. It's unclear if this was intentional or if it was due to a programming oversight.
  • Most likely it's so that Link's head is distinguishable when he's standing on dirt or sand.

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