The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Review: Brilliant

“Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past” has been called one of the greatest Zelda games of all time and even one of the reasons the Super Nintendo was a must have console. After 21 years, Nintendo returns to the world of “A Link to the Past” in a Nintendo 3DS remake called “A Link Between Worlds.” So much more than a worthy remake, it makes the 3DS a must-own system.

Though it takes place in the same universe Nintendo has made some changes to the plot. Here a wizard named Yuga is turning people into pictures. Among these people are the descendants of the Seven Sages and Princess Zelda. Link, with a new ability to make himself flat as a picture and walk along walls and into cracks, heads the Hyrule’s alternate world Lorule to save the Seven Sages and stop Yuga.

As far as the plot goes, Nintendo has outdone itself here. They have taken the story of “A Link to the Past” and vastly improved upon it. The idea of saving the descendants of the Seven Sages is a much more interested idea than just random girls. On top of that Nintendo has added a plethora of new and colorful characters that compliment the story nicely. Among these are the mysterious rabbit costume item seller Ravio and Lorule’s queen Hilda. The witch in training Irene needs a mention since she does spout out some great sarcastic lines that just make her that much more likable.

The gameplay is exactly like “A Link to the Past” with some gameplay changes. First, there’s the ability to make Link flat up against walls. This allows him to enter cracks in walls, go through prison bars and walk along walls. At first this seems like nothing more than a gimmick but then this ability becomes much more than the sum of its parts. One other change is now instead of having to pick up bombs, arrows and magic all of Link’s items now depend of a meter that slowly refills if Link does nothing. This is a double edged sword in that, yes, it’s great not having to worry about running out of items but it also makes the game easier.

Speaking of easy, this has to be one of, if not the, easiest “Zelda” games ever. The item meter getting rid of the need to conserve ammo is one. Other reasons are the bosses don’t quite put up that much of a challenge, the dungeon locations are marked on the map and the game not only has a fortune teller but these goggles that summon ghosts that will flat out tell you what you have to do in exchange for a play coin.

Despite this, there is plenty more that makes the game worth every penny. One of this is the skulltula style side quest where you have to bring back 100 maimais (type of crab) to their mother. After every ten maimai returned the mother will upgrade any item you want. These upgrades actually make the items better than the originals. The bow for example shoots three arrows instead of one and the boomerang becomes faster and goes further.

As with any “Zelda” game, “A Link Between Worlds” offers a ton exploration. From that maimai quest, the battle arena and searching for heart pieces the player will be at this game for a long time.

“A Link Between Worlds” also has some technical improvements from “A Link to the Past.” The graphics have an HD upgrade that makes the characters and the world look so much better than its predecessor. Nintendo has even thrown in remixed versions of classic Zelda music which is a way of saying Nintendo loves Zelda fans.

“Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds” is a brilliant remake of “A Link to the Past” with gameplay, story and technical upgrades that make it the better of the two, easy difficulty aside. “Zelda” fans will be proud to throw on their fairy tunic, Hylian shield and wield the Master Sword for this 3DS adventure.