The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past

Already wrote about 1 and 2 so let's continue.

The first Zelda-game I actually finished. Didn't play it until 1998 when we gave it together with a Super Nintendo and Yoshi's Island to my father for his 40 year birthday (in October). And the same christmas my oldest little sister got Madonna's Ray of Light-album. Which she listened to on the stereo. At that time I've had reached the Tower of Hera (I was 10 years old, I was bad at video games) so "The Power of Goodbye" is to me the soundtrack of the game. Took me probably around 2-3 years to finish. This is pretty much the game that standardised how a Zelda-game is structured as well as geographical with Hyrule Castle in the middle and Death Mountain to the north. And we get Kakoriko village, Lost Woods and Lake Hylia although they tend to shift placement between games.

Hyrule, in 16-bit!!!

So the game starts a rainy night when Link awakes to a telepathic message from princess Zelda that she is captured in the castle dungeon. Link's uncle apparently heard it to since he headed out first and told Link to stay home. Sweet, easiest game ever. They should have made an option for a bad ending directly like they did in Golden Sun if you declined the call to get the Emerald Stars back and left the sanctum. Since you have to you go up and heads out. Now, I've played several different versions of the game through the years, the original, Game Boy Advance version with added characters and the Four Sword-multiplayer game, and then virtual console release for Wii, Wii U and 3DS. The Advance version is pretty much the better version in the story department since it adds certain elements. For example, in the beginning the soldiers doesn't look like the soldiers you fight. They also gives a more creepy element to the overtake of Hyrule by Agahnim. Some of them have noted how the attitude of some soldiers have changed and they were actually afraid.  Really nice touches. Sorry for the side-track. So you go to the castle, find the uncle who give you your sword and shield, rescue Zelda, take her to a priest/sage that tells the story of the Master Sword, the Triforce and the Sealing wars that trapped Ganondorf in the Dark World. You set out and get 3 artifacts that lets you get the Master Sword. You confront Agahnim and surprise surprise he transports you to the aforementioned Dark World. So you get two worlds in one... which Nintendo have reused in several games.

Where have I seen this before?

The thing about the Dark World is that it transforms everyone who enters into what their heart really is. And Link is for some reason a rabbit. A pink rabbit. I have no idea why. Could be cultural differences of what a rabbit imply. So to counter this you picked up a mirror that transport you back to the light world and a pearl that negates the effect unless you get cursed. So you travel to 7 different dungeons and gathers the 7 crystals containing the descendants of the 7 sages that sealed Ganondorf and allowed Agahnim to get him out. The final one being princess Zelda and she instructs you to enter Ganon's Tower using the 7 sages. You fight Agahnim and again, surprise surprise Agahnim is actually Ganon who escapes to the pyramid you first entered the Dark World in and gets ready for the showdown. Now, I can't recall if any of the sages stated it, but you actually must have the silver arrows which you find in another opening of the pyramid that you blow up with a special bomb. I think some NPC's tells you about it, but that I see as a small fault of the game since it's easy to miss and that must be the reason in later games with the light arrows you either find in one of the final temples or Zelda pretty much gives you or uses it herself so you don't have to go on a scavenger hunt. You kill Ganon and makes your wish to the Triforce and restores Hyrule.

Well, until 2013 when they released A Link Between Worlds

This is probably my favourite Zelda-game since it was the first I finished, I like the graphics and playing this didn't overwhelm me as the 3D-games did to me in the beginning. Add great music and a rather new story... for its time and my age. And certain side-quest are actually gripping. You have the boy who lies sick and gives you the net (I actually thought he was dying), father who wishes to see his son again and the son actually is trapped as a bird in the Dark World where you get his ocarina back and he turns into a tree. There's a lot of those moments. The sage dies, kidnapped women and so on. It's a sad and dark world. And you have to save it. I'm really invested in this world and I actually dared entering it since I felt I had control of the world. Although it took me 2-3 years to finish it... and replaying it tops it out on 10 hours.