Zelda Retrospective: Part IV: A Link to the Past - Day 5

"Total Games Played - 054"
The End.

So I died that many times? Thirteen times in Skull Dungeon. Nine in Misery Mire. Seven in Ice Palace. Only five in Ganon's Tower. I didn't quite catch the whole count, but damn, this one turned out to have taken more effort than I'd imagined. Still, totally worth it. After all the pain and frustration of Zelda II, this one was very fun.
I revved up the ol' Virtual Console to discover that I was wrong, I hadn't actually beaten the sixth Dark World dungeon, which I now know to be called Misery Mire. I had gotten to the boss, but hadn't actually beaten him. So I went back in and found that my measly sword swipes weren't cutting it. So I looked up potential upgrades, and whaddya know, I never got my sword tempered at the smiths'. Upon my return to that boss with my new red sword, I cut his balls off. His eyeballs, that is.
Dungeon seven, Turtle Rock, was a bit of a pain in the ass, but I got through. I had another case of finally reaching the boss only to get wiped out once again. I just dislike having to retrace my steps all the time (except for in Metroid, but even then it gets kind of annoying). I took out that big old fire/ice rock-turtle and set my sights on Ganon's Tower, which was conveniently right next door. Funny that a rock turtle would be in Turtle Rock, who'd have thought?
Ganon's Tower was kind of hard to navigate around, and thank God for the red mail to reduce my damage more. Enemies that take three hearts from you for one hit are a little bit ridiculous. Once I finally found my way to the big key, everything else went by pretty smooth, and I managed to beat Aganhim with little difficulty. But wouldn't you know it? It turned out that damned wizard bastard was just Ganon in disguise (and before you roll your eyes at me, I knew, it was just a little joke).
Fighting Ganon in the pyramid proved to be a little annoying. Not because of Game Overs, but because I kept getting knocked off the arena. Unfortunately, getting knocked off means restarting the whole battle. Once I beat him, I realized that a couple of the times I got knocked off, I was probably about one more Silver Arrow hit away from killing him. Damn.
But soon he was dead, and the Essence of the Triforce spoke to me - which was weird cause I don't remember the Triforce ever speaking before. Then I got some flybys over Hyrule, seeing what people were up to now that peace reigned once again. Cute.
So where does this game stand in my analyses? Well, it definitely went much further than the original in establishing the Zelda mythology. I can't speak for Zelda II, since I wussed out on it. A lot of the hallmarks that would appear in the progressively more substantial Zelda narratives made their first appearances here. That Ganon, the King of Evil, was once Ganondorf, the King of Thieves, is first mentioned here. References to the Seven Sages appeared, though they were the Seven Wise Men in this chapter of the Zelda franchise. The wishes granted by the Triforce appear here. All that we now consider the classic elements of a Zelda story are here. While the rest of the main Zelda games would take their gameplay cues from Ocarina of Time, they would all take their story cues from A Link to the Past.
Speaking of Ocarina of Time, that's coming up next.

- Nate

P.S., While I was searching for screenshots to put up on here, I found this picture.

I'm sorry, but the nerd in me would have to take a double-take at that tramp stamp.

Zelda Retrospective: Part IV: A Link to the Past - Day 4

Sorry folks, I've been a little remiss in posting this blog. Been a crazy few days filled with laziness, a party, some fried chicken and some Shakespeare. Okay, maybe not crazy. Mainly just lazy. It still has "-azy" in it.
In the meantime since the last post, I've tackled the fifth and sixth dungeons in the Dark World, used a walkthrough, only to find heart pieces, I swear, and discovered the Waterfall of Wishing and upgraded my shield and boomerang. Sweet.
The icy fifth dungeon located in the middle of Lake Hylia once again saw a themed dungeon similar to the ones that would come along in later Zelda games.
Things I hated about the fifth Dark World dungeon:
1. No traction! There were several rooms where I was going through and just wanted to go up or down the stairs. But, try as I might, Link just couldn't quite line himself up right in order to use said stairs because the ice had him sliding all over the place. Very annoying.
2. Green, fanged penguins. What assholes.
3. The fact that I just kept getting lost! I'd die thanks to those damned penguins or some other thing and I just could never seem to find my way back to where I wanted to go.
Things I liked about the fifth Dark World Dungeon:
1. There's only one. The boss was ridiculously easy, so it was just a breath of fresh air to have worked so hard to get all the way to him and not have to die four times to beat him. Though I was a little concerned when I found him frozen over and was kind of low on magic with no potion to replenish it. I started shooting the Fire Rod and on the very last bit of magic I used, the boss thawed out. I would have been have been pissed if I had to leave just to get more magic.

After that I did some heart collection and then found my way over the the big swamp, where the desert is in the Light World. Upon entering this dungeon, I had a little bit of Post Traumatic Stress. Why? Because populating the large, main rooms of this dungeon were beasts that bore a strong resemblance to Horsehead, the first boss from Zelda II. Needless to say, I was overjoyed when I discovered that they were easy to kill, taking only one or two sword swipes depending on their color. So I went on a Horsehead killing spree to gain some slight vengeful satisfaction from the suffering of that reverse-Centaur race of creature. Bastards.
This dungeon turned out to be moderately easy in comparison to some of the other dungeons, I had it figured out pretty well, and once I found the nifty Cane of Somaria, the last bits I couldn't get through came together and I went off to fight yet another floating eyeball boss.
Then a thought occured to me: Why were the developers so obsessed with floating eyeballs for bosses? There are three of them in this game. Look for yourself!





So, now I can embark upon the quest to rescue the final maiden (Link's pimpin' in this one) and then tackle the final dungeon in the game after that. Then it'll be on to the game that started my love of Zelda, Ocarina of Time. Nice.

- Nate

Zelda Retrospective: Part IV: A Link to the Past - Day 3

Question: Is Link's hair pink in A Link to the Past? I mean, I know it's reddish/blondish in the artwork for the game. But in Link's actual pixelated form in the game, is it, in fact, pink?
I mean, the pink could be his hair, or it could be his hat. But when Link gets turned into a rabbit in the Dark World, his fur is pink. Why do I seem so concerned about this? I have no idea. Simple curiosity, I guess.

Anyway, I'm glad to say that I've gone through A Link to the Past all the way to the end of the third dungeon in the Dark World (the one in the Lost Woods) without any advice from a guide. The game is harder than the other 2D Zelda's I've played prior to this series (i.e, Link's Awakening, Oracle of Ages, The Minish Cap), but I've managed to get through. I didn't get the flippers until I went into the 2nd Dark World dungeon, only to find that I need to be able to swim and I think it was sheer luck that I remembered somebody in Kakariko Village mentioning somewhere with Zoras where you could get the "power of a fish" or something like that. As it turns out, the first house I tried in Kakariko was that very guy. Then trying to find a route across the river to get to the Lost Woods in the Dark World proved to be time consuming until, after probably close to an hour of searching, I noticed a subtle arrow made of grass pointing across the river. I whipped out the Hookshot, and whaddyaknow, I got pulled across. Nice.
I also never realized the Hookshot had its origins in A Link to the Past (unless it was somewhere in Adventure of Link after the point where I quit). I had always thought it was new to Ocarina of Time. Hmm, well now I know.
I am finding it more difficult to get through dungeons without getting Game Over screens as well. Especially in the last two dungeons that I've completed, my Game Over count has dramatically risen. I imagine one is supposed to use the Fire Rod against the boss in the third Dark World dungeon, but I kept finding myself low on magic when I got there. And all the Wallmasters sending me back to the beginning where frustrating. There was one room in particular where there were two Gibdos, two blue, floaty electrical thingies and a switch that needed a statue pulled over it to open a door. Of course, you had to pull the statue through a narrow passage, leaving you very vulnerable to the Wallmasters above. I don't know how many times I had to redo that single room. I think some of the angry expressions I threw at Adventure of Link resurfaced for that one.
I need to track down those other two bottles so that I can keep more fairies. And I imagine that there's an upgraded shield somewhere too. If I could find more Pieces of Heart, that would be nice too. I'm debating whether to go to a guide just to get those extra side quest items in order to make the main quest easier.
The dungeon in the Lost Woods turned out to be a pain in the ass, but I was rather intrigued with how reminiscent it was of the Shadow Temple in Ocarina of Time, since it incorporated similar enemies - Wallmasters (which are even more annoying in this game than in Ocarina of Time), Gibdos, Stalfos and all those other undeadish-seeming enemies. It would seem that, like the Zelda games that would succeed it, A Link to the Past features themed dungeons, like the one I just finished.
Oh, and the Fire Rod? Much fun against Gibdos.

Zelda Retrospective: Part IV: A Link to the Past - Day 2

“Well, that's no ordinary rabbit. That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on.”

-Tim the Enchanter - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Yes, I became a rabbit for a short time today. And after the debacle of Zelda II, I imagine that I was a foul, cruel and bad-tempered rodent.
Today is Day 2 of A Link to the Past and, boy, it feels good to be making progress in a game after trying to get through Adventure of Link. Bare with me people, I'll probably be traumatized by that cruel, merciless game for quite some time. It takes time to heal from trauma.
I made my way through the caves leading up Death Mountain and got to the dungeon atop the summit today. I'm not sure that I ever beat this particular dungeon before I stopped playing in my last attempt to go through the game. This dungeon proved a little more difficult than the first two, and I had a few game overs before I finally beat the giant centipede-boss at the top.
I then discovered that I love the Master Sword in this game. This is a weapon of true badassedness, for, when my hearts are full, I can shoot swirling beams of death at my enemies.
And I did grin and the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals and fruit bats and large chu—
Okay, I'll skip a bit.
With this sword of mighty... er... might, I went after the recently rekidnapped Zelda at the palace and fought against Agahnim - a fight that I scraped by on the skin of my teeth.
I do continue to see parallels to things that would pop up later on in the Zelda series. The Dark World is a similar idea to the Twilight Realm in Twilight Princess. Now, if you'll let me be a nerd here, I'll go on to speculate that perhaps the Dark World is, in fact, the Twilight Realm several generations on - its civilization gone and now overrun by the monsters that populate the Dark World. Or at least, that's how the writer in me would position these stories if we're looking at them in any sort of chronology. I'll probably go into this more in the conclusion to the series. Also, the battle with Agahnim - and the tennis match of deflected energy - is much like the battles that would appear in Ocarina of Time with Phantom Ganon and Ganondorf.
I set down the game today after a tragic game over trying to get through the maze heading toward the Dark Palace. Oh well, I'll tackle it tomorrow.

- Nate

P.S. - Sorry for all the Monty Python and the Holy Grail references.

Zelda Retrospective: Part IV: A Link to the Past - Day 1

Dear Zelda II: The Adventure of Link,

I concede defeat. You are the better man... er, game.

Sincerely,
- Nate


Yes, dear readers, much to my chagrin, I have given up on my attempts at Zelda II. The game is beyond me.

Quite simply, I suck at it.

So, today I booted up the Wii and clicked on the third game in the Legend of Zelda series, A Link to the Past, which was released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992 (in the USA, at least, 1991 in Japan). While I had an SNES when I was a kid, I had not yet discovered Zelda when I was playing it. So, I never owned the game until I downloaded the Virtual Console version for the Wii a couple of years ago.
Unlike the previous two Zelda outings, I've actually taken the time to play this game. However, I've never gone further than the first three or four dungeons - mainly due to obligations to school and simply choosing to spend my time on other things. Sacrilege, yes, but it's just the way it is. Also unlike the first two Zelda games, I feel as though I'm in familiar territory. Even though I didn't get into Zelda until Ocarina of Time, I have played through Link's Awakening and The Minish Cap, which are both very similar in game play to A Link to the Past. So I feel I'm far more prepared for the experience. I believe this is a game I can play without help from a walkthrough - unless I get horrendously stuck. I feel that I probably won't, though, because this game is much more merciful about giving some hint at where one is supposed to go next. I've already got the first two pendants today (and zero deaths!).
I guess Nintendo decided that they wanted to be a little more friendly to everyone after the brutal beast that was Zelda II. The SNES was supposed to reach a broader audience, so it would make sense that they would want the game to be more accessible. After playing the first game and attempting the second game, I was immediately grateful for the longer reach of Link's sword and the relative ease of finding hearts and rupees. This game, in tandem with the first two, helps to illustrate how the overall difficulty of games have been generally toned down as they become more popular amongst the general population.
I also noted things in this game that were reminiscent of more recent games in the series. In the field that you pass through before reaching the desert where the second pendant is, there are a number of statues similar to ancient Aztec or Mayan art. Similar designs would show up in The Wind Waker, especially in the Tower of the Gods dungeon midway through the game, and also in Twilight Princess. An obvious thing is the music and locations. I swear that the Kakariko Village theme MIDI file in A Link to the Past is the exact same one as the one used in Ocarina of Time. As a musician, I can generally tell the difference from one recording to another, but I couldn't detect any difference in this one. And of course, Kakariko Village goes on to make appearances in Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess.
All in all, I'm looking forward to finally playing all the way through A Link to the Past. It's been a long time coming.

- Nate

Remake of TMNT: Turtles in Time coming to XBox Live Arcade

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time was one of my favorite games on the Super Nintendo, back in the days of yesteryear. I remember sitting down to play it, either by myself or playing co-operative with my sister, and powering through different levels like "Bury My Shell At Wounded Knee," and battling bosses pulled from both the cartoon and the live-action movies. Many hours were spent playing it, but never once did we ever manage to beat it. I believe my sister and I only reached the final boss once. Maybe twice, but Super Shredder was never defeated.
And now, my friends, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time is getting a second wind in a remade 3D version for XBLA that looks to preserve the classic gameplay.
Unfortunately for me, I'm one of those poor, unfortunate gamers who does not own an XBox 360.

Somebody want to buy one for me? My 21st birthday's coming up in a few months.



Oh, and here's some poor quality video of the remake in motion.


- Nate