SNES Classic Club: ERA Edition -- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

[OmegaDL50]

Original Release Info:
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: November 21, 1991 (JP), April 13, 1992 (US), September 24, 1992 (EU)

Fun Facts:
There are several portraits of Mario hanging in houses of Kakariko Village, pulling on the portraits causes Rupees to come out.

In the western release's instruction manual, Ganondorf is given the last name Dragmire. This was the result of Nintendo of America's translation team wanting to make their own contribution to the story. This is the only instance where Ganondorf is given a last name.

It is possible to deflect Aghanim's magical projectiles using the Bug-Catching Net. While the timing is trickier than using the sword, the circular swing of the Bug-Catching net can also protect Link from the cluster projectile that scatters on being hit.


Schedule:
For the next two weeks from December 16st to December 31th, we'll be logging our progress on The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Please share your comments regarding your favorite aspects about the game.

For those that did not finish their Link to the Past challenges by December 31th may still continue to attempt them as there is no strict deadline, however the focus of discussion will move on to Earthbound.

As for the previous game challenges? Super Ghouls N' Ghosts still continues. You can still report your challenges in it's own thread here - https://www.resetera.com/threads/snes-classic-club-era-edition-super-ghouls-n-ghosts.9074/

Your challenges for this game are:

1. Beat Ganon.
   
   
2. 100% Completion (Collect every single item in the game and the upgrades for upgradable items.)
   
   
3. Access Chris Houlihan's Secret Room.

 

[Blargg]

Remember, SNES CLASSIC CLUB is open for everyone. No SNES mini required! You can contact OmegaDL50 or Blargg to get access to the SNES Game Shelf generator and customize your own!


Looking forward to this one, it's been a long time since I played LttP. After F-Zero and SGnG it will be nice to have an easier game.

Started earlier today and still remembered which lever to pull in the castle sewers :) I did get stuck in the East Palace though, I think my Zelda knowledge was working against me there. I was convinced those one-eyed green dudes could only be killed with the bow+arrow (didn't help that some text in the palace also hints that way) so I didn't even attempt to kill them. There was a room with enemies and one-eyed green dude that would obviously reveal key/chest/item if all enemies were dead...but how could I kill green dude w/o the bow. So I spent some time backtracking and going in circles. Turns out you can just killed them regularly lol. Which then gives you the large key and acces to the bow.

 

[Dave]

Best game ever. Screw Ocarina of Time.

WE ON THIS.

 

[AuthenticM]

I need to play the other games!

 

[Yoshimitsu126]

Best game ever. Screw Ocarina of Time.

WE ON THIS.

Click to shrink...

Hell yes.

OoT 3D is a really good port though. Hoping to get MM 3D on price cut in future too.

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Wow. Strangely, I just finished a 100% run of the game this morning on the 3DS VC.

Hands down my favourite 2D Zelda. I played the hell out of it as a kid and continue to play through it at least every couple of years. It's one of the most fun Zelda games to play and my go to game if I'm in a gaming rut.

The music in the game is top tier. Stuff like the Lost Woods, Dark World, Overworld, and ending themes are timeless.

Speaking of the ending...

Spoiler

This is one of my favourite video game endings ever. As I mentioned, the music is fantastic but what makes it so good is seeing the world of Hyrule returning back to normal. Even characters like the sick kid who gives you the bug net gets his time to shine.

Amazing game.

 

[Blargg]

This is one of my favourite video game endings ever.

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And here I was just thinking about how much I love the start of the game (with the muffled sound of rain as your uncle talks to you, thunder outside, fantastic music etc.). Basically this game is amazing from beginning to end ;)

 

[Deleted member 19533]

Been slowly playing this since the mini came out. I'm near 100% completion right now and ready to go to the final dungeon.

 

[Beren]

Great timing! I just finished the BotW DLC. Can't wait to play this masterpiece again.

 

[baltic]

Anyone streaming this? I'd be nice to have Era twitch challenge to look at!

 

[Primeau31]

Anyone streaming this? I'd be nice to have Era twitch challenge to look at!

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I've actually decided to start playing this today. Loved the NES Zelda (even 2, haha), Link's Awakening on the GB as well, but never played this. Will be going in mostly blind although I love watching speedruns of it. twitch.tv/primeau31

 

[What-ok]

We were recently gifted one of those new mini super consoles from a friend and my wife has been replaying Zelda and loving it. Neither of us have played it since it's intial release back in the day and we both agree that it's still one of the best.

 

[Blargg]

I can confirm you can access the secret room on the SNES mini, if there was any doubt.

Enjoying my time replaying this game. It's been long enough that I've forgotten how to do certain stuff/puzzles, which is great!

 

[Cass_Se]

How the hell every single time I replay ALttP do I keep on forgetting that without magic upgrade you need full magic meter before you fight Kholdstare.

So yeah, people. Remember this, because otherwise warping from Ice Palace boss room is painful.

 

[SpikeDaPenguin]

Link to the Past beat! Great game!

Proof:

SNES Game Shelf:

 

[this_guy]

Just got my SNES Classic delivered from Amazon's Prime Now service.

 

[gameburke]

Link to the Past is one of my favorites. Loved going through again.

Spoiler: Proof

 

[Cass_Se]

So, this time I'm fairly early, yay

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So, I think it hasn't been that long since the last time I've braved ALttP, but I was surprised how fast you can smash through the game knowing where to go to at which point. Additionally, curiously enough, every time I play the game I appreciate it and what it was going for more. I don't have much nostalgia towards ALttP, I've played it after playing OoT, MM, TWW, other games that already gave me appreciation for the series, but comparing it to it's contemporaries it's a pretty impressive game.

Another point, this was the first time I entered the famed Chris Houlihan room. What really shocked me here was... how easy it is to enter it once you know the directions. I've known about it for many years but I always thought it's a difficult trick to execute requiring precise timing but it really is not, I managed to pull it off on my first attempt. Kind of demystifies it's existence but hey, it's still such a cool secret.

Onwards and upwards! I think I'll start Earthbound next week in advance to get some headstart, it's only the second time I'll be playing it too so I won't smash through it as easily as through ALttP completion run.

 

[4859]

How the hell every single time I replay ALttP do I keep on forgetting that without magic upgrade you need full magic meter before you fight Kholdstare.

So yeah, people. Remember this, because otherwise warping from Ice Palace boss room is painful.

Click to shrink...

When your magic meter is completely empty, falling ice from the ceiling will release magic refills.

 

[Blargg]

Another one down! Still a great game, I wouldn't mind a mini-map like in the first Legend of Zelda and some tweaks to the sword fighting though. Not sure if I ever did 100% as a kid, but the secret room was definitely a first for me.

I had some trouble figuring out how to get to dungeon 6. That area (south west desert in Light World) is blocked off in the Dark World. After doing recon in both the Light and Dark versions of the surrounding area I was pretty sure that...

Spoiler

...there would be a Dark World portal under one of the rocks in the south west corner of the desert, but I couldn't figure out how to get there. Anyway after wasting some more time I finally checked a guide aaaaaand turns out you can just warp there...

Not my finest moment ;)


Proof: Goal 1 & 2 | Goal 3

Here's a special holiday shelf!

(APNG, should animate in Firefox and Chrome)

 

[Deleted member 9237]

Not sure if this is the best thread for this, but what is the normal item progression in Super Metroid? I've forgotten.

See, I went to fight Crocomire and then I noticed that I didn't have Power Bombs, so I couldn't do the shinespark to get the Grappling Hook, and I would actually have been stuck down there if I hadn't been able to wall jump out. I think every other time I've played the game I've picked up the Power Bombs before that, but you kinda have to backtrack, get the Ice Beam, climb up the shaft. If you're not planning your playthrough it's much easier to just end up at Crocomire instead. I did try to wall jump up and get early bombs, but that last jump where you have to shoot the floor and then go through the gap stopped me.

 

[Cloud-Hidden]

Just thought I would let everyone know that these are available right now at GameStop if you're searching. Will be gone soon.

 

[Beren]

All challenges complete!

It's always a pleasure to play through this game - there's just so much to appreciate. It's not just that the action plays well, the puzzles are well-designed, the sprite work looks fantastic, the sound design is aces, or that the game guides you while letting you play the way you want - it's that it does all of these so incredibly well, all of the time, and they all meld together so seamlessly. They even manage to come up with memorable dialogue for bit characters. There's a guy who lives in a hut near/in the Easter Ruins in the Dark World whose dialogue always stuck with me (copy/pasted from internet - hopefully this is all accurate)

You're new here, aren't you?
Did you come here looking for
the Power Of Gold?

Well, you're too late. It will
obey only the first person who
touches it.

The man who last claimed the
Power Of Gold wished for this
world. It reflects his heart.

Yes, I came here because of
greed for the Golden Power,
and look what happened to me...

To restore the Golden Land, a
person worthy of the Golden
Power must defeat the man who

created this place...
Until that time, I am stuck in
this bizarre shape.

But what a mischievous thing
to leave lying around...
The Power Of Gold...

Triforce...

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It's the combination of him constantly referring to it as the "Gold Power," and hinting that he thinks this was a mistake by divine powers, and then finally calling it by its name that does it for me. You've just gotten to this awful place and ran past strong monsters and you meet this guy, one of the first or THE first person who doesn't try and kill you. And he tells you this ominous tale about power and corruption, and ends it with a whisper of the thing that has cursed him. It encapsulates the whole premise of the game - the Triforce is not benevolent or caring. It can be used for terrible things. And maybe the goddesses didn't mean it as a blessing. That quote always gave me a haunting feeling and is one of my strongest takeaways from this game.

I also like all of the callbacks to the previous two Zeldas. I played the NES ones before this one, so seeing the references was really cool for me. The room where you get the Triforce looks exactly like the chamber where Zelda sleeps in Zelda 2. The rocks fall down Death Mountain, there's a cave behind the waterfall, and the biggest of all was the Lynels. Having tangled with a shit ton of those in the first Zelda and knowing to fear them, running into them around Turtle Rock at the end of the game was such a powerful moment for me. It was just like "ah fuck, shit is serious now." (The same thing happened in Breath of the Wild, and much earlier, which elevated that game to greatness almost instantly lol) It just hits all the right notes.

Anyways, see you all in Summers!

Sorry, Chris.

 

[Blargg]

Nice post Beren!

Just thought I would let everyone know that these are available right now at GameStop if you're searching. Will be gone soon.

That link is straight from NowInStock. No idea if it has an affiliate code or not, someone please let me know if it does.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for posting. I hope the US stock situation improves, I've been thinking of getting a US mini to keep my PAL mini company but only if there are enough to go around. Looking at the URL it seems it has an affiliate ID in it. You can remove everything after the question mark (?) and it'll work without it: https://www.gamestop.com/snes/consoles/super-nes-classic-edition/152771

 

[Cloud-Hidden]

Nice post Beren!

Thanks for posting. I hope the US stock situation improves, I've been thinking of getting a US mini to keep my PAL mini company but only if there are enough to go around. Looking at the URL it seems it has an affiliate ID in it. You can remove everything after the question mark (?) and it'll work without it: https://www.gamestop.com/snes/consoles/super-nes-classic-edition/152771

Click to shrink...

Made the change. Thanks so much, I was in a huge rush not only to let you guys know but to get it up on our site as well. It's still hard to find in the US and it sells out online within minutes every time.

Luckily I was able to snag one, and it's projected to arrive tomorrow! I have most of the games I care about on my N3DS, but it will still be really nice to have everything in this form-factor and with two controllers. I'm hoping my wife will play some of the games with me.

What I really want to do is have an old-school video game night with friends like when we were kids. We're all grown-ass men now, but I want to have them call their moms and ask if it's okay if they come over to my place to spend the night. If they say yes, I want to order pizza for us, pig out, and then play Super Nintendo all night while drinking mixed drinks through crazy straws. Sadly I don't have any friends around me who would want to do this. =[

 

[Blargg]

Happy new year everyone, EarthBound is the next game and the OT is over this way. See you there!

 

[thomasmahler]

Did you folks know that you can pick up the fish from the water temple and bring it all the way back to Kakariko to sell it to the merchant who sold the empty bottle for 100 rupees? Just found that out last year and it blew my mind.

 

[sleepnaught]

Kinda lost as what to do next. I'm in the Dark World getting the crystals. Got the first one, now I'm trying to get through the Swamp palace, but there are blocks in my path I can't get across. How do I deal with those?

 

[Cass_Se]

Kinda lost as what to do next. I'm in the Dark World getting the crystals. Got the first one, now I'm trying to get through the Swamp palace, but there are blocks in my path I can't get across. How do I deal with those?

Click to shrink...

Could you be more specific, how are into the dungeon are you and how do the blocks look like?

 

[sleepnaught]

Could you be more specific, how are into the dungeon are you and how do the blocks look like?

Click to shrink...

It was at the entrance lol. Stupid me couldnt figure out how to push the blocks. I wash mashing buttons thinking it needed an action button to move them. Ended up bumping into them after like an hour of running in and out of the Dark World figuring out what I was doing wrong.