The Legend of Zelda franchise is filled with classic titles that are often spoken about. These usually include Ocarina of Time, Breath of the Wild, and A Link to the Past. However, when I think of the franchise, one game stands out above the rest: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Released in 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS, this game delivered some of the smartest design, the most satisfying freedom of exploration, and a bold, creative mechanic that is utilised extremely well. Over a decade later, it still plays beautifully, looks great, and shows that bold ideas can work. A Link Between Worlds isn’t just a great Zelda game: it’s an underrated masterpiece that deserves far more recognition than it gets.
Posted by Isacial
18 Comments
Insanely good and one of the best uses of 3D on the 3DS. For those who like old style Zelda but a bit of innovation is perfect.
I’m so conflicted whether or not this or OOT is my favorite game…..
Yes it is
A great game in a sea of great games. Overlooked because it’s compared to giants.
Yep, when I picked this up, I could barely put it down. 100% it in like three days. Unfortunately, like most Zelda titles, I proceeded to never play it again.
Can confirm; fantastic game
I remember playing it on in release and thinking it was the best one since Majora’s. Not better than oot or lttp but so strong.
The open world ness was a very good attempt, I liked how they separated it into the two waves of difficulty and I actually expected that from Botw. Totk kind of did it with what happens after the 4 temples, but if the next games are open world again (which I’m fine with) I think it needs like… 3 tiers of growth. Like you need to do the first 3 temples to unlock the next 3, then a final 3, or something. makes the experience a bit more linear as well and would fix the “Link have you seen that Zelda like creature” thing happening 4 times
The “problem” with Zelda is the abundance of riches. There are so many incredible games that it’s easy to overlook some of them.
But yeah, it’s a delightful game. You can tell they were experimenting with non linearity, a concept that only became fully realized in Breath of the Wild.
Is it? I thought it was pretty popular.
The problem is it was mostly just ALTTP again and is stuck on a handheld only system.
…you’re right. I should get my 3DS out of drawer in the closet and charge it back up…
I remember the design being so intuitive. It was that brilliant Nintendo trademark of introducing a concept, practicing that concept, then putting your grasp of the concept to the test with a boss or puzzle. It was so unbelievably satisfying. I loved this game, but my first play through is lost in a time of what I can only imagine was immense stress in my career, relationships, and life. It shines through those times, though.
I should play it again.
All the critics said this was a massive breath of fresh air for the series after Skyward Sword. Literally everyone loved this game and it sold 4.3M copies – about on par with Zelda II, Wind Waker, and Phantom Hourglass.
The only reason it’s “overlooked” now is that it’s harder to play (3DS is emulatable but it’s not as convenient to map to a standard controller as GameCube) and its successor Breath of the Wild sold 35 million copies.
At a time when the series desperately needed a shakeup, this game changed just enough to feel completely new and unique while still feeling 100% Zelda. It would probably be remembered as the game that carried the series into the future if it hadn’t been followed up by Breath of the Wild.
It’s a good game and had great reviews on launch.
My problem with it is that it’s so heavily inspired by ALttP, including using basically the same map, that it kinda killed the sense of exploration for me. A similar thing happened with Tears of the Kingdom.
Sadly, it’s stuck on an old platform. Everyone I know that played it agrees that it’s the best 2D Zelda.
Hands down: Best top-down Zelda.
It’s the best Zelda of all time imo. It’s perfect for what it wanted to be.
Honest question, is it overlooked? It’s true I don’t see much talk about this game online.
I never had an SNES so up to that point had never played Link to the Past. This game was absolutely amazing, like everything I wanted the Oracle games to be after bouncing off those back when. 100% everything in this game, then went on to 100% Link to the Past as well once I picked up an SNES. Probably second favorite Zelda after Majoras Mask, sitting around Wind Waker and Ocarina levels of good.
Didn’t it win gamespots *overall* goty 2013?
It was the first zelda in a while to depart from the tried and true linear formula