The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Experimentation has been a common ethos in The Legend of Zelda series. Whether it’s by introducing the third dimension in Ocarina of Time, changing the structure of exploration in The Wind Waker, or shaping the gameplay according to the peculiarities of each console with Phantom Hourglass and Skyward Sword, Nintendo is always demonstrating a clear desire to evolve the franchise by testing ways to modify its core elements. With A Link Between Worlds, a sequel to the classic A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo, the aim is to decrease linearity and allow us greater control over when to explore certain sections of the world.

The protagonist is once again Link, who’s now a blacksmith’s apprentice. One day, his master tasks him with delivering a sword to the captain of Hyrule guard but, true to form, Link has overslept and makes a mess of everything (there’s never been a more relatable hero, truly), for without the sword, the captain was imprisoned by a terrible sorcerer, the sinister Yuga, and turned into a painting. Link tries to fight the sorcerer, too, but he’s not even a proper blacksmith, let alone a warrior, and is defeated quickly. Luckily, he’s rescued by a strange fellow named Ravio, who claims to be homeless and asks our hero for shelter.

Ravio, however, is that kind of annoying person who’s too quick to abuse someone’s hospitality: the type that, when you give a hand, they take your whole arm and never give back. Letting his capitalist spirit flourish, for example, Ravio turns Link’s house into his own shop, where he has the gall to charge the blacksmith exorbitant prices for equipment. Really, a simple boomerang costs 800 rupees. And it’s not even a magical boomerang; it just comes back after we throw it. Like any normal boomerang. And Ravio doesn’t stop there: the miscreant also allows Link to rent equipment for a smaller fee with the caveat that if we’re defeated, he takes it all back – from our unconscious body, no less – and we have to pay him one more time to get them again. Ravio profits with each of our deaths, in other words: just wait for Luigi to know about this guy, and we’ll see who’s smiling then.

At first glance, the overall structure of A Link Between Worlds is very similar to its predecessor, with our hero traveling between two worlds to get three magic pendants and save seven sages, who are trapped inside dungeons full of puzzles, traps, and monsters. But now, since the first game in the series, we can finally explore Hyrule at our own pace, deciding where to go and when to go there, and that was made possible precisely because of… Ravio’s greed.

Since the equipment he rents to Link is available to us from the get go, instead of being something we eventually acquire inside dungeons, most of Hyrule has now also turned accessible to us: if in previous titles, there was a predetermined sequence to beating dungeons, for example, here we’re free to tackle them in whatever order we want because we can get the necessary equipment at Ravio’s shop. It’s just like real life, then: we can get anywhere if we’ve got the money – with the difference that Zelda lets us live the fantasy of actually being able to get that money.

This system not only provides freedom, then, but also rewards us for collecting rupees – which tended to become useless after a while in previous games – and makes the prospect of dying more worrisome. And this change doesn’t rob dungeons of what makes them special either, since each one still guards a specific tool for us to acquire – such as a glove that allows Link to lift large rocks or a robe that reduces damage by half – with the difference being that these tools are mostly optional now.

The dungeons themselves, meanwhile, make great use of the handheld’s stereoscopic 3D to further explore verticality and play with the notion of height. Ice Palace, for example, has a vertiginous configuration that has us falling down from floors constantly, while the Swamp Palace is much more civilized, being built on top of mechanisms that regulate the water level, making it go up and down. To suit the handheld format, dungeons are much more compact than usual, containing many puzzles and secrets in just one place: it’s not uncommon to find three treasure chests hidden in just one room here. The theme of each dungeon, however, is not new, as they borrow both the name and location from their A Link to the Past counterparts.

The overall logic behind each dungeon’s puzzle design may be familiar to veteran players, then, but this is where the main gimmick of A Link Between Worlds comes in to shake things up. After the first battle against Yuga, Link gains the power to transform himself into a painting – drawn with a rustic, almost Egyptian style – and merge into walls. This mechanic is incredibly versatile, opening many possibilities: we can now cross a huge chasm by merging into the side of a mountain and moving on its surface; escape prison cells by passing through the bars; merge into a wall to avoid being crushed by rolling stones and other hazards, and so forth. It can be used even in combat: there’s this one – very amusing – moment when we turn into a painting on the huge shield a monster carries around, and the beast becomes totally flabbergasted that Link has just disappeared in front of him.

We can also use the painting to get inside small cracks – too thin for a human to pass through – that are scattered throughout Hyrule, connecting it to another world together: Lorule. These two worlds share the same map, as they function as each other’s counterpart: Hyrule is the prosperous kingdom, while Lorule is in ruins.

Since they’re mirrors of one another, it becomes important to notice the peculiarities of each world, for they can serve as signposting and guide exploration. In a certain area of Lorule, for example, there may be a cave that holds only a few rupees, seeming innocuous in and of itself: its actual purpose is to reveal to us that there is a hidden counterpart in Hyrule at the exact same location – we just need to use a bomb to reveal the hidden entrance and get an important item.

The overworld map is tightly designed, playing constantly with the mirror worlds while being as compact as the dungeons, offering various activities and sidequests in a relatively small space. It’s possible, for example, to go from one end of the map to the other in less than five minutes, as a secondary mission seems to make a point of proving. Side activities, meanwhile, are quirky and fun, ranging from a baseball minigame to a mission in which – in an excellent inside joke – Link must run away from killer chickens for a long time.

Link’s equipment finally has a purpose outside their specific dungeons, too, as they’re now very useful in battles: the Tornado Rod, for example, besides lifting tiles in a dungeon, can also paralyze all enemies within reach, which comes in handy when there’s a lot of them around Link. And we don’t have to collect ammunition anymore, as equipment now spends a magic bar when used, even the bow-and-arrow, which makes them much less laborious than before.

The story told in A Link Between Worlds is also economical in its design. Characters are introduced in short scenes and developed through just a few actions and lines of dialogue. Yuga’s first appearance, for example, has him imprisoning one of the sages (revealing his objective), defeating Link and the Hyrule Captain without any effort (revealing his power), letting slip some details of his plan (revealing his hubris), and exposing his obsession with beauty and perfection (revealing he’s a total diva): all in just a couple of minutes.

The dichotomy between the two worlds is well explored, too. Kakariko Village, a cheerful and innocent village in Hyrule, for example, is in ruins in Lorule: most houses are completely destroyed and the few that remain are inhabited by melancholic and pessimistic people who, in their sorrow and despair, believe that acting like the very monsters that torment and devour them is the only solution to their plight – which mirrors the arc of some of the antagonists. So, they wear terrible masks to hide their identities while they go out to rob and kill whoever is left in Lorule. It’s no accident that this area contains a dungeon called Thieve’s Hideout and lacks a musical theme of its own like Kakariko Village, sharing instead the music of the overworld map: the village has lost its identity and no longer functions as a refuge for its people, becoming an extension of the devastation of that world.

The game, however, avoids building a binary narrative, where the people of Hyrule are virtuous, while those in Lorule are violent. Here, there’s a bit of evil and goodness in every kingdom; the only difference is the understandable bitterness inherent to the people of Lorule. It becomes interesting, then, to observe how its Master Blacksmith decided not to have children, but ended up becoming more competent in his craft than his Hyrulean counterpart; how the thief who causes the most damage with his actions is the one who lives in the tranquility of Hyrule’s Kakariko Village; and how a girl, despite living surrounded by monsters in a bar in Lorule, can be completely selfless, caring more about saving some eggs than about her own life.

The art direction is also effective in contrasting the worlds. Purple, since it is usually associated with death, is the base color of Lorule, representing the cruel fate that befell its people. It decorates the halls, the roof of the houses, and paints the clothing of Lorule’s inhabitants; its constant presence reinforcing the tragedy of their stories. The furniture also shows the contrast between both worlds: while in the Master Blacksmith’s house in Hyrule, there is the picture of a white pigeon, the home of his counterpart in Lorule is decorated with a picture of a bird of prey.

The soundtrack, in turn, expands the classic melodies of A Link to the Past, offering several effective remixes (Lorule’s theme is one of the best in the series), besides some new compositions. The soundtrack is also dynamic, growing in intensity to follow the player’s progress, and we can clearly see the zeal for the series’ music in the two musicians at Kakariko Village’s bar, who play for only ten rupees famous melodies using only flute and guitar.

With some outstanding music and art direction, an effective story, and by allowing us more freedom to go on our adventure, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is undoubtedly one of the series’ best titles.

June 08, 2025.

Review originally published in Portuguese on October 05, 2015.