The classic: "A Link to the Past"
Given fans' reaction to "The Adventure of Link," it's no surprise that the third "Zelda" game had more in common with the first "Legend of Zelda" game, dropping the experience points in favor of a combat-focused top-down game.
In "A Link to the Past," players took the role of a young boy named Link, who is again tasked with rescuing a princess named Zelda. However, for the first time, it wasn't clear whether this Link and Zelda were the same characters as the Link and Zelda of the first two games. This helped create the idea that there could be many different heroes and princesses, each with their own adventures in the magical kingdom of Hyrule.
MORE: Your Guide to Building a Gaming PC
When it came out for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1991, "A Link to the Past" awed players with its even larger explorable world, made twice as big by the incorporation of a parallel world, or "Dark World," that was central to the game's story. The game was so big, in fact, that it was the first SNES title to come on an 8-Mbit cartridge (1MB in size) instead of a 4-Mbit cartridge.
A defining moment in video game development history that still holds up today, for many players, "A Link to the Past" remains the definitive "Zelda" experience. Today, you can purchase a remastered version of this classic game for the Game Boy Advance, or on the Nintendo Virtual Console.
