Review - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (2013, 3DS)

The Legend of Zelda series is Nintendo's one big franchise that I wish I could enjoy more than I do. I still enjoy the original Legend of Zelda, I'm absolutely crazy about Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and I think SNES installment A Link to the Past is wonderful, as is the 1993 Game Boy title Link's Awakening. Beyond that, I was lukewarm on much of the series. A Link Between Worlds is the title that turned that around.

Review - Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES, 1988)

Game development has always been a sequel-friendly environment. More often than not, developers release sequels that build upon and refine their existing formula, and as long as it's done well, I've got no problem with it. I am, however, a little nostalgic for how a couple developers treated sequels in the mid-80's. While most sequels still focused on incremental changes, a few went in wildly different directions, the most famous being the US version of Super Mario Bros 2, Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest, and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The third installments of each of these games would undo these changes, but to this day I think Mario 2 and Zelda 2 are among the finest titles released on the NES. I hold much less fondness for Castlevania 2, but still respect it a great deal.

Review - The Legend of Zelda

It's hard to review a game so iconic to the medium as The Legend of Zelda. Like Super Mario Bros., it wasn't the first game in its genre, but it did what it did so well that it cemented itself as the genre's cornerstone. It spawned one of the biggest franchises in video game history, even if said franchise has grown kind of stagnant, and offered a deeper, more real world than most games of the time. There's no argument that Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka created a game in 1986 whose impact is still felt today, but the question I want to answer is whether or not, in today's world, the game is still fun.