The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past[a] is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console. It is the third installment in The Legend of Zelda series and was released in 1991 in Japan and 1992 in North America and Europe.
The plot of A Link to the Past focuses on Link as he travels on a journey to save Hyrule, defeat Ganon and rescue maidens related to the Sages. A Link to the Past uses a 3/4 top-down perspective similar to that of the original The Legend of Zelda, dropping the side scrolling elements of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past introduced elements to the series that are still commonplace today, such as the concept of an alternate or parallel world, the Master Sword and other new weapons and items. Critics and players alike have commented on the similarities between A Link to the Past and the Nintendo 64 sequel Ocarina of Time, with some even referring to the latter as a “spiritual remake” of A Link to the Past.
Released to critical and commercial success, A Link to the Past was a landmark title for Nintendo and is widely considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time. Over four million units of the game have been sold worldwide. A Link to the Past was ported to the Game Boy Advance with slight changes (see The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords), and is available for the Wii, Wii U, and New Nintendo 3DS via the Virtual Console. Nintendo re-released A Link to the Past in the United States in September 2017 as part of the company’s Super NES Classic Edition.[2]
A successor to the game, titled The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, was released for the Nintendo 3DS in November 2013.
