Topic: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

[crisis]

Zelda is a good game.

[Gimph]

That's a crazy understatement! Haha, yes it is!

[Rugal]

Majora's mask is the greatest I think. Sometimes I would just sit and watch the moon fall. The cutscene is the greatest in any video game.

The music that plays right before it is amazing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXdEIap7HB0&feature=related

[Gimph]

Majora's Mask was awesome, but I prefer Oot and Lttp, sorry!

[sonicabid]

In Reply To #19

I also love OoT and ALTTP. They're so epic. I didn't like Majora's mask as much, and Wind Waker along with Twilight Princess just weren't as awesome. The art style in TP is awesome though.

[A n t r a x x]

Majora's mask is the greatest I think. Sometimes I would just sit and watch the moon fall. The cutscene is the greatest in any video game.

The music that plays right before it is amazing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXdEIap7HB0&feature=related

That tune is so morbid and sorrowful at the same time. It's so much darker and emotional than most any other Zelda song.

Although it feels like you've heard it before...

[The Last Belmont]

I completely agree. This game was, and still is, an absolute masterpiece. I really wish Nintendo could make another game like this, but they're too busy dishing out useless games that suck. I think that the problem is that they really don't care about the games themselves; they care about making money. Their passion for games was their reason for existence. Take that away from them and what's left...?

what it looks like they're trying to do now (and is the reason I won't buy a wii) is target the casual gamer and try to topple sony sales wise and get back on top and start making some money in the console market again. They fucked up so bad with the n64(which reflected with the GC's sales and shortened lifespan) by sticking with the cart format when it was small and didn't allow for really long gameplay (and they also skipped the 32bit scene which ended up hurting them even more cuz that further shortened the amount of data that could be stored on their standard size cart at the time) and couldn't have actual movie cutscenes or spoken dialoge for the most part,  coupled with the fact that carts are alot more expensive to make with all the tiny gold metallic parts. This decision ended up destroying them sales wise. They were outsold by the PS1 by a margin of 3 to 1 after the PS1 destroyed saturn because of it's cheap price and awesome marketing campaign. Due to 3rd party companies who had worked for sega after leaving nintendo in the early 90's jumped on the bandwagon and started producing games coupled with sony's own awesome games like the playstation crash trilogy. The final nail in the coffin was the CD media which Sony used instead of pricy carts and suddenly we were seeing games for as little as 20 bucks in our local walmarts which caused Sony's sales to explode even more.After the abomination of mario 64 and the lack of a good n64 title in the early part of it's life span, All the loyal gamers who had been with nintendo except the extreme loyalists who wouldn't think of jumping ship or didn't have the guts to, left. The only person I know that ever owned an n64 before 1999 only got it because it was given to him as a b-day present. Sony came in like this big behemoth and just beat down nintendo Bad. Konami which tended to put titles out for multiple consoles did so well with SOTN and flopped so bad with the 64 titles they also jumped on Sony's side. (consolewise at least) They came back in with Zelda ( which they had actually put hard work into and wasn't just a shitty graphical showcase), Goldeneye and Mario Kart 64 years later and tried to win their customers back and they did succeed in gaining the return of some of their fanbase. The only problem was the people who were now buying n64's for the most part already had a playstation and thier reputation was now shot. (I did my n64 was given to me after by my bro he got it for his 9th birthday back in 2000 so he could play the awesome that is mariokart 64)

Fastforward to 2001, Sony which now has a stellar reputation coming off the PSX and a gigantic following puts out the playstation 2 with GTA 3 (one fo the greatest games ever), Orpen, FFX, among other awesome must haves sporting 128 bit graphics and almost completely lifelike looking gameplay with brand new DVD media that can hold eons more than CD's. Things are looking up as sales go through the roof. Fast forward to december 2001, nintendo plans for the unveiling of it's brand new console the gamecube. Learning from their mistakes they capitalize on the fact that their new console sports a disk media instead of old carts. (Granted it doesn't hold quite as much as a DVD but the difference is negligible when it comes to the amount of space generally used for games back then. Their was a problem though, Sony after coming off of so much success in the previous generation and getting a headstart on them took a giant chunk of their consumer base away since at the time most familys only owned 1 console. (note this was before Videogames really exploded agerange wise and 23 year old gamers were the average) and most parents didn't want to buy a second console. The rest of th e market was wary at the time after coming off of the n64 as to what expect qualitywise when it came to the games. With the exception of SSB (one of the best fighters ever) which helped up nintendo's sales innitially people who were into other genres were lost, there was no mario game at launch which was a nintendo first and their was also no zelda game. When we finally did get a mario game a year later it was not the traditional mario running aroiund  stomping on goombas and koopa troopas and dueling king koopa that we were all used to from the nes/snes era but just another rehash of mario 64 with a water gun which had you on a quest looking for shine sprites and the action aspect for the most part other than a few boss fights and the main boss was completely absent. When the zelda game was finally revealed the graphics looked like they were from some 70's psychedelic cartoon like yellow submarine. It was also boring because instead of exploring vast areas of terrain and finding unknown treasures artifacts all while fighting off vast hordes of enemies alls you did was sail around to different islands for insane periods of time and if you couldn't find the next place to go you were stuck. The third party companies that nintendo had left after the n64 slowly all jumped ship after 04 and now the GC is on it's last legs as the WII has taken off.

Getting back to the initial question though, it seems like nintendo right now is only focused on sales and securing a descent chunk of the console market again. They actually got together and put out a good solid mario game with classic powers, action and plenty of puzzles to keep you playin' and the best part is it's linear like the classic ones so it keeps it fresh with no backtracking. Twilight princess is awesome and is what the graphics of WW should of been with a cross between OOT and 2d drawn animation. They got the big dogs covered and now they're trying to get the casual gamers back. That's why we have to endure shit like the new CV title coming out and Wiifit. (god people go to a f'n gym or just take a walk) but if nintendo's sales keep rising and they becomes a big competitor again like the good old days we should she a drastic change in the quality of their product and have a whole new generation of loyal fans and they'll now know what to do and what not to do to keep them. Although nintendo has never been in any real trouble cuz thanks to Gunpei Yokoi (rest his soul) they've always had their mad portable sales to fall back on.

[Ray]

A link to the past is my favourite Zelda.
I love the visuals and all the little details and secrets.
The gamedesign is great.
I can see myself still playing this twenty years from now (slow reader?).

[Gimph]

In Reply To #22

Wow, that was long...

Anyway, I feel compelled to respond to this post, but I think you pretty much just covered everything, so I really don't even know how!

[PFG9000]

I adore the first four Nintendo Zelda's.  I still need to beat Link's Awakening, as I quit when I reached the last dungeon years ago.

I haven't played much of OoT or WW.  I've played past the first dungeon in each, and they just don't catch my interest.  Same with the two Oracle games.  I haven't touched Majora's Mask, Phantom Hourglass, or Twilight Princess.

[Gimph]

Phantom Hourglass, Twilight Princess...You're not missing much.

Majora's Mask is a must-play!

[A n t r a x x]

Phantom Hourglass, Twilight Princess...You're not missing much.

Well, I disagree. But I agree Majora's Mask is a must-play.

[Gimph]

I hated Phantom Hourglass, and Twilight Princess wasn't nearly as good as they said it would be. Not worthy of game of the year!

[Rodriguezjr]

I remember A Link to the Past. Trying to find that Magic Cape when it was inside a gravestone. I didn't beat it until the GBA version came out.

[A n t r a x x]

More people need to try Four Swords, too.