Collection essentials #524: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past / Four Swords (GBA)

Since the Game Boy Advance was roughly equivalent in power to the Super Nintendo, it’s no surprise that a number of classic titles from the latter would be ported to the former, made portable for the first time. Link to the Past was an obvious candidate, being one of the most beloved SNES titles. It’s one of my favorite games, and you can read a lot more of my thoughts and feelings about it here.

Are there any differences between the original Link to the Past and this iteration? It’s a pretty faithful port, but yes, there are. With GBA ports of SNES games, you can typically expect the graphics and audio to be just a little bit worse, and that’s roughly the case here. For whatever it’s worth, the game is now in widescreen. And because the GBA has two fewer face buttons, some actions previously done with face buttons now have to be done with shoulder buttons instead. Also, Nintendo added in sound clips of Link shouting from Ocarina of Time, so you’ll now hear that whenever you attack. 

But wait, there’s more! There’s basically an entirely new game included on this cartridge, exclusively for multiplayer play with the Game Boy Advance Link Cable. In Zelda: Four Swords, you and up to three friends work on a team to defeat a brand new antagonist, a sorcerer named Vaati. But despite being on a team, you’re still competing to see who can get the most rupees. It’s a pretty neat concept, but, erm…I’ve still never gotten friends together to play Four Swords with me, so I can’t give much of an opinion on it.

One cool thing is that, upon clearing Four Swords, you can gain access to a brand new optional dungeon in Link to the Past. That’s one that I still haven’t played, so again, I don’t really have anything to say about it, other than it’s cool that they put such a thing in the game.

While I’ve always been a huge SNES fan, getting these SNES ports on the GBA wasn’t a big priority for me during the console’s lifespan. I already owned classic games on the SNES and played them to death, and while it’s pretty neat to play them on the go, my preference was to get brand new games that were only available on the GBA. So I didn’t wind up getting this version of Link to the Past until much later. Nowadays, though, I do enjoy taking it with me for casual play on the go every once in a while if I’m taking a day trip with family or something like that. 

You can currently play this game free if you have the Switch Online Expansion Pack, and if you’re curious about Four Swords, that may be a pretty convenient way to play it since you can connect with other players online and thus don’t have to buy a GBA Link Cable or be in the same room.

Since Link to the Past is one of my favorite games, this version is definitely good enough to be a collection essential. And the fact that they made Four Swords along with it is also really cool, which perhaps I will actually get the chance to play with a few others someday.