The Legend Of Zelda - Ranking Every Gameplay Gimmick

Nowadays alternate versions of Hyrule are common, but 1991’s A Link to the Past was the first entry in the series to explore this possibility. The lush Hyrule we know and love existed in the Light World whilst a second version, the Dark World, was its black mirror.

The quaint Kakariko Village became the dubious Village of Outcasts in this corrupted version of Hyrule, where all the green grass had died and breakable rocks were replaced with skulls. Travelling between the worlds allowed players to take advantage of differences between the two, with a dead end in one version of Hyrule becoming a secret passageway in the other.

Later Zelda games took the parallel world mechanic and did all kinds of interesting things with it, with Ocarina of Time featuring different timelines and Majora’s Mask completely existing in its own dimension. Skyward Sword even featured an entire dungeon built around items which allowed Link and the world around him to temporarily return to the past.

Other games may have perfected this mechanic but it was Link to the Past that introduced it. Along with the game’s tight gameplay and level design, this allowed it to become a series (and genre) defining title.