The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

The Legend of Zelda:
A Link to the Past
North American box art
DeveloperNintendo EAD
PublisherNintendo
DirectorTakashi Tezuka
ProducerShigeru Miyamoto
Programmers
  • Yasunari Soejima
  • Toshihiko Nakago
Artists
  • Masanao Arimoto
  • Tsuyoshi Watanabe
WriterKensuke Tanabe
ComposerKoji Kondo
SeriesThe Legend of Zelda
PlatformSuper Nintendo Entertainment System
Release
  • JP: November 21, 1991
  • NA: April 13, 1992
  • EU: September 24, 1992
GenreAction-adventure
ModeSingle-player

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is a 1991 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It is the third game in The Legend of Zelda series, following 1987's Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and is the first entry in the series to be released for the SNES.

The story is set many years before the events of the first two Zelda games. The player assumes the role of Link as he journeys to save Hyrule, defeat the demon king Ganon, and rescue the descendants of the Seven Sages. It returns to a top-down perspective similar to the original The Legend of Zelda, dropping the side-scrolling gameplay of The Adventure of Link. It also introduced series staples such as parallel worlds and items including the Master Sword.

A Link to the Past is considered among the greatest video games ever made, with particular praise for its presentation and innovative gameplay. It was ported to the Game Boy Advance as A Link to the Past and Four Swords in 2002, and had sold 6.5 million copies across both platforms by 2004. It was subsequently re-released on the Wii, Wii U, and New Nintendo 3DS via the Virtual Console, the Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo Classics service, and the Super NES Classic Edition. A sequel, A Link Between Worlds, was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013.