It was a weird time for Nintendo. The 3DS was finally finding its footing, and everyone was clamoring for nostalgia. Then, in 2013, we got The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Honestly, it felt like a gamble. Making a direct sequel to A Link to the Past—arguably the most sacred cow in the entire franchise—seemed like a recipe for disaster. How do you follow up on perfection without just making a cheap imitation?
You don't. You break the rules instead.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds didn't just revisit the map of 16-bit Hyrule. It fundamentally dismantled how a Zelda game is supposed to function. It ditched the linear progression that had defined the series since the early 90s and told players, "Go wherever you want. Die however you want." It was a breath of fresh air that smelled like old pixels and new ideas.
The Wall-Merging Mechanic is Pure Genius
Most Zelda gimmicks are just that—gimmicks. You use the wolf form in Twilight Princess because the game forces you to. You sail the boat in Wind Waker because you have to get to the next island. But the painting mechanic in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds? That’s different. It's a perspective shift.
When Link merges into a wall, the entire world transforms from a 3D space into a 2D plane. It’s a literal meta-commentary on the series' history. Suddenly, a gap that was too wide to jump becomes a path you can simply walk across as a drawing. It rewards players for looking at the environment differently. You aren't just looking for cracked walls; you're looking at the architecture of the dungeon itself.
This mechanic also solved the "Top-Down Problem." In older games, height was always a bit finicky to represent. Here, the 3D effect of the 3DS (which, let’s be real, most of us turned off eventually) actually served a purpose. Seeing the depth between floors made the wall-merging feel tactile. It felt like you were cheating the game's physics, which is the best feeling a player can have.
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Ravio and the Death of the Dungeon Order
Let’s talk about Ravio. That purple-hooded coward who moves into your house and starts charging you rent for your own items. At first, he’s annoying. But his shop is the smartest thing Nintendo ever did to the Zelda formula before Breath of the Wild arrived.
By letting you rent or buy the Hookshot, Fire Rod, and Bombs right out of the gate, the developers killed the "linear dungeon" trope. In every other game, you go to Dungeon A to get Item B so you can unlock Dungeon C. In The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, the world is wide open. Want to do the Thieves' Hideout first? Go for it. Feel like tackling the Ice Ruins? Good luck, but the game won't stop you.
This freedom came with a price: if you die, Ravio’s little bird minion, Sheerow, comes and takes all your rented gear back. It added stakes. Real stakes. For the first time in years, I actually cared about my hearts because losing them meant a long trek back to Link’s house to shell out more Rupees. It made the economy of Hyrule actually matter. Usually, you end a Zelda game with 999 Rupees and nothing to spend them on. Here, you’re constantly grinding for cash to finally buy that Bow so you don’t have to rent it anymore.
Lorule is Better Than the Dark World
Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. People love the Dark World from the SNES era, but Lorule is objectively more interesting from a narrative standpoint. It’s not just a "evil version" of Hyrule. It’s a fallen version.
Princess Hilda and Ravio are mirrors of Zelda and Link, but they aren't carbon copies. Hilda is desperate. She’s watching her kingdom crumble because they made the catastrophic decision to destroy their own Triforce to end the wars it caused. It's a tragic irony that makes the ending of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds hit way harder than most games in the series.
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The music helps too. The Lorule Field theme is an absolute banger. It takes the iconic Zelda march and twists it into something frantic and melancholic. It perfectly captures the vibe of a world that is literally breaking apart at the seams. You can see the cracks in the ground, the floating islands of rock, and the sense of hopelessness in the NPCs. It’s dark, but in a way that feels earned, not edgy.
Why the "Zelda Cycle" Doesn't Apply Here
There’s this thing called the "Zelda Cycle" where fans hate the newest game, love the previous one, and claim the one from ten years ago is a masterpiece. We saw it with Skyward Sword, and we're seeing it with Tears of the Kingdom. But A Link Between Worlds somehow escaped this.
Maybe it’s because it’s a handheld title. Handheld Zeldas are often treated like B-sides, but this one has the production value of a flagship console release. It runs at a butter-smooth 60 frames per second—something even Breath of the Wild struggles with. This frame rate makes the combat feel snappy. When you swing the Master Sword, it’s instant. There’s no lag, no sluggishness. It’s the peak of 2D combat.
The Difficulty Debate
If there is one valid criticism, it’s that the game can be a bit easy if you’re a veteran. Once you upgrade your armor and get the Master Sword Level 3, Link becomes a god. Even the bosses, which are brilliantly designed, don’t put up much of a fight if you have a bottle full of fairies.
However, Hero Mode fixes this. It’s available after you beat the game once (which is a bit of a bummer—it should have been there from the start). In Hero Mode, you take quadruple damage. Suddenly, those cute little soldiers in Hyrule Castle can one-shot you. It forces you to actually use the wall-merging for defense, not just puzzle-solving.
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Small Details You Probably Missed
The game is packed with tiny nods to the wider lore that most people blow past.
- The Portraits: The Seven Sages you rescue are all descendants or counterparts of characters we know. Seeing Gulley or Rosso trapped in a frame is surprisingly unsettling.
- The StreetPass Battle: The Shadow Link system was ahead of its time. Building a "loadout" for your Link and sending him out to fight other players was a fun way to earn medals and test your combat skills.
- The Milk Bar: The musicians in Kakariko Village will play acoustic versions of classic Zelda tunes if you pay them. It’s a small touch, but it adds so much soul to the world.
- The Octopus: Mother Maiamai and her 100 missing "babies" (which look like weird little sea urchins) is the best collectible quest in the series. Why? Because the rewards actually matter. Every 10 you find lets you upgrade an item to its "Nice" version. A "Nice" Fire Rod is basically a portable volcano.
The Legacy of the Rental System
A lot of people don't realize that without The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, we wouldn't have Breath of the Wild. This was Nintendo's "test kitchen" for non-linear gameplay. They wanted to see if players would get lost or frustrated if they weren't told exactly where to go.
The result was a resounding "no." Players loved the agency. They loved the feeling of looking at a map and deciding their own fate. This game proved that the "Zelda DNA" wasn't tied to a specific sequence of events, but to the feeling of discovery. It gave Eiji Aonuma and the team the confidence to go full "open air" with the Nintendo Switch era.
How to play it today
If you’re looking to play it now, you’re basically stuck with the original 3DS hardware or a 2DS. Since the 3DS eShop closed, physical copies have started to creep up in price, but they’re still relatively affordable compared to some of the rarer DS titles.
Is it worth tracking down a 3DS for? Absolutely. It’s one of the few games on the system that actually feels like it was built from the ground up to utilize every feature of the hardware without feeling like a tech demo.
Actionable Tips for New Players
If you're picking this up for the first time, keep these things in mind:
- Prioritize the Blue Mail: You can find it in the Swamp Palace in Lorule. It cuts damage in half. In this game, defense is way more important than offense early on.
- Don't buy everything at once: Focus on buying the Bow and the Hookshot first. Most of the other items can be rented for a long time as long as you play carefully.
- Explore the cracks: Whenever you see a glowing rift in a wall, use it. There are often hidden chests or Maiamais tucked away in tiny corners of Lorule that you can only reach by merging in Hyrule.
- Talk to the NPCs: Unlike some modern games where NPCs just repeat the same line, the characters in Kakariko and the Thieves' Town actually change their dialogue as the world changes. It helps with the immersion.
- Get the Pegasus Boots: You have to sneak up on the Shady Guy in Kakariko Village by merging into the wall behind him. If you don't do this early, travel is going to be a slog.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds stands as a masterclass in how to respect the past while sprinting toward the future. It’s a game that understands why we loved the 16-bit era but isn't afraid to fix the parts of it that were clunky. It’s fast, it’s smart, and it’s arguably the most "fun" the series has ever been in a 2D format. If you haven't played it since 2013, it’s time for a replay. It holds up better than you remember.