Honestly, if you grew up in the early 2000s, you probably remember the sheer confusion of trying to play Zelda with your friends. It was a mess. Cables everywhere. Four people huddled around a tiny screen. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords for the Game Boy Advance was such a bizarre experiment, and honestly, we haven't seen anything quite like it since. Most people remember A Link to the Past—the SNES masterpiece that basically defined the 16-bit era—but the "Four Swords" portion of that GBA cartridge was this weird, experimental multiplayer nugget that Nintendo just sort of tacked on.
It worked. Sorta.
The game hit shelves in December 2002. It wasn't just a port of the SNES classic; it was a Trojan horse for Nintendo’s obsession with connectivity. They wanted everyone to buy a GBA Link Cable. They wanted us to link up. And while A Link to the Past remains a flawless single-player experience, Four Swords was this chaotic, friendship-ending gauntlet that forced players to work together while simultaneously stabbing each other in the back for Rupees.
The GBA Port: More Than Just a Reskin
When people talk about Zelda Link to the Past Four Swords, they usually focus on the "Four Swords" part because it was new. But we need to talk about the port itself. It wasn't a 1:1 copy of the Super Nintendo version. Capcom’s flagship development studio, Flagship, actually handled the heavy lifting here.
There were changes. Link screams now. Thanks to the voice of Sachi Matsumoto (who voiced Toon Link in The Wind Waker), the GBA version of Link yelps and grunts every time he swings his sword. It's polarizing. Some fans hate it. Others feel it adds a bit of life to the 1991 sprites.
They also added a whole new dungeon. If you beat both A Link to the Past and Four Swords, you unlocked the Palace of the Four Sword. This wasn't some easy bonus level. It was brutal. It featured four versions of Link as a boss fight, and it basically served as the "true" ending for the completionists who actually had enough friends with GBAs to finish the multiplayer side.
The Chaos of Multiplayer Zelda
Let’s get into the meat of it. Four Swords was the first time Nintendo let us play Zelda with friends. It was a revelation. It was also a nightmare. You needed two to four players, each with their own GBA and their own copy of the game. Plus the cables.
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The gameplay was fast. Unlike the methodical pace of the main game, Four Swords felt like an arcade brawler mixed with puzzle-solving. You’d enter a stage—The Sea of Trees, Talus Cave, or Death Mountain—and the game would randomly generate the layout. It was a "rogue-lite" before that was even a cool buzzword. You had to work together to pull giant levers or move massive blocks, but the moment a chest appeared, it was every Link for himself.
The Rupee system was the real genius. At the end of each stage, the game tallied up who collected the most money. The winner got a medal. Get enough medals, and you'd unlock the keys to Vaati's Palace. This created a toxic, hilarious dynamic where you'd throw your "friend" into a pit just so you could grab a Silver Rupee first. It wasn't just about saving Zelda; it was about being the richest hero in the room.
Why Vaati Matters
This game introduced Vaati. He’s not Ganon. He’s not some puppet of Ganon. He was a completely new antagonist—a Wind Mage who turned people into stone and kidnapped Zelda for his own selfish reasons.
Vaati’s inclusion was a signal. It showed that Zelda could exist outside of the Triforce-Ganon-Master Sword cycle. Eiji Aonuma and the team at Flagship (led by Hidemaro Fujibayashi, who eventually directed Breath of the Wild) were clearly testing the waters. They wanted to see if the fans would accept a different kind of Zelda lore. And we did. Vaati went on to be the primary villain in The Minish Cap and Four Swords Adventures on the GameCube.
The Technical Nightmare of 2002
Looking back, the barrier to entry for Zelda Link to the Past Four Swords was insane. To play the multiplayer, you basically needed $400 worth of hardware in the room.
- Four Game Boy Advances.
- Four copies of the cartridge.
- Three Link Cables (or those weird hub things).
If one person’s cable jiggled too much? Game over. Connection lost. Total frustration. This is why so many people have "played" A Link to the Past on GBA but have never actually touched Four Swords. It was a logistical hurdle that felt more like a chore than a hobby.
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But for those who did it? It was magic. There was something about the frantic shouting—"Pick up the bomb!" "Move to the left!" "STOP STEALING MY HEARTS!"—that captured the essence of couch co-op before online gaming took over. It was tactile. It was social. It was Nintendo at its most stubborn and creative.
Subtle Changes in the Main Game
The GBA version of A Link to the Past changed things people often forget.
The shovel was no longer a permanent item; it became a temporary one you'd use in a minigame. The Chris Houlihan room (the famous secret room from the SNES version) was basically scrubbed or made incredibly difficult to find because of how the GBA handled the internal clock and memory.
They also fixed some translation errors. The "Wise Men" became the "Sages," bringing the lore more in line with Ocarina of Time. They were trying to unify the timeline, even back then. It was a subtle bridge between the 2D past and the 3D future of the franchise.
The Legacy of the Master Sword
One of the coolest features was the interaction between the two games. If you progressed in Four Swords, you could unlock the Riddle Quest in A Link to the Past. An NPC in the village would give you riddles, and solving them unlocked the "Hurricane Spin"—a massive, screen-clearing sword attack that made Link feel like a god.
This was Nintendo's way of rewarding "connectivity." They wanted you to engage with both halves of the cartridge. If you were a solo player, you were literally locked out of content. By today's standards, that would be called "gated content" or "shitty DLC practices," but in 2002, it felt like a secret club.
Why You Should Care Today
You can't really play the original Zelda Link to the Past Four Swords the way it was intended anymore. Not easily. Nintendo released a "Anniversary Edition" for the DSi and 3DS back in 2011 which added a single-player mode where you controlled two Links at once. It was a great fix, but they pulled it from the eShop shortly after. It's now "digital rarities" territory.
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If you have a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription, you can play the GBA version. And thankfully, the Switch handles the "Link Cable" stuff wirelessly. You can finally play the multiplayer without needing a degree in cable management.
Is it still good? Yeah. The pixel art is gorgeous. The colors were actually brightened for the original GBA release (since the first GBA didn't have a backlight, the developers had to wash out the colors so you could actually see what was happening). On a modern OLED screen, it looks incredibly vibrant.
Misconceptions About the Timeline
A lot of people think Four Swords is a sequel to A Link to the Past. It's not.
Chronologically, Four Swords takes place way before the events of A Link to the Past. It's part of the "Force Era." A Link to the Past is part of the "Decline of Hyrule" timeline. They were put on the same cartridge because of marketing, not because of story.
It’s confusing. Nintendo’s official timeline (Hyrule Historia) places them centuries apart. The Link in Four Swords is not the same Link who wakes up to his uncle leaving into the rain. They are different heroes, different eras, same green hat.
Actionable Insights for Players
If you’re looking to dive back into this classic, here’s how to make the most of it:
- Play on Switch for the "True" Experience: If you want to play Four Swords multiplayer, use the Switch Online app. It simulates the link cable perfectly and saves you a fortune in vintage hardware.
- Don't Ignore the Riddles: If you’re playing the GBA version of A Link to the Past, make sure you talk to the lumberjacks and the kid in Kakariko Village. The Hurricane Spin is genuinely worth the effort—it changes the combat dynamic entirely.
- The Sound Fix: If the "Yelping Link" drives you crazy, there are fan-made patches (if you're into the emulation scene) that restore the original SNES sound effects while keeping the GBA's extra content.
- Finish Four Swords First: If you can, beat the multiplayer side early. Unlocking the Palace of the Four Sword provides the most challenging boss rush in 2D Zelda history.
The game remains a fascinating relic. It’s a testament to a time when Nintendo was willing to take their biggest IP and slice it in half just to see if people would play together. It’s frustrating, brilliant, and arguably the most unique entry in the entire Zelda library.