Incredible for its time and still holding up well, but I can't in good conscience still call it the best of 2D Zelda. To do so would be to sell the likes of Link Between Worlds and the Oracle games a bit too short, and Link to the Past a bit too long. Its dungeons have cool ideas but haven't quite reached their final forms. Link's sword swing feels adequate, but inferior to that of the games to follow and even to Zelda 1, at least to me. For better or for worse, Link to the Past began the redefinition of items in the Zelda franchise and with that redefinition brought both the potential of puzzles and the shackles linearity.
I've been a fan of the Legend of Zelda series for quite some time. I've never played many of the 2D Zelda games though, only like Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. So I figured it was time. And after a really long time, I have completed A Link to the Past! And it was a lot of fun at some points. The dungeon design was mostly good, especially in the final dungeon, and I really liked some of the songs, my favourites being the final battle theme and the shop theme. Something that really dragged the game down though, was the Skull Woods dungeon. I don't think I've ever been that frustrated at a game. It seemed like the dungeon was designed to drive me crazy with frustration. And well, it worked. Another thing that bugged me is that you sometimes get stuck on something and cannot advance until you have found a certain item. I've never liked this design philosophy. Its obvious purpose is to make you explore the overworld more, but if you dislike the overworld, you are not gonna want to explore it, and if you like it, you will do that anyways. It isolates players who dislike the overworld, or exploration. Exploration should only be used to give you optional upgrades in this kind of game, not to give you things required to beat the game. In all cases but one where this happened, I just looked up the answer on the internet because I really couldn't bother exploring. So, to summarize, momentarily great gameplay and some major annoyances are my thoughts on this game.
Has aged pretty well all things considered. The overworld design of this game still remains the best, but the dungeon design is immensely boring and repetitive, and there is just no life to the setting at all, just a bunch of connected roads to dungeons. But still, it's a good 2d dungeon crawler even now.
What is often considered one of the best games or even best Zelda games ever made...and I just don't like it. World and dungeon exploration aren't really that fun. Don't even find charm in the 16-bit graphics. A Link to the Past is a game I just see isn't really special anymore. It may started the Zelda formula we all know and love. But it's been improved upon and made even better in every subsequently game since.