~ 3DS Homebrew Journey - Game 2 ~

Right before playing A Link Between Worlds (2013), I gave A Link to the Past (1991) a shot, which gave some good first impressions. I will most certainly complete that game too in the time coming. What surprised me when I played this game though was how similar everything felt. Same overworld and a similar opening. Whilst I learned it was in fact "something of a sequel", it still felt kinda cheap re-using the exact same map. It being an old 2D map shows in a few ways. It's a little awkward at times to navigate through the world because many places feel cramped. I really have nothing against them re-using the map since it's a sequel, but I think the overall atmosphere could've been improved if the developers took some liberties in changing a few things up.

The controls feel smooth and snappy and it helps a lot that it runs in a much-appreciated 60fps, though with minor stuttering. One-on-one encounters with the overworld enemies feel quite bad unless you have any Ravio items since you just spam sword attacks in hopes of landing a hit. The main gimmick of this game with Link being able to go into walls is brilliant and works great in both discovering hidden items and collectibles. I only wish it had a bigger impact on dungeon puzzle-solving instead of Ravio items.

In terms of story, this game hit me in the feels. A predictable story isn't always a bad one and it's shown here. I can't say how good the 3D effect was during gameplay but during cutscenes, the 3D effect looked amazing. It almost felt like I got sucked into the screen.

Dungeons were overall great but I ended up with the two darkest ones at the end. I kinda despise dark environments in games. I think it's cool that you can tackle the dungeons in any order you want (if you have the equipment needed that is). I felt like I picked quite a bad order since I felt underpowered most of the time. I got more powerful by the end and could handle the later dungeons with zero hardship.

At this point, I can't expect to be disappointed by any Zelda game. Nintendo nails both 2D and 3D Zelda, not maybe to the same extent, but still. I can't wait to see how it compares with A Link to the Past whenever I get around to completing that game!