The jump from The Legend of Zelda on the NES to A Link to the Past on the SNES may appear severe but, notwithstanding the impressive expansions and additions, the formula remains the same, as too the amount of arbitrary difficulty (more often of repetitive backtracking) and obtuse secrets. This sequel benefits, however, from a less necessary requirement of many of these secrets, particularly heart pieces. Nevertheless, these two games are so much alike despite tremendous differences that it is easy to overlook how little Nintendo has improved upon what Zelda II cemented per its focus on better combat (A Link to the Path hardly excels except in an ease and maneuverability lacking in the 1986 game) tied to its exploration of dungeons, overworld, and secrets. Neither games, unlike Zelda II, represent in their influential nature an accomplishment of design benefitting mode of difficulty, sense of pride, or a developed world worth investigating, for the more a player enters the Hyrule of A Link to the Past the more the player must play through barely differentiated areas, people, and enemies; Zelda II suffers from a technological gap to its SNES sequel while still existing as a truer world to suffer and endure through because the imagination of the player exists as a greater asset than any art asset fleshed out in A Link to the Past as representative of what Zelda II could only imply. This is not to say A Link to the Past is bad by any means. The main point is that this 1991 game still maintains a significant link to a flawed 1986 past.