I love The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. Unfortunately, though I know it fairly well, I never bought the game. I’ve been looking forward to the GBA remake for quite some time, so I eagerly waited to play the game at the Cube Club, even though I had played it at E3.

I think the first thing I noted was how utterly FINISHED the game looked—so finished Nintendo secretly posted a release date of December 2nd on its site! Every little detail looked to be in place during the Cube Club, including the file system! The second thing I noticed was its name, now with a whopping TWO sub-titles. The name, according to the Cube Club control plaque (plus or minus an article perhaps) is The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: The Four Swords. It’s not really a big deal, but a name that complicated strikes me as funny.

The one-player game, a Link to the Past, looks just like the original. While many ports suffer from the GBA’s smaller screen, what I played of the Zelda remake had no problems thanks to its overhead perspective. And since the original game’s world was already designed with a scrolling screen in mind, there should be very few visibility issues compared to the Mario Advance series. As further proof of just how finished the game is, the Cube Club “demo” featured a brightness control on the main menu that many overlooked. The light setting washes the colors out a little more than the normal setting, but makes things easier to see in poorer lighting conditions. The darker mode makes the game’s colors a bit richer and is for when a good light source is present.

What little of the game I played seemed pretty darn accurate, with a few minor changes. The altered save feature looked fair to me. Players can save and quit wherever they want, but if they choose to continue from where they saved they’ll start at the beginning of that area with all the items they’ve already obtained. Admittedly, this could be used to collect rupees, bombs, etc. a little more easily, and the save feature might let you re-start from the beginning of harder-to-reach locations if Capcom chooses to do so, but it isn’t a “save state” setup that smart gamers could abuse. Zelda also features a handy sleep mode, though I personally wish Nintendo instead used temporary save states more often (like in Wario Land 2-4).

In the game itself, I discovered a new item just north of Kakariko Village: a sparkling rock that spewed out rupees when struck with a sword—an obvious way to make the game “easier.” I’m not too crazy about this, as it wasn’t exactly hard or tedious to find money in the SNES edition to begin with, but it isn’t an alteration of Mario Advance 2 proportions either. The control is tight, but I disagree with the button mapping. Select and Start’s functions have been reversed, probably to comply with the “standard” found in Yoshi’s Island. The map is now assigned to the L button and grab is now assigned to R. My real complaint is with the B and A buttons. Being an old school NES Zelda fan, I’d expect the sword to be assigned to A and the secondary items to B, but Capcom and Nintendo have done just the opposite. I’ll admit I adjusted soon enough, but a “classic” control scheme would have been nice for all the B-for-Boomerang fans out there. Maybe I just didn’t see the option, but otherwise gamers like me will have to make do with incorrect controls.

I was very, very happy with the music in the remake. While I’ll admit I’m not quite as familiar with the original’s instruments, what music I heard seemed authentic, and the rearrangements playing during the additional menus sounded fine. Nothing I heard was bad by any means (nor should it be with Capcom on the job) and while there may be problems with later songs, I have high hopes. I did notice one minor change: in a move that will sadden any die-hard Radio Trivia fan, music now accompanies the beginning’s rainfall that once stood alone so proudly. The effects sounded accurate as well, but there is one huge negative in this category: voices. That’s right—Nintendo just couldn’t leave Zelda alone. While they may work in the 3D games, 2D Zeldas have a LOT more sword swinging, and “Ha-ha-ha-hyah-ha-ayah-ha-hai-heeyah” can get old REALLY fast. Anyone who got annoyed with Mario Advance can consider this little feature a huge setback.

Though the game included the multiplayer Four Swords, since there were no two GBAs hooked up together at the LA Cube Club I could only watch its introductory sequence. While nothing amazing, it introduces a new, shadowy villain that (naturally) captures Zelda as she and Link investigate the recent deterioration of the legendary Four Sword seal. With the instruction of three helpful fairies (in the style of the N64 games), Link grabs the unprotected sword, which splits our hero into four separate entities, who each resemble Link’s GameCube incarnation. Sadly, that’s all many will see of the multiplayer game, since the mode only supports multi-cart play. Anyone buying the game for Four Swords better be sure they know someone else who’s also buying the cart.

So far The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: The Four Swords looks to be worth pursuing, as long as you can stand Link’s voice over and over and over again. I already have a few quibbles with the details, but Mr. Okamoto has once again done a solid job with the Zelda franchise. I know I’ll be picking the title up once December comes.