Tips For Playing The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Play The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Have you ever had someone wink at you, and you have no idea what the wink signifies? That’s annoying. This game could have been called A Wink Between Worlds.

Think flat.

Early on in A Link Between Worlds, our hero gains the ability to transform himself into a piece of mobile wall art. Nintendo didn’t just throw that mechanic in for a laugh. Use it.

It’s easy to get washed up in all the nostalgia (if you followed that first tip), getting into the mindset that this is merely a modernized take on A Link to the Past, and that any problem can be solved through application of specialized items or swordplay. That’s not the case, and the sooner you embrace the fact that there’s much more to going flat than just hopping between worlds, the better your game will go.

If you find yourself stuck, stick yourself to the wall.

Don’t be afraid of your freedom.

Where other Zelda games give you objectives one at a time, A Link Between Worlds delivers them in bunches. It’s not “Go to the Sand Temple and rescue that one guy”, it’s “All these guys need saving in these various spots, let us know when you’re done.”

As long as you’ve got the right tools, the whole of Hyrule and Lorule are your dual-sided oyster, and that freedom extends well beyond the main quest. There are secrets hidden everywhere in this game, from little critters you have to collect in order to upgrade your weapons, to subtle homages to Zelda games of yesteryear.

Between the power to go flat and the ready availability of items, there is nowhere your little pointed-headed adventurer can’t go, so go everywhere.

Take your time.

Yes, the descendants of the Seven Sages need saving, but they’re not going anywhere. Those of you really into role-playing might balk at the idea of leaving people in peril while you play a mini-game or spend a half-hour jumping off cliffs holding chickens, trying to fly, but the game is really fine with it. That’s why it’s open — they want you to screw around.

Don’t forget about fast travel.

Link’s witchy friend Irene has nothing better to do than ferry him back and forth between checkpoints scattered across the world map. It’s what she lives for — her reason for being. Don’t you forget about her.

Save often.

And while we’re on the subject of checkpoints, the little bird-themed weather vanes are more than just stops on the Little Witch Express. They’re the places you go when you want the game to remember to dungeon you just explored is a fully-explored dungeon, or the item you just farmed 1,200 rupees to buy is indeed yours. They will shake vehemently if you’ve not saved in a while. Whisper your adventures to them, or risk losing a lot of progress, as I might have done during the hours leading up to my review, dammit.

Talk to everybody.

Everyone in A Link Between Words has something to say. Not all of it is Hyrule-shatteringly important, but barely any of it is mere fluff. Along with hints on how to tackle problems or discover secret areas, clever throwbacks abound, and not just to A Link to the Past. That’s all I’m going to say.

Renting sucks. Farm rupees.

Rather than farming items like the Boomerang, Bombs and Hookshot from sequential dungeons, A Link Between Worlds introduces players to Ravio, a bunny-hatted character who takes up residence in your home and transforms it into a store. He has all the items you’ll need to take on the game’s dungeons, and will gladly rent them to you for a small fee. It’s convenient, until you meet that one dungeon boss that keeps killing you, and you have to keep going back to the store to re-rent the item needed to take it down.

Screw that noise. Farm rupees and buy that business outright. Cut bushes, kill baddies, find spots in dungeons that give a lot of cash and replay them over and over again — anything to make sure the items on your person remain on your person in the event of an untimely death.

Tough boss fight? Don’t forget what got you there.

This one’s for the Zelda newbies. You know that special item you had to use to enter the dungeon? Did you have to cross a chasm with the Hookshot, or maybe blow up a barrier with bombs? Keep those in mind when you get to the dungeon boss. I’m just saying.

Get all of the treasures. Especially the big ones.

Every dungeon has a map. Every dungeon has a compass, which reveals treasure locations on that map. Of course you want to open every one of them — you’ll need their precious keys to open dungeon doors, and their rupees to pay off Ravio.

But if you see a treasure chest that’s larger than the others, drop everything and open that bad boy. It might just be the key to the dungeon’s boss chamber. It could be a large amount of rupees. Or it could be the items needed to upgrade your weapons and armor. You’ll really want to upgrade your weapons and armor — they make all the difference in the game’s climactic battle.

Don’t sweat the easy — Hero Mode comes next.

One of my only criticisms of A Link Between Worlds was how easy combat is. Aside from a couple of nasty boss fights, the game’s battles were all relatively easy-peasy.

Well don’t worry — once the credits roll you’ll be able to start a new game in Hero Mode, where the enemies dole out four times as much damage. As Jason Schreier put it, it’s “hard as heck.” That’s plenty hard.

Hopefully these tips will help you get the most out of your return trip to Hyrule, and if this isn’t a return trip to Hyrule for you, see tip one.