In 2013 Nintendo released the follow up to The Legend of Zelda A Link To The Past on the 3DS called The Legend of Zelda Link Between Worlds. It's a direct Zelda sequel, something we don't often get and is set some millennia after the original events of Link to the Past. Like many games in the Zelda timeline, there are new direct descendants of Link and Zelda called... Link and Zelda and some of the original characters from Link to the Past appear that seem to never age, like the Elder Sahasrahla. The game features nearly the exact same overworld map as Link to the Past and goes into pretty good detail to recreate it just as we all remember but change certain details that would change if a couple hundred years passed since the original. Thing is though, it's not entirely clear from playing the game just how long have passed since the original events of the Link to the Past but it's so long that the original LTTP events is a kind of legend they tell each other and it doesn't seem to be on everyones mind until things happen that mirror the events in those legends.

And again, one good part of Link Between Worlds so far is how it ... Links... with the original Link to the Past. The game begins similarly to the original LTTP except this time you work for a Blacksmith and need to deliver a sword to one of the guards of Hyrule. Much like with LTTP you are thrown directly in to the game and need to stop the bad guy that isn't working for Ganon but you know.... more than likely totally working for Ganon. Hell he might BE Ganon but you know... no word on that yet.

Everything from the games top down style to the music and sound effects are directly influenced by the original Link to the Past. And since I consider Link to the Past to be one of the best games of all time, I think they made a good choice here. I'm only about an hour in but so far the games pacing, music and story are really well considered and are a "Nintendo top notch effort."

One of my hopes is that the vast catalog of 3DS, Wii & Wii U games get ported to the Switch so they can be enjoyed by a much larger audience but barring that, Link Between Worlds might be a reason to get a new 2DS or 3DS to play it alone. I mean, if you consider Link to the Past to be one of the best games of all time then why not play it's sequel? So far it's great but even if it doesn't live up to the original game in terms of greatness and I imagine it can't just hanging out in the world in a new way is well worth the time.