Why ALttP?

[43ForceGems]

Just a short little post here.
Why is it called A Link to the Past? When you go into the Dark Word, you're just going into another world, it's not into the past.
I've always wondered.

And your insights would be....

 

[Seth]

In Japan it is called Triforce of the Gods.
I think they worried about religious folk being offended, so they changed it in the U.S.
As far as why they chose "A Link to the Past", it was intended to be a prequel to LoZ I believe, so I always assumed to title kind of alluded to that. Plus it is the first game to really talk about the history of Ganon and him getting the Triforce.

 

[Steve]

In Japan, the game was named "Triforce of the Gods", however Nintendo did not want to offend religious people, so they chose A Link to the Past as it was made to be a prequel to the two previous games (hence Past).

 

[Ikana]

In Japan it is called Triforce of the Gods.
I think they worried about religious folk being offended, so they changed it in the U.S.
As far as why they chose "A Link to the Past", it was intended to be a prequel to LoZ I believe, so I always assumed to title kind of alluded to that. Plus it is the first game to really talk about the history of Ganon and him getting the Triforce.

I never knew that it was called Triforce of the Gods in Japan.No wonder I couldn't figure out why it was called Alttp in English.People get offended with the most silly things

 

[athenian200]

A Link to the Past. I think they called it that just for the sake of making a pun.

Also, since AoL was such a radical departure from LoZ, the game may well have been called "to the past" to emphasize that it had it's origins in LoZ (the past) rather than the more recent AoL. Basically, to let you know they were largely going back to their previous Zelda formula. IOW, they may have meant OUR past rather than Hyrule's past.

So I guess it was a combination of a desire to make that Link pun, and the desire to emphasize that the game was connected to LoZ rather than AoL (since a lot of people didn't like AoL).

They might well have originally planned to bill it as an updated version of LoZ, so they might have considered titles like "Super Legend of Zelda," or "The Legend of Zelda: A Blast from the Past." When those names were rejected because they wanted something a little more serious-sounding and relevant to the series, they just decided to be clever and go, "Fine. How about A Link to the Past? That does have his name in it, and sounds fairly serious." Then everyone laughs, thinks its catchy, and it sticks.

 

[Seth]

Actually, I think it is kind of a misconception that a lot of people didn't like AoL, while now some people call it the "black sheep" of the series, at the time it came out it was hugely popular. It won 1988 game of the year by Nintendo Power magazine.

 

[GaFF]

I still dun like it lol.

A Link to the Past is something that would begin a different Link, probably the link that is connected to the first two games, or that's what Nintendo planned. It also served as somewhat of a draft for Ocarina of Time as well, different elements of course, but exploring different ways of operating the game. It brought in a lot of new things and even if I haven't finished it I do enjoy it.

 

[celibi88]

i think they put words in a hat and picked out at random until they got something cool XD

 

[Brandikins]

It is called A Link to the Past because:

The Light World and Dark World are connected. The Light World is the PAST. The Mirror makes a LINK between the two. Link is the name of the main character. That's all.

 

[Master Kokiri 9]

Well, as said above, in Japan it was called Triforce of the Gods but they changed it when it came here as not to offend religious folk.

So what did they do? They decided to put in a pun: Link is the name of the main character whom you play as and the Past is what the plot of the game relies heavily on *cough* Seal War *cough cough*.

 

[ChargewithSword]

Another thing that influenced Alttp's name was that it was said to take place before either LOZ or Aol. So religous folk weren't the only thing involved at least.

 

[Gooey Fame]

i think they put words in a hat and picked out at random until they got something cool XD

They actually threw darts at a wall with words on it.