ZD Top 5 – A Link to the Past Items – Staff Picks

With just a few weeks to go before the launch of A Link Between Worlds, we’ve decided to make the newest top listing focus on the items from the games predecessor, A Link to the Past. Based on some constructive criticism from last week, we changed the structure ever so slightly for this week, with each listing followed by a brief description. Go ahead and make the jump to check out the staff’s picks.

Axle the Beast

5. Magic Hammer
4. Fire Rod
3. Magical Boomerang
2. Pegasus Boots
1. Bottles!!!

How can the Magic Hammer not make at least number 5? If nothing else, it succeeds at one thing: The best “pow” sound effect in gaming history when you smash pegs. The Fire Rod is just awesome, while the Magical Boomerang is like the normal Boomerang — it stuns everything and is the best item ever, well almost — except it practically goes across the entire screen. The Pegasus Boots let you bullrush everything and charge across the entire kingdom for maximum testosterone. And in what other Zelda game are bottles so overpowered? What better game than the game in which they debuted and are the most useful?

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Blake Ballard

5. 7th Crystal
4. Mirror Shield
3. Bottled Fairies
2. Hookshot
1. Bombos

It’s no secret that A Link To the Past is one of my all-time favorite videos games, so this list was exceptionally difficult for me to decide upon in a serious matter, so I decided to put a little humor in it. Although the 7th Crystal has no actual use other than breaking the seal to Ganon’s Tower… it’s Princess Zelda!! Seriously, who wouldn’t want to walk around with Princess Zelda in their back pocket?? The Mirror Shield… because getting shot sucks… and getting shot by lasers really sucks!! Stupid Beamos and  Laser Eyes. Bottled Fairies are great, because nobody likes to die in video games. Plus, if you run out of fairies, you can just go catch more. Essentially, you can live forever!! You could even make one pull double duty and have it heal your grandma as well… oh wait… that’s for a different list. 😉 The Hookshot is so versatile that it makes the Magical Boomerang almost completely useless. It stretches across the entire screen, kills/stuns minor enemies, retrieves items and latches onto things to pull you closer to them and occasionally over gaps. The only thing it doesn’t do?? Diagonal. Bah!! Finally, imagine that it’s 1992 and you’re a 12-year-old boy playing A Link To the Past and using the Bombos Medallion for the first time. Fire… explosions… BOOM!! Yeeeeaaaahhhh!!!! 🙂 🙂

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Brian Frost

5. Magic Mirror
4. Ice Rod
3. Fire Rod
2. Bombos Medallion
1. Bug Net

I consider the item roster in A Link to the Past to be one of my all time favorites, with the magic items dominating my list. The Bombos Medallion is my absolute favorite of the three, as I’m a huge fan of anything that explodes. The rods are simply awesome, and provide a far more epic way to kill basic enemies. The Magic Mirror has two important purposes, one of which makes for some cool puzzle solving in the overworld, and the other which simply makes life easier. But above all is the almighty and overpowered bug net, which is most certainly the superior way to destroy the evil Agahnim. This is, objectively speaking, the greatest item ever created.

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Davey Hughes

5. Quake Medallion
4. Ice Rod
3. Fire Rod
2. Bug Catching Net
1. Pegasus Boots

The Quake Medallion thunders with sheer power, and the rods both are handy as long as your magic meter are filled, but the two most memorable items for me in A Link to the Past were the Bug Catching Net and the Pegasus Boots. The Bug Catching Net is particularly interesting because I particularly remember the twirl for using the net, and because of its ability to redirect Aghanim’s beams. Of all the items in the game, however, I used the Pegasus Boots were by far the most- running around the Hyrule and the Dark World and learning paths where I could use the boots across multiple screens. I, for one, am particularly excited for their return in A Link Between Worlds, and I can already hear the sound of the shuffle as Link gets his feet moving.

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John

5. Flute
4. Bombos Medallion
3. Cane of Somaria
2. Hookshot
1. Bottled Fairies

I make it no secret that I am in actuality a terrible and reckless player when it comes to Zelda games. I often take little notice of my rapidly depleting heart meter when playing, and as a result often die an inordinate number of times in games simply because I don’t have the patience to dispatch whatever enemies are causing my repeated deaths in a certain area. A Link to the Past is no different; it makes no difference whether I’m fighting Keese or Stalfos or Ganon himself, I rely heavily on bottled fairies to make up for my lack of skill with a sword and at the same time save me the long, long process of working my way through whatever sickeningly easy, hand-holding dungeon I’d inevitably die in just because I’m too impatient to kill every single enemy in a room (even if it is sometimes mandatory to proceed). Otherwise I am a great fan of the multi-use Hookshot, I think the Bombos Medallion is quite fun to use (on occasion), and also find the Cane of Somaria to be a quirky, though not always useful item which I think with a little tweaking has the potential to become just as great as the Spinner from Twilight Princess. If only.

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Josh Zelinsky

5. Pegasus Boots
4. Magic Cape
3. Ice Rod
2. Fire Rod
1. Bombos Medallion

A Link to the Past is one of very few Zelda games where I often have trouble in various areas of the game, especially in the later parts of the Dark World. Thus, I tend to favor items that heavily use Magic and make the game easier for me, such as the Fire and Ice Rod. The Magic Cape was a great asset to defeating later bosses like Mothula and particularly Blind. The Bombos Medallion is my favorite in part because it destroys every enemy on the screen. More importantly it is my favorite because of the cool cutscene it shows when you use it, a scene that I enjoyed as well when it passed on to one of the my favorite LoZ games, Four Swords Adventures.

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Kaine Morrison

5. Pegasus Shoes
4. Magic Mirror / Moon Pearl
3. The Bottles / Magic Powder
2. HookShot
1. Master Sword version 3

Though not my first Zelda game, it is my favourite. I remember playing the game when I was 10. It was an incredibly easy game to begin with, but with the addition of so many items, it became a cake-walk. The Pegasus Shoes (or Pegasus Boots as they are now called) were always a fun item to use. I would dash into the guards every which way and then back again, just plowing through them. As for the Magic Mirror, I love the sound it makes when transporting between Realms. The Moon Pearl is essential to the Magic Mirror so I consider it part of the same item. Though I did enjoy being a Bunny. Finally, a way to escape Anti-Faeries, The Magic Powder. One sprinkle and you can grab them in a Bottle.  The HookShot is an amazing weapon. It Stuns some enemies, destroys others, Brings Hearts and Rupees to you and lets you escape arrows and bombs without damage. The final version of the Master Sword. I don’t know how to explain it, but it really does “feel” different when using it. It also sounds heavy when swung and the energy released when it shoots is unparalleled by any game since. But it always bothered me that the Master Sword as just the Master Sword is not the most powerful, and that it needs to be upgraded. May the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce!

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Mases Hagopian

5. Quake Medallion
4. Magical Boomerang
3. Ice Rod
2. Fire Rod
1. Master Sword

A Link to the Past was the first game to use what had become the more traditional Magic Meter found in many Zelda games and thus, had some amazing items that utilized it. I particularly liked the Medallions and Rods, as the list indicated, but I also really enjoyed the Master Sword and to this day, I think it had the best beam blade attack of any of the Zelda titles. It was rather depressing every time you got hit and didn’t have full power, preventing you from shooting that beam.