The Legend of Zelda is going through a genuinely important moment in its history as a franchise right now, and there are all sorts of exciting releases coming out designed to mark the 40th anniversary of one of the longest-lived series in gaming. Nintendo has obviously taken the lead on those celebrations, with the Ocarina of Time Remake undoubtedly the headline act for most people.
The feature-length movie is also coming down the pipeline next year and that should be an entirely new medium for players to explore, while there are also plenty of third party releases coming to keep things interesting. Now, one of the most beloved games in the history of the series has made an unexpected return, and it could help you pass the time while we wait for the big release day in November.
Over on Twitter/X, the user DaniCorpHQ shared a post detailing the release of the English version of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past as a native PC port. It essentially functions as a reverse engineered clone of the original that reimpliments all parts of the SNES release, and its now fully playable from start to finish.
The complete download comes after the game was fully decompiled by tech-savvy developers, though you will need a copy of the ROM to extract game resources initially. After you have done so once, you shouldn’t need to do so after the first go round, making the whole thing a lot more convenient after some early legwork.
The developer also published a full list of additional features on the GitHub page for the project, where you can pick it up for yourself:
- Support for pixel shaders.
- Support for enhanced aspect ratios of 16:9 or 16:10.
- Higher quality world map.
- Support for MSU audio tracks.
- Secondary item slot on button X (Hold X in inventory to select).
- Switching current item with L/R keys.
This version of the game can also be made to work on the Nintendo Switch 2, though you will need to download additional open-source software, and have the technical know-how to get it all to run smoothly. The control scheme can also be entirely reconfigured in the ini file, and it supports the use of a game pad, as well as mouse and keyboard.
Projects like the one above are a great way to ensure the preservation, and encourage the resurgence of, older games in The Legend of Zelda series. Similar efforts are being made for earlier releases in other iconic franchises, bringing them back to the fore for an entirely new generation of fans who otherwise may not have thought to play them.
- Released
-
April 13, 1992
- ESRB
-
E For Everyone Due To Mild Violence
- Developer(s)
-
Nintendo EAD
