The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォース (Zeruda no Densetsu: Kamigami no Toraifōsu)SNES, Game Boy Advance, Wii, Switch +21991

  1. JP1991
  2. NA1992
  3. EU1992
  4. RU—

In Japan the game is called Zelda no Densetsu: Kamigami no Triforce, or 'Triforce of the Gods'; everywhere else it is A Link to the Past. The easiest legal way to play it today is Nintendo Switch Online, which carries both the SNES original and the Game Boy Advance version, A Link to the Past and Four Swords.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is an action-adventure game made by Nintendo EAD. It came out for the Super Famicom in Japan on November 21, 1991, and reached North America on April 13, 1992. Takashi Tezuka directed it, Shigeru Miyamoto produced it and Koji Kondo wrote the music. Development started in 1988 as an NES project and moved to the Super Famicom about a year later.

It was the first Zelda game to let Link travel between two parallel worlds, the Light World and the Dark World. To make room for both, the team used an 8-megabit cartridge, twice the usual 4 megabits of the time, and stored the Dark World as an overlay of the Light World.

The Japanese subtitle was dropped in the West along with other religious references. The game returned on Game Boy Advance as A Link to the Past and Four Swords, and its direct sequel, A Link Between Worlds, arrived on the Nintendo 3DS in November 2013.12

Names and releases

RegionTitle on the boxPlatformDatePublisherSrc
NA The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the PastA French-language version was released in Canada SNES Apr 13, 1992 Nintendo 1
NA The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four SwordsWikipedia infobox says 2 December, body text says 3 December Game Boy Advance Dec 2, 2002 Nintendo 3
NA The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the PastVirtual Console Wii Jan 22, 2007 Nintendo 2
JP ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォースZeruda no Densetsu: Kamigami no Toraifōsu SNES Nov 21, 1991 Nintendo 1
EU The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the PastFrench and German versions use their own dialogue font (TCRF) SNES Sep 24, 1992 Nintendo 1
EU The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the PastSpanish edition distributed by Erbe Software SNES January 1993 Erbe Software 4
JP ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォースSatellaview re-broadcast began Other Mar 2, 1997 Nintendo 1
JP ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォース&4つの剣Zeruda no Densetsu: Kamigami no Toraifōsu ando Yotsu no Tsurugi Game Boy Advance Mar 14, 2003 Nintendo 3
EU The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords Game Boy Advance Mar 28, 2003 Nintendo 3
JP ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォースVirtual Console Wii Dec 2, 2006 Nintendo 2
EU The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the PastVirtual Console Wii Mar 23, 2007 Nintendo 2
WW The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the PastNintendo Switch Online (SNES library) Switch Sep 5, 2019 Nintendo 5
WW The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four SwordsNintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack (GBA library) Switch Jun 18, 2024 Nintendo 5

Also known as: ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォース JP6Zelda no Densetsu: Kamigami no Triforce JP1The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords WW3ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォース&4つの剣 JP3Легенда о Зельде: Трифорс Богов RU2

Box art by region

  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past box art, North America release
    NA The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past box art, Europe release
    EU The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  • ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォース box art, Japan release
    JP ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォース

Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.

Version differences

  • TextSNES (NA)SNES (EU)

    Nintendo of America stripped religious references from the English release: the subtitle 'Triforce of the Gods' became 'A Link to the Past', the priest Agahnim became a wizard, and the Hylian script, based on hieroglyphs with religious meaning, was redrawn.1

  • CensorshipSNES (NA)SNES (EU)

    The Eastern Palace emblem, a Star of David in the Japanese version, was replaced in the English releases, and the ending says 'Sage' where the original says 'Priest'.7

  • GameplaySNES (JP)SNES (NA)SNES (EU)

    The Ether medallion destroys Gibdos in the Japanese version but only freezes them in the US and European ones. Japanese file names can be four characters long, English ones six.7

All differences (6)

Translations

  • English Official

    Nintendo of America1992SNES · Japanese versionReleased · complete

    The original English localization by Nintendo of America, which removed the game's religious references.1

  • English Official

    Nintendo2002Game Boy Advance · Japanese versionReleased · complete

    The 2002 GBA release has a revised English translation that stays closer to the Japanese, for example 'Sages' instead of 'Wise Men'.8

  • German Official

    Nintendo1992SNES · English versionReleased · complete

    A German version was released for the European SNES.7

  • French Official

    Nintendo1992SNES · English versionReleased · complete

    French versions were sold in Canada and Europe, with a dialogue font of their own.7

Where to play legally today

  • Nintendo Switch Online Subscription

    The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

    SNES version

    Checked: 2026-10-135nintendo.com

  • Nintendo Switch Online Subscription

    The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords

    GBA version

    Checked: 2026-10-135nintendo.com

Reception

The SNES version sold 4.61 million copies worldwide by 2004 and the GBA version 1.89 million. Famitsu gave it the first near-perfect score in the magazine's history, and it keeps appearing in best-ever lists: IGN ranked it second in both 2015 and 2019.1

In lists

Sources

  1. 1en.wikipedia.org
  2. 2ru.wikipedia.org
  3. 3en.wikipedia.org
  4. 4es.wikipedia.org
  5. 5en.wikipedia.org
  6. 6ja.wikipedia.org
  7. 7tcrf.net
  8. 8tcrf.net
  9. 9ja.wikipedia.org

Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13

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