The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: all version differences
6 documented differences between the releases of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, each with a source. Back to the main page for names, releases and where to play.
Category × version
| Category | SNES (NA) | SNES (EU) | SNES (JP) | SNES (JP) v1.0 | later revisions | GBA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Censorship | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gameplay | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bug fix | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Audio | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Content | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Version differences
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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
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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'.2
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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.2
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Bug fixSNES (JP) v1.0later revisions
The first Japanese printing has glitches that later revisions removed, including a Turtle Rock ledge skip and a hole in the Tower of Hera that leads straight to the ending. Later revisions also narrowed the window for hitting Ganon with the Silver Arrows.2
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AudioSNES (JP)SNES (NA)
The howling wind in the Skeleton Forest is absent in the Japanese version; it was added for the US release.2
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ContentGBA
The Game Boy Advance version adds a riddle side quest that unlocks the Hurricane Spin, a post-game dungeon called the Palace of the Four Sword, Link voice clips from Ocarina of Time and a new, more faithful English script.3
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13