Welcome to another edition of Horror Gaming and I have one more review of another Zelda Creepypasta based off A Link to the Past. The story does take cues from those Zelda Rom Hacks such as Parallel Worlds in most cases. Its interesting the way the fandom will take existing assets and put together a different game from the vanilla title. After playing ALTTP more times then I could count in nearly 30 years it can get boring. That's why I am grateful fan games like Parallel Worlds and the Zelda Classic quests as it creates a whole new experience each time. The story is about two guys who wished to relive classic gaming until they stumble upon a strange copy of Zelda: A Link to the Past at a comic book store. Will this be the cherished experience they remembered or will something bizarre happen? Let's begin... I found this one a little interesting (maybe not as much as Zelda 3 Prototype) since there weren't that many A Link to the Past CPs. The story begin with the usual character(s) bringing up classic gaming from their childhood. Now, I know what you are saying as another guy who's reminiscent about his childhood and then wanted to relive that experience but only to find themselves in a terrible situation. Fortunately, that isn't the case here as the two men wanted to replay the retro classics to celebrate their graduation from college. It isn't a cliché here as their reason came off different when wanting to relive a gaming childhood experience. Another thing about the beginning setup is the two friends went to buy a used a copy of ALTTP at a comic book store. For once there are no possessed store clerks or phantom eBay sellers in site but them wanting to buy a used copy. However, this really is uncommon for a comic book store to sell used retro software. I honestly never heard of any comic shop selling anything used from gaming before. No doubt some exist, but every comic store I visited either sold card games like Magic: The Gathering or comic memorabilia. The next part was a little odd as this man hated buying used games from anywhere. Now, I can understand about buying used software as I did buy a pre-owned Pokémon Blue where the battery didn't save. However, if he wanted to experience no problems then why not drop eight dollars on the Wii Shop? Despite his gripe of the game being used (seriously what was he expecting from an older title), he buys it as the urge to play his favorite game was too strong. The guy did eventually find the game as the cover was normal with no dents or scratches on the cartridge. That small part does eventually lead to a tiny plot hole which I will explain later. Unfortunately, this brings us to the first strike, and it's after they came to Ray's house (main character's friend). The guy inspects the cartridge a little as his friend prepared snacks for their long hours of gaming. He notices that there wasn't an official Nintendo seal on the front cover and the back label for some strange reason got printed backwards. I always state how cliché the torn label trope is regardless if it's written ridiculously in sharpie or its backwards. In no way does a back label on the cartridge being placed backwards makes it creepy. Of course, as they start the game up, no music played during the title intro or on the file screen. I just can't get enough of the slow builds these writers always insert to build to something not being right. Sure, silent music where it's not supposed to play in a game feels like a cliché but when done right this can add to any scene. The guys continue as normal but just as it was before, they also noticed the game played very differently from their previous play throughs. Throughout the middle, I enjoyed how they described the gameplay. Between the guards' dialogue and the strange glitches happening on the east side of the castle, the feeling that something off would slowly grow. The next part has the two men fall into an invisible hole which they appear in a dark tinted Lost Woods. The Strangest thing about this scene has them run into a line of the usual NPCs from left to right. It reminds me of the Lost Silver CP (Pokémon Gold/Silver) where you see the Gym Leaders lineup on both sides in a creepy way. That came off weird how they always said in the dialogue that Link was going get it for doing something wrong. However, the writer should have expanded on this plot as not once did the writer explain what Link did. I'll assume he failed to save Zelda because that's what the NPCs lead up to when her casket appeared. The climax was your standard character has a weird experience and it makes them wonder how it happened. Like I said, nothing special truly occurs as they move Link into the hole. He falls and appears in a hall after watching Zelda's casket fell through the floor. Once more, the writer could've done this part longer as all that happened is he gets killed by guards flooding the corridor. So, what was Link guilty of that the game asked? A little build up about what happened during a previous event was needed for this story. The next part I won't consider a strike even though it's near such a flaw. The next part is described with Link appearing in the Dark World's Death Mountain as Ganon stood before him. I don't understand why Ganon having devil horns makes this creepy as that is how he appeared. Ganon in the Zelda lore is already a demonic being, so why the author would add a tacked on feature is anyone guess. However, the ending was really interesting as upon shutting the game off and taking it out they discovered something odd. The circuit board inside the cartridge wasn't inside the plastic case. Talk about a glitch in the matrix as there should've been no way for the game to even work. That is what's so engaging about this ending as we had no idea how it happened. It leaves you wondering if there truly was the matrix acting up in reality. Well there you have it, another good Zelda CP as this story reminds me of those Rom hacks like Parallel Worlds. These Zelda ROM hacks change so much around that it's completely a different game. There was no possessed store clerk nor a phantom EBay seller as the characters found the bootleg in a comic book store. The setup to how they came across the game was believable as it's possible for some ROM hackers to accidentally sell a pirated software in a reproduction cart. Meaning the game wasn't supposedly haunted like the usual gaming CPs and it was a nice change up. The buildup to the climax was decent (although not as good as My Little Pony SNES) as each time the character progressed more of mystery of the hack revealed itself. The way the guy explained his experience made it easy for me to picture their play through. The ending did leave a few questions unanswered, but that still left me satisfied as nothing needed an explanation. However, there were a few issues during some parts of the plot that made me scratch my head. I noticed before the guy grabbed the title and even as he examined the cartridge, how did the man not realize there was no circuit board? The guy examined and held the cart a couple of times and not one time did he feel it by accident. I would immediately notice just by holding the cart especially the second time looking at it. There was also the part where he said that the back label got placed backwards. Again this was a poor attempt at scare tactics as how does something on a cart typed backwards makes me feel creepied out? This is really tact on and has no place in the story considering the cart had a normal appearance aside the Official Nintendo Seal was missing. I also like to point how the man had a problem with buying used games that are more than a decade old. What was he expecting to find a factory sealed copy of A Link to the Past at a comic book store? Its almost 30 years old, so why would they have an issue? If he wanted a brand-new copy, he should've shopped at Ebay but good luck affording one that ranges from $250 to $400. Then the last part was a little ridiculous for Ganon to have devil horns when he's already a demonic being. That's another example of tacking on something that wasn't needed and it's because this comes off very cheap. Like I said, to add a demonic feature like this doesn't make it scary or creepy in the slightest considering what Ganon is already. With the exception of a few typos and wording that was the only issues with the story. Rating: 7.5/10 Good Source creepypasta.wikia.com. Legend of Zelda Bootleg/Hack. Anonymous. http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/Legend_of_Zelda_Bootleg/Hack
0 Comments
|
Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
ArchivesCategoriesThe social media icon images and Vector Designs by Vecteezy, Medium and Onextrapixel
For More Please Click Below |