Video: Let's Have a Closer Look at the Player's Guide for Zelda: A Link to the Past

Dat mustache bro...

LttP is still my Game of the Year for 26 consecutive years.

I've got the old Chrono Trigger version from that series I believe it is, never used it, it was just for collector's purposes

You the man, Dan! Great video.

Japan seems to get so many guides we don't get. Never understood why they published guides for games like Mario Luigi Paper Jam, Yoshi's Woolly World and Kirby Planet Robobot in Japan but not here.

@Menchi187 It was actually a really good one. Very detailed, and organized very neatly.

Omg, I had that guide, and the free one for Super Mario World that came with Nintendo Power sub.... taught you how to beat the game in 13 levels. Christ I'm old. 😆😆

I still have my LttP player's guide! It is one of the most well rounded player's guides you will find. Cultural lore (which explains Link's traditional tunic, cap, and boots), accurately rendered maps, and concept art for the items and certain people, places, and monsters! The important details were also organized quite well. The game isn't the only masterwork- Nintendo player's guides at the time were examples that guide makers today would do well to follow.

@subpopz A lot of Nintendo player's guides of that time period were gems. Every once in a while you find nice ones today, such as for Fire Emblem titles, but usually they're not so good now.

I used to own this, and being in the UK it wasn't common at all! I've still got lots of the Nintendo Player's guides from the SNES and N64 era, which I had to order in from the US. Well worth it though, the artwork was always great and the guides usually excellent too.

This LttP guide was very strange though, it was laid out more like a story rather than an actual guide if my memory serves. Great to look at the art, but not great as an actual guide.

I do still have the Link's Awakening Player's Guide. That's very nice too.

@OneBagTravel Thanks man! It's great to have my face on the site.

Thank you all for the positive comments again.

@subpopz Thank you so much! I'm happy you liked it.

@PlywoodStick Gonna leaf through it tonight for the first time in years!

Since I DON'T have Breath of the Wild, I have been replaying A Link to the Past. Shocked how quickly it draws me back in. So good game.

@shadowforks Good job on the video! I grew up in the time of physical game guides and playground rumors so it was fun to see a younger perspective on these relics of the past.

Wow. I've been replaying this and totally skip the fortune teller..... but now I feel like it's a real person. I won't waste rupies, but maybe i'll go say hello. haha

great video, dan. i would watch another of these.

@speedracer216 I appreciate it, thank you.

Very glad to see this classic guide get this kind of attention. I received my older brother's old Nintendo Power magazines and this guide (as well as the Super Mario World and FFIII guides) when I was four. It's a big reason why Link to the Past remains one of my favorite games ever.

I have a digital version of the guide and I've posted it page-by-page on 4chan's /v/ board a few times over the years as "LttPGuideGuy". Despite what so many think about the site, the guide threads have always been wonderful and enjoyable, and those in them truly get lost in the art and lore and the pure detail that went into this amazing guide. It's truly a shame that so few guides ever do this anymore.

Thanks for making this video. =)

Now I want the guide.

I'd say my favorite is... well, Idk. I have some good ones but none that stand out. I can tell you my least fave though... and that's the Xenoblade Chronicles X guide. Thing didn't tell you squat. Alphabetic list of drops, but no locations, only brief boss strategies with spoilers galore, tons of missing information or just flat out wrong... ya.

I love that Arts & Artifacts though. I know it's not a guide but man is it incredible. And the Monster Hunter Illustrations volumes 1 and 2. Wow. Big long, thick, 400 page art books of all things MH. Hope the 3rd gets localized.

@JaxonH I think my least favorite was the Final Fantasy 9 guide. It literally told you to log onto a certain website (which of course doesn't exist anymore) to find more details about certain points that were not printed in the guide itself, because reasons. Absolutely awful.

Special mention also to the Final Fantasy 7 guide, for giving no information about how to obtain the Final Attack materia, which in my pre-internet days made it impossible for me to beat the Ruby Weapon. That fight is way too damn hard without Final Attack/Phoenix... Of course, now I know you need Omnislash, Ultima Weapon, and W-Summon, then go to the Arena at the Golden Saucer for the Cloud only duel gauntlet.

I still have my copy... I remember seeing in Wal-mart as a young boy and just had to have it. I loved the artwork and stories.

I still have this one. Nintendo Power used to make the best guides.

Congrats on your first Nintendolife video, Dan! It was pretty interesting, and I saw quite some artwork I haven't seen before.

"Link to the Past" is a very close second to "Ocarina of Time", regarding my favorite of the series. As for my favorite piece of gaming literature, that's a tough call. I'm about halfway through the book "Console Wars", about the Nintendo vs. Sega conflict during the early '90s. I also loved the "NES Game Atlas" in elementary school, and the official player's guide for "Super Metroid".