Games Like The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past

What Made The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past Work

A Link to the Past set the template for top-down adventure: an overworld that opens up as you find items, dungeons built around one new tool, and a second world layered over the first. The items are the progression, so the games that satisfy this are the ones where a new tool changes the map.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is Nintendo's 1991 Super NES game, released in North America in 1992. Link crosses between the Light World and the Dark World, a corrupted version of Hyrule, and each dungeon hands him an item — the hookshot, the magic mirror, the hammer — that opens new parts of the map. It was ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2002 and is included with Nintendo Switch Online. Fans usually want the same top-down exploration where items unlock the world.

Also written as A Link to the Past, Link to the Past, Zelda A Link to the Past, LTTP — same game, same list.

10 Games Like The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past

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   1.The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening(1993)

   The most tightly designed 2D Zelda, and the remake is easy to get.

   Why it fits: Nintendo's 1993 Game Boy follow-up to A Link to the Past uses the same engine style and top-down design on Koholint Island. It was re-released in colour as Link's Awakening DX in 1998 and remade by Grezzo for Switch in 2019.

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   2.The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap(2004)

   The best-looking 2D Zelda, with a shrinking mechanic that reworks the map.

   Why it fits: Developed by Capcom's Flagship studio for the Game Boy Advance in 2004, it uses a talking cap, Ezlo, that shrinks Link to a tiny size. It keeps A Link to the Past's top-down item-led dungeon design and adds a smaller hidden world.

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   3.Hyper Light Drifter(2016)

   Top-down adventure with the same wordless confidence.

   Why it fits: Heart Machine's 2016 top-down action game, created by Alx Preston after a 2013 Kickstarter, has almost no text and lets you discover the world and its secrets on your own. It shares the early Zelda sense of a mysterious land you piece together yourself.

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   4.Tunic(2022)

   A Zelda-shaped game where the manual itself is the puzzle.

   Why it fits: Andrew Shouldice's 2022 game, published by Finji, stars a small fox in a top-down world directly inspired by early Zelda. Pages of an in-game instruction manual, found as you explore, gradually reveal how to play and where secrets are hidden.

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   5.Death's Door(2021)

   Compact, sharp, and paced exactly like a 2D Zelda.

   Why it fits: Acid Nerve's 2021 game, published by Devolver Digital, casts you as a crow collecting souls. It uses Zelda-style dungeons that each teach a new ability, a connected hub world and a small set of focused weapons.

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   6.Blossom Tales(2017)

   An unashamed A Link to the Past homage that plays well.

   Why it fits: Castle Pixel's 2017 game, published by FDG Entertainment, is framed as a grandfather's bedtime story, and the listening children sometimes change what happens. Its world, dungeons and item progression closely follow A Link to the Past.

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   7.Ocarina of Time(1998)

   The same design language moved into three dimensions.

   Why it fits: Nintendo's 1998 Nintendo 64 game took the Zelda formula into 3D and introduced Z-targeting for combat. It keeps A Link to the Past's structure of dungeons with key items, and its two time periods echo the Light and Dark Worlds.

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   8.Ittle Dew 2(2016)

   All dungeon, all item puzzles, no filler.

   Why it fits: Ludosity's 2016 sequel is a top-down adventure made up of puzzle dungeons, with a sense of humour that pokes fun at the genre. Almost all of it is dungeons built around item puzzles, which suits players who liked A Link to the Past's dungeons most.

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   9.CrossCode(2018)

   Top-down action with the deepest puzzle dungeons in the genre.

   Why it fits: Radical Fish Games' 2018 PC game, later released on consoles, is a top-down action RPG set inside a simulated online game. Its dungeons use bouncing projectiles, switches and new elemental modes for long puzzles in the Zelda tradition.

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    10.The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds(2013)

    The direct sequel, set on the same Hyrule map, with two linked worlds again and a wall-merging trick that rethinks every dungeon.

    Why it fits: Nintendo EAD, Nintendo 3DS, 2013. Built on A Link to the Past's overworld, with Lorule as its Dark World and items you can rent in any order.

    What is different: Gentler and less linear than A Link to the Past, because most items can be rented and used in any order.

    Where to play it: Nintendo 3DS.

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Where to Start

Link's Awakening is the natural next game: the same top-down design on a smaller island, and the 2019 Switch remake is easy to find. For an indie game with the same sense of discovery, Tunic is the best choice. If you want the combat sharpened, Death's Door is the one to play.

How We Picked These Games

Every pick had to share the core structure: a world or dungeons that open up through new items or abilities, with puzzles as important as the fighting. Most are top-down like A Link to the Past; we included Ocarina of Time because it moved the same design into 3D, and we left out open-world Zelda games where almost everything is available from the start.

Which One to Play, by What You Liked

If you liked The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past for the Light World and Dark World, try The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Ocarina of Time. Hyrule and Lorule in the sequel; child and adult Hyrule in Ocarina.

If you liked The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past for top-down dungeons and items, try The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Blossom Tales and Ittle Dew 2. The same view and the same lock-and-key structure.

If you liked The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past for finding secrets nobody told you about, try Tunic. A game built entirely around hidden knowledge.

If you liked The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past for wanting harder combat, try Hyper Light Drifter and Death's Door. Top-down action with real danger.

If you liked The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past for the puzzles, try CrossCode and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. Long dungeons where the puzzle is the point.