Apart from the first Legend of Zelda which invented the series, 1991's A Link to the Past is definitely the most influential game on the direction the series would take. It set multiple precedents and trends for the series including music, characters, concepts, and especially the classic dungeon exploration gameplay loop that veteran Zelda fans were missing in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

Despite its status in the canon of video game history, ALTTP has never gotten a proper remake, though it almost had one on the 3DS by way of 2013's A Link Between Worlds. That game has itself become a fan-favorite for the series, showing how well ALTTP's gameplay style and world still held up 20 years after the game was first released. With the extended development cycle of the open world Zelda games (TOTK took seven years in development), a remake of a classic game like ALTTP would be the perfect filler to keep fans engaged in the series during that downtime. In fact, if done right, an ALTTP remake could very well redefine the next generation of the Zelda franchise once again.

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ALTTP Defined The Traditional Formula BOTW Moved The Series Away From

The first two Zelda games were in a feeling-out faze for the series. The first Zelda invented the IP and was beloved for its openness and sense of exploration, while Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link was more of a test to see how the series can explore different gameplay concepts -- many of which have never been returned to for the series since. However, it was series' third entry, A Link to the Past, that took things in the more linear direction of future games, while also setting up the dungeon item gameplay loop that would become a staple of the franchise for nearly 30 years.

What has separated BOTW and TOTK from the rest of the series is greater emphasis on freedom -- a push that moved the series away from traditional Zelda mechanics that were set up by ALTTP. Given this context, the word "traditional" in terms of the Zelda series has a different definition than simply reffering to the old school games. That's because the first two Zelda games were actually different from what Zelda fans consider traditional Zelda, with BOTW even being often referred to as a callback to the original LOZ.

With that in mind, what defines "traditional Zelda" are the gameplay elements that began in ALTTP, and then carried over into future games from Link's Awakening to Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker and beyond. The unifying threads between these games tend to be a more linear story and dungeon order, complex dungeon crawling and puzzling mechanics, the unlocking of a dungeon item that opens up further overworld exploration, and the hunt for a number of special key items that lie at the root of the dungeons. Of course, there are many other ideas that carried over from ALTTP to future 2D and 3D Zelda games, but these fundamentals are essentially inseparable from what is referred to as "traditional Zelda" by fans today.

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A Link To The Past's Story Could Be Expanded Upon With a Proper Remake

Aside from the gameplay, ALTTP's story also set the foundation for what the series would go on to do with games like Ocarina of Time and Skyward Sword. The story was still fairly generic along the lines of the first two games in the Zelda series, but it also broke new ground in giving players more of an attachment to Link's journey and the key players in it.

The story begins with Link discovering his Uncle dying while trying to protect Princess Zelda, and the sword Link uses throughout the majority of the early game is his Uncle's sword. This is a far cry narratively from the random old man in a cave who gives Link his sword in the first game -- as iconic as that character has become for the franchise. Aghanim is also a truly malicious villain who frames Link for his crime, and Link is henceforth a wanted man who will be attacked by the castle guards when he enters Kakariko Village.

Even despite how groundbreaking these concepts were for the Zelda franchise, there was still a lot that ALTTP could have done with its most interesting ideas. Unlike in Ocarina of Time, the story and characters of ALTTP were never really central to the game. However, with a modern remake, some of the characters with potential in ALTTP like Link's Uncle could be given more of a focus to make the most emotional parts of the story hit as hard as they do in more modern Zelda games.

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An ALTTP Remake Could Renew Interest In Classic Zelda Mechanics

A big reason behind why Nintendo is all-in on this new open air style of Zelda is due to the huge amount of commercial success it has achieved. That's made it look increasingly less likely that the Zelda Team would ever make a new, 2D top-down game in the classic style of A Link to the Past. As Eiji Aonuma put it in an interview with RTL Nieuws translated by Nintendo Everything “we really aren't concerned with our older games anymore. We prefer to look to the future.” While that's entirely understandable, the newfound fanbase surrounding the Zelda franchise would certainly take better to an updated version of the classic Zelda now than in the past, and ALTTP is the pinnacle of that. There are no wild gimmicks that could throw players off as with Skyward Sword, and its art design has never been as divisive as Wind Waker's. Simply put, ALTTP is just a great game that a modernized version of could show new audiences why there's so much to love about classic Zelda.

If an ALTTP remake did well enough, it could give the Zelda Team reason to reconsider those kinds of more classic gameplay concepts in the creation of future games. While the Zelda Team doesn't currently have any interest in looking to the Zelda games of the past in their newest mainline games, that hasn't prevented them from outsourcing remakes and more classic style games to other companies like Grezzo and Capcom in the past. In an era of big AAA next Gen remakes like Final Fantasy VII and Resident Evil 4, seeing an A Link to the Past remake along a similar vein would not be so strange to consider.

A Link to the Past's importance for the Zelda franchise cannot be overstated, and would make an incredible remake either in a Link's Awakening style or even a 3D version. In fact, it could even change the trajectory of the series again if done right. ALTTP still holds up today as a timeless classic in many respects, and a modern remake would only give a new generation of players more of a reason to interact with classic Zelda to experience the series' roots. If done well enough, ALTTP could show the series' new fanbase why fans of traditional Zelda hold it in such high regard, and could even renew interest in that style of game again apart from the immensely popular open-air formula that has brought the series to a wider audience.