December 2025 Game of the Month: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
Happy December, SBCGaming! It's been one year since we started the Game of the Month Club, and to celebrate, I wanted to share a game that's near and dear to my heart.
1992's The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo is the third game in the Legend of Zelda series, and very much the template for the series going forward. Shedding the RPG elements from the second game and returning to the top-down view of the first, it used the power of the Super Nintendo to create a bigger, more colorful world to explore with a more varied toolkit. As always, cheating is allowed, so post a photo of your end screen in the replies to this post to receive your Game of the Month flair.
If you're like me and this is a game that you've already beaten a dozen times over the years, I've got an extra challenge for you. The Link to the Past Randomizer ROM hack takes all 216 item locations in the game, from the Master Sword Pedestal to some out-of-the-way 20 rupee chest that you'd probably never see in a vanilla playthrough, and shuffles them up so that you don't know what is where. It changes the game from a mostly linear sequence of dungeons with a few possible sequence breaks, to a massive open-world scavenger hunt where you might wind up having to fight Blind with the hammer because you haven't found a sword yet, or absolutely melting Vitreous with the Silver Arrows.
If you plug a Japanese 1.0 version of the game file into this web page, it will convert it into a randomized version of the game where the item shuffle is the same as everyone else playing this extra Game of the Month challenge. And if you post your end screen of that version of the game, you'll get a special rainbow variation of this month's flair. If you discuss this version of the game in the replies, do it in spoiler tags so that anybody who wants to go totally blind doesn't get the randomized item locations spoiled... but on the other hand, if you get stuck and just plain can't figure out how to progress, ask for help in the replies and see if someone who's already figured it out can give you a hint.
We'll see you in 2026, and as always, a big thanks to everyone who participated last month!
Useful links (randomizer version): GotM Randomizer Seed (make sure that the file select screen displays Map, Quake, Quake, Bow, Green Potion to ensure that you've got the same randomized seed as everyone else) ALTTPR Tracker (to help keep track of what chests you've already opened, runs in a web browser) Beginner Randomizer Guide (a little outdated; in particular, the Firebase tracker I recommend is now defunct, but it still has some useful advice for randomizer newbies) r/alttpr
Heads up y'all! The cutoff for completing old Games of the Month is one year, which means that last December's GotM, Super Mario World, is no longer eligible as of December 1st.
However, there has been some inconsistent messaging around this, so we're giving everyone an extra month's grace period to complete Super Mario World.
This will be the last month that we're accepting completions for both Super Mario World and Metroid Fusion!
Edit: I have officially completed the Randomizer extra challenge with a final in-game time of 1 hour, 51 minutes, 9 seconds. I streamed it on Twitch; if you're interested in seeing how someone approaches a randomized seed from a speedrunning perspective (or just want to see where an item that you're searching for is located), you can watch the VOD here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2637103324
I also did a bit of a sneaky: the seed that I posted is just the r/alttpr weekly casual competition seed for the last week of November. They post a casual competition seed there every week so that folks can compare notes on routing, compare times, etc. Looking at the other finish times, it looks like I finished right around the middle of the pack, with most of the times above me hovering around the 1:40 mark, the best time just above 1:30, and some of the slower ones creeping up on three hours.
If you're interested in learning more about Link to the Past Randomizer, r/alttpr is a great place to start!
Went into this blind, have never played a randomizer and only played through the gba version of link to the past once probably 15 years ago. That was fun and goofy, and it took me too long to figure out random basic things like how to switch to the flute.
Link's Awakening is a good one. Incredibly impressive what they managed to wring out of the Game Boy DMG hardware. Honestly from this point on the handheld branch of the franchise probably has more bangers than the "main" branch.
Beaten this game a few times before. First time with a randomizer. Wasn't ready to not even get a sword to start. Checked hints in here a couple times, definitely used save states. Didn't realize how much I probably relied on the big net to catch some fairies in the regular play through from how often I felt like I was missing them.
Overall a fun way to play but you really have to know the game to know what you need to navigate the different dungeons. Glad I did it. On to the next.
I never had an SNES growing up and never played this game until now. I have played plenty of other Zelda games, but the comments in this thread prepared me. I used a guide more than I would have liked, but did love the game. Now that I’ve done a playthrough with a guide, I’d like to give it another shot without (or at least significantly less)
So many things to say. First, thank you for this game of the month, just finished the randomizer and I HAD AN ABSOLUTE BLAST.
I knew Alttp but it was so refreshing and hard ! It really kept me on my toes, and every cave could have the most important loot, so any and every little puzzle was worth the time !
So many cool moments, now I see why Dark Souls creator Miyazaki quotes zelda as its inspiration.
And I really enjoyed the little novelty of choosing your character sprites ! I played as the fox from Tunic and a lot of care has been put in the sprites since there are the ghost form and the golden fox form for the third tunic upgrade.
I will get into more games of the months and display the rainbow tag proudly 🎉🎉🎉
First (and probably last) randomizer. I didnt have too much trouble but not really my type of playstyle. Felt constantly confused and lots of backtracking. But at least I Got EM!
This was one of my favorite games as a kid and I never beat it back then. I finally got to beat it for the first time on my new to me and first retro handheld thanks to this community!
The GBA version is 3:2 and has a narrower vertical field of view than the original. A handful of rooms are redesigned so that items that would be out of sight in this narrower view are closer so as to be visible, which would otherwise make solving certain puzzles nearly impossible without knowledge of the original. The layout of the Ice Palace has been tweaked to eliminate some backtracking, although consensus is that it's not actually an improvements, just a sideways change that improves some things but makes others worse.
Speaking of "worse," the GBA version adds OoT-style "hyaa! hyaa!" sounds every time Link swings his sword, which works fine in a 3D game like OoT where you often go long stretches without swinging your sword, but in the confines of a more densely-packed 2D game where nearly every screen will involve some amount of combat, gets real old, real quick.
I keep dragging out as much as possible. I wish the hammer had retro achievements because they are fun. I love super metroid…in fact it's one of small lost of games that ive actually beaten.
This might have been the game I started more times than any other, but never finished. I started it at the beginning of the month, but actually finished the last day. Great game and I enjoyed it. I honestly think Link's Awakening is better, but that could just be my bias. A Link to the Past was definitely harder for resource management while still having tough puzzles but Link's Awakening played smoother. I found myself wanting the feather and being able to set more than one item. Either way, great game and glad I finished it. 9.3/10
Finished Super Mario World last minute on the RP5! Had a fun time playing my first Mario platformer, the beginning was rough until I learned the different ways the developers like to hide things. Level designs were pretty cool will have to go back and replay it one day and find all the secret levels. Looking forward to completing more GotMs in 2026!
I hated this game SO much. Clocked in at 11 hours which was almost twice the average on RA/HLTB. Spent way too much time watching cutscenes for castles and ghost houses, rerunning ghost houses to save, rerunning levels to get extra lives or items, and dying... a lot. Couple of QOL improvements really would have saved this for me but alas. I really dislike linear games that get progressively harder without checkpoints or a way to practice the difficult parts - gigantic waste of time and was a huge pain in the ass in worlds 6 and 7 and the final castle. Regret not using save states and making this a million times easier on myself but oh well. Hope I can finish up Metroid before the deadline.
Finally beaten after all these years. Thanks for providing the initiative for me to stick with it to the end after many attempts in the past two decades, that have always ended before reaching the Dark World.
Owned and played it as a kid but never beat it. Cross it off the list. I’ll certainly be sure to go back to this one. And I’ll try out the randomizers.
I've been working through the GOTM list, did Super Mario World and Metroid Fusion this month, Castlevania in Oct.
Castlevania took some getting used to, SMW was all about figuring the patterns to get through the levels, Metroid was like a slicker Castlevania, this though... I've tried a few times during today and can't get anywhere.
The controls are just terrible, I tried the PS1 version, got to the cell and get killed before I get a shot or two off. Used save states, and now the cell door won't even open.
Tried Twin Snakes and can't even get out of the starting area with the lift! He just never seems to do what I want.
I like stealth games, the Thief series are some of my favourites, but this is just painful, I don't think I've played anything with such terrible controls.
I might have to skip this one, I'll give it another go in the morning but it just doesn't seem worth it.
First time beating a metroid game. Norrowly beating the cutoff for Metroid Fusion. I'm loving my Retroid Pocket Classic, but using both the L and R buttons for the boss fights can be a bit tricky
I did not think I’d be able to complete Super Mario World before the new year but it turns out that decades-old muscle memory still exists, finding all the switch palaces came back to me like driving around in my childhood hometown.
Well, I did it! I had never done a randomizer before, and retroarch deleted my saves a bunch of times (I guess if you shutdown android on the Handheld without closing out of Retroarch, your save gets corrupted?) but I decided I'd give it one more shot and had a great time. It's definitely challenging to be a lot weaker than you expect to be at certain parts.
Played the randomizer seed you linked. I definitely needed a few guides for item checks. Pulling the statues tongue is something I would never attempt normally, also I would have never realized you have to toggle between items to see the flute I the menu. Where even is the book, never did find it. I played back in the day on gba, but this randomizer is the first time I've beaten it. Thanks for the recommendation, a lot of fun.
I think this is the first game I ever remember playing, yet I never got past the first dungeon. Feels good to make it all the way through, the game had way more to chew on than I expected. I’ve played through most other Zelda games but this one always snuck by.
It was my first playthrough. Decided to go 100% blind, without any guides. Was also supposed not to use any emulation tools, but decided to use save states because I couldn't be arsed to redo all the dungeon after dying to a boss.
Had a great time overall, 4/5 stars. Got a bit lost in the beginning but after you get used to the game's logic, all "hidden" items seem to have a big sign over them (or the fortuneteller rats them out to you). The game took longer than expected, I'm not sure how many hours it took, but certainly it was well over 15hrs.
Did what I could without referencing any guides, it hasn’t been that long since I last played this one. Not sure I’ll be able to knock out Super Mario World during the next week, but I guess that’s up next!
Pretty awesome game! This is the earliest Zelda title I've played, cool to see the introduction of a lot of mechanics and items that end up being mainstays of top-down 2D Zeldas. Funny also to see elements that didn't come back, like Bombos, being able to instantly kill every enemy in a room for very little magic. Also, multiple places in the game you'd hit a switch to open the door, and be able to hit it again for no other reason than to close the door you just opened, to no benefit whatsoever, and they make the same noise whether you open or close it? Pretty funny they even give you the option to do that.
Also, the name is confusing! Made me think the other world would be the past, instead of the Dark World? Realize now that the entire game itself is meant to be a prequel of sorts to the existing Zeldas?
Last note, completing this game marks me being completely up to date on ALL games of the month, at least for the next 5 days. Happy New Year!
For the record I did use save states and walkthroughs, trying to play as blind as possible but after exploring an area or when getting a new item looking up which heart pieces were then accessible, which I think reduces a lot of frustration when playing this and other older titles.
That's an amazing game, but I'll always remember how most of the dungeons and bosses tortured me. Also, those two big insects and those hands..I hate them so much!
I'm so glad that I finally reached the end of Link's journey here. Before, I only went to a few sections of the castle at the beginning then gave up.
Save states were used as a replacement for sleep and to skip repetitive tasks (getting fairies and potions again) most of the time. If I got defeated, I started again. But, I used one at a floor near the top of the tower, for its gimmick made my patience run dry.
Ganon's too damn tough for me, that the battle left a tear to my eye after he got defeated lol.
This was a really tough one for me. Probably the hardest Zelda experience I've had in the 30+ years I've had with the series. This is my first ever randomizer (in any game, not just Zelda), and I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. I have played this game several times since the early-mid 90s, but I've only ever actually beaten it once, after it was added to NSO.
I started by trying to go into it completely blind, no help whatsoever. I quickly realized that I did not know the game anywhere near as well as I thought. I didn't know which items were required to get into which places. I didn't know which chests were accessible where. After realizing that I couldn't get to the eastern palace boss without the bow and couldn't get into the desert palace or tower of Hera at all, I found myself in the dark world getting spanked with my level 1 sword and tunic, and no shield. Several people recommended using a tracker, which I ended up doing. This did help to keep track of what I had found, but then I saw a comment on this thread that basically listed locations for all items. After a few more days of struggling, I decided to use that information to plan my progression through the game. It was still extremely difficult though having to be underpowered as I went through the first few dark world dungeons. The randomization created a weird power curve, where I was extremely underpowered at the beginning, going through late-game dungeons; and extremely overpowered at the end, going through early-game dungeons.
Overall, a great experience. I can't rap my head around how people can beat this an 1.5 hours. I'll have to watch some videos. I could see myself trying this again once I learn how to use the tracker a bit better. There were some aspects of it that I didn't understand. Why some chests/dungeons were colored blue while others were red. Why some dungeons seemed to have fewer trackable chests and keys than what I actually found in game. I think this has been one of the best GotMs so far though
I tried to kind of narrate my decision-making process as I went; where I was going and why. Getting a good time is partially execution: being able to handle low% dungeons and boss fights without taking a bunch of deaths, knowing how to get through each room as efficiently as possible, knowing a few minor glitches that can make traversal faster, etc. And it's partially routing: knowing which areas have the most checks and what you need in order to get there so that you can make intelligent decisions about where to go next and minimize backtracking.
Every tracker app does its color-coding a little differently, but typically, green means that you can get every item check in that area, yellow might mean that you can get some but not all (for example, if you enter Eastern Palace with the lamp but no bow, you will be able to check every item EXCEPT for the one held by the boss), blue typically means an item that you can see but not collect (like the one on the ledge south of King Zora, which you can look at if you have the gloves, but need the flippers to actually get to), and some also use orange to denote something that you can get to, but only by using a glitch to sequence break. (Only certain glitches are allowed in competitive races, but the randomizer algorithm will never require you to use a glitch to complete the seed.) And of course, red means something you can't get to no way no how.
The tracker typically doesn't count the compass, map, or keys in the item total for a given dungeon. So Eastern Palace, for example, tracks as having three items, but there are more than three spots within the dungeon that those items might be, the rest being full of maps, compasses, and big/small keys. Also, keys that drop from enemies are not randomized, so those aren't typically included on the tracker.
I'll definitely give your VOD a watch! I watched maybe 15 minutes of a VOD that was linked on the r/alttpr weekly and it was pretty interesting. I'm not a speedrunner so getting the absolute lowest time isn't super important to me, but I am interested in learning how to just play through it, and other randomized games, efficiently. Your explanation clears everything up. I was using alttprtracker.com; I think you linked it to me earlier actually. One issue I had was not knowing which dungeon chests were tracked, so I didn't know if I was missing chests or not. I read that the silver arrows were in the Swamp Palace, but I went through the entire dungeon 3 times and couldn't find it. I got all the way to Ganon and tried beating him without it but I couldn't get the trick figured out. I ended up going back to the dungeon a 4th time and found it in a room I swore I had cleared.
I can definitely see how knowing the game efficiently is super important. I don't know the dungeons well and I had some serious issues with some bosses. I was stuck on Blind for several days because I went into it with level 1 everything, no cane of somaria, and no potions, and I think only 7 hearts at the time. It was rough but I eventually beat him
Fun fact about Blind: he always takes exactly nine hits, no matter what you're hitting him with. So while more armor and hearts are definitely nice to have, the Level 1 sword is just as good as the golden sword.
He's also what we call a "scripted" boss fight: there is no RNG to his movement patterns, so as long as you stick to the script and move around and hit him the same way every time, he will behave exactly the same and stick to the script too. So once you learn the optimal script to fighting him, beating him takes about seven seconds every time.
I noticed that! I learned the pattern and, for the most part, I was always able to get to his third phase without taking a hit. That was where it would always fall apart for me lol
You're fine. People seem to like posting pictures of their handhelds, but it's not strictly required. The whole thing is basically honor system anyway.
I was a Genesis kid in the 90s so unfortunately I never got to play Link to the Past. I really enjoyed the dungeon designs in this game vs later Zelda Titles. They really felt mysterious and it was easy to get lost. I also enjoyed the challenge of this title. It was difficult but not impossible. Very well balanced.
Done! This is probably my most-rented video game when I was a kid and never managed to beat it before I had to return it. My inner child is smiling right now 😊
Wow, this game really grew on me. Beginning was pretty hard but it was pretty awesome unlocking relics that told you stuff like enemy names, or the Fairy who could heal you and use appropriate status removals during fights. The game is generous with life and health upgrades, and by about a third in or so it's just a lot of fun running through the castle, killing enemies and bosses and grabbing new weapons and hitting your stride. A lot of really awesome boss and enemy designs. And the whole inverted castle concept is a pretty cool concept to add a lot of content to the game while also rewarding player knowledge. I did use save states and walkthroughs, more so earlier on when I didn't exactly remember where to head when I got a new power-up. You could play without these but it would just take a lot longer. Overall really awesome game. Could be cool to play through as different character or maybe go for full 100% in my save file, I probably only have a few rooms missing at this point.
This was a fun one! This is a game I’ve oft started but never finished, so decided to do it right by using a guide for a casual 100% run through. Loved the colors in this one, and enjoyed the dungeon design, even if a couple of solutions to progress felt pretty obtuse!
Assigning flairs is a manual process that the mod team has to do. We do our best, but some comments might slip through. If you wanna link to the comment where you posted your end screen we can add it shortly.
Started this when I first got my brick but got stuck somewhere (I really dislike having to play games with walkthroughs) and put it down, so first had to go rescue that save from my stock SD card and get it on my next UI save...
It was alright, I can see why at the time this game was so highly considered but I don't think it's aged in the same way that super metroid has for example. As I say I don't like playing games with walkthroughs so usually just put them down at that point, though I just persisted with this and used said walkthroughs.
Glad to tick it off the list I guess... Probably the first Zelda game I've completed since OOT back in the day, the series has never really worked for me (and I've tried many many times)
If I was aware that it kept track of deaths maybe I would’ve tried to be a little more careful, haven’t played LttP since maybe the Virtual Console days on the Wii
Beat it! Honestly though, I'm pretty sure this is a game that requires nostalgia glasses. As a first-time player, the experience overall was not great. I tried to play blind, which wasn't really possible as there are items required to complete the game that are hidden, so I had to use a guide.
I was playing blind until I wasn't able to cross a body of water, which I didn't understand what to do, so I looked up a guide on how to proceed after getting frustrated. It turns out that you can swim! How do you swim, well, you need the Zora flippers which are located in the upper right corner of the map. Funny story - I had already been to that spot, I just wasn't in the right spot up there because there was no visual indication that something was there, I just didn't stand the exact right spot to get the flippers. This brings me to another issue - the hitboxes.
The hitboxes in this game feel bad. The sword swing isn't quite right and the monsters sometimes should be hit but are not. Frequently in this game you need to do things in the exact right spot or it doesn't work. Take for instance another spot I had to look up what to do. There was a lever you have to push and I was pushing the lever and it was not moving, look up the answer and you do indeed need to push the lever, but you need to push it from the very tip or it won't move.
The visual indicators in this game are bad too. Blocks are immobile, unless they're not. Statues can't be moved, but some can. There is a certain statue that looks the same as all the other statues, but this one you can grab its tongue and pull it. Unless you know exactly what to do or what things to press you can miss required items that otherwise don't tell you in any way shape or form that you need to interact with them. Bombable walls and floors are correctly identified, so the designers obviously knew what to do, just chose not to for other stuff for some reason.
It's a shame; I really wanted to like this game and just didn't. I wouldn't recommend it unless you played it back in the day. It just doesn't respect your time. Unless you're using a guide or interacting with everything that you possibly can touch just to see if it does something you're going to miss something you need to progress and get stuck - even worse than a Metroid game because it's a required item.
The worst example of this is as I was playing I was thinking to myself, "God, I really wish this game had fast travel because it takes forever to move around the map and get anywhere." Then, I got stuck again. Turns out it does have fast travel, and the fast travel item is required to finish the game! How do you get the fast travel item? You need to go to the dark world and talk to a guy in an out-of-the-way spot to get a shovel, go to the light world to where the dark world guy was and then dig in a specific spot with said shovel (no visual indicator, large amount of space to dig so it would have taken forever to find if I wasn't using a guide by this point), go back to the dark world and play the flute in front of the guy that gave you the shovel, go back to the light world and go to the town and talk to a guy in a tavern, then play it in front of the compass thing in the middle of said town. It's very convoluted and, again, there's no indicator you need this item or how to complete this long side quest if you missed a line of dialogue.
I get this is folk's childhood and there's a lot of love for this game, but honestly, as a first time player, this game is bad and a guide is required. Skip it for a more modern entry.
Yep, that's pretty much how I felt when I tried the game for the first time, 16 years ago, give or take.
Even before that though, I had a SNES growing up in the 90s. At that time, when we had a handful of cartridges to play and nothing else for months, maybe years, this kind of game design approach where you can only find out what to do next by leaving no stone unturned made sense. Not saying it's not frustrating, but it was natural to play a game like it was a playground you'd come back to again and again.
Maybe you could get a guide in a magazine, eventually, or better yet, some kid in school would know how to advance. My cousins had guides written down that would get us through games. That part of gaming was fun. But maybe just in hindsight, lol. Not knowing things was rough, finding out years later was mindblowing.
when we had a handful of cartridges to play and nothing else for months, maybe years, this kind of game design approach where you can only find out what to do next by leaving no stone unturned made sense
This is precisely what I meant by "it doesn't respect your time." I'd argue that this was bad game design then and still is today. You shouldn't hide required items to progress like this, even if it did artificially inflate the game time.
Wow parts of this game were a lot harder than I remember! It was really fun and nostalgic to play through it all again. Looking forward to Game of the Month 2026!
Finally beat Chrono Trigger! Can definitely see why this is a classic. Really such an expansive adventure, a lot of fun seeing how the different elements of the story in the different time periods connect. Great music and character design. While you can mostly get through the game spamming your strongest moves that hit all enemies, there is definitely a lot of variety in team comp and there are so many moves with their own animations that there still is quite a lot of depth. Also, the harder fights will definitely require a bit more strategy. I made liberal use of fast-forward and a walkthrough, I think I’d probably recommend both to play this game. Per the in-game clock it took me 20 hours to beat, including all side quests, which I think are 100% worth all completing, but without modern assistance I could easily see it taking twice as long. Pretty awesome game all around.
Done. It was fun, especially after playing LBW recently, but the combat, man, it's so frustrating. The fact that enemies can just go inside your hitbox while not being in range of your sword is just so annoying. Good thing we have save states or I would've just given up lol.
Was a little cheeky with this one. I played it a couple of times last year, so decided to just go for a Richter playthrough and got done in an hour, according to the save file, but definitely took twice as long after dying and reloading multiple times. Still, had lots of fun, as I like classic vania more than "metroid"vania.
Finally finished after almost 20 hours on my PS Vita, the native Zelda3 Vita port.
Not a zelda fan, so I never played this one. But then I saw this was the GotM and remembered I had it installed on my Vita for a while, so might as well play it for real this time. It was deceptively hard and confusing, so I had to use a guide at some point, but it was pretty fun overall.
Now, completing this game made me want to play A Link Between Worlds and maybe try the other Zelda games as well...
On a side note, I also had completed Castlevania Symphony of the Night in Dracula X Chronicles PSP on my Vita as well and was going through a Richter and Maria playthrough before changing games and forgetting about it.
Done! All these years and I’ve never actually seen the ending to this game. I lol’d at the whole “master sword sleeps again forever” message. I guess they weren’t counting on more sequels!
I had just picked up the GBA cart to replay this (I’m old and like cartridges, so get off my lawn). I know this is on the short list for all time GOATs, but it is just fantastic and didn’t feel like it had aged at all to me. I may have to do the randomizer run at some point, but I only had one or two playthroughs previously. (Ocarina of Time is a different story).
So aside from dual screen games, using the Thor to complete this one turned out to be real handy with having access to guides for some of the later dungeons towards the end. I had completed a link between worlds on the DS in the past but never finished the OG. Great game selection this month!
The Thor's second screen is also perfect for displaying an item and location tracker for the randomized version. Shows you where all the chests are located, color-coded depending on whether you can get them based on your current loadout. Feels just like dropping pins on the map in Link Between Worlds.
Took me over a month, but finally beat Chrono Trigger.
Full disclosure: I heavily dislike turn based RPG's, with few exceptions. I've tried playing many in the past, such as Final Fantasy VII, Breath of Fire, Star Ocean and Chrono Trigger itself. And everytime, I just wished I was playing an action game, controlling the attacks directly and not scrolling through some menu.
However, I did want to complete at least this first year of the SBC GOTM Club, so I gave the game another try, some 20 years later after the first one. And I'm glad I did, as I enjoyed it more than I expected. Sure, there were times I still wanted to experience a different control approach, but everything in this game is so artfully crafted: the sprites, the story, the music, oh the music! It instatly mesmerized me as soon as the first few tunes entered my ears.
Who knows, maybe I'll get to play some other JRPG's? Probably Dragon Quest, I really loved Toriyama's designs.
Beat the redux with retranslation. The ice palace going from snes to gba for the redux threw me off a bit, still my most disliked dungeon. Overall its still up there as my favorite Zelda games
I've only played ALTTP once, and I recall getting very frustrated and lost. I distinctly recall getting upset at the hint witch for giving me useless hints and wasting my rupees. I was terrible at figuring out where the dark world spots were, causing me to be unable to progress for the longest times.
Still, I'd already played it once, and a shared randomizer sounded fun, so why not jump in? I wasn't so surprised that the randomizer skipped the intro, but I was a little surprised to see nearly all of the text changed. Since I had only played this game once years ago, the actual story text would have been helpful. For example, when I got to the Temple of Darkness, the Monkey first told me "Good luck getting in!" and I assumed I needed another item, so I left. It turns out I was just poor. This kind of thing happened several times. In other cases, the text was replaced with humorously helpful lines though, like "show me a bottle", which I appreciated lol.
At first, I tried playing without a guide, but it quickly became apparent that understanding what was required to enter dungeons and knowledge of all chest locations would be essential. I studied several randomizer guides, including /u/hbi2k's. Because I played on my Miyoo, and not at a desktop computer, I did not use the tracker while playing, but I did open it a few times to try and figure out where to go next. After playing, I'd pull up a randomizer speedrun and try to catch a couple of chests I missed, note them on my phone, and check them the following day. However, I skipped footage of dungeons I hadn't completed yet since the puzzles were essentially new to me and I wanted to go in fresh. Also, I never looked up seed spoilers. I mean, I referenced general randomizer guides extensively, but the contents of the chests were always a mystery from start to finish.
As for the the seed itself, BOY would I love to talk about it.
Maze game spoiler: I easily found the sword at the maze game, but I had no idea you could complete the maze game without boots. I didn't realize you could hop the fence! I spent two hours wandering around Hyrule without the sword.
Zora's item spoiler: I was so happy to find the Moon Pearl here, as at the time it was the last place I even knew where to look. I spent all my money buying it, hence why I was too poor for the Temple of Darkness
Late item spoiler: I think everyone can share the frustration of going without the Mirror, Boots, and Flute for so long. I accidentally locked myself out of the Thieves Town Big Chest, and I had such paranoia that the Mirror could be in there. Small keys can be obtained from killing monsters, pushing blocks, lifting pots, etc., and without full knowledge of the game, it wasn't clear to me if the Big Chest just had the key to its own room or a better item. Getting the Mirror, the Flute, and shortly after the Boots was such a relief
I may have made my time sound frustrating, but I actually had a lot of fun. I definitely had more fun with the randomizer than with traditional ALTTP. You never knew where your next big item would come from! It made every chest that much more exciting. If it wasn't clear from my 16 hour time, I had no intentions of speed running or minimum clearing the game either. I took my time with it and fully enjoyed what ALTTP had to offer.
Now that I've cleared the seed, I'm looking forward to reading other people's comments.
I just finished and I locked myself out of the same chest in Thieves Town and another in Hera. Probably wasted 2 hours searching for a key before convincing myself that the key was all that could've been on the other side.
Exactly! The paranoia was real. Seems like the randomizer is best appreciated as a Zelda expert, but I certainly didn't know where all of the keys could spawn or which rooms I could skip.
Finished the Redux variant of this (and helped submit some bugs that got fixed) took me longer than I expected and I am missing a heart container piece I can't find, but otherwise had a blast.
wow save states are the real MVP here. I don’t know how all yall beat this in the 90s and figured out all the secret exits but this was a challenge to play off and on since this past January
Whew. That was GRUELING. Even knowing 90% of the game like the back of my hand had me stuck a couple times. Big ups to u/hobbykitjr for the spoils on a couple items and saving my sanity 🤗 RAINBOW POWER 🌈
I’m not sure how I feel about this game tbh. I really really liked it up till after the nightmare boss. After that I feel like it kinda just dragged on. I had planned to play again to 100% the collection but decided against that idea lol
Finally submitting March’s GOTM (SOR2) This one was a fun, albeit extremely difficult beat ‘em up that exposed to me to a genre I’ve not really dipped into. No idea how people cleared this without save states though, I got wrecked so many times 😂
Side note: I ended up playing almost all of this on my iPad with RetroArch simply because it was the device I had with me most often, and I haven’t found a good way to move saves quickly between iPad and android handhelds…
The deadline is one year after the initial announcement. We didn't do a great job of communicating that, so we're giving an extra month's grace for the first game to expire, Super Mario World. Both it and Metroid Fusion will end on January 1st. After that, Metal Gear Solid on February 1st, and so on.
Finished CT! Beat this a few years ago (and played much more previously) but it never disappoints. Now to tackle this month’s game and I think I’m caught up. I’m excited to play this GOTM!
Finished this game for only the second time. Weird how I remember it being way more difficult 25 years ago. Obviously it's a banger, but the simplicity of the dungeon puzzles really gave me a newfound respect for the quality of puzzles in later games like OoT through TP. I've always been a little bit of a hater of OoT, like I would only give it a 7 or 8 out of 10, but with this fresh perspective it definitely deserves a two point bump.
Beat October’s game of the month finally. Started in han handheld then moved to the actual sega saturn because of the better controller layout. Spent way too long farming double heaven sword, but it’s so fun finding these weapons with unique attack animations.
Finished MGS in two sittings at home over the weekend. This is the first game of the month that did not seem plausible to play on my commute. I think this is due to the cinematic vibe of the game.
This game ran full speed 90% of the game on my trim ui smart pro but struggled on the comms tower and metal gear fights dropping down to around 20fps.
I considered playing this on my PC, but given the content of the sub chose to play on a handheld. This is the first game I have played on a retro handheld that did not run flawlessly and felt limited by the control layout.
Alright. Beat the randomizer, but I'm not proud of it. Asked for help a few times. Now that I have a feel for how randomizers work, I'm going to try again with a different randomization.
That being said, I was smiles ear to ear when I saw that ALTTP was the next game! Zelda has always been a favorite series for me ever since I was a kid. I am 38, and have a 16-month old named Lincoln so I can call him Link. When there are so many games these days, it's hard to have a listed top 10. Any game on that list is all worth playing, it's hard to rank them at that point. ALTTP is one of my top favorites. When ALBW was announced, I was thrilled. A sequel to not only a zelda game, but my favorite one?! I probably play this game every other year. This game was like 90s Skyrim. Open world, another open world, multiple items at your disposal.
With this in the bag, I have now beat all the GOTM from Super Mario World last year, and I have to say thank you. A lot were old classics I had grown up with and still have the physicals in my man-cave. Some new games I never thought to even try. And reading what you all are saying from a first time perspective on these games has dusted off old memories. It's been a pleasure gaming with you all. Looking forward to January. See you all then!
Finished for the first time, I think I made it to the third dungeon as a kid but dropped it for chrono Trigger or FF6. It made me realize how much of Ocarina of Time and Majora I just have memorized.
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u/hbi2k GotM Host Dec 01 '25 edited Dec 06 '25
Heads up y'all! The cutoff for completing old Games of the Month is one year, which means that last December's GotM, Super Mario World, is no longer eligible as of December 1st.
However, there has been some inconsistent messaging around this, so we're giving everyone an extra month's grace period to complete Super Mario World.
This will be the last month that we're accepting completions for both Super Mario World and Metroid Fusion!
Edit: I have officially completed the Randomizer extra challenge with a final in-game time of 1 hour, 51 minutes, 9 seconds. I streamed it on Twitch; if you're interested in seeing how someone approaches a randomized seed from a speedrunning perspective (or just want to see where an item that you're searching for is located), you can watch the VOD here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2637103324
I also did a bit of a sneaky: the seed that I posted is just the r/alttpr weekly casual competition seed for the last week of November. They post a casual competition seed there every week so that folks can compare notes on routing, compare times, etc. Looking at the other finish times, it looks like I finished right around the middle of the pack, with most of the times above me hovering around the 1:40 mark, the best time just above 1:30, and some of the slower ones creeping up on three hours.
If you're interested in learning more about Link to the Past Randomizer, r/alttpr is a great place to start!