A couple months ago, I had this big plan for my GBA adventuring. It was to play out like this: Metroid Fusion, Legend of Zelda, then Pokemon Sapphire. The kink in that plan lies solidly in the middle. I loved Metroid Fusion (even unlocked the detestable NES Metroid.) Then finishing Zelda was to leap me directly into the waiting arms of Pokemon. But I'm finding something unexpected about A Link to the Past.

I find it annoying.

I suppose I'm too New School for this sort of gameplay. (I never played the original version.) It just seems too unintuitive, too trial-and-error. I don't like wandering around the map with only the vaguest idea of where I'm supposed to be heading. I don't like puzzles that revolve around randomly choosing the correct item. I don't like some enemy hits taking next to nothing from my life bar, and then a different enemy type pulling giant chunks out of it. And that goddamn thingie that eats my shield!

For example, I just reached the third dungeon in the dark world. Over and over I run through it, looking for bomb-walls and secret drops. Eventually, I reach the last phase, with a skeleton door that is blocked by a skeleton body. You're supposed to use the fire rod to burn away the body. How does that follow? How am I expected to figure that out? At the least, I would expect some sort of in-game hint, either on the fire rod itself or placed near the skeleton. I like puzzles that make sense, not just solutions pairing rand(tool) with rand(obstacle).

What I really want to play is Four Swords, but I don't know anyone else who owns it so we can Link up. Once we get our black GBA SP, I may grudgingly buy a second copy of the game just for Four Swords.

I know this is sacrilege. I know everybody considers ALttP one of the finest adventure games of all time. I've been playing it for about half an hour a day, which just has not been enough to absorb the means and motives behind this game. Believe me, I'm ashamed of myself for missing the point behind this title. But what was a minor annoyance at the beginning of the game grew to completely inhibit me wanting to spend more time in it. C'est Link vis.

Don't get me started on NES Metroid, by the way. What a huge barrel of suck that is. I can totally understand somebody defending ALttP to me, but I defy anyone to walk me through that mess.

So it's on to Pokemon. The Hoenn continent beckons. Incidentally, the pictures attached to today's update are from a Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire commercial. The ad shows a bunch of pokemon matched with look-alike owners. Given that most GBA ads rely on non-game footage to make a good commercial, I thought this one was pretty nice.