This weeks Flashback Sunday will go into detail about those crazy little Tamagotchi pets, you know, those little digital pets on a keychains you know you had when you were a kid? Those. There is also another flashback review, this time it’s Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. One of the best video games to ever have been made. So get comfortable and prepare for your blast from the past!

Tamagotchi pets were those awesome little keychains as seen above. They were basically digital handheld pets that you had to take care of. Owners had to feed the pet, play with the pet, and pay attention to the pet or else it would die. They were first sold in 1996 and took the world by storm. Bandai were the creators of this interesting product, and as of 2010 over 76 million Tamagotchis have been sold. Not only were these fun to have, but they were intensly addictive. Having to take care of the pet all day was time consuming and if you missed out on taking care of it, it would die and you had to start all over.

The pets needed constant care, as I stated above. There were many things you had to do in order to keep them alive. Feeding them was a must, they had to be fed every time their health meter slipped down to a low level. Eating means having to use the bathroom, so a toilet meter was also important. You had to make sure they always had empty bowels and bladders. There were minigames which you could play with your pet, like fetch. You also had to pay attention to the pet by petting it or playing with it to make it happy. The pets could get sick, and if you didn’t give them medicine, they would die rather quickly. You could also discipline the pet. If they did something bad like making a mess on the ground you could discipline them. Lot and lots of work went into keeping these little digital pets alive and it was always so worth it. The amount of fun to be had with a Tamagotchi pet was infinite.

There were various kinds of Tamagotchis. Some were just the regular type and some were specialty types. I remember having a t-rex Tamagotchi and an R2-D2 (from Star Wars) Tamagotchi. We used to trade them, I had about 6 at any given time and my friends and I would trade them all around and take turns with each pet type. They weren’t very expensive, if I recall correctly, so buying them was just as addictive as maintaining them. I have actually considered buying a Tamagotchi pet recently, it would be so much fun to have one and the nostalgia for me would be priceless.

Now, for the Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past review!

Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past (or LttP for short) came out in 1991 for the Super Nintendo, also known as the SNES.

LttP is an action-adventure game following along the lines of most Legend of Zelda games. In this game Link had to journey throughout Hyrule to find the descendants of the seven sages and defeat Ganon, who has Princess Zelda locked in a dungeon. In order to do this, Link has to prove his worthiness to wield the Master Sword and travel to the Dark Realm to rescue the sages. Rescuing them will help him to defeat Ganon and restore the world the the way it was before Ganon invaded and messed up the place.

The game was made in the 2D, 3/4 top-down perspective style which was a change from the side-scrolling style of it’s predecessor Zelda II: The Adventures of Link. Link to the Past takes place as a prequel to Legend of Zelda and The Adventures of Link.

In the game, Link has many gadgets, as he usually does, including the classic hook-shot and ocarina. His gadgets are claimed in the dungeons he explores, which is to be expected from a Zelda game. As he goes on he gains more and more helpful instruments that aid him in future dungeons. He can also travel back and fourth between the Dark and Light Realms at almost any time in the game by using a magical mirror. This can be used pretty much anywhere in the game and with keep Link in the same exact spot where it was used. It then leaves a portal of sorts which you can travel back into. The gameplay is very similar to that of previous Zelda games, using the sword and gadgets to fight enemies and get through dungeons.

This game is probably one of the more memorable games from my early childhood. It’s probably the best LoZ game to date, and maybe even one of the best games in general to ever exist. I mean I loved Ocarina of Time and Majoras Mask, but Link to the Past is such a classically awesome game.

As a side note, if you like this game and want more games like it, I suggest you give 3D Dot Game Heroes a shot. It’s so very similar to Link to the Past, but it’s a PS3 exclusive so if you don’t have a PS3 you’re SOL.

That about wraps up this edition of Flashback Sunday with myself, LadyCroft3. See you next week for more blasts from the past!