Even gamers that do not own a Nintendo console or hand held are aware of the Legend of Zelda series of games. The Zelda series has transcended the world of a single manufacturer into the whole world of gaming. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the Super Nintendo was one of those titles that made gamers step back and realize that Nintendo meant business with the 16-Bit follow-up to the Nintendo Entertainment System. This was what gamers wanted, bigger and better continuations of 8-Bit classics. Nintendo was delivering and fans were buying.
Eliminating the side scrolling portions of the second game (there some short ones in the original) to focus solely on the 3/4 overhead action scenes allowed the world to be displayed without breaking up the immersion. Old school fans either liked or hated the changes made to the first SNES outing. Arrows were separated out, instead of costing a rupee per arrow, no more side scrolling areas whatsoever and the usage of the magic meter by certain items.
Travelling the land of Hyrule for the first time way back in 1992 on my SNES was almost a magical experience. Nintendo went all out on A Link to the Past and it showed, this was Miyamoto running wild like Hulk Hogan in the mid 80's. There was nothing to compare to it on the competition whether that be Sega Genesis, Turbo Grafx-16, Atari Lynx or personal computers- this was simply an amazing game.
The memories of beating Nintendo's only Zelda entry on the Super Nintendo still run through my mind from time to time. It was just such an awesome experience.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past has been released on the Super Nintendo, Game Boy Advance, Wii and Wii U Virtual consoles. eBay is about the only option for those wanting a physical cartridge though.