I’ve been playing this hack for a very long time now, and before I begin, I just wanna thank PuzzleDude for making the game more accessible to anyone who may want to play this game without all the extreme difficulty. That being said, let’s get to the more controversial topic.

The Remodel Vs. The Original

Let me go on record and say that I’ve played the original Parallel Worlds all the way up to Impa’s Ways (when I first entered the Parallel World) without the use of save states. So yes, I know when a game is too difficult or just right so that it’s not pointlessly frustrating. What I’m saying is; The original hack is superior in every way, and I do mean every single way. The hack was clearly structured to accommodate the insane difficulty, much like how the original game, A Link to the Past, was built around it’s own difficulty to appeal to both new players and veterans.

The reason why the Remodel and the original Parallel Worlds are so controversial amidst it’s fans is because the remodel simply can’t recapture the essence of the original hack. The smooth, professional flow of it. Though I adore the Remodel so much that I’m willing to boot it up any time and enjoy it, I can’t just ignore that a lot of it feels poorly structured to accommodate it’s now lower level of difficulty. Coupled with all the new abilities you have still in-tact from the original Parallel Worlds; the Remodel’s even easier than the original game, A Link to the Past!

On the flip side, the original Parallel Worlds is so overly hard that it feels like it was made purely with Save States and Emulator exploits in mind, and even then. It’s. Still. Too. Hard. It completely ruined whatever the creators were trying to accomplish, which was clearly something massive and extraordinary. I will always give Euclid and SePH credit where the credit is due, but they messed up hard when it came to this very vital aspect of a video game.

So then what does this all boil down to? The original Parallel Worlds was too hard, but it was designed to accommodate that. The Remodel isn’t near as hard, but wasn’t designed well enough to accommodate that. A perfect split. I say this because I truly do think this Remodel could use a 1.2 that redesigns it with it’s new difficulty in mind so that the difficulty doesn’t feel so jumpy and unstable.

Some rooms are completely empty, and just have you walking aimlessly with nothing to do. I realize this is probably a very common complaint that PuzzleDude’s fed up of hearing by this point but it’s the absolute truth. Some of these rooms could’ve easily used a few enemies or perhaps a few clever traps here and there to avoid. Heck, just a few enemies to run around at you like morons would be more than enough. Just have “something” in those empty rooms for goodness sake.

The most notable area in which this problem is at it’s worst is the infamous Parallel Tower. The Remodel completely killed it’s atmosphere of being the final dungeon of the game, and rendered every single maiden’s hint useless. In-fact, I’d go so far as to say that their hints should’ve been replaced with just idle banter. At least then it wouldn’t have been as misleading to players who probably never even touched the original Parallel Worlds. It’d be a massive letdown. Heck, it was a letdown for me!

When making a video game (this applies to hacks too) you want to try and make it accessible to as many people as you can. Though no money is involved and there’s nothing to be gained from it other than the satisfaction, wouldn’t you, as a creator, prefer to create something that more people enjoy than just a select few? I know I would, anyways. Also, the counter argument that hacking games isn’t simple to do does make sense to me, since I’m very much aware how hard it actually is, but that doesn’t matter. Developers have all kinds of tools to make their games with, but we can still criticize them!

Ultimately, I do feel this hack’s fun to play and serves as a good way to, at the least, get to experience all of Euclid and SePH’s amazing work without all the pointless hassle. Is it as good and balanced as the original game, A Link to the Past? Not even close. Rather, I like to consider it as a work of art and not like an official game, and with that in mind? Go and download this hack, because trust me, PuzzleDude’s managed to make it much more easy to explore all the amazing ASM hacking and designing that Euclid and SePH spent so many years to make.

If you asked my non-professional opinion though, I’d tell you that Parallel Worlds (Remodel) is better than the original game, A Link to the Past, simply because of the art used for the environments. I’m a sucker for snow, and Parallel Worlds managed to make it look absolutely beautiful and even a tad unsettling. I prefer the Icy World over the Dark World, but again, that’s my non-professional opinion! Parallel Worlds may never truly be as good as A Link to the Past in terms of quality, but the existence of this Remodel shows that PuzzleDude loved it so much, he was willing to go in and make it so those without godly skills could also enjoy it.

And for that, I am very thankful. I’m a skilled gamer (I like to think so) but I’m not absolutely perfect!