When its successors copy it so shamelessly, you know the game has got to be good.
The basics are all there, right down to the story: You play as Link, a young boy in green clothes who one night awakes from a dream, telling him to seek out the lands castle. An evil wizard holds the dear princess Zelda in custody and it's upon you to free her. As the plot unfolds, you're charged with finding three medals to prove your worth to the legendary Master Sword, the only weapon able to defeat Agahnim. The story has only just begun though as you're suddenly transfered into a Dark Realm, a land mirroring the kingdom of Hyrule, but everything has been corrupted by Ganon who has been sealed away here. To stop him once more from invading Link's homeland, he alone has to travel to the eight Dungeons and recover the crystals to seal Ganon once and for all.
Of course, key to the fun experience that is Zelda are the fantastic dungeon layouts and ALttP does just that, and in masses. Within each dungeon you'll eventually come across a new item that will come in handy for the rest of the game and is essential in order to get to the end of its particular dungeon. Similar praise can be said about the bosses in those dungeons which all require particular strategies in order to defeat them.
As you travel from dungeon to dungeon, you'll explore a huge world, in fact, you'll explore two huge worlds as you can teleport back and forth between Hyrule and the Dark World. And since you're granted new abilities and new equipment over the course of your adventures, there's reason to go back and look for secret passage ways you couldn't access before. You may find a few optional items that will make it easier for you or extra heart containers which make up the series life bar.
Suffice to say the graphics are fantastic. The variety in the environments is stunning, the character sprites look great, little details like cartoony sweat drops dripping from Link's head when he's pulling a large lever show how much care went into the game. Along with those visuals comes a marvelous soundtrack that's not only a charm to listen to and dwell in memories, but is also the foundation of every Zelda soundtrack to date.
At the end of the day, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is one of the greatest SNES titles ever and while Ocarina of Time has gotten a lot of praise, its success is based solely upon the fantastic blueprint A Link to the Past had drawn beforehand. therefore, in the eyes of this reviewer, this truly legendary SNES classic is undoubtedly the best Zelda game to date.