WHY IS "THE LEGEND OF ZELDA A LINK TO THE PAST" SUCH A GREAT GAME?

Gameplay.

I think the way you express this question is very biased.

the graphics of LTTP I have mixed feelings about. environments like the mysterious fog forest or whatever are cool and interesting. but all of the dungeons are very bland. I can't even recall any distinguishing characteristics between them other than green walls and brown walls.

I'm actually not a big fan of lttp. So I blame the fact it's so lauded on nostalgia which I wasn't privy to.

As a more serious answer, Link to the Past has a lot of interesting tools that the player can use to get past different types of obstacles, and a lot of interesting obstacles that make use of those tools in a variety of ways, which are generally intuitive extensions of previously learned knowledge rather than just "here is an ice door, use fire arrows to open it." This makes the player feel smart for figuring out how to proceed. It also has pretty great bosses due to the bosses basically being just more puzzles that require using the same tools, but in a high-pressure environment where the puzzle fights back. A lot of other games do this also, including every Zelda game since LttP, but LttP was one of the first. I think it was probably the first to do it at anywhere near the scale it did. Outside of "first-ness" I don't think LttP particularly does anything better than later Zelda games. (The first two Zelda games don't really have this kind of focus on tools and puzzles, they are more just about exploration)

Anyway a real answer to this question isn't going to be a forum post, or even a bunch of posts in a forum topic, it's going to be a twenty page essay. But I ain't gonna hunt one down for you, so instead you get my shitty, incomplete, rather questionable answer that is focused on the parts of the game I personally enjoyed and ignores multiple other major aspects of the game that I'm sure other people loved.

I like the difficulty growth. As in many Zelda games, the earliest temples are very easy, but the temples get really tough later on. I love that difficulty. You are almost forced to explore and find some heart pieces to even be able to reach the final temple. Then when you do reach it, finishing it is a reward in itself. As for the insanely hard final bosses Zelda is known for... I can only say rage always begets accomplishment in the end.

author=Link_2112

author=pyrodoom
I never got too far in it. But when it comes down to the gameplay, Cuccos.
I played the advanved version first, and they don't attack if you hit them repeatedly, was this what happened on the SNES.

Really? I had the GBA version too and I seem to remember them attacking you after a while.

Maybe it's only certain Cuccos, the rom I got was screwed up, or if the cuccos were being wimps, but they always ran from me when I attacked them, they wouldn't ever attack me.
BTW, I'm talking to Link, on a topic about a game starring him. lol

I like a fair amount of zelda games, just not LTTP. I don't know how to describe this very well, but to me, it is an incredibly boring game. I'm just put to sleep every time I play it. Link's awakening, though, is still one of my favorites.

you must be a riot at parties