The Legend of Zelda has been the sole reason some people get Nintendo consoles. They contain long stories, lots of adventure, secrets, and many other things to absorb you into the game.
A Link to the Past is really the first great Zelda. While the first one was okay, it didn't have nearly as polished gameplay as this one.
The best part of this was the ability to travel between the Light and Dark worlds. This made it so when you were traveling around the light world in the beginning, you see lots of areas that make you wonder and aren't revealed to you until later.
One thing from this game that I'd like to forget is the giant hand. That thing was just annoying.