Link's Awakening holds a special place in my heart as my introduction to the Zelda franchise. I remember playing the monochrome version of the game on the big brick Game Boy, and being amazed by the wonder of traversing Koholint Island. Frankly, I was a bit too young for the original game back when it came out, so much so that my first memories of this game are a bit of a blur. Yep, I've been playing Link's Awakening literally since I began to form memories.

Five years later in 1998, we got a colorized remaster of the title, Link's Awakening DX, which is the version I replayed for this marathon I'm on. With a few more years of gaming experience under my belt, DX was the first time I could truly appreciate Link's Awakening for all it had to offer.

There are many aspects of Link's Awakening that I think exceed its console big sibling, A Link to the Past. Even though it was limited to the Game Boy's 8-bit sound chip, the melodies and sounds of Link's Awakening are just as good, if not better than those of A Link to the Past. The sword combat also feels more fluid, and it's immensely impressive that they were able to fit most of A Link to the Past's mechanics into the Game Boy.

But what really sets Link's Awakening apart is its atmosphere and story. It's not exactly complex--this is the Game Boy, after all--but the game has a surreal aura with just a drop of melancholy, a mood not many Zelda games since have tried to match. A Link to the Past stuck close to a traditional fantasy narrative, and as such tried to weave a grand, epic tale. On the other hand, Link's Awakening is a quieter, slower burn that doesn't reveal its true colors until pretty far into the experience. There is an irreverent stream of cameos and ridiculous scenarios, such as making you feed dog food to an alligator dude, or taking a chain chomp out on a deadly walk. Other moments try to put a tear in your eye, whether it be due to a tragic story thread or a beautiful melody. It's a pretty odd contrast, but I also fucking love it. It's an early version of the same surrealism that would make Majora's Mask such a great experience as well.

Despite holding this game so near and dear, though, I still find it hard to include it among the "all-time greats" of the Zelda franchise. The biggest issues in the game are a product of the Game Boy's limitations. Link's Awakening crams in most of the major mechanics from A Link to the Past, whether it be the Pegasus Boots or the Hookshot. However, the lack of buttons makes it so many abilities that were previously a core part of Link's moveset are now turned into items. This adds a LOT of item management and time spent mired in menus, which can turn the game into a slog at times (This is something that is fixed by the 2019 Switch remake, though). Also, I do recognize that some of the game's quests are a little obtuse if you haven't played this game dozens of times like I have.

Despite these notes, Link's Awakening is not that far behind A Link to the Past in the greatness scale. If that game went out of its way to define what a good Zelda game is, Link's Awakening was the first time that the formula was taken for a ride and spun out in a crazy direction. It would be far from the last time too. While I recognize now that it is an objectively more limited game than A Link to the Past, this game has a je ne sais quoi that really makes me treasure it more than almost any other video game.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was the first game I ever played in the Zelda series. I first got the game when I was about eight-years-old and I loved exploring Koholint Island, even though I had no idea what the hell I was doing. For some reason, I would just walk around and try out things in the game, like stealing from shopkeepers, trying to get to places I couldn't reach or get attacked by chickens. I don't think I ever got any further than the second dungeon. A few years later, when I brought home a copy of A Link to the past, my friend told me that I probably wouldn't get how it worked. I was mad about it then, but now in hindsight, he was probably right.

I didn't quite understand the structure and puzzle elements of Link's Awakening and how every step forward in the game unlocked whole new chunks of the map that at the time felt huge. Like Maniac Mansion - which I would also play obsessively, despite not knowing what I was doing - I liked exploring the possibilities more than simply trying to get to the end.

This fascination hasn't quite continued as I've played through other Legend of Zelda games over the years. Games like Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker, I was just excited to move from one goal to the next, whereas I adored Skyward Sword because it took most elements of exploration out of the equation and made the game almost solely plot.

Then, I started Breath of the Wild.

I've been playing Breath of the Wild for several months now, and I adore just seeing what the game can do. I'll occasionally do a story mission, but I feel like I'm making my own path through this adventure, doing what I want in this quest and exploring how I want to explore. Simply put, it gets me back to what I loved about Link's Awakening in the first place, and reminds me of the joy I had just screwing around in a Zelda world.

With the Link's Awakening remake having just come out, and taking a short break from Breath of the Wild, I decided to finally tackle Link's Awakening. After 26 years of screwing around with this game, I finally finished it.

Maybe it was just because I'm coming off Breath of the Wild, but Koholint Island feels so small now. Even once the entire world is opened up, it doesn't take more than five minutes or so to get to any part of the map. Another thing I didn't realize before: this game really holds your hand as to what you're supposed to do next. I completely forgot, there's even phone booths you can go into that will give you very overt hints as to where you're supposed to go next. Little me should've realized just how easy this game is.

Except until the end, that is. During the last few dungeons, Link's Awakening really ratchets up the difficulty instead of building up the difficulty throughout the game. Only during these dungeons did I feel the need to look at a strategy and see what I was doing wrong. I also wish there was more to do outside of the dungeons. Again, this might me biased because of playing Breath of the Wild, but there's not much to do here outside working your way to the next dungeon. Even in other Zelda games, I've felt like there was more to do than just dungeon crawl, but here not so much.

But as a pick-up-and-play Zelda, Link's Awakening is so much fun and so charming. This world unravels in a way that plays directly to portable gaming, as just a few minutes of this game can unlock a whole new area or segment of this map that hadn't been found before. Every time I got a new tool, I found myself meandering around the world map, finding new ways to use my new items.

I'm so glad I finally finished Link's Awakening, a game that fills a world of exploration into such a tiny package. Link's Awakening reminded me of the exploration that I originally loved in this series, and now crave after Breath of the Wild.

History:

It's funny how about half of my history entries for this system start with "Well I played the NES version...". Never played Link's Awakening, and for a while I actually thought this and Link to the Past were the same game!

Expectations:

I feel a bit of Zelda fatigue after playing through Oracle of Seasons, it feels like I JUST beat it the other day. At the same time, that's the game that got me excited for other Zelda games moving forward. I think I'll have a good time with this one.

Day 1:

It's not cheating if you're shipwrecked on an island somewhere... and the girl looks just like you... and you might be dreaming...

I'd be lying if I said Oracle of Seasons didn't spoil me, and I was honestly expecting to go into this game accepting of the fact that I'd be playing a technical downgrade of that game. While the graphics are obviously not as refined, everything else about the game holds up just as good if not better than Oracle! Specifically the menu system is much quicker to navigate, saving is faster and everything just feels good. My only real complaint so far is that the text uses a font that can be hard to read at times and every time I walk up to a rock/pot/whatever I'm immediately reminded that "It's far too heavy to pick up with my bare hands!"

Yes, that's a Chain Chomp. No, I don't know how either...

Link's Awakening has invoked a feeling I don't think any other game on this project has so far; after just a few steps through the village I immediately found myself thinking "Holy crap... what have I gotten myself into..." Yes, it's Zelda, familiar, comfortable Zelda, but at the same time everything feels just a few degrees off. The lands are welcoming, yet claustrophobic. The people are happy, too happy. Just where the hell am I? I feel like I'm in the opening scenes of a Stephen King movie...

I have an owl guide like from Ocarina of Time, and every time he shows up I can't help but here the time from the N64 game. Not a complaint. After reclaiming my sword and shield I found myself in the Mysterious Woods which, according to the sign outside, are just a little mysterious. I spent little time getting lost here, and eventually had to save and call it for the night...

...I can't wait to play again tomorrow!

Day 2:

When I was younger, Ocarina of Time used to creep me the hell out with some of its dungeons. Finding things like this brings those feeling right back. Why is this room even here!? Am I missing something? Do I need to go buy that shovel?

In any case the first dungeon of the game served both as an easy introductory dungeon, as well as assurance that I was in for a good time. One of the things I kept telling myself after Oracle of Seasons was how hard it was going to be playing Link's Awakening without the Roc Feather... Then I found the Roc Feather.

For that matter, everything that Oracle did that I thought was so innovative was actually taken straight from Link's Awakening! The items, the trade system, dungeon designs, etc. I feel right at home here.

One thing about this game compared to Oracle and the original is that the first couple bosses were definitely harder than I was used to for early fights. Nothing too demanding, but just enough that I was caught off guard.

I've heard Link's Awakening described as a Zelda fever dream... and I can absolutely see that... Yoshi sure is showing up in a lot of games these days... That doll is what starts the trade system in this game. Giving the doll to a woman's baby earned me a ribbon, which I gave to a tiny Chain Chomp, natural... she gave me dog food...

While I was busy winning stuffed dinosaurs, BowWow the Chain Chomp was busy getting... dognapped... by Moblins. After getting him back I took him through a walk in the swamp, where he granted me access to the second dungeon...

...Shy Guy...

.......

The dungeon itself was pretty easy, with the highlight being my acquisition of the strength bracelet. The boss here involved me dodging his attacks until he retreated to his bottle, then throwing the bottle up against the wall... and possible some reawakened clown nightmares...

With that the second instrument was mine! Now to go replace the batteries in my Wave Bird...

Day 3:

Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to knock out the third dungeon tonight. Instead I was running around taking care of heart-piece collecting, grabbing seashells, fishing for fish, and feeding alligators canned dog food.

Also managed to piss off some bat monster who punished me with more inventory space.

And I met some new people! Crazy Tracy, Will Write, and... camera mouse? Actually the camera is one of my new favorite things in this game. The pictures are pretty great!

Hopefully I can finish out two dungeons tomorrow to make up for tonight.

Day 4:

After digging up the Slime Key it was off to the third dungeon! This place was a maze of Bob-Bombs and keys. The mini-boss here was a new kind of pain, having to lay bombs right in their path just hoping they wouldn't picot at the last second... Other than that, despite appearing complicated at first, the dungeon was fairly straight forward.

Eventually I'd pick up the Pegasus Boots, allowing me to charge forward. I definitely prefer the Pegasus Seeds in Oracle, since this game expects you to combine the boots with the feather for long jumps. Since you have to have both items equipped at once, that means no sword...

The boss was a breeze, and actually pretty fun. After bashing into the wall to knock him off the ceiling you need to slash away at his eye to start splitting him in half. Once he's been stretched out enough, charging through him will split him into two. At that point it's just slashing and jumping and dodging.

At this point I think I'm going to take a short break from instrument collecting and go pick up all the seashells I've missed up until this point, should only be a few.

Day 5:

I spent most of my night digging up seashells and exploring the island. I did finally stumble across the Seashell Shrine, and now only need eight more shells to get my sword! I'm going to go ahead and wait until I get the flippers from the next dungeon before I do though.

In trying to reach my desert destination I found myself in the Animal Village...

Naturally the honey I found goes to a bear chef... My wife asked me where I got the honey, to which my response (eyes rolling) "Weren't you paying attention? The woman in town wanted a Yoshi doll for her baby, so I won one from the local crane game. She gave me a Ribbon which I gave to a Chain Chomp who just wanted to look pretty, in exchange for a can of dog food. Naturally, the dog food went to a hungry alligator who then gave me some bananas. The bananas went to a band of carpenter monkeys who, as monkeys are wont to do, constructed a bridge for me to cross to get to where I was going. We all know that monkeys are notoriously negligent on the job, and they left behind a stick, which I took for myself. A villager, standing at the base of a bee hive, asked to borrow my stick. Of course I let him, and after he ran away screaming, chased by angry bees, I figured I'd grab the honeycomb... THAT'S where I got the honey!"

Anyway then I had to go find Maron so she could sing to a walrus...

Daw...

With Maron in tow I was able to clear any unwanted mammals from my path and access the desert area. Turns out all I was after here was the key.

The mini boss was too easy, and once I grabbed the key I was instructed by my owl guide to take it and jump off a waterfall.

*reads back over entire post*

...This game's weird...

I saved back in Mabe Village, and before I hit up the next story dungeon I'll probably go visit the special Color Dungeon to get a new tunic.

Day 6:

The Color Dungeon was... Well it was a lot easier than I expected it to be. I honestly don't know whether I'm disappointed or thankful for that, but either way I made it through the dungeon with very little difficulty.

The next dungeon on the list was the Angler's Tunnel, where I'd finally get my flippers! The dungeon was challenging enough without going overboard, but the boss was the easiest thing I've seen in the game so far...

Swim down, slash slash slash slash win. Okay, so to be fair I lucked out with a sword power-up immediately before entering the boss lair but... still...

Once out, I could explore the entire map freely, for the most part.

Which is good, since I apparently missed an item...

After walking around for a bit, searching for the last few seashells I needed, I came across a sad ghost looking for his home. The home was easy enough to find, I'd been there a few times, but after that he wanted to visit his grave, which for the life of me I couldn't remember the location of. After wandering the map for what seemed like forever, I finally came across it, and was rewarded with a new picture!

With Sad Ghost off my back, it was time to finish the shell hunt and get my new sword! Along the way I continued the trading game as well, which had me delivering a photo of Princess Peach to Will Wright... because... Zelda...

My night ultimately ended with my new sword in hand! Four more instruments to gather...

Day 7:

After just a minute of backtracking and grabbing my ocarina, I went straight back to the big fish from earlier who thoroughly entertained me with a mambo. Moments like these...

I also finished up the trading sequence, culminating in me getting the Boomerang. I actually thought it was a bit strange that such an iconic item was buried beneath such a huge "optional" activity, but it was nice to finally have it. That led me to the game's fifth dungeon, Catfish's Maw.

This was actually a pretty fun dungeon, with a fun recurring miniboss and an awesome item reward in the Hook Shot! It was also here that I realized I could actually jump on the Gommba enemies, complete with sound effect, and get hearts from them.

As enjoyable as the dungeon itself was, the boss was just horrible... While avoiding the whirling tail in the middle I had to grab his head with the Hook Shot and attack his neck. Where his head appeared was random, as was whether or not I'd actually get to attack him. Sometimes his whole body would come out of the wall and attack. Bad RNG had me attempted this boss a second time before finally beating him.

A bit of post-dungeon exploring, new Hook Shot in hand, led me to... this guy... For some reason I felt compelled to throw turnips at him...

In search of the next dungeon, I came across a shrine that shed some light on the nature of the island. It's actually a pretty crappy situation, as it turns out the entire island, and all its inhabitants, are a dream of the sleeping Wind Fish, who I'm trying to wake. My only way off the island is to wake the Wind Fish, but then everyone will disappear. Inversely, if I stay on the island and let the fish sleep, the monsters will eventually rise to power and take over the entire island...

The next dungeon was the aptly named Face Dungeon, which was rather uneventful. The boss was fun though, I always like fighting this guy.

With two dungeons to go I decided to take a short break before finally finishing out the game!

Later...

Time to wrap this thing up!

After reviving a dead rooster and using him to fly around the mountains (what am I doing with my life?) it was time to visit the Eagle's Tower. The dungeon itself was fairly challenging, involving multiple levels, switch mechanics, and multi-room puzzles.

The boss was a lot of fun, even though I'm pretty sure I fought this guy in Mega Man X...

I was again informed of the island's fate should I wake the Wind Fish, and to be honest it was putting a serious damper on my game. Everything leading up to this point had me meeting these new people, building relationships and exploring a world that was nothing if not alive and full of personality.

It didn't help that every run in with Maron just hammered that home further, and always at the worst time. My journey to the final dungeon felt like a death march...

The last dungeon itself was massive, containing just about every mini boss in the game including the arrival of... uh... boxer guy... who I first met in Oracle of Seasons. That was cool! After getting lost for what seemed like an eternity, I finally made it to the dungeon boss, who was incredible easy to beat.

With all eight instruments in hand I couldn't decide whether to visit the sleeping Wind Fish, or just turn the game off for good... I'd come this far, no point quitting now. The Wind Fish's egg turned out to be a mini dungeon of its own with a short Lost Woods style maze followed by the final encounter with the Nightmare.

This boss was a ton of fun! He had several different forms, each requiring me to use a different item to damage. One in particular had me swinging my sword to bounce magic attacks back at him!

His final form was fairly easy, with two arms swinging around that I had to avoid while shooting arrows into his eye.

With the Nightmare defeated, and the Wind Fish awake, I caught one last glimpse of the island and its inhabitants until, in a flash, they were all gone.

Conclusion:

Where do I even begin?

First off, yes, I thought this game was amazing. Fantastic. On the technical side alone this game was incredible. Gameboy owners in 1993 must have lost their minds to have this kind of experience on their handhelds. The Gameboy Color version makes it that much better, but even if we take away the color Link's Awakening is an incredible looking game. The music and sounds are, needless to say, wonderful, and the whole Zelda "feel" is captured perfectly.

It's almost not even worth mentioning all that tough. For it to be anything less would be a major issue, but Link's Awakening lives up to its pedigree with ease. The real talking point here is the story and atmosphere.

I felt like CRAP after I beat this game, and for most of the tail end of it. The whole island is bright whimsy juxtaposed over depressing, unrelenting darkness. Every laugh the game elicited, and there were many, only served to emphasize that all the joy I was experiencing was destined to be erased forever.

Even the attachment is called into question. If everything in this world exist in the Wind Fish's dream, were they ever real to begin with? Were they just projections of various traits of the Wind Fish itself? Doesn't the fact that I was able to go there myself make it all real? Whether it was real or not, it all happened, and Link makes that clear in the game's ending. I believe Link, and myself, will always remember Koholint Island and the people we met there...

...if only in our dreams...

Liked:

- Zelda Standard of music, graphics and gameplay for the time.
- The story was incredible and impactful, and will stick with me for a long time.
- A game of this quality on the Gameboy must have blown minds 22 years ago!
- For a portable game, the length felt just right. I beat it in just about 11 hours.
- The Mario reference served to set the games slightly bizarre tone, and were a lot of fun.

Disliked:

- I'm so freaking depressed right now!

Personal Score:

I pasted my review for the original below, since it largely is the same as this one. When it comes to the look, I like how it had the cozy colors of Link to the Past. I like that they respected the original while still adding a few features. I found the tunic valuable (I chose the defensive one; oh, and forgot to mention, I actually really like the looks of the tunics), but never found the Color Dungeon addition really that notable. I loved how the cutscenes looked for this version. So in other words, I found the remake worth a play, mostly due to its colorization of the cutscenes, but didn't find the addition of the Color Dungeon remarkable. Therefore, I wont have both versions on my Favorite Favorites list, etc., but this still deserves a full 5 star, was worth doing this remake, and I will replay both versions in the future. I'm excited to try the Switch version, which had more time to develop new technologies and possibilities. Still, with how many years between the original and this version (5 years I believe), there weren't many exciting changes except in the Look part. Oh speaking of, I completely forgot about the photographs addition ha, which I must admit was cute at parts (I love that the fisherman was important enough to get a photo), but really wasn't remarkable enough. Again, it was mostly just the cute look of the photos, not the process of getting the photos. Honestly on future replays, while I will always collect Secret Seashells, I probly wont do the same with the photos.

Review for the original, relevant to this one too:

Look: 10/10 I thought I was gonna be turned off by the Gameboy graphics, but they felt so nostalgic and comfortable on the eyes. Obviously it inherited a lot of the look and enemies from Link to the Past, etc., but not only is it mobile but also it's just simply comfy. I love the inventory, dungeon maps, and overworld maps.

Sound: 9/10 Like I always mention it's tough for me to rate early videogame for their sound, because I usually play them without sound on. But considering that I used to always jam to the tracks and sound effects--and listening through a YouTube upload of the soundtrack--I can safely say this is one of my favorites from the era! (Then again, I have nostalgia for it, so it's unfair.) I still didn't count this toward the overall score, but had to note that it is one of my favorites of this era's videogame music.

Play: 10/10 Where to begin. This is the Zelda that defined Zeldas for me, so I'm biased. The inventory screen, the dungeon maps, the overworld map, I just love everything about it. I love the essentially item retrieval gameplay parts, the Secret Seashells optional collectible, etc. One thing I can say I hate (and always have) is the "it's too heavy for bare hands" dialogue that pops up when bump into a pot etc., and any other similar dialogue like that. And one thing I will note too is that it's a little too easy again like Link to the Past, didn't have to use a single savestate even in the final bossfights (largely due to the boomerang haha but I even managed to get the boomerang as a kid). Maybe I just got too used to the first 2 which is why LoTP and this felt particularly easy ha. But anyway, love everything about the gameplay--this is how to do a mobile action-adventure game imo.

Feel: 10/10 I love how Zelda games transferred into mobile version, they truly pulled it off. I love how fast the intro screen can go if you just mash start: I love that immediate relief (but also love the intro video, mind you). I love how the world map fills in as you go; even though I have to admit I fell in love with the link to the past map and its obvious influence on Tomba's world map, now replaying this, I see why I loved this one just as much, possibly more due to the nostalgia. Oh gosh, and I adore the rooster + boomerang feature -- I didn't even use it for any practical reasons this gameplay, but it's just a cool idea. Indeed, the boomerang in general just rocks. No wonder I found the earlier games' boomerangs disappointing--derp--obviously because it’s a difficult to obtain secret weapon that’s, lets be honest, OP in this game, and this is the game I was introduced to it all. I wonder how different my love for the game would be if I jumped in blind -- I used a guide a few times for reminders, and have played this a million times. With that being said though, this is the only Zelda I can say I beat as a kid without a guide, probably a lot of help from my older cousin but still haha. I don't know how I solved some of this stuff as a kid--but I did, even the Secret Seashells, Pieces of Hearts, etc. So they obviously must have given enough hints with the owl statues and provided enough resources to experiment. Point being -- I can safely say this must be my favorite Zelda since I have been able to experiment, explore, and solve the complex puzzles that I can't claim to have done in the other Zeldas (yet... we will see with future playthroughs of those). Finally, I love how, like in Tomba, you can access areas and almost access NPCs etc., like the fisherman for instance, but despite this tease--without certain abilities--you can't actually do what yo have to. It basically gives you that taste of a secret area and drives you to try to solve how to access the value of it.

Attachment: 10/10 Simply one of the greatest games ever, up there with FFX. And with the nostalgia I have for it, and how much I enjoyed this playthrough (I miss it already), I give this a big 10/10. I know I will play this again, I know I will play the Switch remake when I get to that point, and indeed, I already have replayed this a million times ha.

Pros:
+ A colorful remake of an already fantastic console-like experience for the original Game Boy

+ Varied gameplay elements and platforming kept things feeling fresh throughout

+ Every secondary item was used often and each one felt as important as the next

+ Fun, challenging dungeons that made full use of Link's abilities

+ Cute cutscenes added a nice touch to the game's story

+ Charming npc's, towns, and music

+ No Zelda (technically)

Cons:
- You spend half the game going in and out of the start menu/inventory

- Some parts of the game were confusing or left me with no sense of direction

- A few secrets are almost impossible to find without blindly poking at every wall you come across

- Of all birds Marin chose to want to become, it was a trash-eating, obnoxious, squawkin'-ass seagull

Final Thoughts:
I'll come right out and say it: Zelda DX is the best Zelda game I've played yet. It was one of the first games I had for the Game Boy Color but it took nearly 20 years for me to play the game "for realsies." I remember playing maybe an hour or two of Zelda DX but probably lost interest at the time in favor of playing some PS1 Squaresoft RPG or Capcom/SNK fighting games. The late 90's put out a hell of a lot of great games. But I digress.

Link's Awakeneing DX was a lot of fun. From randomly exploring, to tackling dungeons, to playing various minigames, there was always something to do and the game never felt dull or repetetive. The game progressed at a nice pace and it felt really satisfying to move on to the next challenge or backtrack with a newly gained item/ability. Dungeons were the highlight of the game, as they put all of Link's abilities to the test and never felt frustrating or unfair. The towns were also a great touch, as npc's would change their dialogue depending on the situation and actually made the areas feel like a break from all the action, which was something I felt Link to the Past lacked. Another nice touch was how specific item combinations allowed you to progress to a new or out-of-reach area and how the items you get all serve a purpose and never stop feeling useful, no matter how far into the game you are.

The only real downside I can come up with was just how often I had to access the inventory. Due to the lack of buttons, exploring the overworld and/or dungeons can feel like a chore, as you'll need to stop and change your equipped item so that you can lift a rock, jump over a pit, hookshot across a gap, attack a monster, dash past a trap, and so on. You eventually become accustomed to it and, fortunately, it doesn't break your sense of immersion but in dungeons, you'll find yourself hitting start quite often. I also got stuck at a few points because I had no idea what to do next. It was sort of embarrassing that I wandered around for 2 hours since I had no idea magic powder could light lamps. Also, it's not really a con but I felt that bosses were pretty forgettable. They were either rehashed from LTTP or just uninteresting altogether.

After being left somewhat unimpressed by Link to the Past, I didn't really go in with the highest of expectations for Link's Awakening. That's not to say that I thought I wouldn't enjoy it but I figured it would just be a simpler, watered down attempt at recreating the SNES title. Thankfully, Link's Awakening instead managed to rectify the gripes I had with LTTP and delivered, in my opinion, a much more enjoyable Legend of Zelda experience. The game took me a lot longer to complete, had great controls, fun dialogue, an enjoyable story, and no dumbass princess to save.

Link’s Awakening is the second Zelda game I have ever completed start to finish. I have played several others but never fully committed. The only other title I have rolled credits on is A Link to the Past, so naturally, Link’s Awakening should be a welcome and natural transition. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bit of a let down.

Let’s start with the good. Overall, the game plays and feels a lot like a Link to the Past which is great. The overall mechanics are nearly identical, which given the time they were both released makes sense and is welcoming. Changing items is a bit clunky, and your sword doesn’t have a dedicated button, however this is a Gameboy game, so you can’t fault it for that considering the platform only has two buttons.

The world design is great. The entire game is centred on an island and has 8 main dungeons to comb through across different landscapes. There is quite a bit of content, and the dungeons and world themselves are interesting and engaging. Also, the characters are fun and the entire game has a certain charm to it.

So what’s the problem? This all sounds great right? The game starts to fall apart about halfway through has soon as the cryptic puzzle solving becomes tedious and cumbersome. For example, there are 26 secret seashells to find, and if you get all 26, you get an upgraded sword. I found 16. And while I didn’t slash every single bush or piece of grass, this is embarrassingly tedious. There is also an item trading plot that MUST BE COMPLETED in order to access the final boss without just randomly guessing. The first few items are pretty easy to trade up for, but then once again, it becomes a game of hide and seek to painfully track everything down. Also, some hidden walls in dungeons/caves have cracks to show where to bomb. Others are just completely random so you are once again left to guessing where to go. Sure, there are some subtle clues, but they aren’t obvious until you are stuck and pulling your hair out. At least this game has a world map.

Let’s also talk about the final boss for a second. Multiple phases of boss that you need to beat, BUT you need to have some specific items at your ready in your inventory. If you don’t have them, better start again. You die, and are at half health? Chances are you won’t be flawless at beating the boss, so go stock up on hearts and jog back. Another thing that is also only discovered through painful trial and error.

When I play a retro game, I expect there to be some discovery, unfair difficulty, and messing around to find secrets. That’s how games were back in the old days. But considering Link’s Awakening was released AFTER A Link to the Past and SEVEN YEARS after the first Zelda game was released, I expect a more polished experience, like what you get in Link to the Past.

All that said, it’s not a bad game, but it’s not great. I struggled to give it three stars, but it won me over on charm and overall gameplay. The game feels good, it tells a good story, it’s (mostly) fun, but it fails in the exploration department to the point it becomes a chore and steps back into the mid 1980’s.

I was trying to play as many Zelda games as I could (in chronological order by release date) before BoTW came out. Being that I started this one in late February, only a few days before I picked up my Switch during a midnight release, I suppose you could say I didn't make it all that far in my quest.

However, this was the first Zelda title in my lineup I had never before played! I was only familiar with it to the extent that I watched a friend play the original (non-DX) version on the Super Game Boy, showing me the glitches you could exploit. And then the ending had been ruined by the Internet, so I never bothered.

Which it's too bad I felt that way, as if anything the ending is "ruined" by the game itself about halfway in. It's not even the same stupid ending that Super Mario Bros. 2 had, as after you beat the game you're still left wondering what it all meant, why it happened, how it fits into the larger Zeldaverse, etc.

For the most part I'd say this game, despite being 24 (or 19) years old still holds up. It's fun to play, I'd say more so than the 2 original NES titles despite this originally being on the more compaact Game Boy Color. The puzzles are puzzle-y, like genuine have to stop and think about how to get to the next point, and plan your moves in advance. My brain liked that.

The music is awesome. Not 100% sure, but I'd be willing to bet this title had the largest soundtrack of any Zelda game released by that point. It certainly seemed like different sections of the overworld had a unique song attached to it, and there was some variety among the dungeons and boss battles as well. All of it great!

It was cool to see a game that takes place somewhere other than Hyrule, and talk to characters you've not seen in other games before. It is kind of funny though that this is a Zelda game and yet... there is no Zelda. Nor is there a Tri-Force. And no real Ganon (aside from a cameo appearance of a thing that morphs into his silhouette). And the Master Sword is... optional? All of this meant that you were always in unfamiliar, unpredictable territory and weren't just playing a re-hash of the main story again.

There are a lot of Mario Bros. game cameos. That threw me off at first but I learned to live with and love that.

My beefs: The first two NES games managed to have a pretty good control system despite having only 4 buttons and a D-Pad to work with. Link to the Past on the SNES was also great, and it got to work with 8 buttons. I'm guessing the thinking of the developers of Awakens was along the lines of "We did all this cool weapon inventory stuff in LttP, it'd be a step backwards for a sequel to go back to the simpler ways of the NES games even though the Game Boy has only 4 buttons!"

So you have to access the pause menu quite often, and it feels really silly having to do that so you can use your sword again... and your shield again... and have the ability to pick up items again. This wouldn't be too bad except it felt like at times you might switch to your sword so you can cut an item out of the way and also equip the bracelet so you can move a rock blocking your path... and then you move to the next screen and you need to pause to switch to the grappling hook to cross a path... and then hey, cool, you need to pause and re-equip the bracelet again on the next screen. This gets particularly tedious when you are merely backtracking somewhere you've already been a few times before and know very well by this point how to solve the puzzle.

In a similar vein, having recently played the previous Zeldas before this one I was used to pausing the game, selecting the item I wanted to use, then un-pausing. Which meant I fell down a lot of holes in Awakening because I forgot to press A or B to actually set the jump feather as an option. Argh!

You can't help but think "I'd love for this game to be re-made with modern control schemes and inventory management!", except a lot of the puzzles work around this two-items-at-a-time mechanic that would be lost with modernization. You really wouldn't be stopping to think about how to creatively solve a weird problem with your 2 button limitations, you'd just be spamming buttons until something worked.

The world map in Link to the Past was super useful, and it was easy to figure out where you were and what path you needed to take to get to your next objective. Awakens also has a map, but it's squished and doesn't show you all the details. So I often found myself trying to wander in a general direction towards my goal only to end up taking a path that somehow puts me way off in an area further from where I started. Even though I had walked these areas several times before already. The fast travel isn't so hot either, there being a song you can play on an ocarina that takes you back to one and only one particular place, and some warp jumps you have to physically travel to in order to hop around a handful of locations around the map. So there was a lot of pointless wandering.

The first 2 Zelda NES games were guilty of having some really obtuse puzzles that required a subscription to Nintendo Power to solve. Awakening, not so much! However there are a few puzzles that it seems like you could only solve by wandering around until you met the right person in the right place, with no indication they would be there. There is an in-game hint telephone system, but there were a couple of times where the game said "Next you should go do X", but I'd come across a road block before getting to X and would be stumped. I admittedly gave up and searched the Internet in those instances, and there were a couple of times where it seems like the correct solution to the problem would have been to aimlessly walk around the world map for an hour until I found someone who could help me. So I'm glad I cheated and saved some time there.

Not the puzzles in the dungeons, though. The couple of times I looked up a solution for those I felt disappointed in myself, going "oh, duh!". So after the first couple of dungeons I only saved Internet hints for the overworld map and its nastiness, and felt a lot more satisfied for doing so.

Lastly, the game really liked text reminders. There were a couple of power-ups that were really cool and fun to use, except for EVERY TIME you picked one up the game had to spend a few screens telling you what it did. It got to a point where I would maneuver around the power-ups more often than not because it wasn't worth the annoyance.

In conclusion, the strengths greatly outweigh the weaknesses for Link's Awakening. It suffers in places from some old game design choices and hardware limitations, but not enough to make the game un-fun. I would have to take breaks from it now and then because of the annoyances, but it being a portable game that's part of the charm anyway. Save states on the virtual console likely made the game more fun than it would have been in the original state as well.

If you haven't played Awakening, do! It deserves your attention.