I typically buy games based on art direction. If it doesn't look beautiful or at least intriguing, why would I wanna spend hours in it's world? I didn't plan on buying The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening again. It is a game I've played twice already. Once on the Gameboy, once on the 3DS's virtual console. But then Nintendo showed me this gorgeous plastic diorama art direction and suddenly I'm down $63.30.

This gorgeous art direction both damages and enhances the game. On one hand, the updated art feels at odds with the simplicity of the game's skeleton. The dungeons and overworld were simple in the original because they had to be. It was the Gameboy after all. Here they feel a bit monotonous and mazelike. The graphical specificity added to the game's overworld does not extend to the dungeons, which all look the same except for color changes.

However, the game's story, which on the original Gameboy's tiny screen felt superficial at best, now feels more poignant. I cared about the fragility of the world and characters, because now there's much more detail. The interior of every house is unique, filled with revealing articles that inform the characters. Character animation is now fluid and expressive. A witch looks like a witch. A bear looks like a bear. The plastic-y look to everything also mirrors the temporal nature of the world, evoking both childlike wonder and pollution.

As a fan of the game, I wanted more. In a year when the Resident Evil 2 remake proved that a slight remixing of environmental design can evoke wonder as well as just nostalgia, I wanted more content from Link's Awakening. The main change: the ability to rearrange blocks of pre-existing dungeons to form your own dungeon felt very unrealized and the new hard mode transforms the game into a slog.

If you haven't played it, I recommend it.

If you have played original and the very thought of it doesn't stir your soul, maybe skip it.

If you love the original, I recommend it.

I only played Link's Awakening DX about a year and a half ago, but at the time, I hadn't played a Zelda game in about two years. I was excited to get back into the series I loved. I was... disappointed. I thought it was a pretty good game, but I was annoyed by the inventory system, the constant unskippable messages, and the dungeons that all kind of looked and felt the same. I didn't enjoy looking for secrets because navigating the world was boring and time consuming. But I still respected what they were able to fit into onto a Game Boy cartridge.

When I heard they were remaking the game for the Switch, my hopes were high. Almost every complaint I had about the original game (well, the first remake, anyway) had to do with the limitations of the Game Boy itself. With the Switch, Link's Awakening could finally be given the full treatment it deserved.

I absolutely loved it.

While the story was still pretty fresh in my mind, it was almost like a whole new experience exploring the island of Koholint. Doing so was no longer a burden, but an adventure. Being able to mark things off on my map helped streamline the things that wasted so much time the first time around, like remembering which NPC asked for what item, and whether I'd already explored a cave, and where the entrances to the fairy fountains were (which became very important, because I played it on Hero mode).

I've heard people complain about the dungeon builder, but I had a lot of fun with it. Sure, it would have been cooler to be able to customize each room, but come on, what did you expect. I'm sure that would be way too much to fit in on top of a full-length game. I didn't have the time of my life doing the challenges, but they were still fun little puzzles. My only problem there was that actually adventuring my creations became quite repetitive, as I mostly used the same tiles; I wasn't building them to be challenging, I was building them to get the heart container you get for completing all the challenges.

Other than that, my only real complaint about the game was there were still a lot of unskippable messages. They at least got rid of that thing where every time you accidentally touched a rock it would remind you that it's too heavy, but they kept in the five-second message reminding you what the defence acorn does. You couldn't skip or speed up any text messages, and that was annoying.

Overall, absolutely great game. It went from being my least favourite Zelda game to my 8th favourite Zelda game, which, let's be honest, is still saying something. It might even improve, I haven't really decided if I like it more than Twilight Princess.

Jumping both backwards and forwards in time: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (2019) (Played on Switch)

This is the first game of the marathon so far I have past experience with. I've played DX a few times and the remake once before, but neither in a while. Decided to do the remake solely because of how cool the soundtrack is. I had an existing rating of this game at 4 stars. Idk what hater era I was in then but as of now this is a STRONG 5/5. Part of that definitely derives from what the remake adds, but on the whole this is by FAR the most streamlined and I think consistent Zelda game I can recall, definitely of the ones I've been through recently. The game exudes charm, and more importantly it exudes INTENTION. Everything about style and presentation is so fitting with the weird, wonderful, hardware-limited original game. The world looks like a diorama and that only works (and works SO well) because the game itself feels like one.

Aside from presentation though, the core gameplay seemed to accomplish everything I think ALttP just didn't QUITE do (for me). Natural curiosity took hold in a way it hasn't yet during this marathon. I was seeking out side quests and collectibles simply because I wanted to, which I rarely do in any video game. The central fetch quest was fun because it spanned the whole game and unfolded itself at a good pace, so it didn't feel adjacent but rather integrated. Occasionally a dungeon would get tedious but on the whole some of my favorite in the series.

Also, I gotta talk about this soundtrack. Everything about it is so clever and well done, and shows how much love and thought was put into it. Ryo Nagamatsu took Totaka's original score, created around the limitations of Game Boy hardware, and chose to maintain that feel instead of just opting for some big epic orchestrated version. The dynamic variation in regions where synth lines and solo string instruments trade of melody is really nice and the music consistently stays sparse and music-box-esque without ever feeling empty. I can't imagine that's easy to do. Actually as someone who makes music and has worked in audio middleware I can tell you confidently that that's not easy to do. There's so much little detail in the score (tempo slowing down and speeding up between loops in Mabe village.. I'm gonna stop myself but I could go on and on). that's almost BOTW-y in it's scope. I love it so much.

Link's Awakening is such a unique and interesting title in the series. I'm glad it got this beautiful remake treatment because it certainly deserves it, and I hope maybe some other handheld entries get a similar (but unique to themselves) remake in the future. Or at the very least Nintendo is working on a new 2D Zelda with all that free time they definitely have.

Now it's Ocarina time and I am so terrified I'm about to shatter the illusion maintained by 12 year old me that this it's the greatest game ever made. And I have to go find my 3DS charger...

The last time I played this game was, oh, maybe 25 years ago, playing the GameBoy Color Version. I never finished it that time around, as it was somewhat inscrutable to my 9 year old brain.

This time, I'm smarter; I used a walkthrough when I got stuck.

What I did really appreciate about this game was the way it explores the idea of the game-world existence. I think that this is something that Nintendo has been thinking about as an organization since the Famicom days -- Miyamoto would always talk about the concept of the "Garden in a box" game, a game whose entire teleology was to be a world that would persist and change when you weren't playing. This game kind of explores the opposite idea, in a metaphorical way. I think that exhibits a clear philosophical lineage that brought us the ideas explored in the game "moon: a Remix RPG Adventure", and other such games which break the fourth wall.

The gameplay here is largely unchanged, barring quality of life improvements afforded by the additional controller buttons (though, they could have done more, in my opinion, even optionally, by utilizing more shoulder buttons in the control scheme). This is wonderful for continuity's sake, and is certainly the correct choice for this game, compared to say, the Final Fantasy VII Remake. This game really exemplifies the Zelda formula, maybe being one of the most "pure" versions of the game, in terms of structure and tropes, other than the original.

But it also underscores how dated some of those systems and ideas are. This Zelda game has a lot of things to buy, more than the other games, to my memory (if it doesn't quantitatively have more, I definitely feel like this game has the quality of having a lot of "money-sink" items to buy). This is on its face okay, not egregious, as this is something that the majority of games have. But when I need 300 Rupees in order to buy my shovel back because I traded it for the boomerang, getting those 300 Rupees isn't the kick-off of some little self-driven adventure to get those rupees; nay, because Rupees can be found in the respawning grass, where there is no danger, why wouldn't I simply mow the lawns of Koholint Island while I sit on my couch and watch TV in the real world? Something is off-kilter with the game design if I wind up doing something so boring.

But, that's not really saying very much, because this game is so very old.

One redeeming factor here are the graphics in this game. There's a piece of me that wishes that this game had been able to release for the 3DS, or wishes for an alternate timeline where the Switch received the same 3D screen. I think that this game would have really made that effect shine; it looks like a little model already, a tilt-shifted diorama inside of a shoe-box.

But while these great graphics look great when they're standing still, in motion the Switch really can't keep up. This game has framerate issues. Certain portions of the game are more egregious than others, but it is still something that you will experience throughout the game. I don't think that's great -- clearly if this game is hitting the performance limit of the console, there's really no further room for improvement besides some kind of John-Carmack-in-his-twenties--genius-slash-wizardry. Graphics certainly don't mean everything, but what you put out for sale should probably hit a certain minimum performance bar that I'm not sure this game really hits.

Even still, in the end, 3 stars. I liked it, what can I say? A Zelda game is safe, comfortable; I know what to expect. It might be a little annoying, but I also know exactly what I'm getting, and what I'm getting does hit the minimum bar for enjoyment. I think that's the thing that Nintendo has become in the 2020s -- the Starbucks or McDonalds of gaming. They do their own thing, they're huge, they're everywhere, and even if you're not "ride or die" for it, you can still enjoy what they put out from time to time.

Okay, I love this game, but it is starting to show its age. The perfect example of this is the color dungeon. When Link's Awakening DX was released for the Gameboy Color in 1998, it made perfect sense to include some special color mechanics AND adding a dungeon specifically based around it makes total sense. Keeping that same dungeon in the game 21 years later as if game enjoyers would somehow still be interested in a dungeon which only has color based puzzles is truly mind boggling.

But I also kinda get the inclusion? Without it, some nostalgia infected semi adults would cry foul. But why include the color dungeon over an element that could be modernized? Why not bring back the photographer but also toss in a photo mode. The game looks gorgeous and is just begging for some close ups of vinyl Link slashing up moblins.

Some of the stuff I remember loving as a kid and even enjoying about 6 years ago when I played the port on 3DS didn't shine this time around. I loved the meta acknowledging that this is a game or dream when I previously played the game, but something about seeing the pristine modern Nintendo models for all the characters made the trick dissolve. I saw chunky polygonal Psycho Mantis read my memory card in 1998. Seeing 2019 modeled characters acknowledge that they are in a game seems trivial.

But I'm getting all the complaints out of the way first. This is Zelda. Sword swiping, dungeon creeping, Cucco flying, goodies trading, shop swindling, heartbreaking, tunes blasting, arrows flying, Ganon defeating Zelda. It's Zelda in all of its weird glory. And so much of it is a joy.

Zelda is my favorite video game franchise. Maybe I'm four star-ing this to make a distinction between this and the highest echelon of Zelda games... But I truly love it. If you can get your hands on the original or DX, I'd probably recommend those first out of some sort of sensorial desire. But if not, Grezzo did a great job remaking Zelda. Really hoping they're working on the Oracles games now.

One last lingering thought- I heard a lot of hate for Dampe's Build-Your-Own-Dungeon. I liked it! I didn't bother 100%ing it, but I probably played it for a couple hours just grinning. Obviously there would be a lot more hurdles to overcome if they ever did a Zelda Maker, but if anyone can do it right, it's Grezzo.

See my previous thoughts on Link's Awakening DX, since I'll mostly be focusing on how this 2019 version fares as a remake.

Edit: Upgrading to 5-stars on the Switch 2 since it totally fixes the performance issues.

A few years back, Nintendo seemed to be forming a bit of a streak of old Game Boy remakes, with titles such as Metroid: Samus Returns and the Pokémon Let's Go titles. Link's Awakening is also a title that was totally deserving of a revisit, though it's not the first Zelda title that I personally would have pegged for the from-the-ground-up remake treatment.

Still, it makes complete sense. Link's Awakening is an amazing work of art, but it was always dragged down by the Game Boy's limitations. Its world was composed of many single-screen areas that were stitched together to give the illusion of a large continuous world. You were limited to two buttons, and thus only two items at any given time. Some of the quests and objectives were a little obtuse because of the Game Boy's limited ability to deliver textual information to the player. All of these things are addressed in this 2019 remake.

The world is now presented as a single seamless landmass, which reveals how intricately knit and compact it always was. The sword, shield, pegasus boots and power bracelets are now mapped to their own buttons, greatly decreasing the amount of item management required in the game. You can now easily review old conversations and hints if you ever feel lost. Link's Awakening on the Switch essentially perfects Link's Awakening.

There is also a lot to be said about this remake's presentation. While Grezzo's previous remasters of the Nintendo 64 Zeldas were pretty light touch-ups, Link's Awakening feels like an artistic statement. Everything feels so tactile, like you could reach out and touch it--from the plasticky character models to the lush environments. The constant vignette blur in the edges of the game's image reinforce the dreamy feel of Link's Awakening, and even the anime cutscenes that bookend the game serve as a reinforcement of the game's story. It's all fantastic stuff.

And don't get me started with the music. The soundtrack spearheaded by Ryo Nagamatsu features beautiful chamber music arrangements of the original melodies that weave in classic Game Boy bleeps and bloops in homage to the original game. This deliberately picked musical palette gives the music such an intimate feeling, and elevate the original tunes created by Kazumi Totaka and Minako Hamano to new heights. It's become one of my favorite soundtracks ever produced by Nintendo.

Grezzo's remake of Link's Awakening then has all of the ingredients for a perfect 5-star release. But it has one failing that is so large that it single-handedly prevents me from giving it a 5-star score in good conscience. For whatever reason, Link's Awakening is a technical mess. It targets 60 fps, but there are constant, dramatic frame drops that occur randomly as you navigate from area to area. This occurs in the overworld, in dungeons and caves, and from the beginning of the game until you reach the end credits. The fact that this was never addressed through a post-launch update is extremely disappointing. I personally would have even prefered a 30 fps cap if it resulted in a more stable image, but as it stands it does seriously affect my enjoyment of the game.

On another note, this time around I played through Hero Mode without collecting any heart containers or pieces of heart in order to augment the difficulty. I thoroughly enjoyed this run, and it gave me a newfound appreciation for the mini-boss and boss design in Link's Awakening. The final boss in particular was pretty brutal, and it really tested my chops as a long-time Zelda player. In the end, I perservered through 131 game overs and made it to the end with only three hearts!

By all accounts, 2019's Link's Awakening is absolutely still the definitive version of this classic Zelda title, and I would heartily recommend it to anyone and everyone. The original game design holds up so well that it really needed only minor touch-ups in order to modernize the experience. And from an artistic standpoint, this is one of the most pleasant titles to grace the Nintendo Switch. If you really can't stand the framerate issues, well you can even resort to emulation to fix that if your PC is good enough. However you do it, Link's Awakening is a game everyone should try at least once in their lives.