2025 Playthrough: Argh I was just gonna peek at this after finishing Ys IV: Dawn of Ys (which I loved) cuz I had been intensely gaming all night, but I was instantly hooked and kept setting a new bar for how far I should get tonight. I got through the first dungeon smh lol. A sign this game deserves the 10 star Play it got the last time I played it (this time I am playing the original GB version, not DX). The way the Feather is incorporated, the jumping in general, is so smooth and impressive for a mobile Zelda game tbh.

Day 2

All day I was anxiously waiting getting to get back to playing this. It's almost like a speedrun vibe (like when I last played SMW) that I am having, and that is another testament to the Play.

The most precious Ribbon

And I love the Item Swap/Trade Sequence in general. I also love that I've played this enoguh that I can get through Dungeons on my own, tho I have a guide to reference if I get frustrated. Namely for later dungeons since I rarely got to those as a kid ha. I am particularly excited for the water dungeon and boss, I dunno why but it always stuck out for me. Plus I think that's when I felt very accomplished, then struggled a lot to access the next dungeon after that.

Lol I wish I had gotten a screenshot of Link happily holding the last Golden Leaf above his head as the floor beneath him disappeared and he's slowly falling down the pit :-p Not best placement for that Leaf after I defeated the ball and chain demiboss.

Only complaints so far are a) I never cared for the Leaf collecting segment/that castle... interesting since my old issue with Link to the Past was the beginnign castle segment so maybe I just don't like castle segments in early Zeldas? I dunno, and also b) some of the collision mask detection is quite faulty now that I'm more keen to that. Just something I notice more now that I've played really old games and into this early 90s era. Still loving every second of it tho. Oh and not in love with how much secondary item switching yo have to do. Some of them maybe should've just been an upgrade, not having to be switched too? e.g. the Feather/jump? I dunno. (Oh... well I forgot the flippers were as such :-p )

Ahhh yesss the Pegasus Boots I love having these always on to go faster :-p

I always loved the inclusino of this chill part

Day 3

I just can't stop playing this! And wait... I don't think I ever got the Seashell Sword as a kid at least, because I don't remember having the full-hearts-sword-beam feature in this game. Also some of those Secret Seashells, there's no way I had found those on my own. I also don't know if I had gotten all the capacity upgrades like the Bomb one. I'm glad I am following this guide now because it's showing things in this game I didn't understand on my own/as a kid. I know I had gotten the Ocarina songs but I didn't notice some of their uses, nor did I often take advantage of any of the warps or teleports heh. So it goes :-p

For some reason as a kid I always loved this area under the bridge

And I am absolutely loving the Seashell Sword! Wow. This makes the jumping enemies so much more tolerable. And lol I love the way the Mermaid jumps after you deliver her Necklace back to her. Love this game. Right after Dawn of Ys, what a great 2-games-in-a-row. (tho it turns out this was first released in June 1993, so I should've played this a while back. It was in ehre as Dec 31 1993).

Ahhhh the Boomerang is just so fun to use! And lol this tune/presentation

I simply cannot put this down! I'm at the Face Shrine.

Ugh here we go. I remember the Eagle being hard. And I'm heading to that dungeon now! My dream is to finish this today! Ok despite its difficulty, I do remember liking this dungeon. Its ideas and mechancis were interesting to solve. And bahaha how do I not remember there's literally Kirby enemy in this. Lots of Nintendo character/enemy references throughout.

Argh annoying I had dealt with the guys with the card symbols cycling and had them all match adn made the treasure chest appear... but then when I went through the trouble of returning back to that room, the puzzle had reset. I don't think it was supposed to do that... Cuz now I can't hookshot across. Hmmm.

The Eagle boss wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered. Still annoying with that wind attack. I returned to this after dinner and lol the Turtle Rock boss was ridiculously easy compared to what I expected. I love the FFX plotline esque implications so far.

Welp here goes nothing! I love this game!

I somehow remember this final boss setup better than most of the game. I must've been stuck repeatedly defeating the first forms I found doable but then dying at the later forms as a kid :-p

I kinda feel bad for well doing what we do in this game :-p Oh ok I guess the Nightmare factor made it heroic of us :-p Dang still doesn't change how sad it is watching these areas disappear into nothingness.. And dang you just gonna have us lost at sea for the ending

Lol sleepy fish there, some heavy eyelids

Pretty underwhelming The End screen, but maybe it's unfair coming straight from Dawn of Ys. I read through my ratings below and they all still would be the same, which is a pleasant surprise (didn't happen with FF2, for instance!). The Play in particular is just phenomenal and so addicting and so impressive for a handheld game in 93. I wish the music were more striking, but other than that, it's a beloved game for me.

2021 Playthrough

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. Oh gosh, almost forgot--the ending was incredible. Really consider this a perfect game if I could get more into the music (really only FFX has good enough music to have done that for me, maybe some day I will get over my aversion to a lot of videogame music besides PS1/N64 era drum n bass rave vibes and ambient a la the Soule brothers and FFX hahaha)

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.

Overall: 9.8/10