Skip to main content

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: 30th anniversary

Happy 30th birthday to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening! This fantastic game brought the adventure-fun of the Zelda series to the monochrome Game Boy! It's such a strong game that it arguably surpassed the original as the best 8-bit Zelda title, and it's the only Zelda game to be remade for two different systems: Game Boy Color in 1998 and Switch in 2019!

Link's Awakening adapts many of the conventions, items, and monsters from the Super Nintendo game, A Link to the Past. Link explores an overworld with eight dungeons. He collects numerous special items and weapons, such as the bow, bombs, hookshot, Pegasus Boots, flippers, and Mirror Shield. One nice thing is that you can set the A and B buttons to whichever two items you want. You don't need to keep the sword on A all the time or even have it equipped. Unfortunately, two buttons aren't enough; it gets tedious constantly changing items, but the Game Boy doesn't have X, Y, L, or R buttons.

Dungeons require both combat and puzzle-solving skills. You must collect keys to open doors and navigate labyrinthine stairways and passages. Each dungeon contains a Nightmare Key to unlock the boss room. Defeating the boss rewards Link with an extra heart container (health bar). As you acquires more items, such as the Power Bracelet that lets Link lift rocks, new paths become available. The dungeons, bosses, puzzles, and overworld are all masterfully designed. As with all Zelda games, they are why the game shines so bright.

Link's Awakening unexpectedly mixes up the Zelda formula by incorporating elements from the Super Mario series. The dungeons even contain side-scrolling platforming sections, where Link encounters Goombas, Thwomps, and Cheep Cheeps (no Koopa Troopas, though). Link can use the Roc's Feather to jump. Stomping on a Goomba always yields a healing heart. Spinies show up in some overhead sections; they can be bumped onto their shells with the shield. At one point Link borrows a Chain Chomp named BowWow, who eats the plants blocking a dungeon entrance.

The game is notable for its lighthearted, dreamworld plot. An opening cinematic depicts Link lost at sea, washing up on the mysterious Koholint Island. It contains a mountain topped by a giant egg. The main story requires him to collect eight musical instruments, then play them in front of the egg to awaken the Wind Fish. This is the only way he can leave the dreamworld island. A girl named Marin falls in love with him in the process (it's her song that can crack the egg).

A handful of other silly characters appear, such as Papahl, who announces at the beginning that Link will later on need to rescue him from the mountains! This is one of several fourth-wall-breaking bits of dialogue. Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2, using his Japanese name Mamu, teaches Link a song on the ocarina needed to access two dungeons. There's also a bizarre appearance from Mr. Write, SimCity's green-haired, toothbrush-moustachioed advisor.

Throughout the game, Link is guided by a mysterious owl, who gives him clues about where to go next. These clues can be reread at any time by opening the map and selecting the square where the owl appeared. Every house and dungeon is labeled on the map, which is handy!

A change to the formula that I don't like is the inclusion of two combat power-ups: the Guardian Acorn and Piece of Power. These temporarily increase Link's defense and attack, respectively. They have been included to make the game a little easier (not that it's hard), but they are unnecessary. My main complaint against them is you have to click through the same pop-up dialogue box every time Link gets one. The three or four seconds this wastes don't feel worth it when the power-up's effect lasts only about thirty seconds!

The game is rounded out with a few mini-games (such as fishing) and an item-trading sequence. First Link must win the Yoshi doll from the crane game. When he talks to a certain villager, she takes it in exchange for a ribbon. Each item must be exchanged with the right person to receive the next in the sequence. In the end, Link is rewarded with the boomerang. The boomerang is stupidly powerful, rendering the sword almost superfluous.

The game also includes collectible seashells. When you get twenty, Link's sword's power is doubled. Here's a tip: go to the seashell hut when you have exactly five and ten seashells to get two bonus shells! There are also twelve pieces of heart to find (a mechanic introduced in A Link to the Past): every four give Link another heart container. Getting all of these without using a strategy guide takes time and effort.

Link's Awakening uses a cutesy graphical style that works well on the Game Boy's small screen. The music, though technically limited by the Game Boy's sound system, is catchy and enjoyable. 

This is a full-length action RPG. It's so well crafted and large that it's amazing it was able to exist on the Game Boy. It didn't merely surpass other Game Boy games, it blew them out of the water. It is the best game for the system and was never surpassed. One need only compare it to Final Fantasy Adventure, another strong action RPG by Game Boy standards, to see how much better it is.

If you haven't played this game, you're missing out. Nowadays you can play both the Game Boy Color version and the remake on Switch.

Grade: A+

Linked Reviews
"The developers at Nintendo were able to squeeze an extremely lengthy quest into the package, and were able to push just about every facet of the Game Boy's hardware to its limit."
— Corbie Dillard, Nintendo Life, 10/10

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

SimCity: The OG city simulator still rocks

When I ordered an Analogue Super Nt to begin collecting and playing SNES games, I knew which game I wanted to play first: SimCity. This game hasn't been rereleased since the Wii Virtual Console in 2006! Analogue Super NT SimCity was created by Will Wright as a PC game, published in 1989. Nintendo worked with Maxis to have it ported to the Super Nintendo for their new console's launch. The SNES version is a huge improvement over the original, with improved graphics, pop-up advice screens from Dr. Wright, and, most importantly, gifts. But let's start at the beginning. SimCity was the first ever city-simulation video game. Your goal is to build up a city as successfully as you can. You can play however you like, as it is not possible to "beat" the game, but the main achievement is reaching a population of 500,000, at which point your city becomes a "megalopolis." The maps are fairly small (and some have a lot of water), so the only way to achieve this is to

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: 20th anniversary

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is special to me because it was one of the first games I played on the Wii U. I hadn't owned a video-game console since the Super Nintendo until my wife bought me a Wii U for my 30th birthday. Since I missed the Game Cube and Wii eras, playing The Wind Waker was a revelation to me. It was as good as I remembered A Link to the Past being. I've read that, when it debuted, some people hated the cel-shaded art style of The Wind Waker. In retrospect that's hard to fathom, because the game is such a visual delight. The cartoony style and feel of the game is probably its strongest feature, at least for me. Sailing the seas and exploring the game's many islands is a joyous process of discovery. There are all sorts of quirky citizens to meet and interact with, including an auction house, bird people (the Rito), pirates, a traveling merchant (Beedle), temples, and the long-lost, sunken kingdom of Hyrule. The mid-game twist delighted me: Link l

Final Fantasy: Square's sword-and-sorcery series starter still slaps

Garland will knock you all down! Final Fantasy is the genre-defining classic of 8-bit Japanese RPGs. It also happens to be a personal favorite of mine. My nostalgia for it is strong enough to compensate for its outdated elements. The monsters and gameplay of Final Fantasy are taken straight from Dungeons & Dragons. You control a party of four characters, to whom you assign names and classes. The classes are Warrior [Fighter], Monk [Black Belt], Thief, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage. The Red Mage is a jack of all trades and master of none: he can cast white and black magic spells, but not the most powerful ones. Unlike other mages, he can also equip swords, armor, and shields. This makes him versatile. The Monk doesn't wear armor, which makes him vulnerable to physical attacks, but he can dish out huge damage with his bare hands. The Thief can't steal anything, because there are no class-specific commands in this game besides magic. Instead, he is a weaker fighter who