Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
| Developer: Nintendo | Publisher: Nintendo |
| Release Date: August 6, 1993 | Also On: None |
My video game background was spotty. Minutes of trying to shoot ducks in Duck Hunt, avoid combat in side-scrolling shooters, or jump over enemies in a Master System kung-fu game did not pave the way for me to be an expert role-player for Link. Still, gamers have to start somewhere, and with Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening as the first videogame I could ever call my own, I didn’t think there was a better pick for a game to review during GameFreaks365.com’s Retro Week.
They call Zelda: Majora’s Mask the black sheep of the franchise, but this well-received and highly-appreciated portable adventure was just as abstract as the 2000 Nintendo 64 release. In it, Link appears to be dreaming of a world called Koholint. The only way for our hero to escape Koholint and return to his home in Hyrule is to find the eight instruments capable of awaking the Wind Fish. The Wind Fish protect Koholint from the inside of their large, spotted egg - but once awoken, Koholint would be destroyed and Link whisked away forever.
Koholint was a strange setting, but served a capable place for all of Link’s adventures. Across the land Link could find and explore caves, beaches, lost woods, marshes, castles, and mountainsides. Link’s Awakening was most akin to Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, and as such, is often compared to it. It is true that Link’s Awakening lacks the scope of Link to the Past (LTTP contained three more dungeons and a “dark world”, after all) but by no means is it a smaller game. Link will traverse eight punishing dungeons, each increasing in difficulty. He’ll collect new weapons and items that allow him to explore his world even deeper, take part in a trading system that requires Link to use all of his cunning, and unearth hidden seashells scattered across Koholint–all before considering rupees and Pieces of Heart. Link’s Awakening is truly a fully-fledged Zelda adventure and deserves every ounce of credit it receives as such.
I remember being lost for weeks, even years. In fact, it wasn’t until years after I was given the game that I figured out how to get into the first dungeon. You see, Link’s Awakening was quite unlike other Zelda games in that it required players to first find a key to the next dungeon–sometimes, finding the key was just as treacherous as the dungeon itself. Of course, the action was always intense. There were a lot of enemies: common party-wreckers like octoroks, keese, stalfoes, poes, armos statues, leevers, and moblins were accompanied by crows, snakes, and even an annoying monkey. Mario fans would be surprised to see a lot of the plumber’s adversaries in this game; goombas, shy guys, bloopers, piranha plants, pokeys, and a few others made it to Link’s nightmare. It has even been thought that another dream-inhabiting foe made it onto the roster; Super Mario Bros. 2's Wart inspired a character found in Link’s Awakening.
If there was one flaw in Link’s Awakening, particularly one that sets it far away from its franchise brothers, it is its lack of interesting boss battles. Even as a kid I had no trouble mopping up the dungeon floor with Link’s Awakening’s henchmen: the first dungeon’s large centipede-like foe was defeated incredibly easily, and the second boss, an evil genie, was only easier. Few of the bosses make a lot of sense in Koholint; then again, it is a dream world. To their merit, boss characters were represented by large sprites and did create an initially intimidating foe...it’s too bad that mashing the sword button was really all it took to defeat most of the enemies. Today’s bosses, by comparison, require a lot of pattern recognition and generally force the player to use his or her’s newest item a lot more than the sword.
Visually, Link’s Awakening is very similar to Link to the Past. Most of the sprites look identical, if not close to identical. It seems, if anything, that Link’s Awakening contained more detail than Link to the Past; perhaps not in the sense of color, but at least in the sense of intricacy on the sprite. In fact, in terms of sprite detail, Link’s Awakening is one of the most detailed 2D games, particularly on the Game Boy, that I’ve ever played. Most of the sound effects were also quite similar, though I must say that I liked Link’s Awakening’s music more than Link to the Past. Perhaps it was because I played it first and for longer, but I was always a fan of this game’s music more than the more popular SNES one’s.
Overall, Link’s Awakening is the definitive Game Boy experience, just like Link to the Past was the definitive SNES experience in the early 90's. It is long enough and hard enough to keep even expert Zelda players thinking and guessing. It is one of the more satisfying games in the series, and definitely my favorite of the 2D games–if you find Link’s Awakening or its Game Boy Color remake sitting around anywhere, scoop up a copy. You’ll be glad you had a part in this lucid dream.
| Graphics: | 9 |
| Sound: | 9 |
| Gameplay: | 10 |
| Creativity: | 6.5 |
| Replay Value/Game Length: | 9 |
| Final: | 9 |
| Written by Cliff | Review Guide |
Game Freaks 365 is not responsible and does not endorse the comments posted above from registered users. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, or remove user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice. Items that may be considered inappropriate to post are those containing profanity, hatred, vulgar, unlawful or threatening comments.
Read 701 times.
