Dr. Black Jack
Member
Since this year marks both the series' 30th anniversary and the launch of the new game I've decided to play through all of the Zelda games that I haven't played recently/at all. I was going to do it last year but...well, you know.
I've replayed through all of the console versions fairly recently
but never really touched the handheld versions outside of Link's Awakening and the 3DS games. It's weird...LA is my favorite game of all time (more on that in bit) but the other Game Boy and DS titles kinda fell into my handheld neglect period so I missed out from Oracles onward. Like, I was buying console Zeldas and I had the handhelds but just didn't bite for whatever reason.
This will be super long and rambley but Link's Awakening is so ingrained in my gaming history that the context for a replay is important.
Growing up I was surrounded by everyone else's games. Our family had a tight budget and my parents didn't like games outside of Ms. Pac Man so owning any kind of gaming system was a pipe dream. I would wander around to various neighbor kids' houses and sample all of their sweet collections...2600, NES/SNES, Genesis/Game Gear, etc. Because of this
most of the games we played were quick, arcade-like titles that didn't have a huge time investment. Platformers, shmups, arcade ports, etc. There was never time to dig into anything deeper and PC gaming was out of our age group at that point.
So, summer 1993. My neighbor friends all got Game Boys over the past year and would sit outside playing stuff like SML2. They would let me try out stuff periodically but nothing was ever that memorable. That all changed the day my friend Eric brought over his Game Boy and let me try out The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.
Holy crap. I was hooked.
Here was a game that played like the action games on NES/Genesis/etc. but it was this adventure, this world to explore for secrets/treasure/monsters. I can still vividly remember trying to get that God-damned Heart Piece behind the skulls/block puzzle in the Mysterious Woods cave in the backyard under the afternoon heat. Nothing in games had me hooked like this since my very first gaming experience playing Duck Hunt/Mario as a toddler. I just HAD to get a Game Boy and this game. Of course, the answer was "no".
Sometime during the next school year I needed a new backpack so I grabbed one of these bad boys
Well guess fucking what.
Another vivid memory of my parents calling me downstairs after bedtime, holding a letter from Nintendo in their hands, naming me as one of four national first prize winners of one free Game Boy. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. When it finally showed up it of course came with zero games, so the next day my mom came home after work with a Funco Land bag with three games: Play Action Football (barf), Jurassic Park (still have it), and mother fucking Link's Awakening. I spent the entire next summer playing the game outside with my friends, all of us trading dungeon strategies/item locations/etc. It was awesome.
The last piece of context is that, despite it being a prized possession, my OG Game Boy would corrupt Link's Awakening carts. It was the damnedest thing: even with a good saving battery and no damage the cart would completely glitch out, having only one save file named AAAAAAAAAAA which would put me in a completely fucked version of the game where the entire map was like the Lost Woods on steroids, warping you to a random tile on the map whenever Link would zone. The only two items available were the Pegasus Boots (which had multiple copies filling the entire item screen) and the Shield, making the game absolutely impossible to play. On my original cart I got to the seventh dungeon before it corrupted, and here's the fucked thing: years later when I bought DX, brand new from the store, the exact same thing happened after I beat the game. My replacement copies of each game, played only on GBA, haven't done this. No idea what it was about my Game Boy that did this.
So, long story short, I beat the DX version of the game but never actually beat the original release even though it was the genesis of my love of the medium and my favorite release of all time. I had some staycation time this past week and beat the game in three sittings by memory...it was SO much fun. Crazy to think that I have basically the entire game still committed to memory.
Link's Awakening is such a masterpiece of design, especially given the limitations of its hardware. The overall progression of the game is perfectly paced: You have the illusion of freedom to roam around pretty much wherever but are constantly blocked off by obstacles that will be conquered with dungeon items later. This organically guides you through the linear progression of the game without feeling too artificial, and provides foreshadowing for where you need to go later in the game. Poking around the overworld, looking for Heart Pieces/Bomb-able walls/Secret Seashells was so much fun that I'd often wait to hit the next dungeon until I had exhausted every last exploration option available. It just flows so smoothly, with everything building on what you've done in the past. Dungeons are challenging but fair, with logical puzzles that build in complexity and teaches you the ins and outs of its new item to use in future dungeons/exploration. It might be because of the limited controls but the bosses are pretty challenging, and every fight has the right level of tension to make completing it feel like an accomplishment.
The main reason I love the game though is the story and characters. Yeah it's the tired "it was all a dream" trope but this is one of the best executions of it, especially in games. Everyone is so goofy, tons of memorable characters and side story beats to get you hooked. The out-of-place Nintendo references/injokes add to how otherworldly and non-Hyrule Koholint Island is and makes total sense in the context of Link having a survival fever dream. The best thing though is that the island itself is the best character, which makes the end result of it fading away into nothing hit that much harder. The ending is bittersweet but super optimistic and features one of my favorite video game songs ever. Speaking of that, the soundtrack is amazing and the only Game Boy soundtrack I listen to on a regular basis. So many memorable tracks that give each area its distinct flavor, even with the garbage Game Boy sound capabilities.
I've started playing Oracle of Ages...won't do a full write up till I beat both it and Seasons but my thoughts so far: great graphics, love the items, dungeon puzzles can be hard for the sake of it/not very well thought out, LOL at the Capcom composed music tracks that stick out like a sore thumb. Really digging it so far. The only handheld title I'm missing now is Minish Cap, and only because I have yet to see one in person since eBay is littered with fakes. Anyone have a reputable source for a cart?
I've replayed through all of the console versions fairly recently
except for Twilight Princess to wait for the HD version
This will be super long and rambley but Link's Awakening is so ingrained in my gaming history that the context for a replay is important.
Growing up I was surrounded by everyone else's games. Our family had a tight budget and my parents didn't like games outside of Ms. Pac Man so owning any kind of gaming system was a pipe dream. I would wander around to various neighbor kids' houses and sample all of their sweet collections...2600, NES/SNES, Genesis/Game Gear, etc. Because of this
and because a lot of those kids were dicks who hogged the system and wouldn't share
So, summer 1993. My neighbor friends all got Game Boys over the past year and would sit outside playing stuff like SML2. They would let me try out stuff periodically but nothing was ever that memorable. That all changed the day my friend Eric brought over his Game Boy and let me try out The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.
Holy crap. I was hooked.
Here was a game that played like the action games on NES/Genesis/etc. but it was this adventure, this world to explore for secrets/treasure/monsters. I can still vividly remember trying to get that God-damned Heart Piece behind the skulls/block puzzle in the Mysterious Woods cave in the backyard under the afternoon heat. Nothing in games had me hooked like this since my very first gaming experience playing Duck Hunt/Mario as a toddler. I just HAD to get a Game Boy and this game. Of course, the answer was "no".
Sometime during the next school year I needed a new backpack so I grabbed one of these bad boys
which came with a mail in for a Nintendo contest where you could win a Game Boy. Being a kid I thought it was an order form for a free handheld, so after mailing it in the next 6ish months were spent pestering the ever living shit out of my parents about it. "Thousands of other people have entered, you're not going to win, don't get your hopes up, etc.".
Well guess fucking what.
Another vivid memory of my parents calling me downstairs after bedtime, holding a letter from Nintendo in their hands, naming me as one of four national first prize winners of one free Game Boy. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. When it finally showed up it of course came with zero games, so the next day my mom came home after work with a Funco Land bag with three games: Play Action Football (barf), Jurassic Park (still have it), and mother fucking Link's Awakening. I spent the entire next summer playing the game outside with my friends, all of us trading dungeon strategies/item locations/etc. It was awesome.
The last piece of context is that, despite it being a prized possession, my OG Game Boy would corrupt Link's Awakening carts. It was the damnedest thing: even with a good saving battery and no damage the cart would completely glitch out, having only one save file named AAAAAAAAAAA which would put me in a completely fucked version of the game where the entire map was like the Lost Woods on steroids, warping you to a random tile on the map whenever Link would zone. The only two items available were the Pegasus Boots (which had multiple copies filling the entire item screen) and the Shield, making the game absolutely impossible to play. On my original cart I got to the seventh dungeon before it corrupted, and here's the fucked thing: years later when I bought DX, brand new from the store, the exact same thing happened after I beat the game. My replacement copies of each game, played only on GBA, haven't done this. No idea what it was about my Game Boy that did this.
So, long story short, I beat the DX version of the game but never actually beat the original release even though it was the genesis of my love of the medium and my favorite release of all time. I had some staycation time this past week and beat the game in three sittings by memory...it was SO much fun. Crazy to think that I have basically the entire game still committed to memory.
Link's Awakening is such a masterpiece of design, especially given the limitations of its hardware. The overall progression of the game is perfectly paced: You have the illusion of freedom to roam around pretty much wherever but are constantly blocked off by obstacles that will be conquered with dungeon items later. This organically guides you through the linear progression of the game without feeling too artificial, and provides foreshadowing for where you need to go later in the game. Poking around the overworld, looking for Heart Pieces/Bomb-able walls/Secret Seashells was so much fun that I'd often wait to hit the next dungeon until I had exhausted every last exploration option available. It just flows so smoothly, with everything building on what you've done in the past. Dungeons are challenging but fair, with logical puzzles that build in complexity and teaches you the ins and outs of its new item to use in future dungeons/exploration. It might be because of the limited controls but the bosses are pretty challenging, and every fight has the right level of tension to make completing it feel like an accomplishment.
The main reason I love the game though is the story and characters. Yeah it's the tired "it was all a dream" trope but this is one of the best executions of it, especially in games. Everyone is so goofy, tons of memorable characters and side story beats to get you hooked. The out-of-place Nintendo references/injokes add to how otherworldly and non-Hyrule Koholint Island is and makes total sense in the context of Link having a survival fever dream. The best thing though is that the island itself is the best character, which makes the end result of it fading away into nothing hit that much harder. The ending is bittersweet but super optimistic and features one of my favorite video game songs ever. Speaking of that, the soundtrack is amazing and the only Game Boy soundtrack I listen to on a regular basis. So many memorable tracks that give each area its distinct flavor, even with the garbage Game Boy sound capabilities.
I've started playing Oracle of Ages...won't do a full write up till I beat both it and Seasons but my thoughts so far: great graphics, love the items, dungeon puzzles can be hard for the sake of it/not very well thought out, LOL at the Capcom composed music tracks that stick out like a sore thumb. Really digging it so far. The only handheld title I'm missing now is Minish Cap, and only because I have yet to see one in person since eBay is littered with fakes. Anyone have a reputable source for a cart?