SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
A charming yet challenging adventure, Link’s Awakening brings the Game Boy back to the future with plenty of Nintendo’s signature flair.
Nostalgia is one hell of a drug, or so the saying goes. When it comes to a game like Link’s Awakening, I wouldn’t know. The Game Boy and the original game, largely products of the early 90s, are both before my time. Still, there’s something to be said for a game that makes you nostalgic for the good old days, even if you weren’t actually around to experience them for yourself. There’s no denying that Link’s Awakening is extraordinary. On the surface, it looks like a game meant for kids. The true genius of it is that it’s a game meant for the kids inside all of us. In true Legend of Zelda fashion, it has an unmistakable flair and tells a tale that surprises with its subtle emotional intelligence. Its reworked visuals are a charm offensive from Nintendo, but they’re more than that. This must be how the developers behind the original game pictured this extraordinary adventure unfolding in their minds all those years ago.
Shipwrecked during a violent storm, the hero Link washes up on the shores of Koholint Island, a mysterious isle cut off from the rest of the world by mysterious forces. Link soon learns that in order to leave the island, he must recover the eight Instruments of the Sirens and use them to wake the Wind Fish, the island’s guardian, who lies dreaming within a giant egg at the peak of Koholint’s tallest mountain.
As stories go, Link’s Awakening isn’t too complex. If you’ve already experienced the game’s one big twist for yourself: congratulations. You’re officially old. For me, it was a welcome surprise; in traditional Legend of Zelda fashion, it made everything Link did feel significant and enhanced the game’s whimsical fantasy-adventure feeling. It also helped that, as someone who’s mostly unfamiliar with the rest of the series, this was a game that I could jump into without needing to study. Connections to the rest of the franchise seem distant at best. This is a self-contained adventure with plenty of its own magic to spare.
Like its story, the gameplay appears deceptively simple. Link can raise a shield to block attacks and swing his sword to deal damage. But this game always has something new to share, and the items that can be mapped to X and Y add immense depth. Over the course of Link’s journey, you’ll find a wide variety of items that you can use, whether it’s a magical feather that lets Link jump gaps, the surprisingly versatile boomerang, or the bottles for capturing stray fairies to use as health restoration. Each item in this game manages to feel useful, and they allow Link to complete Koholint’s numerous dungeons, which bring all the various game elements, from exploration to combat, together.
Each dungeon is a meticulously crafted level, packed with enemies, unique mini-bosses and devious puzzles that present a true challenge to a player’s reflexes and problem-solving skills. The enemies of Link’s Awakening also offer a refreshing change of pace. Some take damage normally, but others might have to be tipped upside down before they’re rendered vulnerable or even have to be knocked off the map entirely to be eliminated. Each boss is unique, requiring the player to create novel strategies for defeating them.
I also spent a lot of time just exploring. Koholint Island is filled with fascinating characters and secret collectibles. Its inhabitants are wonderfully charming, from the villager Marin, who’s always ready to burst into song, to the anthropomorphic animal inhabitants of the Animal Village and the witch who sits in the hollow of a tree stirring at her cauldron. The world itself is full of surprises, whether it’s the Colour Dungeon, the mysterious Dream Shrine, or even the river rafting and claw machine minigames. Link’s Awakening can move at a sedate pace if you choose to play that way, and you can pass hours just exploring, searching for hidden Pieces of Heart and Secret Seashells. The dungeon maker, essentially a stripped back Zelda-themed Mario Maker was the only aspect that really failed to leave much of an impression.
That’s not to say that the game’s modern touches are all bad however. In technical terms, Link’s Awakening is an accomplishment. I can’t stress enough how polished and beautiful it really is. Koholint is a stunning tropical idyll, from dusty mountains to lush prairies and white sand beaches. The original games have been broken down to blueprints and rebuilt in a beautiful new style that looks like the toybox that existed in the minds of the original developers. This might not be how the original game looked, but it’s definitely how people imagined it in their minds. The tilt-shift visuals are rich in colour and tone, and intricately detailed, while the game’s characters are almost ridiculously adorable.
No game has quite managed to capture the spirit of the Game Boy era in the way Link’s Awakening does. The top-down view feels familiar, and there are even 2D side-scroller sections and cameos from the creatures of the Mario games. Even the wonderful soundtrack captures that Game Boy feeling. It’s familiar but crisper and cleaner. This blend of past and present is near-perfect. Pulling all of this off at the same time challenges the Switch hardware however. Framerate drops and lengthy loading screens were common enough to be disruptive.
Link’s Awakening was something of a revelation for me. Playing it led to the realisation that not only is this a wonderful experience in its own right but that, even if I hadn’t played the original game, playing on Nintendo consoles has had an effect on me that was far greater than I had ever thought. Their games have a unique charm, and playing Link’s Awakening, I realise I remain as captivated by them as I did all those years ago.
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