Review

Zelda: Link’s Awakening
Review by Niroht for ZeldaPower.com

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening takes place on the island of Koholint, where Link has ended up after a storm left him at sea, and tests him to leave the island by defeating monsters called nightmares, and awakening the Wind Fish, a slumbering entity at the peak of the island’s mountain range. Link’s Awakening is the first and only Zelda installment for the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color. It shares many visual elements with A Link to the Past, though understandably lower-quality graphics due to being made for the original Game Boy. Now, this game’s controls have a few problems. Because of the hardware limitations of the Game Boy, players can only use two items at a time. Now this normally wouldn’t be an issue, since you really don’t change items that much, but equipment type items such as the power bracelet and Pegasus boots had to be assigned to their own slots, meaning that the amount of pausing increases dramatically. Fortunately for the player, though, pausing and switching items is quite quick and doesn’t interfere with normal gameplay as much as other games I’ve played. My other gripe about the controls involve move speed and the d-pad. This may just be my hardware, but the last time I played this game the d-pad did not seem to be terribly responsive, and I ended up hurting my thumbs since it almost seems pressure sensitive while you’re playing, and you never move quite fast enough in any case. Despite this, the controls are the only highly prevalent problem with this game. A couple of the dungeons are rather repetitive and involve doubling back, but these are the exception and most dungeons have a very good difficulty curve, and the generally very good design that is the trademark of the early Zelda games. As an earlier game with limited memory, you won’t be spending a whole lot of time on sub quests, but those that are there take you all over, and have very useful or entertaining rewards. As for the story of the game, I found it to be a very good concept, but not terribly well fleshed-out. It is never revealed why the Wind Fish is sleeping, nor what influence he has on the greater world of Zelda, but what is revealed will surprise you at points, and is a welcome departure from the simple “You are the only person who can save x” formula that will have you wondering whether you should have advanced the story at all. Where this game really excels is in its dialogue and feel. While having a serious storyline, this game features many cameos including obscure ones such as Sim City’s Mr. Write, and the dialogue is always light and humorous. Link’s Awakening is not just a load of jokes though, the dialogue seems quite natural for the characters and the game rarely goes completely out of its way just for a little bit of slapstick. Instead, the residents of Koholint appear to think that their slightly wacky world is completely normal, though they occasionally question what they’re talking about when they mention hitting buttons. Overall this is a highly charming game, without the extremely heavy feel of games such as Ocarina of Time, but also without the often forced humor of The Wind Waker, and definitely worth playing.

Graphics: 7.5/10
Not terribly remarkable, but decent for the time it was made. Certain parts of the DX version such as the ground could do with more color, but overall easier to look at than most stock of the time it came out.
Sound: 8/10
It’s a Game Boy game, so the sound quality is pretty low. Many of the scores are highly memorable though, and several songs are so emotional and well-written and set up that you’ll play that section again just to hear it.
Gameplay: 7/10
I really wish it was easier to control this game, Link just moves a little too slow for me, and even Pegasus-assisted running is really hard to control. This might just be my hardware though.
Story: 9.5/10
A welcome departure from normal gaming conventions, my only complaint is that I wanted more information.
Feel:10/10
This is where this game really excels, it’s witty and humorous without feeling forced, and the characters and environments are charming.
Overall: 8.4/10
Definitely worth buying, and perhaps my favorite of the Zelda series of games, despite what the numbers say. Graphics really bring the numbers of older games down, and shouldn’t be considered too much in this case.

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