The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

[Neon Ignition]

Time for this First Play to begin. Returning to the game is a reminder of how short an adventure it is, I'm very quickly progressing through it and am now about to start the fourth of eight main dungeons. Very, very little seems to have changed from memory making this a visual and quality of life type update but it works well. I wasn't entirely convinced on the visuals at first but in hand they work well. Some have complained about the edge of screen blurring but I stopped noticing it after the first minute. It's an easy and breezy instalment and re-energises the game making me wonder if the other Zelda's for handheld would enjoy a similar fresh air vibe with this treatment. A cel-shaded Minish Cap remake would be nice to experience.




There's no escaping the framerate issues, it's constantly noticeable but doesn't impact gameplay. The game clearly has issues loading in new areas when you first step into them for a second or two but once it's effectively buffered that data it settles, though there are regular dips. If you're familiar with the GB version there's little else to add for this one but as I raised in the Switch thread, as someone for whom BOTW felt somewhat bland, this is a lovely love letter to the purest form of Zelda.

[ItsThere]

My version showed up a little late yesterday but the overall LE package is very nice.

A lovely artbook and a steelbook that is there entirely for nostalgia purposes but I love it.

I thought I had forgotten the beats and points of this game but it all comes flooding back quickly, perhaps that isn't surprising as I rinsed this on the GB, the GBC and then on the 3DS ambassador program.

The style is charming but I haven;t seen much talk of the updated music which is an absolute joy to listen to, especially some of the weirder town tunes.

It is an "easy" Zelda but it is an adventure, a compact and tight one, and an enjoyable experience.

[Neon Ignition]

I think I must have done a collective 5 hours maybe? I'm now most of the way through the trade questline and approaching the fifth dungeon so this is looking very spritely.

[fishbowlhead]

Never played the original GB version but I’m loving this so far with me and the other half having a lovely little adventure.

[ItsThere]

I think I must have done a collective 5 hours maybe? I'm now most of the way through the trade questline and approaching the fifth dungeon so this is looking very spritely.

That sounds about right to me, I like the trade questline a lot, it holds up well despite its grounding in the technical limits of the original hardware.

The map is very dense and one thing that is helpful is the map markers they have lifted from BotW, it will make the max run that much easier to remember! In fact, because the total map is smaller I am using that feature more than in BotW. Sometimes I'd see a korok seed and just think, ICBA. Here though, where everything is closer together I take the time to mark stuff out because I am much more likely to return to it.

[Neon Ignition]

It's definitely given me a new appreciation for the GB version. That this game was accomplished to this scale on a monochrome 8-bit handheld and still holds up in a very faithful modern form is astounding and probably one of the franchises biggest accomplishments.

[wakka]

It's definitely given me a new appreciation for the GB version. That this game was accomplished to this scale on a monochrome 8-bit handheld and still holds up in a very faithful modern form is astounding and probably one of the franchises biggest accomplishments.

Yeah, I was thinking this. I've not played the Switch one yet but I was considering the GB one and, really, it was incredible. It's got to be the best game on the platform, really.

[DeathAdder]

I rinsed this... on the 3DS ambassador program.

Eh? Were GBC games part of that?

[ItsThere]

Eh? Were GBC games part of that?

Were they not? If not I must have paid actual real money for it on 3DS then...

Looks like I may well have done that! https://www.nintendo.com/games/detai...kening-dx-3ds/

[Dogg Thang]

Not much real money and it would have been worth every penny.

[ItsThere]

A few longer sessions on this and my thoughts are coming together.

The sense of progression is quick and sharp, almost ideal for handheld play and the antithesis of BotW. Hints are fairly direct, it feels a little like a Zelda for younger players until you get to the end game. A great endorphin loop of (mostly) easy to find collectibles helps keep the pace up, held together with a story that, on second telling, is one of the more interesting ones from the canon.

I stumbled my way around one of the later dungeons

->Open Spoiler<-

Eagle's Tower

kind of remembering what I was doing but more brute forcing my way through rather than ever actually knowing what I was doing.

Nearing the end now, I don't want to rush through it, I feel like I have collected most of the Heart Pieces and a good number of shells but I cannot be bothered with the Dungeon Maker and I know there are more collectibles tied to all of that. My compulsion to get to the end with "all" the hearts might be enough to see me through but its fiddly and time consuming.

The game would have been better without it and the selfies left in, is there not a front facing camera on the Switch?

[Neon Ignition]

Not sure how many hours I have left, I'm just finding my way back to the boss door in the 6th dungeon but the trade questline is now done.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Were they not? If not I must have paid actual real money for it on 3DS then...

Looks like I may well have done that! https://www.nintendo.com/games/detai...kening-dx-3ds/

Original GB games were not part of the 3DS Ambassador Programme. GBA and NES games were.

A download code for Link’s Awakening DX was also included in the LE of A Link Between Worlds.

[ItsThere]

Closed out a non 100% run, a very touching ending to a packed game.

What a gem this was back in the day. It ramps up in difficulty nicely towards the end and for a "side project" managed to influence a good part of the series after it debuted.

I scored the 8 on the poll, it would have been a 9 but the dungeon building really put me off, particularly as it is linked to 100% completion.

Oh and by complete accident I achieved a

->Open Spoiler<-

secret ending

. Won't say how but it is not difficult to achieve!

[Neon Ignition]

Getting to the end of the 7th dungeon now so likely done early next week, I think for me it's Minish Cap I'd like to see this done to next. Similar but cel-shaded. After that... probably LTTP. Not too fussed about the Oracles games