Link's Awakening is the best Zelda game

[James Harvey]

I'm about three quarters of the way through Link's Awakening DX for the first time... it's without a doubt the greatest Zelda game I've ever played.

I can't understand why people rate LTTP over this.

[dr_manhattan]

the original black and white version was the first zelda game i ever played, it is indeed excellent

[JibberX]

I found Link Awakening just really confusing.....was it LTTP remixed or something, because half of it was identicle...or is that my wired brain...?

I heard they added colour related puzzles to the DX version too?

[James Harvey]

Your wired brain. It's nowt like LTTP.

It's hinted to me that there is a 'new world of colour' hidden in the graveyard, but when I try to get to it it said 'cowards cannot push graves...' I presume this means there's a secret dungeon in the graveyard which I unlock once I've finished the game, which may feature colour-related puzzles. But I've not noticed any in the game so far.

[Treble]

it said 'cowards cannot push graves...'

Wild guess, but are you coloured yellow at this point? It's just you said the puzzles are colour-based, and yellow = coward, so....

[mrsquare]

Yep. Best Zelda by a country mile.

[fuzzybee]

The best Zelda is easily "The Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past" or it's the one i enjoyed playing and completing the most, i've recently played through it again on my Snes and it's still as good as ever.

[bungle]

Yes, yes it is the best Zelda game ever.....in fact, I never really liked the others.

[Tom Salter]

I found the puzzles really, really hard as a kid. I didn't get past the bit that said something about "The walls have eyes" in the 5th dungeon, soon after the hookshot.

But then again, it has the best section of the game in the Rapids part

[Wild_Cat]

It also has the best scenario in any Zelda game to date (well, I haven't played Majora's Mask so i can't be sure, but still). The premise is very basic, yet as the story progresses you come to realise it's incredibly dark and sad. When you arrive before the egg, with all the instruments, you know what the consequences of the Awakening are going to be... Yet you just have to do it as it's your only way to escape.
Speaking of which, the Awakening song is probably the best piece of music ever produced by the Game Boy's sound chip. The full version, with all the instruments, still blows my mind every time I hear it. Not to mention that scene is the most beautiful (and sad) in the whole game.

In one word: Wow.

[Moodmon]

[Salutes Mr. Havey]

Yes, yes it is. The dungeons are ace, the secret seashells are inspired, it's got some wonderful music and a huge frog that does the mambo. Much better than LTTP.

As for the colour dungeon, you can indeed only access it when you've finished the game, or got all the instruments. Shame it's not much cop. However, at the end, you do get some fancy threads.

[James Harvey]

The frog doing the mambo- amazing! In most Zelda games the best reward you'll get for discovering a hidden place is a piece of heart. In this game, you can find a giant singing fish at the end of a 2D underwater section. Or a big river rapids game. You feel properly rewarded for finding hidden things. Especially when I found the temple with the scroll about the Wind Fish's Dream before I was meant to...

Majora's Mask has an amazing bit where you Hookshot up to a really obscure place in the game that most players wouldn't even think of looking at, and you find some giant Beavers who want to have a swimming race with you, on a massive beaver-dammed river. That's the only secret I can think of in any other Zelda that even comes close to the stuff in Link's Awakening.

(Actually, the little Zombie-filled slime pits in OoT that you can only find if you have the Stone of Agony are quite good, too. And the weird stage where the Deku Scrubs rate your masks. But I could go on all day listing 'good bits' in Zelda games, we'd probably need to start a different thread...)

Funnily enough I'm stuck at the place mentioned earlier- 'the Eyes have walls'. WTF? I'll work it out eventually...

[Great King Bowser]

For some reason I found Link's Awakening's music to be somewhat eery and haunting. Somewhat hypnotic and mesmerising too, probably just the GameBoy's sound chip turning my brain to mush.

I remember when I played Donkey Kong Land 3 on the GameBoy for a good 5 or so hours, and for at least 2 hours after I'd stopped playing I could still hear the ringing of DKL's music in my ears. And I'm not even joking, I felt really, really dizzy afterwards. You all must think I'm crazy, but I'm 100% genuinely serious. I should sue Nintendo.

But yeah, Link's Awakening did seriously kick all manner of ass. I remember the 7th dungeon where you had to push the cannon ball around to this day, it was so hard. I could have sworn on my initial play through I glitched the game out by losing the cannon ball, it fell through one of the holes in the floor and I couldn't find it again. I looked in every room for ages, in the end I saved and assumed it'd be there when I got back. No sale. I had to restart.

Was definitely worth it to get to the giant egg though.

[Wild_Cat]

The only flaw Link's Awakening had IMO, is that it was a bit short. My figures may be off because that was a long time ago, but I seem to remember having been able to complete it in about 3 hours on my 2nd or 3rd run.

[Tig]

As much as I liked LA, I didn't enjoy it as much as LttP. I found something about it a bit claustrophobic. Maybe it was the tighter world design or something, but overall I felt LttP gave a bit more space to wander. Depends, really, how much you like wandering in your Zelda games. For me OOT got the wander factor just right, with both open spaces and considered design, while WW went a bit too far with an ocean to wander in.

That said, LA does have a class storyline and excellent music. The storyline definately has similarities to Majora's Mask in its sophistication and overall mood. Far better than the story in WW, I'd say... I for one would love to see a retelling of LA in a 3D cel-shaded world. Yummaay!

And who could forget the music? (Beeparific MIDI alert)
Tal Tal Heights (slight arrangement) was another great example.