The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - Review

Link’s Remakening

Console: Nintendo Switch

Of all of the Zelda games, Link’s Awakening has arguably been the game that time had forgotten most about. A pseudo-sequel to A Link to the Past, it reused many of its assets to create a brand new experience for the GameBoy. One that didn't take place in Hyrule and did away with some other Zelda staples, such as the Master Sword. It sold well and even got a spiffy GameBoy Colour port, but for one reason or the other, it's not brought up a lot.

Today though, Link’s Awakening is the latest in the ever-growing lineup of Zelda remakes and a welcoming one at that. It puts the game into people’s eyes again and allows them to experience one of the most unique Zelda games. Is the game worth a purchase though? It is a good remake or could you just as well stick with the original on NSO online? 

All in all, Link’s Awakening is a pleasant game that is a bit too pricey for the content that it offers.
Let’s talk about it. 

The game starts with our hero Link shipwrecked on the shore of a mysterious island named Koholint. Here, he’s found by a young woman named Marin who brings him to Mable Village. After waking up and venturing to the beach to reclaim his sword, Link is approached by a mysterious talking Owl. The Owl informs Link that the only way for him to leave this island is to wake the Wind Fish, a deity that sleeps inside of the giant egg that lies atop a mountain. To do so, Link first has to find the eight magical instruments hidden in Koholint’s most dangerous places. Thus, Link sets off to collect all eight instruments to wake the Wind Fish. However, Koholint Island is not at all what it seems…

The best way I can describe Link’s Awakening is  'pleasantly simple’. Unlike some of its 3D counterparts, it keeps a light-hearted and fun attitude throughout. The world is colourful and bright. The soundtrack/sound design is a combination of happy, upbeat yet calming tracks. 

The NPCs have funny upbeat dialogue, but with a mysterious undertone to help set up the game’s underlying mystery. It immerses you with its atmosphere, inhabitants and the twist. The second is one of the game's strong points. The characters of Koholint Island, along with the island itself, have their own enjoyable little personality and designs that make them fun to interact with. 

All of this makes me like that one big fetch-quest worth doing. All the interactions, the look into the lives of these characters you get, is oh so neat. I do have a minor complaint in terms of characters when it comes to Marin. She just pops up a few times too few to really justify the strong emotional connection the game has them build up I feel. Just a minor nitpick, but still. One or two more moments with her would have been nice.

And then there's the mystery at the heart of the Island. It's one of those 'it recontextualizes everything' type of twists. And yet, even when the cat’s out of the bag about the nature of Koholint island this ‘twist’ is not really treated like a dramatic reveal. 

It's more of a bittersweet development that gives you something to ponder about while you continue your quest. And yeah, I’m comfortable with telling you that Link’s Awakening’s plot has a big twist in it. The fact that the game has is no secret, though what it is exactly I won't tell you. It's best experienced first-hand, as much as one can these days. 

Comparison of the GameBoy Colour version and the Nintendo Switch remake. Credit to Eurogamer for the image.

Moving on to the gameplay, it's exactly as you expect from a top-down Zelda game. You traverse an open world with dungeons scattered throughout full of puzzles, topped off with a boss fight. To aid in his quest, Link has his trusty sword and shield, as well as a plethora of other classic Zelda tools like the Hookshot. Unlike other games in the series, Link's Awakening allows the player to jump over obstacles and onto platforms. You need an item, the feather, to do so but Link can jump here.  

The feather is one complaint that I have with the items. It really should have been given its own, dedicated button. The original Link’s Awakening's biggest flaw was the Gameboy's few buttons. This necessitated that the player constantly has to switch between their items to equip them to one of two inputs. 

The Switch has a lot more buttons so items such as the sword now have their very own. However, with how much the jump of the Feather is required in the game, I would have given that its own button too. Now, you’ve basically lost the use of one of your item slots because it has the feather on it at all times.

Link’s Awakening also features side-scrolling platforming sections ala Super Mario. Whereas in other Zelda games, you would appear on the other side of a stairwell at a second’s notice, here they are often interconnected by a 2D-side scrolling section. These aren’t long, not even 30 seconds, but fun nonetheless to jump around it. There are even some boss fights which use the side-scrolling style, so that offers you some variety with this perspective as well.

The side-scrolling sections aren’t the only thing that this game borrows from everyone's favourite Jumpman. You have straight-up Mario enemies in the game, like Goomba’s and Chain-Chomps. Weird, right! And it's even not just Mario from which Link's Awakening "borrows". As in: you have Kirby in this game. Instead of Pink though, these Kirby’s are orange in colour. Why? I have no idea, but it’s certainly charming quirky and different!

Behold: a chain-chomp in the Legend of Zelda!

But don't fear! There is some completely new content in this remake too! As revealed in the trailers, you can create your own dungeon at Dampé’s little shack. Well, sort of. Unlike Super Mario Maker which lets you build a stage from scratch, the 'Dungeon Builder' of Link’s Awakening is more of a 'Dungeon aligner'. After finishing a dungeon, you can use its different chambers to create your very own. You could, for example, place all the bosfights right behind one another in some boss rush form, or smack two smaller dungeons to create one bigger, more elaborate one. 

You can also participate in challenges for prizes or build a dungeon freely, which you can then save & share online. It’s not as robust as many would’ve liked but it’s a fun distraction nonetheless.

Lastly, we gotta talk about some technical stuff. Before the game was even released, many complained about how it looked. While similar to the previous top-down Zelda game, A Link Between Worlds, this game art style looks, for lack of a better term, ‘plasticky’. Everything in the world looks something like a plastic toy, from the trees to the characters. I didn’t like it when I first saw it, but I quickly got used to it.

There were also reports about performance issues. When Link’s Awakening was first sent out for review to multiple publications noted some performance issues. Slowdown, badly loaded in textures etc. In my experience though, I only experienced this slowdown in one section and one section where there are a lot of models on screen at once combined with some water effects. There are indeed some technical problems here but they’re (in my experience) not as grave nor frequent as people say it is.

Conclusion

Link’s Awakening for the Nintendo Switch is a good, pleasant game. It’s top-down Zelda at its finest with enjoyable characters and a twist that’ll make you think. It also got the Dungeon maker that, while not as robust as I would have liked, is still a fun activity to delve into. It is a bit pricey though. For the 60,- price tag there isn’t enough content I feel. However, if you can pick this game up for less, either second-hand or through a (Black Friday) deal like I did I definitely would.