The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Switch 2 Launches With Free Upgrades For Classic Titles!

The Switch 2 has solidly launched and seems to be selling faster than any console in recent times. As part of the Switch 2 launch Nintendo has released some free graphical upgrades to many first party titles including the top down Zelda games Link's Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom. I've linked a Digital Foundry video that side by sides many of the upgrades. Switch 2 being backwards compatible is one of the best features of the system and in some cases, the games are running a lot better with these graphical lifts. I'm personally looking forward to replaying Link's Awakening in glorious 4K 60!

... Read All

What Are Your Top Switch Games Played By Hours?

Metal Jesus dropped a video recently where someone asked him what his top played Switch games were. It's an interesting question as it's not a best of or favorites list, it's just the top games you've played on the system. I was curious what my top Switch games were and I suppose it's not too surprising:

Link's Awakening Remake: 30 hours or more

Diablo III: Eternal Collection: 25 hours or more

Super Mario Maker 2: 20 hours or more

Fortnite: 20 hours or more

Minecraft: 15 hours or more

Minecraft Dungeons: 15 hours or more

New Super Mario Bros Wii U Deluxe: 15 hours or more

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 10 hours or more

Shredder's Revenge: 5 hours or more

Super Mario 3D World +... Read All

Zelda Game & Watch: Save Your Rupees For This Incredible Hyrulian Value!

For Christmas this year I got myself the Legend of Zelda Game & Watch. The Zelda Game & Watch features The Legend of Zelda, The Adventure of Link and Link's Awakening alongside a classic watch game and a few other fun modes. The big draw of the Zelda Game & Watch to me was the fact that it included the original Gameboy version of Link's Awakening. I'd have preferred the DX color version, but the original Gameboy version is classic and well worth replaying. I've been playing Link's Awakening on the Game & Watch and just acquired the third instrument. The small system feels good in my hands and the controls feel quite natural. Since I'm playing the... Read All For Christmas this year I got myself the Legend of Zelda Game & Watch. The Zelda Game & Watch features The Legend of Zelda, The Adventure of Link and Link's Awakening alongside a classic watch game and a few other fun modes. The big draw of the Zelda Game & Watch to me was the fact that it included the original Gameboy version of Link's Awakening. I'd have preferred the DX color version, but the original Gameboy version is classic and well worth replaying. I've been playing Link's Awakening on the Game & Watch and just acquired the third instrument. The small system feels good in my hands and the controls feel quite natural. Since I'm playing the Gameboy game everything feels good in the hand as I have a lot of memory playing this on the classic Gameboy. All told the classic Gameboy was much bigger in the hand but the screen wasn't too big so it feels pretty natural. My only minor complaint is that due to the screen size the original Link's Awakening is stretched to fit the screen by default. Nintendo has a setting to have the game play in the proper orientation but it's an odd default selection.

I plan on completing Link's Awakening on the Game & Watch and heading back to The Legend of Zelda and completing it again too. I've never completed The Adventures of Link and wonder if I'll finally do it on the Game & Watch?

Compared to the Mario Game & Watch this is an incredible value and with the rising prices of retro games even more so. If you had a thought to want to come back and play these games and don't have a great way to do it do yourself a favor and get the Zelda Game & Watch. Afterward check out the three article series Nintendo created on all the secrets they've stuffed the Zelda Game & Watch with. Some of these were included in the original games and some are completely new to the Watch system.

Regional Game Differences: https://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/2021/game-and-watch-the-legend-of-zelda-secret-series-part-1/

Saving the World in 12 Hours? Mysteries of the Playable Clock: https://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/2021/game-and-watch-the-legend-of-zelda-secret-series-part-2/

Secret Button Commands: https://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/2021/game-and-watch-the-legend-of-zelda-secret-series-part-3/

Arlo Reviews Nintendo in 2019

I recently discovered Arlo, a gaming YouTube channel featuring a puppet and shared a video a few days ago about Arlo's predictions for 2020. He just released a new video cataloging Nintendo's accomplishments in 2019 and not surprisingly, Nintendo had a really full year. The standouts for me were the new Pokemon game release, Link's Awakening and I've also been hearing a lot of good things about Ring Fit Adventure. I think we're looking at an even stronger 2020 and if the rumors are true we are in for two Wii U game ports to launch soon. I'm fairly certain Super Mario 3D World is one of the games but the other one i'm less certain of.

What Wii U ports would you love to... Read All

Get The All New Songs of the Sirens: Link's Awakening ReMixed Album For Free!

For me, since its launch, Link's Awakening has been all over game news sites, the YouTube channels I watch and gaming podcasts. It seems the little Gameboy game made a huge impression on a ton of gamers and because of that, and the incredible artistry of the remake by Grezzo, this month might as well be called Link's Awakening month.

For years I've downloaded and included the video game remix albums by OCRemix into my gaming playlists and they are back with an all new remix album to celebrate the Link's Awakening remake. OCRemix already released a Link's Awakening remix album in 2010 that I consider one fo the best remix albums of all time called Threshold of a Dream... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 67: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening For Nintendo Switch

We've returned to Koholint Island after 26 years for this review of the new Nintendo Switch remake of The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening. This is one of our most anticipated games in a while, and we're stoked to finally have our hands on it. Warning: this one gets surprisingly philosophical for a few minutes, and may be worth a listen just for that.

The First Few Hours of Link's Awakening

When the Link's Awakening remake was recently announced in a Nintendo Direct I was in. Link's Awakening was already one of the best Zelda games in the franchise and remaking it seemed like a great idea. I pre-ordered the Dreamer Edition and it finally released last Friday and I wanted to write up my first thoughts as well as recap a bit of what others are saying about it.

A Worthy Remake of a Classic Game

In a nutshell the Link's Awakening remake is a very worthy remake for one of the best video games of all time. You can tell that a lot of love and attention was poured into this game by Grezzo and Nintendo and a very keen eye was paid to recreate the original game... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 09/23/2019 at 02:29am

I finished it earlier and there just aren’t enough hours in the day to list off all the ways that it’s amazing.

But one thing I will say that you didn’t touch on much is the dungeon maker.

Eeeeehhhhh you know, the rest of the game doesn’t suffer because of its inclusion so I don’t really count this as a ding against it but, wow, this is entirely uninteresting to me. It just doesn’t hit any notes for me, because it’s all stuff you’ve done before, just remixed. There’s not a lot of room to do anything interesting there.

I had thought this was a beta test for a Zelda maker, but I read an interview where apparently the devs were asked to make something like Mario Maker for this and struggled to find a fun way to do it.

That, and the FPS dips (I think it goes well below 30), are the only complaints I have about this. The original Link’s Awakening was a strong contender for my favorite Zelda game, and this remake pushed it just high enough so I can say yes, this is it. This is my favorite. I love the new art style. I don’t think it’s necessarily better or worse than the original blocky pixels, but it’s a great modern yet simple take on it. But really, it’s the QoL updates that let you do things without so much micromanaging.

And the new score, holy cow. Yeah, the original chiptunes are great like you said, but this score feels like what the composers originally intended, even though the Gameboy couldn’t quite pull it off.

I think the score is symbolic to the game as a whole: the original and the remake can coexist well. This feels like the original, so much that I still remembered where some stuff was, and the maps from the old game are still accurate (except for a few minor things). But this could also be brand new. And in this way it excels in a way most remakes don’t: it almost immaculately recreates the original without being beholden to its mechanics that may have aged out.

To put it simply: this is one of my favorite games of all time, recreated to be even better than I ever remembered it.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/23/2019 at 02:49am

Also I’m not seeing a bunch of similarity with Link Between Worlds, honestly. I don’t think people are talking about it much because it’s a very different visual language. I’ll give you the music a bit, but visually it seems more like an attempt to bridge the 2D and N64ish era rather than doing its own thing. It doesn’t seem like just a platform limitation but a whole different set of inspirations.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/23/2019 at 05:13am

It’s somewhat subjective comparing two games but in terms of Zelda games less so maybe. The gameplay differences in Worlds and the Awakening remake are pretty stark in the Worlds is quite a bit faster and in the Awakening remake Link snaps to one of eight directions and in general feels a bit slower.

That said, I’ve played both and just played Worlds to get the feel back and they are more similar than different which is a good thing. Zelda timeline wise Awakening happens right after Link to the Past and Worlds after that so I think it makes sense that they are styled together some if contain differences enough to give them a unique voice.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/23/2019 at 05:15am

Sorry the phone tapping made some of that hard to read. I still think the games feel similar but, it’s not a huge deal that everyone agrees with that.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/23/2019 at 04:03pm

Back in my day games ran at 15 fps and we liked it! :) It is sad to hear about the FPS issue. Do you see the same performance docked and in handheld?

Travis Admin wrote on 09/23/2019 at 05:09pm

I never tried it handheld, only docked. It definitely wasn’t game killing and it seemed like it was mostly around transitions from inside a dungeon to outside, or after fast traveling.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/23/2019 at 05:34pm

Interesting analysis: https://youtu.be/UnckUk830HA

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/23/2019 at 06:00pm

Thanks for that video Will.

PS the Gameboy games could run at 59 hz.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/24/2019 at 01:47am

I had the original game on the original Gameboy (not the Color) and loved it. I forgot all about the claw machine! I'm glad it's among your favorite games. It was definitely one of my most favorite Gameboy games! I haven't seen or read much about the remake, though. I don't have a Switch yet, so it's not exactly on my radar at the moment. It does look good though!

The FPS issue sucks, but thanks to the video shared by Will_Ball, it seems the current solution is to run it from internal memory. I don't know everything about the Switch, but if you get a hard copy of the game that comes on a cartridge or card, can you install it and have it run from internal memory, or does it only run from the card? It seems that the cartridge is an SD card, is that right or is it similar? Or, are you only able to install and run it from internal memory if you purchase the digital version? I think Steam has made me quite used to digital versions of games, which I think are great, because hard copies are easy to lose or damage. But, if the place hosting the game stops operating, then you essentially lose the game, or your ability to re-install it.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/24/2019 at 02:12am

You can't install the cartridge games to internal memory. Which sucks but it makes sense.

However, there are more graphically (and presumably data) intense games on the Switch that run fine, so I'm hoping this is just an optimization issue they can patch.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/24/2019 at 02:13am

I have the game cart which does not need an install to play. Some games have a hefty update and they mostly run off the internal SD card but Link's Awakening runs entirely on the game cart. For now anyway.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/24/2019 at 02:14am

> I think Steam has made me quite used to digital versions of games, which I think are great, because hard copies are easy to lose or damage. But, if the place hosting the game stops operating, then you essentially lose the game, or your ability to re-install it.

Yep, that's why I buy physical if I can. In the case of the Wii it's now the difference between being able to play a game and not. I bought the physical version of Tetris on Wii and can still play it whereas the download version goes with your system.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/24/2019 at 05:37am

https://mobile.twitter.com/GifZelda/status/1176262465526665217

Travis Admin wrote on 09/24/2019 at 06:00pm

Ha, now I wish I still had a save file with Marin.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

The Story of Zelda: Link's Awakening

For me, the biggest game hype to come out of E3 was for the Link's Awakening remake. The Gaming Historian recently dropped a very well made historical retrospective on Link's Awakening due to the new interest in the game because of the remake. It's a very timely look back and if you are a fan of the original or want to know more about why this game is so well loved this is something you need to watch!

"Learn the complete history of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. What began as an after-hours passion project turned into one of the greatest Zelda games of all time. Learn how the development team at Nintendo went outside the box and created The Legend of Zelda:... Read All

Digital Foundry Compares The New Link's Awakening Remake with the Gameboy Game

One thing I've heard pretty strongly from the people that played Link's Awakening at E3 was that the game is incredibly beautiful BUT they haven't quite got the game performance to deliver and the game lags a bit during certain scenes. Grezzo is the company that is creating this new version and they've ported/created some of the best Zelda titles around including the Ocarina of Time 3D, Majora's Mask 3D and Luigi's Mansion on 3DS. Clearly they have the ability to make the game fluid, hopefully that comes together in time for launch on September 20th of this year.

"John takes a look at the E3 demo of Link's Awakening on Switch - it's looking really good with a... Read All