The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

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.

GregoPeck 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.

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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

E3 2019 The Nintendo Wrap Up

I'm not going to get every E3 Nintendo news bit so if you have something you thought was noteworthy, drop it in the comments. That said, Nintendo did drop some really interesting bits and I'm going to dance over the stuff I'm most excited about starting with...

The Link's Awakening HD Remake

So.... this looks incredible and if you haven't yet I seriously recommend you watch the embedded video of the Link's Awakening Treehouse gameplay footage above. The core gameplay looks just like what you'd expect and they've gone to pretty great lengths to keep the feel of the original Gameboy title intact. That said, Nintendo is brining quite a bit more to this remake than just the... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 51: Will Link’s Awakening Be The Apex of Legendary Remakes?

We took some recent gaming news, put it in a pot, and let it simmer for a while. Come hear our early thoughts about Apex Legends and our favorite news from the most recent Nintendo Direct, Tetris 99, Super Mario Maker 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening remake!

Mario Maker 2 and Zelda: Link's Awakening Remake Announced in the Latest Nintendo Direct

I've been wanting a Mario Maker port on the Switch for a while now, but a sequel may be even better! Coming this June, Mario Maker 2 brings more features and more things to do, with each iteration of Mario as expected.

But the big surprise for me was. the Link's Awakening remake! The 1993 Gameboy masterpiece was my favorite Zelda game for quite some time, so I'm glad to see it reimagined. The art style is very charmingly cartoony, like everything's made out of plastic. We don't know much about any potential gameplay changes, and we know nothing about a release date yet, except it'll be in 2019. The little teaser at the end will have to hold you over.

In addition to... Read All

Ty Anderson's Ura Zelda Project Remakes Link's Awakening With The Ocarina of Time Engine

Ty Anderson is remaking the gameboy classic Link's Awakening with original art assets using the Ocarina of Time 64 game engine.

"I work tirelessly for hours at a time every moment I can, building temples, creating new actors, animating them, writing scripts, designing puzzles and relentlessly studying the possibilities of the old Nintendo 64 Ocarina of time ROM. My aim: to create a completely original version of The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening in the Ocarina of Time Game Engine. "

This kind of project is interesting in that if it comes out could bring the game to an entirely new audience. With that, I wonder how well the game translates to 3D? The small 2D nature... Read All