The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Damn, this was a good pod. I liked the deeper discussion. I think you are onto something.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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.

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

Getting at launch and I have played and own the original gameboy version. I can’t remember if I have beat it though. It would have been a long time ago, if I have.

Getting it at launch, and I consider the original one of the top two Zelda games ever.

Yeah I feel like the biggest thing out of the Nintendo Direct was the BotW sequel announcement. Even if it’s not a huge reveal and we still know nothing about it.

Super Mario Maker 2 Online Multiplayer with Friends is coming! https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1138532590384701440

Oh wow, that is GORGEOUS.

I used to say Rage 2 was most most anticipated game this year but with Mario Maker 2 and Links Awakwning remake I think it’s all three!

One takeaway here is that 1) Nintendo is going to continue with the 2D Zelda games, which I’m very happy to see. Push forward with the 3D Breath of the Wild games and continue on with the 2D over world stuff like Link Between Worlds and now the Awakening Remake.

Also wondering how much the remake will be? The original game wasn’t big due to the Gameboy and frankly that made it better. It’s a very tight and well focused game. Will this game be larger in scope? If not what will it cost? I guess the cost doesn’t matter too much as I’ll buy it day one anyway, but I am curious.