The Legend of Zelda - Link's Awakening

Seriously, Link needs to roast that friggin' owl alive.


The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Developer: Nintendo
Platform: Gameboy (GB Color "DX" version reviewed)
Genre: Action-adventure

Truth be told, I only started to really like Gameboy games after I grabbed my Gameboy Advance. I've owned one of every model of Gameboy ever made, but I only purchased a handful of games for each, and I beat few of them. There were a lot of titles that I ignored or missed out on because of this, and while I certainly don't hold any regret for many of them, Link's Awakening is one of the few original Gameboy games I wish I'd bothered to give a chance as a kid.


Story

Shortly after defeating Agahnim and restoring Hyrule to peace in A Link to the Past, Link found himself itching for further adventure. His warrior's spirit had been tapped into and returning to the simple life with his uncle and friends was no longer capable of fulfilling Link's epic desires. Saying farewell to his homeland for the time being, Link sets sail for the open ocean on a large passenger ship aimed for parts unknown. However, after only a few days on the water, the ship is enveloped by a monstrous storm and is shattered by a stray bolt of lightning. Link is thrown from the explosion and blacks out.

Some time later, Link's eyes slowly open and he comes to find he is sleeping in a warm bed. Suddenly, as his last memories spring into focus, he jumps out of bed with a start. Wondering where he is and how he got there, his questions are soon answered by the residents of the house, a man named Tarin and his daughter (roughly Link's age) named Marin. Marin explains to Link that she found him lying unconscious on the beach and that she carried him back to the village by herself. She and her father have been taking care of him for the last few days and express relief that he has awakened from his long slumber.

Tarin explains to Link that, when his daughter brought him in, only one piece of the boy's property was found on his person: his trusty shield. Wanting to know if the rest of his equipment happened to wash ashore with him, Link takes directions from the old man and heads towards the beach.

Arriving at Toronbo Shores, Link finds his sword stuck into the sand and breathes a sigh of relief. However, perched upon the hilt of the blade is a large owl, and upon approaching, instead of flying away the owl proceeds to speak to the young hero. He introduces himself as Kaepora Gaebora, Link's guide for the remainder of his quest. He tells Link that the boy has washed onto a remote island named Koholint, and that he was lucky to still have his life. However, leaving the island is going to be a much harder task than getting there. You see, Koholint is an isolated community. They have no ships, no one comes to trade with them and nobody ever leaves the island for other lands. If Link wishes to ever see Hyrule again, he is going to have to perform an extraordinary task in order to do so.

Gaebora explains that the young hero's only chance is to seek council with the Wind Fish, a massive whale that lies asleep inside of a monstrous egg sitting atop Koholint's highest peak. However, in order to wake the fish, Link is going to need to collect eight Mystical Instruments in order to play the Ballad of the Wind Fish, an ancient melody which is the only thing capable of stirring the massive creature. With a new quest to fulfill, and a new heroic purpose, Link sets out on yet another adventure.

In comparison with previous entries in the series, Link's Awkening features a significant improvement in the plot development and themes presented in the game. For such an early game, Nintendo really made a gutsy move by pursuing the plot in the manner that unfolds later in the adventure. Granted, this isn't Xenogears or Chrono Cross, so it's not anything that will have you pondering for days upon days. However, by the time you reach the end of the game, you'll certainly have a few things to mull over. Great story, with more twists and better characterization than prior titles in the series.


Gameplay

By now, you should be intimately familiar with the way the 2D Zeldas function, right? So I won't go explaining the movement controls and the basics. We'll just focus on what separates this one from the previous games.

First and foremost, the biggest alteration made to the functionality of the game is the fact that now both face buttons are customizable. In previous entires, one button was dedicated to the sword, while the other button was open for any item in Link's inventory. In this entry, both buttons can be mapped to any item in Link's inventory, opening the gameplay up to some interesting combinations.

This change in functionality is certainly a nice addition, and it also serves to make up for the fact that Link doesn't really get very many brand-new items in this game. In fact, out of his entire inventory, Link's Awakening only sees one new entry: the Roc's Feather. This item, when used allows Link to jump into the air, a first in the series. Granted, this is the only new item Link gets ahold of in this installment, but its series-wide applications are still in effect today. The Roc's Feather is my favorite item in the game and it opens up a new level of functionality and diversity to Link's available abilities.

As I said before, because of the two-custom-button system, Link has a few new combination-based abilities as well. Equip the Bow on one button and the Bombs on the other. Pressing both buttons simultaneously creates a "Bomb Arrow" that can blow up objects from a distance. By the same token, equip the Roc's Feather on one button and the Pegasus Boots on the other, and Link will be able to use the Long Jump, giving him the ability to cross larger chasms and jump-able obstacles. Using creative combinations, you can actually play for quite a length of time without ever needing to use the sword at all, if you so desire.

All of these new abilities come into play constantly throughout the game's huge environment. Koholint itself is pretty huge, consisting of exactly 256 full screens of traversible terrain. You will fight through Moblin-infested forests, raft down a dangerous river, battle sandworms in the southern desert, scale the peaks of Tal-Tal Mountains and slash your way through a menacing castle. On top of that, there are a few towns to be explored as well, such as Mabe Village (the town that Link woke up in) and Animal Town, a small hamlet populated entirely by talking woodland creatures. It took me quite some time to actually fill out the entire map, and that was just on the overworld. In addition to all of those aforementioned areas, you also have a large selection of caves, homes and secret areas to explore to your heart's content. In terms of the exploration aspect of Link's Awakening, the game has it in spades.

Then there's the dungeon selection. There are eight main dungeons, one final dungeon and a handful of smaller mini-dungeons, like Kanalet Castle, to skulk through. Considering the graphical limitations of such an old Gameboy title, it shouldn't be surprising that most of the dungeons don't have wildly-varying themes like lava and ice. Instead, most of the dungeon-areas focus on basing their themes around the specific item you recieved while exploring it. The Tail Cave, for example, is the area where you will find the Roc's Feather. In the dungeon, you will encounter a lot of pits, chasms and various platforms that need to be jumped over and onto in order to proceed. This design philosophy is carried over into all of the game's dungeons and, in my opinion, is a great substitute for more lava temples and ice palaces.

Another very nice addition to the dungeon selection is the revival of the quasi-2D elements used in the dungeons from the first Legend of Zelda. In the original game, while making your way through any of the various dungeons, you would find staircases and ladders that descended into subterranean side-scrolling areas. In Link's Awakening, Nintendo decided to bring this element back and re-incorporate it into the series in updated fasion. These areas are frequently platform-heavy levels that require constant use of Link's newfound jumping skills. I applaud the decision to bring these sections back and am glad to see that they have been carried over into later 2D outings.

The bosses fought at the end of these dungeons are all very well-handled, as to be expected from the Zelda games. You'll do battle with a genie-in-a-bottle gone mad, a massive eel that strikes from holes in the walls of its chamber and you'll even jump into a return battle with the Moldorm from A Link to the Past. There are also a few boss battles presented entirely from that sidescrolling perspective I was just talking about. One of which is an underwater battle against a massive angler fish whose only weakness is the bright bulb dangling in front of his toothy maw. In addition to the healthy selection of major bosses, you've also got a large roster of mini-bosses to compete against as well. Old favorites such as Gohma from the original game, and the Armos Knights from A Link to the Past make return appearances and newcomers like Rolling Bones, who rolls a large spiked log that you must jump over, must be fought to the death as well.

In addition to the main quest, there are also several other sidequests and extra paths to take in order to maximize your time with the game. You can collect Secret Shells, a magical type of seashell that will grant you several rewards, the best of which being a more powerful sword, granted to you after many Shells have been found. You can compile a book of photographs from various special sequences, each one usually depicting a humorous or lighthearted scene such as Link being chased around Mabe Village by a Chain Chomp or a local fisherman being dragged into the water by his catch. Also, in the Gameboy Color DX version, there is an entirely new dungeon for those fortunate enough to own a newer, non-monochrome Gameboy model. This "Color Dungeon" uses the handheld's color display to provide a series of poly-chromatic challenges. Upon completing said dungeon, Link will be granted a better tunic, capable of empowering his physical attributes.

All in all, Link's Awakening is a pretty complete package. Some cool new items and gameplay alterations, an humongous overworld with tons of secret areas and cool places to visit, a large selection of dungeons, a healthy roster of bosses and mini-bosses, and a ton of cool extras, minigames and sidequests.

If there are any flaws with the gameplay, it's the fact that Link's inventory is nearly half of what he could carry in A Link to the Past, and of those items, only one is brand-new to the series. Beyond that, Link's Awakening is a solid, entertaining and engrossing title with hours upon hours of fun to be excavated from its cartridge.


Graphics

As I said in my opening paragraph, I was never a fan of older Gameboy titles. This came mainly from the fact that I simply didn't, and still don't like the older monochrome graphics of the original selection of games for the handheld. This is the primary reason why I never picked up Link's Awakening as a child. I didn't get around to actually buying this game until a few years ago, and that was after the newer DX version was released, with Gameboy Color-enhanced graphics.

To put it simply, Link's Awakening looks better than the two NES games, but substantially less-awesome than its SNES predecessor. The use of color is, for the most part, good but lacking in depth. There isn't a whole lot in the way of shading and effects, and most of the color is pretty flat like an NES game. However, the area in which Link's Awakening outshines the NES games is in the character sprites, environments and animations. All of these things are substantilly better than the first two games, and therefore, graphically this one surpasses the older titles.

The big flaw in the visual department comes simply from age. Nintendo squeezed the absolute maximum out of the hardware in order to give this game superior presentation, and they pulled it off spectacularly. For being an older Gameboy game, this title looks phenomenal. In comparison with current-day GBA titles, it looks like a relic of a lost civilization.

One very positive thing I can say about the visual department in this game is the large list of other videogame references that have been inserted into the title. You can stomp Goombas in the side-scrolling dungeon sections, evade Chain Chomps on the overworld and even help out Dr. Wright (named Mr. Write in this game), from the Sim City series, in a sidequest. There are a lot of these little easter eggs to be found, and they add a nice extra touch to the overall character of the game world.


Sound

The same really applies here. Age takes its toll on the package, considering that the older Gameboys were notorious for having some of the most basic and undeveloped sound capabilities on the market. However, in spite of this, Nintendo absolutely squeezed every ounce of power out of the hardware for the sonics of this title as well. Very well-written music, and for how old the game is, it sounds great.

The sound effects are the same story. Slightly better than NES quality, but nowhere near as robust as the SNES experience.


Flaws

1) Link's available selection of equipment is a fraction of his inventory from the last game. On top of that, only one new item has been added to the mix, and we still have that same problem of the Hookshot and Boomerang overlapping, as was the case in A Link to the Past. Granted, the Boomerang is actually an optional item in this game, but it's still an overlap.

2) Age. This one looks and sounds better than the two previous NES games, but it's a pretty big leap backward in comparison with the SNES installment.


Overall

This game was originally released when I was about eleven years old. At the time, I was a Super Nintendo fanatic, and you couldn't have pried me from my beloved console for anything. When the sequel to A Link to the Past was released on Gameboy, I didn't even give it a second thought. I wasn't interested in playing a technologically-inferior portable Zelda game, and I was as happy as a pig in shit for the decision. I wish I'd known then what I know now.

Link's Awakening is a fantastic game. While certainly not my favorite in the series, and certainly not as revolutionary or perspective-altering as other games in the franchise, it is still a huge and entertaining adventure that is worth every second you spend with it. Plus, you can play it on the can, and there's really no way you can beat convenience like that.

Highly recommended.


Score: 9.2