Suffice it to say that this requires precision, and on more than one occasion my controls felt sluggish and downright unresponsive to the point of frustration.īut that’s not to say the controls are bad overall. Here’s an example of such a puzzle from Link’s Awakening DX: You can move the block up, down, left, or right, and it will continue to reproduce until it hits another tile-much like the basic mechanic of that mobile phone classic Snake. This is useful in creating paths across floor obstacles like lava, but on some occasions, you are expected to use it to completely cover an entire series of missing tiles. I’ll also note that, while I tend to find the Joy-Con to be, overall, a well-balanced and responsive control interface, the movable block puzzles, most notably found in the Turtle Rock dungeon, made the otherwise reliable left circle pad feel crude and imprecise.įor those who’ve never experienced it, these environmental puzzles involve controlling a single moving block that duplicates itself as it traverses the void. (I even had to use one myself on more than one occasion.) With apologies to the esteemed Mario Bros. Then I remembered that the core game is a decade and a half old and that walkthroughs abound. Initially, this made me fear that the stellar title might put off some first-timers. Shortcuts and fast-travel warp points are generally available to help temper this, but dungeons like the Eagle’s Tower, long remembered as the most punishing in the game, remain daunting experiences, relying heavily on moving from here to there, then back to here, then over there again… and then falling down a hole and having to start all over. Unfortunately, both those trademark LoZ dungeons and Koholint itself are comparatively small and, thus, require a lot of old school backtracking to flesh out the gameplay. Not only has the overall soundtrack been beautifully reimagined to match the new visuals, but the profound resonance of the Eight Instruments of the Sirens sounds stunning and pitch-perfect, building a growing melody that adds both life and a certain urgency to Link’s musical mission. These Instruments serve to highlight the best and worst that Link’s Awakening has to offer. This is accomplished by finding the Eight Instruments of the Sirens, each (predictably) found in a dungeon and guarded by a fearsome but pattern-prone boss. The quest in question is to reawaken the Wind Fish, the resident creator-god who slumbers in the prominent egg atop Koholint’s Mt. Why, you’ll even run into a certain rotund puffball, the pushover Anti-Kirby, before your quest is through! The ultimate guard dog. Not only does Link’s Awakening include recurring transitional side-scrolling platforming sections-generally reserved for traversing far-apart dungeon locations between descending and ascending stairs-but Chain Chomps, Goombas, and Piranha Plants also make an appearance. This includes a cast of characters that spans series stalwarts (Stalfos and Cuccos), new faces filling established roles (Marin as a Zelda analog who finds a shipwrecked Link and the Owl as his otherworldly advisor), and even cameos from other Nintendo franchises. Whatever the style, it looks great on him, as well as the other denizens of Koholint. Maybe even Wallace and Gromit Plasticine Link. Just look at that cute little fellow! image: NOAĬall him Claymation Link or Rankin/Bass Link. While I have long been a Toon Link apologist, generally enjoying those cell-shaded games the best, this Link, with his cartoonish proportions and in his shiny new surroundings, is another adventurer altogether. Koholint Island certainly feels familiar landmarks are where you tend to remember them and dungeons play much the same as they did in previous versions, but everything has a beautiful new sheen. This new permutation of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening has been totally reimagined from a visual standpoint. Now, some 26 years later, Link’s Awakening has made yet another appearance, this time on the Nintendo Switch-meaning that you can enjoy the game as a console experience or revisit it on the small screen. And one of the single greatest handheld adventures the gaming world has ever seen. There is, however, an egg and a song and a little lost hero. But that’s not what really separates Link’s Awakening from the rest of the pack. The original game actually grew out of a project to port SNES classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past to Nintendo’s noble brick-shaped portable, while the Link’s Awakening DX iteration released around the same time as the significantly higher profile Ocarina of Time. While it’s not exactly accurate to call 1993’s The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening a “hidden jewel” or a “lost chapter” in the LoZ saga-both the original Game Boy title and the 1998 GBC rerelease were critical and commercial successes-the game does stand out as a rarity of sorts for the series.
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