The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Game Boy - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Nintendo Publisher Nintendo Published 1993-06-06 Platforms Game Boy, Game Boy Color Genres Action, Adventure, Exploration, Metroidvania Themes Adventure, Cartoon, Fantasy Series The Legend of Zelda Distribution Commercial

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is an action adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy on 1993-06-06. The Super Game Boy supports this game. It's the fourth title in the Zelda series and, though similar in game play to the first and third Zelda games, the game doesn't take itself as nearly as seriously and includes jokes, mergers from other Nintendo franchises, and fourth wall breaking. Later, an upgraded version, with direct support for the Super Game Boy was released for the Game Boy Color. Its title is appended "DX" in the USA and "Deluxe" in Japan.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	Yes.
Finished	2017-09-26.

I had first seen this game on my high school friend's Game Boy (around 1996), and he said it was just as good as The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, if not better, which I found hard to believe. But after playing it for a few minutes, I was surprised at how close it was graphically to the SNES game. I didn't do much with it because I didn't want the game spoiled for me by playing his mostly complete save-file. Around 2010, I decided to try and play the game through, and made it through the first few underworlds, but then got bored of it. I eventually returned to it in 2017 and beat it.

Review

7	8	7	6	8

Best Version: Game Boy Color

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The pixel art is really good and fitting for the Zelda franchise.
• The music and sound effects (the work of Minako Hamano, Kozue Ishikawa, and Kazumi Totaka are quite good.
• It's cute to see the inclusion of other Nintendo franchises like Goombas, Chain Chomps, Piranha Plants, Dr. Wright, Kirby, etc.
• Jumping was a nice addition and well-executed.
• I like that you can get regular hints about where you need to go next, because the game is pretty vague at certain times.
• The designers made a fair amount of clever puzzles that didn't fit with the typical game play.
• The game has a pretty nice ending sequence with nice full-screen animation.
• The Game Boy Color version is well-updated, not just with attractive colors, but with a whole new dungeon and the camera puzzles.

Bad

• I don't like having to switch items so often. I preferred the previous games where several items like the bracelet, boots, and shield were always on.
• There are only a few items to buy in the game, so rupees go mostly unused, and aren't a very welcome treasure chest prize.
• The anachronistic telephones are really out of place. A Zelda game should never have modern technology.
• Several of the dungeons contain puzzles that don't fit with the expected game play and left me needing a online hint.
• I didn't like having to bomb random dungeon walls again. This should have stayed dead with the original The Legend of Zelda.
• Several of the secret seashells are hidden obnoxiously well requiring you to have to dig nearly everywhere on the map to find them.
• The super powerful boomerang, though a fantastic weapon, doesn't fit thematically.
• There are a handful of bugs in the game that have been discovered over the years, but you rarely encounter them.

Ugly

• I get extremely pissed every time I have to read that damn message about not being able to pick something up with my bare hands. The first time was informative, the second was a refresher, the thousandth was Game Boy-throwingly-annoying. You would think it would stop after you get the bracelet, but no! Same with acorns, energy pieces, chests, black boulders, ice blocks, etc. It's really frustrating.

Media

Box Art

• 

  The original Japanese box art show a friendly scene with Link, Zelda, and some other characters that conveys the less-serious nature of the game.

• 

  The box art used for all other regions just reuses The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past art and replaced the subtitle. Kind of cheap really.

• 

  The Japanese remake is similar to the original Japanese box, and the Western box art is similar to the Western boxes, only with the updated DX logo.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - Game Boy - USA.

• 

  Manual - Game Boy - USA - Rev 1.

• 

  Manual - Game Boy Color - USA.

• 

  Manual - Game Boy Color - USA - Rev 2.

• 

  Nintendo Player's Guide.

• 

  Poster.

Maps

• 

  Koholint.

• 

  Tail Cave.

• 

  Bottle Grotto.

• 

  Key Cavern.

• 

  Angler's Tunnel.

• 

  Catfish's Maw.

• 

  Face Shrine.

• 

  Eagle's Tower.

• 

  Turtle Rock.

• 

  Color Dungeon.

Graphics

• flickr.com/photos/historyofhyrule/albums/72157629221332745 - Official published art.

Fan Art

• 

  Fan art by Caomor.

• 

  Comic by Zac Gorman.

• 

  Fan art by Marinko Milosevski.

Videos

Review - Game Boy Works.

Review - What's So Great About Gaming?

Did You Know Gaming?

Comparing ports.

Son of a Glitch (DX version).

Longplay, DX version.

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are several female NPCs with Marin playing the largest role, but none are important.
Bechdel test?	Fail	No women ever talk to each other.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Although the Hylians aren't human, they all appear to be whitish.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Japanese	ゼルダの伝説 夢をみる島	Zeruda no Densetsu: Yume o Miru Shima	Legend of Zelda: The Dream Island

Links

         

• zeldadungeon.net/Zelda04-links-awakening.php - Zelda Dungeon.
• mobygames.com/game/legend-of-zelda-links-awakening-dx - MobyGames (Game Boy Color).