Link's Awakening which originally was on Gameboy has been lovingly remade for Switch. This often overlooked entry into the series has been given a new aesthetic of a plastic toy style, over the original pixel art of the Gameboy. This new style adds far more charm to the world of Koholint and its inhabitants.
This entry sees Link waking up after being shipwrecked in a storm to a brand new island/world called Koholint, and we follow his quest to awaken the Wind Fish, with the 8 Instruments of the Sirens. Throughout your quest you'll meet whacky and charming characters that will help you along your journey. The map of Koholint is split up into many mini sectors to traverse including: the sleepy Forrest village of Mabe, the Tal Tal dessert Mountain range, the hectic rivers Martha's Bay etc.
Ultimately the story leads to its epic conclusion and its main twist that it has been hinting at since the start. It turns out that Link's being/consciousness had been transferred to this dream world of Koholint whilst his body is drowning ever so slowing in the real world, which is why he must awaken the slumbering Wind Fish to save himself. However, once he wakes up, Koholint shall no longer be real, and disappear with both the Wind Fish and Link's awakenings from their slumbers. This twist is an amazing piece of storytelling for the Zelda series, as it puts Link into a terrible decision he must make. Wake up and doom these people to never have even been alive. Or allow himself to die to allow these people a chance of life. Though this is a great plot that dynamic is never really touched on, as Link/the players only choice is to wake up.
The gameplay has evolved slightly from its Gameboy original, Link can now move in 8 directions and swing in 8 too. The menus have been made more presentable with faster switching of items which streamlines gameplay in a simple way, making it feel like a more simple to play but fun for hours kind of Zelda experience. The music is a gem whilst you're trailing through the grass of the overworld or dungeoning for quest items, there is no one bad piece on the soundtrack, and seeing as this soundtrack was overshadowed by other Zelda games, it makes it that much more special. Overall the gameplay improvements have made this feel much more of a sequel to A Link To The Past than the original and that's something special.
Heading into critiques, a minor one would be that sometimes hit detection felt off as sometimes one would swing their sword and the models would touch but nothing would happen, or an enemy will hurt you despite clearly not being anywhere close to Link's hit box. One major complaint I have with Link's Awakening is the amount of backtracking and or annoying level design choices the devs put into this game. In one example, one dungeon has you carry around a large ball to destroy pillars to lower the tower to reach the final boss of said dungeon. Only problem is the dungeon has a switch based puzzle scheme where you need to hit switches to raise and lower obstacles to progress, this wouldn't be so painful if you didn't have to carry this annoying thing with you, whilst you're being swarmed by invulnerable/annoying enemies. This doesn't help when In a later dungeon, you are forced to make large loops of the dungeon to even get back to where you want to be, which takes 3 minutes per cycle, whilst being bombarded by enemies left, right and centre.
Another huge problem with Link's Awakening is the lack of direction you feel if you miss a hint as to where to go next in the game, or even sometimes what you are told doesn't help and you're stuck just wandering all over the map hopefully stumbling upon the next part. Now, I'm not saying it should go all Ubisoft open world and force waypoints or hand hold you to the point of feeling like being on a Disney ride, I'm more asking for better clarification as to where to go next, stopping this annoying 40 minute dribbling about before looking up a walkthrough.
The biggest problem has to be the slowdown/stuttering the game suffers from from time to time, whilst some parts you get a stable framerate, others you see the game struggle to get past 20 FPS and go straight back to a solid rate. This has more to do with the Switch hardware, and I can appreciate that the devs did what they could to fit an incredible game into this underpowered system. But just sometimes it gets a bit much and I have to shake my head that a Nintendo would allow their game to suffer this much.
Overall, Link's awakening is a great side piece that feels like it belongs alongside its main console counterparts in the hall of Zelda greats. Despite my problems, I enjoyed my time with it, and enjoyed the melancholic feel of the ending and it stayed with me for days afterwards. Is it perfect? No. But that doesn't mean it isn't one of the best Zelda games I've played, and I highly recommend it to any Switch owner or Zelda fan out there worth their triforce.
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