It's Link's Awakening. My second favorite Zelda game so I obviously enjoyed it but I was hoping for this to be a bit more special as a remake. (For reference I gave the original a 4.)

I had a bit of a rough go with the art style (it did grow on me) but the big issue was the blur effect. I acknowledge that it was an aesthetic choice and I know why they did it but it was awful for me. Add in the choppy framerate when transitioning between "areas" and this was the closest I've come to experiencing motion sickness in a game. I'm sure this all fares a bit better docked/on a tv but Link's Awakening is a handheld game through and through for me.

Ocarina of Time 3D stays the best example of a remake in the series. At least this one didn't mangle whole gameplay elements like Majora's Mask 3D did.

Marking this as finished today because I only did the colour dungeon today, but I started this last saturday and finished it on tuesday. This was my first proper 2D Zelda game (I've played some of Spirit Tracks) and well, I think that this is one of my favourite games I've ever played. While I was playing this I turned into a dungeon solving beast. I was playing through the overworld as fast as possible to get to the next dungeon, so I could blast through it as fast as possible to get to the next overworld puzzle so i could blast through it go get to the next...

The puzzles are rarely that difficult but they almost always make you feel like a genius for solving them, and as someone who really likes reassurance it felt great to have a game make me feel smart when I solved a puzzle. I found the loop of it all incredibly addictive and I didn't want it to end, but I also wanted to beat the game. It felt strange. I loved the dream setting of the game, any reference to the Wind Fish had me screaming and crying. there are some minor things in this game that are a little bit irritating but I'm not going to think about them because I loved it so much. I'm going to play A Link to the Past soon...

Link's Awakening é diferente, ousado e absurdamente lindo. Aqui temos todas as características que fazem um ótimo Zelda 2D, mas muitas delas são "customizadas" pra se adequar a um mundo que não é Hyrule- e o novo protagonista- a Ilha Koholint.

Tudo parece ser feito milimetricamente com um cuidado enorme e o mundo se conecta daquele jeito que só Zelda faz, com MUITA personalidade. Os habitantes e suas habitações, as florestas e os lagos, todos marcantes. Apesar disso, senti que o equilíbrio entre Dungeons e exploração é falho- as vezes vamos quase direto de uma pra outra ou ficamos muito tempo explorando- fora os chefes fáceis.
Eu entendo o que esse jogo tenta fazer em relação a história e quase funciona comigo por como o mundo é retratado e pela linda trilha sonora, mas acho que eram necessários mais diálogos como o do tronco na praia e mais "ser um personagem" do Link. aí sim o final bateria muito forte, como o de Majora's Mask.

Confesso que depois de Breath of the Wild me senti bastante "preso" jogando um Zelda clássico, mas fico EMBASBACADO de imaginar que isso daqui era um jogo de Gameboy, sendo digno de sequência do ALTTP, e não uma versão mais simples do seu antecessor.
E aqui tem pulo antes de você BOTW!!

How do you rate a remake – let alone a remake of a beloved game? It's not an easy exercise, but it relies on both the technical modernisation of a title, respect for its original ambitions and a measured sense of novelty. Very surprisingly, Link's Awakening (2019) fails in the last two categories. On the ergonomic side, it shows some salutary new features: that the Strength Bracelet and Pegasus Boots are automatically equipped is a welcome addition; for the shield and sword, the observation is less radical. Part of the science of the original game was that each item had its own strength and the sword was therefore not the main weapon. This change implies a new attitude to combat, but it is not entirely up to date. There's not the same polish on the shield – though it's at your fingertips, via the R button – whose use remains a little too circumstantial, as it's more pleasant to use the feather to jump. The framerate drops around 20 FPS when loading large areas are inexcusable, especially since they have never been patched. Beyond these problems, it seems that Grezzo failed to understand what made the original so great. A clever synthesis of the first three Zelda games, Link's Awakening is a title that stands out because of its gameplay choices, but these have been laminated in the remake, in the name of ergonomics, but this is not always justifiable. Making all the explosive walls visible nullifies certain puzzles, such as the explosive blocks that reveal the arrow in the last dungeon. The proliferation of teleporters makes the island less iconic, because more time is spent teleporting rather than exploring – it will be argued that it is enough to resist the temptation to teleport; this is true, but it is also a sign that exploration is seen as secondary. This is still out of step with the spirit of the trade quest, which requires you to go through the island several times, when you are a new player. Finally, it seems to me that the remake does a poor job of conveying the original message of the game, i.e. the passage from childhood to adolescence, via the loss of innocence. The appreciation of the graphic style is left to the individual, but the abusive chibi aspect creates a critical distance between the player and the medium. The island of Koholint appears, even if unconsciously, as a fictional creation, which is the antithesis of the original message. Also, the game chooses a resolutely optimistic direction, which is – arguably – once again the opposite of the original title, that only found a satisfactory conclusion in the survival of Marine, a metaphor for the childish spirit that continues to live on in the adult. Here, the island seems somewhat distorted and emptied of substance: I found the emotional impact to be less strong. Perhaps this was because of the overabundance of collectibles, which highlighted a very artificial and insincere attitude. In the end, Link's Awakening (2019) doesn't come across as a bad game and it's certainly more accessible than the DX version. Yet, one can only lament a missed opportunity, a possible that will not happen. Link's Awakening – is this a sublime irony? – will forever be a memory.

Zelda Link's Awakening é o Zelda 2D perfeito pra atual geração, basicamente ele tem TUDO que um bom jogo da franquia precisa, e posso dizer que é um game praticamente sem defeitos.
Eu AMEI o visual desse jogo, o trabalho artístico feito aqui é surpreendente, é lindo e te deixa feliz jogando; E pra combinar com isso temos uma trilha sonora incrível, é daquelas que ficam na memória por muito tempo e você nem percebe que está cantando ela.
A gameplay é extremamente satisfatória, explorar as dungeons e o mapa é muito divertido, é quase como se fosse uma aventura que você imaginaria na sua infância, cheia de inimigos meio doidos e sem nexo, mas MUITO divertido.
Também é importante lembrar um pouco da história desse jogo, que por mais que não seja e nunca foi o foco da franquia, quando se para pra prestar atenção é muito tocante, te deixando até triste no final (ah e as cutscenes em anime que iniciam e finalizam o jogo são maravilhosas).
Tem pouquíssimos momentos que me incomodaram, mas citando rápido são as quedas de frames, que acontecem com certa frequência, mas que em geral não atrapalha o fluxo de gameplay, e eu acho que o mapa é fechado em lugares de forma desnecessária, como ao invés de ir do ponto A ao D, que ficam um ao lado do outro, você tem que ir do A para o B, do B para o C e ai sim do C para o D, sendo que poderia só não ter uma parede que atrapalha a conexão dos caminhos e não faria você ter que dar uma grande volta pra chegar em um lugar que está do seu lado.
Bom, é isso, esse jogo é INCRÍVEL, e melhorou muito o jogo original, espero mais remakes de antigos Zelda's nessa qualidade, e se tornou facilmente um dos meus favoritos

Não cheguei a jogar o Link's Awakening original, mas mecânicas herdadas não só desse mas de outros jogos clássicos da franquia (como o primeiro Legend of Zelda e A Link to the Past) foram muito bem aproveitadas e também modernizadas para padrões de gameplay mais atuais, tornando a exploração do mundo extremamente divertida, como deve ser característica em qualquer jogo de Zelda. O visual também é de cair o queixo, com cores bem vibrantes e animações/texturas feitas com um imenso carinho, assim como a trilha sonora. Absolutamente tudo foi melhorado e atualizado em relação a sua versão anterior! (Eu nem imagino como deve ter sido jogar a MALDITA Eagle Tower na época, porque nessa eu já achei um sofrimento sem fim...)

Infelizmente, a otimização do jogo foi um problema relativamente notável para o hardware do Switch, com quedas de FPS constantes durante o jogo, que ao passar do tempo eu consegui me acostumar. Além disso, é um remake de um jogo em que a galera que produziu estava completamente LOUCA DAS IDEIAS, chapada da erva mais forte que você puder imaginar. E não me entenda mal, eu absolutamente AMO essa ideia, mas eu queria um pouco mais de consistência da Nintendo com a lore dos jogos de Zelda, porque eles simplesmente mudaram a ordem cronológica canônica do jogo Link's Awakening original "do nada", sendo que o encaixe anterior fazia muito mais sentido...

Enfim, como um grande fã da franquia, fico extremamente feliz de poder ver um jogo de Zelda 2D nos moldes dos jogos clássicos, mas com tecnologia e gráficos atualizados, mesmo que seja um remake do jogo original de 1993. E espero muito algum dia ver isso acontecendo com A Link to the Past, meu jogo de Zelda clássico favorito...

It's very clear that this is a 1993 gameboy game, as as far as I know they changed nothing from the original. As such, there's very cryptic and vague moments to the point I had to look up a walkthrough more times than I'd like. Eagle tower is also kinda annoying. Aside those, this game is pretty wonderful! The new music combined with the cute visual style can make for very comforting moments, such as in Mabe Village. It was fun to just explore on my own as well, aside from what the game was telling me to go do. I'm really torn on what I'd like to rate this game, so my rating might go back and forth between a 7 and 8. Overall, a pleasant experience bogged down by being a gameboy game.

where other zeldas go left or right, this game goes up, literally. adding a jump to the 2D zelda formula has gotta be one of the best ideas in this entire game. it adds such a degree of freedom and true openess to the world and it's puzzles, i'm so shocked by how much i enjoyed that aspect. now i will forever dream of a zelda game that really really leans into this game's 2D/3D platformer aspects.

the story to this one really sneaks up on you w

the dungeon design in this one is impeccable (apart from level 7 which sucked dick). the biggest flaw with this game easily comes when trying to go from one dungeon to the next. I flat out refused to believe any human has ever beaten this game without a guide. perhaps, if the worlds greatest scholars collaborated on it over a few years, they could get it done. whilst the puzzles involving the overworld are mostly horseshit, the world itself is so charming and colourful, with weirdo mario characters and an art style that puts this among the switch's best looking games. the characters and muisc are so great, you almost forget about how the next thing you had to do in the main quest was find the secret fisherman under the bridge in a part of a non-optional 30-step fetch quest. And the story, which is intertwined with this love for the world, really sneaks up on you with what is probably the strongest ending in any zelda game, and a message that really sticks with you.

an excellent zelda game, held back by some old game bullshit, but a lot less old game bullshit than every other zelda game.

+this game alone is the most influential in terms of zelda dungeon design from my perspective. virtually all of them are based around finding a particular item in the first half to solve puzzles in the second half, with plenty of interlocking room layouts and smart backtracking. many of the lttp dungeons felt more like gauntlets with less critical thinking involved, whereas these dungeons require the player to think about the dungeon as a whole, where to go to next, and how the item they just got affects the area around them. eagle's tower particularly stood out for me: though the mirror shield is not used much within it, the ball-throwing puzzles to drop the fourth story down really stood out as a smart puzzle that required thinking through the layout of the whole dungeon
+really useful QoL upgrades, with sword always being available, pegasus boots and shield getting their own shoulder buttons, and two item slots to work with on top of that
+the game is pretty good at telling you your next objective; a useful side effect of how linear the game is compared to lttp and even oot. having hint centers all over helps significantly as well
+very manageable trading quest. it's well-planned so that as long as you keep up with it you'll always be near the next place you're supposed to go
+I like how the overworld is segmented behind item unlocks, so that more and more opens up as you progress
+jumps are much appreciated. it can be hard to remember to use them because I'm not used to using them in a top-down zelda game, but when it's incorporated well it's really good
+item variety overall is very smart, as it retained all the good ones from lttp while removing the more situational ones. I also thought it was smart that the bombs/bow are in the shop from the get-go, so as to put focus on the other items

-this remake has poor frame pacing and it's extremely noticable. I don't even think the bloom effects look that good... why didn't they just disable it entirely?
-the overworld is intricate to the point that it can be difficult to find out where you are supposed to go, especially around the halfway point. not so much because the world is confusing, but rather that the warps are limited in scope and backtracking can be very tedious due to your lack of movement options. really dampened my impression of the game thanks to this
-in relation to the above point, I really did not feel pushed to re-explore parts of the world I had already been to thanks to how slow it is to get around sometimes. the world isn't very large but even so I often just wanted to move on instead of revisiting areas to possibly find new collectables
-dampe's dungeon maker looks stupid. didn't even bother setting foot inside
-would have really liked d-pad support, since this game is 8-way movement only. would have also appreciated being able to remap one of the shoulder buttons... I don't use pegasus boots all that often since many room layouts don't work well with it
-thanks to the much higher resolution of the switch over the game boy, it makes many of the areas seem oddly small since you can often see what were previously multiple rooms all at once. the cutesy art style is very appealing as well but it removes some of the unsettling atmosphere as well

the dungeons really blew me away here after being unimpressed by those in lttp. however, I still had some reservations on aspects of it outside of the dungeons, and this port has some notable issues that really should have been taken care of, especially since this is not grezzo's first rodeo. I still have yet to play the gbc version outside of the opening sections, but overall I would say this is definitely a solid modern way to experience the original, with a lot of the positives (and some negatives) poking out from below the new coat of paint.

Aside from the pretty persistent performance issues and a few annoyances (holy shit fuck fishing), this game is such a perfect little microcosm of what I want from a Zelda game.

It's chockful of wacky characters, engaging puzzles, really fun exploration and a surprisingly sweet yet melancholic storyline.

You can realistically do most of everything in around 10 hours, so the full price is absolutely not justified, but this was gifted to me anyways soooooo...

Idk what else to say, the game is fun reggie.gif

Link's Awakening is a perfect example of a remake, where it keeps what makes the original so good whilst also managing to improve on it in a way which doesn't sacrifice anything from the original, and for that I loved this game more than I expected.

Considering I played the Game Boy DX version not too long ago, I still found this incredibly fun to play through even though most of the dungeons and puzzles were easy to do as I remembered them, and I'm glad to see they kept some of the contrived puzzles that even I couldn't remember how to complete as it wouldn't be the same without them. Making items a lot more convenient was also a great move, and having the pegasus boots and shield to just be the triggers saves a lot of time compared to having to switch them out when you need them. However, I think the weakest part of this game is definitely the dungeon maker, as whilst it's a cool idea it isn't very fun in execution, and I only played it for the secret shells and heart containers you get from it.

Overall, Link's Awakening for the Switch is absolutely awesome and it surprisingly managed to recapture the joy I had when playing through the original.

Remakes in gaming are a really interesting subject, since gaming moreso than any other medium can actually benefit from revisiting, updating and remixing works from the past. A lot more than remasters (the almost exact opposite, usually a disaster & pointless cough cough GTA cough Last of Us), remakes can address a lot of issues or completely fix older games. While I think the price point of this might still be a bit high for what it is, I would say this is a great example of a remake that embodies & honors the original design of the game while still making it significantly different enough to allow the original to still exist.

For starters, the big change & selling point is the presentation. I for one love love love the plastic-y, hobby model look of this game partially for how well it coheres together but also even kind of working thematically to seem unreal & idealized. Same goes for the toybox/beep boop update to the soundtrack; in terms of audio/visual this game is pretty much pulling a 10/10.

When it comes to the gameplay, while I broadly speaking had a good time there were some little annoyances. The original game design is still present, and by that I mean the slightly more archaic structure of a game where some progression is not really clear or super intuitive (though I think some of this is more in dungeon or boss fights and things like the trading sequence, actually getting to new areas is usually pretty easy with lots of explaining markers). It's usually really satisfying to clear a dungeon, and every upgrade feels like a great hurdle cross. I do think the collectible side might actually have been made worse here, since the secret shell collecting was expanded & had absolutely no desire or need to go after all of them (ditto for the Dampe stuff or fishing, just blew all that off and had no desire to learn it). Difficulty-wise it is pretty easy, but this is very much a kid's game and I was not playing this as a challenge moreso to admire the aesthetic. Not even close to being my favorite Zelda game, but as an example of remakes it may be one of the best and I had a swell time with it.

Link’s Awakening, a very odd game in the series even to this day.

After a link to the past basically established a lot of what the zelda series is, link’s awakening stripped a lot of it back, it kept the gameplay and many items, but there was no Ganon, no hyrule, no triforce, and not even the titular character herself.
With that said, link’s awakening is a phenomenal game, and here’s why.


Everything a link to the past did to improve the gameplay is still very much present here, with excellent use of items throughout the game, even more greatly improved dungeons, and a bunch of wacky and fun characters.
Speaking of those characters, they went all out with this one, a lot of strange npcs litter this island, like that thing from super Mario bros 2, the crocodile that eats dog food, the shopkeeper that fucking kills you if you steal something, the owl that’s just constantly appearing for like 90% of the game, fucking Mario enemies, and the telephone guy who knows more about your adventure than you do and should probably be helping you more actively than just calling you.
There’s also normal people in this game like uh………Marin, she’s a pretty great character, I just wished she was in more of the game.

I think undeniably the greatest thing about this game is its story, you start off stranded on a beach, then link is guided to get all these instruments to awaken a fish in a giant egg, from the moment you start everything seems just dreamlike, Mario enemies appearing left and right, the many strange characters, even the fact that the bosses are referred to as nightmares, it all builds up until you get to the southern shrine, which reveals the big twist, you and this island are all apart of the wind fish’s dream, and while waking up the wind fish will let you leave, the island will disappear with it.
This twist genuinely makes this game one of the darkest games in the series, knowing that all these characters will cease to exist if you wake the wind fish really just discourages you from wanting to complete your journey, after all, you’ll lose all these zany characters you meet with, it’s especially when it comes to Marin towards the end of the game, she says stuff like “when you leave, please don’t forget me”, listening to the ballad of the wind fish lyrics that Nintendo made when the remake came out makes it even darker.
But at the end of the day, you gotta wake up from the dream eventually, and move on, when you finally wake up the wind fish, the island disappears along with everyone in it, you may have lost these friends but you’ll always have the memory of them, which hey, that makes them real enough.
Oh and if you don’t die once in the game, Marin lives on as a seagull, her one wish being fulfilled, adding just a tiny bit of sweetness to an ultimately more bitter ending.


Link’s Awakening is a great game, with the way its story is told, it truly makes it one of the most memorable Zelda game simply because of how well it stands out, I highly recommend it.



Next game is Ocarina of Time, I haven’t played this bad boy in years, and this’ll be my first time playing the N64 original (I’ve always played the 3DS one), and I’m excited to finally revisit it.

Still my favorite Zelda game, both this and the original Game Boy version.

Link to the Past may have been where the series really built a foundation, but I always felt like this is where a lot of the heart of Zelda really began. Stuff like a bigger focus on story, a cast of quirky characters, wider variety of dungeon mechanics and puzzles, etc.

The remake as far as I'm concerned is basically just a better version of the original. There's way more content and the QOL changes are a godsend. As much as I love the original game, having to constantly swap around your items is a pain in the ass. Having dedicated buttons for certain items makes it difficult to go back to the original sometimes.

I never really understood the complaints about the remake's visuals. Sure the frame drops can be distracting, but the actual art style is fine. I do kind of prefer the Game Boy aesthetics, but that's purely a nostalgia thing.

I do find it weird that they put this whole dungeon maker thing in the game, then just never did anything else with the concept. I was kind of expecting that to be the testing grounds for a Zelda maker, yet here we are years later with nothing. I actually kind of found this part of the remake fun, but I would have preferred them to keep the photograph house from the GBC version.

Overall, still my personal favorite Zelda, even after the goliaths that were Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. I've always loved how quaint Link's Awakening was compared to the other games. Still wishing they eventually make more 2D Zelda games, or at least have Grezzo do more remakes.

O remake de The Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening para mim funciona da mesma forma que o Resident Evil de GameCube, além da fidelidade extrema, o jogo substitui completamente a obra original ainda mais nesse caso qual a diferença do clássico para o novo são "apenas" 26 anos.
E bem por onde começar? Esse jogo é supremo no quesito de game design, algo tão mas tão simples que se torna perfeitamente bem feito e estruturado de uma maneira exepcional. Assim como qualquer Zelda, este funciona a base de pura gameplay e mecânica para o jogador se aprofundar e descobrir no decorrer de toda jogatina, o porém é que isso tudo e implementado de uma forma tão bem feita que acaba se tornando orgânica, aquele sentimento de se sentir perdido no jogo após concluir uma dungeon e não saber a próxima etapa, logo é ofuscado pelo próprio game design do jogo, algo tão incrível e simples que quase nenhum outro game consegue aplicar igual esse aqui faz. Toda estruturação do jogo nesse sentido é PERFEITA demais, o backtracking é ótimo e não te desgasta nenhum pouco, ao contrário é sempre uma sensação excelente de descoberta após desbloquear uma habilidade que te permita avançar em sessões antes bloqueadas.
O level design então é uma obra toda a parte, além de cenários lindos e encantadores pelos gráficos "fofos" e extremamente bonitos, ele brilha em construção para resolução de puzzles, quests, batalhas de chefes, e muito mais. A necessidade de ir/vir, de explorar cada cantinho e de perder sua cabeça tentando interpretar e compreender um quebra-cabeça de uma dungeon sem dúvidas são o grande show do level design, é ESPETACULAR, não consigo definir de uma forma que fique melhor que essa.
A criatividade de tudo aqui é um destaque, principalmente nas diversas mecâncias, já que embora os comandos e habilidades de Links sejam repetitivos e escassos no começo, estes aumentam drasticamente com o percorrer da gameplay, e como o game vai exigindo sempre o uso dessas habilidades novas (sem deixar de lado as antigas) toda vez que o player progride, nada se torna maçante de se fazer.
A arte bela do jogo não é o único aspecto encantador do mesmo, a trilha sonora suave e linda é emocionante em vários momentos e somado com a beleza do jogo e seus personagens, tudo fica "apaixonante" diante os jogos de quem olha.
Com uma extrema coesão com o level design, Link's Awakening é uma aula de game design para toda a indústria de jogos, algo que tem que ser visto como inspiração para novos projetos. Para quem gosta, realmente, de jogar videogame, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening se encontra como uma das melhores opções para este alguém cair em cima, sem peso nas costas digo que esse jogo é perfeito.

I'm torn because on one hand, this is a pretty straightforward and uninteresting remake of Link's Awakening. I don't dig the Rankin/Bass art style, the heavy use of bloom, or the plasticky look of the visuals. The extended fast travel system is also a bit too much, allowing you to teleport everywhere with ease and uncover the map at a much quicker pace.

But on the other hand, the Chamber Dungeons mini-game is so stupid and fun that it basically redeems the game for me. Chamber Dungeons are not as fully fledged as a Mario Maker title, but they're also a small component of a 20-hour Zelda game. The challenges you unlock for them as you play through the wider game are engaging and thoughtful, and you can even save your custom dungeons to amiibos to share with friends. Maybe I'm a schmuck, but it's nice to see one excursion elevate a Zelda game from an uninspired remake to a guilty pleasure.