It is ludicrous that these games work as well as they do. Capcom taking the reins of Nintendo's second biggest series, attempting to build a multi-game narrative on a nearly-dead 8-bit portable system using an 8-year-old game's blueprint, featuring a troubled development that went from remake to trilogy to a pair of games releasing simultaneously. In most realities, these games either died on the vine unreleased or were bungled products with a reputation approaching the CD-i games. But what we got in our reality is arguably the peak of 2D Zelda in terms of pure gameplay.

Despite always being more drawn to the puzzle aspects of Zelda than the combat, I ended up enjoying Seasons slightly more. Playing it first certainly helps (slight burnout set in during the back half of Ages given the length of each game), but despite the action branding it has excellent dungeon design, creative items, and a much more puzzle-focused overworld via the season-changing mechanic. Both games owe a tremendous debt to Link's Awakening though I would say Oracle only fails to surpass it in theming, charm, and flow; were those not so important to me, Seasons would safely be my favourite 2D entry.

This is an expert case of playing to your strengths. Returning items like the feather and boomerang are expanded upon to keep them fresh, new items like the magnetic gloves are multifunctional, the rings and seeds allow for more fine-tuned customization than the series had ever seen (becoming a fixture of Fujibayashi's later games in the series). More so than in LA, you find yourself in situations where you put away the sword to employ a combo of items to progress rather than just need one item at a time. The story is kept simple enough to thread together the familiar overarching quest of the two games, but the team was willing to get weird with the Subrosians and animal companions. Every iota of juice is squeezed out of the Game Boy Color, with screens that can now scroll and colour-coded puzzles and an extra underworld in addition to the four season overworld and eight full dungeons, yet it never overreaches (aside from somewhat annoying item swapping).

You do feel the absence of certain qualities other 2D games do better: more cohesive overworlds like in Link's Awakening and Link to the Past, or the expressiveness of character design in Minish Cap and Link Between Worlds. It also loses the sense of progressively setting things right that you get in Ages, as the seasons remain disordered and changeable all game despite that ostensibly being the problem you're solving. Like I said, it's a narrow edge over Ages. (speaking of, why not take a gander at my review of that game)

What these games unlocked for me is the way the Zelda series has cultivated a spectrum with one end being "you are an adventurer" and the other being "you are The Hero". I'd say the adventuring side is embodied by the original Zelda, Breath of the Wild, and the Oracles; even when you are technically constrained in terms of dungeon order or how much of the world you can access, you feel like you're making your own way based on your sense of direction and curiosity. When you're The Hero, you are driven instead by what needs to be done and have situations and setpieces placed in your direct path rather than feeling like you came across them organically. Both games cultivate that sense of adventure well: you're self-reliant and using every tool at your disposal to untangle knotted and unfamiliar dungeons. If you're into 2D Zelda and especially the adventuring end of the Zelda spectrum, you owe it to yourself to play them.

Loose thoughts:
-the lingering elements of the initial Remake Zelda 1 pitch really underscore how much more palatable I find the action in LttP and the following 2D games compared to the original. Swinging instead of stabbing greatly cuts down on frustrating misses, extra mobility with jumps or increased speed balance the scales, and the smaller screen real estate caps just how many enemies you're facing at any given time.
-the linked game secrets were a bit of a letdown, and they seemingly disproportionately impact the first game you play. You can't benefit from the secrets until you complete the first game and link, and then in the second game you get secrets to go back and get upgrades that are kind of worthless in the game you've already beaten.
-god they're leaving money on the table not remaking these games as they did Link's Awakening. The quality of life improvements there would be even more meaningful here with stuff like types of seeds and being able to permanently commit the jump to the pegasus boot button, not to mention being able to organically implement the secrets rather than relying on codes.

Toma el concepto de los mundos alternos introducido en A Link to the Past y lo expande para una forma mas variada y creativa de navegar por el mundo mediante las 4 estaciones ofreciendo cambios sustanciales en el entorno mediante tiempo real que te puedan ayudar a sortear obstáculos y resolver acertijos.

Así mismo también toma un enfoque sobre el combate que por los Puzzles durante las dungeons, estando presentes de una forma un poco mas secundaria comparado a otros Zelda siendo mas parecido a la primera aventura de NES pero con elementos modernos que la dotan como una experiencia jugable bastante completa que pondrá a prueba todos tus sentidos y el uso de las armas para sobrevivir en cada cuarto de las mazmorras, tanto es así que las zonas plataformeras vistas en Link's Awakening se sentirán mas como un desafió real que una transición hacia otro cuarto.

Peak Zelda.

A neat 2D Zelda with some fun new items and ideas but ultimately fails to actually do anything radically new or interesting compared to its predecessors.

Oracle of Seasons is fun enough but it’s tough to go from Link to the Past to Link’s Awakening to this. It’s noticeably less impressive than the prior two 2D games both in terms of world design, bosses, dungeons, and puzzles. While I do enjoy the puzzle-first intent of this game, most of the puzzles themselves didn’t feel particularly good to figure out especially compared to the stuff in LTTP and LA. In most Zelda games, the bosses and puzzles have an intentional visual design to them that makes it clear to the player which items they would need to use to interact with the world. Some amount of trial-and-error is to be expected when solving puzzles, but a lot of my time with this game was just cycling through the items in my inventory to see what worked. In fact, almost every boss fight was literally me just playing “guess and check” with my available items to see what damaged the boss.

I do think some of the mechanics in this game were cool. I really like the concept of Seasons as they add variability to a limited map size and a nice degree of puzzle-solving to just getting around the world. That said, it ended up being kind of a pain to find the right stump to change seasons for the location you needed since seasons would inexplicably change or reset between some screens but not others. I also thought the magnetic glove was a really cool spin on the hookshot that we’re used to. In general I liked the system of taking basic items like the slingshot, feather, and boomerang and getting upgraded versions of all of them that are a spin on how we’re used to those items functioning. The ring system was an interesting idea, but having to go back to the ring shop to change which rings are in your inventory is terrible. Plus only being able to equip one at once means that, once you find the good one, why would you ever change your rings again?

Overall, Oracle of Seasons is a fun entry into the Zelda franchise but it is a clear step-down from its 2D predecessors in just about every way. Instead of making improvements in areas that needed it (like combat), the only new things it tries are just a couple of new items and ideas that don’t really offer anything substantially different from other games in the series. The most interesting thing this game does is the Link-Play system but I haven’t played Oracle of Ages yet. Will modify this review after finishing both games.

+ Cool new unique items I haven’t seen in a Zelda before
+ The seasons system is a cool way to get more out of a smaller map

- Puzzles and boss fights felt more like trial-and-error than actual problem-solving
- Combat is still as iffy as prior games
- Seasons are a cool idea but it ends up being kind of a pain
- The ring system sucks

It's a lot like Oracle of Ages, except combat focused. I suppose that makes it my preferred game between the two, not that combat in the Game Boy Zelda games is particularly spectacular. The level of quality is pretty even between both games and they do a good job at making their respective adventures feel unique, yet decidedly part of the same story.

Not much to say about this one. It's pretty good. If you like Link's Awakening and want more of that, then Ages and Seasons are well worth checking out.

These are some of the most forgettable bosses, bland weapons, and flat characters; with one of the weakest stories; some of the most tedious exploration; and some of the least satisfying progression I've ever experienced in a Zelda game.

The Legend of Zelda had produced some of my all-time favorite games, so to have Oracle of Seasons do so little for me is a shame. I'll admit I'm generally not as big a fan of handheld entries in this series, but this game runs on the same engine as Link's Awakening: a certified banger, so I know greatness was possible.

I love the idea of games that complement each other. I'm looking forward to finish Oracle of Ages after this one. This is the second time I played Oracle of Seasons and it's a pretty good game. It takes the "skeleton" of Link's awakening and tries to expand on that game.

It doesn't succeed on that, though. The game is more of the same with few variations on subitems and overall level design. That doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable (I wouldn't suggest to play the GBC Zelda games back to back). The game has good pacing that combines well with the tame difficulty. There's a bunch of puzzles (I'd like to highlight level 8 that has an annoying but creative puzzle) and could use more enemy variety that starts to get weary by the 7th dungeon. There's also one of the most cool features that are the "pets" that help Link progress in the overworld. It's a shame that they're only useful for brief amount of gameplay given the scope of the game. But even being a relatively small game, it still pushes its limits and has a second map, an underworld with peculiar creatures.

The game shines on the story it's telling. I read somewhere that usually they made the game first, meaning the devs worked on the map, enemies and dungeons first before the story. But Capcom wrote everything before that and it shows. Oracle of Seasons is packed with charming characters and funny dialogues. Also the drawings displayed on game start and on the credits sequence are gorgeous.

My main complaints are: the graphics that are the exact same as Link's Awakening and the bosses. The boss fights are either too easy or too cryptic. The worst part is the final boss that is underwhelming to say the least.

Aside from that, it's a fun game definitely worth the time. The seasons gimmick is great but it's arguably underused. The music for most dungeons is gloomy and I liked that. Overall a pleasing game that has its qualities and could use some improvement.

By now, before continuing the story on Oracle of Ages, I would still suggest playing Link's Awakening first because it is simpler.

Edit: here's my review of Oracle of Ages. I'm also updating my grade from 4 stars to 3 and a half.

I think, at the time of its release, Oracle of Seasons had the most enjoyable moment-to-moment gameplay of any Zelda game that had been made. Considering it was the most new Zelda game at the time this isn't that absurd a notion, but still impressive to me considering this game was made for the then-nearly-obsolete Game Boy Color. The selection of items available is inventive and joyful (the magnet glove ranks among the smile-inducing Zelda items ever for me), by the end of the game the movement options feel way more empowering than those of a top-down GBC game have any right to be, the game oozes frankly ridiculous amounts of charm, the season mechanic has just enough depth to add flavour and identity to the game without bogging it down, and apart from the customary couple moments of obtuse progression the whole game just flies by at a really nice pace always ready to throw its next neat idea at you.

The excessive amount of menu-ing to swap items around (much like in Link's Awakening only having two item buttons necessitates this) is really the only meaningful flaw in terms of the actual gameplay here, making Oracle of Seasons more refined than any of the earlier entries in the series in that department. I do wish that Seasons had stuck the landing a bit better however, the final mini-dungeon and associated boss are by a wide distance the game's nadir only for the game to then say that you need to go play another game to get anything really resembling resolution or catharsis.

Despite how smooth the gameplay is here, and how much the game just breezed by, I do think I like Oracle of Seasons a touch less than both Ocarina of Time and Link's Awakening. I think this would already likely be the case due to Season's disappointing ending, but there's something else going on here too. Awakening, Ocarina and Majora's Mask all did a great job at managing to add an emotional core to the Zelda series that elevates those games above their moment-to-moment gameplay and helps them linger with you long after they're done. In contrast Oracle of Seasons is a ton of fun, but easily forgotten when you're finally done.

Holy octorok (sorry), the Oracle series is amazing. I went into Seasons thinking it would be quite similar to Ages, but they are entirely two different games.

I played Seasons as a linked game with Ages, and the way these two games piece together is incredibly impressive even in 2024. They seamlessly work together to earn upgrades and complete side quests in a way I haven't experienced in gaming otherwise. I thought the password system was clever as heck, and it's so so satisfying to finally get that master sword after completing the two games. The dungeons and bosses in Seasons are very creative and rarely become tedious. The final boss sequence was also extremely gratifying and worth working your way through both of the games. if you haven't played Oracle of Seasons (and ages of course), these games are a piece of history, and they think WAY outside the box.

Also the ring system rules, I love punching things. thank you Capcom <3

After playing through Oracle of Ages and being less than impressed by it to put things kindly, I went into this game with a solid amount of caution, expecting to get burned again. Luckily, I am glad to say that I found this game for the most part more enjoyable than Ages. Rather than focus on puzzles and being obtuse like Ages did, this game makes things more streamlined and action-y which not only keeps the pace flowing constantly with little downtime, but also lessens the overall inventory nonsense that plagued Oracle of Ages. The sub-world is smaller and more interesting than the whole past-future nonsense done in Ages, with it instead being this goofy volcano world full of weirdo lookin cyclops dudes, and while season changing definitely got annoying for some parts it wasn't nearly as bad as the constant back-and-forth that you had to do with warping in Ages just to get places.

What kills this game for me is how there's a huge difficulty spike right at the very end, ESPECIALLY if you are playing off of a linked game like I did. The final bosses are aggravating damage sponges that practically require you to at least upgrade your sword once (something that I did not do as sword upgrades are tied to the trading quest for each game, something that is rather easy to overlook one aspect of and not finish the quest for.) The only other form of upgrades to make the last bits easier is to use a ring, though ring drops seem to be entirely RNG based which makes a ring grind screech this games pacing to a dead stop if you aren't lucky. I was lucky enough to get a ring that slowly restores health on my Ages playthrough to make the last bosses for that game manageable, but didn't have that kind of luck here. Regardless, I don't think the spike in difficulty at the end is warranted. The bonus final bosses with the linked game are even harder, as they expect you to have the strongest sword in the game as well as multitudes of rings and secrets unlocked (things that I unfortuately overlooked.)

Regardless, now that I've played through both Oracle games, I can't really say I can recommend either of em. If a game like Majoras Mask is a good example of a game reusing engines and assets to create something fresh and new at the fraction of the time and cost, these two games are the opposite. Not only do the Oracle games not really fix the problems that existed in Link's Awakening, they arguably make those problems worse and spread it across two playthroughs instead of one. Definitely my least favorite games in the series out of the ones I have played so far.

the more handheld zelda games i play the more i don’t understand link the past LOL these games are just more interesting, unique, and fun in every way.

this game has some great puzzles, some of the best items in 2D zelda, and pretty solid dungeons overall! it’s about what you’d expect from 2d zelda, i liked links awakening just a bit more but they were both great! i also have only played the links awakening remake and loved the art style and i’m sure it was pretty modernized so it’s a bit of an unfair comparison.

the main rough points here for me were the season gimmick being just okay. i found myself being too worried about missing things so i backtracked to make sure i wasn’t missing something in another season. it was also annoying progressing just to realize i needed a specific season to progress at a point and having to walk back to a stump. it led to some good puzzles so i didn’t hate it, but it could be a bit annoying. i also found the game to be slightly obtuse… especially getting the 4 gems they don’t explain much and without a guide it’s just endless running around hoping a gem is in this random spot. it’s not the biggest world so it’s not a huge deal but a little annoying.

would highly recommend this one! i’m excited to play oracle of ages next, capcom seems to get this franchise way more than people give them credit for.

This was a hit or miss experience for me. I think this game had a lot of great ideas that were hampered by the technical limitations and design quirks of the time. Let me give you a couple of examples:

The button layout of the GBC is way too limited for a game with this scope of mechanics, so you'll find yourself pausing over and over again to rearrange your TWO equipped items, sometimes even having to unequip your sword in order to make room for the desired item layout.

Some design choices are simply outdated by now, like dying at the dungeon boss just spawns you at the start of the dungeon (annoying), respawning and even resetting some puzzles (super annoying), and without a full health recovery (infuriating). Making me go outside and walk to the nearest great fairy is, frankly, just wasting my time.

There is also some weird wonkiness to the game progression, like the fact that for most of my game I had 999 rupies and nothing to spend them on, or that "new mechanics" such as equippable rings and animal companions are almost inconsequential. The titular season-changing mechanics is not used at all inside dungeons. Exploration rewards are often disapponting, with the game giving you worthless rings or rupies (that you already have 999 of).

I found progression to be a little obtuse at times, but still pretty satisfying, and while I'm not a fan of the first dungeons (or subrosia), the later ones are quite ingenious and memorable. The item arsenal is pretty standard, but a couple of items (namely the upgraded roc's cape and the magnetic glove) steal the show and make late-game exploration really enjoyable.

Last but not least, the music is pretty unremarkable, with a lot of unmemorable tracks, that all have painfully short loops.

This is frankly not a bad game, but if I had to rank it with other zeldas I played, I would put it on the lower end of the chart.

The Oracle games are some of the only Zelda games I haven't beaten before. The reason being I thought they were mid and boring, but giving it a much fairer shake this time, I actually really enjoyed it. Every single dungeon is good to great, with some great puzzles and fantastic navigation, plus a few really unique dungeon items used in creative ways. It makes me really excited for Ages, since I hear that game focuses more on the puzzles.
The overworld exploration is also extremely fun with the season switching, and is perfectly nonlinear without ever dipping into "what the fuck do I do" territory like Link's Awakening does at times. Overall, not an amazing game or anything, especially right after finishing two of my favorite games of all time, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages is a fun time. This is the game that i chose to do the Linked run after playing Oracle of Ages and it's pretty good. Zelda's never really done overarching plots, even the direct sequels in the series are still standalone. So seeing something like that here is pretty neat.

I don't have too much to say about this one compared to Oracle of Ages. It's a lot simpler, focusing more on the combat than the puzzles. The item selection in this game is not that spectacular, apart from the Magnetic Gloves, which allow you to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow, and it was the most interesting implementation of magnetism in the series until Breath of the Wild's Magnesis (i say that like Zelda's dabbled in magnetics more than twice).

The game, like Ages, is still a certified walkthrough game because the tiny GameBoy screen makes it impossible to see what's ahead of you. However, this game is far tamer on that, there's nothing as bad as Crescent Island or Rolling Ridges here. Likely because it was intended as a Zelda 1 remake originally, the game doesn't really ask much of you to enter it's dungeons. Speaking of, like Ages, some of the dungeon songs are bangers, most notably Ancient Tower.

Any gripes i have with this game are the same as Ages. A lot of it is just GameBoy moment. Menuing being annoying, navigation being ass, stuff like that. Give this game the Link's Awakening HD treatment please.

I think Ages is superior but Seasons is definitely the simpler one to get into and i don't think that's bad at all. Reading up on the Linked differences, i'd also say your experience with this game is enhanced if you play Ages first (even if Nintendo claims Seasons happened first).

For context I played the two games in the order:
Ages > Seasons

I often hear the Ages is more puzzle focused, while Seasons focuses on the combat, by that description made me think they went all out in both games and almost put me off playing Seasons due to me not finding Zelda combat the most interesting combat system available. Yes Ages dungeons are super puzzle orientated while Seasons do have more combat rooms, the games still feel very much like Zelda games and tbh they aren’t as different as that led me to believe.

Seasons just feels idk more generic I guess. It still has some of that early Zelda charm, but the characters and world of Ages are crazy and amazing and I love it, while Seasons dork at really have any character outside of Link with a noteable amount of screen time and imo it suffers as a result.

However the magnet glove is my favourite Zelda item and the boss of the dungeon it is introduced in is also probably my favourite Zelda boss. The magic boomerang is definitely my favourite version of the Zelda boomerang.

In conclusion I feel saying “Ages is more puzzle focused, while Seasons is more combat focused” is a true statement, it looks over many of the differences between these two games.

While Ages does have some more interesting puzzles, I do think this is the better of the two. Pacing feels better and exploring the overworld isn't nearly as much of a pain. Time travel was already done in OoT, so changing the seasons is still a much more interesting gimmick to me.

Dungeons are still fun and the boss fights are a lot more interesting in Seasons to me. Although I will say I kind of hate the Onox dragon form. Once you know how to dodge his attacks, it's not too bad, but it's still not a particularly fun fight. The real stinker of a boss is the Twinrova fight in the linked game. Not only is it incredibly obnoxious, you have to fight Ganon right after. Ironically, Ganon is kind of a pushover in comparison.

Either way, both this and Ages are great. Two of the best games on the GBC with a really unique and cool linked game system for all kinds of extra items and replayability. The stories even change a little bit depending on which game you started with too, which is neat.

Din best girl.

Oracle of Seasons is both equally fun and frustrating at the same time.

Using the same engine as Link's Awakening, both of the "Oracle" games were developed by Capcom's Flagship branch.

Each of the two games have their own gimmick, and for Oracle of Seasons, you are able to control the different seasons to solve puzzles, and there is a strong emphasis on combat when entering the dungeons. The seasons gimmick wasn't nearly as fun as I hoped it would be, but it made for a few solid overworld puzzles.

Speaking of the overworld, that was where the game got confusing. The game hints and tries to point you in the right direction, but sometimes it involves doing things that would be very hard to figure out without a guide. However for dungeons, they tended to be pretty straightforward and fun, offering nice combat challenges.

Overall, Oracle of Seasons is a nice little game, but has a few flaws that frustrate me to no end.