This is the first of the Zelda series I've completed. You can feel the Gameboy roots here, but it's absolutely not a flaw. The mechanic of acquiring new tools and skills to progress the story is ridiculously addictive. I'd gladly "listen" to more tales from Hyrule, just maybe in a more contemporary rendition this time.

Polish review
To pierwsza z serii Zeldowych legend, którą ukończyłem. Czuć tu Gameboy'owe korzenie, ale absolutnie nie jest to wada. Mechanika nabywania nowych narzędzi i umiejętności aby posuwać historię do przodu jest absurdalnie wręcz wciągająca. Z chęcią "posłucham" kolejnych opowieści z Hyrule, tylko może tym razem w bardziej współczesnym wydaniu.

This review will contain mild spoilers

I was originally going to play the DX version but remembered that I had a half finished save file of the remake so I decided to just finish that instead of playing the whole game through the switch Gameboy collection. Im going to be kinda combining two reviews in one here, talking a lot about the original game but referring to the remake when it comes to gameplay and visuals.

I was a big fan of Links Awakening having played the DX version on the 3ds years ago, but I put off getting this remake for quite a long time until it went down in price. I ended up getting it late last year after playing Tears of the Kingdom and being in a bit of a Zelda phase. Whilst the DX version has a lot of charm to it, this is the definitive way to play this game in the modern day.

Links Awakening is the first Zelda game in my opinion to really prioritize its story. It's the first game chronologically not set in Hyrule and not to feature Zelda or Ganon (Kind of). Instead Link is washed up on Koholint Island after a deadly storm, he is tasked with waking the mysterious wind fish with the eight instruments of the sirens in order to get back home. On the surface its very clean cut, but features a secret that is gradually revealed as Link progresses through the dungeons which really effects the atmosphere of the game. One thing I noticed was that this game makes it very obvious that it is set after A Link to the Past which I think is one of the only times that it is specified what order the games take place in outside of Ocarina/Majora and BoTW/ToTK. There are a lot of similarities in characters and locations but most obviously is that in the final boss fight, the entity takes the form of both Agahnim and Ganon from Alttp. This was a really cool detail that I never knew and thought it would be interesting to add here.

Gameplay wise the remake makes all the right changes. The Gameboy version was heavily restricted due to hardware but was great for its time, the remake removes a lot of the hindrances that the original version had. Most notably, making some items usable without having to equip them, this is done with the Pegasus boots and power bracelets and means you dont have to constantly be switching things out in the menu. Im not a huge fan of having some items only be obtainable through the shop instead of being in a dungeon, but im pretty sure the whole game is possible without buying anything so it isn't a massive issue. Link's awakening also is a lot easier to blindly play through with the addition of phone huts where you can get a small hint as to where you need to go next. In the remake you can replay NPC conversations to catch any info you missed. Unfortunately not everything is told to you and you can still be left wandering around without a clue but I played everything from dungeon 5 to the end of the game without following a guide and only had to check up on stuff twice so its already way better than all previous games. I'm not a huge fan of the map as it seemed that there is always one very specific way to get to each location and loads of paths seemed needlessly blocked off just to confuse you.

The dungeons in this game are on par with Alttp in terms of size but I found them way more confusing to get through. Im not sure how the remake compares to the original but most dungeons, especially the last three, are very confusing to get through, but still enjoyable enough where it doesnt get frustrating. Eagle Tower is my favourite one by far.

Visually I do like the remake art style but I much prefer the DX retro look over the more toy like style the remake has. One of my favourite parts of this game is its score. They really started to add more diversity in their music at this stage with most buildings having music, multiple overworld tracks and each dungeon has its own track as well. My favourite part however is that dungeons 1 to 5 all have these booming action pieces until the twist is revealed in the 6th dungeon and from then on all the dungeon tracks are much more creepy sounding, my favourite is the eagle tower track, I'd recommend checking it out, either the OG or remake. The remake does ditch the retro sounding score for a more modern one and it works really well with the new look. I do prefer the retro score a little bit but I would happily listen to either. I also liked the anime style cutscenes for the beginning and credits, a good improvement from the old versions

Graphics wise I noticed a lot of frame drop, most notably in the grassy plains areas beside the main village. Since the remake ditched the screen style the original had and has massive areas all loaded in at once, plus enemy sprites and destructible objects plus the fact the switch's hardware is very outdated, makes for a bit of frame drop. Nothing game breaking by any means but something to note.

A solid remake of a classic game. Falters in a couple places for me compared to the original but still makes for a fun experience.