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.
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.