Link's Awakening bears the trappings of its handheld origins (now liberated by an equally handheld console in a remake which appears altogether superior to the original except in different art styles) as its obnoxious swapping between items on two buttons annoys throughout, yet the formulaic dungeon and overworld exploration of the series remains as intrinsically complicated, obtuse, and sometimes fun with a condensed form to suit the Game Boy and limited play sessions. Nintendo has shown little progress in improving the formula except miniscule updates to maneuverability with a jump. Zelda II triumphs again over Link's Awakening for much the same reason as A Link to the Past: repetitive dungeons of increasingly bland challenge cannot sustain their lack of difficulty if the puzzles they contain are of little worth (Eagle Tower is particularly the worst one due to its incessant requirement of a ball to smash pillars in enclosed rooms one must run around the entire dungeon to find.) While the 3D Zeldas to come may improve in ways that focus on a world of great interest (the Hyrule of Zelda II stands large in its abstract qualities still when compared to its two sequels) and a better integration of puzzles within dungeons, Link's Awakening is not that step forward so it must remain as a mere quality work of expected Nintendo blandness.