Today on Reddit, user Kanthia posted a series of pictures showing off a cross-stitched map of Koholint Island from the game, Link’s Awakening that they made over the summer of 2010. The pictures show the progression from the initial outline of the map to the full-color, finished product. I found that when I compared this to a real map of Koholint Island, it was a very simple representation. Many of the details had been left out and the scale of the map in general was smaller. However, considering it was handmade, the detail that did go into it is pretty outstanding. Overall, people seemed to enjoy it and many were offering Kanthia money in hopes of purchasing one for their own. Unfortunately, this map is not for sale. To get a better look at all of the pictures and to hear more of my thoughts, make the jump.
Within my massive collection of strategy guides, some of them have amazing rare artwork that so many Zelda fans have never been able to lay their eyes on. A particular Japanese Link’s Awakening Strategy Guide published by Suzana Art Works has some of the best boss artwork I’ve ever seen. The art piece that you see to the left is of Moldorm, the first boss in the game found within Tail Cave. In all of the various guides released in the different countries, this particular strategy guide was the only one that actually had artwork for almost every single boss, and I must say, these pieces are amazing. I love the Moldorm image, but the Angler Fish, Slime Eyes, and Evil Eagle all stand out as well as personal favorites. You can see all nine boss artwork images over at the Link’s Awakening Boss Artwork Gallery section of the Zelda Dungeon Wiki. I’ve uploaded a few of them in this post as well, so go ahead and make the jump.
So what if the ideas of Skyward Sword were implemented in an old 2D Zelda title? If we could fly on a Loftwing in Link’s Awakening, or use precision sword attacks to fight certain enemies. Well a fan has published a couple of screenshots of what some of the Skyward Sword game mechanics would look like using a Game Boy and the original Link’s Awakening graphics. This includes flying on a Loftwing, performing a Skyward Strike, leaping off of an island, playing the harp in front of a Goddess Statue, and a couple more! Go ahead and make the jump to see the awesome artwork for yourself.
While playing through the latest copy of Ocarina of Time 3D, Destructoid writer Magnalon decided to make it his mission to play through all the main Zelda games and beat them before the end of the year. This decision was made in honor of the 25th anniversary and will include Skyward Sword. He has divided the article into sections where he goes over each game individually in chronological order giving his opinions on them and what impressions they gave. Under each title paragraph is a note listing exactly what version he played and a date when he completed the game. Jump inside to check out what he had to say.
Our great friends over at Zelda Universe have released yet another great year in their 25 years in 25 days segments. Today’s year is 1998. This is the year that seemingly changed gaming forever and created a bench mark for almost every title released after to be compared to. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is considered one of if not the greatest game ever and is still praised by fans to this day.
1998 laid the foundation down for almost all future title, but if we look past Ocarina of Time what else did this year have to offer? If your interested than be sure to make the jump to find out!
In their vigilant quest to regale us with the history of Zelda year by year, day by day, Zelda Universe brings us 1993! A special year in my heart because it gave us my very first Zelda Game, Link’s Awakening! On the other hand it also brought the CD-i games Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.
If there’s a single year that should have been the best year for The Legend of Zelda out of all 25 of them so far, it should have been 1993. After having received the joy of A Link to the Past and after several years of Zelda cartoons and comics, the last thing that anyone might have guessed would be around the corner would be a year where we would see three brand new, memorable Zelda titles. Three Zelda games within but a few months of one another should have been a dream come true for any Zelda fan; even today, during the 25th year of the series, the fact that all of the old games are coming out of the woodwork in celebration is incredible, but only one of those games is truly a fresh, new experience, and that one by itself is making our mouths water. Three games would have been the most amazing thing ever.
The guys that brought us the stop-motion Tetris animation on Minecraft are back and this time they have created an animation using the Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. This creation covers the opening scenes and the first three minutes of gameplay. It took them over a span of five weeks and over 1000 still images to create the final video. The creators of this animation have indicated that many, including Minecraft’s creator, Notch, have doubts about the veracity of the video. No official quote was given about this. Check out the video and hear my thoughts after the jump.
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is probably one of the most overlooked games of the series. In fact it didn’t even start out as a real game. One of the developers was messing around with a dev kit to make a fishing game. Soon more and more of the Zelda team started to stay late and work on it as an “after school project”. It was then released on the Gameboy and the future of handheld Zelda was born. It was quickly re-released as Link’s Awakening DX and had some new content added into the game. Since then many Zelda fans have picked the game up to discover its incredibly bazaar and unnatural world.
It is definitely one of the better Zelda games in my opinion and now thanks to it being released as a download for the 3DS, I feel like even more people will be able to experience all of its weirdness. Playing the game you can tell the Zelda team was having fun creating this title from all of the Mario and other completely unrelated characters showing up. So when I found some unearthed Katsuya Terada artwork that GamePro posted, I wasn’t that surprised. Feel free to make the jump to see the incredible artwork for yourself!
The newest Game Informer video in their month long look at Zelda is a discussion about Link’s Awakening. Their thoughts and memories. Does it stand up today? Is it better than the first Zelda on the NES? Watch the video and then jump on in to hear my thoughts.
The Game Heroes over at Blistered Thumbs recently sounded off on their top 5 Zelda games. Check out their list and then jump inside to read my thoughts.
I’m not sure if it’s just the NES nostalgia, but I absolutely love 8-Bit remixes. Often times I’ll search YouTube for 8-Bit remixes of some of my favorite songs, new and old. When it comes to the Legend of Zelda series I have listened to my fair share of 8-Bit remixes as well… but never from a GameBoy title. Oddly enough, 8-Bit is actually a step up from the 4-Bit sounds that came from the Nintendo portable. The folks from the Nintendo Daily have recently created an 8-Bit remix of the Ballad of the Wind Fish from Link’s Awakening and it is marvelous. Take a listen for yourself.
Way back in the beginning of July, we started posting updates about our Link’s Awakening Walkthrough being remade. We were on a steady pace, continually pushing out chapters in little time. Unfortunately, numerous live streams, big news updates and side projects got in the way of progress on it. Well, I come back to the main page today to bring forth the latest content update to Link’s Awakening, Chapter 3 of the Link’s Awakening Walkthrough. This is the third chapter of the game, out of a total of nine. What makes this update so special? Head inside for more info on the changes.
Nintendo has added a new category on the 3DS eShop devoted to anniversary-related Zelda titles and videos. These include:
-The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
-The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX Video
-Make Your Own Zelda Flipnote Video
-The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
-The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Commercial
-The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Post-Launch Trailer
-The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D Video
-Zelda Williams at E3 Interview
-Zelda 25th Anniversary: E3 Developers Interview
Since its release Ocarina of Time 3D has done very well. In two weeks after its release in the US it sold 283,000 units. For the month of June it is the 2nd best selling title. These numbers are exceptionally impressive, especially when you consider that the game was only available in the month of June for 11 days. To put that more simply, Zelda out sold nearly every other video game in 1/3 as much time.
Here’s an additional statistic: of all the 3DS titles released thus far in Japan, Ocarina of Time is the 2nd best selling while the first is Professor Layton Mask of Miracles which was released nearly 4 months prior during Japan’s 3DS release.
Another shock is the ratio of games to 3DS units: for just over 1 million 3ds units sold thus far, the Ocarina of Time 3D sales mean that around 20% of 3DS owners own a copy of the game.
Link’s Awakening DX for the 3DS e-shop is also the second best selling with the 1st being excite bike, a game which was free to most 3DS owners. Link’s Awakening even beat out Super Mario Land for e-shop sales.
All of these statistics point to one thing that Nintendo representatives have always said: The sales of Nintendo games and hardware are based on their titles. The jump in sales of the 3DS from May to June was in the neighborhood of 400%. The reason? My bet would be that it was Ocarina of Time 3D’s upcoming release.
A few days ago we updated on the first chapter of the new Link’s Awakening Walkthrough. We had started to reformat and improve the old layout, changing it to a much more structured one. As with the previous chapter, this page is now divided into two sides, the left with screenshots and text, and the right with enemy boxes, item boxes and maps. We have also re-written the text, taken all new screenshots, and added artwork to make it look even more appealing. What parts of the game are covered in chapter 2? Head inside for more info.
UPDATE #2:We now can confirm that Link’s Awakening is now available on the 3DS e-shop almost worldwide. From the various staff members experiences, the game is identical to its Game Boy Color release back in 1998. Thus, it is the DX version of Link’s Awakening. Furthermore, we have pricing of what the game will cost you in the various regions.
United States: $5.99
United Kingdom: £5.40
Austrailia: $9 AU
It’s also worth noting that the price of games is in actual money, as opposed to points. So when you see Link’s Awakening, it will be listed as $5.99 as opposed to… 500 points. You’ll need a Debit or Credit card to purchase the Eshop title, but if this is an issue, you can get prepaid cards at your local Game stores.
Recent statements from Nintendo have clued us in a bit more on the pricing for games from the 3DS’s eshop. They haven’t explicity stated which games will be included in the eshop, or the pricing for those games, but they’ve given us a ballpark range for the games with the rock bottom price for any game being $1.99.
From the information released we learned the prices of the following games:
-$3.99 Super Mario Land
-$2.99 Alleyway
-$2.99 Radar Mission
All three of these games were made for the original Gameboy, and from everything we’ve heard the eshop will rely heavily on vintage Gameboy games. The main question to come out of this is will there be a price hike for Gameboy Color games? My favorite Gameboy Color title, Link’s Awakening DX, has been confirmed by Nintendo, and even though a higher end Gameboy game like Super Mario Land is going for the great price of $3.99, I can’t help but think that these especially low prices are used as a selling point of the 3DS and the eshop, meanwhile, titles that are released after the eshop launch will be priced higher.
A recent Press Release from Nintendo of America tells us plenty of information in regards to the upcoming system update for the Nintendo 3DS. For those of you unaware, this system update, which is scheduled for June 6th, marks the launch of the Nintendo 3DS Internet Browser and the Nintendo 3DS eShop.
For us Zelda folks, we are most concerned with the re-release of the Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. The first Zelda handheld title was shown off at a number of 3DS events earlier this year and it was believed to be a launch title for the eShop. However, in recent weeks it became apparent that it wasn’t going to be launching with the eShop and now we have official word from Nintendo. There is still no information on a release date for Link’s Awakening, or whether it will feature any upgrades for its re-release, but we’ll surely find out more at E3 next week. You can see the full press release after the jump.
YouTube user Sp0ntanius has just released a brand new Zelda cover. As usual his videos are not quite a performance, but clips of his musicianship edited together to create something far more original and fun. This rendition of Ballad of the Wind Fish is played on children’s toys, though the full moon cello in the top right is rather adult looking; as a former cellist I would know. I especially like the drum that he uses and really appreciate how similar the video is to the actual scene from Link’s Awakening. Sp0ntanius himself even flips back and forth like Link does! Click ‘Read More’ for a video of the scene from Link’s Awakening to see how accurate this video really is!
UPDATE: Derp. As it turns out, several online gaming news centers reported false in formation. The Virtual Console, as we now know, is in fact part of the e-shop. Therefore, the Virtual Console, and Link’s Awakening, will not be available in March as we had hoped.
Source: My Nintendo News
A while back, Zelda Dungeon reported that the 3DS e-shop and Virtual Console would be available on the day of the 3DS launch: March 27th for the states. What we failed to report to you all is that for a time, the launch of the e-shop and Virtual Console would be delayed until May, at which point 3DS owners could get it on their 3DS with a downloadable upgrade.
Well today, more news has come on the subject! As it turns out, the virtual console will be available at the time of the 3DS release! So far the only confirmed titles for the Virtual Console are Super Mario Land and more importantly, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX. The only trouble is, no one from Nintendo has given us a straight answer on whether or not these will be available on the 27th or not. It is, however, expected that we will see several other titles on launch day.
My fingers are crossed! Who else is getting the 3DS on March 27th (25th for Europe)? Read more…
According to the folks over at EuroGamer, the Nintendo 3DS eStore will be available at launch. While it will not be pre-installed on the Nintendo 3DS, on day one it will be available for download. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening was set to release for the 3DS Virtual Console. However, while there is no exact release date for the game, only two games were available on the show floor at last weeks Nintendo events, Super Mario Land and Link’s Awakening. Super Mario Land has already been confirmed to be the first game for the virtual console, but my personal hunch is that Link’s Awakening will also be a launch title, or at the very least it will be popping up in the days after. Be sure to stay tuned at Zelda Dungeon for the latest news.
The folks over at Nintendo World Report have gotten a hands on playthrough of the Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, releasing for the Nintendo 3ds Virtual Console. Link’s Awakening will be a launch title for the 3DS Virtual Console, but no date has been given for that launch. It is also unclear as to how much Gameboy or Gameboy Color games will cost for the 3DS Virtual Console.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any information on whether or not there is going to be anything added to this title. It was being labeled as Link’s Awakening 3DS when it was announced by most commentators, but it appears as if it is a straight port from its Gameboy Color release in 1998. The above video showed some gameplay and everything seems to be running just as it did over 12 years ago. The bottom screen doesn’t appear to be used for any gameplay, but rather it has the control mechanics laid out for you in text format. We’ll surely keep you updated as to when a launch date for the 3DS virtual console is announced, as well as information on the pricing, as well as if any other Gameboy Zelda titles are announced.
Our music spotlight this week focuses on a few videos by Mart0zz. The video being featured is a marimba arrangement of Tal Tal Heights from Link’s Awakening. Check it out!
Overclocked Remix, an old friend of ZD, is an organization that creates beautiful albums of remixed or covered video game music. Their latest album, Threshold of a Dream, is also their first Zelda album and it’s a free download. The download can be found here.
The Link’s Awakening Video Walkthrough was completed about two weeks ago over at our youtube channel, but you can now access the completed page right here at Zelda Dungeon! It’s divided by chapter and each video has time stamps for all the significant events throughout the video. With that guide now complete, we have finally restarted our Twilight Princess Video Walkthrough. Caleb will be releasing one video each day over at our YouTube Channel, so if you aren’t a subscriber, you should become one today!
For those of you that are hard core subscribers on our YouTube Channel, you’ve probably noticed that we started a Video Walkthrough for Link’s Awakening. This is an announcement stating that it is around half-way complete and that it is up on the site for your viewing pleasure.
I make the pages with the videos while Mases uploads one video a day. Another update will be posted when the walkthrough is complete. Until the video is complete you can always use the standard version of our Link’s Awakening Walkthrough if you need some help. Read more…
Matt Simmons of Zentendo has put together a cleverly written article looking back at what might be one of the greatest game stories ever told, the Legend of Zelda Link’s Awakening. The article contains a deep analysis of the symbolism found throughout the game and points out how dark the story really could be interpreted. It’s a really in-depth article and it is definitely worth a read. Shown below is a small portion of one of the key points in the article.
You may not know it, or even believe it, but what separates the hero from the villain, particularly inside a video game? The hero is usually the one saving the world, or perhaps conquering it. The ending of “Link’s Awakening” leaves you with nothing less than total and complete destruction of the entire game world itself. This is not an avoidable consequence either. The only way to complete the title and see the end credits is to go through with awakening the Windfish from its slumber. The real beauty of the narrative is that you are given warnings without blatantly stating the cause of your actions.
Be sure to check out the full article over at Zentendo. Let us know what you think by posting in the comments below. Read more…
Here we have another awkward commercial for Link’s Awakening. This commercial is a rap, which goes with the theme of the early-mid 90′s where rap was becoming more popular here in the United States. Nintendo must have tried to capitalize on this by incorporating rap into their video game commercials. The end result? Yet another Zelda commercial that we can look back on and laugh at.
I’ve added this video to our Zelda Commercial section of the website. The section now has five different commercials from some of the early Zelda games and we will be adding more over the course of the next few weeks.
Jump inside to view the embedded video. Read more…
The last few days we have uploaded numerous audio tracks to our YouTube Channel and just recently we added a ton of new Link’s Awakening content to the site. It seems almost fitting that today we have for you all the full soundtrack for Link’s Awakening now streaming at YouTube!
The playlist contains 79 different tracks from the game, including everything from the classic overworld theme, to music from all of the dungeons in the game. Check out the full Link’s Awakening Playlist to listen to the entire soundtrack.
We will be uploading a bunch more music to our YouTube channel over the next few weeks, so be sure to subscribe if you have not already. We’ll also be working to edit our music pages here at Zelda Dungeon, providing numerous ways for you to listen and download all the various songs from the Legend of Zelda series. Stay tuned… literally!
Whew, I have been working hard for the past week, but in the end the results have been worth it. I have created the last four Link’s Awakening pages for your viewing pleasure. They are as follows:
The Link’s Awakening Walkthrough has also been upgraded in several ways. All of the Heart Pieces, Seashells, Items and Bosses boxes have been upgraded with links to the specific guide they are in. The links take you to the exact section of the guide that they’re in. The biggest one is that it has been read through and contains little to no spelling/grammar errors now.
A few acknowledgements, I did not do all of these guides by myself you know. Nearly a year ago, MrMosley wrote a Pieces of Heart and Secret Seashell guide for this game. It was full of text and pictures, so nearly everything on those two pages belong to him. Also, the majority of descriptions on the boss page were written by Yumil. Alder wrote the enemy guide a long time ago, remember? I couldn’t of done it without you guys. Go on our forums and thank them for me!
Anyways, for the future I am done with Link’s Awakening. I have one more project in mind for it, but it won’t be published on the site itself, let’s just say that. I have already planned and confirmed my next game, but you’ll just have to wait and see what it is! I thank everyone who has given me positive comments on all of the work I’ve done, I’ve been working here ten months from today after. Have a good one. Read more…
Hello everyone. I know it has been a while since you’ve heard from little old me? I hope you had a happy holiday. We have updated our Zelda Commercials with a new Link’s Awakening Japenese Commercial. Aside from that, I have also created two small guides for your viewing pleasure. Check them out!
This commercial for A Link to the Past is entirely in Japanese, but it is hilarious. It’s a bunch of Japanese people dancing. Link looks rather feminine during the commercial as well. Princess Zelda is shown in a cage, and is under attack by enemies until Link comes to save the day. Afterwords Zelda joins Link and continues the obnoxious dance. The commercial concludes with a sweet variation of Ganon appearing, of which it is clearly a massive puppet, but cool nonetheless.
This commercial is not quite up to the nerdiness of the two Legend of Zelda american commercials, but certainly on par in strangeness. The commercial has been added to our Zelda Commercials page at the site.
This guide is for the original release of Link’s Awakening and was published by Keibunsha. This guide offers some of the officially released artwork from Nintendo, but not much else. The guide only offers 79 actual guide pages and it is not a 100% complete guide. For example, the guide does not provide locations for all secret seashells, but rather, only the 20 that are needed. Additionally, only the first 32 pages of the guide are in color, with the rest being in black and white. Page 3 of the guide does offer a short storyline portion, but it is in Japanese of course.
This guide is far inferior to some of the other released Japanese and English released guides and there is little reason to try to get your hands on this one, outside of it being a collector’s item for hardcore Zelda fans. It is a bit rare to get your hands on as well, as it doesn’t seem like this particular guide was widely available.
I have a couple more imported Link’s Awakening guides, as well as a handful of other English and imported guides that should be available over the next few weeks.
This guide was published by Futabasha, of which the DX version of the guide was recently uploaded a few weeks backs. This guide offers a whole new set of artwork for the game, which is quite different from any of the artwork found in the official Nintendo guide or the DX Futabasha guide. It has much more of an anime look to the artwork. I’m not particularly found of the art, but it does look okay. I’ll likely get high quality scans and renders available in the future.
While we recently completed the Link’s Awakening Walkthrough for Zelda Dungeon, that doesn’t mean this guide isn’t worth looking at. Since it is in Japanese, most of us English speaking viewers are not going to be able to read any of it. However, you can get a good idea of the walkthrough and the appendixes just by glancing through the various screenshots.
I should be adding more miscellaneous strategy guides from the older Zelda titles in the coming weeks, including a few more Link’s Awakening imported guides that I’ve recently gotten my hands on.
At long last, I have finished the last chapter of the Link’s Awakening Walkthrough. In this chapter we go inside the Wind Fish’s Egg and destroy the Nightmare. Then– well, you’ll just have to see for yourself.
As for the future, I am done with the walkthrough. However, I will still be working on Link’s Awakening for the time being. Let me know if the guide is useful to you.
January 22nd, 2012 by Christina
Today on Reddit, user Kanthia posted a series of pictures showing off a cross-stitched map of Koholint Island from the game, Link’s Awakening that they made over the summer of 2010. The pictures show the progression from the initial outline of the map to the full-color, finished product. I found that when I compared this to a real map of Koholint Island, it was a very simple representation. Many of the details had been left out and the scale of the map in general was smaller. However, considering it was handmade, the detail that did go into it is pretty outstanding. Overall, people seemed to enjoy it and many were offering Kanthia money in hopes of purchasing one for their own. Unfortunately, this map is not for sale. To get a better look at all of the pictures and to hear more of my thoughts, make the jump.
December 26th, 2011 by Mases
Within my massive collection of strategy guides, some of them have amazing rare artwork that so many Zelda fans have never been able to lay their eyes on. A particular Japanese Link’s Awakening Strategy Guide published by Suzana Art Works has some of the best boss artwork I’ve ever seen. The art piece that you see to the left is of 
November 19th, 2011 by Djinn
November 6th, 2011 by Jesse
November 1st, 2011 by Barinade
August 22nd, 2011 by Josh
August 19th, 2011 by Locke
Nintendo has added a new category on the 3DS eShop devoted to anniversary-related Zelda titles and videos. These include:
July 17th, 2011 by TheGreen
Since its release Ocarina of Time 3D has done very well. In two weeks after its release in the US it sold 283,000 units. For the month of June it is the 2nd best selling title. These numbers are exceptionally impressive, especially when you consider that the game was only available in the month of June for 11 days. To put that more simply, Zelda out sold nearly every other video game in 1/3 as much time.
UPDATE #2:We now can confirm that Link’s Awakening is now available on the 3DS e-shop almost worldwide. From the various staff members experiences, the game is identical to its Game Boy Color release back in 1998. Thus, it is the DX version of Link’s Awakening. Furthermore, we have pricing of what the game will cost you in the various regions.
Recent statements from Nintendo have clued us in a bit more on the pricing for games from the 3DS’s eshop. They haven’t explicity stated which games will be included in the eshop, or the pricing for those games, but they’ve given us a ballpark range for the games with the rock bottom price for any game being $1.99.
UPDATE: Derp. As it turns out, several online gaming news centers reported false in formation. The Virtual Console, as we now know, is in fact part of the e-shop. Therefore, the Virtual Console, and Link’s Awakening, will not be available in March as we had hoped.
According to the folks over at 
January 6th, 2011 by Joseph
May 7th, 2010 by Brandikins
The 
For those of you that are hard core subscribers on our 
