- Joined
- Aug 26, 2014
OPINION ALERT: ALL THAT FOLLOWS IS JUST MY OPINION. THANK YOU.
As you might know if you were one of the few people who read my first article a while back, I was a latecomer to the Legend of Zelda series, my first game being Phantom Hourglass for the DS. I then played Spirit Tracks, Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, A Link to the Past, Skyward Sword, and recently have started playing Oracle of Seasons, Oracle of Ages, and the original Legend of Zelda on emulators.
The eighth Zelda game I completed was The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX. I received a Gameboy Colour from a relative, possessing three games, one of which was Link’s Awakening. I have played it through many times now, and have come to view it as my favourite game out of the ones I have played. It came in a charming little cartridge that had a delightful ‘click’ when I pushed it into the Game Boy.
Why is this game my favourite? Well, there are a lot of reasons, but I’d like to start with one close to my heart. Adventure.
The overworld (Koholint Island) is wonderfully orientated. From the get-go, you have access to a large amount of it, and it is incredibly fun to explore. There is an urge to fill every blank screen on your map, to go everywhere and do everything. There are also paths that go across the land, and it can be tempting just to follow one to see where you end up. It’s thrilling knowing that you can finally access a certain area with an item you just got – not a single item in this game is wasted. Even the mirror shield helps you traverse through a cave. And the simplistic grid of the in-game map means you can easily plan a route to follow from, say, Mabe Village to the cemetery.
It is true that world is gradually unlocked to you as you progress, but this is done really well. As opposed to Phantom Hourglass, which simply relies on Sea Charts, placing invisible walls between areas until you obtain them. Link’s Awakening shows the game world to you, giving you clues about how to access them, and you do so by getting items in each dungeon. This method of relying on items to progress is much better, making you feel like an explorer. It makes sense that you might need a special item to shoot across a gap. It doesn’t make sense that there would be a great big invisible wall in the middle of an ocean.
There are also two fantastic sidequests that rely on exploration. The trading quest for the boomerang can be started as soon as your begin the game, and makes you want to learn about all the characters to find out who could possibly need a Yoshi doll. As I mentioned, you also need to explore, finding out from a remote statue that it is possible to swim under the bridge where you will find the fisherman. The other side quest (I have never actually completed this one) is finding the secret seashells to obtain the Level 2 Sword.
The characters in this game are also wonderfully whimsical, constantly breaking the fourth wall. Early in the game, if you talk to a certain man, he will tell you that he is going to be stuck on a mountain later. And lo and behold, later in the game, he is stuck on Tal Tal Heights (which actually leads into the trading sidequest).
Link forms a great relationship with Marin (who I think is a far better character than Zelda), and throughout the game some moral/philosophical questions are actually brought up. You find out that Koholint Island is all a dream as you progress through the game, and dungeon bosses actually tell you that everybody on the island will disappear if you wake the Wind Fish. You actually end up feeling uneasy about waking it – do you really want to be the one to end all these people’s lives?
The mystery in the game progresses wonderfully well. As you progress, you gradually learn about the truth of the Island, finally knowing everything when you visit the Southern Face Shrine.
The game climaxes beautifully, leaving you wondering if you could have somehow saved that world after all (If you complete the entire game without dying, then there is an easter egg that shows Marin in the sky above you). Then Link is left in the sea, floating on a piece of driftwood, in a ‘To be continued’ moment. It leaves you hungry for more, and if you are like me, then you will find yourself playing it again and again.
So… you may be wondering why I have titled this ‘Link’s Awakening AND THE ZELDA FORMULA’. So far I’ve just been rambling about how much I love Link’s Awakening, haven’t I?
Well, the reason I chose that title is because I think Link’s Awakening is the perfect example of a good Zelda Formula.
“WHAT!?” I hear you cry, “But Link’s Awakening didn’t have the Triforce, or Ganon, or Zelda…”
But to me, that’s not the point. Even though the very first Zelda game had those three things, it still wasn’t the point. It was about exploring, adventuring, finding every secret you could – and being a hero. It wasn’t about saving some princess.
I hope Nintendo soon does another Zelda game like this, one maybe not even set in Hyrule – a Zelda game where I can feel like a true adventurer again.
Thank you for reading this, and remember – its just an opinion.
Zeldosopher out.
As you might know if you were one of the few people who read my first article a while back, I was a latecomer to the Legend of Zelda series, my first game being Phantom Hourglass for the DS. I then played Spirit Tracks, Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, A Link to the Past, Skyward Sword, and recently have started playing Oracle of Seasons, Oracle of Ages, and the original Legend of Zelda on emulators.
The eighth Zelda game I completed was The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX. I received a Gameboy Colour from a relative, possessing three games, one of which was Link’s Awakening. I have played it through many times now, and have come to view it as my favourite game out of the ones I have played. It came in a charming little cartridge that had a delightful ‘click’ when I pushed it into the Game Boy.
Why is this game my favourite? Well, there are a lot of reasons, but I’d like to start with one close to my heart. Adventure.
The overworld (Koholint Island) is wonderfully orientated. From the get-go, you have access to a large amount of it, and it is incredibly fun to explore. There is an urge to fill every blank screen on your map, to go everywhere and do everything. There are also paths that go across the land, and it can be tempting just to follow one to see where you end up. It’s thrilling knowing that you can finally access a certain area with an item you just got – not a single item in this game is wasted. Even the mirror shield helps you traverse through a cave. And the simplistic grid of the in-game map means you can easily plan a route to follow from, say, Mabe Village to the cemetery.
It is true that world is gradually unlocked to you as you progress, but this is done really well. As opposed to Phantom Hourglass, which simply relies on Sea Charts, placing invisible walls between areas until you obtain them. Link’s Awakening shows the game world to you, giving you clues about how to access them, and you do so by getting items in each dungeon. This method of relying on items to progress is much better, making you feel like an explorer. It makes sense that you might need a special item to shoot across a gap. It doesn’t make sense that there would be a great big invisible wall in the middle of an ocean.
There are also two fantastic sidequests that rely on exploration. The trading quest for the boomerang can be started as soon as your begin the game, and makes you want to learn about all the characters to find out who could possibly need a Yoshi doll. As I mentioned, you also need to explore, finding out from a remote statue that it is possible to swim under the bridge where you will find the fisherman. The other side quest (I have never actually completed this one) is finding the secret seashells to obtain the Level 2 Sword.
The characters in this game are also wonderfully whimsical, constantly breaking the fourth wall. Early in the game, if you talk to a certain man, he will tell you that he is going to be stuck on a mountain later. And lo and behold, later in the game, he is stuck on Tal Tal Heights (which actually leads into the trading sidequest).
Link forms a great relationship with Marin (who I think is a far better character than Zelda), and throughout the game some moral/philosophical questions are actually brought up. You find out that Koholint Island is all a dream as you progress through the game, and dungeon bosses actually tell you that everybody on the island will disappear if you wake the Wind Fish. You actually end up feeling uneasy about waking it – do you really want to be the one to end all these people’s lives?
The mystery in the game progresses wonderfully well. As you progress, you gradually learn about the truth of the Island, finally knowing everything when you visit the Southern Face Shrine.
The game climaxes beautifully, leaving you wondering if you could have somehow saved that world after all (If you complete the entire game without dying, then there is an easter egg that shows Marin in the sky above you). Then Link is left in the sea, floating on a piece of driftwood, in a ‘To be continued’ moment. It leaves you hungry for more, and if you are like me, then you will find yourself playing it again and again.
So… you may be wondering why I have titled this ‘Link’s Awakening AND THE ZELDA FORMULA’. So far I’ve just been rambling about how much I love Link’s Awakening, haven’t I?
Well, the reason I chose that title is because I think Link’s Awakening is the perfect example of a good Zelda Formula.
“WHAT!?” I hear you cry, “But Link’s Awakening didn’t have the Triforce, or Ganon, or Zelda…”
But to me, that’s not the point. Even though the very first Zelda game had those three things, it still wasn’t the point. It was about exploring, adventuring, finding every secret you could – and being a hero. It wasn’t about saving some princess.
I hope Nintendo soon does another Zelda game like this, one maybe not even set in Hyrule – a Zelda game where I can feel like a true adventurer again.
Thank you for reading this, and remember – its just an opinion.
Zeldosopher out.
