GameSpot:The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary- A Look Back

Nintendo got it right the first time.

There’s a sense of wonder that’s present in the original Zelda that is largely absent from modern game design. Failure was not only possible; it was likely. Not only were precious heart containers and valuable treasures hidden behind walls that needed to be bombed, but entire dungeons were also just as difficult to uncover. There’s no flying fairy to tell you which bush to burn if you want to enter the seventh dungeon. In fact, because that is the only dungeon in the main quest that’s hidden in such an obtuse manner, you may never realize that you would need to summon your inner pyromaniac to continue your journey.

Link’s Awakening is surprising and wonderful in the way it combines these most traditional and defining elements of the Legend of Zelda series with a sense of experimentation and whimsy. It’s beautiful in the way that it slowly peels back the curtain on the secret of its world and in the way that characters and elements of other Nintendo games often drift into this one. If Nintendo had a soul that was capable of dreaming, this is what its dreams might look like.

Dreams are a constant theme in Link’s Awakening. It’s fitting, then, that the game feels like something of a dream itself–a Zelda game as directed by David Lynch. Perhaps it’s because Link’s Awakening began as an unsupervised, after-hours side project by a small group of Nintendo staff members. But for whatever reason, there’s a feeling of playfulness and experimentation to it that you just don’t see in most Zelda games.

If there were ever a reward for the best rebirth of a series, A Link to the Past would be a shoo-in for the top slot. The gameplay was solid and packaged in a beautifully drawn 2D world. It excelled over its predecessor and improved on the game that inspired it. With a dual-world system that served as a means to lengthen the overall experience, it was one of the most complete packages ever produced for the SNES. The sense of adventure and joy that came from unlocking the secrets of Hyrule were only second to Miyamoto and Itoi’s craft. It defined a level of quality early in the system’s life span that would rarely, if ever, be equaled.

The Wind Waker was the series’ first opportunity– in a 3D space–to use visuals that equaled and complemented the audio on an emotional level, and that’s due in part to its style being completely unrealistic.The first few moments of Wind Waker where Link meets with his sister and waves goodbye to his island family are some of the most endearing sequences in the entire series, and it’s not because of voice acting or a rousing orchestral score. It was pure emotion.

The Wind Waker’s aesthetic was one of The Legend of Zelda’s greatest accomplishments, but its controversial beginnings and the general lack of acceptance from so-called fans have all but doomed chances for that visual style to return in console form. And if Nintendo has seemingly learned anything from this experience, it’s that The Legend of Zelda has fallen victim to its own success.