Zelda Versus – Round One: Phantom Hourglass vs Link’s Awakening
Posted on January 19 2014 by Nathanial Rumphol-Janc
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Round One continues with our 4th matchup, pitting two of the most successful handheld editions of the
Zelda franchise against each other in Link’s Awakening and Phantom Hourglass. The later game moved just shy of 5 million copies worldwide, making it the single most successful handheld Zelda game ever released. What placed second? The very first handheld Zelda game ever crafted, Link’s Awakening. Who advances? Will it be the game that proved handheld Zelda games are possible, or will it be the game that has arguably been the most popular handheld title to date?
Phantom Hourglass (ゼルダの伝説 夢幻の砂時計Zeruda no Densetsu Mugen no Sunadokei?)
Phantom Hourglass released in Japan on June 23rd 2007, and reached the rest of the world within 4 months time. It is not only the best selling Zelda handheld game ever crafted, it is actually the 4th best selling Zelda game ever made. As a direct sequel to The Wind Waker and featuring the same iteration of Link, many felt it improved on certain aspects of it’s console counterpart, such as using a steam boat and being able to draw your sailing path. It also was a proving ground for touch controls, where it showed that tapping the screen to use items and to attack is something that can indeed work in the Zelda series.
Link’s Awakening (ゼルダの伝説 夢をみる島lit. The Legend of Zelda: Dream Island?)
As the first
Zelda game ever released for Nintendo’s portable line of consoles, Link’s Awakening went on to show that the GameBoy can indeed house a full Zelda experience on the go. Released June 6th 1993 in Japan and the rest of the world by the end of the year, the game enjoyed a second rebirth in 1998 when it was released in full color as Link’s Awakening DX. The game took place outside of Hyrule (the first game in the series do that) and ended in a way that no other game has done to this point in the series yet: As a total figment of Link’s imagination. A dream, as it were. Featuring several memorable adventures, it was also the very first and one of the few games to feature an item that allowed Link to Jump, something that has yet to translate to the 3D series of games.
Current Bracket:
