Windfish's Slumber
Hoot hoot,
Tonight's topic is a little old original Game Boy title called The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. I thought about deferring this to Pkadden, as he has more experience with it than I do, but LA was my first game and nostalgia drives me onward. Besides, there is nothing saying he can't post about it too.
My nostalgia for Link's Awakening knows no bounds, so forgive me if I'm not totally objective, but the game rocks face. It is probably my favorite portable title of all time (except maybe Aria of Sorrow) and my second favorite Zelda game.
The game is huge, a full adventure with eight complete dungeons and an over world that rivals A Link to the Past in size. There are plenty of interesting, wacky characters to meet and help, from Crazy Tracy to Bow-wow. The puzzles are perfectly balanced and a lot of fun to figure out, while maintaining a difficulty that is actually higher than recent titles. The story, while simple, is pretty great and the ending is fairly courageous for a game. Every nook and cranny of the island is memorable and entertaining. The graphics are surprisingly detailed for a Game Boy game and the music is consistently awesome (Tal Tal Heights anyone?). Really, I can't think of anything negative about it; the fact that I wish it was even longer is a testament to its quality.
What impresses me the most is how much is packed into that small cartridge. A lot of love went into making every part of the experience and it shows. They don't make them like they used to, but then again I am highly biased. Someone playing LA for the first time today is not likely to be nearly as blown away by it, but such is the curse of ever improving technology.
If at all possible, play it on a portable system; that was what it was designed for and it is more suited for such a machine. One of my all-time favorites, I very highly recommend Link's Awakening.
Can you give me some vittles?,
THIEF
3 comments:
THE WINDFISH IN NAME ONLY
FOR IT IS NEITHER
This game was a summer tradition for me ever since I got my Play It Loud clear Gameboy. To this day it is the only Zelda where I can get every single heart piece and upgrade.
How did Oracle of Ages/Seasons hold up? I never really played those games for some unknown reason. Probably should. How do they stack up against their predecessor?
I got a Special Edition Pokemon GBC with Pokemon Yellow for Chanukah.
My dragonite kicked ass, but other than that the Game Boy Color was a GIANT friggin' letdown.
And then, right before it died (Oracle of Ages/Seasons has a special GBA-only shop, that's how close it came to the end of the GBC's life) the two Zelda games came out.
Thank god for them. They aren't as good as LA, but they rock. Seasons is more action-oriented while Ages is more puzzle-oriented. And they have tons of refrences to the original LoZ.(familiar dungeon locations, bosses, etc.)
And Maple. Maple is awesome.
And rings. And Subrosia! Ok, they were great. But not LA great.
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