Link's Awakening is the first Zelda game I ever played, at least the first one that I really was able to sink my teeth into.Sometimes it seems as if at least a few years of my life were spent playing this on either my brother's original Gameboy or the Super Gameboy. I haven't played it in many years, but when I dusted off my old, yellowed cartridge and started a new game, something clicked in my brain again, it seemed that I knew everything about this game, locations of items and secrets and dungeons and what to do in those dungeons. Maybe I'm right in thinking it was for years that I played this game?
The game plays much like the Legend of Zelda or A Link to the Past, with Link being controlled in a top-down view, but returns to LoZ's two-button item system, which affects the way in which you must approach combat and puzzles in dungeons. Usually it will just be your sword and one other item, but like all Zelda games, it requires frequent item switching, so sometimes it's better to have no means of attack in order to move through puzzles quicker. It also allows you to combine items like Arrows and Bombs. The main quest itself is laid out similarly to Legend of Zelda, with 8 dungeons, but this game is far better in terms of dungeon design and the little quests required to get inside each of them, each is unique and strange in it's own way, most dungeons even have short side-scrolling sections similar to Zelda II.
The game world itself is comparatively small, but it's densely packed with secrets and many important items are almost entirely optional such as the bow and the boomerang, but can still be found and used to explore the world further. The boomerang being part of a great little trading sequence, something later games would use extensively. The sole sword upgrade is achieved through collecting seashells around the island. The Bow (and other items) can even be stolen from the shop, earning you a nasty retribution, and the name THIEF for the rest of the game. It's also filled with a lot of weird and wonderful people, side-quests and details, such as the inclusion of enemies from the Mario series and even an evil Kirby type monster in one dungeon. People you talk to make references to things like saving games before confessing that they don't know what they're talking about and one character tells you to watch out for him later on when he will be trapped in the mountain, it's a clever way to make tutorial stuff feel organic and diegetic, because as it turns out, the world is a fantasy, much like any game world.
When I put the phrase "plot twist" in the title, I was aware of how little of a twist it really is, the game is constantly telling you that the island of Koholint isn't real that it's all a dream, murals in the world tell you this, bosses make references to it in their dialogue and even the Owl. However, when I played this as a kid it blew my mind, to the point where the plot of the game still affects me to this day, I can think of very few stories or games that have stuck with me since that age, even less with the clarity with which I can recall Link's Awakening. I was glad, upon returning to the game, that while it's effect has diminished slightly, it's still a wonderful little game, and the plot, unlike most games I play, is still interesting to me. In large part because of the presentation of it, every aspect of the world of the game is designed to make it feel like an unreality, like something isn't quite right, even the silly little things like Bow-wow or how when Marin joins you, you lift her above your head like an item. The design of the game speaks more about the plot than any cutscene ever could, and while there are quite a few exposition scenes with the Owl, it never pulls you out of the game, or makes you feel like you don't have control over what's happening. There's a strange sadness to all of the bosses, or "Nightmares" in that while they are evil and causing monsters to appear, they must be defeated, it almost feels like they're trying to stop you from destroying the world, which is what your quest is, it made me not want to finish the game once I'd beaten the final dungeon , I just spent so long just milling around in the world, getting as much out of it as I could before finally giving in and waking the Wind Fish. All in all, the game remains one of my favourites in the series.
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