Zelda: Link’s Awakening
Game Diary
| Platform: | Nintendo Switch |
| Price at Purchase: | AU$67 |
| From: | EB Games |
| Developer: | Nintendo |
| Publisher: | Nintendo |
| Released: | 20 Sep 2019 |
| Rated: | PG |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| HowLongToBeat: | 14-22h |
| MetaCritic: | 88 |
| Game Size on Disc | Card |
| Game Version | 1..00 |
Zelda: Link’s Awakening – Switch
It’s about time my Switch got some love and that love is coming in the form of a very loving recreation of the 1993 Game Boy classic The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.
I have to admit to my deep shame here – Link’s Awakening is the first Zelda game I’ve got anywhere with. I have explained at length elsewhere how I’ve struggled with Breath of the Wild – the strange pressure I’ve felt to enjoy it as much as its god-tier review scores and general Game of the Decade status have imbued on it, even though I basically bought the console to play it.
This 2019 Link’s Awakening has lots going for it. It looks amazing – and anyone who was familiar with the old original will instantly know where to go and how to get there – the recreation is accurate enough that one can use a game guide from 26 years ago and it will still serve you just fine.
The main new addition apart from the visual love is the ability to build and play through your own dungeons using tiles earned as you play through the game. Its a nice way to extend the game but it doesn’t really feel like much more than a side-project add-on to partially justify the game’s full price tag.
I’ve heard folks have struggled with frame performance in hand-held mode but being too old and bespectacled to enjoy tiny screens, playing Link’s Awakening docked on the big screen I had no issues.
In terms of progress I romped through most of Link’s Awakening in the first weekend – and got stuck on what I am presuming to be the last boss. I’m not ashamed to admit I had occasion to refer periodically to various wikis to get past some of the more onerous levels, and the occasional sense that I had no idea what I was supposed to do next.
I will go back and pick up from where we left off in the stream for the sake of completionism in the not too distant….
We were trading in a bunch of old games so went crazy and got the collectors edition of Link’s Awakening – with nice Artbook and Amazing GameBoy card case 🙂