It is ludicrous that these games work as well as they do. Capcom taking the reins of Nintendo's second biggest series, attempting to build a multi-game narrative on a nearly-dead 8-bit portable system using an 8-year-old game's blueprint, featuring a troubled development that went from remake to trilogy to a pair of games releasing simultaneously. In most realities, these games either died on the vine unreleased or were bungled products with a reputation approaching the CD-i games. But what we got in our reality is arguably the peak of 2D Zelda in terms of pure gameplay.
Despite always being more drawn to the puzzle aspects of Zelda than the combat, I ended up enjoying Seasons slightly more. Playing it first certainly helps (slight burnout set in during the back half of Ages given the length of each game), but despite the action branding it has excellent dungeon design, creative items, and a much more puzzle-focused overworld via the season-changing mechanic. Both games owe a tremendous debt to Link's Awakening though I would say Oracle only fails to surpass it in theming, charm, and flow; were those not so important to me, Seasons would safely be my favourite 2D entry.
This is an expert case of playing to your strengths. Returning items like the feather and boomerang are expanded upon to keep them fresh, new items like the magnetic gloves are multifunctional, the rings and seeds allow for more fine-tuned customization than the series had ever seen (becoming a fixture of Fujibayashi's later games in the series). More so than in LA, you find yourself in situations where you put away the sword to employ a combo of items to progress rather than just need one item at a time. The story is kept simple enough to thread together the familiar overarching quest of the two games, but the team was willing to get weird with the Subrosians and animal companions. Every iota of juice is squeezed out of the Game Boy Color, with screens that can now scroll and colour-coded puzzles and an extra underworld in addition to the four season overworld and eight full dungeons, yet it never overreaches (aside from somewhat annoying item swapping).
You do feel the absence of certain qualities other 2D games do better: more cohesive overworlds like in Link's Awakening and Link to the Past, or the expressiveness of character design in Minish Cap and Link Between Worlds. It also loses the sense of progressively setting things right that you get in Ages, as the seasons remain disordered and changeable all game despite that ostensibly being the problem you're solving. Like I said, it's a narrow edge over Ages. (speaking of, why not take a gander at my review of that game)
What these games unlocked for me is the way the Zelda series has cultivated a spectrum with one end being "you are an adventurer" and the other being "you are The Hero". I'd say the adventuring side is embodied by the original Zelda, Breath of the Wild, and the Oracles; even when you are technically constrained in terms of dungeon order or how much of the world you can access, you feel like you're making your own way based on your sense of direction and curiosity. When you're The Hero, you are driven instead by what needs to be done and have situations and setpieces placed in your direct path rather than feeling like you came across them organically. Both games cultivate that sense of adventure well: you're self-reliant and using every tool at your disposal to untangle knotted and unfamiliar dungeons. If you're into 2D Zelda and especially the adventuring end of the Zelda spectrum, you owe it to yourself to play them.
Loose thoughts:
-the lingering elements of the initial Remake Zelda 1 pitch really underscore how much more palatable I find the action in LttP and the following 2D games compared to the original. Swinging instead of stabbing greatly cuts down on frustrating misses, extra mobility with jumps or increased speed balance the scales, and the smaller screen real estate caps just how many enemies you're facing at any given time.
-the linked game secrets were a bit of a letdown, and they seemingly disproportionately impact the first game you play. You can't benefit from the secrets until you complete the first game and link, and then in the second game you get secrets to go back and get upgrades that are kind of worthless in the game you've already beaten.
-god they're leaving money on the table not remaking these games as they did Link's Awakening. The quality of life improvements there would be even more meaningful here with stuff like types of seeds and being able to permanently commit the jump to the pegasus boot button, not to mention being able to organically implement the secrets rather than relying on codes.
Despite always being more drawn to the puzzle aspects of Zelda than the combat, I ended up enjoying Seasons slightly more. Playing it first certainly helps (slight burnout set in during the back half of Ages given the length of each game), but despite the action branding it has excellent dungeon design, creative items, and a much more puzzle-focused overworld via the season-changing mechanic. Both games owe a tremendous debt to Link's Awakening though I would say Oracle only fails to surpass it in theming, charm, and flow; were those not so important to me, Seasons would safely be my favourite 2D entry.
This is an expert case of playing to your strengths. Returning items like the feather and boomerang are expanded upon to keep them fresh, new items like the magnetic gloves are multifunctional, the rings and seeds allow for more fine-tuned customization than the series had ever seen (becoming a fixture of Fujibayashi's later games in the series). More so than in LA, you find yourself in situations where you put away the sword to employ a combo of items to progress rather than just need one item at a time. The story is kept simple enough to thread together the familiar overarching quest of the two games, but the team was willing to get weird with the Subrosians and animal companions. Every iota of juice is squeezed out of the Game Boy Color, with screens that can now scroll and colour-coded puzzles and an extra underworld in addition to the four season overworld and eight full dungeons, yet it never overreaches (aside from somewhat annoying item swapping).
You do feel the absence of certain qualities other 2D games do better: more cohesive overworlds like in Link's Awakening and Link to the Past, or the expressiveness of character design in Minish Cap and Link Between Worlds. It also loses the sense of progressively setting things right that you get in Ages, as the seasons remain disordered and changeable all game despite that ostensibly being the problem you're solving. Like I said, it's a narrow edge over Ages. (speaking of, why not take a gander at my review of that game)
What these games unlocked for me is the way the Zelda series has cultivated a spectrum with one end being "you are an adventurer" and the other being "you are The Hero". I'd say the adventuring side is embodied by the original Zelda, Breath of the Wild, and the Oracles; even when you are technically constrained in terms of dungeon order or how much of the world you can access, you feel like you're making your own way based on your sense of direction and curiosity. When you're The Hero, you are driven instead by what needs to be done and have situations and setpieces placed in your direct path rather than feeling like you came across them organically. Both games cultivate that sense of adventure well: you're self-reliant and using every tool at your disposal to untangle knotted and unfamiliar dungeons. If you're into 2D Zelda and especially the adventuring end of the Zelda spectrum, you owe it to yourself to play them.
Loose thoughts:
-the lingering elements of the initial Remake Zelda 1 pitch really underscore how much more palatable I find the action in LttP and the following 2D games compared to the original. Swinging instead of stabbing greatly cuts down on frustrating misses, extra mobility with jumps or increased speed balance the scales, and the smaller screen real estate caps just how many enemies you're facing at any given time.
-the linked game secrets were a bit of a letdown, and they seemingly disproportionately impact the first game you play. You can't benefit from the secrets until you complete the first game and link, and then in the second game you get secrets to go back and get upgrades that are kind of worthless in the game you've already beaten.
-god they're leaving money on the table not remaking these games as they did Link's Awakening. The quality of life improvements there would be even more meaningful here with stuff like types of seeds and being able to permanently commit the jump to the pegasus boot button, not to mention being able to organically implement the secrets rather than relying on codes.
Reviewed on May 09, 2023