pygospa
3 reviews liked by pygospa
This review will contain mild spoilers
I was originally going to play the DX version but remembered that I had a half finished save file of the remake so I decided to just finish that instead of playing the whole game through the switch Gameboy collection. Im going to be kinda combining two reviews in one here, talking a lot about the original game but referring to the remake when it comes to gameplay and visuals.
I was a big fan of Links Awakening having played the DX version on the 3ds years ago, but I put off getting this remake for quite a long time until it went down in price. I ended up getting it late last year after playing Tears of the Kingdom and being in a bit of a Zelda phase. Whilst the DX version has a lot of charm to it, this is the definitive way to play this game in the modern day.
Links Awakening is the first Zelda game in my opinion to really prioritize its story. It's the first game chronologically not set in Hyrule and not to feature Zelda or Ganon (Kind of). Instead Link is washed up on Koholint Island after a deadly storm, he is tasked with waking the mysterious wind fish with the eight instruments of the sirens in order to get back home. On the surface its very clean cut, but features a secret that is gradually revealed as Link progresses through the dungeons which really effects the atmosphere of the game. One thing I noticed was that this game makes it very obvious that it is set after A Link to the Past which I think is one of the only times that it is specified what order the games take place in outside of Ocarina/Majora and BoTW/ToTK. There are a lot of similarities in characters and locations but most obviously is that in the final boss fight, the entity takes the form of both Agahnim and Ganon from Alttp. This was a really cool detail that I never knew and thought it would be interesting to add here.
Gameplay wise the remake makes all the right changes. The Gameboy version was heavily restricted due to hardware but was great for its time, the remake removes a lot of the hindrances that the original version had. Most notably, making some items usable without having to equip them, this is done with the Pegasus boots and power bracelets and means you dont have to constantly be switching things out in the menu. Im not a huge fan of having some items only be obtainable through the shop instead of being in a dungeon, but im pretty sure the whole game is possible without buying anything so it isn't a massive issue. Link's awakening also is a lot easier to blindly play through with the addition of phone huts where you can get a small hint as to where you need to go next. In the remake you can replay NPC conversations to catch any info you missed. Unfortunately not everything is told to you and you can still be left wandering around without a clue but I played everything from dungeon 5 to the end of the game without following a guide and only had to check up on stuff twice so its already way better than all previous games. I'm not a huge fan of the map as it seemed that there is always one very specific way to get to each location and loads of paths seemed needlessly blocked off just to confuse you.
The dungeons in this game are on par with Alttp in terms of size but I found them way more confusing to get through. Im not sure how the remake compares to the original but most dungeons, especially the last three, are very confusing to get through, but still enjoyable enough where it doesnt get frustrating. Eagle Tower is my favourite one by far.
Visually I do like the remake art style but I much prefer the DX retro look over the more toy like style the remake has. One of my favourite parts of this game is its score. They really started to add more diversity in their music at this stage with most buildings having music, multiple overworld tracks and each dungeon has its own track as well. My favourite part however is that dungeons 1 to 5 all have these booming action pieces until the twist is revealed in the 6th dungeon and from then on all the dungeon tracks are much more creepy sounding, my favourite is the eagle tower track, I'd recommend checking it out, either the OG or remake. The remake does ditch the retro sounding score for a more modern one and it works really well with the new look. I do prefer the retro score a little bit but I would happily listen to either. I also liked the anime style cutscenes for the beginning and credits, a good improvement from the old versions
Graphics wise I noticed a lot of frame drop, most notably in the grassy plains areas beside the main village. Since the remake ditched the screen style the original had and has massive areas all loaded in at once, plus enemy sprites and destructible objects plus the fact the switch's hardware is very outdated, makes for a bit of frame drop. Nothing game breaking by any means but something to note.
A solid remake of a classic game. Falters in a couple places for me compared to the original but still makes for a fun experience.
I was originally going to play the DX version but remembered that I had a half finished save file of the remake so I decided to just finish that instead of playing the whole game through the switch Gameboy collection. Im going to be kinda combining two reviews in one here, talking a lot about the original game but referring to the remake when it comes to gameplay and visuals.
I was a big fan of Links Awakening having played the DX version on the 3ds years ago, but I put off getting this remake for quite a long time until it went down in price. I ended up getting it late last year after playing Tears of the Kingdom and being in a bit of a Zelda phase. Whilst the DX version has a lot of charm to it, this is the definitive way to play this game in the modern day.
Links Awakening is the first Zelda game in my opinion to really prioritize its story. It's the first game chronologically not set in Hyrule and not to feature Zelda or Ganon (Kind of). Instead Link is washed up on Koholint Island after a deadly storm, he is tasked with waking the mysterious wind fish with the eight instruments of the sirens in order to get back home. On the surface its very clean cut, but features a secret that is gradually revealed as Link progresses through the dungeons which really effects the atmosphere of the game. One thing I noticed was that this game makes it very obvious that it is set after A Link to the Past which I think is one of the only times that it is specified what order the games take place in outside of Ocarina/Majora and BoTW/ToTK. There are a lot of similarities in characters and locations but most obviously is that in the final boss fight, the entity takes the form of both Agahnim and Ganon from Alttp. This was a really cool detail that I never knew and thought it would be interesting to add here.
Gameplay wise the remake makes all the right changes. The Gameboy version was heavily restricted due to hardware but was great for its time, the remake removes a lot of the hindrances that the original version had. Most notably, making some items usable without having to equip them, this is done with the Pegasus boots and power bracelets and means you dont have to constantly be switching things out in the menu. Im not a huge fan of having some items only be obtainable through the shop instead of being in a dungeon, but im pretty sure the whole game is possible without buying anything so it isn't a massive issue. Link's awakening also is a lot easier to blindly play through with the addition of phone huts where you can get a small hint as to where you need to go next. In the remake you can replay NPC conversations to catch any info you missed. Unfortunately not everything is told to you and you can still be left wandering around without a clue but I played everything from dungeon 5 to the end of the game without following a guide and only had to check up on stuff twice so its already way better than all previous games. I'm not a huge fan of the map as it seemed that there is always one very specific way to get to each location and loads of paths seemed needlessly blocked off just to confuse you.
The dungeons in this game are on par with Alttp in terms of size but I found them way more confusing to get through. Im not sure how the remake compares to the original but most dungeons, especially the last three, are very confusing to get through, but still enjoyable enough where it doesnt get frustrating. Eagle Tower is my favourite one by far.
Visually I do like the remake art style but I much prefer the DX retro look over the more toy like style the remake has. One of my favourite parts of this game is its score. They really started to add more diversity in their music at this stage with most buildings having music, multiple overworld tracks and each dungeon has its own track as well. My favourite part however is that dungeons 1 to 5 all have these booming action pieces until the twist is revealed in the 6th dungeon and from then on all the dungeon tracks are much more creepy sounding, my favourite is the eagle tower track, I'd recommend checking it out, either the OG or remake. The remake does ditch the retro sounding score for a more modern one and it works really well with the new look. I do prefer the retro score a little bit but I would happily listen to either. I also liked the anime style cutscenes for the beginning and credits, a good improvement from the old versions
Graphics wise I noticed a lot of frame drop, most notably in the grassy plains areas beside the main village. Since the remake ditched the screen style the original had and has massive areas all loaded in at once, plus enemy sprites and destructible objects plus the fact the switch's hardware is very outdated, makes for a bit of frame drop. Nothing game breaking by any means but something to note.
A solid remake of a classic game. Falters in a couple places for me compared to the original but still makes for a fun experience.
This was the one game in the franchise that I was dreading coming back to. I got to the area just before the 2nd dungeon and genuinely just couldn't take anymore of it. I played this using the NES switch thing and eventually switched to the "SP" version which gives you most upgrades off the bat.
Due to me not finishing it I cant really talk about it in full detail but from what I played, the world design is horrific. I really did not like the top down world view especially with enemies popping out every 3 seconds and being impossible to dodge. Some enemies are designed really poorly, having to be frame perfect with attacks in order to do damage, also similarly to the first game, when Link has full health he shoots a sword beam, in this game it doesn't damage half the enemies so its totally pointless.
The impression that I got was that if you want to be appropriately levelled their would be a lot of back tracking and with a game as slow as this I just couldn't bring myself to keep at it.
I do have a couple positives. I really like the music, there is a decent diversity in tracks as supposed to the first game. Also you can see a lot of the framework that goes into the future games come around here with towns and villagers, i think a large issue for this game is it was too ambitious with the hardware it was on.
I may come back to it but I highly doubt it and if I do it will be out of pure spite just to finish it.
Due to me not finishing it I cant really talk about it in full detail but from what I played, the world design is horrific. I really did not like the top down world view especially with enemies popping out every 3 seconds and being impossible to dodge. Some enemies are designed really poorly, having to be frame perfect with attacks in order to do damage, also similarly to the first game, when Link has full health he shoots a sword beam, in this game it doesn't damage half the enemies so its totally pointless.
The impression that I got was that if you want to be appropriately levelled their would be a lot of back tracking and with a game as slow as this I just couldn't bring myself to keep at it.
I do have a couple positives. I really like the music, there is a decent diversity in tracks as supposed to the first game. Also you can see a lot of the framework that goes into the future games come around here with towns and villagers, i think a large issue for this game is it was too ambitious with the hardware it was on.
I may come back to it but I highly doubt it and if I do it will be out of pure spite just to finish it.
The Legend of Zelda
1986
Im going to slowly playthrough most of the mainline Zelda games as there are very few I have properly completed so no better place to start than the 1986 classic. Prefix, I played this using the NES collection thing on the Switch.
Like most NES games there isn't any narrative, just a quest. Link has to save Princess Zelda from the evil Ganon. Very simple and the groundwork that the later entries build off. The meat of the game is in the dungeons and overworld exploration. The map is very easy to navigate if you find one online, it makes everything much easier. For the most part the dungeons are good and age surprisingly well, but the last two dungeons ramps the difficulty up out of nowhere which was quite rewarding considering how OP the sword is in this game. Most items were useless besides the candle and bombs as most of them have a single use for the dungeon you get it in. The overworld is mostly just a forest looking area with Death Mountain up to the north and a graveyard to the west, fun to explore and find all the secret hidden rooms, which I have absolutely no idea how people were meant to find these back in the day.
When it comes to visuals, the 8 bit art style is really charming and I love all the enemy sprites, good variety of enemies as well for the first game in the series. Score wise it is iconic, The Legend of Zelda franchise has some of my favourite tracks of all time in it and the first game in the series sets it up well. There are a handful of tracks in this game but the one you hear the most is the overworld theme which is pretty much synonymous with the franchise at this point.
A true classic. I think this game has aged quite for an NES game,. By todays standards it is borderline required to either use a guide or at least a map to save yourself walking around lost, but besides that its a good start to my favourite franchise of all time.
Like most NES games there isn't any narrative, just a quest. Link has to save Princess Zelda from the evil Ganon. Very simple and the groundwork that the later entries build off. The meat of the game is in the dungeons and overworld exploration. The map is very easy to navigate if you find one online, it makes everything much easier. For the most part the dungeons are good and age surprisingly well, but the last two dungeons ramps the difficulty up out of nowhere which was quite rewarding considering how OP the sword is in this game. Most items were useless besides the candle and bombs as most of them have a single use for the dungeon you get it in. The overworld is mostly just a forest looking area with Death Mountain up to the north and a graveyard to the west, fun to explore and find all the secret hidden rooms, which I have absolutely no idea how people were meant to find these back in the day.
When it comes to visuals, the 8 bit art style is really charming and I love all the enemy sprites, good variety of enemies as well for the first game in the series. Score wise it is iconic, The Legend of Zelda franchise has some of my favourite tracks of all time in it and the first game in the series sets it up well. There are a handful of tracks in this game but the one you hear the most is the overworld theme which is pretty much synonymous with the franchise at this point.
A true classic. I think this game has aged quite for an NES game,. By todays standards it is borderline required to either use a guide or at least a map to save yourself walking around lost, but besides that its a good start to my favourite franchise of all time.