The most accustomed to the brand may already know it, but it is always better to repeat: the chapters of The Legend of Zelda are divided into two main strands. If the success of Breath of the Wild has become an image of the strong exploration, RPG and action component of the brand, it must be said that another large segment of users has always remained in love with the isometric soul of The Legend of Zelda, the one made of puzzles, puzzle e un pinch of action. Over the years these two types have alternated, often using the two Nintendo home consoles: so if the Wii had Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, the 3DS brought back old auspicious ones like Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, but also churning out that fantastic game by The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
Nintendo has therefore chosen to combine the epic of Breath of the Wild not with a new game, but the remake of one of the best The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Released in 1993 on Game Boy, it is the fourth chapter of the saga, the game has already seen a reinterpretation in its DX version (edition released for Game Boy Color, which in this case contained the Color Dungeon and the photographer, but we will talk about this in little). With the idea of wanting to understand what this Link's Awakening can actually give, here is our review.
Many news
So, is this remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening identical to the one for the Game Boy? Yes and no. Everything that today would be anachronistic - or that was already done poorly at the time - has new life in this version: goodbye to the separation of the game map, now smooth and unloaded (although a noticeable drop in frame rate to 30fps occurs when the game loads) and at inventory management with just two buttons. Using the four present on Nintendo Switch, this time A and B will be fixed on attack and action, while X and Y can be assigned to various objects. Among these, equipment such as the bracelet of strength finally comes out (finding space in a definitive inventory): in this way you won't have to go into the pause menu that often, - which in the original version was required even when you have to lift a boulder - reaching a much better level of game fluency.
Everything else has remained unchanged: the continuation of the story (except for a few small choices to make the game smooth) and the positioning of the map areas are the same, giving a significant nostalgic flavor to the work. Earlier we talked about the DX version: the two novelties inserted then had a different fate. If the Color Dungeon returns, this time even more colorful than before, the photographer has disappeared to make room for Dungeon Creator: the character of Danpei, which you will find approximately after the first quarter of the game, will allow you to create original Dungeons (using, however, the unlockable tiles by finishing the various historical Dungeons) that you can then try and complete. Too bad for the management of your creations: to be able to share them, the only thing you can do is to save them in a Amiibo and take them to a friend's house. On the other hand, the Zelda Amiibo you own will be able to unlock interesting tiles that you can insert into your creations.
The Difficulty
Like all remakes, historical fans will remember the various sections of the game with heart: that's why the Raw Team worked body and soul to make this game suitable for them too. Primarily, you can face the adventure on heroic difficulty, which will eliminate the presence of hearts around the map (leaving the refill of your life to the doers). New tools, such as pins, will allow you to enjoy the story in a more comfortable and fun way (avoiding having to look at the map a hundred times to understand where to go) and finally all the minigames have received a modernization treatment, becoming more in-depth and fun .
Furthermore, being The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening a game of more than 25 years ago, it already has a difficulty above the average of today's games, leaving few clues on how to continue in the story, and requiring a pinch of intuition that now very little is needed in most of today's titles.
The Legend of Zelda (and Link)
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was the beginning of many things: in 1993 it was the first game of the saga to arrive on GameBoy, it was one of the first titles to become DX for GameBoy Color, and today it becomes the first real remake, ready to give new life to the isometric The Legend of Zelda. The ideas behind this game, the way they are carried out, the magnitude of the various missions and having to discover them on your own makes The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening truly a something to discover and rediscover, to play at home and on the go: even if the game will keep you glued to the Switch for 14 hours (approximately, counting the secondary activities), the management of missions and dungeons is so well separated that it is a title suitable even for travel .
Despite the drop in frame rates (the game has a fixed 60 fps, which drops to 30 when it loads) e some very small bugs, the game is very enjoyable in both docked and handheld versions: however, we remain in favor of the second mode, thanks to the nostalgia effect (reported precisely by the fact that the original was portable) and also because The release of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening coincides with the arrival of the new Nintendo Switch Lite, definitely suited to the task. Regardless, every single polygon, every part and even every reinterpretation of the various characters finds in this remake new life, new colors and even a much greater detail, never out of place and, above all, faithful. Discovering all the references to Super Mario or rediscovering the various characters that live Koholint is a dip into the past sweetened by the work of Team Grezzo, capable of being equally innovative and faithful.
