Love LA so much.
One of my first big gaming memories was with a GBC and LADX(this was 1999 I think). I was standing outside of my mom’s house in Oakley, California next to our mailbox. It was super bright out that day so great GBC visibility. I played the color dungeon and was so impressed with it lol. Like many I think the general strangeness of the game really left an impression on me.
I played it again last year on the DSi XL which is a fantastic way to play the game. Really holds up too.
I don’t have a Twitter acct so I can’t dig any deeper than just this post but
anyway yeah one of the best and most important games to me, probably still have 99% of it memorized
Another long-time Link’s Awakening enjoyer here; this is maybe the game I have played through the most times start to finish (DX version bought with my birthday money, played on my lime green gameboy colour). I am so curious to hear how it is received by the people who haven’t played it before.
I’m sure the remake is fine but I honestly think the original/DX is probably the best way to first experience it. The additional DX dungeon is probably one of the weaker parts of it but I otherwise think DX is worth a play for those pretty colour palettes.
Ooo this game is on my list of games to play, so I will most definitely be participating this month!
Unfortunately my original gameboy cartridge is currently nowhere to be found. It’s probably in my parent’s basement somewhere. I’m really in the mood for a nostalgia trip though, so I decided to play the gameboy version on my RetroPie. (Which is a nice enough alternative but lurking in the retro handheld thread has awakened my hunger for something like the Retroid 4+ or an Odin 2 or something. I’ll have to look into that!)
Two observations made within the first 5 minutes of play:
Also I remembered this classic:
Gonna try and play along with everyone. I played probably half apiece of those Capcom GBC Zeldas, and by god those are fun. I’ve played the remake of this all the way through, mostly due just the pretty graphics. Booting up DX on my Analogue Pocket.
My initial thought going in (having already played the game to completion) is just how much of a moment this aesthetic is having. I don’t think you get Void Stranger without this game, and there’s Mina the Hollower coming at some point, alongside this game Veritus out next month. Moving beyond simple aesthetics, do you have say… Kentucky Route Zero without this?
Dunno! Anyway weird Zelda is always better than serious Zelda for me so i’ll smoke up a few hours.
Haha. That just makes me anxious cause I feel like I gotta school mark frost! He needs to read my MOTHER / Twin Peaks thread!
He was singing about ZELDA!
One thing I love about Link’s Awakening, and by extension Majora’s Mask and the Oracle games, is the idea of Link being this traveling problem solver. I really like the story of Link rolling up to a new place, helping them with all their problems, and moving along on his endless journey. This is the kind of Zelda that can be fresh every time instead of retelling the same “hero of destiny” type story we keep getting. I mean, I like those too, but the Wandering Problem Solver framing gives the writers more room to get weird with it, which they clearly did to great effect imo.
oh BOY do i have thoughts on this. will type out eventually
I’ve been taking the advice of one of the podcast hosts and playing through the original GB version of Link’s Awakening. I’ve been doing it here and there for about 20 minutes at a time on my Pocket. It’s been really fun!
yeah dude, majora’s mask is the problems-solvingest one!! I love it. it’s like Moon Remix RPG but it redirects its cynicism into something more… optimistic?
@jordanthornquest looks great on gameboy pocket… or analog pocket… both
I just got the game in Japanese and a GameBoy strategy guide in the mail : )
I’ll see how far I get with my beginner japanese!!
I ordered the strategy guide because I remember it helping me with the game when I was a kid, but after going through it right now, I think i may have had a different one after all lol
Man, that rules!
That strategy guide gives me all kinds of flashbacks of studying guides just like it and poring over the current issue of Gamestar. (Or, god forbid, Bravo Screenfun when I was desperate for video game news.) I must’ve spent at least as much time reading and fantasizing about games as I’ve spent actually playing them.
If I wanted to watch a playthrough of the Japanese version of Link’s Awakening, where would I look?
Here’s how I did that so you can do it in the future
Find the wikipedia page for the game you want (in this case it’s The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - Wikipedia) on every game page they show this little letter next to the name:
when you click it it shows you the Japanese name
Also I noticed in that video that the title had OP~ED which I figured meant opening~ending so I looked around some more using that term and found a shorter full playthrough, feel free to look around for one you want but here you go: https://youtu.be/30Wwo6nVogo?si=vDvG3I-p5qqWuhkv
for me, one of the biggest successes of BOTW (and to a lesser extent TOTK) is that they have both versions of Link in there - the destined hero tied into a legendary conflict and also the guy that kills some monsters to help a farmer or something. i guess that stuff is always in there as side content in Ocarina, WW, TP etc. but it’s always fun to see a side story given headline billing and they just haven’t done that since the DS. it’s less impactful next to the gods-&-kings stuff.
stuff like Link’s Awakening and Majora’s make Link more of a proper arthurian-style knight of legend. he did a big, Very Important quest… but then did a bunch of other cool stuff! and not always super heroic. In Link’s Awakening his escape from the island basically erases the existence of two towns and a bunch of people! “the monsters getting more aggressive” implies that the wind fish is suffering the Nightmare but Link just wants to leave. and again, it’s sort of prophesised - “AWAKE THE DREAMER” - but it’s not nearly as straightforward as Saving the Day. maybe the wind fish didn’t have to wake up for Link to get away. it’s interesting! at least as interesting as the hit tv show LOST anyway.
This is so, so helpful. Thank you!
So I played two dungeons and, well, I don’t think I can hang with this game. It’s too slow. The changing items in the inventory is the least of it. There isn’t a lot of text, but the text that’s there takes so long to be said. It has to give me that text about lifting a pot every time I glide past one without the bracelet on. It’s frustrating.
It feels like it’s treating me like a child, which I guess it is. It’s a game for children. But I’m 36 and impatient and this game kinda drives me up a wall. I’ve now given up on the remake and the DX version, so maybe this game will just never be for me, and that’s just fine.
Hopefully, I’m not raining on anybody’s parade too hard. Just reporting my experience as per game club practice. If you love this game, I’m very happy for you.
