The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX

Link's Awakening is a cool evolution to Zelda pre-1993 because it appears to earnestly appreciate the series as a whole and not just the smash SNES hit A Link to the Past. While the control scheme severely limits the functionality of Link's Awakening compared to that title, which fully utilized a 6-button controller, the game taken as a whole evokes more mystery by adopting the wide-open, sink-or-swim world structure of the original NES Legend of Zelda.

The combat is extremely responsive and even with some of the more esoteric subweapons, nothing felt harder to control. Link's sword reach is quite a bit longer than in ALTTP, making routine encounters a bit less tedious. However, the limited button layout of the GBC means that Link's sword and shield will be put away often just to swap to a needed bit of equipment. You'll find yourself pausing multiple times per minute just to equip the right tool for the task at hand. This is the game's biggest issue by a country mile and the fact that it's just a constraint of the hardware makes me quite optimistic for the upcoming remake for the Switch.

The island of Koholint gates itself off into naturally revealed sections as Link's inventory of equipment grows. There are dozens of optional secrets you might miss entirely on a really solid playthrough of the game, and that makes this a game that is both fun to shoot through and spend time in the world. Your general gameplay loop is to find out where the next dungeon is, make your way there and find out what you need to find the key and get to the entrance, complete the dungeon, expanding your inventory with a new key item, and returning back to the fields of Koholint to start again. This is pretty straightforward stuff but you'll be running errands all over the island and its mazelike structure will eventually start to wear on you. Additionally, a few of the "dungeon prep" tasks are completely incoherent and illogical, even with the in-game hint system, which can make a couple sections of the game feel frustrating, like the game doesn't really care if you continue playing. The dungeons themselves are old-school hard and VERY complex towards the end of the game, but the early game has a solid difficulty curve so it's just about always rewarding.

Aesthetically I think Link's Awakening is a definite success for the GameBoy. Link, his friends, common grunts, and especially the bosses are all well-drawn and their weaknesses are communicated really well visually without verbal/written hints. The tone is a bit more whimsical and dreamlike thanks to the frequent cameos of Nintendo characters from other franchises, making it feel like a lighthearted Saturday morning cartoon series or something - He-Man comes to mind as a comparison. The GBC "DX" remake takes it up another level by incorporating a full color palette, which brightens the island and offers a bit more charm with all of its soft greens and sunbaked orange-browns. Occasionally you'll even see some cutscenes which look fantastic and never overstay their welcome. The game has some really solid sound design all around, with some solid musical arrangements (if with the caveat of an unhealthy overuse of the original Zelda 1 theme on the world map).

Link's Awakening is certainly a recommended title for both Zelda fans and people that haven't gotten to it in their GameBoy backlogs, but with the caveat of some guaranteed confusion at certain points, a slightly tedious map layout, and some serious inventory swapping issues. Maybe the island of Koholint will charm you like it did for me.