Review: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

[Luneth Uchiha 72]

What starts as a journey to another land suddenly goes wrong. Link's boat is suddenly caught in a storm and he washes up on the island of Koholint. He wakes up in the house of a girl named Marin who rescued him. He notices he dropped his sword somewhere and goes to search for his sword. When he finds it he meets a mystical owl who tells him that Link can not leave the island of Koholint until he awakens the wind fish. Thus Link's adventure on Koholint begins.

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Link's Awakening was released in 1993 for the Game Boy. It featured nine dungeons, and several side quests. A color version was released in 1995 for the Game Boy Color which had a exclusive dungeon not surprisingly revolving around color.

The graphics of Link's Awakening were very well done and presented for the Game Boy. The monsters seemed to come alive and if you couldn't defeat them, their image would be stuck in your head, even after you had turned off the Game Boy, haunting you until you did. No two dungeons used the same tiles, and each were very well laid out.

The gameplay was also excellent. It wasn't too hard to grasp the combat system, yet the monsters still presented a challenge. The bosses were very well planned. Their fights would leave you on edge while trying to figure out how to slay them. The dungeons were often fun, and had puzzles which would drive you mad, such as how to get on the cliff in Turtle Rock to get the small key, or trying to get the boss key in the Bottle Grotto.

The music is the best the Game Boy has to offer, done by Nintendo's Koji Kondo. The music fit the game very well and left an everlasting impresion. If you got stuck in a dungeon and were frustrated, the thing you would most likely remember is the music that continues to loop, as if to torment you. Who could forget the epic music of Turtle Rock, Tail Cave, and the Ballad of the Wind Fish?

While at first this game doesn't seem to be as fun as A Link to the Past, nor as epic, this game has alot of moments that proves that this game can stand up to it. One could spend hours fishing, completing the trading quest, collecting seashells for a new sword, and who can forget pondering the mystery of if Koholint island was a dream or not? Link's Awakening had a very original story and was very fun to complete.It was very well thought out in dungeon layout, over world layout, story layout, and even boss design were very well done.

Story: 9/10

Gameplay: 10/10

Graphics: 9/10

Music and Sound: 10/10

Replayability: 10/10

Overall score: 9.5/10

Overall score not an average.

Edited 27 Mar 2009 by SirJoshizzle (see edit history)

[Embear 0]

Good review. Link's Awakening is a real favorite of mine. Who would have thought there could be so much good game play in a little handheld system? Good replay value too