Zelda: Link's Awakening - 10 Problems Nobody Wants To Admit

Because every awakening leads to eye-opening.

Links Awakening Switch
Nintendo

Remaking classic video games is fast becoming a guaranteed money-making tactic for studios and developers worldwide. For the most part, they're the perfect blend of nostalgia and modern console capabilities. You only need cast your eyes over the sumptuous Final Fantasy VII remake and you immediately realise how much you desperately need to play it.

Nintendo themselves are no strangers to remaking one of their marquee franchises, either - The Legend of Zelda. However, the bulk of their efforts so far have been re-textured or HD versions of N64 & Gamecube classics with little done to change up gameplay, save for a few 'quality of life' modifications.

Ocarina of Time & Majora's Mask both found new life on the 3DS, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess look a fair bit better in HD, but Nintendo's most recent remake, Links Awakening, was probably the most ambitious of the lot. Making a 26 year-old, top down GameBoy Zelda title for the modern age is a pretty massive task.

Studio Ghibli-inspired graphics, a 3D treatment and releasing more than two years after Breath of the Wild's dust had settled meant sales were always going to be strong for Link's Awakening... but is it really that good?

On reflection... not so much, no.

10. Reduced Appeal For Returning Players

Links Awakening Switch
Nintendo

For the Millennial generation, Nintendo's GameBoy was one of the first video game consoles anyone was allowed to own themselves. Console games, at the time, were just starting to step away from the 'tear your hair out' difficulty curves that the likes of Battletoads put us through but most of the home consoles were nearing the end of their lifespans as the N64 and PS1 loomed on the horizon.

In short, the GameBoy was the introduction for many to the world of gaming and Link's Awakening was probably many young gamers very first experience of the franchise. The Easter Egg laden landscape was just tricky enough that it was engaging and just short enough that virtually everyone who played it completed it and experienced the catharsis of the end credits.

But... because pretty much everyone completed it back then, why should we do it all over again with no real changes to the story or the gameplay (on the whole, more on that later).

The few extra bits simply aren't enough to bring everyone back to Koholint Island for another playthrough - especially when you consider this isn't the first remake...

Contributor
Contributor

Probably the only person ever to see all the endings of the awful Shadow the Hedgehog video game. Professional proofreader, football fanatic, lion tamer and occasional liar.