Zelda: Link's Awakening Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

- Ups -

6. Everything Exactly How You Remember, But Better

The original Link's Awakening was a masterpiece, with perfect spam-slash sword combat, incredible dungeon design, loveable characters and precision jumping making exploring the overworld and solving puzzles an absolute delight.

I'm delighted to report that Nintendo have not tampered with anything that made the original game so loveable. Link's quest, the dungeon layouts, even most of the dialogue, everything is exactly the same as the original version, and players who have already played the original will delight in the nostalgia as they recall certain familiar dungeon puzzles.

The huge number of references to Super Mario and other Nintendo characters remains, emphasised even more on-the-nose than before.

The once-confusing long trading sequence throughout the game remains exactly the same, but characters looking for items will now give clearly defined hints as to what they are looking for, and with the ability to mark spots on the map (more on that later), the whole sequence feels infinitely easier and more enjoyable, with less time running around talking to every single NPC for help.

And yes, that giant patch of grass in Mabe Village is still as brilliant as ever.