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

4. Gone Are The Gear Annoyances

The Game Boy version did have a few little annoyances to it, which have been very neatly ironed out for the Switch.

We can still only equip two items at a time, mapped to the X and Y buttons, except there are now fewer items that need to be equipped in the first place, and therefore less time spent going into menus and swapping out gear.

In particular, I refer to the Power Bracelet and the Pegasus Boots. Previously being equippable gear that had to be constantly swapped out to one of only two available gear slots, now they are baked into the control scheme as permenantly equipped - the boots always usable simply by pressing the L button. This goes a very long way in making the whole experience feel much more streamlined and enjoyable.

Gone, too, are the persistent, annoying messages when you walk up to a rock that needs an item to clear it, this being personally my least favourite thing about the entire original game.