The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening retrospective: A recurring dream | Game Boy Works Color

We have yet another early Game Boy Color release that got its start in monochrome-but this one's a little different. Rather than appearing as a late Game Boy release and hastily being reworked for color, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening debuted back in 1993 and was given a comprehensive overhaul for the new handheld. While largely the same game as the original release, with few visual or mechanical changes outside of a more vivid palette, Link's Awakening DX does add new material to Nintendo's handheld classic: A new bonus dungeon, some new gear, and Game Boy Printer support. It ultimately amounts to a minor upgrade, yes, but the base game was so strong that it didn't need much in the way of an overhaul. Here, as on Game Boy, it's a genuine classic.

[@coolkid1597]

Your videos are seen by far too few people, Jeremy, but they are so appreciated.

[@randallrutherford1384]

Seen by 1 more now 🎸

[@777superlightwater]

True

[@siskavard]

I know, I'm getting old, but I truly miss the days when Zelda games were still 2D & each of them felt like a fun toy world, like a trinket to play with & get lost in. Can't wait for the Links Awakening reboot, it looks like it's trying to be more toy like like the old days.

[@copiernerds]

Exactly - THIS!!!!! - im hoping for Zelda 1 and Link to the Past to be redone like Links Awakening.

[@ValkyrieTiara]

If you haven't played BotW, make sure you do it. It VERY MUCH feels like a 3D version of the OG LoZ. Also give Link Between Worlds a shot. I hated that game but I seem to be in the minority on that and it ticks a lot of the boxes you're asking for.

[@thecunninlynguist]

@@copiernerds I hope we get the oracle games remade in this engine...and LBW is basically LttP remade

[@CaptainXJ]

Remake not reboot.

[@Mqstodon]

@@thecunninlynguist not really. Most of it is completely different, only the map and items are similar

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

A.k.a, that one with all the Mario enemies in.

[@roguerifter9724]

Don't forget the evil Kirbys.

[@nuclearbeeberman]

this is my favorite game of all time and I'm so hyped for the remake O_O

[@BMW-sd6nn]

My favorite zelda game of all time great video!

[@jlc992]

It is amazing just how much they crammed into Link's Awakening. And the compact size made it really fun to move around in and poke to see what's next. I honestly would rank it slightly higher than Link to the Past but even if you lower it the idea of a 1993 Gameboy game even making top ranking is a testament of how much love Nintendo put into it.

[@jokerzwild00]

I think it's hilarious that people are complaining about the the new remake not being worth 60 bucks because of its length, but that they'd be happy to pay 40. This is a game boy game with enough content to make people argue if it's worth 40 or 60 dollars in 2019. They sure did cram a lot into it if people are even willing to pay 40 dollars for it. Most game boy games could be beaten in an hour or 2!

[@BLINDCABBY]

@@jokerzwild00 great points

[@jasongarrett768]

It is STILL weird to remember that Zelda has been influenced by Twin Peaks. I do hope it’s noted that the Switch remake’s art style seemingly hearkens back to those clay and plastic models Nintendo loved to use in manual/magazine art and promotional materials back in the late 80’s/early 90’s. It’s a lovely callback that might go unnoticed by those that didn’t get to experience it the first time around.

[@Banzeken]

That's a great observation. I really dig the box/manual for Secret of Mana and Starfox for that same reason.

[@Banzeken]

(I realize that Starfox used puppets on the cover and not models, but it's still cool craftsmanship even if the Fox puppet looks a bit menacing LOL)

[@Seantendo]

"The owls are not what they seem."

[@bittersweetjesus]

Hey Jason, stop worrying about Zelda and just make sure the Cowboys win some games

[@jasongarrett768]

Patrick Mendoza Cue Michael Bolton rant from Office Space.

[@chaserush1382]

ever play a game and the mood of which you have first played the game in, suddenly come back to you? like say, youre reminded of rain or someone cooking dinner. as i get older, thats what im reminded of when playing older games from my childhood. such a nostalgic feeling.

[@BenCol]

That Zelda game you like is coming back in style.

[@jasonblalock4429]

My deku stick saw something that night.

[@johnsimon8457]

The Owl is not what it seems. ( FWIW, I don’t think there’ll ever be a game that reproduces the dreamy melancholy of Twin Peaks Season 3 where at the end all the pieces came together to form a coherent whole only to be blown away a second later (spoilers) kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYmsqpt6qLhobqs )

[@Seantendo]

Din's Fire, walk with me.

[@ATippingBarn]

I understood that reference!

[@TectonicImprov]

"I will see you again in 26 years."

[@bradleygiven5193]

Pet Theory Alert: Wart is some kind of Freddy Kruegar-esque figure in Nintendo.

[@Gemini476]

It checks out. Link's Awakening is in a dream world, Super Mario Bros 2 USA is in a dream world, and Kirby is from Dream Land which may-or-may-not have been a dream world at this point in time. Perhaps it's not surprising that those three cross over! ...Don't ask me about Will Wright, though, I've got nothing.

[@jasongarrett768]

If you bring the Will Wright Mythos into this we then have to figure out how the Bungeling Empire fits into everything.

[@Seantendo]

That would explain why we never see him anymore. Nobody's afraid of him. Maybe he should get Tatanga to spread the word for him.

[@n0isyturtle]

IMO Link's Awakening is still the best Zelda game.

[@TheJadeFist]

A few decades late here, but what if they had let you have 4 slots for items, where as you'd have A and B, and press select to shift over to a 2nd A and B. The map could have just as easily been in the start menu. Would have cut down on some of the tediousness of going into the menu to item swap.

[@alienjesus]

Great video as always, but I was a bit confused by describing the GBCs colour palette as 'muted' and 'almost master system-like'. Are you looking at the same console as me? The master system colour palette is, if anything, a bit over-saturated!

[@_OCPGAMING]

You can hear a woman in the background at 16:04.

[@JohnAGalvanArt]

"Link Gets Woke!" Ah haha, Brilliant opening.

[@ValkyrieTiara]

Fair warning: If you're too young to have actually played this game or just never got around to it and were looking forward to the remake, he spoils the ending not five minutes into the video with no warning whatsoever.

[@cowardlylion42]

It was released over 20 years ago.

[@ValkyrieTiara]

​@@cowardlylion42 So that's over 15 years worth of people who probably didn't bother with an old handheld game for a dead system. You could be 14-16 now and hype for the remake, and the game would have been obsolete BEFORE YOU WERE BORN. Link's Awakening is an incredible game but it's not a major cultural touchstone like King Kong's death is. You can assume the average person knows what "rosebud" and "I am your father" refer to, you can't assume anybody knows wtf the Wind Fish is. I'm not exactly blaming Jeremy here, but with the remake just about to come out you have to assume a LOT of people are going to be playing this game for the first time. Don't act like I'm an idiot for trying to help those people.

[@ValkyrieTiara]

@@KingofCrusher Of course you do, but it's not known that the entire island, everyone, and everyTHING on it is a figment of the Wind Fish's dream. I mean, OK it's kind of a misnomer for me to have said "ending" earlier, as it's actually revealed over the course of the game, but the point is that that's the big twist and you can't assume everyone knows it just because "it came out a long time ago".

[@feitclub]

"link gets woke" oh my god

[@palody_en-ja]

This should age well 👍

[@j0nnyism]

I’d rather he didn’t and stayed dreaming. His dreams are so much fun

[@TVsMrNeil]

Always found it fairly cheeky that instead of the mermaid's bikini top, you instead have to give her a pearl necklace. I mean, this was a Treehouse translation, right? They had to know what that meant, right?

[@jasongarrett768]

I was about to say Treehouse wasn’t even a thing at that point but was surprised to find out that they’re much older than I thought. Turns out their first project was Donkey Kong Country!

[@TVsMrNeil]

@@jasongarrett768 Actually, I *did* jump to an assumption that it was them. The Link's Awakening translation has a Treehouse feel to it. May or may not be them, but it's a good translation overall, even with a few amusing mistranslations, such as the Bucket Mouse. (I sure hope they didn't change that for the remake.) I don't think they worked on Donkey Kong Country, as that was a Rare production. It would have already been in English. I heard that DKC inspired the name, though.

[@PandaXs1]

@@TVsMrNeil DKC was the first game Treehouse ever worked on. just because the game was already in English doesn't mean it can't be localized.

[@duhdeedee]

On DMG GB (and probably Super GB) the guards at the color dungeon won't let you in at all. The riddle could've been added (I'm guessing) in case a simple Game Genie code fooled the game into thinking it was on GBC. Yeah, I actually bought Link's Awakening DX soon after it released without getting a GBC and played the color dungeon on a friend's unit.

[@ShdwHg]

To add to this, if you get through the gatekeepers anyway through hacking of some sort, the graphics of the rooms beyond are corrupted (I mean, it's not the _ugliest_ corruption, but they're very clearly not right), so they pretty clearly did not intend monochrome players to access the areas beyond at all.

[@JeremyParish]

Thanks for clarifying that.

[@rickpgriffin]

My main issue with the DX version is all the people who retroactively assume that it's the original. People complaining the photo booth in the switch remake doesn't exist "like in the original". Bah! In my day, that corner of the field was one of the few map spots with nothing of interest whatsoever!

[@clydefrosch]

no, you can't get into the color dungeon unless on a gbc or hacking your way past the skeletons. On GB, they won't let you inside

[@knowledgeseeker4116]

Review Tech USA requested that I come here. I'm glad that I did.👍 New Subscriber. Skipembopdobadumbop Boom!!! 😃

[@duffman18]

I've been trying to beat this before I buy the remake for switch. It's a lot linear than I thought it'd be. You're literally blocked from going the wrong way until to complete certain parts. I prefer that because I hate playing zelda 1 for nes without a guide for this reason. I love breath of the wild though, it gets that non-linear style down perfectly. But yeah I think I might prefer this to Link to the Past even, and that's been my favourite zelda until I started playing this. It's just so well made.

[@aswathmaheshkumar7416]

duffman18 How long did it take you to beat it?

[@Korstre]

I think it's pretty easy to say this is the best game on the Game Boy and its color counterpart. It was so powerful that I ended up sporting a Wind Fish avatar for a while. I thought the same thing about how it feels similar to the quirkiness and sentimentalism of the Mother/Earthbound series.

[@alanlee67]

The color dungeon is not accessible if you're not playing on a gbc. Those NPCs at the entrance won't let you in

[@katt-the-pig]

I hadn't played the black & white original, as I didn't get into Zelda until Ocarina of Time's release. Following that, I tried both Link to the Past and Link's Awakening, and I by far prefer Link's Awakening for having a much more fleshed out world to explore and more things to do while you explore. I also absolutely love the picture quest, and wonder why they dropped it in the remake but not the color dungeon.

[@aswathmaheshkumar7416]

Draygone Fuzzbottom Jr Hey so I thinking of picking up a new game for my switch so I’m contemplating if I should buy this because I have heard that this game is really short so what’s your take on it

[@katt-the-pig]

Assuming you've never played through Link's Awakening before, I'm guessing the remake will take 10 hours to beat, at the most. For some people, that's too short for $60. But for me, game length isn't as important as enjoyability. I've had a lot of fun with the GBC version of the game, so if the Switch version is just as fun, then it's easily worth the $60 to me. (If it were a 5-hour game, though, that'd be stretching it.) So the important quesiton is whether you think you'd enjoy an older-style Zelda game like this. This is a remake of a Game Boy game from 1993. It isn't going to have near as much story as more modern Zelda games. Dark undertone aside, the plot is more about the little zany antics you encounter along the way.

[@aswathmaheshkumar7416]

I recently played link to the past on SNES online and absolutely loved it but something that’s really bothering me is I haven’t played smash ultimate yet so I thinking if I should pick this or that.

[@katt-the-pig]

Don't know if I'm the right person to ask about that. I'm not interested in playing Smash online, and Ultimate's single-player content leaves much to be desired. "World of Light" just sounds tedious.

[@Sentinel04]

Acorn music got elementary school me pumped, not irritating at all

[@mbe102]

Hey Jeremy! Bought the first two Gameboy and NES Works Books for my buddy for Christmas! I'm excited on his behalf!

[@summersonic1846]

I didn't know you could play the DX version on the Super Gameboy and get the sweet border.

[@aducharme01]

So, tell me. Did you start Game Boy Color Works just so you'd be able to talk about Link's Awakening sooner?

[@7thangelad586]

I’m still stricken by how heavy the story becomes as you venture forward. I hope you’ll cover the two Oracles in the series too.

[@hinodedl]

Those are 2001 releases, so unfortunately Jeremy has a few hundred GBC shovelware titles to go through first.

[@theSato]

@@hinodedl Unless he goes out of order like he often does..

[@FloatingSunfish]

Awesome video as always, Jeremy! By the way, do you think you'll reach The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls on GB Works? That one was certainly unique for its time.

[@stepheng8061]

Floating Sunfish I think he did already actually

[@ValkyrieTiara]

@@stepheng8061 He's still in 1990 for GBW, so considering Frog didn't come out in Japan until 92, no he hasn't covered it yet. He will get to it eventually, but it's probably gonna be at least a year or two, depending on how much he focuses on game boy over NES/SNES in the intervening period.

[@FloatingSunfish]

@@stepheng8061 I'm pretty sure he hasn't done it yet, plus I can't seem to find any videos of it on his channel yet.

[@hinodedl]

@@stepheng8061 Game Boy Works is not even close to 1992 games like Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru yet.

[@KuraIthys]

I bought this in a second-hand shop only to find it was a poorly made replica cart. Oh well. It also made me a little disappointed in how little the gameboy color and super gameboy have in common. Technically this game supports both, but it does so in very different ways... Of course, the super gameboy featureset is highly underutilised in general. Very few gameboy games use even a tiny fraction of what the SGB is actually capable of. Everything from overlaying a SNES colour map onto the gameboy games, single-cartridge multiplayer, substituting SNES style music for GB music, or even uploading small SNES games are possible, amongst other things... Basically it lets you do a whole bunch of things that result from hybrid GB/SNES code, but what most games that supported it at all did was pretty much limited to the most basic support you could think of. One of the few cases where the SGB support is even on par with the GBC support is Pokemon Yellow - which isn't saying much because Pokemon yellow is pretty minimal with it's GBC features. However, it does replicate those same features for SGB use, so... That's something at least. (It's one of the few games with SGB support that does frequent dynamic palette changes throughout the game)

[@syntaxerror9994]

Best memory I have with this game (origional technically) is playing it at a store demo with some kid I didn't know. We figured out how long it played before resetting and took turns playing then saving before the clock ran out. Did this for two days before I just asked for it for my near approaching birthday.

[@LordChozo]

Good timing on this one. Well, I mean, you uploaded this a year ago, so really good timing for me to reach this one, but you get my drift. Anyway, my experience with the original version of Link's Awakening was to play it for all of three minutes at a friend's house before the Game Boy batteries died, but it was enough that when I finally got a Game Boy Color, I picked up a copy of Link's Awakening DX to finally experience the full thing. This was decades ago and I've never replayed the game, so I remember liking it but not too much else. When the Switch remake was announced, I thought, "That's cool, but I've already played a remake of this game. Happy to save some money and skip it this time around." Fast forward to now, where I'm playing through the Zelda Oracle games (having finished Ages and now partway through Seasons), and really enjoying my time with them. Then I see this video and I'm struck by how similar in structure these games are to Link's Awakening. No surprise really when you think about it, but it still caught me a little off guard. Enough so that now I'm thinking, "You know, it WOULD be nice to play Link's Awakening again, and there's a shiny Switch remake just hanging around asking to be played..." So my point is that I think Nintendo should pay you a commission, because I think you just sold me a copy of Link's Awakening for Switch on their behalf.

[@BullCraftMaxx]

Came and subscribed after ReviewTechUSA mentioned you in a video. Great stuff!

[@robhulson]

I subscribed just because I really like your cover design. Classy stuff. I also enjoy your content.

[@lounowell4171]

Why do people think running into blocks/ice/etc... is a flaw? It's hilarious and obviously intentional. Brrr! It's cold!

[@ValkyrieTiara]

Because it interrupts gameplay every time, whether you intended to interact with the object or not. You can be in the middle of a fight and accidentally brush up against a rock and have to stop the fight to mash through some text for a few seconds. And it happens ALL THE TIME.

[@sneakyskunk1]

Is that a WindFish in the percolator?

[@7thangelad586]

Let’s not forget the best part is that Link finally learned to swing his sword in a wide arc.

[@theSato]

well, yes, but that already happened in Link to the Past, its not a Link's Awakening thing

[@AbeM.]

A bit of an old comment, but LttP's sword swing is much tinier compared to the sword in the Game Boy/Color games, it's almost like it isn't there. It feels really different.

[@johnsimon8457]

I Did Not Know about “The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls”. Links Awakening seems so dense and has an large amount of ‘verbs’ to act upon the world; bomb, slash, jump, lift. It’s a lot to appear as a single release out of the blue, so it totally makes sense that it had an existing foundation so designers were free to just go wild with the map and gameplay, not to mention playtesting so as to remove any major gameplay holes (speed runners notwithstanding). I’m playing Breath of the Wild for the first time this week, and an hour in you can ‘just tell’ that this was a five year game that had been prototyped to pieces internally. Something like this would ever have been greenlit if it wasn’t a day-one-launch system seller and had the full support of the company. Zeldas! They take time!

[@LevitatingCups]

is the ending music you normally use from NGE... its so familiar, its been bothering me for as long as you have been making these?

[@bobcharlotte8724]

Help please! I ADORE Breath Of The Wild. Its astonishing. However it is, maybe, the seventh zelda game I have bought and is the first to truly capture me. Other 3d incarnations bored me. 2D ones and a Link Between Worlds initially got me but then I would get stuck and stop. SO.. even though they are completely different games, with my new first hand Zelda apprecitation from BOTW, should I get the links awakening remake or will I regret it?

[@jordanwallace8080]

I think u should

[@adamking6645]

6:33 Alas, poor Wart. From the major villain in Super Mario Bros 2 (US) to a mere cameo.

[@evenmorebetter]

Glitterberri's website translated a set of mini-Q&As with the developers from a Japanese strategy guide, and one of the developers notes that the game never actually says that Tarin is Marin's father, going on to imply that Marin may in fact be a bit of a romantically-unsatisfied gold digger?

[@roguerifter9724]

I just hope the switch options include permanently setting the Power Bracelet to a button because I rapidly came to hate the reminders whenever I bumped into a rock without the bracelet equipped.

[@UberMan5000]

Much to my shame, I wasn't especially wowed by Link's Awakening when I was a kid. I didn't play the original version, since I was only 5 when it released in 1993. I wouldn't play it until this DX version in 1998, by which time I had already played Link to the Past, and Ocarina of Time. These were both mind-blowing achievements to me, so it was difficult for me to appreciate the accomplishments of the little Game Boy title. At the time, I beat it after renting it for three days, and thought it was much too short and easy. I had similar misgivings about Majora's Mask, as well, due to its brevity and odd presentation. Especially compared to the later "Oracle" games on Game Boy Color, Link's Awakening felt rather truncated. Of course, in my more mature years, I've come around about what this game had accomplished, and wanted to revisit it. And, lo and behold, just when I decided to seek it out again, Nintendo announces the Switch remaster! Sometimes it feels like they're inside my head!

[@uTubeNoITube]

I've been saying for years now how underrated Link's Awakening DX was, and I feel the same about Minish Cap. Hopefully that one will see a reboot on Switch too next year! :)

[@MoreThanALoser8107]

DX.... Deluxe... Ooooooh

[@ZipplyZane]

You could not play the color dungeon on the regular Game Boy. The guys at the start would simply tell you that you needed the power of color to continue and would not let you pass. This only changed after you beat the boss. This misinformation keeps occurring, and it bugs me. Oh, and not all of the dungeons had keys (2, 5, and 8 did not), and the mermaid top/necklace was just part of the trading sequence, not required to enter dungeon 5. You just had to find the entrance using the previous dungeon's item.

[@SatoshiMatrix1]

I recently did a playthrough of the original black and white version to get refreshed for the Switch remake. Even if I end up hating the Switch version for it's repulsive art style, there will always be the original and the GBC port.

[@jordankelsey4501]

I owned two copies of this game. I kept the game at my grandparents' to play on the super game boy, and they were being dumb and lost it. Bought a new copy, and my brother found the first copy stuck in the treadmill a month after the fact.

[@tonystarks5098]

Freaked out at 16:06

[@disposablebasterd]

This has long been my favorite Zelda, I like 1,2 and lttp, but this one is so good and sad when you complete the mission.

[@happydeathman]

Seriously, this (the original version) was one of my favorite things EVER back in the day. I didn't have any home consoles at the time, so being able to play Zelda on my Game Boy was a dream come true, and a Zelda this good--WELL. I loved the dreamlike atmosphere, and I was absolutely gutted by the ending, no joke. Later I got the DX version, and as you say, it's basically the same, but somehow I didn't like it as much. The photography shop was pretty cool, but as you say, the color dungeon was pretty lame, and the reward just badly unbalanced what was already a pretty easy game. Also, and maybe this is just me being weird, I really didn't like the extra hint panels in dungeons. They felt unnecessary and sort of immersion-breaking--like I could almost hear the developers saying "hey, we know this is too hard for you, so here's some help." And I'm sure it DID help some people, I guess there's nothing wrong with it per se; but for myself, I was not a fan. Anyway, we'll see how the Switch version stacks up.

[@happydeathman]

Hmm. So is there going to be another LA entry on the Regular Game Boy version? Do you have enough to say to do two of them?

[@MEWOVER9000]

Wait, DX doesn't stand for director's cut?

[@wolfgangfrost8043]

DUDE!!! That's the music from Evangelion's Next Time Preview at the end!!! I was almost asleep by the end of this episode but that woke me up!

[@Marc_Araujo]

Link's Awakening DX on a Super Game Boy 2 is still my preferred way to play this masterpiece.

[@Atlessa]

There is a Super Gameboy 2?

[@Marc_Araujo]

@@Atlessa Yeah, it was only released in Japan and it fixed the speed at which the games played. The original Super Game Boy played them a little faster.

[@Atlessa]

@@Marc_Araujo Didn't expect a response to be honest. But yeah, that explains why I never heard of it before. Also I never knew the games ran fast on the SGB. Must be a pretty slim difference I guess?

[@Marc_Araujo]

@@Atlessa 2.4% faster. The Super Game Boy 2 also comes in one color, translucent teal.

[@joecaswell]

Great video

[@scottengland9102]

I really enjoy your presentations, could i make a small suggestion? ...when it comes to revealing the game's hidden ending, like in Link's awakening, maybe a small spoiler warning before you reveal the ending story plot, for those who have yet to play this game, and others games too.

[@David-dz1cb]

Grand video, and I really love all your retrospectives and thoughts! You've name-dropped Faxanadu quite a lot in your metroidvania and NESworks vids, but I have yet to see a video on that seminal title- any chance you'd do that next?

[@JeremyParish]

No. These are chronological explorations of game libraries.

[@David-dz1cb]

Ahhh gotcha! So I gotta wait til 1989 rolls around huh? :) For NESworks, that is.

[@dezm101]

One thing I love about this game is the charming art style, which is definitely a high point of the series for me. The N64 games had some creepy looking NPCs that still bug me to this day.

[@FloatingSunfish]

The Mask Salesman takes the cake for me.

[@dezm101]

yes! also the guy in the windmill house with the music box... wtf!

[@BenCol]

The creepiest one was definitely the woman they found in the game’s code who had mouths for eyes or something like that. It wasn’t actually in the game itself, probably just a joke made by one of the programmers, but either way it’s some serious nightmare fuel.

[@LeoMidori]

The ancient scientist at Lake Hylia, YEESH.

[@LeoMidori]

@@fervcorsica3358 Woah watch out we got a badass over here.

[@macethorns1168]

0:30 uh YES, I can blame them. There were several digital games we purchased for the Wii-U that were the same price and exact same game on the Switch. Greedy bastards.

[@emersedmilkk4163]

The ending of links awakening is definitely one of the most melancholic

[@MapleMilk]

Link's Awakening: The Lynchian Zelda Incredible.

[@jamesmoss3424]

I play the legend of zelda: link's awakening when I was in high school and I will play the game boy version. 😀👍🎮

[@stankykong8506]

Anybody else hear the Voice saying "No" in the background at 16:02 ?

[@Poever]

My confession is I’ve never finished the supposedly easy Link’s Awakening. I have difficulty finding the next dungeons and navigating the island. The scope is too big for the small Game Boy screen. That goes with my general trouble completing the 2D Zeldas as a whole. It’s ironic that I find the 3D Zeldas easier to comprehend, when Nintendo itself thought 3D was too complicated for the primitive man.

[@andybrinks3784]

I got through most of it, then got lost, I believe, in the Eagle's tower. I just decided to put it down after that.

[@KuraIthys]

Really? I only find the NES games difficult to deal with in that regard, because they don't tend to give you much information as to where to go. And often don't even have a map. But Link's awakening and A Link to the past are no more (or less) difficult to me than any of the 3d games... Although it depends on which 3d games you're talking about, since they got more and more linear and restrictive over time, which does have the side effect of making it easier to know where to go next simply because the game railroads you into it in a rather heavy-handed manner.

[@donaldsmith5667]

Love this episode.

[@damian9303]

The cover looks like Link to the Past's.

[@armyofninjas9055]

A phenomenal game. Thanks for the video, gonna try frog for whom the bell tolls.

[@Sonic_jams]

Gameboy game remastered or not is not worth 60 bucks

[@MrThankman360]

One of my favorite Zelda games.

[@gregorypappas766]

Your old videos are just as good as your new ones, thanks for such great content!

[@j0nnyism]

Chickens actually have a gameplay function in this

[@britsluver]

I love listening to you. I need a new mappage

[@lloydparker]

By "muted colours" similar to the Master System, I guess you mean fewer harsh, primary colours. I find GBC games have the potential to look a lot nicer than NES games in terms of colour, and SMS games even moreso. The NES palette is kinda nasty. Fine for the time, of course.

[@DavidStarrUSA]

Link's Awakening: Link Goes Woke 😅

[@fireflocs]

The Oracle games were better. Awakening is still good though.

[@duhdeedee]

The Oracle games are better and worse. They're packed with more content but at times feel like an unwieldy mess.

[@thewindthatblows]

They are packed with more content but leaves less of an impression

[@ThatsJustLikeYourOpinionMan]

Awesome video!

[@ArcaneAzmadi]

Even almost 30 years on, this remains my favourite Zelda game ever. Admittedly, I haven't played a Zelda game since Spirit Tracks became the first one in the series I didn't bring myself to finish (I played Skyward Sword until the end of the first dungeon, but I was just plain going off consoles by that stage for some reason), but even after playing every other Zelda game up to that point (including Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess and every other one in between), none of them ever stuck with me quite the same way as Link's Awakening. I think it all comes down to one simple word: _charm._

[@exzisd]

You have a great detailed and unique voice and I consider you a true game historian and journalist. I love your documentation style of games and historical context as well as reception and how the games have aged. I've watched many of your videos over the years and really appreciate them. I have some of your books on my Amazon wishlist and have been waiting to save up to buy them. I want to get the Gameboy Works books.

[@JanetStarChild]

By far, one of my favorite games on any console; portable or otherwise. Back in the day, I only had a handful of Gameboy games, and this is one of them (I still have it, along with its original box and manual).

[@Trini84818]

You should do a Oracle of Season and Ages videos soon.

[@MrJWTH]

Trini1984 The videos are in chronological order so it will likely be years before he gets to them.

[@SECONDQUEST]

I love Link's Awakening. One of the first Zelda games I seriously got into when looking back at the franchise. Slightly too young for anything before Lttp

[@macaroniwithcheese3133]

I miss the map scroll glitch

[@andybrinks3784]

For sure one of the best games on Game boy.

[@rtanger1]

I am so unreasonably hype for the Switch release on Friday. Link's Awakening was by far one of the most adored titles of my childhood. I might be in it for the nostalgia to, like, an unhealthy degree, but it's also so tempting to replay it again and see how it holds up to my fondest memories.

[@SanjayMerchant]

Wait, how did you pronounce that? "Mah Bay Village"? I'd always assumed it was meant to be pronounced "Maybe Village," fitting alongside the likes of the "Tall, Tall Mountains" or "You Cuckoo Prairie." Was I reading too much into it?

[@thenathanhaines]

It's often a good idea to consider what the Japanese pronunciation would be, especially in older games. Of course, Nintendo's localization got better as time (and screen and storage space) went on.

[@JeremyParish]

It's impossible to say how they're supposed to be pronounced in English, so I went with the Japanese pronunciation since that's defined by their spelling.

[@SanjayMerchant]

Huh. I'll admit, I didn't know what the original Japanese was. These pronunciations were my 11-year-old self's hot takes. Plus, I never know which names in any given localization are faithfully transliterated, which interpreted, and which replaced outright. (For example, the entire Super Mario Bros. bestiary or anything that feel under the baleful gaze of Ted Woolsey.) Well, I learned a thing today! (Side note, I am often entertained by the results of Woolsey's work and don't speak or read Japanese, so I enjoy it, but I am aware he play way too fast and loose for many people's tastes and as such has garnered a very, very bad reputation among translation and language nerds.)

[@guillermos8447]

Great review.

[@antshield]

This was my first game I owned when GBC first came out. Link's Awakening came out at the perfect time when Zelda was past that awkward first stage, but before the formula was set in stone. I love how weird and experimental this game is, Mario enemies adding to that quirkiness. My favorite Zelda game in the series.

[@TomGreen99]

*Perfect* timing

[@dir1475]

Is it true young Jeremy parish will be at Portland retro gaming expo?

[@JeremyParish]

dir1475 There is no such thing as a young Jeremy Parish, but the elderly one will be there.

[@dir1475]

Jeremy Parish even better! Lookin forward to it

[@kindasane2395]

Always enjoy your show, keep'em coming. Fan for life.

[@ForenObjex]

Thank you for this!! Very detailed and informative

[@arekhautaluoma4276]

I really fell in love with this game when I was 10.

[@DanielBurapavong]

All of Jeremy's work is great. This is one of the best.

[@binkbonkbones3402]

I never completed this game as a kid because I didn't want to wake the dreaming fish and destroy the Island and it's strange inhabitants who i fell in love with

[@2yoyoyo1Unplugged]

Why pick the blue tunic when you can don the red one and use the seashell sword? You become death itself!