In our living room was this large yellow-patterned sofa in L-shape. My favorite was the kink of this sofa, with my black Game Boy in my hand. I mainly used it to play games like "Super Mario Land" or "Wario Blast". For longer games with a lot of history like "Secret of Mana", "Terranigma" or "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past", my Super Nintendo was in charge - at least for a long time - then the day my sister came Game Boy Pocket got - and with it "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening."
Epik on such a small screen?
It seemed suspicious to me, so an adventure game on a tiny screen and then only in grayscale? At that time, in 1996 - "Link's Awakening" was already three years old - I had no idea that I, too, would end up spending endless hours in "Pokémon Blue Edition" for the Game Boy.
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Nintendo Classic: The story of the "Zelda" seriesCurious, I looked over my sister's shoulder, watching her play, still skeptical. I did not even try it until she was done with the game, then she was full of ambition. There was a competition between us: who can play the game faster? And so I lay down in my corner on the sofa and sank in my first epic adventure for the Game Boy.
I know until today that the graphics initially disappointed me even when playing. How was there to be such a sense of danger and adventure when everything was gray and coarse? Did the second boss actually have strange hands that he held up in the air or were those grinds in his hair?
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"Link's Awakening" on the Game Boy: That's what the game looked like in the original
Now there is a remake
However, this riddle soon became a lot of fun. I talked to my sister about how the monsters looked. The graphics stimulated the imagination at a time when not every detail was modeled. Imagination filled the gaps left by the presentation.
Now "Zelda: Link's Awakening" has re-released as a remake for the Nintendo Switch. Meanwhile, I have no sofa with angle more, I felt comfortable with the game but still. This is mainly due to the graphic style that Nintendo has chosen. Because still leaves this room for your own imagination.
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Remake: This is "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening"The island of Cocolint looks like it's made of plasticine, in the room of a child with a lot of creativity. In short: The remake of "Zelda: Link's Awakening" has so much charm, radiates so much pleasure in the game, that even the old game mechanics seem like precious relics, not like long outdated game design.
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For newcomers and nostalgics
But when I played the remake, I also realized that I hardly remembered much of the original. It was a rediscovery of dungeons, a rediscovery of solutions my sister helped me with 23 years ago.
But if I had memorized the game better, I would have known a lot in the remake. Because content has not changed. Therefore, the modern version probably addresses above all a new "Zelda" audience, influenced by the latest series "Breath of the Wild", which now wants to get to know the beginnings of the series.
But also the "I remember" feeling can be a nice one. This nostalgic transfiguration, with which one thinks back to the life situation, in which one played a video game for the first time. To the relatives and friends who sat next to it. The experiences that have shaped you as a player. And so the remake of "Zelda: Link's Awakening" is certainly also suitable for those who still know the Game Boy game by heart.
DISPLAY
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
(Nintendo Switch)
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Little is really new
After all, Nintendo still offers them the new opportunity to build their own dungeons - which quickly turns out to be at best a nice bonus. In addition, an extra dungeon in the game, which was not available in the original version, but only in the revision for the Game Boy Color.
Technically, the new "Link's Awakening" is sometimes difficult, in the form of problems with the frame rate. Occasionally, the game gets stuttered, especially in handheld mode. And that, even though Nintendo has laid a depth blur over the game that blurs the top and bottom edges.
Nevertheless, I always wanted to continue playing. "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening" is a beautiful, nostalgic game. One that stands like a pillar in the modern game jumble, with the inscription "Do you remember? That's the way games were."
Incidentally, my sister won our contest by then: she finished the game faster than me, though she even helped me out. I was a little bit screwed.
