The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
149A playthrough of Nintendo's 2019 action-adventure game for the Nintendo Switch, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.
Since I've gone over my thoughts on the base game pretty thoroughly in my uploads of the other two versions of this game, I'm not going to focus on those points here in my comments, but if you are interested:
This Switch title is a remake of Nintendo's 1998 Game Boy Color title, LoZ: Link's Awakening DX. If you want to see that game to make your own comparisons, you can find my playthrough of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wqmgE39nps
And if you'd like to see the original 1993 Game Boy game upon which the 1998 DX version was based, you can find that one here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXWqFO75IZY
But this video isn't of 90s 8-bit handheld versions of the game, is it? So twenty years later, what can the Switch version offer that the others don't?
Well, the first and most obvious answer is the presentation. Rather than chunky, low resolution sprites, the island of Koholint is now rendered entirely in gloriously realized 3D. The layout of the island and of the dungeons are 1:1 with the original's, but instead of presenting the game world one screen at a time, all of the screens within an area are seamlessly connected, and the classic 2D "sliding" transition is only used here to move between major areas in the overworld and between distinct "rooms" in the dungeons. It does a pretty remarkable job at bringing the world together, and this shift brings the game's flow nicely in-line with what we saw in A Link to the Past on the SNES.
The graphics are hyper-stylized, and all of the character models look like living plasticine toys. I personally love the new look, but even if it's not your cup of tea, the look is consistent and unified throughout, bringing an unexpected feeling of "relatedness" to all of the elements. The colors are vibrant, the characters are adorable, and I especially have to applaud the quality of the textures and the animation: the detail in the backgrounds and the smoothness with which everything moves truly brings the world to life.
Many reviews of the game fault the game's performance, though, and I unfortunately have to agree with those criticisms. The framerate often wildly fluctuates, and when entering a new area (presumably as it's busy streaming in new assets in the background), the impact is intrustive and jarring. Random drops do happen (though less frequently) in dungeons, but the worst offender has to be the heavy water effects in Goponga Swamp - it's bad enough to kill any sense of fluidity while it lasts. I had serious doubts that the problem was as pronounced as other reviewers have made it out to be, but as they say, seeing is believing. The framerate issues don't kill the game, but they do sadly bring the entire experience down a few notches. This is a first-party release, and Nintendo's games (whether developed in-house or otherwise) are generally known for their polish and their distinct lack of technical hiccups. Link's Awakening is a bit of a black eye, there. Ouch.
For me, however, the biggest change for the worse was made to the controls. I can't fathom why the game forces you to use the analog stick - the original game allowed for movement in eight directions too, so what gives? The lack of precision in using the analog stick instead of the d-pad was an endless source of frustration for me. The extra buttons were a huge improvement, though. It's so nice to not have to bring up the item screen every two seconds anymore!
The core game did see a few new additions, and while they don't add much to the experience, they at least don't hinder it since they are largely optional. You can now arrange your own dungeon, however lackluster, with Dampe (who lives in the spot once occupied by the photographer in DX) to earn rewards. Additionally, the fishing and claw mini games have been revamped, and there are many more heart pieces and secret seashells waiting to be found in this version. The rest of the tweaks are fairly subtle and generally serve to improve the flow of the game.
At its core, the Switch's remake of Link's Awakening is still the great game that it was in 1993. There are certainly bits of the new one that didn't meet my expectations, but the beautiful graphics, improved button layout, and the brilliance of the underlying game and its puzzles still make it an excellent Zelda title.
But if I'm being totally honest here, the rough edges are enough to convince me that the next time I visit Koholint, I'll be doing it on a Game Boy. I don't know how many of you share that mindset, but for me, the OG game is still where it's at.
_
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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