The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
was a
1993 video game, originally created for the
Game Boy. A color version, , was created for the
Game Boy Color in
1998. The latter is compatible with the
Game Boy Printer and features a new dungeon. The music for the game was composed by
Koji Kondo, composer of the music for many other Nintendo games (not just those in the Zelda series).
Link's Awakening is an
action-adventure game, as are all games in the
Legend of Zelda series. Being played from a viewpoint above the playfield looking down at Link and his surroundings, it followed its closest relative from the
Legend of Zelda line of games,
A Link to the Past (which in itself is a further developed version of the original
NES Legend of Zelda), in its sense of gameplay and the possible actions that could be performed in the game.
Link's Awakening was the first of the topview games in the series (that excludes
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, which is more of a platformer with
RPG elements) to feature jumping and platformer action scenes. The treasure caves from
Legend of Zelda (platformer scenes seen from the side found in dungeons where treasures lay hidden) make a cameo appearance in Link's Koholint adventure, and other side-view scenes (e.g. the chamber below the first dungeon boss or the hiding spot of the fisherman below the bridge) were added also to make full use of Link's new jumping abilities.
Also appearing for the first time in a
Zelda game were
fishing, a trading sequence, and flying around using a
cucco (a
rooster in this case).
|
Title screen of the monochrome original. |
The graphic style was similar to that of a
cartoon. The
intro and ending utilized nearly fullscreen comic stillframes in this style. With the release of
Link's Awakening DX, the game only required minor changes (colorization and the addition of a photographer's shop, another dungeon and advanced armor were the most significant) as it was already considered by Nintendo to be of very high quality. The DX version of the game was well received on the market and was able to outsell the successful
Pokémon games in Japan for a brief time.
In
2001,
Nintendo and
Capcom released the
Oracle of Ages and
Oracle of Seasons games for the
Game Boy Color. The two games used large parts of the graphics and sounds of the
1993 monochrome original as well as much of the 8-year-old program code, including nearly all of the music playing code.
 |
Link on his ship, opening scene of the DX version. |
This is the first game in the series to take place outside
Hyrule and the main "Triforce" storyline, and can therefore be considered one of a number of
Zelda side stories. These side stories are games in which Ganon is not the principal
antagonist, such as
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask for the
Nintendo 64. This is also the only
Zelda game not to feature
Princess Zelda at all. She is only alluded to at the very beginning.
After training abroad,
Link is sailing back to Hyrule, but he is soon shipwrecked in a violent storm. He awakens on
Koholint Island, in the house of a kind man named
Tarin, and his daughter
Marin (who bears a strong resemblance to
Princess Zelda). Tarin, for his part, bears a passing resemblance to Nintendo's mascot, Mario, and, not coincidentally, adores the taste of mushrooms. A mysterious owl tells Link that to return home, he must awaken the Wind Fish (風のさかな,
Kaze no Sakana) by gathering and playing the eight Instruments of the Sirens. The bosses in
Link's Awakening, who guard the Sirens' Instruments, are said to be the Nightmares of the Wind Fish. When Link plays the
Ballad of the Wind Fish with all eight Instruments, he can enter the giant egg atop Mt. Tamaranch, where the Wind Fish slumbers. There he must face the final Nightmare, shadowy apparitions which include umbral visions of foes from Link's past.
 |
Title screen of the color remake. |
In 1998,
Link's Awakening DX was released for the
Game Boy Color on a
black hybrid cartridge that is also compatible with the original Game Boy. Many fans of the game, despite already owning the original version, bought the DX version because of the new color scheme. This was one of the few
deluxe versions of Game Boy games, along with
Wario Land II DX and
Super Mario Bros. DX and the cancelled
Metroid II: Return of Samus DX and
Kirby's Dream Land 2 DX.
One addition to the DX version was the entirely new (and well-hidden) Color Dungeon. The Color Dungeon made use of the
Game Boy Color's capabilities to deliver puzzles based on color. It featured two minibosses and a boss; the minibosses were a golem, which rains rocks on Link, and a giant Buzz Blob. The Nightmare was
Evil Orb, a resilient color-shifting creature which resembled certain nearly indestructible enemies from
A Link to the Past. Once the player beat the dungeon, Link was given the choice of a Red Tunic or a Blue Tunic. The Red Tunic allowed Link to become more powerful, while the Blue Tunic raised his defense. The player could return there to switch to the other tunic at any time, but once Link put on one of the new tunics there was no way to change back to his traditional green.
Another new feature of the
DX version was a Camera Shop and photo album. Note that this is
not to be confused with the Pictobox camera from
Majora's Mask and
The Wind Waker, as the player did not actually snap the photo. Instead, certain actions triggered cutscenes in which the Camera Shop owner would appear and take a picture (simalar to the SNES game
Earthbound). The pictures could be viewed in the player's photo album at the Camera Shop, and printed using the
Game Boy Printer. This feature included the addition of an invisible Zora in the Animal Village as one of the triggers.
A hint system in the dungeons of the game, which used a stone tablet piece to complete a hint message on a wall tile, was replaced with an owl's beak that, when used with one of the corresponding owl's body tiles, allowed the player to receive hints from a stone owl "guide".
The DX version also contains a
Super Game Boy enhanced border and color palette. The original game does not have those features, since it was released a year before the peripheral.
Link's Awakening (including the DX version) is the best-selling
Zelda game for a portable gaming system to date, surpassing the successful re-release of
A Link to the Past on the
Game Boy Advance.
Many characters and items from
Link's Awakening were carried over in newer Zelda games and have become important elements of the
Legend of Zelda series as a whole. Among others,
Marin and
Tarin have become major influences on the Zelda games"especially
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Link's Awakening is praised by Zelda fans for its exceptional game design and unique storyline. It is perhaps the third most popular Zelda game after
A Link to the Past and
Ocarina of Time.
 |
Bow-Wow the Chain-Chomp, tied to a post. |
*
Alternate Music from the game
Mario Paint makes a cameo "appearance" in the game. If the player takes Link into Richard's Villa, and waits for the music to loop 8 times, a small little snippet of music will play.
*
Wart of
Super Mario Bros. 2 appears in a cave beneath the Signpost Maze as Mamu (his Japanese name). It is interesting to note that this is Wart's second and last appearance in a game as of so far (not counting
Super Mario Advance, a remake), and in both appearances he is in what is supposed to be a dream world.
*
Richard, a character from a Game Boy title only released in Japan,
Kaeru No Tame Ni Kane Wa Naru (translated as
A Bell Tolls for the Frog). He made a deal with Link by letting him get the Slime Key in Pothole Field after he retrieves Richard's Golden Leaves from Kanalet Castle. A remixed version of the main theme music from the same game he came from plays while Link is in Richard's villa.
*
Mr. Write, a character based on
The Sims creator
Will Wright, from the SNES version of
SimCity and
SimCity 64 (Japan-Only). Called "Mr. Write" in this game, he is one of the characters involved in the trading game. His theme music also made it into the game.
*
Princess Peach of the Mario series appears in a picture sent to Mr. Write by his pen-pal.
*
Yoshi of the Mario series appears as a doll. The doll is the first item collected in the trading game.
*In the Eagle's Tower, there is an enemy called an Anti-Kirby (an evil version of the Nintendo character
Kirby), who will try to suck Link up into his mouth as he passes by.
*Making a return from
A Link to the Past, a
Chain Chomp from
Super Mario Bros. 3 appears in this game. He's not an enemy this time, however, he's a domesticated pet in Mabe Village, named "Bow-Wow". He even assists Link at one point in the game. Smaller "puppy" chomps are also present in the general vicinity of Bow-Wow's doghouse; one of these can talk and contributes to the Trading Game.
*Various other baddies from the Mario series appear throughout the game, including
Goomba,
Thwomp, Boo,
Cheep-Cheep, Blooper, Pokey, Bob-Omb,
Shy Guy,
Piranha Plant, Podoboo, and Spark.
The game has many semi-hidden comic sequences, several relating to Marin - for instance, if Link takes her to the Trendy Game, she will snag the operator, who throws her out for being a ringer.
On the Player Select Screen, typing "ZELDA" (all in uppercase) as a character name in a new file will cause a
samba remix of the classic Zelda theme to play.
In the German version of the game, using the character name "MOYSE" (also in uppercase) played a German song. Claude M. Moyse was the editor in chief of the German "Club Nintendo" magazine since issue 1/1992 and also the creator of the German script of the game.
Repeatedly attacking a chicken in the village will make a horde of chickens attack the player.
It is possible to steal from the shop in the village. Under normal circumstances, the shopkeeper will watch Link closely; attempting to leave whilst holding an item which has not been paid for causes the shopkeeper to yell at Link, warning him that "[He's] gotta pay!" However, if Link walks to the back of the store, the shopkeeper will turn his back to the exit door. At this time, Link can sneak around him and exit the store with an item behind the shopkeeper's back. When he exits the store, the game will ask "Are you proud of yourself?", and Link will be called "THIEF" for the remainder of the game. If Link enters the shop again, the shopkeeper will scream "I told you that you would pay! Now you will pay the ultimate price!" and kill him with a powerful magic blast.
This is the first
Legend of Zelda game that includes a specific "trading sequence". This minigame spans the length of the majority of
Link's Awakening. Link will receive an item, and will sometime later in the game encounter someone who needs the item. Trading that item will give Link yet another item, with the last received item being a scale Link trades for a mermaid's ornament. When Link sets the scale in Schule Donavitch's Mermaid Statue overlooking the bay, he gains access to a secret cave where the
Magnifying Glass lies hidden. With this in his possession, he can read the enigmatic book called "Dark Secrets And Mysteries Of Koholint" at the Library, and also make one final trade: a previously invisible
Goriya in a cave on Toronbo Shores will give Link a powerful ‘hidden' weapon, the
Boomerang, in exchange for certain items from his inventory (like his
shovel).
Link's Awakening was well known for the infamous ‘screen warp' glitch. First published in
Nintendo Power volume 50, the Screen Warp glitch allows the player to reach places that would ordinarily be off limits.
The game world is divided into many small areas (‘screens'), and when Link came to the edge of a screen, he would move via a scroll effect to the opposite side of the next as it scrolled in. As the character leaves one screen, the game activates several sets of variables that separately move the screen position and then the character sprite. However, the programmers neglected to disable button controls during this action, thereby enabling the Screenwarp glitch; if Select is pressed at the precise moment that the screen begins to shift, the variable that tells the game to move Link is not activated. Thus, the character will have "warped" all the way to the other side of the screen.
This glitch, while giving the player immense freedom within the game world, is not without faults. Misuse of the glitch can result in Link finding himself stuck in a wall, tree or other object. Additionally, certain actions taken in the game (such as fighting the boss in Eagle's Tower without lowering the pillars, then going back and fighting again) can result in getting too many hearts, something the game was not designed to handle. On some games, this has corrupted entire save files.
Due to these problems, the Screen Warp glitch was fixed in later shipments of the black and white game, and does not exist at all in the DX edition (some unconfirmed reports suggest it may work in later shipments of the DX cartridge).
However, many other glitches can be performed in the DX version as alternate ways of performing the glitches in the original version. One of these glitches is the "Freaky World" glitch that allows one to enter a world where the tilesets are replaced with ones that do not restrict movement. However, saving in this world may corrupt the game file.
Note: to access this world, one can either enter a door/cave entrance from the top of the screen using the screen warp, or one can use the screen warp to carry the fisherman in Mabe village down a screen and then rent a fishing rod. It is also possible to enter this world by walking into the side of the doghouse next to Madame MeowMeow's house, this wasn't fixed on the revised release of Link's Awakening. *
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening characters*
Nintendo.co.jp page for Links Awakening (Japanese)*
Nintendo.co.jp page for Link's Awakening DX (Japanese)*
Link's Awakening wiki guide at StrategyWiki (previously hosted by
Wikibooks)
*
Collection of reviews of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening*
Collection of reviews of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX*
Speed Demos Archive -
Speedruns
