Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (GB, 1993)
Graphics-10 Sound-9.5 Control-8.5 Challenge-7 Story-7.5
Level Design-9 Frustration-7 Fun-9.5 Originality-7
Overall Score-9.5
+
Immersive world (scripted events, sidequests (item sequence), more interesting characters than in the prequels, multiple towns)
Good variation
Dream-like atmosphere
Excellent art direction
Great bosses overall
Some innovative gameplay (tower dungeon puzzle, raft ride, flying rooster, mix between overhead and sidescrolling sections)
Save feature
Mixes in good sidescrolling segments
You can now dive and jump
Mini-games (fishing)
Learn new melodies with different uses, teleport through music and warp points, lots of hidden items (hearts and seashells), somewhat comical, pretty fast paced
+/-
Very easy to get new hearts
Pretty linear the whole way through (only a couple of opportunities to do dungeons in a different order)
Some cameos from other Nintendo franchises (Mario, Kirby)
-
The owl gets a bit annoying (can't skip text)
No second quest
Some backtracking
The desert area is ridiculously small
Switching between items is somewhat more tedious (you need to manually equip the bracelet to lift objects - mainly a limitation of the GB button layout but it could've been context sensitive)
Rehashes many enemies and mechanics from the SNES game
Running control is still pretty stiff
Inconsistency with bombable walls (some you need to search for by thrusting your sword against the wall and listening for a different noise - somewhat tedious)
The plot twist is really predictable (they really overdo it with the owls warnings)
Some simple bosses (angler fish)
Level Design-9 Frustration-7 Fun-9.5 Originality-7
Overall Score-9.5
+
Immersive world (scripted events, sidequests (item sequence), more interesting characters than in the prequels, multiple towns)
Good variation
Dream-like atmosphere
Excellent art direction
Great bosses overall
Some innovative gameplay (tower dungeon puzzle, raft ride, flying rooster, mix between overhead and sidescrolling sections)
Save feature
Mixes in good sidescrolling segments
You can now dive and jump
Mini-games (fishing)
Learn new melodies with different uses, teleport through music and warp points, lots of hidden items (hearts and seashells), somewhat comical, pretty fast paced
+/-
Very easy to get new hearts
Pretty linear the whole way through (only a couple of opportunities to do dungeons in a different order)
Some cameos from other Nintendo franchises (Mario, Kirby)
-
The owl gets a bit annoying (can't skip text)
No second quest
Some backtracking
The desert area is ridiculously small
Switching between items is somewhat more tedious (you need to manually equip the bracelet to lift objects - mainly a limitation of the GB button layout but it could've been context sensitive)
Rehashes many enemies and mechanics from the SNES game
Running control is still pretty stiff
Inconsistency with bombable walls (some you need to search for by thrusting your sword against the wall and listening for a different noise - somewhat tedious)
The plot twist is really predictable (they really overdo it with the owls warnings)
Some simple bosses (angler fish)