I think the structure of LA wouldn't be served well by total openness. Ordered dungeons is still the way to go for a more narrative-heavy Zelda like LA was.
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So I beat Link's Awakening and the twist was very interesting...
- Thread starter Uzumaki Goku
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I think the structure of LA wouldn't be served well by total openness. Ordered dungeons is still the way to go for a more narrative-heavy Zelda like LA was.
I was shocked the first time I played it and was even more shocked when I found out that Earthbound Beginnings did it first!
Yep! Oh man... this game is so beautiful. The best 2D zelda imo.
It was a wonderfully surreal story. I don't even remember if I was surprised by the twist as it was so long ago, but I sure as hell enjoyed the ride.
I wish Tezuka and Koizumi would do another 2d zelda game.
I wish Tezuka and Koizumi would do another 2d zelda game.
They're my two favorite as well, LA was a great test run for the more complex NPCs of Majora's Mask. LA has the edge in terms of dungeons though.
Koizumi's writing is what really props the game up.
While travelling the ocean in a ship during a storm, Link's ship is struck by lightning and he blacks out.
He washes ashore into an island and is found by a girl called Marin, as he wakes up and looks for his Sword (which washed ashore away from him) an Owl appears before Link and tells him about a monster plaging the Island and the secrets that lurk in the giant Egg in the middle of the island.
Basically an evil creature has the godlike Windfish in a slumber and the owl tells link he cannot escape the island until he frees the windfish, meaning he must collect 8 artifacts to wake him up and escape the island to return to Hyrule.
However during the midle of the adventure Link finds out that the island is actually created by the Windfish's dreams, that's why he cannot escape it until the Windfish wakes up, however when the Windfish wakes up, the island will disapear along with all its inhabitants.
The story is bittersweet because you meet tons of people who are just living their lives, entire towns who don't know they're figments of the Windfish's imagination and they feel real to link because the windfish created a "real" world that exists only as long as he reminds dreaming.
So in the end Link wakes the Windfish and witnesses as everyone he met during the adventure turns to nothing.
He washes ashore into an island and is found by a girl called Marin, as he wakes up and looks for his Sword (which washed ashore away from him) an Owl appears before Link and tells him about a monster plaging the Island and the secrets that lurk in the giant Egg in the middle of the island.
Basically an evil creature has the godlike Windfish in a slumber and the owl tells link he cannot escape the island until he frees the windfish, meaning he must collect 8 artifacts to wake him up and escape the island to return to Hyrule.
However during the midle of the adventure Link finds out that the island is actually created by the Windfish's dreams, that's why he cannot escape it until the Windfish wakes up, however when the Windfish wakes up, the island will disapear along with all its inhabitants.
The story is bittersweet because you meet tons of people who are just living their lives, entire towns who don't know they're figments of the Windfish's imagination and they feel real to link because the windfish created a "real" world that exists only as long as he reminds dreaming.
So in the end Link wakes the Windfish and witnesses as everyone he met during the adventure turns to nothing.
This is the general gist of it.
Koizumi always should have been put in charge of Zelda instead of Mario, his talent for crafting storylines is wasted on a franchise that most people don't expect or want narrative depth from.
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Mind blown. Always figured she became one through windfish magic, but this explanation makes way more sense.
Just my read. I have nothing to back it up. Windfish doesn't create anything in the real world.
My favorite Zelda game after BotW. Finished the game for the first time in 1996... Man time flies.
Majora's Mask and Link's Awakening are the only Zeldas I would consider to have deep, thought provoking plots. Unsurprisingly, they both have a common writer in Yoshiaki Koizumi.
Awakening is not the first Zelda to have a plot twist, but that's almost always at the end while this twist actaully happens right in the middle of the game. This forced me to see the rest of the game in a new light instead of just thinking back to specific moments like all the other twists.
Suddenly all those soliloquies the later bosses have can be seen as them begging to Link to not destroy their perfect fantasy world. The monsters knew that they couldn't rule in the real world so they settled for the Wind Fish's dream and now Link won't even let them have that so they fight for their hopes and dreams. Link's victories and the bosses defeats are kinda bittersweet in that context.
And then there's the question of how much of the world is made by link's mind and not the Windfish or the monsters.
What if Marin looks the way she does and goes on a date with Link because that's Link's ideal girl made real because he made part of the fantasy world? And if that's true, then what do we make of Marin's sprite and Zelda's sprite from the Oracle games, which takes place next on the timeline, being the same?
Does Link also have a deep desire to explore the world like Marin? How deep is that desire then?
Can we take Link continuing on his journey after being told about the nature of the world as him treasuring the real world more highly than this one? Can we take it as him rejecting the plea of the monsters in order to satisfy his own? Or does he fight the monsters because it's the thing a hero would do? Little bit of both?
I really appreciate this game for showing me that Zelda can have an interesting plot and good gameplay. It doesn't have to be a one or the other thing and I don't think Majora would have been as special as it was without this game as a guide.
Awakening is not the first Zelda to have a plot twist, but that's almost always at the end while this twist actaully happens right in the middle of the game. This forced me to see the rest of the game in a new light instead of just thinking back to specific moments like all the other twists.
Suddenly all those soliloquies the later bosses have can be seen as them begging to Link to not destroy their perfect fantasy world. The monsters knew that they couldn't rule in the real world so they settled for the Wind Fish's dream and now Link won't even let them have that so they fight for their hopes and dreams. Link's victories and the bosses defeats are kinda bittersweet in that context.
And then there's the question of how much of the world is made by link's mind and not the Windfish or the monsters.
What if Marin looks the way she does and goes on a date with Link because that's Link's ideal girl made real because he made part of the fantasy world? And if that's true, then what do we make of Marin's sprite and Zelda's sprite from the Oracle games, which takes place next on the timeline, being the same?
Does Link also have a deep desire to explore the world like Marin? How deep is that desire then?
Can we take Link continuing on his journey after being told about the nature of the world as him treasuring the real world more highly than this one? Can we take it as him rejecting the plea of the monsters in order to satisfy his own? Or does he fight the monsters because it's the thing a hero would do? Little bit of both?
I really appreciate this game for showing me that Zelda can have an interesting plot and good gameplay. It doesn't have to be a one or the other thing and I don't think Majora would have been as special as it was without this game as a guide.
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Why? So it can destroy the unique atmosphere of the original, an atmosphere that was partly down to the unique sound of the GB and a monochrome display? An atmosphere that was also partly brought about by the limitations of the GB.
A remake would only add a higher resolution and more colours with some poorly implemented modern sound - some idiot would no doubt also decide that it needs to use polygons instead of bitmapped sprites. Oh, hey, and let's make it in 3D too just to destroy it properly.
And a sequel (or a prequel) isn't required either. Link's awakening is a perfect, self contained story and should remain that way. It's a wonderful gem that shouldn't be messed with.
You do realize that a remake doesn't destroy all copies of the original?
doesn't the girl talk all the time about it's all just a dream? I wasn't surprised, I didn't feel it was a twist at all.
top 3 zelda game either way, though, I always loved it a lot more than ALTTP. not just great dungeons but a great overworld, too.
great story and ending, I remember I cried when I finished it for the first time as a kid.
top 3 zelda game either way, though, I always loved it a lot more than ALTTP. not just great dungeons but a great overworld, too.
great story and ending, I remember I cried when I finished it for the first time as a kid.
Played this back in the 90's and thought the story was amazing. I loved everything about this Zelda.
To be fair, Kensuke Tanabe wrote every piece of dialogue in the game apart from the owl's. Though I know the whole dream-framework thing is attributed to Koizumi, which is what most people are talking about.
But yes, it's not really trying to be a twist, but an interesting story for sure.
Heck, they could even reuse all botw assets by making it the dream botw link had while in stasis or something.
Probably my favorite Zelda game.
And as good as A Link Between Worlds was, it really made me wish for a Link's Awakening remake.
Also, BTW, I think Zelda games are the best when they ditch Ganon and the Triforce and do these weird side stories.
See also: Majora's Mask, Oracle of Ages/Seasons, Minish Cap.
Retelling the same story over and over is of course creatively limiting, and the Zelda team has shown just how original they can be when they're allowed to deviate from the formula.
And as good as A Link Between Worlds was, it really made me wish for a Link's Awakening remake.
Also, BTW, I think Zelda games are the best when they ditch Ganon and the Triforce and do these weird side stories.
See also: Majora's Mask, Oracle of Ages/Seasons, Minish Cap.
Retelling the same story over and over is of course creatively limiting, and the Zelda team has shown just how original they can be when they're allowed to deviate from the formula.
Agreed.
I will say I was satisfied with BotW's story though, despite it still being Ganon and Zelda. There was enough different in there that kept me intrigued.
But my hope for the next Zelda is that they take BotW and do a weird sequel a la Majora's Mask. There was that concept art they released that showed UFOs in the game. Would be super down for a creepy, alien sidestory/sequel.
I was about 13 when I beat it in the mid-90s and I remember it hitting me hard when the two boys outside the library just faded away whilst throwing their ball to one another.
2nd best Zelda game after A Link to the Past. It's certainly the only one that made me feel anything. I remember being pretty sad the first time I finished it.
Magicant is way sadder though.
Whereas everything in Links Awakening was dreamed up from the begining by a sleeping entity Magicant was created as an escape mechanism of the abuction/ loss of George by Maria. When you sung the song and brought her memories back Magicant immediately faded away... and so did she.
But not before lovely parting words of her husband and Giegue.
But not before lovely parting words of her husband and Giegue.
Im glad you played this game OP. This is legit my favorite Zelda game.
not at all, she mainly talks about wanting to know what other life is out there beyond the ocean
Even on the olive green dot matrix display in 1993this scene was amazing.
I always wanted a stainglass Zelda some day over a paper aesthetic.
Ballad of the Wind Fish is one of my favorite Zelda tunes.
On the original Game Boy one I'd always use the SELECT to warp trick to keep Marin with me after she follows you for the rest of the game lol.
On the original Game Boy one I'd always use the SELECT to warp trick to keep Marin with me after she follows you for the rest of the game lol.
He wakes up hanging onto wreckage in the middle of the ocean. In all likelihood, he probably dies soon afterward from drowning.
Wrong. I love everything about Links Awakening except for the twist ending. I loathe the "it was all a dream" endings in everything. It makes me feel like it was all for nothing. I hated it in SMB2 USA, I hated it in Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse and I certainly hated it in Links Awakening.
Yes, he ends up floating on driftwood in the middle of the ocean.
Nah, he gets picked up by Linebeck.
If I remember right, the game is a direct sequel from ALTTP. So, he's going out of Hyrelu. To where? No idea
One of the loveliest games ever made
A true masterpiece in game design, and the apex of Game Boy games.
A true masterpiece in game design, and the apex of Game Boy games.
I think it's definitely the first game that made me emotional in some way. An actual "cutscene" in a Gameboy game back then was kind of crazy.
I think he was returning from training or something due to his status as defender of Hyrule or some such, Of course this is back in the time where you needed the manual to tell you the story.
Speaking of the manual, it had gorgeous art.
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According to the manual, you embark in a journey to find wisdom and enlightment:
http://www.gamesdatabase.org/Media/...da-_Link-s_Awakening_DX_-_1998_-_Nintendo.pdf
And yeah, as with most early Zeldas, the art was amazing:
Even Katsuya Terada art was amazing in Link's Awakening:
