The Legend of Zelda's 35th Anniversary

[Glen-i]

10 hours ago, darksnowman said:

 You lads fetish for the cape and hyper slingshotting is disconcerting to read. 

Roc's Cape makes dodging the true final boss's attacks 3 times easier because of triple the air time and the Hyper Slingshot fires 3 times the seeds as the crummy Seed Shooter. (And yes, you will need to damage it with seeds at some point)

Playing Ages second literally makes the final boss 3 times harder!

11 hours ago, Dcubed said:

To be fair, Ages is notably more difficult than Seasons.

Ah, but Seasons has tougher fights and enemies, so you really appreciate the second game bonuses that you can unlock in that game.

Those bonuses don't help as much in Ages because the difficulty comes from the puzzles. Still useful, but not as much.

[darksnowman]

4 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Roc's Cape makes dodging the true final boss's attacks 3 times easier because of triple the air time and the Hyper Slingshot fires 3 times the seeds as the crummy Seed Shooter. (And yes, you will need to damage it with seeds at some point)

Playing Ages second literally makes the final boss 3 times harder!

I'm probably misremembering but Isn't it the boss before the last one (in a linked game) that you have to shoot mystery seeds at? Sure it may be three times easier with the slingshot but it's by no means impossible without.  

Other than that, standard issue Roc's Feather and spin attacks with the sword get the job done.

[darksnowman]

I suppose you didn't see my other post, Rosa? Even if you show up on the beach like Marin, I'm still not interested. Sorry (not sorry).

No, I don't want to dance, Rosa. This can't keep happening. You're a creepy Subrosian. This could never work. 

Despite Rosa trying to turn my head, the land of Ages has been saved!  

Spoiler

 

Started the game with 4 hearts. Lost my shield to a Like Like on the final approach but didn't back out to get a replacement.  Got the Hero's Secret for my trouble. Great?  

A smattering of overall thoughts with no real quest or puzzle specific spoilers:

• Ages has a Pokémon style rival! He's supposed to be a goodie but comes off as annoying and is always one step ahead, commenting on how he's going to save Nayru first. You cannot attack Veran when Nayru is possessed, but if Ralph the rival had been possessed I'd have had no qualms about laying into him in the name of getting after Veran.  Later when there's a chance for Ralph to heroically not make it back to the present I'm all for it.
• Really cool and well-done 2D representation of Goron's and Zora.
• Happy Mask Salesman!
• Nice use of doing stuff in the past to affect the present. Like there being an area called Dry Falls in the present which is a waterfall in the past, and placing seeds in the past to have vines in the present. What can I say, these kinds of things work for me.  
• Rupees are hard to come by compared to Seasons. In Seasons there are plenty of old men to be found under burnable bushes who will give you rupees but not so much in Ages. There's a heart piece you can buy for 500 rupees and it was one I didn't bother with in Ages. 
• The inclusion of mini-games is cool but they can be a bit annoying when an attempt doesn't go right. Eventually practise makes perfect or you fluke it. 
• No heart pieces from the mini-games or was I not good/ flukey enough?? 
• The tasks between dungeons are preferable to Seasons (I think this is down to a lack of Subrosia...).
• The part where you have to retrieve your inventory makes for a nice change.
• I am not taking those coded secret messages from NPCs back to another linked game so please stop giving them to me. This was already a big ask from the player at release, never mind nowadays.
• The swimming controls! Tap tap tap tap tap tap the d-pad! Not comfortable. 
• The overall difficulty isn't too bad outside the inconsistent difficulty curve with bosses. There's an early one I find difficult (the one you throw bombs into) then after that they aren't too bad barring one or two. 
• How about one level that is all mine carts and another one that's all about revolving doors...?
• In both Oracle games, I like it when I'm facing enemies that weren't in Links Awakening. You know, new sprites. 
• I like the switch hook/ long hook.
• No tip for where to go for level 8 in Ages but if there's an uninvestigated area on the map... Nuff said.
• Speaking of tips, all this Link's Awakening stuff and they couldn't dream up anything like Old Man Ulrira's telephone box-trees...?
• Ages may not be as puzzle-oriented, but the dungeons are still big enough, though end up containing plenty of empty, already done rooms to retread between boss key and boss door. Perhaps this isn't the case in every level but it happens enough to be noticeable. I prefer it when Zelda games don't make the backtracking obvious (be it on the overworld or in the levels).
• 3DS restore points come into their own on the final gauntlet. I had a restore point with 4 and a bit hearts at Ganon and restored until victory. Ganon shows no mercy and does a bit of Kaptain K. Rool flip-reversal with the kongtrols. He wants you dead from the word go and that's all there is to it.

After the last time I played the Oracle games, I never really expected to fire them up again and that's how I feel now having put them to the sword once more. I like what they went for but I don't think these games hit the heights we know and expect from this kind of classic style Zelda. None of the non-LA music stands out and most of it is just repetitive, bad and gives the game a silly feel. Conceptually, connecting the two games is cool but the way they've done it wants you to play these games ad infinitum basically; I never thought these games merited the dedication they ask for. Getting a New Game + connection bonus would be enough for me.

Never say never but outside of a remake, I don't see myself ever playing these two again (though who's up for it for the 70th anniversary?!) as there are better Zeldas to be replayed, imho. If I am ever to return to the Oracles in their GBC format, maybe I'll put that Hero's Secret code to use and continue linking adventures. 

A much of a muchness then, but Ages edges it for me.

[darksnowman]

56k warning.

Okay, let's start off by acknowledging the elephant in the room. They dropped the ball with Link's Awakening on Switch by not animating the flowers like in the Gameboy original. This missing detail is painfully obvious to me having just come off the Oracle games where the flowers animate the same as in the original LA. 

There. Now that's out of the way...

I last played this on release when I just fired through the game without paying particular attention to the new collectables (I got what additional seashells and heart pieces I came across), doing any of Dampés challenges or even doing the Color Dungeon which I'd never played before. I didn't even ride the rapids in this spruced-up version. So there was still unfinished business here for me.

I tarried for several long seconds on the file select screen--there are two files from before because I didn't know what to do with the complete game save, so I dumped it in slot 2--reflecting on my previous playthroughs of Link's Awakening on Gameboy, 3DS VC and this version. 

I've thought about Link's Awakening a lot over the past decades.

In the beginning, it was a huge achievement (puzzled out over weeks and months with a primary school classmate) to get through the opening sequence up to obtaining the key for Tail Cave. And doing level one: you couldn't jump on the SNES! This is amazing! Then later, I put the game down indefinitely after eventually reaching and being deeply affected by the twist, as one of the conclusions my young self drew from it was that the game was now rendered pointless and not worth playing. Time passed until one summer when Sampras was racking up another Wimbledon, I went through LA again with a cousin who'd got into it. Going deeper into the game, I thought it was incredible how the later levels made the rest look like child's play. And the way the story played out, with the owl leading me relentlessly on and bosses futilely pleading with me not to wake the windfish, with characters knowing the awakening was looming, with the awakening itself being visually simple yet conveying everything it needed to in meaningful detail. It was all incredible. 

I was Link, the hero, the good guy. Set sail on the high seas for more adventure after Zelda 3 and washed up on Koholint Island where I was triumphant once more. But rather than the resounding victory of evil being vanquished and the land being saved, it was tinged by sadness this time. There was sorrow in success. I learned what it was for something to be bittersweet.

Then I replayed it and replayed it, normally in summer, wondering what it could all be about and what could be done for Marin, Tarin, and all of them... until Ocarina of Time came along and I found Malon and Talon running Lon Lon Ranch. Now, every time they appear somewhere, I like to think it is Marin experiencing life off the island as she dreamed of doing. 

So yeah, all that and more (posting here on the old Zelda board) flashed before my eyes when I was hovering over the empty slot on the file select screen. Being no newcomer to Koholint, I decided that I should be enough of an "expert" at Link's Awakening by now to have a bash at hero mode. So I did.

Hero mode turned a game I know and could bumble through on cruise control, into a game I have had to consider from a new angle--caution. I collected an extra heart container before doing Tail Cave, but I still had to exit halfway through to go up to the shop in Mabe to buy hearts as there are no heart drops or fairies in levels anywhere in hero mode. I reprimanded myself throughout every time I took damage in a level because it meant I was that bit closer to needing to step out. After level 2, I was able to break the back of it a bit by gaining access to Crazy Tracy and made sure to always have her medicine on me from there on out. It was something I never really bothered with before, but this time I paid special attention to routes to fairy fountains as well as keeping that precious tub of medicine in my inventory at all times. One bad room is all it takes to put you at death's door. I've seen Koholint and its levels in a different way and it's made for a new experience.

On top of that, I had a go at the additional things in this version. Dampés dungeon design challenges are nice, but overall not especially interesting. I did enough of them (using the easiest rooms just to get through them) to max out my heart containers then called it quits. Not sure what you get for doing all the challenges but having full hearts and a full inventory is enough for me.

Top swag, Dampé. 

I got the models from the Trendy Game and put them out around Mabe. Not adorning Old Man Ulrira's house with the Shy Guy is a missed opportunity and a total no-brainer!

I got 47 seashells which was more than enough to upgrade the sword. As with Dampés challenges, I don't know what worthwhile reward you could get for collecting all the seashells as I have full hearts and full inventory already. An upgrade to something?

And I did the Color Dungeon which really helped with hero mode. By the time you get Crazy Tracey's medicine, have fairies in bottles (which don't auto-revive you, pay heed...!) and have the blue mail, you can approach hero mode with some confidence.

I'm sure this was novel on the GBC.

I've one heart. Don't send me away without healing me.

I like pretty much everything about the Switch LA remake though they could have thrown in d-pad controls.  I like that you can see beyond "the edge of the screen". Like, from the beach you can see up to Mabe Village, from the east side of Mabe Village you can see out onto the prairie, you can see into and out of the Mysterious Forest to the north, etc. It makes Koholint seem like one consistent place rather than just a bunch of square screens stitched together. Speaking of the Mysterious Forest, it's a pity that the music is softer there as on the Gameboy it has a twang to it that makes the forest feel weird and overbearing. I was there a lot in the early going this time to make use of the fairy fountain so I heard the music plenty.

Here are some snapshots. I could have taken more. In fact, I could have posted about Link's Awakening every step of the way as the uneasiness seeps through. Mostly it's Marin, though I would ask you not to skim past the pics too fast, but take a moment to look at one or two and consider where Link has been, where he's going next, and at what part of his journey to awakening he's on. 

I've been known to be a THIEF in past save files, Tarin.

Papahl will be lost in the mountains later and you'll be abandoned here by monsters, Marin. I'll see you then.

Static flowers but still, what a scene. 

Made a Horlicks of things in the Trendy Game with its purple and green Wimbledon colour scheme. That heart piece was pretty slippery.

If you tilt your head just so and squint...

Big chance to mess around a bit!

Don't need a raft to get off this island! Let's tunnel!


Win me something good.

...that's not the cuddly toy.

I have to come back here, you know!

It isn't what you think!

Well, this is it then.


Now THIS guy is obsessed.

I always thought it was cool that characters crop up in different places around the island and that in this case, you are directly responsible for it.


Are the above two places the biggest double gut-punch in gaming?

By the power of seashells!

But didn't it used to be the seashell sword, L-2?

Where you were unable to wake the windfish I will prevail. Now let's get you down from there.


I will soon put the island and everyone here behind me. Be ready when the time comes.

The Mario stuff never struck me as strange when I first played since there's a giant pink Yoshi egg on top of the hill. And with Bowser being in Sim City on SNES it didn't seem out of the ordinary for Mr Write (with his music) to appear on the strange and wonderful island of Koholint. 

Spoiler

Zero death file done. As I said, it was tough for the opening levels but balanced out after that. I'm baffled by how people can completely miss the staircase to the Animal Village because even during this run, I was cutting every bush and even fell into the pothole that's underneath the bush outside Richard's Villa a lot. And that's when I couldn't afford the hearts and knew the pothole was there. If you don't know what's under a bush why aren't you cutting it to check? Zelda 101. 

Link's Awakening is up there with the gaming GOATs and would be one of my desert island games.
 

Edited August 7, 2021 by darksnowman
image urls broke :(

[darksnowman]

Go on, then.

Last time I properly played Zelda 1 was on the pre-VC, aka the NES Classic range on GBA. Having it just sitting there as part of Nintendo Switch Online as many of us do (plus the SP version), there's no excuse not to play it from time to time. With an online map of Hyrule that has level locations marked, you can wander around while still knowing where to go next if you get bored or feel lost.

I had one mishap where I ran out of bombs in the final level and had to leave to go on a walkabout for rupees and a shop as no bombs were dropping from enemies. When you know there are bombable walls everywhere, you can burn through your reserves pretty quickly.  

Ganon's blood n' guts.

They didn't think of inserting your file name. How quaint.

The second quest will have to wait. 

Overall, I've nothing to add to what's been said about Zelda 1 over the last 35 years. If you haven't played it and you have NSO, then you should definitely check it out because it's more than just a curious relic of early Nintendo--it's a genuine classic.

A Link Between Worlds is the only other Zelda game I'm up for revisiting any time soon. I've just played it the once so it should be nice to go through again, though I'm not sure I will do that in the immediate future. Funny to think I've recently replayed Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, both Oracle games, Links Awakening and Zelda 1 all in the time it took me to go through Breath of the Wild once (and far from 100%). Really hope the BotW sequel reins things in a bit... but I can't see it. 

Here is my sort-of ranking of the Zeldas I've played during the series' 35th anniversary:
Cream of the crop: Legend of Zelda, Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time
Doesn't quite make the grade: Breath of the Wild
At least they tried: Oracle of Seasons, Oracle of Ages

 

[MindFreak]

New trailer for the Game & Watch: Legend of Zelda:

 

[Ronnie]

I didn't know I needed an OTT hype trailer for a Game & Watch in my life... till now.