Pros: Everything
Cons: Just about nothing, except that it might be a little hard.

NOTE: This is an edited opinion. My original opinion was one of my first, and going back to look at it, I could summerize it in two words: it sucked. So I've givin it a MAJOR facelift (four pages worth of facelift), and this one, needless to say, does NOT suck.

Nintendo really, really is not a good developer. They always seem to poop out some kind of money maker. Like with Mario, they make three games with him that were enjoyable, then every game is just another game with his face on it. Mario Party? Please. Give us a break. Over-hyped games such as Banjo-Kazooie litter the gaming range, and close to none are RPGs. Quest 64 was quite possibly one of the worst games I have ever played. My friend Johnny had the N64 before I had any system, and he and I played it a ton. My friend Steven had the PlayStation and I played that a ton too. In my mind I was going over which to buy, and it wasn't even close. I mean, come on. I hated the N64, and always will. That is why I won't write an opinion on "N64 vs. PSX", because I have it tremendously biased. Anyway, I DO have a Game Boy Color, and I was incredibly disgusted with that, too. In summer of '99, I picked up The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Deluxe for the system, trying to find something to fill my hours on.

And what a great decision it was. With Link's Awakening, you get what you pay for--and more. I don't know if it was better that Legend of Zelda: Ocarnia of Time or whatever, but it was the best GBC game that I have played to date. And here is my review of it.

The Story


This game starts off as the hero of the game, Link, is heading home from some island. We see his ship being shook in the storm, waves tossing him up and down, lightning striking in the distance. Link falls off the ship and washes up on a mysterious island, where he is found by a beautiful girl named Marion (or something like that, I haven't played the game in a while). The thing is, you can't catch a ride home because the people on the island think that they are the only people in the world. They can't help you. Ouch. They tell you the only being that can help you is the "Wind Fish", a mysterious thing in a large egg on top of the mountain. However, you have to wake it up, because it is sleeping. The only way you can wake it up is to get the eight instruments hidden in eight dungeon's. Complicated dungeons. In the meantime (SPOILER WARNING!), Marion falls head over heels in love with Link by the end of the game, and might prove to make a difference at the end.

The Graphics


Since I had the Deluxe version of the game, I had a whole world of color. It was great! I mean, if you look past the point that Link looks like a big green blob that a two year old colored over the lines...it's all good. The trees are green with brown bark, the dungeons are dark and most of them are black, the water is blue, and the grass is green. It's not blue trees, as in some GBC games I could name. Everything is in place.

Everything is clear, too. The graphics, though 2D, seem somewhat sophisticated for the Game Boy. There's no "fog" so you can't see your enemies popping up. There's none of that cr@p where suddenly an enemy comes out of absolutely nowhere to choke you. There's no invisible walls that stop you from going somewhere (*cough, cough* Jade Cocoon *cough, cough*). It's excellent for the GB Color.

The Gameplay

Ahh, the gameplay. You start out with only a shield, but when you go down to the beach, you quickly get your sword. It's in your basic action/RPG gameplan, one button to block, one button to bring your sword down on an enemy. The best part is, you get to configure which button is which. Like if you want your sword to be on the "A" button and your shield on your "B" button, you can make that happen.

The sword is the main and the most ideal weapon in the game. However, there are other, better weapons to collect also, most of them in the dungeon. There is a weapon that you don't get in a dungeon, however, and that is the Boomerang. It's a powerful weapon that kills enemies from long-distance. If anybody wants to know how to get it, email me. I don't want to spoil anybody's game.

Anyway, they stick to the formula that is when an enemy touches you, you get hurt. In this case, they have a bunch of hearts instead of HP. You start out with three hearts (they will flash at the bottom of the screen) and gradually work your way up from there. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can have up to twelve hearts by the end of the game. You gain more hearts by:

a) Collecting the "Pieces of Heart" that are scattered around the game, or

b) Getting the next instrument.

Those are the two ways to gain more hearts.

There is a store in the game, like every other game. In this store, you can buy basic things you need for your quest (the Shovel), you can buy hearts (I mean like health), you can buy weapons that are optional, expensive, but end up being VERY critical for your journey (Bow and Arrows), and you can buy little goodies (Bombs) that you NEED to beat some dungeons.

There are also little minigames, such as Fishing with the fisherman by the pond. You cast the rod and wait for a bite. You see underwater. When a fish bites, you press the "A" button rapidly to reel him in. He gives you money for whichever size fish you catch. If you catch small ones (you will most likely catch them), he will pay you 5 Rupees (dollars). (You have to pay fifteen to fish, so this is not recommended). However, if you catch a big fish (it's hard and there is two of them), you get 50 Rupees and if you catch the one under the dock, you get a Piece of Heart.

There is also a "trading" thing going on, which leads to the Boomerang. It starts with the Yoshi Doll (shameless self promotion by Nintendo here) that you get from the mini-game in the house in the corner of the village. You give the Doll to a mother in the north side of the village, she gives you a bow (the things girls wear) and you give that to someone for dog food, etc. It leads to something special and opens up the way to the Boomerang.

One way, out of many, that the Deluxe version is better than the original is that in Deluxe, there is an extra, secret dungeon. I didn’t know that you could get there until I read about it in a box of cookies (hehe), then tried it and found that it worked. You have to push these gravestones in the graveyard by the witch’s house in a particular order, then a secret panel will pop up. As a side note, you not only need a Deluxe version, but you need the Game Boy Color, too. A regular Game Boy or Game Boy Pocket won’t work. When you beat it, you don’t get an instrument, you get something better. A fairy comes along and tells you to pick which suit you want, Red or Blue. Link finally gets to get out of his Green suit, and with Red, you get higher attack, with Blue, you get higher defense. I picked Blue, but I’m thinking that I should have picked Red...oh, well.

Yet another thing about this game, a very cool feature, is robbing the store. All you do is pick up the item you want, go to the counter so that he turns around and is looking at you, then run as fast as you can out the door while his back is turned. The next time you come to the store, however, he’ll kill you, but then when you come back the second time, you’ll be buddies again. A drawback for people that have the regular version: everyone will call you THIEF from then on. Those with the Deluxe version however, don’t have to worry about that.

A small tip about this game: when you get the Pegasus Boots, be sure to crash into the back wall of the Library. A book will fall, and it may not seem very helpful, but write down what it says, you WILL need it at the end of the game.

The whole dungeon thing is hard, but it does get very annoying and nerve-wracking at times, especially level eight. The thing that is my piece of advice for beating this game is: just remember that throwing your Game Boy against the wall in anger and crying won't beat the dungeons for you. That's all.

The Sound

The sound is pretty good. You can hear the "whoosh" sound your sword makes as you do the super- swing or whatever, you can hear the chop and the breaking of the plants that you squish, and you can hear the "Hoot-hoot" of the mysterious owl that tells you what to do. The tunes in this game are great, especially the tunes for the Ocarina that you receive. Marion’s song gets annoying, but the other songs are fun.

You still get that annoying “BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP!” sound when you’re down on life, or hearts, in this game. Yeah, that’s annoying, but all you have to do is turn off the volume. This is the ONLY time the sound is bad, other times it’s perfect. You don’t have the digital, scratchy sounds like in Spawn, you’ve got genuine, great sounds. Congrats, Nintendo, I’ll take my hat off for you.

Little Notes

For this game, you get THREE save slots. Now, like in consols, you can have extra, backup files in case your friend saves over your file, or you can just have more than one game going at a time, in case you miss something in one, you can just not mess up the next time around. Basically, if you are looking for a great game out there to buy and play, this game will keep you hooked for a LONG time. However, if you play games casually and just about a half hour or so a week or before you go to bed at night and don't like extremely mind-boggling games, this game is not for you. I highly recommend this game, but only for people that have patience!