The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Other products by Nintendo

Product Features

• Features new enemies;
• eight huge dungeons;
• powerful weapons;
• battery-backed memory;
• one-player action

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00000IWYT
• Media: Game Cartridge
• Release Date: March 29, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (89 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,250 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)

Product Description

Platform: Game Boy Color

GameSpot Review

As any good Nintendo player well knows, Shigeru Miyamoto's The Legend Of Zelda series has been going strong for more than 15 years over a wide variety of platforms. Young hero Link's magical adventures began on the humble NES before spawning sequels and spin offs on the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, and (argh) Phillips CD-I. In 1994, The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening graced the blurry, monochromatic screens of Game Boys across the globe. Many claimed that it was indeed better than the 16-bit SNES game that it chronologically followed, although navigating mazes where all the rooms looked similar and staring at that infernal screen for hours on end turned many would-be fans off. Nintendo has wisely used the launch of the next-generation (well, sort of) Game Boy Color to give the old game a fresh look and a fresh audience. The locale of Link's Awakening, Koholint Island, is huge - even more so when you consider the hidden underground passageways, dungeons, and waterways. However, don't be afraid of getting lost. A map is always accessible by hitting Start (which, of course, also pauses the action). The map shows every area you have visited with unexplored locales represented as mysterious black blocks. The owl's messages are stored here, too (we'll get to him later). If you can't remember what you're supposed to be doing after loading a saved game, just take a look here. Also, note that your position on the map is saved where the last door you used is, so be sure to save near your next objective. There are beaches, towns, forests, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, fishing grounds, shops, mountains, deserts, fields... you name it, it's packed in here somewhere. Link awakens in a hut and is slowly told by the locals that to leave and go back to Hyrule, he must awaken the Wind Fish. This aquatic heavy sleeper lives inside an egg on top of a nearby mountain and can only be lulled from its slumber by playing eight magical instruments. As you may have guessed, getting these instruments is a lot harder than it seems. The instruments lie at the heart of eight separate dungeons, protected by all sorts of monsters, traps, and puzzles. It's time to grab your trusty sword and shield and get to it At key moments through the game, an owl (bearing a discernible likeness to the one found in N64's Ocarina Of Time) flutters in and gives you pointers. He'll offer cryptic clues to the larger storyline while telling you directly what your next objective is. His visage also appears in dungeon walls, revealing key clues for quick-thinking players. Other characters go about their daily business (usually by standing around in a room doing nothing but talk to complete strangers such as yourself) and can give valuable clues or even prized objects that come in useful later. You spend a significant portion of the game wandering around and taking items given to you by one character and trading them with another character for an even more useful item. Speaking of items, plan on spending a good amount of their playtime in the item selection menu. Pressing Start opens it up, and the menu lets you assign two useable items to the A and B buttons. While N64 players who have been spoilt by the multiple assignments they can have with their larger joypads will squirm at the thought of changing items frequently, however, it's a system that works well within the host machine's constraints. Dungeons are the meat of any good RPG, and the ones in Zelda DX are extraordinarily filling. The real beauty of the design is that you can reenter cleared dungeons with new abilities (such as picking up and throwing bombs) and discover new areas that were previously unreachable. Each puzzle you are faced with has a perfectly logical solution, and you'll only come across a few situations that will require you to leave and get new items from the outside. Game Boy Color owners are granted access to an all-new, exclusive dungeon that isn't necessary to complete the game, but is pretty cool nonetheless. It's nice to see Game Boy fans who bought the original game rewarded with something new after buying a new piece of hardware. Speaking of colors, the ones in Zelda DX can't fail to impress. Each area has its own mood-setting color scheme that makes remembering your location far easier than its monochrome predecessor allowed. Characters sport their own individually hued clothes and buildings, and objects have been carefully painted. The overall effect makes the game highly reminiscent of the SNES installment of the series, which, of course, is no bad thing. Oh, and before we forget, owners of the Game Boy printer get a photo scrapbook of Link's adventures that you can copy. It's pretty cool when an accessory that cost as much as the machine you bought it for is actually supported. The beauty of Zelda is that it makes the scary world of console RPGs easily accessible for anyone, blending action, adventure, and good old-fashioned gameplay into one seamless package. It's definitely one of the best Game Boy games ever, and it looks better than ever. We can't urge you enough to play this game. --Cameron Davis
--Copyright ©1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Product Description

The DX Cartridge is a special black color and includes a HIDDEN additional dungeon that the original doesn't have!

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wake the Wind Fish -- and other fun activities., April 25, 2000

By	Altso Nonaz (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

My boyfriend got my a game boy color for the holidays last year. I'm a big vidiot so this gift wasn't that nuts -- but I still wondered "why the heck do I need a game boy color? I already have enough video game systems!" Well, Zelda answered that question and gave me a reason to fall in love with my GBC.

Zelda's simply faboo. I loved all the older Zelda games because they're so challenging and it's hard to get sick of them. The new Ocarina of Time (for N64) is *FANTASTIC* with graphics that rival Play Station games -- and I'm almost done beating it, but lately I've been focusing my time on the small screen (GB color, that is).

Link's Awakening doesn't quite compare to Ocarina, but for a small screen edition the graphics are quite impressive. The dungeons and other areas are vast and colorful; lots of "bad guys" to battle and even secret "warp tunnels" and other hidden gems to find. There's so much to do that I know I'll have to invest much more time in order to finish the game.

There's a bunch of other fun stuff to do while playing too. You can play games, take photos, harass chickens, catch fish, dig around the prairie, and trade items (like bows, dog food, and bannanas!)

What I don't like is the item selection; this is mostly due to the lack of extra buttons on the GB. Basically you can only use two weapons at once. So let's say you have your sword and your feather set to your A & B buttons. This allows you to kill bad guys and jump over holes. But let's say you must kill a bad guy then quickly jump over something, and then you need to have your magic ready -- which is not equipped! To equip your magic you have to hit "start," select your magic (and replace one of your other items in order to have room for the magic), then quickly execute your move. If you have to make another move directly after that, then you're kinda S.O.L. It's tough to switch back and forth between equipment/weapons. I've found that it is also quite hard to jump over things when you don't have your feather equipped (that's supposed to be comedy - get it?).

Overall, though, this game will undoubtedly provide me with hours of entertainment and it has certainly given me a reason to play my Game Boy Color. If you get stuck on any of the levels, you can always visit ninetendo's website and look for their strategy help (that's how I knew where to find the Slime Key! -- yes, I'm a cheater, but why else does Ninetendo make those guides printable?).

I hope this information has been helpful to you. Happy Gaming!

49 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful...and the music is great!, November 18, 1999

By A Customer

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

"Legend of Zelda:Link's Awakening" is one of the all-time winners of gameboy! Even with all the hype about Pokemon, it's hard to see why this game is passed up in favor of Pokemon. There actually IS a plot in this game (unlike Pokemon), but it's a little murky near the beginning, though soon becomes a touch disturbing, and leaves you questioning your mission as the Nightmares (bosses) reveal bits and pieces of the history of the island. The music is superb for gameboy, and the endgame combination of music and animation almost made me cry (when will "Ballad of the Wind Fish" be released on cd?). Although pokemon has more replayablity then Zelda (since Zelda isn't really an RPG, but Pokemon is), Zelda has overall better music, better plot development, better puzzles, better graphics (no long animated sequences in Pokemon!), better sprites, and an overall better story. So if you have a choice between Zelda and Pokemon, for your own sake, chose Zelda.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mom - Dad won't give back my GameBoy!, November 14, 2000

By A Customer

Legend of Zelda is a fantastic game. I'm a 33 year old big kid who bought this game on a whim to pass the time while travelling on business. I logged many hours on the original Zelda about 10 years ago and find this version to be equally entertaining. This game has great graphics, interesting character interactions and challenging puzzles to solve and mysteries to uncover. The game area is huge. The outside world has 100+ screens and each of the eight levels has over 20. I've logged 135+ attempts which has to be over 60 hours and still haven't finished the game. Zelda does a great job of blending problem solving with action adventure. It is too challenging for my 4 & 6 year old boys but they love to watch me play. The older one likes to offer advice; sometimes he's right! The biggest problem I have now is sneaking GameBoy away from them long enough to play.

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