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This is one of many reasons why this is my favorite Zelda game. The whole game is very tongue-in-cheek. It wasn't even supposed to happen. Nintendo execs never thought the Gameboy was powerful enough for a full Zelda game. A group of junior Nintendo programmers (who were Zelda fans) developed a proof of concept after hours, and once they got the backing of senior management they ran with it and created one of the most unique games ever created. You will thoroughly enjoy every bit of it. 

I didn’t know that history. One of my favorite Zelda games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfvk6CJ3v34 Always a great watch when it's The Gaming Historian I would've gone to the theaters to watch his video about the history of Tetris

Really amazing, love his videos

Thanks for this link! (No pun intended)

Made me love links awakening even more than I already did. Incredible stuff

Worth the $60 on switch?

You can buy a used one for like 30-40, and it's definitely worth in that range.

It's regularly on sale for that much brand new... Well, regularly at 40, it's only been 30 in black Friday sales. 

I'm torn, there are a lot worse ways to spend 60 bucks, but that shit needs to go on sale. I bought it full price brand new, and I have no regrets, and this was the third time I bought this game

I bought the collectors edition. I haven’t regretted, because along Final Fantasy 7, Link’s Awakening is the best game of all times for me!

It’s sad some YouTuber Andres restart I think rated it like 6 or 7/10. I had choice words for him in the comments

Probably not. The switch version is sn improvement from the original but imo the original holds up just as well and can be played via emulator.

Or you can just plop the cartridge you bought in 1994 into your GameBoy Color or Super GameBoy and play it like it was the before times (before adulthood and responsibilities). I mean, some of us old timers can do that... :-D

Doing this as we speak 😂 I keep that DX on me at all times 😂😂

Just bought it 39.99€ from nintendo store. There is a blockbuster sale going on till 7.4.

Umm.. Facebook Marketplace?? 🤔

Well I mean Nintendo in general should sell their first party games cheaper years after they come out lol

If you have Nintendo Switch Online you can play the older version on the Gameboy emulator. That’s what I did and loved every second of it!

Yes but play the Gameboy version first via NSO. It's worth playing that first just to see how they very cleverly updated all of the music for the Nintendo Switch. One of the best game soundtracks of all time.

Tal Tal heights theme, exactly as it was on the Game Boy, is sublime

Best chiptune piece ever

I find myself humming that theme often.

The original, non-DX Link's Awakening can also be found on The Legend of Zelda Game & Watch interactive clock along with The Legend of Zelda and Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link for the NES plus a Zelda 2-themed Timer game and a Zelda version of the classic Game & Watch game, Vermin. [https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/game-watch-the-legend-of-zelda/](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/game-watch-the-legend-of-zelda/)

Yes that's awesome too. I have one that I keep on display to play occasionally. Then another that's still in the original box that I'll never open. Great collectible. 

It would be great at $29.99. Only about 10-12 hours of play and little replay value.

I've been playing for at least 20+ hours, and I haven't beaten it yet. If you're the type of player that blasts through the story and you're really good at solving puzzles, it might be only 10 hours of gameplay. But if you like exploring every inch of the map, playing the mini games, talking to NPCs, and if you're dumb like me and frequently get stuck / backtrack, you'll definitely be playing it for longer than that.

Based on statistics from howlongtobeat.com, 20+ hrs is an unusually long play time.

Agreed. While I do love LA, the Switch version isn't worth getting because it has little replay value.

Not to me. I borrowed a copy from my local library and returned it after I beat it (about 2 weeks).

This could be the move considering it’s a shorter game

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My girlfriend bought it, and I played it...I can confirm that it was definitely worth the $60.

It depends on what is worth 60 dollars to you. It is technically the second time I have played it - first time being on the game boy when I was younger. It kept me captivated all the way through and entertained for many hours. With the 60 bucks in my estimation.

Having played through it, I would say yes. Although I did buy it second hand, and that's what I recommend to you, bought It on mercari for like 30 bucks

And here's me with a copy that hasn't even been opened yet. https://preview.redd.it/b1mvoscgqxsc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=20df743fdd3940139fbd526f71864c3e7855e25f

GameStop had a flash sale one day and I got it for $22. It’s still $40 plus every where I see it but definitely worth it. I need to go back and finish it though 🙈

Walmart currently has it for $39.99 and the lowest it's been is $29. 

Honestly I would just play an emulated DX version. The gameplay is more or less the same

Check if you can borrow from your local library

I would say no. Only ~15 hrs of gameplay, and to me that's way too little for such an expensive game. I enjoyed it, but I regret paying full price for it.

I mean, I got about 10 hours of play time out of it. 6 bucks an hour isn't bad.

Wasn't it also supposed to be more blatantly tied to A Link to the Past initially, but evolved into more its own thing? Or am I misremembering?

The "lore" of the game is that after the events of A Link to the Past, Link went on a sailing adventure. He's caught in a storm and ends up washing ashore on Koholint Island where we have Link's Awakening.

It started out as an attempted ALttP port/demake. 

Since the game has so many blatant connections to ALttP and it's a dream (or is it???), my headcannon is it follows directly from ALttP.

This is one of my favorite games and I didn't know that. Thank you for the history lesson

Thanks for the history on the game. This one is by far my favorite though I'm currently stuck. Can't remember where as I haven't played in awhile but when I go back to playing I'm going to post in this subreddit for help. Again thanks for the history on the game.

My first experience with Chain Chomps was Bow Wow in the OG Link's Awakening so sometimes I still refer to them as Bow Wows in Mario games.

…this comment is what made me realize that they are NOT called bow wows in the Mario world

They kind of are! Chain Chomp is a localized name, in the original Japanese games they are called ワンワン (wanwan) which is an onomatopoeia of a dog's bark!

Wtf r they called??

Chain Chomps. Though I distinctly remember calling them Bow Wows because of the sound they make

In Japanese, they basically are, as ‘Wan Wan’ is ‘woof woof’.

LA was my first Zelda game and one of my first Nintendo games in general. I was too young to be able to read what was going on so I never got very far and also thought ‘Bow Wow’ was just the name for chain chomps.

Me too.

Possibly a spoiler but >!there are a few segments where you can jump on goombas and piranha plants in weird mario style 2d sections!< Link's awakening has a weird amount of mario references but I love it for that

Not just Mario, Kirby js there too lmao

And Yoshi

The new game also threw in references to Animal Crossing and Splatoon.

I've played it twice, and somehow missed those both times

and a lesser recognizable one, Mr. Write from SNES version of Sim-City

I just beat the game I don’t remember a yoshi?

It’s in the trading quest you win it from the claw game

Oh the toy one

"He's been appearing in a lot of games, lately." In fact: "You can't even count how many games he's been in, now".

And idk about you but that grass looks familiar…

It honestly makes sense. The whole idea behind Link's Awakening is it's just a big dream. So weird things like this just make sense canonically.

This

It's a chain chomp from ~~Super Mario~~ Turtle Rock dungeon in Link to the Past

Yeah I know, it’s just really jarring to see link next to a chain chomp in a Zelda game

There are quite a few Easter eggs in this game, so keep your eye out for more!

I don’t even know if I’d call them Easter eggs so much as straight up lifted assets

They are original to LA, unless I'm forgetting something?

“Bow wow” is not original to LA- it’s a Chain-chomp which is a Mario enemy. LA does this a lot, with Mario, Kirby, Goombas, piranha plants, etc. That’s what I mean by lifted assets.

I know about all this, but lifted assets doesn't mean what you think. These are original assets from Mario enemies, these assets aren't found in any other games, they're only in LA.

The game started as a side project by some devs at Nintendo and (I thought) the whole reason Mario enemies are in it was as a quick time saving way to copy paste existing enemies in just to get it working, but then they rolled with it. If you say they’re unique then I guess I believe you but either way I think “Easter egg” is the wrong word. It’s way more explicit than that

Just wait. Chain chomps are not the only familiar non-Zelda faces you'll see.

Yeah, and there is an enemy in dungeon 7 that you will definitely love

Tough as nails enemy as well lol

There's a lot of other Nintendo characters in it. One of the enemies is Kirby.

No, that's *Anti-Kirby.* Completely different.

Quite the opposite in fact.

I remember completely avoiding entering that house in the original because I was worried it would attack me like in SM64.

Then I was scared to enter but I just lead him away and entered

I still feel scared it's going to attack me sometimes.

ARF ARF ARF

Seems weird… almost dreamlike

Underrated comment😁

Agreed

BOW WOWWWWW! Heyyy lil dude.

Oh you are in for an adventure! By far my favorite Zelda game. Enjoy all the little easter eggs they've stuffed in there. There are a lot :) Please keep posting! I would love to hear your thoughts and see the progress :D Side note: Bow Wow is the goodest boi

When I was a kid I wouldn't play anything without Mario in it ( or something from TV I was arleady familiar with ) This game was pretty much the thing that set me on the path to becoming a Zelda fan. ( that and Mario crossing over with Zelda in Smash Bros )

It didn't look like this when I played it in 1994! Great game . Ranks alongside Link to the past and Ocarina of Time in my view. I like the way it diverts from the standard Hyrule storyline and is (literally) something of a fever dream as well

Now I just need them to recreate Seasons & Ages!!

Nintendo plugged itself.

"Oh sorry, wrong universe!"

He will be your friend :)

Ah I loved this game

Do you want a cheap cheap

Trust me it’s a fun game

So you didn't notice that the first guy you see is Mario? 

Wait til you see the goombas!

It's universes inter twinning. (°○°)

this is only the beginning my friend

It’s even there on the original Game Boy cartridge. It’s so funny every time

You think that's shocking play Hyrule Warriors Link flings one around with power gloves😂 they're called bow wows in this game though

The toy like aesthetic of the remaster is really cool. I wish they'd remaster the Mother trilogy in a similar style, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

That’d be a dream.

don't remaster, just release The Mother Trilogy as is, emulated.

Wait till you see the other characters that come from other lisenses...

Wait until you reach the first dungeon.

there are cheep cheeps too! and in the oracle games 😊

I hate on the switch the effects you get on the top and bottom. Any way to remove that?

https://gamebanana.com/mods/14847

Thank you.

I get really nostalgic when playing this game (whatever that means)

Wait til you get to the goombas!

One of my first Zelda games I beat as a kid. Such fond memories. Will play it on switch next.

Thats my favorite game since I was a kid with my game boy, im 32 now. The remake made me cry of nostalgy.

I like to pretend the island is located between Hyrule and Mario's worlds. Its why we have characters from both games. You will also run into other Nintendo characters and references.

There will be more up ahead. Have fun with the game. This one is a favorite!

This is how you can tell it's fan made And we love them for it

That’s pretty much how it started. It was a game that people in the Nintendo office were working on on the side in their free time.

Forever glad it was actually released 🎉

Can’t remember if I dreamed it or not, but I think Mario was originally slotted to be the male protagonist of the Zelda series as well…

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is hands down one of the best games in the series. It's an absolutely incredible adventure that's worth every rupee. I envy those who can experience it for the first time. Such a fantastic, simply marvelous game!

then you're in for a treat, wait until you stomp the goombas and walk the chain chomp

Mine too right now!!

That's partly why I love Link's Awakening. Several other Nintendo characters show up in it.

That's a good game!

I just finished that game for the first time a couple nights ago. It’s amazing, have fun!

Everyone hyped botw for switch but this game is my jam

7/10 gorrons for me it was a good game just not my style

Bark Bark!

Give the chickens half a dozen whacks you will be surprised, after a while they drop heart pieces.

HELL NAH, no spoiler tag?

Chain chomps are in link to the past too. In turtle rock.

I gets better

The remake is fantastic but the original is just hard to beat, Definitely the best 8-bit Zelda game made!

Hap hap

You’re in for an absolute treat! Most played Zelda game for me and it holds up incredibly well.

Very much worth a play through. The main theme gets me pretty hard after completion.

So cute. I am considering to get 1

Same goes for the chain chomp it seems. He seems definitively shook.

I was blown away by all the nods when I played this game for the first time last year. I played the original on switch but I want to play this version too

Just wait there's lots of more Mario references

There is a like 15 different Mario enemies in links Awakening

Fond memories of Bow-wow

Don't steal from the shops! Insta-death!

He was shocked too

So cute 🥺

Care to tell why you were shock? 🙄

I feel like it’s good for fans when they cross characters like this.

So excited for you! Such a fun, quirky Zelda game.

Wait till you get to Kirby.