💾 Archived View for gem.lizsugar.me › 2024 › 06 › 12 › Revisiting-Links-Awakening-Switch.gmi captured on 2024-06-16 at 12:21:07. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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Switch
// June 12 2024, 3 min read, #gaming #review
I completed this remake a few years ago when it came out, but had never given a fair shake to the dungeon creation mode that was added for this version.
Note: This post falls apart a bit at the end, because I just don't have the energy to finish a longer review anymore. I had started this one a couple months ago, intending it to be like my previous ones
I adore Link's Awakening. I can't remember if it's my first Zelda, or if that honor belongs to Ocarina of Time, but it is certainly the one that made the biggest impression on me. I had Link's Awakening DX for the GameBoy Color, but I never finished it! It felt like I got stuck in a weird progression bug, but more likely I just lost my way and couldn't get back on track. Which is weird because progression in this game isn't that hard to figure out (lending credence to my bug hypothesis).
Unlike the Super Mario RPG[1] and Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door remakes on Switch, Link's Awakening changes things a bit. Controls are modified so that the pegasus boots, shield, and sword are now on dedicated buttons; on the GB version you had to keep swapping items around to either A or B buttons such that you could run around without a sword or shield equipped. It's been several years, so I'm hazy on what else was changed, but I think some quest lines and mini games were slightly modified. It also has an entirely new Create A Dungeon mode that never existed before, which is what this post is about, sooooo... ? Thus, I'm not sure if this counts as a backlog completion of the GB game (for Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario 2, I am indeed counting those as the same game as their original SNES and Gamecube releases, respectively. They're so so SO similar that it's not worth quibbling over). It is definitely a backlog game on the Switch though. And also, I did complete the main portion of this game years ago anyway lololol
Though does it really matter? As I keep I putting off the completion of even new games from this year, I keep adding to my backlog. Is backlog just an arbitrary designation??
The new included create-a-dungeon mode for the Switch version is no "The Legend of Zelda Maker," it's not nearly complicated as a Zelda version of Super Mario Maker should be. The building blocks are pretty basic, and the logic is entirely hidden away from you (which is one of my major frustration points). Cannot place anything in chests. Chests will always give you a small key until it doesn't make sense to do so, then they'll give you rupees until it's time to acquire the nightmare key.
- played one dungeon and got stuck because of small key placement.
- played it again without editing the dungeon and made it through, with wise usage of small keys
- played one dungeon and couldn't get to the nightmare key for some reason, but there was only one chest left on the map so that was obviously the nightmare key
- played that same dungeon again without editing and pathed myself differently to get to that chest.. and it did not contain the boss key. instead this time a chest I had reached in the previous run, elsewhere on the map, contained the nightmare key.
Any sort of switches to control the blue and orange platforms/room dividers/blockades are.. useless. Any room which contains these blockade elements are set up that you can navigate it without needing to find and hit a switch. A major disappointment, as designing around this element would have been so much more fun.
The main game is utterly fantastic, one of the best Zeldas. The dungeon building mode is a neat little distraction, and I did overall have fun with it, but it was pretty tedious at times and it is super limited in what you can do with it.
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