Link's Awakening: Chamber Dungeons

The signature addition to the Switch version of Link’s Awakening is Chamber Dungeons. After Link rescues BowWow from the Moblins, Dampé comes up with the idea of rearranging rooms from the dungeons Link’s completed to create new dungeons. His hut is where the Camera Shop was in the DX version; the Photographer seems to have moved on, and, a few cute pictures aside, I don’t miss him. Link can’t actually do anything with this until he’s completed Bottle Grotto and taken BowWow back home, but after that’s settled, the game opens up.

There are two modes for Chamber Dungeons. The first is challenges given by Dampé, which come in four sets. The first set covers the basics. There must be an entrance room and a Nightmare boss room. Aside from the entrance, every door must connect to another door. Pairs of staircases will use one of the game’s underground passages to connect to one another. (If an odd number of staircases exists, either the passage you can fall into during the Moldorm fight [1] or the one the key falls into in Angler’s Tunnel will be used.) There must be a way into every room. Some challenges come with places where certain types of rooms must be placed (e.g., the room has to have a treasure chest, stairway, or a locked door), or have a design where every available square has to have a room. There have to be enough treasure chests to spawn enough keys to open all the locked doors. While exploring dungeons, Link has to collect all the chests; he gets small keys until he has enough, the last chest opened has the Nightmare Key, and the rest of the chests have rupees.

The second set of challenges is slightly more complex, and then the third set introduces restrictions. In one, Link is limited to three hearts, another has a five-minute time limit, and in the third Link can’t use his sword. The rewards for completing these first twelve challenges are two pieces of heart and one full heart container, a bottle, and a Seashell. Link also unlocks free mode, where he can arrange things however he likes. (This mode feels pretty pointless without being able to share online.) There’s a fourth set of twelve challenges and these are a doozy. Not necessarily to play through – even with restrictions, they’re only as hard as you make them – but they’re rough to design; the layouts are big and/or complicated, and it’s easy for something to not line up just right. The only reward for these dungeons is rupees, and by time he unlocks them, the only thing really left to buy is Chamber Stones, so unless you’re a completionist or you really like the Chamber Dungeons, it’s not really worth it.

There are 20 more tiles Link can unlock. Six of these come from amiibo: five from scanning any Zelda amiibo, plus one for scanning the Link’s Awakening Link amiibo. The other fourteen come from Chamber Stones. Seven are bought at the Town Tool Shop for 1280 rupees apiece. (Fortunately, rupees are very plentiful in this game – especially using the Chamber Dungeons.) Two are won from the Trendy Game, two from the Fishing Hole, two from collecting Seashells, and one via the Rapids Ride. Some of these unlock room effects – rains of rupees, hearts, or bombs; added Wall Masters and enemies; and spawning a Shadow Link miniboss. I’ve only fought Shadow Link once, so I’m not clear on the mechanics, but he’s got a lot of health (possibly like Ocarina of Time Dark Link, who had as much health as Link) and hits hard: normal attacks do 1 heart of damage, spin attacks do 3 hearts. The reward for beating him is a bunch of rupees and recovery items.

While, overall, I enjoyed the Chamber Dungeons and thought they were a nice addition to the game, there were three big flaws. The first is the pointlessness of the final set of challenges. That also came after Turtle Rock, so it feels like the game just stops dead right before the ending. Second, by reusing rooms from completed dungeons – and reusing them again and again through repeated challenges – the Chamber Dungeons start to feel repetitive and samey after a while. (Also not helping the huge batch of challenges in the end.) Finally, stair connection is not something the player has any power over, and the AI for how they connect is terrible. It seems to prioritize connecting the closest staircases, no matter how little sense that makes, and can isolate a set of rooms to not connect to the rest of the dungeon and leave it to the player to rearrange rooms to make it work.

Even with the flaws, the Chamber Dungeons were fun. They were an easy way to get rupees for the Bow, and later, the Chamber Stones. Fighting the bosses multiple times gave me a good feel for how they changed for this version of the game. The execution isn’t quite perfect, but it never quite reached the level of tedium that, say, the Nintendo Gallery in Wind Waker did. (I may change my mind on this on future plays, since there’s a heart and a half locked behind it. On the other hand, if I can copy my challenges from my first play to an amiibo and reuse them…)

Overall, I think the Switch version is an upgrade to what was already one of the best Zelda games in the series and is the definitive version of the game. What made the Game Boy game great is still here, and the presentation is nicely touched up for a modern system.

[1] Which turns falling off the edge from falling into a passage to a normal fall, respawning Link minus a heart.

Link's Awakening: Switch Remake

The Switch version of Link’s Awakening is a from-the-base remake. Everything’s 3D modeled, although the game keeps a tilt-shift perspective so it plays like 2D (much like the DS games). The models look like little toys, and gosh, they’re cute. Screen transitions only happen through doors, meaning the overworld and large dungeon rooms are all seamless. There’s a blurring effect at the edges, which hurt my eyes playing in handheld mode, but once I docked the Switch and played on the big screen, it was all better.

The controls are touched up nicely, taking advantage of the Switch’s multitude of buttons. The sword, shield, and Pegasus Boots all have dedicated buttons, and the Power Bracelet is automatically equipped (for balance purposes, Link still can’t lift pots without it). There are still the two item buttons so bomb arrows can be used, but when I wasn’t using bomb arrows, I had the Roc’s Feather permanently equipped to Y. (Other items are much more situational – honestly, if Roc’s Feather on Y was locked in with bomb arrows activated as they are in Twilight Princess, I wouldn’t mind.)

There are twenty new heart pieces (plus one more heart container) and twenty-six new Secret Seashells. The Seashell rewards have been revamped: a heart piece at 5, a Seashell Sensor that pings when Link gets close to where a Seashell is hidden at 20, a Chamber Stone at 30, the Koholint Sword at 40, and another Chamber Stone for all 50. (In addition to the old Seashell rewards being gone, this is “or above” now – no more missing rewards for not checking in at the right time.)

New stuff with items: Link can collect bottles to keep fairies in. The fairies don’t auto-revive him (that’s left to the Secret Medicine [1][2]) and once bottled only restore about five hearts. Manbo’s Mambo can warp Link to any warp point from anywhere (in the overworld) – a vast improvement over the original version’s fast travel – and there are ten total warp points. Link can buy back the item he trades for the Boomerang (because with the extra Seashells and warp points, he’ll still need the Shovel) for 300 rupees. The Boomerang, Hookshot, and Magic Rod are nerfed. It hurts worst with the Magic Rod, which is needed for a few puzzles in the dungeon and to fight a couple bosses, and that’s about all it’s good for now. The Boomerang is no longer a one-hit kill, but can still kill enemies with enough hits, and stunlocks them in the process, so it’s still good. (The Flying Rooster trick is gone: the boomerang returns to Link rather than hover below him.)

All of the minigames have been expanded. The Fishing Hole isn’t just “catch the one fish with the heart piece and be done with it,” there are lots of types of fish, two heart pieces and two Seashells as rewards, heavier lures to unlock, and it’s a decent way to make rupees now. The Rapids Ride has a new mode in which Link needs to race to the end for prizes (that seem to get worse as his time gets better). The Trendy Game has the claw failing to grab the targeted item or the targeted item rolling out of the claw, and lots of new stuff to get. There’s a whole little sidequest of collecting figures from the Trendy Game and finding places to display them across the village, so that’s fun, except for the part where you try to grab the Piranha Plant figure.

Most of the boss fights have been improved. Moldorm adds cracked floors around most of the room so it’s harder to fall off. Angler Fish’s lure now bounces Link back when he attacks it, so he can’t just float and hit it until it dies, which at least makes the fight take longer. Facade moves around the room, and the flying tiles can knock bombs away from him. Evil Eagle doesn’t reset if Link falls off, and has his full range of attacks from the start so Link can’t just beat it in three hits before it starts doing more than flying overhead. The nerf to the Magic Rod makes Hot Head a little more dangerous. Hardhit Beetle recovers a bit more slowly and it’s easier to tell how much damage it’s taken. And the Shadow Nightmares feel more balanced in difficulty (again, the nerf to the Magic Rod mean the Lanmola form takes three hits instead of one) [3].

A few other minor changes: The horse head puzzles were changed to actual puzzles rather than just “toss them until it lets you stop.” The Color Dungeon added non-color indicators to everything, presumably to help accessibility for colorblind people. A few lines of dialogue are changed. I think the game’s easier than the Game Boy versions; part of that is because of changes that absolutely do make it easier (Link has more health – at least potentially), but I’ll allow that a good chunk is also that I’ve played it a few times so I’m better at it.

Next: Oh, and the Camera Shop and Photographer are gone, and someone else has set up shop.

[1] So bottled fairies act like other games’ potions and the potion acts like other games’ bottled fairies.
[2] The one change I outright hate: If Link finds a redundant Secret Medicine, he puts it back in the chest. This sucked with rupees in Twilight Princess, and we’re doing it again? My run of Turtle Rock got slowed down because I thought I missed a chest, so I went to get it, only to discover it was the Secret Medicine I left behind because I didn’t need it. Sigh. In Twilight Princess I used the magic armor to drain rupees so I could claim all the chests, but I’m not waiting for Link’s health to drain to zero to get another Secret Medicine.
[3] Most bosses get a splash screen with their name, but not the Shadow Nightmares, and especially not the final form, so it seems we’re stuck with DethI. Gah.

Link's Awakening: DX Update

Link’s Awakening has received two major revisions. The most recent is the update for the Switch, which reworks the whole game, and I’ll get to that next. First up is Link’s Awakening DX, a Game Boy Color rerelease of the original. I’ve already briefly touched on some of the points that changed back in my original comments, but this time I’m going to take a real look at them.

The biggest change, of course, is the addition of color to the world. This is mostly a cosmetic difference, so to really show it off, an extra dungeon was added to the game, hidden in the graveyard. It doesn’t have any set place in the game’s dungeon order, and only needs the Power Bracelet (and Link to not have a companion – BowWow, Marin, or the rooster) to enter. The Pegasus Boots let Link knock a book down in the library that explains how to get in, but for someone who knows the trick or looks it up online, it doesn’t actually lock you out. The only item that’s required to defeat the dungeon is the Magic Powder, needed for one of the minibosses. The music for this dungeon is a remix of the original NES game’s dungeon music.

Pretty much every room in the dungeon is color-themed in some way. The entrance has a pair of Stalfos that challenge Link to identify the colors their wearing (required for access). There are a number of puzzles requiring hitting rotating statues with the sword; the hit statue and all adjacent to it spin once, and the goal is to turn them all blue. New enemies are either camouflaged to match the floor tiles where they spawn, or need to be knocked/thrown into holes surrounded by the same color as themselves. Finally, there are rooms with enemies (and Link) bouncing off floor tiles that go from green to yellow to red to gone each time they’re landed on.

There are two minibosses in this dungeon: Avalaunch, a Hinox variant that rains boulders down on Link, and a giant Buzz Blob, which Link needs to sprinkle Magic Powder on before attacking. The Nightmare is Hardhit Beetle [1], a giant Hardhat Beetle. Hardhit Beetle fits the color theme, slowly changing from blue to red as it takes damage. However, it knocks Link back, and can recover damage as well. My experience with this fight has been very frustrating, joining the ranks of poor bosses in the game. Eventually it dies, and Link visits a great fairy for his reward. This is an optional dungeon, so there’s no Instrument of the Sirens, but the fairy awards Link one of two tunics. The blue tunic halves damage taken and the red tunic doubles damage dealt. The red tunic doesn’t really stack with the sword upgrade, so the blue tunic is more useful in the long run (although Link can return to change his mind, so it’s not a terrible idea to go red until completing the Seashell collection, then coming back and switching).

The second big addition to the game is the photography sidequest. A new building, the Camera Shop, got added to Tal Tal Heights, and when Link visits, the Photographer wants to take his picture. Link can go along with it or get knocked into place and have his picture taken anyway. Afterward, the Photographer will show up at key moments to take Link’s picture. There are a handful that can be missed – three that happen while Marin’s following Link around, and one in front of Kanalet Castle’s gate that becomes unavailable when the gate is opened. Getting a complete photograph collection is impossible without stealing something from the store. Stealing the bow, the only safe item to steal if you also want the Marin scene in the ending, kinda wrecks the game’s economy since there are a ton of rupees specifically so you can pay the 980 rupees for the bow. (Stealing it early also makes a few enemies – the teleporting Pairodds in Key Cavern and, when the bomb arrows are used, Avalaunch – much easier than intended.) I’m not a huge fan of this sidequest, although the one picture under the Mabe Village weathercock where Link and Marin were having a moment and Tarin obliviously crashes in is cute.

Extra hints were added to most of the dungeons (all but Angler’s Tunnel). In the original version, which had one hint per dungeon, there were Stone Slabs on the wall that were missing a piece, which was kept in a chest in the dungeon. For the remake, this was changed to owl statues that couldn’t say their hints without the Stone Beak item. The hints seem to be points where players get stuck. Some chests were shuffled to make the Stone Beak available for earlier statues without too much backtracking, and in the last three dungeons, a chest containing rupees was changed to having Secret Medicine instead. The Genie in Bottle Grotto had his fireballs slowed down to make him a little less deadly, and he says a line as a hint to pick up the bottle and throw it into the wall.

Finally, as I mentioned back in the ending of my original run, the sequence with Marin at the end has changed from a winged Marin appearing over the “The End” title to the Ballad of the Wind Fish playing as an image of Marin appears in the sky, then disappears as a seagull flies past.

Next: [Right Joy-Con slides into place.] *click*

[1] Other names it’s gone by include D. Poon (a transliteration of the Japanese name), Giant Hardhat Beetle (a better translation of its name), and Evil Orb.

Link’s Awakening: Nightmares and Awakening

“We were born of nightmares… To take over this world, we made the Wind Fish sleep endlessly! If the Wind Fish doesn’t wake up, this island will never disappear! We would have been masters of this place… but you had to come here and disrupt our plan!”

So… hrm. The Nightmares mucked with the Wind Fish so it wouldn’t wake up. And Link got drawn into the dream world, so he can’t leave without breaking the Nightmares’ hold on the Wind Fish. Considering only those people, it’s easy: screw the Nightmares, save the Wind Fish, and Link’s free. But what about the other creatures of Koholint? So far they don’t seem to be faring too badly in the Wind Fish’s eternal nightmare-infested dream, but that could change. If it were even possible for Link to get away from the island without waking the Wind Fish, how would things be for them afterward? And what about the next poor sap who gets sucked into Koholint accidentally and may have an even harder time leaving than Link?

All in all, waking the Wind Fish, ending the dream, and returning the other inhabitants of the island to nonexistence is the best thing to do, but… I mean…


(xkcd “Nightmares” by Randall Munroe. [CC BY-NC 2.5] [More info])

The final Nightmare assumes a number of different forms, most of which are familiar to Link from his previous adventures. First there’s a giant zol, which is not terribly threatening but immune to just about everything except magic powder. Then come echoes of three bosses from A Link to the Past: Agahnim, a giant moldorm, and Ganon. Then there’s a lanmola that dies pretty quickly, and it’s time for the final form, DethI [1].

DethI is yet another eye monster, with two armed with spiked appendages it swings at Link. So, Link has to play the deadliest game of double Dutch ever [2] while finding time to shoot the eye with arrows. Alternately, one shot from the boomerang does the trick too. Either way, the last Nightmare dies.

“This island is going to disappear… Our world is going to disappear… Our world… Our… world…”

Meet the Wind Fish

A staircase appears in front of Link, and he climbs and meets the owl one last time. The owl explains that it’s part of the Wind Fish, thanks Link for helping free the Wind Fish, and says goodbye.

The Wind Fish then arrives with a godawful trilling sound.

“I AM THE WIND FISH… LONG HAS BEEN MY SLUMBER… IN MY DREAMS… AN EGG APPEARED AND WAS SURROUNDED BY AN ISLAND. WITH PEOPLE, ANIMALS, AN ENTIRE WORLD!
“BUT VERILY, IT BE THE NATURE OF DREAMS TO END! WHEN I DOST AWAKEN, KOHOLINT WILL BE GONE… ONLY THE MEMORY OF THIS DREAM LAND WILL EXIST IN THE WAKING WORLD…
“SOMEDAY, THOU MAY RECALL THIS ISLAND… THAT MEMORY MUST BE THE REAL DREAM WORLD…
“COME, Link [3]… LET US AWAKEN TOGETHER!
“PLAY THE EIGHT INSTRUMENTS! PLAY THE SONG OF AWAKENING!”

Link plays the Ballad of the Wind Fish one last time as a montage of the people of Koholint Island fading out of existence plays. Finally the entire island disappears, and Link is blasted by a spray of water, waking to find himself holding on to a small portion of his ship’s mast. The wind fish flies overhead as Link watches with a smile.

And that’s the end. Does Link ever make it back to Hyrule? Does he die alone at sea, clinging to what’s left of his ship and hoping for a rescue that never comes? I would guess we’ll never know, unless Nintendo decides to make another game with this particular Link someday. There is one final bit of closure: If the game’s completed with no deaths, a winged Marin flies over the The End screen, implying somehow she escaped the island as a bird. The DX version is a little more clear: her face appears in the sky while the Ballad of the Wind Fish plays, and then seagulls appear, suggesting that her wish to the Wind Fish was to become a seagull and fly to other places, as she’d told Link during their scene on the beach, and it was granted.

Final Thoughts

So, that’s Link’s Awakening. I ultimately have it behind A Link to the Past, but in some ways it’s better, particularly the story and characters. And who knows, if I’d played this back when it came out, it might have even overtaken the position of my favorite in the series. There are things I find disappointing/annoying/frustrating, but overall it’s a great game, and the fact that something of this scope and quality made it to the Game Boy is absolutely amazing.

[1] That's a capital I, not a lowercase L. I hate this name – it's like the NES Final Fantasy where they had to cram monster and spell names into a small number of characters, except the name doesn't appear in-game anywhere, so why couldn't they just say "Death Eye" or "Death's Eye" or something readable?
[2] “Look, there’s a gerbil. I’m going up and down. 60 Minutes, where are you? Here’s an exposé for you…”
[3] The sudden lowercase letters in the player character’s name are really jarring here [4].
[4] I guess they expected the player character to be called “THIEF” at that point.

Link’s Awakening: Turtle Rock

Turtle Rock

At the far edge of the map lies the entrance to Turtle Rock. There’s no key nor quake medallion to open the way forward, so Link has to do what’s been hinted: play the song to make the turtle come to life. The turtle turns hostile, so it’s a miniboss fight to get into the dungeon. Not a particularly tough one, though, so the way opens fairly easily. In addition to having a turtle head creature petrified on top of the entrance, the dungeon’s floorplan resembles a turtle, too.

This is the final real dungeon, so it pulls out all the stops. Five of the old dungeons’ minibosses return here, the exceptions being Master Stalfos, whom Link had to fight four times; the gohmas; and the Grim Creeper, who was also sort of the dungeon’s end boss. Vires show up for the first time since the first game, and they’re considerably more dangerous now, hiding along the edges of the screen and spitting fire at Link. The dodongo snakes are particularly memorable, because to get the chest they drop, Link has to exit and re-enter the dungeon – grabbing the last heart piece along the way – coming back on an elevated walkway, and has to defeat the snakes by throwing bombs at them from above.

The dungeon’s actual miniboss is Blaino, a boxer whose gloves also provide a strong defense against Link’s sword attacks. He’s got a wind-up punch that will send Link flying back to the start of the dungeon if it hits, but if it misses it leaves him vulnerable for a second. Also, his defense doesn’t protect against spin attacks, so that’s the best way to get rid of him. Once Blaino is defeated, a passage opens to the dungeon’s treasure, the magic rod, which since it comes with the magic book capability from the start, also resembles A Link to the Past’s fire rod. This is quite useful against some enemies, such as the vires. It’s also needed to destroy some icy blocks in the side-scrolling areas that block passage to the Nightmare.

The dungeon also has a unique type of puzzle: moving platforms that give some kind of reward if they can be manipulated to cover the entire open area in the room. This finally led to me having a breakdown when my thumb was killing me and the damned D-pad wasn’t responding properly to my commands trying to get the platform to turn. The controller I had been using has been a loyal friend for 13 years, but my poor thumb finally said enough.

The dungeon’s Nightmare is Hot Head, a fireball that hops around the lava pit and throws fire at Link. Counterintuitively, his weakness is the magic rod’s fireballs, which stop him moving for a second, which means if Link can keep a steady stream of fireballs thrown at him, it’s going to be a short and ridiculous fight. Hot Head asks Link why he had to come disrupt the Nightmares’ plan and force everything to change, before falling into the same “you too are in the dream” routine the previous two Nightmares had used.

Finally, Link claims the Thunder Drum, the final Instrument, and the voice tells him it’s time to visit the egg on the mountain.

The Wind Fish’s Egg

Before he can do that, however, Link has to visit Mabe Village’s library. There’s a book there that can only be read with the magnifying glass, which explains the route Link needs to take inside the Egg’s maze. Also, coming down from the mountain, there’s one final owl statue.

“MUSIC, THE FISH STIRS IN THE EGG YOU ARE THERE…”

At last, it’s time to awaken the sleeper. As Link approaches the egg, the owl returns one more time, reminding Link everything we already know; this scene was probably meant for if Link went to the egg before he was ready to open it. Link approaches the egg and plays the Ballad of the Wind Fish on the ocarina, and is soon joined by the eight Instruments for a larger serenade. Instead of waking the Wind Fish, it merely cracks a hole in the egg. With encouragement from the owl, Link enters the egg.

The inside of the egg looks like a dungeon, but Link falls to the lower floor, which is a bunch of identical rooms with passages in all four cardinal directions. If Link follows the directions from the book in the library, he comes to another pit and jumps down to confront the final boss.

Next: Verily, it be the nature of dreams to end.

Link's Awakening: Eagle's Tower

The ascent up Mt. Tamaranch starts the same as the journey to the waterfall for Angler’s Tunnel. Link even passes by the same heart piece he saw but couldn’t get earlier. During the ascent, the owl comes back to tell Link that his final two dungeons are in the mountains, and since he’s probably not into misleading Link about critical information about the Wind Fish, we can assume he’s telling the truth here.

Up in the mountains, there’s a man living in a hut who’s thoroughly excited to see a flying rooster. In keeping with the general theme of the game, he resembles Luigi, so I’m going to assume he’s Tarin’s brother. Exploring the caves around the mountain, Link can finally get that heart piece [1] and finds the Bird Key to unlock the next dungeon, Eagle’s Tower.

Eagle’s Tower

Eagle’s Tower is designed around a central puzzle: throwing a heavy ball into four support pillars to bring the fourth floor crashing down to merge with the third floor. This is a really cool puzzle, slightly marred by the fact that controlling the ball can be a pain in the ass sometimes. There’s also several times where Link has to jump down to the floor below to land on ledges, and a sequence of walking on top of switch blocks.

The one failing of the dungeon is that the mirror shield doesn’t feel connected to anything; Link finds it rather early, and it can be useful against the boss, but it’s actually quite possible to complete the dungeon without it [2]. Rather than a separate miniboss and boss, Link goes up against the minions of the Grim Creeper twice. The first time, he summons groups of six bats to attack Link until Link can defeat an entire group. The second, and more memorable fight, takes place on top of the tower. There, the Grim Creeper rides an Evil Eagle and attacks Link. It starts with just making flybys, but after taking three hits, it starts divebombing Link, and hovering above the tower trying to push Link off. Falling causes no damage, but it does reset the fight.

On the other hand, if you realize a secret about the fight, it gets much easier. The eagle switches tactics after taking three hits, not losing a certain percentage of its life. So, if Link has the level 2 sword and hits the Eagle with spin attacks, the Eagle dies in those three hits and the harder phase never starts. As he dies, the Grim Creeper tells Link that he’s part of the dream, too. The seventh instrument Link gains is the Organ of Evening Calm. Link knows where he’s going next, so the voice tells him that the ocarina will be important instead.

Link comes out of Eagle’s Tower to discover his rooster friend is gone. Not to worry, he’s safe with Tarin’s brother, who’s holding onto the rooster’s ankles as it flies around his house. As Link continues on westward, he discovers Marin stranded on a broken bridge. Link pulls a pretty awesome maneuver, hookshotting across the bridge and grabbing Marin along the way, dragging her to safety. After thanking Link, Marin starts trying to stammer something to him, but Tarin shows up looking for her and she decides not to say it after all and leaves with Tarin. She doesn’t bring it up again if Link visits her in Mabe Village before completing the quest, either.

The owl comes back once she’s gone and says that she’d sang the Ballad of the Wind Fish in front of the egg, and that’s why the monsters took her and left her on the bridge. He reiterates that Link’s got to go west for the final instrument, and hints that he’s going to have to play Frog’s Song of Soul for something. Link passes through a cave to the western part of the mountains, and finds yet another home of the Mad Batter. Link continues his quest to annoy the poor creature, and this time is rewarded by having his arrow capacity doubled.

Next: Turtle Rock

[1] Although the cave that it’s in is the one leading to the western part of the mountains, and it won’t give a full heart, so maybe it’s better to wait.
[2] But you won’t get to Turtle Rock without it.

Link's Awakening: Face Shrine

Face Shrine

The Face Shrine comes at a pivotal point in the game: Link has just learned the truth about Koholint Island, but has to continue his quest to save the Wind Fish. And yet it’s perhaps the most disappointing dungeon in the game [1]. I will say, however, it’s easy to see the “face” in the map design.

Wizzrobes show up, because of course they do; these wizzrobes are easiest to kill with bombs. It’s a perfect opportunity to practice the bomb arrow maneuver, or play it safe, whack them with the boomerang to stun them, and drop a bomb on them. Also making a return appearance is the floor tile trap, which is even less of a threat now because they can be blocked by the shield, even the basic shield, so it’s just a matter of sitting there waiting it out [2].

The dungeon introduces a new type of recurring puzzle: flip two horse head statues until they both land rightside up. But whoever designed this puzzle forgot that a key element of a good puzzle is thought. There’s no thought required to flipping the statues, just chance, time, and not getting killed in the meantime. In other words, it’s mildly interesting the first time, when it’s not clear what to do. Every other time could be replaced by a button that has a 25% chance of opening the way forward and a 75% chance of popping up a message “Thank you, Link, but our button operator is in another castle,” and gives you another chance in 5 seconds [3].

The dungeon’s treasure is the level 2 power bracelet, and... yeah, that’s kind of disappointing too. Unlike with the Titan’s Mitt in A Link to the Past, there haven’t been any obstacles Link couldn’t lift with just the level 1 bracelet… although the fact that it was labeled such probably should have been a hint that a more powerful version would be needed later down the line. The level 2 bracelet is useful for fighting back against the miniboss, Smasher, who’s by far the best part of the dungeon. Smasher’s got a big ball, and Link can pick it up and throw it back at him. It’s a fun fight.

The Nightmare, Facade… is a giant face on the ground. He throws floor tiles at Link, then starts opening holes. The weakness, of course, is the face, and Link has to drop bombs to kill it. It’s not as completely uninspired as the Angler Fish was, but still, do better. Facade does have one neat feature: Now that Link knows Koholint Island’s nature, the bosses start trying to make him question if he’s any more real than anything else on the island. Which has a bit of a meta feeling to it: of course he’s only one layer realer than anything else.

Even the dungeon’s Instrument of the Sirens is bizarre: the Coral Triangle. Seriously? A triangle? Don’t get me wrong, I played percussion in school and respect the hell out of those who do, but this is what the Sirens decided they needed to complete their ensemble? Anway, since the only area of the map with a significant number of squares still to uncover are in the mountains to the north [4], that’s where Link has to go for the last phase, and sure enough, that’s where the voice tells him to go.

The Mountains

Before Link can go to the mountains, there’s one more thing he needs to do. A flying rooster is buried under the weathercock in Mabe Village, and now with the upgraded power bracelet, Link can push the weathercock out of the way, find the rooster’s bones, and reanimate it with Frog’s Song of Soul. Now, if Link picks up the rooster, he can fly over long or irregularly-shaped gaps. And, in the most hilariously broken combo in the game, if he also equips the boomerang and throws it before picking up the rooster, the boomerang hovers beneath his feet, killing anything that dares enter its path while Link is invincible above harm.

Next: Eagle’s Tower

[1] The final dungeon is literally just a maze of twisty little passages rooms all alike, and even it’s more memorable.
[2] Also, there are no wallmasters to make continuous movement necessary.
[3] Time and odds of the horse head puzzle are approximate.
[4] Well, and possibly the rapids minigame.

Link's Awakening: The Truth and the Lie

The End of the Trading Sequence

With the hookshot, Link can visit the mermaid statue, which is missing a scale. He uses the scale he got from the actual mermaid, opening a cave. Inside the cave are invisible enemies, but once Link gets the cave’s treasure, a magnifying glass, they show up. The trading sequence itself is now complete, so to recap: Link spent 10 rupees to win a Yoshi doll, which he traded for a ribbon, which he traded for canned food, which he traded for bananas, which he gave to monkeys who left behind a stick, which he gave to Tarin who left behind a honeycomb, which he for a pineapple, which he traded for a hibiscus, which he gave to a demanding goat who further asked him to deliver a letter, which he delivered and was rewarded with a broom, which he traded for a fishing hook, which he gave to a fisherman who caught a mermaid’s necklace, which he traded for one of the mermaid’s scales, which opened a cave where he got a magnifying glass.

But wait! There’s more! The magnifying glass lets Link see a goriya in a cave on the shores. The goriya offers to trade an item for one of Link’s, so Link figures the shovel’s no longer needed and makes the trade and gets the boomerang. And this isn’t the boomerang he’s as he’s used to it, oh, no. This boomerang will actually kill most enemies, often in a single hit. Anti-fairies become fairies. Even the final boss can be killed in a single shot from the boomerang. Only the fact that things like the shield, pegasus boots, power bracelet, and roc’s feather need to be equipped to use keep the boomerang/sword combo from being a near-permanent fixture.

There’s a heart piece in a cave in the northeast corner of Animal Village, and then there’s one more stop before it’s on to the next dungeon. This doesn’t have to be done just yet, and requires 300 rupees rather soon after buying the bow depleted Link’s funds, but as long as Link has 10, he can refill his rupees with the Mabe Village claw game. Southeast of Mabe Village is a bunch of signs arranged in a loose pattern, and if Link follows the direction each sign points in to the next one, a cave will open up and he’ll meet Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2, here known by his Japanese name, Mamu. Mamu appears to be some kind of rock star, complete with an Elvisesque “Thank you… thank you very much.” He teaches Link the third and final song for the ocarina, Frog’s Song of Soul, which apparently has the power to “liven up unliving things.”

Southern Face Shrine

As Link approaches the Face Shrine, the owl reappears, telling Link that there are two shrines, and he should visit the southern one first, where the ruins speak of the Wind Fish and Link will learn something. Before entering the southern shrine’s grounds, Link finds another owl statue.

“THE WIND FISH SLUMBERS LONG… THE HERO’S LIFE GONE…”

I’m not sure what to make of this. A simple statement that Link can’t return to his life outside the island until he wakes the Wind Fish? A warning that if the Wind Fish doesn’t wake soon, Link may not have a life to get back to?

The southern Face Shrine’s grounds are populated by armos. They’re immune to the sword, but can be killed with the bow or boomerang, or simply ignored. Inside the shrine itself, Link fights an armos knight miniboss, completing the set of Light World dungeon bosses from A Link to the Past. After defeating the miniboss, Link finds a relief of the Wind Fish with a message:

“TO THE FINDER…
“THE ISLE OF KOHOLINT, IS BUT AN ILLUSION…
“HUMAN, MONSTER, SEA, SKY…
“A SCENE ON THE LID OF A SLEEPER’S EYE…
“AWAKE THE DREAMER, AND KOHOLINT WILL VANISH MUCH LIKE A BUBBLE ON A NEEDLE…
“CASTAWAY, YOU SHOULD KNOW THE TRUTH!”

So Koholint Island is only real because the Wind Fish is dreaming about it, and when he wakes, it’ll be gone. That explains so much, from the general surreal atmosphere, to the Mario cameos, to why no one except Marin seems able to contemplate a life outside the island.

On Link leaving the shrine, the Owl comes back and lies his ass off. Despite being the one who told Link to come to the shrine, now he says that no one knows for sure if the shrine’s telling the truth. If it’s not telling the truth, what’s the point of sending Link to read it? Of course, despite what he says, the owl knows for sure that the shrine is accurate, but I suppose he senses that Link’s resolve is wavering: Can he really complete the quest, knowing that it’ll mean everyone on the island ceases to exist? So he lies.

Not that that’s really a justification. Fuck you, owl.

Next: Face Shrine

Link's Awakening: Catfish's Maw

The Ghost and the Last Seashells

With the flippers, there are few things Link can do before getting far from the water. First, to the west of the dungeon, is a cave with Manbo, child of the Sun Fish. Manbo offers to teach Link a song for his ocarina, and the dancing fish and eye rolls make for an entertaining sequence. (OH!) This is quite a useful song, as playing it will warp Link to Manbo’s Pond, just outside of Crazy Tracy’s, or if in a dungeon, back to the dungeon entrance. To the east of the last dungeon is a cave with a heart piece hidden underwater, and there’s another one in the castle moat.

By time Link finishes rounding up all that stuff, he’s probably being stalked by a ghost. The ghost is rather insistent, demanding every so often to be taken to its home, and making a noise every time the screen changes so Link will remember he’s there. The noise gets old, fast. So Link takes the ghost to its home, where it looks around for a while and becomes even sadder than it was before, asking Link to take it to is grave. The grave is the one that’s apart from the cemetery, and once the ghost is there, it tells Link to look under a jar in its home. Link returns to the home and finds an eighteenth seashell. While in the area, Link gets another seashell, hidden on a small island near the ghost’s house. The Mad Batter makes another appearance in a flooded cave in the area, this time doubling Link’s bomb capacity.

The next stop is Animal Village, where Marin’s still entertaining everyone with her song. Inside one of the houses is a goat who expected Link to bring her a hibiscus, which he now has thanks to Papahl. She takes the flower and asks Link to deliver a letter to Mr. Write near the forest. Write gladly receives the letter and shows Link a picture of his lovely pen pal… Princess Peach. Link is too kind to tell him the truth, and takes a broom as a reward for his service. The broom goes to Mrs. Ulrira in Mabe Village, who gives Link a fishing hook.

While in Mabe Village, now is the time to buy the bow if Link hasn’t already bought or stolen it. He can also wrap up another goal now: on a previously-inaccessible island in the waters leading to Key Cavern, there’s a seashell hiding under a bush. With that last seashell grabbed, Link can go to Seashell Mansion and get the level 2 sword, which doubles his attack strength and can shoot sword beams while he’s at full health [1].

We can’t quite wrap up the trading sequence yet, but it’s getting closer. In the bay around the dungeon, there’s a mermaid who’s lost her swimsuit or necklace, depending on the game version. The official English version is necklace, so we’ll go with that. Anyway, under the bridge the owl statue earlier alluded to, there’s a fisherman, who takes the fishing hook and catches the necklace for Link, which he returns to the mermaid and gets a mermaid scale.

Catfish’s Maw

I don’t know. If this is supposed to be a catfish, it’s a pretty abstract one. Actually, it looks kind of like the anerus from Adventure of Link. Bloopers join the list of Mario characters who make an appearance in the game, attacking Link during the side-scrolling segments.

This dungeon has two minibosses. Link has to fight Master Stalfos four times because he flees the first three before Link can finish him off. He also steals the dungeon’s treasure before Link can get it, so it’s not until the fourth battle – which is annoyingly well-hidden – that Link gets the hookshot. The second miniboss is a pair of gohmas, whose attacks have simplified; they can only shoot beams when their eyes are open, and sometimes they charge instead of shooting beams. Either way, their weakness remains the same: shoot the eye.

The final boss is Slime Eel, which punches a bunch of holes in the room, sticks its tail up through the hole in the floor, and pokes its head out of the ones on the wall. Link has to drag the head out of the wall holes to be able to attack its weak spot. Slime Eel seems almost gleeful upon defeat, taunting Link that he doesn’t know what he’s doing, hinting at some secret about the island. An island secret is further hinted at by the guiding voice when Link picks up the Wind Marimba, pointing him to a shrine.

Next: The truth.

[1] There are six more seashells, which after Link gets the sword upgrade, become rupees instead. So I’ll treat them like the various rupee rewards scattered around the island: I probably got them, but I don’t feel the need to document them.

Link's Awakening: Angler's Tunnel

Before going to Animal Village, there’s some fun to be had with Marin in Mabe Village. She reacts with horror if Link abuses the cuccos, but sometimes encourages him… probably hoping he gets divebombed. She seems to love watching him dig, but isn’t so graceful following him down the well. The best one is if Link takes her to the claw game, which she wants to play, and it’s well worth the 10 rupees to let her have her fun.
But eventually we run out of things to do, so Marin needs to go wake the walrus. The walrus wakes at her song, then promptly keels over into the water. Then a rabbit comes asking Marin to sing for Animal Village, so she leaves while Link continues his quest. Before heading into the desert, there’s one more thing to get: a seashell west of Animal Village, via south and back north across a bridge, then buried next to an owl statue that hints at a secret under the bridge.

Yarna Desert

The desert is home to yet another Mario crossover character: pokey, the cactus monster. In the southeast corner of the desert, there’s a seashell hidden under rocks. But the reason to come here is in the northwest corner: a lanmola guarding the key for the next dungeon. This lanmola is apparently upset that moldorms have gotten all the attention for resetting boss fights, because it fights in a giant area draining sand toward the middle, and if Link ends up in the center, he falls through to a cave underneath.

After defeating the lanmola, it’s easiest to let Link and the key fall through to the cave, because the northern wall can be bombed, revealing another heart piece. Coming up from the cave, Link finds another one of those owl statues, and this one’s even stranger than usual.

“SEA BEARS FOAM, SLEEP BEARS DREAMS. BOTH END IN THE SAME WAY CRASSSH!”

After I stopped trying to figure out what the pancake sleep bears are, this became probably my favorite quote in the game. It’s a bit of foreshadowing about what we’ll learn about Koholint Island and the game’s ending, and somehow quite evocative. Anyway, Link has the key, so we’re done here, and the owl comes to visit again, confirming that the next destination should be a waterfall.

Tal Tal Heights and Angler’s Tunnel

Unlocking Angler’s Tunnel is pretty easy, but the trip there takes a roundabout route. The journey through Tal Tal Heights is mostly a preview of things to come nearer to the end; for instance, a heart piece Link can’t get to just yet. About the only significant encounter that can be finished on the journey to the waterfall is meeting Papahl, who, true to his word, has gotten lost in the mountains and is starving. Link gives him the pineapple, and he gives Link a hibiscus, which if he talked to everyone in Animal Village, he’d know where that’s going, but that can wait till after the dungeon.

Finally, Link reaches the top of the waterfall, and following the owl’s advice, does a Richard Kimble to reach the dungeon entrance. This is the first dungeon that doesn’t look like anything to me; I can maybe see a castle tower, or a saguaro cactus, or a hand, but none of those relate to the theme of the dungeon. Given the location and the amount of water in the dungeon, I don’t think there can be any doubt what the treasure in this dungeon is going to be, and sure enough, it’s the flippers. There’s a pretty neat puzzle in the dungeon where Link has to step on tiles in one room in a certain order, then remember that order for a different room with the same tile layout.

New enemies include cheep-cheeps, critters wearing protective iron masks that aren’t always easy to hit from behind, and guys who walk around with their arms and legs splayed way the hell out. The miniboss is called Cue Ball, and runs around a track; Link can jump over him and hit him from behind, or thwack him when he corners, or any number of other strategies. He’s pretty easy, but not the easiest boss in the dungeon. That dishonor goes to the giant angler fish who’s the Nightmare this time and… okay, I have no idea what they were going for here, but unless it was “there’s no fscking way you’re losing this fight unless you’re not ready for what lies beyond anyway,” they failed miserably.

The fourth Instrument of the Sirens is the Surf Harp, and the voice informs him that his road leads into the bay next.

Next: Catfish’s Maw

Link's Awakening: Key Cavern

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – Key Cavern

Key Cavern

Key Cavern is a two-floor dungeon, with each floor shaped like a key. New enemies include bombites, walking bombs, some of which go bouncing off walls when hit until they explode, others try to close in on Link before they explode. There’s also pairodds, bird critters that teleport across the room when Link gets too close. And finally, yet another Mario crossover: thwomps. And the miniboss is a pair of dodongo snakes, which are pretty much exactly what they sound like: snakes with a hard shell who love to eat bombs but they do funny things to their stomach.

The first door offers an item test for Link: He needs the power bracelet to throw a pot at the door and make it open. Then there’s the treasure, the pegasus boots, which largely have the same function they did in A Link to the Past, only now he can combine them with the roc’s feather to make running jumps, an ability needed to get the Nightmare’s Key.

The Nightmare is Slime Eyes, a pair of eye monsters that starts the battle fused into a single creature. They also start hiding in the ceiling, taunting Link that he’ll never find them. The pegasus boots are needed once more, charging into a wall to dislodge them. Then as Link attacks, their connection will strain until it reaches the breaking point and Link can charge straight through to split them. Then it’s just a matter of finishing off both eyes, and Link can claim the Sea Lily’s Bell and hear the voice telling him something’s hidden in the waterfall.

The owl shows up when Link exits the dungeon, once again saying that when Link has all the Instruments and plays them for the Wind Fish, the Wind Fish will wake and Link can leave the island. It tells Link his next destination should be Yarna Desert, which conflicts a bit with the other voice directing him to a waterfall, but the simplest explanation has him going to the desert for a key to the waterfall dungeon, which is exactly the case.

Getting Stuff

As Link returns to Mabe Village, he finds Tarin looking at a honeycomb. Tarin asks Link for the stick the monkeys left behind, and… let’s say Marin probably got her brains from her mother. Yeah, Tarin beats the honeycomb with the stick until it falls out of the tree, but before he can do anything with it a horde of angry bees chases him offscreen. Link takes the honeycomb; if he finds Tarin later, Tarin says he’s lost his taste for honey for now, so Link has successfully completed another trade. Near the tree with the honeycomb is a cave traversable with the pegasus boots, and Link can claim a sixth heart piece.

There are couple seashells that can be knocked out of trees, one near the eastern entrance to Mabe Village, the other down by Tail Cave. Seashell Mansion doesn’t reward 15 seashells with a bonus, so there’s no need to drop everything and head back there.

Mabe Village has a shrine blocked off by rocks. Inside, Link finds a bed and takes a nap, entering a dream cave. There are a bunch of arm-mimics (shyguys without masks) in the cave, and those weird barriers meant to be plowed through with the pegasus boots. Link’s reward for fully exploring the cave is a bunch of rupees and an ocarina – not the easiest-to-find Instrument of the Sirens, but still a useful tool. Link needs to learn three songs for the ocarina, and the first comes from Marin, who’s singing the Ballad of the Wind Fish by the village weathercock. She teaches Link a version of the song, although if he tries to accompany her she says he’s not very good at it.

Marin’s Chance to Shine

South of the Seashell Manor, Link finds a sign pointing toward Animal Village, but the river is just a little too wide to jump across, even with the pegasus boots [1] Fortunately, near the sign is a hidden tunnel that leads under the river, and Animal Village is just a short walk away. Passing through the village, Link finds the way into the desert blocked by a giant sleeping walrus, who seems to be dreaming of Marin. Back in Animal Village, Link finds a bear chef who trades the honeycomb for a pineapple. The bear will then suggest that Link bring Marin to sing for the walrus and wake it up.

Fortunately, there’s teleport squares near both villages, so Link can zap back to Mabe Village quickly. Marin’s left the town to go down to the shores, and Link follows and finds her staring out at the ocean. Unlike everyone else on the island, Marin’s curious about what lies beyond the seas, and knows there has to be something out there because Link had to come from somewhere. She talks about being a seagull and making a wish to the Wind Fish before checking to make sure Link’s listening to her.

Link brings up how he needs to get into the desert and she may be able to wake the walrus to allow him to pass, and Marin agrees to go with him… and Link immediately holds her up over his head in his standard Item Get! pose.

Next: Link’s big chance.

[1] I think. I’ve never been able to do it, at any rate.

Link's Awakening: Seashell Simulator

BowWow is sufficiently exercised and fed, so it’s time for him to go home to Madam MeowMeow, who rewards Link with a kiss; the game text calls him lucky. Now it’s over to the shop and time to buy bombs and the shovel, and look at the exorbitant price tag on the bow. Link could steal it, but would be renamed THIEF, and forever unable to set foot in that shop again, so… well, maybe later. It’s not needed just yet, so we’ll just admire it for now and wait.

Before starting the approach to the next dungeon, there’s a few things to get. In the old forest, there’s a piece of heart in a cave that can be accessed now using the power bracelet, and a seashell in a chest protected by a rock. There’s another cave Link can find with the Mad Batter sleeping peacefully until Link sprinkles magic powder on his well. The Mad Batter curses Link to have to carry more stuff, namely twice the capacity for magic powder. Link can get a few more seashells: digging in Madam MeowMeow’s doghouse, in the previously-inaccessible room in Tail Cave, and digging under a bush near the cemetery.

Finally, Link can seek out Crazy Tracy, who’ll sell him her secret medicine, which will revive him at full life if he’s about to die, a combination of a potion and a bottled fairy from A Link to the Past. And now it’s time to start the next dungeon quest.

Richard’s Task (and Seashell Mansion)

Heading south from Mabe Village, Link finds the next dungeon, but it’s locked. Continuing on, he finds a man named Richard who offers to help with the key if Link can recover a golden leaf from the castle, where Richard used to live. No sooner than Link agrees to the deal does Richard change the terms: There are five golden leaves, and he wants them all. Link scoots out before he can change the deal further.

En route to the castle, Link makes a slight detour, discovering a place called Seashell Mansion. He goes in, and the mansion recognizes he’s got 5 seashells, so it rewards him with another.

The castle gate is locked up tight, but by continuing around the walls, Link finds a monkey reminiscent of his old friend Kiki. Kiki wants the bunch of bananas he has, and when Link hands them over, he summons all his monkey friends to build a bridge across the moat. The monkeys leave behind a stick, so the trading sequence isn’t over yet, but Link continues on and finds a hidden passage to the castle grounds.

Two of the golden leaves are dropped by enemies on the castle grounds. The other three more are found inside the castle – one fairly obvious, one by blowing up castle artwork and activating the darknuts, and the last by beating the mini-dungeon’s boss, a flail trooper. With the golden leaves, Link returns to Richard, who gives him access to a field filled with bushes, many of which are covering holes. Once Link successfully navigates the field, he finds an owl statue that tells him to look beneath his feet, and he breaks out the shovel and finds the slime key.

Seashell Addiction? No, I Can Stop Any Time I Want…

Before continuing on to the dungeon, Link can get half the remaining seashells he’ll ultimately need:

• In the tunnel between Richard’s villa to the overgrown hole-y field.
• (At this point, before continuing the seashell collection any further, it’s best to go to the lock to Key Cavern and use the key.)
• Under a stone along the way from Richard’s villa to Seashell Mansion.
• Through a secret cave near the last seashell, where an owl statue says “secrets are nigh.”
• Under a bush across the water from a mermaid statue; area accessed by the same cave system as the last seashell.
• Given by Seashell Mansion for returning with exactly 10 seashells.
• Under bushes near Seashell Mansion.
• Just north of the entrance to Key Cavern, accessed by jumping over pits of deep water.

Next: Key Cavern

Link's Awakening: Bottle Grotto

The owl greets Link as he emerges from Tail Cave, telling him that the Full Moon Cello is one of the eight Instruments of the Sirens, which once combined will have the power to awaken the Wind Fish. He points Link to Goponga Swamp, where the next dungeon is. However, the path through the swamp is blocked with flowers that Link’s current weapons cannot harm. But when God closes a door…

Crisis in Mabe Village!

While Link was away, moblins came to the village and took BowWow away! As Link returns to the village, the two boys playing in front of the library run up to him and tell him what happened, only they’re so breathless and scared Link decides it’ll be quicker to investigate on his own. And here I have to offer a criticism of the game: It will shift from dialogue to game text in a single text box with no indication of the change, and sometimes it’s confusing whether it’s done so. For instance, here, if you think the kids are telling Link it may be faster for him to investigate on his own, hell, you may be right.

Whatever the case, Link goes to Madam MeowMeow’s house and immediately notices there’s not a giant chain chomp in the front yard anymore. Madam MeowMeow confirms that the moblins took him, and so Link sets off to rescue her pet.

Getting to the moblins’ base requires hopping over some gaps, which Link saw earlier while visiting the witch’s hut, and he can now get the heart piece that was in the center of the gaps. Just before reaching the moblins’ hideout, there’s an owl statue, which offers a critique:

“THE WIND FISH IN NAME ONLY, FOR IT IS NEITHER.”

Right, then.

The moblins in the base are surprised to see Link, although their King knows why he’s here. “You came here to get me, but it is I who will get you!” The King Moblin is generally immune to sword attacks, but every now and then will charge Link, and if he runs into the wall, will be stunned, removing his protection. It takes a few times, but eventually the King Moblin is defeated and Link can rescue BowWow.

The owl shows up to remind Link to go to Goponga Swamp. If Link takes BowWow back to Madam MeowMeow now, she’ll ask him to take him for a walk, so we’re not done with BowWow yet. In fact, BowWow can eat the flowers blocking the way, clearing the path for Link to enter the next dungeon.

But before that, Link can go to the graveyard and get a heart piece, completing the first heart container.

Bottle Grotto

The map of Bottle Grotto really does resemble a bottle, which once again foreshadows the final boss. More Mario enemies make the jump: shyguys, here known as mask-mimics; boo buddies; and piranha plants. The miniboss is a hinox, who gave me a lot of trouble until I realized the best way to fight it is to sneak around behind it where it can’t throw bombs and can’t grab Link and stab stab stab until it dies.

The treasure in the dungeon is the power bracelet, finally giving Link the ability to pick things up. It feels a bit wrong that he can’t even lift pots without it [1], and it’s frustrating to have to switch items to use it, but at least pots are no longer an obstacle. The Nightmare’s Key requires defeating three enemies in a specific order: a pols voice [2], then a keese, then a stalfos.

The Nightmare is… a clown. Yep, that’s about right. Well, technically, it’s a genie, but it’s a clown genie. He continually taunts Link that he can’t be harmed as long as he has his bottle, so it’s obvious what Link needs to do: pick up the bottle and throw it against the wall till it smashes. This makes the clown genie super angry, but now he’s vulnerable to sword attacks, so he dies, and Link gets the second instrument, the Conch Horn. A voice tells him “The Prairie is waiting,” so that’s the next destination.

Next: Link gets distracted by leaves and seashells.

[1] Based entirely on my experience with the one other game where he can pick stuff up.
[2] Whose weakness has changed from the bow to, along the lines I originally thought, the ocarina. Not that Link has either now, so he has to throw pots at them to kill them for now.

Link's Awakening: Tail Cave

The Quest Begins

From here, each dungeon is fairly formulaic:

• Link needs to accomplish something in the overworld to be allowed to enter the dungeon. E.g., five of the eight have hidden keys Link must find.
• Inside the dungeon, Link generally finds a stone slab (used to get hints within the dungeon), map, and compass fairly early.
• Link finds the dungeon’s treasure, which is somehow needed to complete the dungeon, often to defeat the miniboss or Nightmare, get the Nightmare’s Key, or progress past some obstacle.
• Each dungeon has a miniboss. Once defeated, a portal between its room and the dungeon entrance opens.
• Link gets the Nightmare’s Key, needed to open the door to the Nightmare’s lair [1].
• Finally, Link defeats the Nightmare, recovers the dungeon’s Instrument of the Sirens, and receives a hint about the general location of the next one.

The Mysterious Forest

The Mysterious Forest is north of Mabe Village, and a sign along the way helpfully clarifies, “It’s a little bit mysterious.” In the forest, Link can find a mushroom, which serves the exact same purpose it did in the last game: deliver it to a witch – who, in this case, lives just outside the forest – and trade it for magic powder. The magic powder is mostly used in the game to light torches, but it has other uses, familiar from A Link to the Past: turning buzz blobs into cukemen [2], waking the Mad Batter from his nap, and other similar things. One of those uses comes up immediately: there’s a mischievous raccoon in the Mysterious Forest who delights in getting Link lost, but sprinkle magic powder on it and it turns into… Tarin? Tarin says the last think he remembers is eating a mushroom, and then he was a raccoon. This whole thing reminds me of some other Nintendo game series…

With Tarin restored to his natural form, Link can finally reach the treasure chest with the Tail Key. The owl shows up again to tell Link to go to the first dungeon, Tail Cave, but there’s some stuff to get first. There are two heart pieces in Mabe Village, one down a well, and one swallowed by a fish in the fishing pond. Cutting down a big area of trees, Link can find a secret seashell, which promises something good if he finds enough of them.

And he can start the game’s most memorable sidequest. Papahl’s wife asks Link if he can find a Yoshi doll for her baby. Link wins a Yoshi Doll at the village’s trendy claw game, which he trades to Papahl’s wife for a ribbon. The ribbon is coveted by one of Madam MeowMeow’s chain chomps, who trades a can of food for it. Then, on the shores, there’s an alligator who wants the canned food, and trades a bunch of bananas for it. That’s as far as this can go for now, so it’s time to visit Tail Cave.

Tail Cave

Tail Cave has hardhat beetles, which can’t be killed with the sword, so the best way to deal with them is to knock them down pits. Then there’s spiked beetles, which require being flipped over with the shield before they can take damage. And completing the annoying enemy trio, three-of-a-kinds, which spawn in groups of three and display cycling symbols on their surface; the symbols stop cycling when they’re damaged, but the three only die if all three symbols match. Passages are now side-scrolling areas populated by goombas, and at this point I think it’s safe to say there are a lot of Super Mario Bros. crossovers in this game. Goombas can even be stomped on the head, giving hearts, and they respawn if Link exits the passage, so they can be farmed to get health back.

The treasure in the dungeon is a new item to the Zelda series, the roc’s feather, which lets Link jump. This ability is needed to get the Nightmare’s Key, and to fight the miniboss, Rolling Bones, who rolls a giant bar across the room. The Nightmare shouldn’t come as any surprise to those paying attention. The map is shaped like a certain critter from A Link to the Past, the statues out front that had the keyhole also call it to mind, and the dungeon’s enemies include its smaller forms. Also, a bunch of annoying enemies, which leads to the fight with a giant moldorm. With system limitations, the platform’s much smaller than the Link to the Past fights, but being able to jump over the moldorm at least gives Link an advantage he didn’t have there, either.

The dungeon offends me because there’s a room only accessible by bomb, which don’t become available until after completing the next dungeon. So I have to leave a room unchecked on my map for now.

Defeating the moldorm, Link gains his first instrument, the Full Moon Cello. As soon as it’s played its song, a voice informs link that a path opens in the swamp, which is the next destination.

Next: But first, dognapping.

[1] The exact order of the things found inside the dungeon can vary, but this feels like a common order.
[2] Who now prattle on about the Nintendo 64.

Link's Awakening: Introduction and Story

[Editor's note: The posts for this game were fully written before I started playing Ocarina of Time.]

I don’t know why I never got this game back in the day. I had a Game Boy, and I’m pretty sure I was still playing it when this game came out. I’d stopped getting Game Boy games by then, I’m sure, but I’m quite surprised I didn’t really want this one. And it took me 25 years to check it out. That’s… a lot.

My first playthrough was on the DX/Game Boy Color version, but I figured for this project I should tackle the original. The DX version is slightly easier, with a few more hints in dungeons and the Color Dungeon giving Link a reward that amounts to either a permanent Guardian Acorn or Piece of Power, without having to put up with the annoying repetitive music that plays while either of those powerups is active. Plus the actual Acorns/Pieces stack with the reward. It does require defeating another candidate for my least favorite Zelda boss that I’ve faced, the giant hardhat beetle/Evil Orb/D. Poon.

The… Story?

Well, here’s where I’d quote the prologue text from the game, except there isn’t any. Link’s sailing in a storm, his ship is destroyed, and he washes up on an island and is found by a girl. Then there’s the title screen, and that’s it. The manual, as usual, has more of the story. After defeating Ganon, Link [1] sailed away from Hyrule in search of “enlightenment.” The storm happened as he was coming home, his quest fulfilled. The manual goes on to recap the opening scenes of the game itself, but I’ll stop there.

Unlike the first three games, the goal in this game is pretty simple: Link wants to find a way off the island and continue his journey home, but he’s told that he’s not going to be able to leave as long as the Wind Fish sleeps, whatever that means [2]. There’s no princess to save, no Triforce to recover, no wrongs to right, no great evil to defeat [3]. All he has to do is gather up instruments for a one-man band and go be a human alarm clock so he can go home.

Humor and Character

Two other big things about the writing stand out in this game. First, unlike the first few games which were mostly serious, with A Link to the Past having a few humorous moments, Link’s Awakening has a really goofy sense of humor throughout. Sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s a little jarring, and overall I’m not sure if I like this game’s humor or wish it was a little more serious. I’m curious to see if this carries forward into later games, or if it’s just because of the nature of Koholint Island.

Second, A Link to the Past had actual characters for the first time, and this game takes it further. Sure, tying in with the last point, many of them are varying degrees of ridiculous, but Marin is probably the best-developed character in any Zelda game so far, and the owl is more than just an exposition tool/hint system.

Okay, enough general talk before the game.

Link Awakens

Link wakes up in the house of the girl who found him. He initially mistakes her for Zelda, but she’s someone else, named Marin. She welcomes him to Koholint Island. Her father, Tarin, greets Link by name, which he says he learned reading it off the shield he or Marin found near where Link washed up. They say more of Link’s stuff may be on the shore, but warn him that monsters have taken over the area ever since Link arrived.

Mabe Village’s inhabitants are a rather quirky bunch. There’s Ulrira, who doesn’t have much to say in person but will gladly give Link hints if he uses the island’s various phone booths. Papahl, the father of the numerous kids running around the island giving hints about how to use the game’s controls, doesn’t look or act his age, and tells Link he’ll be lost in the mountains later. And there’s a woman named Madam MeowMeow who has pet chain chomps, including a giant one tied up in her front yard called BowWow.

Link leaves the village to explore the Toronbo Shores, where he finds his sword. He knows it’s his, because it has his name engraved on it. As he approaches the sword, he’s greeted by an owl, who says that the monsters are acting up because they think Link’s come to wake the Wind Fish. And while that may not be the reason Link came to Koholint Island, the owl says that Link won’t be able to leave unless he does, so that becomes the quest. Before flying off, the owl tells Link to continue his search in the Mysterious Forest to the north.

Next: The quest properly begins.

[1] The one from A Link to the Past, although the only indication that it’s him is the various similarities between Koholint Island and his version of Hyrule.
[2] Don’t ask me. I’m just a kid.
[3] At first.

Link's Awakening: Table of Contents

An index of posts about The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, the fourth game in the series.