Link's Awakened

The Nightmare boss at the end of Link's Awakening is an absolute bitch. I haven't had my heart racing and my body deking from side to side like that during a handheld Zelda boss fight for far too long.

Before that boss fight, in a great example of anti-climax, I didn't need to draw up a map or anything to get the Nightmare's key in Turtle Rock. I needed a regular key, which I already had, and to find the stairs leading to the boss door. Handily doing both within minutes and then being convinced (and later having it confirmed) that the Wind Fish's Egg wasn't a full dungeon, I figured I might as well just finish the game. So, I did.

Upon finding the Egg to be a puzzle, I called up Ulrira. His tip agreed with my tuition and I ran over to the library.

Already prepped with paper and pen at hand, I wrote down the way through the Egg maze, and rushed off to the Egg. Burning all of the enemies along the way, of course.

However, the greatest puzzle of all (mostly because there was no companion to pull me aside and say - "Ganon's weak to your sword spin!" Or, "The Giant Bot sure does look like it'd hate thickener...") - the Nightmare boss nearly did me in.

Thankfully, completely aware of what I had with me, and armed with my knowledge of Zelda bosses up to this game (and that I had one of Crazy Tracy's potions), I battled on.

The menu screen was called up for a few quick time-outs and to get my bearings, and, after switching Roc's Feather in for the shield and my bow for the sword, I jumped and dodged and shot until the Nightmare boss's final form (which reminds me of Vaati's (in The Minish Cap), actually) was arrowed to death. The Nightmare boss called me out for ruining its plan of dream domination, and I briefly met the Wind Fish before waking us both up with the eight instruments.

I'm glad that Marin was the last we see vanish (before the whole island is shown disappearing, at least), and the Wind Fish's flying over Link suggests that it was a very real dream indeed.

Now, though, I'm left wondering two things: How is the ending different if you finish the game with zero deaths? And, just how long was Link passed out while clutching those two logs for buoyancy?

I may never learn the answer to the latter, but the answer to the former will be discovered once I've cleared the rest of my game backlog. For now - consider The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening completed!

Now You're Playing with Fire

How did that turtle ever find its way out of this shell? All of the stairwells, and bombable walls, and ice blocks, and just everything. This must be the last full dungeon because the whole damn thing's a puzzle. It's enough to make me either draw up my own map with more detail, or to just get a walkthrough.

There's just the boss key left to find now, but the search was well worth it. Even the dialogue box that opens up when you find the dungeon's item - the magic rod - is elated about it, sounding more like a little voice in Link's head goading him on to arson, rather than just describing what he's found. But, wow, does it merit such glee.

The hookshot takes a lot of enemies out in one hit, but this magic rod does the same thing and adds a little fire animation to the mix, making Link's rampages through this dungeon's drear rooms all the more satisfying.

If only the rod's magic fire could melt walls into ramps - I'd be well on my way to the boss key and beyond.

Thinking about leaving the Shell

The detailed maps of the 3D Zelda games have spoiled me. Jumping my way through Turtle Rock, I wound up getting lost - both because I had forgotten where there were still keys to be found and where I needed to bring those keys to progress. On both of these points, Link's Awakening's dungeon maps offer no help since they're just displays of non-descript boxes joined together where there are doors between rooms.

However, the compass guided me to a room with a chest that I had missed. On the way, keys were found, and I was able to press onwards. Though, Turtle Rock feels like it's the longest dungeon in the game, possibly because it seems almost impossible to get the dungeon's item before the map, compass, or both. In the game's previous dungeons things would almost always wind up like that, but here I've had no such luck.

Nonetheless, the dungeon's fire-based item is almost mine. And so, Turtle Rock - and the game itself - begin to draw to a close.

Gleek-likes, Rupees, and the Dreamt

I fought my way into Turtle Rock, beating the giant turtle head reminiscent of one of Gleek's heads, and all I got for it was one rupee. A piece of heart would be a bit much, but even some arrows or bombs would have been better than a rupee.

Getting yet another rupee is enough to make me think about shoplifting from the village store. I really have no reason to go back there at this point anyway, and so have nothing to fear from powerful shopkeepers.

Before getting into the penultimate dungeon, however, I saw a brief scene between Link and Marin. She's trapped on a platform accessible only by hookshot, Link saves her and she stutters about her feelings for him before being called away by Tarin.

It's a far shorter scene and has less buildup, but it's impact is similar to when Link leaves Kokiri Forest in Ocarina of Time. But if this whole game is a dream, what's it mean for a part of it to have a crush on the dreamer?

The Power of Colour Revealed

The extra dungeon in the DX edition of Link's Awakening is far less difficult than expected. This lack of difficulty is actually rather disappointing, since it puts the Game Boy Colour's namesake ability to good use.

In said dungeon there're some radial switch puzzles, a boss that needs to be hit consecutively enough times to turn red, and floor tiles that bounce you until they turn from green to yellow to red to nothing. But it took all of 10 minutes to finish.

This brevity and simplicity (though the puzzle concepts introduced are refreshing for a Zelda game) reminds me of the "Cave of Ordeals"-type areas in Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. Plus, you meet a Great Fairy at the end of the dungeon who grants you the power of colour - a red or blue tunic that increases your offensive or defensive power.

Reading in a walkthrough that zero deaths gives you a different ending, and thus the blue tunic is a better choice, I went with red since I've already bought a handful of farms on this play-through. Maybe, after I've worked my way entirely through my Games List I'll do a no death run of every Zelda game - maybe.

She Sells Seashells by the Sea Sword

Twenty is all it takes. Maybe there's something there, and maybe there isn't. But if the idea is that the number's supposed to reflect an age, I don't think you'd get a dialogue box that tells you to put your name on it right away.

Yes, I'm talking about the sword upgrade you get from the Seashell Mansion in Link's Awakening.

Considering how blocky and rounded your first sword looks, the upgrade looks like it should be from another game. Maybe there's another connection between Link's Awakening and A Link to the Past here - perhaps the better sword's design is based on one of the Master Sword upgrades from that SNES classic.

The animation for getting it is the stuff of speed metal, as well. See for yourself:

A Pressing Issue

Playing Link's Awakening on an emulator spoiled me. Whenever I'd finished what I'd set out to do, or had to end a session, I'd just save my state and go. Playing it on an actual Game Boy, though, means that I need to use the bizarre "mash-all-the-buttons" method to bring up the save screen. It's a better method than having to reset after a save on the NES, but still. 

On such an old, used Game Boy Colour, such as the one I have, the buttons aren't entirely springing into my thumbs as I press down across them. At least, the Start and Select buttons aren't. 

Anyway, the Eagle's Tower is complete, and I picked up the Organ of Evening Calm. Hopefully the next dungeon offers up the Keytar of Late Night Regret.

More Links to the Past?

Fi may be annoying when she badgers you about getting more hearts because you're nearly dead, but the pre-Ocarina of Time Zelda games are far more ruthless. The insistent digital beeping that plays the second you drop below two or three hearts has the urgency of a wide open bleeding wound - and far before such things could be depicted graphically.

So, dropping those four columns in Eagle's Tower actually destroys a whole floor. Who knew? It's a good thing there wasn't anything secret up there, though the miniboss you face there is curious.

He calls bats to attack you which is reminiscent of the fight with Ganon in A Link to the Past. The miniboss himself is a stalfos, from the look of him, who plays a flute to summon these bats, just as the skull kid in most 3D Zelda games plays a flute either for fun or to summon dread marionettes.

Zelda bosses across the series may be repetitive, but at least their being so makes it a bit easier to speculate and suss out just where certain ideas surfaced and where, possibly, the remnants of original ideas remain.

After all, Link's Awakening was originally going to be a port of A Link to the Past (as briefly mentioned here), so maybe the sprite is a recycle of the flute boy, and the bats are a recycle from the Ganon fight. They don't look like your regular keese, after all.

Second, the Point

Backlighting saved handheld gaming.  Why something that may be rather obvious? Because it only recently really became so to me.

It happened while I was playing Link's Awakening on an actual factual Game Boy Colour. It was almost impossible to position myself so that everything on the screen was clear. Without bright, directly overhead light, it's impossible to properly play on it.

Perhaps it was only technological limitations, but it makes me wonder why it took until a special edition of the Game Boy Advance for Nintendo to add backlghting to their handhelds. If their presence in the market had begun with the Game Boy it might make sense, but since it started with over a decade of the Game & Watch (G&W) games, waiting so long makes little sense.

Though, maybe the screen's visibility wasn't so much of a problem with the old G&W games, since they were pure LCD and had only black and not black for their colour palette  Comparing them to modern handhelds is like comparing black and white tube TVs to flat screen hi-def models, but nonetheless.

Increased graphical fidelity definitely helped see handhelds along and helped to keep them relevant. Without backlighting, however,  all of that output power would be for naught as players struggled to even see what was happening on their palm-sized screen. So that extra bit of luminescence definitely saved the handhelds.

Worm Lights only ever lit part of the screen, after all.

First, the Obvious

Backlighting saved handheld gaming.

The Climb to Eagle's Tower

Maybe it's because I'm now playing it on a Game Boy Colour. Or maybe it's because I pushed a little bit further to the east. Whatever the case, I'm no longer stuck in Link's Awakening. Though I did jump down from where I needed to be into a hole. There was the promise of loot, and I couldn't resist.

At any rate, what had me stuck before was where the seventh dungeon is. For the longest time, I'd been trying to get up the western mountain range, but had never really paid much attention to the eastern cluster. I climbed that cluster, and after the network of caves, found Eagle's Tower.

So, now the game can continue, and once I lose the bird that's currently (and quite helpfully) following me, I'll check out this game's extra dungeon.