I have similar feelings about Ocarina of Time, my first Zelda. I hope Link's Awakening is as compelling to me given that I don't have any nostalgic attachment to it. I'm actually kind inexperienced when it comes to 2D Zelda, the only one I have played is Link to the Past.
Yeah, I too have similar feelings of OoT. It was not my first Zelda, but it was my first 3D Zelda, and it was a magical feeling getting to play it that I'll never forget. What sets them apart in atmosphere is hard to put into words for me. I guess my impression with OoT was that it swung back and forth more. (Though that's not a bad thing, because I think OoT relied on it a bit less and had other strong experiences to fill the gap.)
It was thick like a fog during the Forest temple, but not present inside Jabu Jabu's belly. Strong in Zora's Domain, but not so much on Death Mountain. When you're at the bottom of the well in Kakariko village, or leave the Temple of Time and see Hyrule town overrun with zombies, it was certainly striking, and possibly the game's most eerie moments.
But to me not as impactful as the final few hours in Majora's Mask.
This was both eerie and filled me with all sorts of emotions. Mostly negative, but in a 'good' way.
When I compare it to one of (to me) Ocarina of Time's most memorable stand out tracks and moments, Gerudo Valley, and when you jump the bridge with your horse, that too was one of those things that did a lot for the tone of the game, and made a long lasting impression on me. But in a very different way. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that they invoke very different emotions and thoughts.
Both Majora's Mask and Link's Awakening have a unique mysterious tone prevalent throughout most of the game, that they associate with the world and its characters, which brings that world to life in an uncharacteristic way for most Zelda games. I think Ocarina of Time has some of that as well, with Saria for example. I guess you're just not constantly reminded of it, while Link's Awakening and Majora almost make it a point to not let you forget.
Speaking of which, I just found out from S.Peelman's post that both Link's Awakening and Majora's Mask shared the same writer/director. I never knew that, but that makes me think it's not a coincidence that they happen to be my favorite games in the series. Though I'm very curious about what the gameplay will be like in the remake. I see from the trailer that you can still jump. Is it the only Zelda game that lets you manually jump whenever you want, aside from Zelda 2? I can't think of another off the top of my head.
Either way, I've wanted to revisit this particular Zelda world the most for the past 20+ years now. As in, I wanted there to be a direct sequel, but I never expected there to be one, because that doesn't really happen in the Zelda series. But a remake may just fulfill the same purpose, depending on what extra content they add.
S.Peelman said:
The great atmosphere, mysterious story (the game was written by Koizumi who also wrote and directed Majora’s Mask, it’s notable how these two both have a very unique style to them) and characterization in this game has already been adressed, but it’s also of course just excellent in gameplay, level and character/enemy design.
It has great dungeons all around with elaborate and original puzzles, sometimes spanning the entire dungeon. There’s backstories to them, and bosses are intertwined with dungeon themes and stories. The overworld is varied and packed with content and challenge. Certain items can also be used together for extra uses.
It was the first game in the series to do a lot of things that remained in later games; most notably the fishing mini-game and the collectathon and trading side-quests. It was also the first to include unique mini-bosses for each dungeon and a musical instrument that has multiple uses with different songs. The owl was the first guide character, though not yet a constant companion like Navi.
Really it was a wonder it could be on GameBoy at all, as it does pretty much everything better than big brother A Link to the Past on the SNES, except control scheme and graphics but those were obviously a hardware limitation. It’s also almost as big as A Link to the Past, and even had cutscenes!
I was not aware that Awakening and Mojora shared writer/director. That puts a lot into perspective, and might explain why both of them are my favorite in the series. And nicely put btw.
mjk45 said:
I feel strange after this the opening isn't my bag , was about to turn off but surprisingly when I saw the ingame content I actually liked the games style.
You mean the animated intro? That was a throwback to the intro of the original game.
It was the first time a Zelda game had an intro, and it showed an anime-esque Link, so if you saw that back in the day, it left you with a lasting impression. The fact that it was on the Gameboy made it even more impressive.
I feel like they had to have it in the remake.
Well that adds context when you see the original, not having played the game I assumed that was the art direction thanks for the insight.
Last edited by mjk45 - on 25 February 2019
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