The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

1993 video game released by Nintendo

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, known in Japan as Zelda no Densetsu: Yume o Miru Shima (ゼルダの伝説 夢をみる島, Zeruda no Densetsu Yume o Miru Shima, lit. "The Legend of Zelda: Dreaming Island"), is an action-adventure video game in the Legend of Zelda series made by Nintendo for the Game Boy game console. It was re-released as The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX with full color graphics and new features for the Game Boy Color in 1998 and on the Virtual Console of the Nintendo 3DS in June 2011.[9][10] A remake of the game was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2019.[11]

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Developer(s)Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Director(s)Takashi Tezuka
Producer(s)Shigeru Miyamoto
Programmer(s)
  • Takamitsu Kuzuhara
  • Kazuaki Morita
Artist(s)Yoichi Kotabe
Writer(s)
Composer(s)
  • Minako Hamano
  • Kozue Ishikawa
SeriesThe Legend of Zelda
Platform(s)Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Virtual Console (3DS)
ReleaseGame Boy:
Game Boy Color:
Virtual Console (3DS):
  • NA: June 7, 2011
  • JP: June 8, 2011
  • EU: June 8, 2011
  • AU: June 8, 2011
  • KOR: March 2, 2016
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

History

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Unlinke most The Legend of Zelda games, Link's Awakening's history is outside of the Hyrule kingdom. No location or character of the other games appear, aside the presence of the main hero Link and a mention to the princess Zelda. The game takes place in a completely new region, the Koholint island.

After the events of A Link to the Past, the hero Link travels by boat to other countries to become stronger. When he is going back to Hyrule, a storm destroys his boat, and Link loses consciousness. Marin, a girl living on Koholint, takes him to her house. When Link wakes up, he meets Marin and her father, Tarin. Marin is fascinated by Link and by the world outside Koholint, and she tells Link that if she were a seagull, she would travel beyond her island.

Links goes out to find his sword and when he finds it, an owl tells him that if he wants to go back home, he must wake up the Wind Fish, the guardian of the island that sleeps in an egg at the top of the island. For this he needs the eight Instruments of the Sirens. Link explores dungeons to find these instruments. When he searches the seventh instrument, at the Ancient Ruins, he finds a texts that tells the reality about the Koholint isle: it is a dream world that only exists in the dream of the Wind Fish.

After finding all eight instruments, Link goes to the top of the island: mount Tamaranch. There he plays the 'Ballad of the Windfish' with the instruments. This breaks the egg; Link then goes into the egg. Here, he fights against the last monster. When he wins the battle, the owl reveals that he is a part of the Wind Fish's spirit, and the Wind Fish confirms that this world was only a dream.

Link plays the ballad of the Wind Fish a second time, and the Wind Fish finally wakes up; Koholint and its inhabitants disappear, everything of this dream disappears. Link wakes up in the ocean, on a piece of wood (his boat was destroyed). The Wind Fish flies above him. After the credits, if the player did not lose any life during the game, we see a seagull flying away and Marin's face appears (she, the seagull, finally is outside of her island).

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References

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  1. "Game Boy (original) Games" (PDF). Nintendo of America Inc. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2011. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  2. ゼルダの伝説 夢をみる島 (in Japanese). Nintendo Co., Ltd. Retrieved March 26, 2009.
  3. "Iwata Asks: Zelda Handheld History – Like an Afterschool Club". Nintendo of Europe GmbH. Archived from the original on January 17, 2011. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  4. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (1993) Game Boy release dates - MobyGames: "Country: United Kingdom - Release Date: Nov 18, 1993"
  5. Mega Fun 11/1993 (German magazine; Scan @ Kultboy.com): "Erscheinungstermin: November" (Release date: November)
  6. "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX". Nintendo of Europe GmbH. Archived from the original on January 18, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2009.
  7. "Zeldaの伝説 – Introduction" (in Japanese). Nintendo Co., Ltd. Archived from the original on January 16, 2008. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
  8. "Guide 64: Game Boy Release Schedule". Archived from the original on October 9, 1999.
  9. Musashi (February 7, 2000). "Reviews – The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX". RPGFan. Archived from the original on March 27, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  10. Scullion, Chris (September 26, 2010). "3DS Virtual Console Will Play Game Boy Games". Official Nintendo Magazine. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on June 3, 2012. Retrieved December 4, 2010.
  11. Dornbush, Jonathon (February 13, 2019). "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Remake for Nintendo Switch Announced". IGN. Archived from the original on February 17, 2019. Retrieved February 17, 2019. Link's Awakening on Switch retains a top-down camera style but set in a world realized in fully 3D animation. Characters are 3D models, and the art style is new to the series.