Original Link's Awakening: the Review.

Since I hadn't been able to get the Switch Remake, I acquired the Original Link's Awakening and a Gameboy Advance. And Revisited an old childhood friend.  I understand that in the long run this was a stupid move says it'll make the switch port feel like a retread when I play it.

Link's Awakening is a rather curious piece of Zelda history. It started as an attempt to Port A Link to the Past to the original Gameboy. It then evolved into at this weird Twin Peaks inspired Zelda parody game. Marin and Tarin inspired Malon and Talon from Ocarina of Time. Even Breath of the Wild has a few references to this game.

But the most incredible thing about this game is that they crammed a full game with a scope close to a 16-bit tile in an 8-bit cartridge.

Without further Ado let's go to the review part as soon as this is a video game review I will be using a 10-point scale instead of the 5-point scale that I use on action figures.

Story:
After defeating Ganon in A Link to the Past; Link decides to travel tthe world to train. As he's returning home on a boat; a storm sinks Link's ship and he becomes a Castaway on the Mysterious Koholint Island. Now he must travel this Mysterious Island searching for the instruments of the sirens in order to awaken the wind fish who resides on an egg at the northern most point of the island. A new adventure awaits link as he unravels the mysteries of the island.
8.0

Music and sounds:
 us an 8-bit title the chiptunes bring life to the music DESPITE their limitations.


Those beeps and boops can raise chicken bumps in the skin of grown men and women.
For its time, this was an amazing feat...
9.0

Controls:
 The controls are pretty responsive. The only issue is that they are a regression when compared to the Super Nintendo predecessor. The Gameboy Hardware is mostly to blame Cinemas it was meant to be like a portable black and white NES, not a portable SNES... (which the GBA kinda is) the only thing to nitpick about would be having to switch items so often since there are only two buttons.
9.0

Gameplay:
The game plays classic over-the-top Zelda; just like the original Zelda, or A Link to the Past.
You know that usual travel across the land enter the dungeon get the item repeat until you have all the 8th dungeon items and have to head to the final dungeon 2 beat the game.
There are a couple of mini games within the game but the only mandatory minigame would be the crane game in order to get the Yoshi doll to start the trade sequence that gives you the magnifying glass which reveals the pathway for the final dungeon... they are stolen small segments where the action is to the like Super Mario Brothers or some rooms in the original Zelda dungeons.
9.5

Graphics:
An 8-bit console mimicking 16-bit graphics. It's NOT exactly the same, but DESPITE THE HARDWARE LIMITATIONS, they pull off an amazing approximation.
9.0

Fun Factor:
If  you enjoy 2D Zelda games then this entry will be a lot of fun. It has tons of tongue-in-cheek references and a dark story hidden in A Whimsy world. For an 8-bit Zelda game it has a lot to offer.
9.0

Overall:
Yes the high scores in each of the section seem biased.  in reality they are not. I simply can't compare an original GameBoy game versus a PlayStation 4 game so I have to take into consideration the time the game was made on the hardware for which the game was made. These scores reflect that for a Game Boy game the game gets all those high scores. Now the final score for a Link's Awakening is 8.92 which is a great score. There isn't that much difference between the original Link's Awakening versus that Gameboy Color version. A bit of extra collar and an additional dungeon does not change that much to the game that would warrant a different score.

Naruto Nintendo switch Port May be a whole different Beast.