[Re-Play] The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX

Before Inception, there was The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. Don't know what that means? You probably haven't played it. And if you have and still don't get it... listen to some Notorious B.I.G. for the big reveal! Growing up, Zelda games were some of my favorites. I didn’t get into handheld gaming until the Gameboy Color was released. I'm not counting GameGear, because all I did on that was die as Sonic in one of his portable editions. Oh, and that Tom & Jerry game...  If I recall correctly, when I finally got into GameBoy, I played two games: Pokémon: Blue Version (my brother had Red) and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX. When I wasn’t thwarting Team Rocket’s plans, I was on Koholint Island exploring its mysteries and solving puzzles along the way. Thank you, Nintendo, for all the memories. And thank you, again, for releasing this game on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console.

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You play as Link, our green-clad hero. The game takes place after the events of The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past. The game opens with Link being shipwrecked and waking up on a mysterious island. He slowly pieces together an arsenal of familiar weapons as he tackles 8 dungeons on a quest to find his way off the island.  During the dungeons, he encounters Nightmares and quickly realizes the way off the island is destroy the Nightmares,, effectively waking the Wind Fish. What are the consequences of distributing the Wind Fish’s slumber, though? The game presents itself similarly to other titles, but this time gives you much more of a direction to follow, unlike the original Legend of Zelda. Also unlike other games, main characters Zelda and Ganon, the other two Triforce holders, are only mentioned briefly or appear as imitations, in the case of Ganon. The Triforce, likewise, doesn’t appear in any way, shape, or form. In place of these familiar faces, the player is treated to a variety of other Nintendo characters, mostly from Mario games, including Goombas, Piranha Plants, and even Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2.  Despite the handheld platform, the game is extremely intricate and offers a lot to explore and collect!

How is it a new "secret" dungeon if you advertise it on the box? | mobygames.com

The Idea: Link is shipwrecked and wakes up on a mysterious island. He battles through dungeons to find a way off, which may involve waking something called the "Wind Fish". Add in Mario enemies as well as some classic LotZ enemies, and you’re good to go. After initially releasing the game, re-release it with color and an extra dungeon.

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The Look: I never played the original Gameboy one, but compared to screenshots, the colored version is clearly superior. Artistically, this Link is similar to its predecessor, giving some glorious graphics and wonderful top-down navigation. The side-scrolling segments are attractive, but somewhat repetitive in their appearance.

The Sound: The quality is fine for its time period and the tunes are classics. Additionally, the boss music is really awesome and I wish I could just use it for my everyday life. Although, hearing the same music as I traverse back and forth between dungeons (mostly across Ukuku Prairie) can get a little tedious. 

The Play: If you’ve played Link to the Past, you’ll be very familiar with the style of play. Numerous weapons and items provide our hero with a multitude of moves including jumping (Roc’s Feather), dashing (Pegasus Boots), and lifting (Power Bracelet). The majority of gameplay centers on exploration and combat. For exploration we have the aforementioned items in addition to the Hookshot, bombs, and a few other nifty tools. Mostly, Link must discover the key to opening a dungeon (be it an actual key or an event that triggers it), must navigate to the dungeon, and then conquer it. In the dungeon, Link will explore to obtain the Map, the Compass (which reveals the location of any treasure chests and the boss), the Stone Beak (used to communicate with Owl Statues in the dungeon and get tips on solving puzzles), and the Dungeon’s item. In the course of his adventures, Link will unlikely have to slice a few Moblins. For death-dealing purposes he is equipped with a Sword, a Bow, the Hookshot and the bombs. During dungeon excursions, you will encounter minor side-scrolling action that helps to break up the bird’s eye view gameplay.

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The Entertainment: Aside from all of the cameos that are made, the excitment of this game lies in the truly in the heart of the series. The dungeon designs are stellar, the plot is linear, but offers some sense of freedom, and the narrative is very good given the time it was released.

The Challenge: The game really doesn’t feel “hard” at any point, but the most exciting aspects are certainly the later dungeons. In fact, there is a surprise ending available to anyone who completes the entire quest without dying once. Now that would be a challenge.

The Legacy: Link’s Awakening is one of the first Zelda games to really fine-tune what would eventually become the Zelda series’ formula. It was also a testament that sticking to familiarity is not necessary to create a great Zelda game. By removing Zelda and Ganon from the equation, the adventure becomes much less predictable, from a story standpoint. Additionally, its one of the first unsatisfying endings I remember. Not as controversial as Mass Effect 3's ending, though...

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[Re-Play] Kingdom Hearts

Walt Disney was notorious for being an innovator in many categories. His legacy, the Walt Disney company, is likewise known for adding magic to every aspect of life. It is for both of those reasons that Kingdom Hearts is a pleasant, but somewhat expected development. For those of you unfamiliar with Kingdom Hearts, it is a hack n’ slash adventure game with RPG elements that mashes Disney characters with some of the basic Final Fantasy principles and even features cameos from characters like Cloud and Tidus.

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In Kingdom Hearts, You assume the role of Sora, a young teen with a good heart. Sora hails from a far away land called Destiny Island where he enjoys spending time with his friends Riku and Kairi. To make a long story short, Sora’s home eventually gets attacked some creatures called Heartless. Like Kanye West, Sora wonders how they could be so heartless, and is eventually awarded the Keyblade to defend himself. Lots of awful things happen and he eventually ends up in Traverse Town (which essentially serves as the main hub world) and meets up with Donald Duck (a mage) and Goofy (a knight). The three decide to work together and they become your allies for the remainder of the game.

Goofy, Sora, Donald

 As the story progresses, Sora and his pals travel to different worlds, each based on a different Disney movie. You’ll explore several familiar places including Wonderland, Agrabah, and Halloween Town as well as new worlds unique to this game. Most levels offer a world-exclusive ally (such as Aladdin in Agrabah or Tarzan in the Deep Jungle) and they generally have pretty sick abilities which make them worth using. There are also some areas that you can spend time with if you get tired of the main story: on Olympus Coliseum you can partake in tournament-style combat or you can venture into the 100 Acre Wood for some mini-games, but I don’t really recommend the latter. So, now that you know the basics, let’s dive into Kingdom Hearts!

kingdomhearts.wikia.com

The Idea: Combine two unrelated intellectual property to make one of the most unique gaming experiences in recent memory. Redesigning the Disney characters to make them more appealing to a young male demographic while also appealing to consumers as a “family friendly” game.

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The Look: Take the cartoonish animation Disney is known for and apply a layer of grit. Relive childhood memories as you explore your favorite hero’s hometown.

The Sound: The music is mostly remixed tunes from Disney films and tends to fit the mood well. Most are hits (“This Is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas, the music in Hollow Bastion) but some are better served in smaller doses (“Under The Sea” from the Little Mermaid). Voice acting isn’t bad, although the script is a little cheesy, but that’s to be expected.

The Play: Aside from a few camera issues during boss fights, the controls are extremely solid. Controlling Sora feels natural for the majority of the game. It’s when he leaves the ground that things become a little difficult to manage, but after about 10 minutes with the controls things start to make sense again.

The Entertainment: Watching Goofy run headfirst and smack little goons with his shield is pretty much the only reason I need to play this game. Luckily, there’s a lot more fun to be had here. For completionists, there are several things to collect (from 101 Dalmatians to Torn Pages) and two non-story worlds available to explore.  Aside from journeying to familiar locales and exploring them in greater depth, it’s interesting to see all the characters in the Disney Universe (loosely) tied together. If only I could bring Jack with me for every world…

The Challenge: The bosses are pretty unique and require a bit of trial and error to defeat. Non-boss combat is pretty much just to pass time and make levels feel longer, at least until you get to the later levels and enemies become more difficult. The game isn’t the most difficult and intricate game in recent memory, but it definitely requires some strategy and thought.

The Legacy: Besides spawning countless sequels, this game serves as one of the greatest mash-ups in gaming to this date. In fact, I can personally attest that this game made me reinvest my interest in Disney when I first played it and also got me hooked on Final Fantasy games.

LynxGriffen on deviantART.com

That's all for this week! What was your favorite memory of Kingdom Hearts? What’s your favorite Disney character of all time? Leave any thoughts below in the comments!

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[Re-Play] Super Mario World

Hey everyone! This is the first iteration of the Re-Play section of my blog. In this column, I'll cover games that are just itching to be played again. I'm going to try to focus on games from consoles at least one generation behind the current one, but we'll see how it goes. Anyway, without further ado, here it goes!

From the moment the coin-noise plays and Nintendo presents appears on the screen I was hooked. The short introduction that follows (seen below) is just a small glimpse of perfection that this early 90’s title has to offer.

 

For many of us, Super Mario World is a window into our childhood. I recall spending many hours exploring the world, trying my best to find every secret level and special area. (Random note: it wasn't until I replayed the game again in high school that I stumbled upon the actual Secret Area level. Man, that would've made life easier back then). I marveled at the artwork and the enemy design. In fact, I remember going as far as to designing my own trading card game (based off of the Pokemon TCG’s setup) featuring the Mario characters and enemies of this game. Hey, I was like five at the time, so cut me some slack. Anyway, while this idea never went anywhere beyond my art pad, it nonetheless demonstrates my love for this game.

I recently spent a few hours delving back into the game I knew and loved via the Wii Virtual Console and I must say this game definitely withstands the test of time. Now being seasoned in platforming games, it is easy to quickly get through the entire game (even without using Star Road). In fact, having played the original Super Mario Bros. recently, it seems that this game is a little bit easier compared to its predecessor, which was likely a conscious choice by the developer to appeal to a broader (and younger) audience. The true joy, however, is not in the challenge the game presents now, but the memories that surface while playing it. Let’s take a look back at Super Mario World.

The Idea: Venture through several lands as you attempt to save Princess Peach (again) from Bowser and his army of Koopas. On the way, run from ghosts, cross lava pits, and partake in the consumption of drugs (Mushrooms? “Fire Flowers”?) Furthermore, you ride dinosaurs. What's not to love?

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The Look: Visually stunning for its time. Personally, I find the two-dimensional graphics to be among the best of any SNES game and I still enjoy the art style used. The mix of cartoonish characters appeal to the demographic the game targeted and the simple backdrops make focusing on the action much easier. The diversity of level environments also kept the game fresh. 

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The Sound: Iconic noises such as the 1-Up, the Power-Up, and Yoshi’s music all appear here. Watch out, though, because these tunes may become ingrained in your brain after an hour or two of playing. 

The Play: Tight mechanics and well thought out level design. This game is superb when it comes to control. There are a few glitches, but none of them seemed to be all that noticeable, and the rare ones that were didn’t hinder my progress. Check out Mario being put to the test in some custom levels that are (quite accurately) dubbed The Impossible Levels.

The Entertainment: Besides the nostalgia factor here, the game still is one of the most fun and, at times, frustrating games of its kind. Once you get beyond the Twin Bridges and Ludwig Von Koopa in Castle #4, the game starts to get more challenging. Forest of Illusion struck a great balance between confusion and clarity for first time players, by forcing them to think outside of the formula they had been introduced to and look for multiple ways to finish each level. And the Sunken Ship is still as infuriating as it is entertaining.

The Challenge: While the game may have been challenging to us as youngsters, it seems to be a little easier these days. This is especially true once you reach Donut Plains and the Cape becomes available. Simply grab a Feather Power-Up and you’re able to take the scenic route over 90% of the outdoor stages.

The Legacy: In addition to selling 20.6 million copies globally, we see the first introduction of Yoshi here. This little green dino made such an impact that he, and his band of multicolored dinosaur friends, starred in the direct sequel of Super Mario World (which somehow featured Mario as a deafening baby, even though it’s the second release in the series).

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And to conclude this nostalgia post I leave you with two of the most impressive custom levels I’ve come across. This first video is a level is untouched by human hands. Mario moves based on in-game mechanics such as the Music Note box, stomping on enemies, conveyer platforms and more. Oh, and did I mention it’s done in synchronization with music? Now that’s impressive.

This second video is a TAS, meaning it is completely done using an emulator and is only edited to look like precise human playing, when actually the human element has been removed. More on TAS can be found at TASvideos.org. So, while this isn’t as impressive as it would be if someone could actually play like that, it’s still cool to watch Mario beast through this custom level that showcases every single exploitable glitch in the game. Plus this music is pretty entrancing.

Well, that about wraps it up for me. Now it’s your turn! What are your favorite memories of Super Mario World? What is your favorite Mario game of all time?

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