[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.

From top left, clockwise | 1, 2, 3, 4

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.

www.zeldadungeon.net

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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[Top 10] Non-Legendary Pokemon

Today's guest column was written by my friend, Sean McClellan. The topic of interest is one of the most monstrous brands known in the gaming world (pun intended).

SEAN: Like religion, Pokémon has affected us all: you either love it or you hate it, there is rarely a middle ground and you cannot escape it.  Over the series’ 16 year lifespan, over 600 different Pokémon have been created and discovered, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.  However, not all Pokémon are equal in power, as most members of Team Rocket (and the other teams) will tell you.  Now I could just tell you what the ten best Pokémon are, but it’d likely result in me writing down the names of ten legendary Pokémon that the games require you to catch in order to complete the story line.

However, I don’t want to do that, so instead I present you with ten of the strongest non-legendary Pokémon.  Let it be known that I based my findings off of research that included checking their base stats, their weaknesses and resistances, and their move pools.  For Pokémon that were more or less similar, I picked the one that I thought was the best.

10. Kingdra

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

First Appearance: Gold and Silver (Generation II)

To start up the article, I present to you Kingdra, the Dragon Pokémon.  Now, I doubt very many people ever expected that Horsea would one day evolve into a dragon, and I also doubt that those same people didn’t really care when they realized their adorable sea horse would become so freakin’ cool!  Kingdra is a rare Pokémon capable of creating whirlpools simply by moving or even yawning!  Sadly, the Whirlpool move is sort of lackluster in the Pokémon games… 

While most Pokémon are on this list because they have one or two powerful stats with a bunch of mediocre or weak stats to balance them out, Kingdra is actually on this list because it is well-balanced.  Most of its stats are about the same, with its Hit Points and Speed only marginally lower than the rest.  Because of this, a Kingdra can effectively learn and use almost any type of move in the game.  It is also unique in the fact that it’s the only non-legendary Dragon-type Pokémon with one weakness: Dragon-type moves.  That means all of those annoying Ice-type Pokémon are no longer an issue.

9. Togekiss

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

First Appearance: Diamond and Pearl (Generation IV)

I had a Togetic in my very first Pokémon game (Crystal), and I loved it.  Sadly, when I learned that this is what my beloved Pokémon would evolve into, I became upset.  Then I realized that Togekiss is actually pretty boss, so I slapped a Shiny Stone on my Togetic and called it a day (Yes, I’m aware that I couldn’t actually take my original Togetic from a 12-year-old game, just go with it!).  Togekiss has impressive Special Attack and Special Defense stats and it can learn one of the coolest moves in the game: Aura Sphere.

Togekiss’ weaknesses are fairly typical for a Normal/Flying-type Pokémon.  Just be on the lookout for Rock-, Electric, and Ice-type Pokémon and you should be okay (in fact, that Aura Sphere I mentioned earlier will take care of two of those three types!).  While Togekiss doesn’t learn very many moves on its own, it does have a fairly expansive list of moves it can learn from TMs, HMs, breeding, and prior evolutions, so you should be able to learn pretty much anything you need to make your Togekiss great.

8. Volcarona

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

First Appearance: Black and White (Generation V)

I’d never thought I’d see the day when a Bug-type Pokémon would be in a Top 10 list of good Pokémon.  Now before you start hating on me for hating on Bug-types, let me say that I love bugs!  Heracross, Scyther, and Beedrill are awesome, and we need more Pokémon like them.  Anyway, Volcarona is capable of using the dust on its wings to surround the battlefield with fire and can even be used as a temporarily replacement for the sun!

Volcarona has an awesome Special Attack stat and good Special Defense and Speed, meaning that it can attack quickly and for a lot of damage while mitigating some of the damage it takes.  However, just like in real life, a sturdy piece of rock is a huge threat to this bug.

7. Arcanine

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

First Appearance: Red and Blue (Generation I)

First off, let me say that I’m a pretty big fan of wolves and tigers, two animals that Arcanine takes some of its features from.  That being said, I might be biased toward this awesome beast that sprays fire from its mouth and runs so fast that it is often mistaken for having wings.  Rumor has it that before the first Pokémon games were released, Arcanine was going to be the counterpart to Zapdos and Articuno instead of Moltres, hence its species category “Legendary.”  Oh Arcanine, how you were cheated…

Anyway, Arcanine is a well-rounded attacker, with solid Attack and Special Attack scores, good speed, and decent HP.  Its Defense and Special Defense do leave something to be desired, however.  Arcanine has the typical Fire-type weaknesses against Ground-, Rock-, and Water-type moves, but its own move pool can be made to counter those types of Pokémon.  Just be sure to train your Growlithe well before evolving it, Arcanine doesn’t learn a lot of moves on its own.

6. Tyranitar

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

First Appearance: Gold and Silver (Generation II)

Tyranitar evolves from Pupitar, which in turn evolves from Larvitar after it eats an entire mountain!  Tyranitar continues its love of geographical destruction by smashing mountains to bits with its bare hands, no easy feat.  This guy’s rampages are responsible for keeping cartographers everywhere in business.  Tyranitar focuses primarily on Attack, using its solid Defense, Special Defense, and Hit Point scores to help it survive blows from enemies.  Its main weakness stat-wise is its Speed, which will usually result in Tyranitar getting attacked before he can lash out.

While Tyranitar is incredibly powerful, it has a huge weakness to Fighting-type moves, which are fairly common in the Pokémon world.  It does possess a wide selection of resistances and is immune to Psychic-type attacks, which are also rather prevalent.  Perhaps one of the coolest things about Tyranitar is its special ability to bring a sandstorm into battle with it, which will sap at opponent’s Hit Points without doing a thing to Tyranitar.

5. Hydreigon

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

First Appearance: Black and White (Generation V)

Sadly my knowledge on the Pokémon introduced in Generation V is limited, but I do know that any Pokémon based on a combination of the mythological hydra and a dragon has got to be pretty sweet (I’m also partial to Dark-type Pokémon, so this guy has that going for him as well).  The Pokédex entry for Hydreigon says that it will attack and devour anything that moves, so watch out.

Hydreigon has a large number of resistances and immunities thanks to its unique type combination (Dark/Dragon) and its Levitate ability.  Ground- and Psychic-type moves are useless against this monster, and it is also resistant to Electric, Fire, and Water-type moves, among others.  Ice moves only deal half as much damage to Hydreigon as they do to most other Dragon-types, giving it a distinct advantage, however, this winged hydra is weak against Bug-type attacks, which is pretty lame.

4. Garchomp

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

First Appearance: Diamond and Pearl (Generation IV)

Now I may not understand how a land shark is technically a dragon, but a lot of the things in the Pokémon universe runs on the “Rule of Cool,” so I can’t say that I care.  Garchomp is known for hitting hard and hitting fast, something that its trainers and opponents can verify.  This Pokémon’s primary stat is Attack, and it possesses one of the best Attack stats among non-legendary Pokémon.  Its speed isn’t too shabby either.

Like almost all Dragon-type Pokémon, Ice-type moves will cause unnecessary amounts of frustration for Garchomp.  However, his Ground-type does render him resistant toward Rock and immune to Electricity, two move types that usually cause trouble for other Dragon-type Pokémon.

3. Salamence

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

First Appearance: Ruby and Sapphire (Generation III)

Salamence takes third place thanks to its awesome stat array, which focuses primarily on Attack and Special Attack.  According to the Pokédex, the Salamence of old grew their wings from sheer force of will, no small feat.  It is in many ways the Dragonite of Generation III, swapping defensive powers for offensive strength.

Salamence’s main weakness is against Ice, which can deal up to 4x the normal amount of damage to this mighty dragon.  While it can learn several different Fire-type moves to bring down Ice-type Pokémon, it lacks the ability to learn many Electric-type attacks, forcing Salamence to rely on Thunder Fang for those pesky Water/Ice dual types.

2. Dragonite

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

First Appearance: Red and Blue (Generation I)

Dragonite is a classic Pokémon hailing from the days when we played Red and Blue on the bus to school, and is one of the Generation I Pokémon awesome enough to not get overshadowed by all the newcomers to the arena.  According to legend, Dragonites spend most of their time flying over the sea and are said to able to fly around the world in 16 hours.  It has strong Attack power and good Special Attack and Special Defense stats.

Like a lot of Dragon-type Pokémon, Dragonite has a x4 weakness to Ice-type moves, which can become a problem.  However, it can bring the fight to Water and Ice Pokémon thanks to its ability to learn powerful moves like Flamethrower and Thunder.  Dragonites are resistant to five relatively common move types and are immune to Ground attacks.

1. Metagross

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

First Appearance: Ruby and Sapphire (Generation III)

Originally introduced in Ruby and Sapphire, Metagross is a rock-solid Pokémon that possesses four brains, allowing it to solve problems faster than a supercomputer and tap into its impressive mental powers.  Now, why did I rate Metagross No. 1?  Its Attack and Defense stats are both very good, and its Special Attack and Special Defense aren’t too shabby either.

Metagross’s true power lies in its resistances to eight different types of moves and its immunity to poison.  Metagross is only weak against Ground and Fire type moves, and if you teach it Magnet Rise it becomes immune to the former for a short period of time.  In essence, Metagross is able to wallop on all different kinds of Pokémon, and only truly fears opponents of the Fire-type.

Rock on Metagross, rock on.

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