The last announcement for the Nintendo Direct on February 13, 2019 was a reveal trailer of a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, which was originally released for the Nintendo Game Boy in 1993. The remake for the Nintendo Switch is due out sometime in 2019. This is actually the second time Link’s Awakening has been enhanced; The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX for the Game Boy Color added color, a new dungeon, and a few other features. There do not seem to be official details announced besides what was shown in the reveal trailer, but there is plenty to glean from it.
Link’s Awakening takes place after Link, who was on a personal voyage at sea, finds himself in the middle of a severe storm. After a lightning strike destroys his ship, he washes up on the shores of the mysterious Koholint Island. The trailer for Link’s Awakening begins with a beautifully animated reimagining of this scene.
Some gameplay was shown, too. The original game’s overworld was set up in grid-like partitions, as was the case with many of the older 2D Zelda games. Players would move against the edge of the screen transition between different areas of the map. To no surprise, these invisible boundaries seem to have been mostly removed, so the movement in the overworld should feel more free and open.
The overworld does not stray too far from the original design, with several areas appearing to be a one-to-one recreation. Everything is as it was, only far more detailed. Even the character models are reminiscent of the 8-bit sprites from the Game Boy version. Characters are small with beady eyes to stay true to the first Link’s Awakening with room enough for smaller details. Link is now sporting a Hylian Shield, and you can see the flower in Marin’s hair.
Several locations are shown in the trailer. Mabe Village, Toronbo Shores, Kanalet Castle, Goponga Swamp, Mysterious Woods, Tail Cave, and Key Cavern are all some of the places that flash by in the trailer. We also see a few of the enemies, like the Goombas that inhabit some of Link’s Awakening‘s side-scrolling areas. Also seen is Bone Roller, a miniboss in Tail Cave.
Everything that we have seen in the trailer seems to be fleshed out, but it is hard to say if this is any indication of how far into development that Link’s Awakening is. It is a remake of a rather small-scale game, so it likely will not be too much longer before its release. For now, that 2019 release window shown at the end of the reveal is all we have to go on.
