The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening // Reese's Cake

Back in December 1998, little Xan (me, not to be confused with rapper Lil Xan, debut album Total Xanarchy, which was almost the name of this blog) got a brand new shiny purple Game Boy Color from Santa, my first handheld and second game console. I was a year into my gaming career, having been gifted a PlayStation the year prior. My mom and sister picked out The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, a colorized version of the acclaimed Game Boy game, probably by recommendation from an Electronics Boutique employee. Still a baby gamer and with little knowledge of Nintendo's heroes, I absolutely ate it up. While it's considered a departure from the series, this was my gateway into Zelda, trap-filled dungeons, and what seemed like a vast open world to my virgin eyes.

Fast-forward to 2021, and big Xan stumbles upon one "Reese's Cake" in a 7-11 near my apartment. It's a twist on the classic peanut butter-chocolate confection: a sophisticated "cake" rather than a cup, square over circle. Same taste you know and love, but elevated.... or so it tries.

Enter The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening for Switch. This remake originally came out in 2019 and arguably kicked off an unusual line of re-releases for Switch. (This year's Skyward Sword HD and the Galaxy 2-less Super Mario 3D All-Stars come to mind.) For the younger generation, this remake might be the first they've heard of this oddball entry in the series. A castaway Link washes up on a exotic island, populated by a cast of characters disconnected from the main series. Some unique design decisions make this game stand out, like phone booths littered all over that provide gameplay hints, or the appearance of Mario enemies like Goombas. The main draw compared to the original is a complete overhaul of the art style. It's still your typical top-down Zelda, but with an adorable tactility and tilt-shift perspective that makes every screen look like a Fisher Price playset.

New players will find more than enough charm and challenge to justify their island vacation. But if you've played the original, is a revisit worth your time? If you inject a peanut butter cup with compressed sheet cake, are you really going to surprise me? The answer is no, not really. It's a fun idea, it's flashier, and I'm a sucker for a novelty product. But you can't beat the original two-ingredient classic.

The thing is, you don't need to. A reimagining doesn't need to surpass its source. There were times Link's Awakening felt slow and even dull, as to be expected coming at this more than 20 years later. Nothing can beat my first time finishing Tail Cave and realizing just how big this overworld is. Since then, I've seen bigger worlds, smarter puzzles, and more delicious uses of peanut butter. But sometimes it's worth playing an old game with a new coat of paint to see just how far you've come. I'm probably not getting a Reese's Cake again soon. But for a few weekends, I remembered what it was like getting chocolate smudges all over my Game Boy Color in 1998. Anything that brings back those memories is a triumph in my book.

I leave you with the claw mini-game, which I banged my head against just as much today as I did as a kid: