Nintendo
When the Nintendo Switch launched with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, it showed us what a vastly open-world, free exploration Zelda game could be like — but sometimes, it’s good to go back to basics. If you’ve been craving a traditional, top-down Zelda experience that harkens back to the series origins, you’re about to get it: Nintendo just announced that it’s remaking The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening for Nintendo Switch.
Link’s Awakening was the first Zelda game to make its way to the Nintendo Game Boy, the company’s first portable game console — one that stranded the game’s titular hero on a mysterious island. This quirky adventure filled with fun characters and goofy humor. It was also the first Zelda game that allowed link to jump. Link’s Awakening eventually received a colorized re-release on the Game Boy Color, but the incoming Switch remake takes things to the next level.
At a glance, Link’s Awakening for Nintendo Switch looks almost like a stop-motion film shot from above, exaggerating its overhead perspective with a blurred, depth-of-field focus. It seems like an extremely faithful recreation of the original title too, form the preserved layout of the town to the game’s unique, side-scrolling platforming sections.
When will you be able to play the Game Boy’s most iconic Zelda game on the company’s latest handheld? Nintendo gave the game a broad release window, stating only that the The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening would launch sometime in 2019.