The hype that I have for the Link’s Awakening remake has been bottled up and it can no longer be contained. Every single screenshot, gameplay video, new feature, and everything else make me more and more excited. Link’s Awakening was, like for many I’d imagine, my first foray into the mostly wonderful world of handheld Zelda titles.
Memories of Link’s Awakening for me always consist of winning the Yoshi doll from the crane game since I had my own Yoshi doll (which I still have to this day) and he’s my favorite Mario character. As well as that, I vividly and fondly remember the “Ballad of the Wind Fish” and how it helped to establish my appreciation for video game music and music in general.
That powerful moment clearly isn’t only powerful to me however, as Deviantart user Yuese has shown us here with her fan art titled “Link’s Awakening.” Everything about it conjures up exactly the kind of feeling I experienced from the simple graphics and the beeps and boops coming from my Game Boy Color speaker. It was so ethereal and surreal, and it isn’t a stretch to say that this was one of the first times I really felt the emotions behind a song and had a very simple feeling of introspection from one.
I’m going to feel very old saying this, but back in the day you often had to use your imagination to fill in the gaps with the limited hardware.From the voices you’d imagine the characters having, to the deeper details based on the simple graphics, you had to do your best to compensate. It was, well, a simpler time back then. This piece is a great example of how one’s imagination can take an admittedly simple section of a game and turn it into something truly grand. It’s well drawn, the colors are amazing, and the ambiance perfectly recreates the magical feeling of calling for the Wind Fish.
I already know I’m going to adore the Link’s Awakening remake, even if it’s purely fueled by nostalgia and rose-colored glasses alone. But I also know that because of that bias, a part of me will miss the imagination aspect I had. Art by truly talented people like Yuese here remind me that I wasn’t the only person who felt that strongly about this scene, and knowing that couldn’t make me happier.
