Link’s Awakening is filled with mystery and wonder. Although the game is smaller in scale when compared to Breath of the Wild, every nook and cranny of Koholint Island is bursting with secrets. From discovering Secret Seashells to interacting with the game’s quirky cast of characters, Link’s Awakening remains one of the few games that I finish on a yearly basis.
I first discovered the mystery of the Bucket Mouse on accident. Early in the adventure, I stumbled upon Old Man Ulrira’s house in Mabe Village. As I attempted to spark a conversation, Ulrira directed me to utilize the phone booths scattered throughout the island. His direction seemed odd, but I assumed Ulrira was simply a shy old man. I ventured next door to the phone booth, and Ulrira happily directed me to the beach to find my missing sword.
But then I had an idea: What if I made a phone call from inside Ulrira’s house? Who would answer? Unsure of what would happen, I picked up the phone in Ulrira’s house and made a call. To my delight, someone or something answered. The dialogue screen revealed, “Yeees! It’s the Bucket Mouse! Thanks for calling! …Well… CLICK!” My curiosity had been rewarded. Surely I would stumble upon this “Bucket Mouse” later on in my adventure, and perhaps he or she would help me solve a puzzle or dungeon.
With each new area, I searched high and low for the Bucket Mouse to no avail. Not to mention, the inhabitants of Koholint Island never spoke of this character. As the conclusion to Link’s Awakening drew to an end, I slowly began to realize that I might not find the elusive Bucket Mouse. Maybe I was not searching in the correct area? Perhaps I was missing something? Without the power of the internet to satisfy my curiosity, I left the mystery unresolved and moved on to the next adventure.
Years passed, and the legend of the Bucket Mouse faded from memory. It was not until the Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening released on the Nintendo Switch that I was reminded of my unsolved mystery. I gleefully picked up my copy on launch day and began a playthrough. As I explored the redesigned Mabe Village, I once again entered Old Man Ulrira’s house. Then it hit me. Surely the development team removed the senseless Bucket Mouse dialogue from the game?
I was shocked. The answer to my question was a resounding “no”, and I was more determined than ever to discover the identity of the Bucket Mouse. Although the mystery was the same in 2019 as it was in 1993, I had one major ally in my corner: the power of the Internet and the Google search engine.
After hours of searching, I discovered a 1998 developer questionnaire by Japanese publisher Shogakukan, which was the key that finally unlocked this quarter-century mystery. Shogakukan asked the Link’s Awakening development staff a myriad of questions about the game’s DX version for the Game Boy Color. Within this interview, I stumbled across a nugget from programmer Kazuaki Morita.
Morita proclaimed, “The ‘Yeees! This is Bucketmouth!!’ you hear when you make a call from Ulrira’s house is a real fishing shop, and the owner is actually the guy who runs the fishing pond in OoT. Did you know that?” So Morita referenced “Bucketmouth” in Japanese; however, the English version of Link’s Awakening mistook “Bucketmouth” as the “Bucket Mouse.”
I was appalled. For over 25 years, a simple translation error caused me to believe that Link’s Awakening had an extra character. Instead, Morita was referencing a real-life fishing shop named Bucketmouth. But where exactly was this fishing shop located?
I scoured Google Maps for signs of the fishery. My search was fruitless, but I finally discovered the truth buried in the translator notes for the Shogakukan interview. The Bucketmouth fishing shop was located in Neyagawa, which is a province in the northeast portion of Osaka, Japan. An update to the translator notes revealed that the shop had closed its doors in October 2010.
A quarter-century of unsatisfied curiosity was finally over. At first, I was slightly annoyed that Eiji Aonuma left the translation error in the game; however, I must admit that I am now glad he did. Although the Bucket Mouse is not a real Zelda character, he or she became real to me during this investigation. Whenever I cross the threshold of Old Man Ulrira’s house in future playthroughs, I know that I will be grinning from ear-to-ear. The Bucket Mouse is real and will live on in my memories.
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