Since the series' beginnings in the mid-1980's, The Legend of Zelda has been a pioneer in game design, exploration, and puzzle solving. Nintendo's greatest action-adventure games have inspired countless other companies, as the franchise spans 36 years and 19 mainline entries, with countless remakes, remasters, and spin-offs along the way. Such a decorated resume means the series has had the opportunity to experiment with a number of art styles and gameplay mechanics, but the limitations of each games' respective hardware do provide a significant barrier to overcome.
Being the first Zelda title for a handheld console, 1993's The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was an instance where the platform's power had a significant impact on the game's overall presentation. However, what the game lacked in technical innovations it more than made up for in setting, tone, and story. Link's Awakening brings many unique elements to a series that is often too rigid in its narratives. Princess Zelda is absent from the festivities, the evil Ganon is nowhere to be seen, and the game's iconic twist is something that should be replicated more in the future, allowing for even more possibilities to be discovered.
It Was All A Dream
Link's Awakening is set on the remote-but-charming Koholint Island, where the titular hero drifts ashore after encountering a thunderstorm at sea. Nudged awake by Marin and told of the magical Wind Fish that sits atop Mt. Tamaranch, Link's quest is to acquire the Instruments of the Sirens from the island's 8 dungeons to awaken the beast so he can return to his native Hyrule. At the game's conclusion, it turns out that Link's time of the island was a figment of his imagination, all dreamt up while floating out in the ocean.
The 'it was all a dream' trope is often seen as a lazy plot device, but in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, it works wonders. The nature of the story is inherently strange, from the exotic Wind Fish to the island itself, and it being a manifestation of Link's dreams allows for so many quirky characters and odd events to occur. Link's Awakening was an unexpected deviation from the princess-saving formula far before The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask truly submerged the series in strangeness. As is evident with Majora's Mask,The Legend of Zelda works best when it is subverting the expectations of its players, so hosting more mainline entries in the dreams of Link, or even side characters, would allow for the freedom to achieve such a feat.
Link's Awakening Skips Over Zelda's Timeline Troubles
The confusing Zelda timeline that featured in companion book, Hyrule Historia, shed light on the order in which the events take place in The Legend of Zelda series. Filtering the vast array of titles in the franchise into a cohesive chronology means there are certain parameters that should be met to ensure a game fits into the wider Zelda tale. Having whole adventures in dream land grants the ability to tell an interesting tale, all while never encroaching on the official timeline. Link's adventures can take hours upon hours to see through to the end, and a jaunt through a fictional land, crawling through fictional dungeons, and meeting fictional side characters in just one of Link's naps ensures the incredibly convoluted timeline remains intact.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening takes place after the events of 1991's A Link to the Past, sitting firmly in the path where the hero fell to Ganondorf during the events of Nintendo 64 masterpiece Ocarina of Time. The nature of its story, being that it was all just a dream, means its inclusion in the timeline is of little-to-no consequence. Having no obligation to uphold a timeline that was created long after many of the games had released allows for the most creativity and artistic license from its developer. Exploring this concept more in future titles would do well to distance the series from its frankly ridiculous timeline, restoring a level of unpredictability to a franchise that has been all too familiar despite its immense quality.
The Legend of Zelda's formula is far from broken, so fixing it seems like a pointless effort. With the upcoming release of the much-anticipated Breath of the Wild sequel, Link and company are sure to recapture the hearts of many, but Zelda can only truly flourish when there is freedom to do something different each time. Using the often-criticized 'it was all a dream' model would open up the series to new possibilities, ensuring the winning formula is forever fresh.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is available for Game Boy and Game Boy Color, with a remake available on Nintendo Switch.