1993 - Link's Awakening
AN: Phew. Uh, we're gonna try, yeah?
This is one of those that's foundational to me. It is hard to find the words to talk about this game because I just love it so much. I'll admit that it's closely tied to the fact that I was kid when I first played it and so that undeniably colors my experience but I love it. I love it so much. Where do I start? Perhaps with this: I have probably played every version of this game and done so multiple times. I played it on the Gameboy (THE REGULAR-DEGULAR GAME BOY) when I was kid. I was mesmerized. If I think of that owl, I can hear the music when he flies into the screen and hoots at you.
When it got rereleased in 1998 for the Gameboy color, I played that. When it was released on the 3DS virtual console, I played that! And obviously when it hit the Switch, I lost my whole fucking mind.
I think it's safe to say that this had an effect on my brain like Okami had on my man Barquq's. Like, I cannot enough express my love for it. Even as I type this, I'm like, "well, I could turn on my switch for the first time in a year and play it or I could load it up on my miyoo mini+." I actually am restraining myself because I want to go play it again right the fuck now. AN: I booted it up after writing the first draft of this, so lol.
Okay, so, if you haven't played this game and you're reading this how'd you get here?, here's the idea: after A Link to the Past, Link leaves Hyrule to go on a journey, gets shipwrecked, and finds himself on a mysterious island called Koholint. As he explores, he begins to learn more about the Wind Fish who sleeps in a giant egg on the mountain and how it is plagued by these dangerous Nightmares. Each dungeon gives you an item to get through it--standard LoZ fare--and an instrument. When you've gathered all eight of them, you go to the egg and play your instruments, which awakens the Wind Fish.
The twist is that the entire island is a dream created by the Wind Fish. So, when you wake up, all of it will be gone. The people you met, the monsters you've defeated, the owl who has guided you through your journey. All gone. The only "real" things on the whole island are Link and the Fish. And in the early 90s, as a kid playing games in the family room, this blew my mind.
I'm harsh on any media that does the "it was all a dream" bit these days. It can and often is a bad post-modern invention that ultimately weakens the narrative and potentially undoes much of its events and potentially the growth of its characters. Obviously my obsession with story and narrative has a hand in that, but I think it's obviously relevant here as well. The thing about this turn is that it doesn't feel at all hackneyed or cynical in Link's Awakening. Rather, when the Owl reveals this information to you, it is not just a caution, but also an exhortation. The Owl doesn't want you to stay in this dream world. He understands that you have to go on. That the Wind Fish has to wake up. But Link's growth and experiences, the people he met on the island, those things are not undone or otherwise trivialized by this being a dream. But, you cannot live in a dream. You must wake up. I think an important way of underscoring this journey's significance is that when you do wake up, adrift in the sea, you look up and see a seagull ( ;) ) and begin to smile.
Again, it's hard for me to write about this game without gushing or crying. It is, when I really think about it, an essential part of me. Narratives which play with the sort of state of reality are always intriguing to me: Over the Garden Wall and Infinity Train being two recent examples. And I think I can credit that interest to Link's Awakening. It is truly one of my favorite games of all time.