Pros: High fun factor, addicting game play, excellent music.
Cons: None.

As a gamer, I've found that console and PC games almost always offer the best gaming experiences for your buck. Even though I was a huge Zelda fan when The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was released back in 1993, I was less than excited. Game Boy has always been a system where awful platformers, bad racers, and pitiful fighting games dwell. After finally giving in and buying the game, I was more than surprised to find that it surpassed all previous Zelda games.

Link's Awakening takes place just a little after The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Super NES (and before Zelda 1&2 for Nintendo). Yeah, the Zelda series' timeline is overly confusing to say the least, but knowledge of it is not important here. Instead of concentrating its' story in the land of Hyrule, Link's Awakening tells the story of Link being shipwrecked on an island (where he was going in his boat is never clarified). After being nursed back to health by two kind strangers, Link sets out, shield in hand, searching for his trusty sword.

Shortly after finding his sword, Link discovers that this particular island is controlled by the Windfish, who are the only ones who can get Link off the island and send him back to Hyrule. Unfortunately, the Windfish are currently in a slumber atop a giant mountain in a huge Yoshi egg. The only way to awake them from this egg is to find all 8 magical musical instruments, which are coincidentally, kept deep in 8 different dungeons. As you progress through the quest, the question of whether Link is awake or dreaming, whether it's fantasy or reality, all come up. If it's reality, Link may never get off the island. If it's just a dream, everyone on the island that he's become friends with will all disappear. This makes it impossible for the game to end happily, and it is really a different take on a series that always has a happy ending. Of course, I will not spoil the ending for you. Let's just say it leaves you with an empty feeling inside.

The fact that this game's title includes the word "Zelda" may mislead people to believe that Zelda is actually in the game. Well, she's not. Neither is Link's nemesis Ganon. Instead, this entry into this classic series spends all of its time dealing with Link's struggle to find reality, developing Link's relationship with his new found love, Marin, and focusing on the highly addictive game play. This doesn't affect the quality of the game one bit. In fact, it strengthens it.

The actual Zelda game play hasn't changed much from A Link to the Past, and that's a good thing. You still go from dungeon to dungeon, searching out important items. Along the way, you'll complete various other quests like, for example, breaking into a castle to retrieve five golden leafs as a favor to a friend. Link's Awakening also introduced the famous trading system, but made famous in the brilliant The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (although it was not used nearly as effective as in Link's Awakening). This starts out by trading a Yoshi Doll to a family for another item. Throughout the game, you'll trade for dog food, bananas, a ribbon, and a whole bunch of other weird stuff. At first, this seems like just a little fun side quest, but it is absolutely necessary to continue through certain parts of the game. The final item you get in the trading game is required to get through the final dungeon. You'll be 'lost' without it.

Like any other Zelda game, there's an enormous amount of items to find. Some of them are familiar: the boomerang, hookshot, sword, and shield. Others, such as the leaping leaf, which allows you to jump, are new innovations. You can assign any two items to either of the A and B buttons in any way you want. This unique control customization is a feature I really like about Link's Awakening.

Like I mentioned earlier in the review, Link's Awakening is truly better than any of the Zeldas released before it. It's longer, more complex, and more involving than the original. It surpasses part 2 in every way (the only game in the series I don't care for). And is 300% more challenging than the great A Link to the Past. It's not that you will have a problem defeating enemies or bosses (well, at least not until the final boss), it's just that some of these puzzles you have to solve are extraordinarily difficult. When you're not traveling, you're trying to solve a puzzle or figuring out what to do next. Yet somehow, Link's Awakening does it in a way that always makes it enjoyable.

As far as graphics go, this game really pushes the original Game Boy to the limit. Everything is nicely drawn in black and white, and both the beginning and ending have really nice, detailed up-close cinemas. My only complaint would be the usual Game Boy blurry movements. It doesn't affect the game play; it's just annoying. You'll be glad to know that the Game Boy Color version, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, solves the blurry issue, and adds a wonderfully bright color palette as well.

If you haven't played the game, you would be completely shocked at what Nintendo has done with the music. Every song is so beautifully orchestrated in complex midi music, you'd swear you were playing it on your Super Nintendo. And it's all here too, even the classic Zelda overworld theme.

This is truly an example of a masterpiece where you'd least expect to find it. This is one of the few games I would recommend to anyone, no matter what kind of gamers they are. If you can, get the DX version for better graphics and an extra dungeon. If not, the original release will more than satisfy you.