"8.5 out of 10" Shows 7.5 Twerking Tingles

I like that the art style isn’t just a 3D imitation of the 2D graphics, it went for a pretty bold and unique style and there was a lot of effort put into the art direction. It’s charming and I like how everything has sorta a tactile nature to it, I feel like I could touch these little models and I know what they’d feel like.

The sad thing is that from a purely computational perspective, the Switch has enough power to run this game at 60fps as it did with Mario Odyssey, it's just that this game in particular has a memory leak issue which causes it to run really badly when assets are loaded in. Memory leak because, even when you enter, say, a small room where the GPU and CPU should have no problem keeping up, the framerate still drops because it still has unnecessary assets loaded in, getting worse each time you enter and exit a house repeatedly. Being a memory issue, it also noticably improves performance to have the game run off of internal storage as it is the fastest medium for Switch.

"I'll never get to experience the haptic feedback of a chicken's wing flapping now." You sounded so hurt when you said that. It made me laugh.

7:20 That's 7.5/10, but take that down anyway

If they make an Earthbound remake on this style it would be such a hit

That is the most satisfying sound effect I've ever heard

I'll never understand why they replaced the photographer's house instead of just adding Dampé's shack somewhere else.

The puzzle with the chess pieces is actually really good: they always make an L-turn, just like the knight piece in a regular match of chess.

I love the art style but man the opening and ending cut scenes are so unbelievably beautiful that I wish they would do a Classic Zelda game in that hand drawn art style

Nerrel I love ya but not being able to solve the chess horse puzzle is on you buddy

"The sound design is great" *stock pot smashing sounds in the distance*

0:53 to 1:16 is the exact reason so many pokemon fans are upset with the Diamond and Pearl remakes. From the material we've seen so far, the visuals absolutely look phoned in. The character sprites are the biggest issue of contention, and a lot of people defend them by saying "the originals were chibi too, so you should like them because they're being faithful." The original models were pixel art representations of a much larger sprite that the game shows you from the beginning, as a sort of contention that it isn't possible on this hardware to have the more detailed full anime looking sprite on screen, so we will substitute it with this abstracted chibi sprite. Many players looked at the original chibi sprite and imagined a more fully realized model, because the game basically tells you to. Not to mention the strange lighting choices and scattered art direction, I think make the remakes visual style fail on every level to compete with the players interpretation of the original pixel art. At least with Link's Awakening, you can tell that there was more time, money, and effort put in to making a highly detailed and beautifully rendered world. Even if it "isn't to your taste", it's a much higher quality execution than the Diamond and Pearl remakes.

A new video, finally. Such an underrated channel!

The horse puzzle moves exactly as a Knight piece does in chess, and the direction it will leap in is always the way it is facing, that would be a good puzzle but it assumes outside knowledge that is never told to the player in game.

4:00 the things are knights from chess so that’s why they bounce that way. I never thought how that part might be cryptic.

I really, REALLY love the art style they went with for this game. It’s such a playful, tongue in cheek game already, and it looking like it does is a fantastic compliment.

That chess piece puzzle was clever. I loved it.

I would have loved to see full 360° movement like in A Link between Worlds. This is such a missed opportunity

The performance issues are kind of tragic

Your content has became one of my favorites to watch, thanks for another great video Nerrel.

My only complaint is that I can't justify the purchase of a shot for shot remake of a Gameboy Game for $60. If the game was $40 then I'd be down to get it but until I get it for a good price I'm sticking with the GB original. Now if it was an Oracle game double pack or all three Gameboy Zelda's together I'd be more than happy to buy it for $60.

Wait is this a Nerrel video without a segment with good old Trash Truck-kun? umbeliavable! Great video!

You should look up the concept art by katsuya terada for Link's awakening. That's how I saw the game in my head as a kid and always hoped a remake would look like.

Genuinely excited for our video, genuinely displeased with the rest of today

I always thought it would be cool if the remake gave you free range to equip whatever you wanted to the face buttons and L and R, so that way you wouldn't really have issues with how the button layout is.

I just got up, so this is a good way to start my day with a new nerrel video

Always worth the wait for another one of your vids, even if it’s a shorter one. The channel will only keep on growing

I want to regularly see hands slapping objects off-screen in your videos. Make that a motif.

5:21 SPEEEN

I thought I was a weirdass for liking the sound effect of hitting beetle enemies with the sword. Glad to see I'm not alone

I really like these kinds of videos from you. You do a great job with them!

Love your reviews. Playing games arent really part of my life anymore, but you and SNESDrunk really give me the feeling that I've experienced what a game has to offer. Sometimes you even tempt me to play again... :)

5:21 I totally lost it when you were talking about the spinning glitch "which I considered to be a great time" XD

I really miss that one really high note in the overworld theme and also wish they'd just done a simple piano cover of the house theme instead of some creepy weirdo xylophone shit. Considering that retro games leave most of their look and feel to interpretation though, I feel like this game was still really successful. A pleasant surprise was when the overworld theme became more whimsical when beach waifu joined your party.

another neat thing is that you can play through it with a gamecube controller, it makes moving much more natural thanks to the notches.

I enjoy so much your content Nerrel. The style of your videos is very entertaining.

Best review. You touched on everything I wanted other reviewers to talk about

Really great review. Popped up in my suggestions and now I have subscribed.

Always love seeing new Nerrel videos, this channel rocks.

I think the look of the intro cutscene in the original set the idea of what the graphics were representative of (regardless of how strange it would look to follow that style while faithfully remaking the dungeon layouts), so a lot of people were put off when a version of the game on a system with graphics less crude than the GB had it's own divergent style

the fact they decided to downgrade from 360 analog to 8 directions on digital makes no sense to me

This was a very well done review and I agree with most of what you say. It’s just that the puzzles were pretty easy, and if you couldn’t figure it out the statues give very nice hints along with the phone booths that allowed for this to be the first legend of Zelda that I was able to 100% without a guide. I also didn’t experience any glitches or preference issues, but I may not have been looking for any. Really enjoyed the video

Man, I can't believe I'm this early for a Nerrel video, I am glad however because I been looking forward for this inevitable review of the game.

I'm subscribed to over 200 channels. and I gotta admit that you are in the top 10 best youtubers I watch. Keep up the good work

I really appreciate the pins and maps in the newer Zelda games it really helped me out while playing this remake, I wished I used the pins in between worlds when I was younger lol

3:58 They are obviously knight pieces of chess, so they move like they do in chess!

It's unreasonable to say that the knight piece puzzle is unintuitive, it's pretty clever if you ask me

I kind of liked the digital movement. I find that much modern animation runs the risk of trying to flow too smoothly or organically that it feels slow and unlike any artistic style it's trying to improve on. The sudden shifts that came with only 8 directions resembled a lot of what I imagined a digital game modernized would look: kind of like the way the fix-it-Felix-jr people were animated in Wreck-it-Ralph.

This was really well written, thoughtful, and helpful. Thanks.

I never played the original but didn't feel like any puzzles warranted a google search, the only time i did so was to find who needed the pineapple because i didn't make the link to the guy's wording of vitamins. As for the sounds, link drowning is my favorite.

7:19 That shit is hilarious. You actually only display 7.5 points on screen.

Once again a very information dense and entertaining video. Keep up the good work and I will keep watching :)

Unfortunately haven't gotten the game yet so I don't even know if this is a thing, but what would have been a cool Easter egg bonus to unlock in the game would be if they would allow you to change the overall color palette to that of a green screen like the original Gameboy or the Gameboy color palette, while keeping the same 3D visuals

Man, I love your videos. Your sense of humor so understated and subtle

You are quickly becoming my favorite video game talking person. Every video of yours is a treat.

It should really have more content for $60.

I really don't understand how a game that looks like this can stress the Switch hardware so much. Feels like they needed more technical support from Nintendo or just more time to work out the bugs

Having never played the original links Awakening, I really enjoyed this version, it gave me that nostalgic NES and SNES feeling I hadn't had in years, I loved the field depth and motion blur the art style was different yet gave it this awesome unique in the series feel to it, having played almost all the console Zelda's I really enjoyed playing this and rate it very highly, the creative elements is a definite welcome and is quite noticeable when comparing it to the standard Nintendo Zelda offerings, I was amazed how real the world felt with its art style and sound effects, this was one overhaul that I truly appreciated, the experience certainly delivered, I think the narrator in this video is a little over dramatic in his harsh criticism, there were a few things that I agreed with, yet I did enjoy this game from start to finish unlike Breath of the Wild which after the first 2 thirds felt very repetitive, I take my hat off to the team that remade this game, you did a good job at rebuilding this despite the 8 angle short coming

5:22 may be my favorite video clip I've ever seen. Something about it is just so genuinely hilarious 😂 thanks for the laughs man!

Oh yeah That's why I subscribed to this channel. But still- original > arranged

This is maybe the most normal nerrel thumbnail

3:57 I was stuck at that puzzle just yesterday and only noticed the checkboard pattern on the ground at the second time haha

I thought this game looked too cartoony but after watching you talk about it and seeing some gameplay it brought a smile to my face. I think I’ll be getting this game now

I agree pretty much completely. Especially regarding that one sound effect.

I felt that they had to restrict the players movement in this game in order to keep some of the puzzles in tact. If I'm remembering correctly there were a few puzzles that could be abused if 360 control was added. Just letting people use the hookshot at the new angles allowed for a little bit of jank in and of itself.

Thanks Siiva, very cool

The horse head tossing puzzle I had a eureka moment when I realized that they bounce like the Knight's chess piece moves.

im really hoping we get remasters of the oracle games as well, preferably with a different art style that more closely matches the cutscenes in those games

I kinda want a oracle remake. I never got to play that game and id love it on the switch with this same engine

03:46 - mentions "wastes of time" while casually showing the room where I got stuck for over 6 months as a kid (back then no internet, no friends had the game, just me and my gameboy). I think it took me over a year of just giving up and coming back later to get through that one. English isn't my first language, so as a kid that puzzle was hard to understand because I didnt' relate the owl's tip to that room. the frustration xD but still, it was part of the charm. I miss that in breath of the wild. most puzzles are so easy, it takes away that feeling of "I discovered a secret!"

I loved the chess puzzle in the face shrine. Its a night, so it only moves in an L, and the floor is a chess board. I figures it out all by myself and made my brain mega happy

4:00 the way those Knight statues bounce... When I played through as a kid every single time I'd just throw it till it worked. Then when I replayed now I did that too but I found it WAY harder to get it to hit the right place than in the original... then my roommate was like "I don't get it, why aren't you just throwing it there? It's like a Knight chess piece right?" and my mind was fucking blown that I had somehow never realized that lmao

Your game reviews should be sent straight up to Nintendo HQ to be considered as official, unbiased feedback. Really the best I've seen!

This game heat I remember playing DX on my 3ds when I was younger. The style fits perfectly with the dream storyline IMO.

Donkey Kong Frozen Ape $50. Wow incredible.

I haven't played the remake myself yet, and I actually only played through the original (or, the DX version) for the first time like, two or three ish years ago, and one of my first complaints was that you could kind of tell some areas of the overworld were meant to be part of an area that the camera could pan you through rather than needing a screen transition, which was really annoying. I think having the camera free in the overworld was practically necessary, though I kinda wish they'd broken it up with some transitions; having it all visible at all times seems, not quite right, in some cases. Though, again, haven't actually played it, maybe I'll change my mind on that when I get around to it.

I'm looking forward for them doing the same to the Oracle games learning from the criticisms of this game, it could be something really special

I've played quite a few loz, but never this one until this version, it's the first Loz to make me cry at the end

I literally just finished rewatching all of your other videos a couple hours ago and this comes out.

I loved it; flaws and all. The graphical style and music make it very cute and charming; the gameplay is tight and responsive; and the updates really helped make my preffered version I do really miss the Photo Gallery, and I don't see myself using the dungeon maker instead; but thankfully, I can still take my own pictures of different events. One occassion that didn't get photographed in the original was Link and Marin's "date" where the sit beside the sea; or even when Link first listens to Marin vocalize the Ballad of the Wind Fish

Late to comment but... something I learned from watching a Caddicarus video was that, the Switch can overload its RAM which hurts performance. Which it can be remedied by turning the Switch off manually (not by putting it into sleep mode) for a little bit of time to properly recover. Great video regardless.

my only gripe with this game is that the announcement trailer opened with a short cinematic in a really neat classic anime style and i got excited for a zelda game that looked like that :( the toy style is fine though

I kind of want to see Grezzo make their own Zelda game, what would that look like?

the Dudgeon builder in this was a decent beta (did anyone actually expect a full one in a LA remake? No they'll sell a real one for full price) they can easily expand on it by giving you actual options like enemies, room and texture designs etc. Problem might be designing puzzles

I honestly didn’t mind the digital movement. I thought I would hate it, but I adapted to it rather quickly. I'll agree that it was a weird decision to not include analog controls, but the game doesn’t really need it in my opinion. Also, say what you will about the dungeon maker, but I absolutely loved it. My only complaint is that it is far too limiting; I want to see it expanded upon in a full on Zelda maker.

Beautiful as always, Nerrel

As a child, Link's Awakening was my favorite game. Playing it on my big bulky Gameboy is as till one of my favorite memories.... and I'm beyond pleased with the remake, personally. I always spent a lot of time trying to get friends to play it, but no one would, especially after the advent of 3D Zelda games. After his remake, I've finally been able to convince them to try it. After all these years. If any Zelda ever deserved this remake treatment, it was this one. The biggest issue I had with it was the occasional slowdowns that the starting village kept giving me.

I absolutely adore this graphics, reminds me of that early rendition of mario and bowser in the nintendo power, it looks like clay but a 3d rendered one.

2:36 Here here. The new Face Shrine music is just... captivating.

I didn’t use a guide for it, but I did feel like I wanted to use one a few times and only didn’t because I wanted the genuine experience of trying to figure out those arbitrary things. I had played DX before, but I remembered pretty much nothing (including whether I had finished it until I had déjà vu figuring out how to damage one of the stages of the final boss).

Whats the song that plays at the end? I quite like it

You know looking at the bouncing puzzle where they bounce a certain way, it seems kinda obvious that those are knights from chess. On a chessboard.

Your sheer alpha male manliness drew me in. I’m going to watch more of your content.

In general I liked the presentation of this game. THE main issue I had with it was the D pad didn't do anything. Why! It was originally a D pad game. Using the stick actually made it harder to precisely control.

I'm not sure about the "pixel art lets you fill it in yourself". Maybe in the Atari/Arcade era and many NES games only, but certainly SNES games and Link's Awakening. Is there some sort of study on this?

I know it's a little bit outdated, but I'd be really curious about your opinion on Twilight Princess (and maybe even Wind Waker), and if you like the idea of a Switch port of the HD remakes.

Its a magical experience that encapsulates the classic Zelda exploration/discovery paradigm perfectly, but the lack of a substantial post game makes you feel dissapointed by the $60 price. Its one of the best Zelda experiences in my opinion and should not be skipped, but try to buy the physical copy so you can share it with friends without them having to pay that price to experience this wonder of a game. I used the voucher to preorder it and I’m quite saddened that I can’t let people borrow it...

I didn't have performance issues. I didn't have trouble finding my way (blind playthrough, haven't played or seen the original) but some puzzles were fun to figure out searching for the lens was almost troublesome but I lucked out going to the right place first Overall I did not require any external hints or guides, Ulrira's phone was sufficient. literally the only thing that gave me any real trouble was the final boss, as there's zero hints and you need to just use everything to see if it works

Wonder when will nintendo release the Nintendo Swith pro? there´ve been leak about a new screen and etc, but who knows if they will release it as close as the PS5 and Xbox Scorpion.