The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is the fourth main installment of. It is the first title in the series to be released on handheld system, and the only Zelda title on the original Game Boy. Since its release, has been popular among fans and critics; by 2004, the game had sold 3.83 million copies worldwide. In 2009, named it the 42nd most influential video game of all time.

A colorized update, titled, was released for the Game Boy Color in 1998. During a Nintendo Direct on February 13, 2019, an eponymous remake of the game was announced for Nintendo Switch. The remake was released on September 20, 2019.

Story
ALttP:, who had defeated the evil ALttP: and regained peace in ALttP:, had not enjoyed the tranquility he had worked so hard to achieve for long, and eventually became restless. Feeling in need of training or enlightenment, he embarked on a journey and sailed across the oceans in a small sailboat. Eventually, ALttP: completed his training in foreign countries and began to sail back to his home, ALttP:. But suddenly the seas turned rough and the skies became dark. LA: tried valiantly to fight the strong currents of the waves, even tying himself to the ship with some rope. But a bolt of lightning struck the ship and everything went dark.

Later on a faraway LA:, a young girl named LA: is walking along the LA: of the LA:'s beach. She suddenly spots someone laying on the sands. Upon looking closer, she finds an unconscious LA: and tries to wake him, but to no avail. Unwilling to simply leave him lying on the beach, LA: takes LA: back to her house in LA:. From beyond the darkness, LA: hears the voice of a girl. He first mistakes the voice to be that of LA:, but wakes up to discover that it was instead the voice of LA:. It turned out that, miraculously, LA: had been washed ashore on LA:. LA: starts his preparations to leave LA:, and LA: gives him back his LA:. He also tells him of another thing that washed up on the beach.

Yet LA:'s LA: is nowhere to be found. Searching on LA:'s beach, LA: eventually finds it. Just before picking it up, a mysterious LA: flies down to him. The LA: explains that high on the mountaintops of LA: is a giant LA:, and inside sleeps a being known as the LA:. The LA: says that the LA: must be awakened, for that is the only way LA: can leave LA:. He tells LA: that he needs to go into the LA: to find a LA: and then flies away. Left with nothing but a puzzling riddle and his questions, LA: heeds the LA:'s words and heads into the LA:. He eventually finds the LA:. The LA: reappears and tells him to go into LA: and to use the LA: to get inside.

LA: does so and fights his way through this early LA:. After defeating the LA:, LA: finds a magical LA:, the LA:. Although LA: does not know what it is at first, the LA: reappears and explains that this LA: is one of the NaN Instrument of the Sirenss. The LA: explains that LA: must retrieve the remaining seven NaN Instrument of the Sirenss if he is to awaken the sleeping LA:. LA:, still full of questions about this strange world, must explore the rest of LA: and find the remainder of the NaN Instrument of the Sirenss.

Later in his journey, LA: arrives in LA:. The LA: had told him to venture into LA: to find an important item that will aid him. Unfortunately, a large, sleeping LA: blocks his path. However, one of the six rabbit siblings of LA: tells LA: that LA: and her beautiful voice can awaken those who hear her. LA: returns to LA: and eventually gets an LA: from the LA:. He finds LA: on the LA: who tells him of her wish to be a LA: so that she can fly around the world and share her songs with many people. She hopes that she can make this wish to the LA:. Afterwards, LA: learns from LA: how to play the LA: on his LA:, a song of awakening. However, since it is not enough to awaken the LA:, LA: tags along with LA: to LA:. LA: decides to stay in LA: after the LA: awakes, and LA: finds the LA: in LA:.

Sometime before getting the sixth LA:, the LA: flies to LA: and tells him to go to the LA:. When LA: arrives there, he learns the horrible truth about LA:. On a wall depicting the LA: himself, the words read "TO THE FINDER... THE ISLE OF KOHOLINT, IS BUT AN ILLUSION... HUMAN, MONSTER, SEA, SKY... A SCENE ON THE LID OF A SLEEPER'S EYE... AWAKE THE DREAMER, AND KOHOLINT WILL VANISH MUCH LIKE A BUBBLE ON A NEEDLE... CAST-AWAY, YOU SHOULD KNOW THE TRUTH!"

LA: now faces a dilemma, whether he should awaken the LA: or not. But the LA: tells him that none know if the inscription is true, and advises him to trust his feelings. LA: continues on, finding the remaining three NaN Instrument of the Sirenss. Eventually, he discovers LA: on LA: being attacked by monsters. LA: saves her, and for a moment, she tries to tell LA: something... but changes her mind. The LA: knows about the song that she always sings, the LA:, and wonders if she was trying to awaken the LA:.

After LA: obtains all eight of the NaN Instrument of the Sirenss, the LA: says that now is the time to awaken the LA:. LA: heads up the mountaintop and encounters the LA:, in which the LA: sleeps. With his LA: in hand and the other NaN Instrument of the Sirenss, LA: plays the LA:. The LA: cracks open, and LA: ventures inside.

Inside, LA: finds the true mastermind behind all of the chaos on LA:, the NaN Shadow Nightmares who have the power to transform. The monsters were created by the NaN Shadow Nightmares to prevent LA: from awakening the LA:. After a long battle, LA: defeats the NaN Shadow Nightmares, the last of LA:'s evils. Suddenly, a stairway opens and LA: climbs up, where he finds himself in a strange black room filled with rainbow clouds and stars.

There the LA: comes to see LA: one last time. The LA: explains that he is in fact part of the LA:'s spirit, and thus was the guardian of his dream world. All was peaceful in the LA:'s dream, until NaN Nightmares began to invade it. Many of the NaN Nightmares that LA: had faced were the ones in the NaN dungeons that had guarded the NaN Instrument of the Sirenss. But now LA: had defeated the last one, and the LA:'s dream was at peace once again. With the NaN Nightmares gone and the eight NaN Instrument of the Sirenss retrieved, the LA: could finally be awakened. The LA: then states that his role in this dream is now complete and says farewell to LA: before vanishing.

Suddenly, LA: hears a wail and the LA: appears before him. The LA: says that in his dreams, a whole world had existed. Yet he could not awaken due to the NaN Nightmares. It is only natural that dreams are to end, and when he awakes, LA: shall disappear. He says that LA: may someday recall this dream in the waking world, the only remaining memory of LA:.

The LA: then fades away and says that they should awaken together, and commands LA: to play the LA: one more time. LA: does so slowly, while LA: and its inhabitants fade away. LA: is then forced out of the LA:'s room by a stream of water.

The sky above shines brightly as NaN Seagulls fly overhead. LA: awakens on a wooden board in the sea, part of his ship. Just as it was predicted, LA: is gone and LA: is back in the real world. As he recalls all of the events of his latest adventure, a shadow looms over him. Looking up, he sees the LA: flying above him in the sky. LA: smiles, realizing that he actually helped awaken the LA:. LA:'s dream journey had finally come to an end.

The Legend of the Wind Fish
It appears that the LA: is a mere myth to the inhabitants of LA:. The LA: on top of LA: is rather large and can be seen from a distance, making it obvious that some of the inhabitants of LA: would know at least something of the LA:, however. LA: is a very good example of a simple citizen of LA:, yet she knows of the existence of the LA:. She even dreams of wishing on the LA: to turn into a LA:. It's not quite obvious if she too believes it is just a myth or if it is real, however, LA: can be spotted on LA: for no apparent reason. The LA: seems to believe that she may have tried to awaken the LA: with her song. Only the LA: and possibly LA: seem to know of the actual existence of the LA:. Shortly after LA: clears the LA:, a boy in LA: was asked by LA: when they had appeared on the LA: but had no idea what LA: meant by this, suggesting that the inhabitants of LA: have no idea that they are part of a dream world.

The LA: is the only place that holds much information about the myth of the LA:, and the script upon its walls, about LA: being but a dream, is very much true. Judging by these writings, the LA: seems to have been built solely for the person who would awaken the LA:.

The Perfect Ending
If LA: completes his quest without dying, an additional scene can be seen after the ending credits. Both versions of the game show LA: as a LA: (or simply having LA: wings) while the "LA:" theme plays in the background. This may either hint that LA: had her wish come true and was "saved" from the fading dream world, or simply that LA: was thinking of LA: and her wish of becoming a LA:.

The perfect ending varies between the original Game Boy release and the Game Boy Color release. In the original, a LA: with wings on her back will fly around the words "The End" while singing her song. In, a full-colored image of LADX: can be seen within the clouds, and her song will be playing in the background, although she is not the one singing. Shortly afterward, the image fades into a LADX: who flies away. In the Nintendo Switch version, it is largely similar to, although Marin's image is animated slightly to have her briefly close her eyes and shudder in an apparent giggle before it fades away with a seagull flying past.

Timeline Placement
According to, is the sequel to , , and. It takes place in the "Downfall" split timeline after, where Ganon defeated the Hero of Time. The prologue speaks of Link defeating Ganon and saving Hyrule, an apparent reference to. Link journeys away from Hyrule to embark on a "quest for enlightenment". The "quest for enlightenment" away from Hyrule is the story told in and. After defeating Ganon once more at the end of the Linked Game, Link leaves Labrynna on a boat. This leads to the events of. is followed by centuries later.

According to, takes place after  and before.

During an interview around the release of, Shigeru Miyamoto stated that could have occurred at any point following.

Zelda.com originally stated that occurred partway through, taking place during the period where Link crosses the sea to Eastern Hyrule.



The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX for Game Boy Color is an enhanced port of with several new additions, most notably the entire game is now in color. It was released just after the release of.

can be played on a Game Boy as well, although playing it on a Game Boy makes accessing the optional Color Dungeon impossible. However, if the dungeon is started on a Game Boy Color and then played on the original Game Boy, the dungeon is accessible.

Nintendo 3DS re-release
It was announced at Nintendo's E3 Press Conference on June 7, 2011 by Shigeru Miyamoto that would release that day alongside Super Mario Land as the first Virtual Console games on the Nintendo eShop. The eShop price for the game is $5.99 in the United States, $9AU in Australia, and £5.40 in the United Kingdom.

Nintendo Switch remake
A trailer announcing and showing off early footage of a 3D remake of for the Nintendo Switch was included as the final segment of the February 13, 2019 edition of Nintendo Direct, with a scheduled release on Sep 20, 2019. Some differences include anime-styled cutscenes in the beginning and ending, voice acting by some characters, and a Dungeon maker mode.

Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda
A port of the original Game Boy version of Link's Awakening is one of the games to be included in Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda, announced at E3 2021.

Legacy
While not as influential to the overall structure of Zelda games as or,  introduced a number of elements that recur in later Zelda games, including:
 * The use of a location other than Hyrule as a setting.
 * A list of songs playable on the game's instrument that must be learned and have different functions, although unlike in and some later games the songs simply play when selected, rather than having to be played note by note.
 * The first occurrence of fishing.
 * Unique background music for each dungeon rather than reusing the same single theme or few themes, as its predecessors did. Most games after  follow its lead in this respect.
 * The first trading sequence in the series.
 * The first clear example of a lava or fire-themed dungeon in the series, with LA:.
 * The Roc's Feather.
 * An Owl who periodically meets Link and gives him advice on where to go or what to do next.
 * A set of well-hidden collectible items that have no use by themselves but can be redeemed at a certain location to receive useful items. (Secret Seashells in, with Gold Skulltulas and Poe Souls as examples of successors.)
 * The boss theme for this game was later used for the miniboss theme in /, as well as a remix being used in the fight against Twinrova in the linked ending.
 * Some of the DLC outfits for the various characters in were based on those of Link's Awakening, and one of the maps for Legend Mode is derived in appearance and plotline from the same game as well. Also, Marin is a DLC warrior in the game, with some of her attacks involving the Wind Fish.

References to other Nintendo games
There are many references to Nintendo games in. The majority are from the Mario series.


 * The Yoshi Doll
 * Tarin himself, who is similar in appearance to.
 * Tarin turning into a raccoon after eating a Mushroom might be a reference to Super Mario Bros. 3 (although Mario turned into a raccoon using a leaf).
 * The Cucco Keeper is similar in appearance to.
 * The Wind Fish's Egg is similar in appearance to a.
 * Mr. Write shows Link a picture of sent to him by the goat in Animal Village. (Because of the picture, her name is implied to be Christine. This scene is poking fun at long distance relationships involving mail, e-mail, etc. since the goat is lying about who she really is and Mr. Write thinks he is writing to a beautiful woman.)
 * In the Switch version, the name is omitted, and the photo itself is replaced with of Princess Peach carrying a parasol.
 * Mr. Write is similar in appearance to Dr. Wright from the version of . They share the same last name, but both are spelled differently.
 * In addition to Mario characters, Richard from  made an appearance.
 * Mamu is based on, the final boss of .
 * Various enemies are based on a number of characters from Nintendo games, particularly Mario adventures:
 * Blooper
 * Boo
 * Chain Chomp
 * Cheep-Cheep
 * Goomba
 * Kirby
 * Piranha Plant
 * Pokey
 * Shy Guy
 * Spiny
 * Thwomp & Thwimp

Trivia

 * The game's setting was partially inspired by the American mystery television series, .
 * Princess Zelda is not featured at all in, though she is referenced by Link, initially confusing Marin for her.
 * If the name "ZELDA" is used when creating a new game, a remixed Zelda theme will play in the background.
 * In the Japanese version, entering the name "ぜるだ" yields the same result. In addition, enting the name "とたけけ" will play an arranged version of Totaka's Song.
 * In the original German release, entering the name "MOYSE" will play a strange jingle. In the German DX release, "MOYSE" will instead play Totaka's Song.
 * The French DX version will yield the same result as "ZELDA" if the entered name is "LOLO". In the original release, "LOLO" will instead play a different song than "MOYSE" or "とたけけ".
 * With the exception of Eagle's Tower, every dungeon in has a map that forms a picture of an object, such as a Moldorm in the case of Tail Cave or a Key in the case of Key Cavern.
 * originally was intended to be a handheld port of.