Link's Awakening Switch Link's Altered Appearance Thoughts?

[mαrkαsscoρ]

There's been a weird point of contention as to whether the Oracles games take place b/w Past and Awakening or not, but you know, timeline stuff. Though one argument I've seen against that is that Link in the Oracles games looks younger than he does in Past, which yeah, it does look to be the case when you compare the art.

But for the remake, they had an anime opening and ending to which they altered Link's design a bit, and now he looks...kinda younger?

Spoiler

yeah I know, youtube thumbnail, it was the closest I could find a decent look at him, also Marin

This design of Link looks way closer to his Oracles design than in Past/original Awakening. Not trying to say this "proves" anything, but I just want to put it out there. What did you guys think about his de-aging for this remake? Is there anything to it or do you think they just wanted him to look a bit younger and that's literally it?

 

[thePlinko]

I think this is more a product of the fact that LA was originally made in a time before OoT when Nintendo didn’t realize that Link didn’t have to look the exact same each game. Since LA switch came out some 20 years later, Nintendo was more willing to give this link an identity of his own as opposed to making him vaguely look like he did in the first three titles. This also applies to the oracle games, albeit to a lesser extent.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

I think this is more a product of the fact that LA was originally made in a time before OoT when Nintendo didn’t realize that Link didn’t have to look the exact same each game. Since LA switch came out some 20 years later, Nintendo was more willing to give this link an identity of his own as opposed to making him vaguely look like he did in the first three titles. This also applies to the oracle games, albeit to a lesser extent.

but that's the thing, his look doesn't give him an identity of his own, he looks exactly like the oracles design, which subsequently follows how link looks in the first 3 games

 

[twilitfalchion]

I wouldn't be surprised if it was intentional, and that Oracle remakes are in the works, likely using the same engine as LAHD. The resemblance to Oracles Link is too uncanny to not mean something.

 

[Chevywolf30]

I hope so, I wanna try the Oracles games. A remake would definitely push me towards a Switch.

 

[Azure Sage]

Of course he looks like the Oracles Links, he IS the Oracles Links. Alttp, LA, OoS, and OoA all feature the same Link. I'm not getting into timeline placements between them because I dont follow that stuff, but I do know he is the same Link in all four games. If anything this might just be them making him more consistent. Besides, LA (the old one) and the Oracle games use the same engine to begin with. Similarities are expected.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

UPDATE: wait sorry, I swear I thought I heard that they were separate but apparently him in the oracles games is still the same link from link to the past, so w/ that, this design to match him closer to his oracles appearance makes perfect sense

in that case...yeah just ignore the thread description and let's just break it down to what your thoughts are on his redesign?

 

[MapelSerup]

I love the design! The long sideburns Links have always been my favorites.

 

[twilitfalchion]

I really like it. It captures Link's more youthful appearance from ALttP and LA very well, while staying faithful to the spirit of the original art. And I love the anime aesthetic, although that's more due to the overall art design than anything else.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

by the way, I like how this has basically become the standard classic link design, if you also look at cadence of hyrule and link b/w worlds

 

[Rubik]

I think the design looks pretty good.

 

[Hero-of-Time777]

They just wanted to re-design Link, they say this in Art and Artifacts. I heard Miyamoto was sad about his long nose being gone or something.

 

[TheHeroofTime]

I really like the design they used for Link in this one. However, I wish that it was used more than in the opening and ending cutscenes. They toy art style was cool, but I would kill for a Zelda game or show with that Ghibli-like art style. I thought that the few cinematics the game had were beautiful, and I would have liked for the game to actually look like that.

 

[Quin]

I like the original a bit more, but the original LA art is also one of my favorite pieces in the series

 

[AwdryFan1997]

I hate this new design. Retconning him to have pants. Bah! Back in my day, we weren't so goddamn sensitive to guys running around without pants! By golly, we embraced it! It was an aesthetic! An artform!

But yeah, in all seriousness, I think this new design just doesn't look good. I dunno, something's just off. Also, yeah, Nintendo needs to stop censoring pantsless Link. But I do like that it makes him slightly more similar to the Oracles, even if I'm still salty about that timeline switcheroo thing.