General Zelda Link's Awakening Vs A Link Between Worlds

[r2d93]

Without a doubt ALBW. It's better in basically every way. Not to say that LA is bad at all though, it's a fantastic game which I love. But ALBW had a better soundtrack, better gameplay, better dungeons, better everything really.

The only thing LA has that ALBW lacks is the enigmatic mysterious feel to it. With ALBW we know for the most part exactly where we are, who the people are, and what we have to do. LA has the whole island mystery weaved into the game

 

[Sir Quaffler]

I simply enjoy Link's Awakening more than I do A Link Between Worlds.

Idunno, ALBW is just far too similar to ALttP for it to have any unique identity to it. Admittedly, Yuga is a fun villain character, and that bit at the end with Ravio was moving, but other than that everyone else is just bland and uninteresting. And the game is over faaaaaar too quickly for my tastes, even going for the 100 Maimai's I was done in like 5 hours, boo.

LA has for more of an identity to it. Its island environment, its really wacky settlers and odd cameos (Chain Chomp ftw!) and lighthearted fun and antics on the surface hiding a dark and morose plot underneath, and the surprisingly challenging dungeon design makes this game stand out to me much more. And I can overlook its "dated" design, GB games have a certain charm to them.

 

[Jamie]

I personally like ALBW better than LA, but both are great games.

 

[Fig]

I love Link's Awakening, but I don't see how it should be compared to A Link Between Worlds. The only similarity between the two games is that they are sequels like Heroine stated earlier. It would make much better sense to compare A Link Between Worlds with A Link to the Past as they are vast similarities between the two such have the same overworld, enemies, bosses, items, etc. However, because the the poll is a comparison between Link's Adventure and A Link Between Worlds, I will have to go with the latter. ALBW is such a polished game and of course is more advanced in terms of technology than Link's Awakening though that isn't the reason why I prefer ALBW over LA because there are retro and classic games that are still on par and sometimes better than the new installments in a series. I love ALBW because of the freedom that it gives me as I can complete any dungeon in any order that I like, has nice sidequests and extra features that I see myself always going back to play again, and simply put flow and movement of the game is almost, if not flawless as I have never experienced a framedrop in all the times that I was playing ALBW. Those are just a few reasons why I prefer ALBW over Link's Awakening.

 

[Justac00lguy]

Well I see why some would compare the two games as they don't relate in terms of placing on the time line and they're pretty similar in regards to design and perceptive - the only defining difference is the time frame.

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Anyway, it's hard to really define which is better for their time as there is such a big time gap in between the two, which affects visuals, gameplay, controls, detail etc. A Link Between Worlds to me though is the pinnacle of top down Zelda; it takes specific elements of what makes the 2D games great, combines them, and--in a way--perfects them. ALBW Is almost a flawless game, I honestly can't think of any stand out bad design choices. Sure it was a little on the simple side, but it was simple in an extremely fun way -- this game is just the that: incredibly fun.

Link's Awakening Is decent in its own right. The unique setting of a tropical island, challenging and mind boggling puzzles, a nice break away from the cliché story, and the underlining hidden story that's quite sad in a way. Of course age still plays a part, it doesn't hold a candle to ALBW's unique style, lovely visuals, and an incredible depth created by the 3D effect. Age also plays a part in it's challenge too. Navigating is a task while moving around is seamless in A Link Between Worlds. So when you do compare older titles to modern titles--challenge wise--age is vital to take into consideration. Now developers focus on making the game as flawless as possible and making the game accessible. Such time and effort into these things couldn't be achieved back then, so I would definitely definitely argue that the only reason LA Is more challenging is ultimately because of the time gap in between the two games.

If we compare the two games further then I'm afraid A Link Between Worlds easily surpasses Link's Awakening. Both soundtracks are amazing, but the latter has a really cool, almost old British-like twist on A Link to the Past's famous and iconic music. Combat is not only more efficient (again time age plays a factor), but it'd also more tactical; you use multiple items in combat adding diversity, which ultimately gives a small sense of strategy. If we delve into story and narrative then both are quite brief even in terms of Zelda games. There is little plot during the the main game itself, but I think the main thing is, when ALBW chooses to introduce plot elements, it executes them to great effect.

I could go on further and talk about exploration, overworld design, dungeons, bosses, puzzles etcetera, but there is much easier way for me to determine which is the better game: enjoyment. We sometimes over analyse, over criticise, until we have more negatives than positives which in the end obscures our view of what the game is. I like the step back and say to myself "which did I enjoy more?". The answer is rather simple for me then, A Link Between Worlds. This game oozed enjoyment and it was just a pleasure to play. It wasn't maybe as epic as the main console titles, but the simple fact that throughout my 18 hours with the game I enjoyed every second, which is something I rarely say about a game.

 

[snakeoiltanker]

ALBW is just way too smooth of a game for LA to win, weather you are talking Combat, Exploration ease, Music, Story, Graphic. Everything about ALBW was better than LA with was a Gameboy version of ALttP, and ALBW was a sequel to ALttP on a new 3D system, with better graphics, and more modern physics and puzzles unable to be done on the game boy!

sorry if i offended anyone!

 

[dreamcrash]

LA has always been my go-to top-down Zelda game. I love it to pieces and vastly prefer it to A Link to the Past. Compared to ALBW, though, it gets a little tricky.

Both ALttP and ALBW have an immediacy to the gameplay that LA and the Oracle games lack. LA's biggest flaw is navigating through the inventory screen every minute or so to swap out items, and the fact that a lot of areas are designed in a way where you frequently have to stop the gameplay and pull up the menu. ALBW doesn't have that issue since it allows for you to map two items and has a dedicated shield button, something that LA lacks. So in the gameplay department, I think ALBW is definitely a lot smoother, quicker, and more fluid to play.

In the design department, though, that's where I have a lot of trouble. I found the dungeons in LA to be some of the best in the series, and each one was memorable for me. However, ALBW has the best set of dungeons in any recent Zelda game in my opinion, and the best of its dungeons are just as good as the best of LA's.

I think the deciding factor for me, since they're so evenly matched in the design aspect, would have to simply be which setting, story, and characters I prefer, and LA wins there hands-down. As fun as it was re-exploring the Hyrule of ALttP, it was retreading old ground. Koholint Island, by contrast, felt like a new, quirky world filled with wonder and mystery. You don't get that in ALBW by default, considering it's the only mainline Zelda game to reuse a previous overworld (albeit with minor changes).

So I would say they're both pretty evenly matched and stand at the top of the list of top-down Zeldas (along with the Oracles), but nostalgia and a preference for the story and setting of LA might give it the slight edge for me personally.

 

[BoxTar]

LA is alright, but it didn't...interest me as much as ALBW, I suppose? I do enjoy LA, don't get me wrong, and it did have some novel moments that had me laughing (bringing in all sorts of different enemies from different franchises was cute). But in terms of gameplay mechanics, story, etc. (everything aside from graphics, because comparing those aspects would be unfair), ALBW is far superior imo.

 

[A Link In Time]

I have a hard time judging Link's Awakening because it's so archaic. It's generally hard for me to get into 8-bit games I have no nostalgic memories for. Despite reading different opinions about how important the game was in shaping the franchise, it doesn't hold up well today, particularly in menu navigation due to hardware restraints.

A Link Between Worlds is a more fluid experience, yet as stated before it's not a fair comparison considering the more powerful hardware and years of experience developing the franchise.

ALBW is the better game by contemporary standards; LA is more important in the greater scope of the series.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

Oops: I was talking about ALTTP ok edit:

I prefer Link's Awakening over ALBW, don't get me wrong this game was a lot more fun then I thought it'd be. I got it for my kid, thinking it would be just another ALTTP (which is not one of my favorite Zelda games, but still good) the dungeons didn't wow me till I started playing Lorule's new and totally awesome revamped dungeons. So unique! Definitely the strongest and my favorite set in the series. But I didn't like the rent to buy system, made the game really easy, I'd be done with it if it weren't for the fact that I wanna find all those cute maimais. :3 Its an amazing game, like it better then its prequel, I like the art style too and the new music! yes! I love that most of the dungeons have new and excellent themes, I can't stand Past's dungeon themes.

Buuut...Link's Awakening has an unusual story (for the Zelda line), I like Koholint's overworld a lot better, soundtrack is more varied, not great but more varied, the bosses are fun to fight, all the references and cameos made me smile and it has a great cast of NPCs. I got into it the moment I started playing it and I'm still enjoying it, plus its more challenging then ALBW and you don't have to spend a ridiculous amount of time on the trade quest or the sea shell collectathon

 

[Link12]

Links awaking!!