Link's first Game Boy adventure has been overshadowed by its big brothers A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. But gaming owes The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening a place among those classics.

"The Wind Fish in name only, for it is neither"

Technically, Link's Awakening is all but flawless. Released in 1993, Link's Awakening features an expansive game world crammed into a tiny Game Boy cartridge. The masterpiece of the Zelda series is Ocarina of Time, but in terms of level design the N64 classic vexes in places (specifically one place: for Zelda veterans, the words "Water Temple" are enough to trigger traumatic flashbacks). Link's Awakening, in comparison, charts a subtle difficulty curve. Dungeons are the bread-and-butter of any Zelda, and the eight dungeons featured here are among the best designed in the franchise. From the gentle introductory puzzles of Tail Cave, the game gradually ramps up the complexity. Eagle's Tower, the penultimate dungeon, requires the player to collapse four supporting columns � a challenge that requires a solid reading of the map and an understanding of how the floors are linked by the pillars. The final challenge, Turtle Rock, is a sprawling cavern of molten lava and tricky floor tile puzzles. I've completed this game more times than I can count and these final dungeons remain a test.

A tiny two-and-a-half inch screen, a four-colour palette in shades of grey, and four-channel sound � it doesn't sound like much, but Nintendo pushed the Game Boy envelope and fashioned an engrossing adventure. (So robust was the engine that it was dusted off and fired up again eight years later for Oracle of Ages/Seasons.) Graphics are clear, crisp and cartoony. Music, as with any Zelda game, is a highlight. The famous Legend of Zelda theme sweeps over the introductory sequence, while the bold reprise of the overworld theme accompanies Link's travels across prairie, mountain range and coastline. Marin's "Ballad of the Wind Fish" is delicate and moving. Link's Awakening is a pocket-sized epic.

"The Wind Fish slumbers long� The hero's life gone�"

Shipwrecked in a storm, an unconscious Link is washed up on the shores of Koholint Island. Link awakes in the house of Marin and Tarin, and sets out on his quest � as the wise owl explains to him, "It is said that you cannot leave the island unless you wake the Wind Fish."

This theme of dreams drives Link's Awakening. Link's adventure to wake the mysterious Wind Fish, a mythical creature slumbering in a giant egg, takes him into battle with eight dungeon guardians known as Nightmares. Link discovers an ocarina in the surreal Dream Shrine, which appears to house only a bed to sleep in. And Marin explains her dreams for the future: "If I was a sea gull, I would fly as far as I could! I would fly to far away places and sing for many people! � If I wish to the Wind Fish, I wonder if my dream will come true..."

Yet as the player battles on there is a gnawing anxiety about that future. As Link and Marin look out to sea, the village girl conveys a sense of sadness. But the first real hint that something is rotten in the state of Koholint comes with the slaying of the fifth Nightmare, who snarls in defeat: "You don't seem to know what kind of island this is... What a fool�" Link's discovery of an ancient mural in a ruined shrine brings further mystery: "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!" The frieze represents the game's most immersive sequence � and is not only good design, but also good poetry. From this point, a tangible oppressive atmosphere settles on Link's Awakening. The revelation that Koholint is only a dream hits like a hammer blow. "If the Wind Fish wakes up, every-thing on this island will be gone forever! And I do mean... EVERYTHING!": so the sixth Nightmare plays on this theme of looming destruction. As Link defeats each Nightmare he adds another Instrument of the Sirens to play the song of awakening: another layer of music is added, another layer of the illusion is stripped away. The player knows that the island is a dream � and that Link's friends will surely be destroyed with the awakening.

"Sea bears foam, sleep bears dreams. Both end in the same way� crasssh!"

The game is titled Link's Awakening. Yet in the finale Link defeats the last Nightmare and wakes the Wind Fish. So is this really about Link's awakening? No, not literally. Link awakens to something else � to a loss that only The Legend of Zelda series conveys so well. Link loses part of his past, his friendships with Marin and Tarin (among many other characters). The Wind Fish explains: "When I dost awaken, Koholint will be gone... only the memory of this dream land will exist in the waking world... Someday, thou may recall this island... that memory must be the real dream world... ... ... ... ... Come, Link... let us awaken... together!!"

Link's Awakening has a cartoon style, but of all the Zelda titles it is closest in spirit to Majora's Mask, the so-called "darkest" entry in the series. But Link's Awakening goes far beyond that game's grim tone of approaching doom. In Majora's Mask, the apocalyptic game over sequence � involving a maniacally grinning moon obliterating a world full of Link's friends � is averted in the final battle. Link brings the "dawn of a new day" and redeems the game's villain. Link's Awakening has no such happy ending. The final third of the game is bleak, nihilistic: Link's victory over the Nightmares causes the ruin of the dream as well. As the simple notes of the Ballad of the Wind Fish fade out, the island and its inhabitants vanish forever. Link is left stranded at sea again, alone, with only the memory of Marin and her songs as the Wind Fish soars overhead (only a secret ending of Marin flying away, achieved by completing the game without losing a life, allays this sad tone).

Sombre, downbeat, tragic � if Link's Awakening were a movie, it would be a gritty American film from the 1970s. Link's Awakening haunts the player after the dream is over.

Nicholas Bennett
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