Trivia / The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

---

• Approval of God: While developing the original Link's Awakening, the team asked HAL Laboratory for permission to use Kirby as an enemy. They apparently agreed, though Takashi Tezuka admits that "some people at HAL Laboratory might say they never heard anything". Actually, HAL loved the cameo so much that — according to the Kirby's Dream Collection booklet — they "returned the favor" in Kirby Super Star by making the Sword ability more overtly inspired by Link, as well as including the Triforce as a collectible treasure. The Switch remake of Link's Awakening even reuses the character model of Kirby from Kirby Star Allies, suggesting that HAL directly provided it to the developers.
• Breakthrough Hit: The game was the first written by Yoshiaki Koizumi, which then cemented him as one of Nintendo's top developers. He already left a significant mark in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past by creating the Creation Myth of the series, but that was only in the game's manual. But it was in this game where he showed his chops as a storyteller by actually increasing the focus on story, which would become more and more important down the line in the series under his watch and beyond. His work in this game earned him his position as one of the co-directors of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
• Completely Different Title: The game is titled The Dreaming Island in Japanese, which was changed to Link's Awakening for the English localization. The original title was apparently considered as an English title during development, judging by files found in a Content Leak; it was likely changed to hide the fact that Koholint Island is a dream.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer:
  • The final boss's last form, DethI, is actually a weirdly spelled translation of Death Eye. Because the uppercase "I" and lowercase "L" look similar in many fonts, many mistook it for "Dethl" (with an "L"). This extended to Zelda.com and even the Prima player's guide.
  • Zelda.com notoriously treated the two appearances of the Miniboss Cue Ball as completely different characters when all that changed was the location.
• Creator-Driven Successor: To Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru ("For the Frog the Bell Tolls") an earlier action-adventure game for the Game Boy. The Rival character from Kaeru, Richard, makes a cameo in Link's Awakening.
• Development Gag: You can visit Richard from For the Frog the Bell Tolls, a reference to Link's Awakening using an improved version of that game's engine.
• Dummied Out: Unused sprites for the Old Man exist in within the original games. These would later be used in the Oracle games.
• Flip-Flop of God: Shigeru Miyamoto once said this game could be the sequel to any Legend of Zelda game where Ganon is defeated. Many people saw it as the sequel to A Link to the Past, which was the Zelda game released before this one. This was half-right, as the Hyrule Historia later placed it after the Oracle games, which were sequels to ALttP.^note Sequels in Zelda meaning any game that stars a Link that appeared in a prior title. However, the later The Legend of Zelda: Encyclopedia would retcon this and have the game be a direct sequel to ALttP, with the Oracle games taking place far later.
• Inspiration for the Work: The game's tone and inclusion of some of the weirder elements were inspired by Twin Peaks, which was airing at the time during development.
• Newbie Boom: The Game Boy original sold about 3.8 million units, while the Nintendo Switch remake sold more than 6 million as of 2022. This was attributed in large part to the larger public profile the Zelda franchise in general got after Breath of the Wild became a massive hit (along with the "Switch effect" that saw great software sales in general on the console), as it's otherwise rare for remakes to sell better than the original games.
• Prop Recycling: In the Switch remake, Kirby's model is reused directly from Kirby Star Allies, though with different textures applied.
• Referenced by...: "Links Awakening" is a Trophy in Trails of Cold Steel III. The description is "Raised any two characters to Link Level 5."
• Role Reprise: In the Switch remake, Mitsuki Saiga reprises her role as Link from The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
• Throw It In!: Takashi Tezuka, the game's director, stated that the game's development was essentially "free-wheeling", noting that the Mario and Kirby cameos were put in as jokes by the development team. He even described the game as "a parody of The Legend of Zelda, as an actual Zelda game."
• Urban Legend of Zelda: The final dungeon of the game is in the Wind Fish's Egg, a location that you have been practically able to reach since you could get to the second dungeon, but cannot enter until all eight dungeons are cleared. Once inside, you enter a room with nothing special, however the second room is almost completely black, and lacks a floor, forcing you to fall down and do a Lost Woods style puzzle. However, if one looks closely, you can see a set of floor tiles on the other side of the second room, implying there is something over there. There isn't, but childhood rumors flew regarding a second version of the dungeon, one that was more like the rest you had played through during the game. Maybe there was a harder final boss, maybe there was a secret ending, maybe there was a secret ninth instrument that instant-killed the final boss; it all depended on who told you about it. Using the screen warp glitch to cross the gap shows that all it does is take you directly to the labyrinth section you normally have to drop down to enter.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The game originally started development as a port of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Game Boy.
  • The game was originally going to be localized with its Japanese title The Legend of Zelda: The Dreaming Island at some point during development, before it was changed to Link's Awakening.
  • Early localization text shows that the English translation originally kept the Mermaid's lost bikini top before Bowdlerising it into a pearl necklace.
  • Hyrule Historia includes some storyboards that show a few unused elements from the planning stages. For instance, originally at the Southern Face Shrine, the player would have to ram into a pillar with the Pegasus Boots to get the key — the pillar would break to reveal the relief that the player must read. Also, apparently there were plans for a two-player mode, including a boss that one player would have to throw the other onto to defeat. It looks like they were having trouble with what to do to beat the boss with only one player, so the boss was scrapped along with the two-player mode. The basic concept of the boss (a floating head with hands) would be reused several times later, while the latter concept eventually became a core mechanic in The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes.
  • During the development of the game, Dark Link was considered to be a form that the Shadow Nightmares took on during the final boss fight. It is likely that he was to act as a sort of Mouth of Sauron, giving the fight some Boss Banter between phases. Shadow Link ended up being repurposed for the Switch remake's Chamber Dungeon mode.
  • The announcement trailer for the Switch remake showed Goombas that look identical to their established design in the Super Mario Bros. series, featuring two pointy teeth and constant frowns. By E3 2019, these Goombas were replaced with a new unique model that more closely resembles their sprites in the original Game Boy version of Link's Awakening, featuring a goofy grin, Big Ol' Eyebrows, and lacking visible teeth.

---