"Nearly non-existant story, but Godly gameplay"

Well, let's get the bad out of the way first.

Story: 410
Save the helpless princess queen etc. It's been done to death. Not only is it the same story as Oracle of Seasons, but they didn't even come up with new names for people. And I can't help but notice how Impa went from being a lean, muscular, warrior type to a fat, jolly, couldn't-fight-if-she-wanted-to-which-she-doesn't semi-character.

Graphics: 710
It's gameboy, what do you expect? Still, it's better than the DX version of Link's Awakening.

Gameplay: 910
Well, it's Zelda. I particularly like the way that when you hit an enemy, they no longer go flying away, but I'm probably the only one who noticed that. Link moves a little slowly, but I don't consider that much of a big deal. Has a new ring system which adds to the strategic factor of the game. Link now has ''friends'' who help him, and that can't really be a bad thing.

Sound: 710
The original Zelda theme remastered and the background music isn't bad, but as far as I've gotten so far, no truly great theme on par with ''Ballad of the Wind Fish'' (LA) or ''Zelda's Lullabye'' (OoT), and no dungeon music that can stand up to the theme from the shadow temple (OoT), but again, It's Gameboy, so you can't expect CD quality audio.

Control: 510
Lost some points here because they made it harder to throw rocks, pots and the like. And it seems to me like Link moves kinda slowly.

Fun Factor: 910
I know, I kinda trashed the game before, but when you're playing you don't stop to think about this kind of this, so amazing a game it is. It's full of Zelda-style puzzles (Moving blocks to create new paths, the usual) and plenty of action too. The graphics and sound, though they received somewhat low scores, receive a ''very good, for Gameboy'' and, again, you really don't stop to think about it while playing.

Other comments:
The opening cutscene was kinda long, and left me thinking ''Ok, I'd like to play the game now'' and after that there was a bit of wandering involved, but once you actually get to the dungeons, everything is fun. Lotsa puzzles, in case you're interested.

And now, for the big one...
Final Score (Not an Average): 9
As you can tell, I'm worried mostly about gameplay and fun factor, with little emphasis on everything else. Graphics and sound are supposed to increase the mood of the game, and they do quite well with this one. Sure there's a lot of drudging around to get to the different dungeons, but hey, that's what games are for.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/29/01, Updated 05/29/01