We live in the peak entertainment era. With unlimited access to movies, television shows, music, short comedy clips, music videos, video games, books, radio, trailers, poetry, art and more on a device small enough to fit into our pockets, the only time we are without some form of distraction is when our cell service or Wi-Fi decides to die for no good reason. It’s almost impossible not to be entertained in 2018, which is why we now live in what is the precursor to the nightmarish society found in Brave New World.
What’s unfortunate about living in the peak entertainment age is there is so much quality programming we will never see. I still haven’t found the time to watch Godless or Barry or The Handmaiden’s Tale or any of the several what-I’m-sure-are-high-quality Adam Sandler films on Netflix. There are also so many games – so, so many – that I’ve yet to take up and something tells me, with probably only 50 good years left in me (55 if I can actually change my diet), I’m not going to experience them all. I’ll probably never play the Breath of Fire series or D4 or Final Fantasy 14. I’ll probably never actually get around to watching True Blood or seeing the collective works of Tyler Perry.
So much art, or in the case of that last one, “art”, is going to pass me by, but I can’t say I’m sad about it. For every movie or television show I’ve missed there are probably two or three I have enjoyed thoroughly. It’s the same with video games. Sure, I’ve missed out on titles like Grand Theft Auto V, but in its place, I’ve played some absolute GOATs like Bayonetta 2 and Odin Sphere. Those are games I think all people should play and that’s the topic of our Destructoid Question of the Week. I asked our team of writers and the community the one game they think everybody should play at least once in their life. We have a lot of great answers below, but for my money, I’m going with The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.
I’ve always preferred handheld gaming over sticking with a console and I’ve made no effort to hide it. Ever since I first picked up a Game Boy Advance, it’s been my preferred way to play video games. The beauty of handheld devices is is allows players to experience vast worlds of wonder no matter where they are. Those light up football games of the 70s led to the LED Game & Watch Games of the 80s which paved the road to the Game Boy. Keep tracing that line and you eventually end up at the iPhone.
The Game Boy is one of the greatest gaming devices ever and Link’s Awakening is perhaps its most significant title. The device had seen big adventures prior to this game. Final Fantasy Adventure, another phenomenal title, came out in 1991, two years before Zelda would make its debut on the system. But Link’s Awakening wasn’t just about making a portable game, it was about making a game for the Game Boy that felt like something you could play on the SNES.
Where other series made concessions when moving to simpler hardware, Link’s Awakening made none. It took everything the series offered up in A Link to the Past and added a more fully fleshed out world with distinct characters. Driven by the development team’s fascination with Twin Peaks, Link’s Awakening features a cast of strange characters, odd moments, and a depth that future entries in the franchise would run with.
People will probably say that Ocarina of Time has had the biggest influence on the franchise, but I’d wager we wouldn’t have even seen the likes of that game had it not been for the ambition and devil-may-care attitude that went into the development of Link’s Awakening. If you’re a Nintendo fan or just a human being, you owe it to yourself to play this game.
Source: Destructoid The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is a game everybody should play at least once in their life