Nintendo's new version of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is out now, at the full $60 price point of a new AAA game, despite being a remake of a game from 1993.
By all accounts, the new Link's Awakening offers the same gameplay experience as its predecessor, just in a shinier package. It also hosts a few quality of life improvements and, most notably, a new and unique graphical style. That said, many people are still just about as excited about this fancy remake as they would be about an entirely new Zelda release.
Part of the reason for this is that the Zelda series always has been and still remains very popular, possibly even more so in the Switch era than in the past thanks to the huge success of Breath of the Wild. That game won over a number of Switch owners who had never played a Zelda game before, and brought others back to the series who hadn't been keeping up. Where 2019's Link's Awakening is similar is in its giving fans new (or newly returning) to the franchise a fresh chance to play an older classic thanks to its modern makeover. The remake renders the limitations inherent in '90s games moot points, and makes it something that can still hold up to modern standards in many ways.
That said, Link's Awakening is something of a black sheep in the Zelda franchise, despite its warm reception at the time of its release. This is in part due to it being a handheld Zelda, as those have never quite reached the same sized audience or level of acclaim as their 3D counterparts. Aside from those who played it, no one really knows what a Minish Cap is, whereas Ocarina of Time introduced the word
"ocarina" into many a gamer and non-gamer alike's vocabularies. Plus, Link's Awakening is weird even for a Zelda game. It both features characters from other Nintendo franchises like Goombas and Kirby, and is a rare Ganon-less and Zelda-less entry in the series.
Taken entirely on its own merits, there are elements of Link's Awakening that will surely stand the test of time, and others that may feel a bit dated. Its characters, for example, are unique and creative and really given a chance to shine, which isn't always a given in a Zelda game. However, its dungeons are still just single room, item-based puzzles, which will undoubtedly still require some ingenuity from new players, and aren't quite up to the spectacle of manipulating the geometry of entire dungeons at will as you do in Breath of the Wild.
That said, these are all factors that can and likely will contribute to the success of Link's Awakening's remake. Those whose first Zelda entry was on the Switch will now have a chance to brush up on their franchise history, while those who remember playing Link's Awakening way back in their childhood now get to play through a nostalgia trip that will feel fresh due to its new graphical overhaul. Plus, retro gaming is as popular as ever right now, and the distinct blend of old school 2D gameplay and modern upgrades is not much different than a new release like Moonlighter, to give one recent example, with an intentionally retro aesthetic.
Ultimately, Nintendo ran some numbers and decided that a full-priced Zelda remake was something gamers want right now. While the gameplay itself may be almost entirely recreated from a game that's over 25 years old now, its developers didn't slouch on packaging it in what may end up being one of the most visually stunning games to come out this year.
Whether the Link's Awakening remake is merely a delectable amuse-bouche before the eventual Breath of the Wild sequel, or succeeds on its own strengths and becomes a mainstay in the Switch catalog, is what remains to be seen.