The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (2019) is certainly not a bad remake. It modernizes a Game Boy classic in a way that doesn’t compromise the 1993 original’s identity. This is one of Nintendo’s better remakes all around, but like any remake, it stumbles. Ignoring Link’s Awakening’s price, the remake’s fatal flaw was its selling point: Dungeon Maker.

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Not to say that Dungeon Maker is all bad– it isn’t– but underneath a well enough designed side quest is a depth of disappointment. Hot off the trails of Mario Makers 1 and 2, Nintendo very much presented Link’s Awakening’s Dungeon Maker as something at all comparable, which it 100% is not. At best, it’s Nintendo blatantly failing to explain a main feature in a complete and honest manner.

10 BEST: Great Way To Grind For Rupees

The remake ends up adding quite a lot of value to Rupees. Between new Pieces of Hearts, figurines, and dungeon blocks to collect, Link is going to need a lot of money. Given that there’s more to buy, this also means players might potentially not have the money they need to get the Bow when they need it. But that’s where Dungeon Maker comes in.

In Dungeon Maker, players get to keep all the Rupees they find along the way. This can be very aggressively exploited for profit. By building dungeons with mainly chests, players can finance the rest of their time on Koholint Island in no time flat.

9 WORST: It’s Not A Real Zelda Maker

It’s very important to recognize that Dungeon Maker is absolutely not Zelda Maker. Link’s Awakenings Dungeon Maker is comparable to the Mario Maker games in concept and concept alone. Beyond making stages, there are no worthwhile comparisons to be made. Worse yet, the marketing didn’t make it clear that this mode was not some Mario Maker analogue.

For all intents and purposes, the trailers made Dungeon Maker out to be some miniaturized version, implying players would actually be able to edit rooms, enemies, puzzles, and bosses accordingly. But that’s not how things work here. Naturally, it’s a pretty big let down.

8 BEST: Teaches Basic Rules Of Game Design

If nothing else, Dungeon Maker does make for a nice tool to learn about basic game design. Over the course of the side quest, players will slowly learn how to build a Zelda dungeon. Not in terms of actual puzzle crafting and concept, but actually placing cohesive ideas together. How do stages connect? How do they influence each other on a surface level?

This does, obviously, mean that Dungeon Maker never goes beyond the surface level, but that’s not a big deal. Entry points are important, even downright necessary. Dungeon Maker could very well be the reason someone decides to go into game design in the future. It’s a genuinely good tool.

7 WORST: No Online

It probably goes without saying by now, but Nintendo really screwed up by not conveying clearly that Dungeon Maker was not analogous to Mario Maker. If they just stated in plain, simple terms alongside the Dungeon Maker announcement that it was a side quest and not an actual fully featured stage editor, people likely would have been cooler about it.

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After all, you can’t really raise false expectations when what you’re getting has been presented clearly. This was not the case for Dungeon Maker and many foolishly assumed that the mode would have online ala Mario Maker. This obviously wasn’t the case.

6 BEST: Convenient Way Of Revisiting Puzzles

Unless it’s Majora’s Mask, when a Zelda puzzle is over, it’s usually over for the rest of the playthrough. There’s just no practical way to reset a dungeon in a non-MM game. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s noticeable and it’s not unreasonable for fans to want to be able to revisit some of their favorite puzzles without having to replay the whole game.

Thankfully, Link’s Awakening’s Dungeon Maker does allow for players to revisit simple, single room puzzles. It’s not the best way of revisiting puzzles, but it’s a step in the right direction. The next step being allowing players to make more complicated puzzles in Dungeon Maker.

5 WORST: Amiibo Support Blows

Scanning the admittedly very nicely made Link’s Awakening Amiibo only adds the Shadow Link effect for dungeons, which is genuinely kind of cool considering Shadow Link is one of those “fan servicey” things Nintendo does try to restrain themselves with, but that’s it. Beyond that, the Amiibo is just continuing Nintendo’s practices of selling DLC as physical media.

Other Zelda based Amiibo don’t fare much better, with only five others even being compatible. Four of them are variations of Link and one is Urbosa. Zelda and the rest of the Champions are completely excluded for some reason. Then again, though, all Amiibo support sucks.

4 BEST: One Of The Series’ More Involved Side Quests

Side quests in Zelda games are usually on the simple side, to the point where even the perceived longer quests like getting the Biggoron Sword in Ocarina of Time are actually incredibly simple and short. They rarely last longer than a single portion of the game, and there’s rarely any benefit to checking in on an NPC after a side quest is done.

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Link’s Awakening keeps the Dungeon Maker fresh and active for quite some time, though. As each dungeon unlocks new rooms for Dungeon Maker, those who are enjoying the process will likely find themselves eager to dive back in whenever they buy a new piece or clear a main dungeon.

3 WORST: Rewards Are Actually Useful

Why is this a bad thing? Because anyone looking to get every Piece of Heart and Bottle in the game is going to need to wade through quite a lot of Dungeon Maker. For those who don’t mind spending some time learning about basic game design, it can be a pleasant time waster– but it’s very tedious on a replay and feels like a waste of time.

They’re not hard items to get, either. They’re just rewards for enduring Dungeon Maker. Look, it’s not that this is bad design, it’s really not. It makes sense to tuck away rewards here, but Dungeon Maker is genuinely the worst thing in the game if you just don’t want to spare the brain power for it and would rather just play a Zelda game.

2 BEST: Rare Opportunity To Revisit Bosses

Despite often featuring very engaging, albeit simple, boss fights, The Legend of Zelda only rarely allows players to indulge in rematches against bosses. Skyward Sword had a boss rush and Ocarina of Time 3D has Link’s bed, but most entries in the series just don’t make an effort when it comes to boss rematches.

Link’s Awakening did, though, and making a dungeon outright requires players choose one of the game’s bosses. It ends up being a great way to refight bosses. For anyone trying to get ready for a no death Hero Mode run, this is an excellent way of getting some practice in against the nastier boss fights.

1 WORST: Way Too Easy

Dungeon Maker has so much room for depth and nuance, but in essentially being a beginner’s tool for game design, it can’t be too difficult. Sure, players can theoretically make long stages, but nothing can be particularly hard because nothing in the game is particularly hard. It’s also very easy to create dungeons that just lead Link through chests right to the boss.

Plus, what reason is there to make a hard dungeon? Rooms don’t actually play off each other how they do in other Zelda games so each room is basically its own static area, tied together only through locked doors and sometimes stairs. Even if players decide to make the longest, most exhausting stage they can, it still won’t actually be hard and they still won’t have anyone to share it with.

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