Update December 15 at 2:10 pm ET: Unsurprisingly, Nintendo's lawyers stepped in to force Itch.io to end the game, so unfortunately it is no longer available for download. Our original coverage follows below.
An anonymous and inventive Nintendo fan has recreated the Game Boy classic The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening with a twist that separates it from the official 2019 remaster. The new widescreen version of Windows adds support for high frame rates and lets you zoom out to see a larger portion, or even all, of Koholint Island. But the game may not last long, as Nintendo has a habit of crushing copyright-infringing fan games, even when they're lovingly made and offered for free like this one.
Seen in X (next to a write by Polygon), The Awakening of Link DX HD is a love letter to the 1993 original and its 1998 color reissue. The unofficial port recreates the quirky Zelda installment with 120 frames per second (FPS) support, which the developer describes as an addition of “incomparable fluidity.” .
The home port also eliminates the original's transitions, which loaded a new screen each time you moved to the next (old-school Zelda style). In this version, the camera pans fluidly as Links wanders around the island, something we imagine was no easy task for the anonymous creator.
The zoom level, available in the game's settings menu, allows you to pan at a scale of 1:1, half or a third of a pixel, allowing you to see the entire island simultaneously. This is not a static perspective either. Every visible section is fully activated (as if Link was in it in the original) and is packed with enemies. You can move around in the panoramic views, swinging your sword at Moblins and searching for the next task without stopping to consult a static map of the game.
The game's developer posted the '90s love letter anonymously, likely to protect them (at least for a while) from Nintendo's litigation-happy legal team. The 24MB The Awakening of Link DX HD it's a free download on itch.io, but we wouldn't count on it staying there much longer. Either way, you can check out a snippet of gameplay in the video below.
I found out that there is a port of Zelda Link's Awakening for PC and I'm surprised. Not only does this version offer widescreen support, but the game now runs on a single screen with no transitions and you can zoom out to see more of the world. pic.twitter.com/yQBbbFeytn
— Vinícius Medeiros (@VinciusMedeiro6) December 13, 2023
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fan-made-zelda-links-awakening-remake-lets-you-zoom-out-to-see-the-entire-island-214345008.html ?src=rss
