In 2019, Nintendo brought The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening from the classic Game Boy to the Switch, presenting it with a full remake featuring vibrant 3D visuals. However, a recent fan-made remaster, Link’s Awakening DX HD, offers a unique take on modernizing retro games. This unofficial remaster introduces widescreen and high frame-rate support, along with a continuous, smooth-scrolling landscape, departing from the original’s screen-by-screen presentation. Notably, the game engine simultaneously runs every screen of the original game. Digital Foundry’s John Linneman discovered a slider in the options that allows users to zoom out to 1:1 pixel scale, providing a breathtaking view of the entire Koholint Island at once, filled with tiny, pixelated life.
Link’s Awakening DX HD goes beyond the visual spectacle, incorporating practical enhancements like an autosave function and minor graphical improvements. Switching back to the default game scale, the experience remains smooth and lively at 120 frames per second, offering a more open and dynamic gameplay experience while staying true to the original content. Available as a free download on itch.io for Windows PCs, Link’s Awakening DX HD weighs in at just 24 MB. However, the fate of this fan creation is uncertain, considering Nintendo’s history of taking down such projects due to copyright concerns. As the remaster is based on a game still actively sold by Nintendo, its availability may be short-lived.
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