As of today (9/20/2022), it has now been exactly 3 years since the Switch was graced with Grezzo’s most ambitious game to date: the 2019 remake of [The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening](https://youtu.be/PtC6U8hOZTk). This studio is quite well known among the Nintendo community for remakes and remasters, having developed the 3DS remakes of Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Luigi’s Mansion, and working on other 3DS games like Tri Force Heroes and Ever Oasis. Here’s a quick recap on its announcement and release:
Back in 2016 after Breath of the Wild was shown off, series producer Eiji Aonuma teased to EDGE Magazine that he was working on a remake of Link’s Awakening by saying “I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say, but I’ve always wanted to work on a game where you get to play as a thief”. And in 2018, the official Zelda timeline was updated; the main reason was to add Breath of the Wild to the timeline, but Link’s Awakening was also moved around to now take place before the Oracle games instead of after.
And in [February 2019](https://youtu.be/_U-_XfDGgDw), during the same Nintendo Direct that announced Mario Maker 2 and Tetris 99, the broadcast ended with the return of Link’s Awakening, 26 years after its original release. The remake features full blown anime cutscenes bookending the story, a tilt-shifted toy-like art style, and a bevy of quality of life improvements to the overall experience.
The game was praised left and right at launch, with many outlets going on to put it in their top 10 best video game remakes of all time. The game went on to sell over 6 million copies and receive a ton of award nominations for best action adventure game and best art direction. So what did you think about this game, which was technically the first mainline Zelda game released post-Breath of the Wild?