We have left the Bottle Grotto and getting the Power Bracelets really opens the game up. I always love this part, because there are tons of possibilities for you now, even more so now than in the DX version. You can of course proceed into the prairie and open up the third dungeon. Or you can explore a little in the Tal Tal Heights and Mountains. Or you can even take on the Color Dungeon already. And now in the remake you also have the Chamber Dungeon as another point of interest.
But first lets return that seashell spoiler of a dog... On my way back to Mabe Village I noticed that the toadstool grew back, even though I still had Magic Powder in my inventory... we already knew that this is now possible in the remake, but it's still interesting nonetheless. In the original you could only have one or the other.
I also got my first expansion upgrade. I've chosen bombs, even though I didn't have any yet, but bombs are always useful and I usually upgrade the Magic Powder last, because you don't need it that often. But in Mabe Village I finally could buy Bombs in the shop, which I couldn't do before the second dungeon. This was locked and this is new in the remake. But normally you don't need bombs up until now except for the one Secret Seashell in Level 1, where you have to return later anyway. Also, because I already had the capacity upgrade, I immediately had 60 Bombs available after buying the first ten.
Other than that I purchased the Piece of Heart, because I had enough money. And there was also a first Chamber Stone, as well as a Spiny to get in the Trendy Game, which I still find fun by the way.
Afterwards I stepped a little bit into the Prairie, where I really love how they added some Pieces of Hearts to caves, which previously only had Rupees. The cave right next to Mabe Village was teasing you quite a lot in the GameBoy original, because you could see it right from the start from the game, but couldn't get there until after the 2nd dungeon. Color my disappointment when I finally got there only to find some Rupees... But now it even has a nice block puzzle for another Heart Piece. Nice!
And right next to this cave you meet Dampé yet again, who is nagging you to visit his place, after he refused to let you do anything there earlier...
But with the new item(s) in my inventory and after all the advertisements it was finally time to visit the infamous Chamber Dungeon, the dungeon arranger feature in the remake of Link's Awakening. And... I like it a lot so far. I only could play the first two challenges, but I already had lots of fun with it.
First of all, it is a good source of Rupees. If you place more chests than there need to be, you can get quite a few purple and red Rupees from them for some extra cash. It's not as quick as in the Trendy Game, but it's easy, since you can super simple dungeons with lots of chests like this one:
It's as easy as it's slow, however. I'm a little bit annoyed by the treasure chest animations and texts. As much as they have fixed the blocking and slow texts on other ends, they did a good job of boring you with chests now. They slowly appear from the ceiling in a beam of light, then you open then, it slowly shows you the item and you can't skip the text box right away... Ugh. This needs to be a lot faster!
Of course you can make this super easy for yourself. Put Moldorm at the end of every challenge (unless the challenge has a fixed boss), only use simple rooms and as few rooms as possible. Easy money and rewards. But you can also make this quite hard for yourself, which I did with the amiibo.
Turns out that you can use all the Zelda amiibo right away to unlock all five special chambers and the Shadow Link plus effect. Thing is that these chambers include two mini bosses, which you haven't even faced at this point: the Ball & Chain Soldier and the Armos Knight. And then you can suddenly build a early game boss challenge like this:
This has the Moblin Chief, the Armors Knight and the Ball & Chain Soldier all in one early dungeon, even before getting to Level 3.
I guess, this is fine, because they only require the sword to beat them. And the Ball & Chain Soldier would be the next "bigger" enemy on your way to the third dungeon, anyway. But these bosses have changed a little bit, especially the Armos Knight takes some more skill to beat him know. But the Ball & Chain Soldier gave me the bigger beating... I hate these guys in every other Zelda game, but he was super easy in the original. Just don't underestimate him in the remake.
As mentioned already, I also got a special chamber from the Trendy Game. But I couldn't really tell what it was, because I got it together with the rooms from Levels 1 and 2... I suppose it's the normal chamber with the Genie inside, because I couldn't find a normal chamber with Moldorm inside yet, so those might be unlockables. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to get that chamber from the Trendy Game already, because I would have liked to know what it was.
I haven't really done more here yet, because there were only two challenges available anyway, but I see the potential. And to drive this potential the best thing you can do is play the Color Dungeon next. And yes, you can do this already. Normally you would need to read the book in the library first, which requires the Pegasus Boots, but if you know the combination for the gravestones, you can get into the Color Dungeon as soon as you have brought back BowWow. This worked already in the DX version and it also still works in the remake, so the Color Dungeon can be your third dungeon, if you want.
And it's certainly worth it, if not for the tunics, then because this thing adds a total of 22 new chambers to your Chamber Dungeon! This includes super easy rooms as this one...
... but also three additional (mini) boss chambers for your amusement. The boss of the Color Dungeon, named Hardhit Beetle (or so), sadly doesn't drop a new Heart Container, as expected, but instead leaves a portal. This was another thought I had the other day: it would certainly be a good improvement, if the Color Dungeon had a portal right next to the fairy chamber, so you can change your tunics without going through half of the dungeon yet again. And they did exactly this, which is nice to have, but I still would have liked it, if the boss dropped a Heart Container instead of a fairy... However, this also means that there will be even more new Heart Pieces to find. Or more Heart Containers in other places...
The new music in the Color Dungeon is wonderful, by the way. I love this new rendition of the classic Zelda dungeon theme and it's certainly very fitting for this dungeon, because exactly like all the dungeons in the first Zelda game it's made entirely out of square chambers, which is why this is such a good resource for the Chamber Dungeon.
Well, I went for the Red Mail, because I like killing things in one hit. And I might go for the Blue Tunic in Hero Mode to negate the double damage effect. (Update: you can now even go back to the green tunic!)
Current Status:
But first lets return that seashell spoiler of a dog... On my way back to Mabe Village I noticed that the toadstool grew back, even though I still had Magic Powder in my inventory... we already knew that this is now possible in the remake, but it's still interesting nonetheless. In the original you could only have one or the other.
I also got my first expansion upgrade. I've chosen bombs, even though I didn't have any yet, but bombs are always useful and I usually upgrade the Magic Powder last, because you don't need it that often. But in Mabe Village I finally could buy Bombs in the shop, which I couldn't do before the second dungeon. This was locked and this is new in the remake. But normally you don't need bombs up until now except for the one Secret Seashell in Level 1, where you have to return later anyway. Also, because I already had the capacity upgrade, I immediately had 60 Bombs available after buying the first ten.
Other than that I purchased the Piece of Heart, because I had enough money. And there was also a first Chamber Stone, as well as a Spiny to get in the Trendy Game, which I still find fun by the way.
Afterwards I stepped a little bit into the Prairie, where I really love how they added some Pieces of Hearts to caves, which previously only had Rupees. The cave right next to Mabe Village was teasing you quite a lot in the GameBoy original, because you could see it right from the start from the game, but couldn't get there until after the 2nd dungeon. Color my disappointment when I finally got there only to find some Rupees... But now it even has a nice block puzzle for another Heart Piece. Nice!
And right next to this cave you meet Dampé yet again, who is nagging you to visit his place, after he refused to let you do anything there earlier...
But with the new item(s) in my inventory and after all the advertisements it was finally time to visit the infamous Chamber Dungeon, the dungeon arranger feature in the remake of Link's Awakening. And... I like it a lot so far. I only could play the first two challenges, but I already had lots of fun with it.
First of all, it is a good source of Rupees. If you place more chests than there need to be, you can get quite a few purple and red Rupees from them for some extra cash. It's not as quick as in the Trendy Game, but it's easy, since you can super simple dungeons with lots of chests like this one:
It's as easy as it's slow, however. I'm a little bit annoyed by the treasure chest animations and texts. As much as they have fixed the blocking and slow texts on other ends, they did a good job of boring you with chests now. They slowly appear from the ceiling in a beam of light, then you open then, it slowly shows you the item and you can't skip the text box right away... Ugh. This needs to be a lot faster!
Of course you can make this super easy for yourself. Put Moldorm at the end of every challenge (unless the challenge has a fixed boss), only use simple rooms and as few rooms as possible. Easy money and rewards. But you can also make this quite hard for yourself, which I did with the amiibo.
Turns out that you can use all the Zelda amiibo right away to unlock all five special chambers and the Shadow Link plus effect. Thing is that these chambers include two mini bosses, which you haven't even faced at this point: the Ball & Chain Soldier and the Armos Knight. And then you can suddenly build a early game boss challenge like this:
This has the Moblin Chief, the Armors Knight and the Ball & Chain Soldier all in one early dungeon, even before getting to Level 3.
I guess, this is fine, because they only require the sword to beat them. And the Ball & Chain Soldier would be the next "bigger" enemy on your way to the third dungeon, anyway. But these bosses have changed a little bit, especially the Armos Knight takes some more skill to beat him know. But the Ball & Chain Soldier gave me the bigger beating... I hate these guys in every other Zelda game, but he was super easy in the original. Just don't underestimate him in the remake.
As mentioned already, I also got a special chamber from the Trendy Game. But I couldn't really tell what it was, because I got it together with the rooms from Levels 1 and 2... I suppose it's the normal chamber with the Genie inside, because I couldn't find a normal chamber with Moldorm inside yet, so those might be unlockables. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to get that chamber from the Trendy Game already, because I would have liked to know what it was.
I haven't really done more here yet, because there were only two challenges available anyway, but I see the potential. And to drive this potential the best thing you can do is play the Color Dungeon next. And yes, you can do this already. Normally you would need to read the book in the library first, which requires the Pegasus Boots, but if you know the combination for the gravestones, you can get into the Color Dungeon as soon as you have brought back BowWow. This worked already in the DX version and it also still works in the remake, so the Color Dungeon can be your third dungeon, if you want.
And it's certainly worth it, if not for the tunics, then because this thing adds a total of 22 new chambers to your Chamber Dungeon! This includes super easy rooms as this one...
... but also three additional (mini) boss chambers for your amusement. The boss of the Color Dungeon, named Hardhit Beetle (or so), sadly doesn't drop a new Heart Container, as expected, but instead leaves a portal. This was another thought I had the other day: it would certainly be a good improvement, if the Color Dungeon had a portal right next to the fairy chamber, so you can change your tunics without going through half of the dungeon yet again. And they did exactly this, which is nice to have, but I still would have liked it, if the boss dropped a Heart Container instead of a fairy... However, this also means that there will be even more new Heart Pieces to find. Or more Heart Containers in other places...
The new music in the Color Dungeon is wonderful, by the way. I love this new rendition of the classic Zelda dungeon theme and it's certainly very fitting for this dungeon, because exactly like all the dungeons in the first Zelda game it's made entirely out of square chambers, which is why this is such a good resource for the Chamber Dungeon.
Well, I went for the Red Mail, because I like killing things in one hit. And I might go for the Blue Tunic in Hero Mode to negate the double damage effect. (Update: you can now even go back to the green tunic!)
Current Status:
- Secret Seashells: 8 (4 old + 4 new)
- Pieces of Heart: 9 (4 old + 5 new)
- Chambers: 63
- Chamber Stones: 1
- Challenges Cleared: 2
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