I sometimes get the feeling that the handheld entries in the Legend Of Zelda series aren't really remembered as fondly as the console ones. Well, that's not quite fair. I think everyone knows and loves Link's Awakening. But I'm sort of in shock when I hear a Zelda fan say that they haven't played A Link Between Worlds yet. And I've heard that - in 2018. It's weird. And really when I think about it I just don't feel like all those portable titles that happened between Link's Awakening and Link Between Worlds are really a very big part of the conversation. It's like they're just kind of there. They exist, but they're easily forgotten as opposed to the titles we always come back to - the Ocarinas and what have you.
I know for certain that I played Oracle Of Ages back in the day; I remember it quite fondly. And while I also know for a fact that I OWNED Oracle Of Seasons, I'm now not entirely certain that I ever got around to playing it back then. So it was a fun little surprise when I linked my Nintendo ID to my New 2DS XL and found out that for some reason I owned Oracle Of Seasons on the Virtual Console. I had no memory of acquiring that one (or Metroid either apparently), but it turns out that I owned Oracle Of Seasons TWICE and never got around to playing it.
So I finally got around to booting up Oracle Of Seasons last night. It immediately has that sort of Link's Awakening look - basically 8bit LTTP - no big surprise given the hardware. And of course it has that unmistakable GBC pallet. It's cute as fuck, but it's not super hand-holdy either. It doesn't explicitly point you in any direction too often. Much of your quest is going to rely on talking to NPC's and poking around on your own - at least early on. This isn't good or bad, it just is. Compared to Link To The Past which I just completed again this past week, it feels like it's slightly more obtuse. There aren't a lot of moments in LTTP where you don't know where to go next for instance. It feels like Seasons requires a bit more experimentation (unless it's just that I know LTTP a lot better already). But I mean I found myself in an area that required a boomerang... and it turns out that that rhythm mini-game that I assumed was optional was how to get the damn thing. Hmm. So maybe it's just that. Maybe things that WOULD be optional in LTTP are just the meat and potatoes here and I need to switch my brain to that way of thinking.
At any rate, the game itself feels really great. The visuals are excellent and the controls are tight and responsive. Link's Awakening is an undisputed classic within a series filled with classics, and so far Oracle Of Seasons feels like a solid follow up to that one. So I'm happy to be playing this one right now. I'm probably two or three hours in already, and so far I've beaten the first major dungeon, and am now dicking around in the second one. I've found the bracelet that lets you lift heavy objects, and I know where the boss is but I seem to have missed a key somewhere so I need to backtrack a bit.