Links Awakening DX or Link to the Past?

So Club Nintendo recently put a bunch of eshop game downloads up on their site in exchange for stars. Now I vaguely remember liking both of these games but never finishing them way back when.

I only have enough stars for one and should probably burn those stars before they shut down their Club Nintendo reward so which one would people recommend I choose?

Link to the Past is by far the better game but Link's Awakening was still a pretty great GBC game. One is a classic, one is a good game. You can't go wrong, but go with Link to the past.

I don't know a person (alive) that would choose Link's Awakening: DX over a Link to the Past. I could be wrong about that, but a Link to the Past is widely considered a 'perfect' game.

On my own experience (one that doesn't really dive into much Zelda) I know that a Link to the Past was far more enjoyable than DX.

Links Awakening DX. I think Links Awakening DX is the best top down Zelda game made. It had an amazing ending and the ending was made even better by beating the game and never dying.

Get Link's Awakening DX, and then get Link Between Worlds instead of Link to the Past? I dunno, somebody in this thread needs to suggest something other than Link to the Past.

@omnomnivore: I would absolutely pick Link's Awakening over Link to the Past, but part of that is because I have zero nostalgia fot LttP. Either way, I still think LA is one of the better 2D Zelda's.

You probably can't go wrong with either, but my vote definitely goes to Link's Awakening. I don't know how to describe what I like about Awakening so much more, but it was just a more satisfying game.

@omnomnivore said:

I would. While I played both, and love both, I think I have more of an ingrained nostalgia for Link's Awakening. It came with my Gameboy, and it was only one of two games that I owned for the system for many years, the other being Mortal Kombat II. I think it's fantastic and I think that I felt the emotional impact of the story more. LttP was fantastic, great graphics and super epic feeling, while Link's Awakening took Zelda tropes that we're all familiar with and applied them to a smaller scope story with a bigger emotional payoff, imho.

Both are worth getting, though.

ALTTP is my favorite game of all time. You probably know what I'm going to suggest.

The Ballad of The Windfish is one of the greatest pieces of game related music of all time and the ending is a doozy. Go with Awakening.

Link's Awakening any day of the WEEK.

Thank you all for your input.

I'm leaning towards Link's Awakening right now (as I know less about that game and the favour here seems to be quite balanced) but I'll see if anything changes drastically in the next few hours.

I also have more nostalgia for Link's Awakening than LttP, but that's only because I didn't play LttP until it was re-released on the GBA.

Links Awakening still stands as my favorite Zelda game of all time...it got me through a lot of long car trips as a kid. Just so much Nintendo flavor in there.

Links Awakening is a perfect game, you'd be amiss to not pick it

I really liked Links Awakening DX. It was my first Zelda game I ever played. Link to the Past is by far the superior game. Easily the best Zelda game overall for me.

A Link to the Past is one of the greatest games of all time. Link's Awakening is a really good game, though having played both recently, it doesn't hold up quite as well as ALttP. Not to say that is doesn't hold up astoundingly well, as it does, but ALttP is just as good now as it was then. If you've played neither or just generally don't have nostalgia for either, Link's Awakening is more interesting to have discussions about, but A Link to the Past is a better game. So whichever one of those is more valuable to you, I guess.

But my heart has a hard time saying that you should choose anything over A Link to the Past. Like, ever. In any situation. Even when the other choices have nothing to do with video games are choosing them could drastically improve your life.

Link's Awakening is great, but A Link to the Past is easily one of the best games ever made. It created the mold for basically all future Zelda games.

It's a real bummer that this site has no coverage of handheld games older than the DS. Some of those games were great, and I'd love to see the staff look back at some old handheld games, instead of C64 games for the 7th time or another interminable OG Xbox demo disc.

I guess capturing footage off a Game Boy is a complete nightmare, since it isn't backlit if you just wanted to film it over the shoulder, nor is it very easy to get video out.

@bisonhero: could get them on virtual console and capture footage there

@bisonhero:

Yeah but hopefully we can persuade Vinny and Alex to play some of the old Handheld Castlevania games (they are fantastic).

I played both at the same time . Both are amazing , but gotta go with A Link to the Past ..

LTTP is a perfect game, Link's Awakening is super underrated and is a bloody lovely handheld game.

@pierre42: @jiggajoe14: I feel like our other obstacle is that most of the staff members were in their late teens or were adults by the time the Game Boy was catching on, and probably have little attachment to any Game Boy games. So all I really expect from the staff is for them to be able to acknowledge that Game Boy Tetris is one of the most brilliant launch games you could ever pull off. And pointing out that Mortal Kombat on the Game Boy was terrible.

@pierre42: By old do you mean DS? Castlevania: The Adventure was hot garbage.

@punched: Was thinking more GBA era. Dawn of Sorrow, Aria of Sorrow.

Though Order of Ecclesia on DS was great too I thought.

Hey, I'm a (living) person that would choose Link's Awakening: DX over a Link to the Past.

I think Link's Awakening is the best zelda game, try it!

Link's Awakening is superior to A Link to the Past because it builds on the ideas of A Link to the Past and adds significant improvements (e.g., side quests, the Roc feather, ability to map items to A + B, etc.)...

The eshop DX version of Link's Awakening is fabulous. A must play!

I've played Link to the Past to death. It's one of my favorites. However, I have a soft spot for Link's Awakening. Having played it on numerous car rides as a kid, figuring out the puzzles and the item-trading game as you progress. It is incredibly satisfying and always throws new things at you and is so charming. If it's been a while, or you've never played it, definitely go with Link's Awakening DX.

I 100% think Link's Awakening is a better and more interesting game. If you have not played A Link to the Past before, you'll probably see it for what it is; a pretty standard Zelda game. What I mean by that is that it is very well designed, but it is also super predictable and bland. Link's Awakening, on the other hand, is to A Link to the Past what Majora's Mask is to Ocarina of Time, except it doesn't have all the bad parts that drag Majora down. It's a true gem.

I'm playing through Link's Awakening DX for the first time right now and I am blown away by how good it is! That being said, most of my amazement stems from the developers taking elements of gameplay, graphics and sound from A Link to the Past and shoehorning them onto the Game Boy.

I think Link to the Past will always have the edge, but if Link's Awakening ever got a proper 16-bit remake and support for a controller with more buttons so you don't have to switch items quite so frequently you might actually have a quandary on your hands.

I remember as a kid being so blown away by flying with the chicken in Link's Awakening.

A Link to the Past will always win for me, but Link's Awakening is still great. It's also game that taught me that batteries could explode. That was, a moment.