Echoes of Wisdom: The Lost Oracle Game? (The Legend of Zelda)
cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5340372
What do you think?
Is this the "lost Oracle game," as this video speculates?
Has anyone here played the Oracle games?
Tbh, I haven't, but perhaps I should.
When I was a kid, yes. I had both games. I remember them being very good.
All those 2D Zelda games, the ones from the 90s and the ones in the 00s, were all pretty good. I played them all as a kid/teen back when they came out. Everyone remembers Link to the Past, but that formula was repeated in a bunch of subsequent games. Similar to if you liked OoT then you like all those 3D games since they're the same formula. I mean, they're proper Zelda games, if you're a fan of others then you will surely enjoy these.
Probably worth noting that you don't need to play both games necessarily. I was just a freak. The benefit to playing both, and this is from like 20 years ago memory..., is minimal. I think I liked the Ages one better though for whatever it's worth.
Link's Awakening was another Gameboy Zelda game people may have missed that's worth playing. It's a weird one based in some like fever dream Link is having (again, 25 year old memory, possible misremembering). There was a Nintendo Switch remake of it recently too.
The Minish Cap for GBA There was a Link to the Past updated port for GBA as well Both worth playing. Obviously a Link to the Past is considered one of the greatest of all time and established many genre themes in all the subsequent games.
Here's a pic of the games. I still have all my old games (and some I yoinked from my brother) in my basement
I played The Minish Cap but never really liked it much, but I can see that it was a great entry to the Zelda series. I suspect that they will do a spiritual successor to it or even remake it at one point. My guess is that they'll be "revisiting" a lot of Zelda games from yesteryear, including perhaps Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, but that's just an "out there" theory of mine. I would kill for a sequel to Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask (I mean, with the Hero of Time, of course) but eh.
Oh yeah, and kudos to mentioning A Link to the Past; reminds me to eventually play that game.
Same. The whole downfall timeline actually. I hadn’t played any of them before the Link’s Awakening remake and still haven’t played the rest. I’d love to see ALttP and the Oracle games also remade in that engine, but I probably shouldn’t wait on that.
I should also probably get around to finishing OoT at some point. It was my first Zelda game as a kid but somehow I never finished it. I even played the remake but still haven’t finished it. I think the furthest I’ve gotten is wandering around not knowing what to do after pulling the master sword.
I much prefer the Child timeline, tbh.
I played them in the last ten years, and they're quite good. The puzzles and combat are more challenging than Link's Awakening. There's some really clever new item interactions. And of course, the overworld itself is a puzzle that you solve with the the seasons and time warp items.
Negatives: I think the music is quite bad in the Oracle games, and it got on my nerves. The dungeon design has less character overall than other 2D Zelda games (although there are several standouts that are great dungeons).
They're pretty long, and you would want to play through both of them to get the secret ending. Recommended for fans of 2D Zelda games, and Gameboy games generally.
I'm hoping they eventually get ported to the modern 3D Link's Awakening engine, but I wouldn't be too sure about that ever happening. And in any case, I'm one of those weirdos who actually prefers Link's Awakening on Gameboy.
Actually, yeah, I heard the same about the music. Tbh, a lot of music from the GameBoy games just... don't amount to much. And they're too outdated whereas the games from the NES and SNES are much better despite being virtually the same tech.
Very much so. I remember getting super stoked for them when I read about them in Nintendo Power all those years ago. They're fantastic and, in my opinion, the hallmark of what a 2D Zelda game should be. The funny part about that being that it wasn't even developed by Nintendo, lol.
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: