shinneri
Certified Guru
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
About the game
Back in the hayday of the Game Boy Color's dominance, Nintendo entered into agreement with Capcom that the two companies would work together to produce two original Zelda games for the GBC, which would finally return Zelda to his 2D roots (which I prefer over the 3D games). At any rate, Nintendo soon released two games--LoZ:Oracle of Seasons and LoZ:Oracle or Ages. These two games were innovative in that one could "continue" their quest from one game to the other; doing so can result in new areas, events and different endings.
Anyway, let's get into this thing...
Graphics
They really outdid themselves with this one. The colors are vibrant, some of the sprites are gigantic, and everything animates rather nicely. Add to that the fact that there are four varients for almost every environmental graphic (being that you can switch between winter, spring, summer, and fall) and a second overworld called Subrosia, and you can't help but be VERY impressed by this title.
I played through this game with the screen stretched to fit the GP's screen, and, boy, did it look nice.
Sound
Really very standard. There was nothing that stood out in my mind, and a lot if it is just your typical mixes of previous Zelda music.
Gameplay
Here's the one that really matters. And don't worry, friends, LoZ: Oracle of Seasons does not disappoint... though I must admit I was far from blown away. In every Zelda game it seems there must be a (usually very well implemented) gimmick. OoT had the Ocarina, WW had the sea travel, LttP had the alternate dimension thing... Well, in Oracle of Seasons, Link has the ability to manipulate the seasons. This is used very well throughout the game and, as link gains control over another season, he also gains access to new areas and items. It's very cool.
However, you must find 8 oracles in the game (and thus there are 8 dungeons), and, though I know that Zelda is a dungeon-crawler game.. this really seemed to become a bother as I went on. Some of the puzzles simply seemed ridiculous, and, without the help of GameFAQs, I'd have never made it through. Stuff like that really bothers me because I don't believe I ever had such a problem in Link's Awakening or Minish Cap. Also, each dungeon had very few defining facts, so it became kind of monotonous as your progessed further.
Overall, gameplay is good and what one would expect from a Zelda title, but the dungeons didn't really thrill me as much as they have in other titles. Certainly not the best we've seen in a 2D Zelda title.
Misc
There's a lot to do here.. really. You can collect rings, items, go on sidequests, and your options are even greater if you play a linked game from a code you get from Oracle of Ages (or vice versa, if you're playing Oracle of Ages). I'm not really one to try to finish every little bit of the game, so I didn't see a lot of these extra things, but I like that they're there, and a lot of people really do enjoy searching for every little secret the game has hidden.
Emulation
This game emulates very well on Rlyeh's fGB32. I used fullscreen with FS1. Some timing problems in regards to music, and there was a little slowdown in big rooms or ones with many enemies, but all of this can be easily ignored.
Score : 4/5
Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting
About the game
Back in the hayday of the Game Boy Color's dominance, Nintendo entered into agreement with Capcom that the two companies would work together to produce two original Zelda games for the GBC, which would finally return Zelda to his 2D roots (which I prefer over the 3D games). At any rate, Nintendo soon released two games--LoZ:Oracle of Seasons and LoZ:Oracle or Ages. These two games were innovative in that one could "continue" their quest from one game to the other; doing so can result in new areas, events and different endings.
Anyway, let's get into this thing...
Graphics
They really outdid themselves with this one. The colors are vibrant, some of the sprites are gigantic, and everything animates rather nicely. Add to that the fact that there are four varients for almost every environmental graphic (being that you can switch between winter, spring, summer, and fall) and a second overworld called Subrosia, and you can't help but be VERY impressed by this title.
I played through this game with the screen stretched to fit the GP's screen, and, boy, did it look nice.
Sound
Really very standard. There was nothing that stood out in my mind, and a lot if it is just your typical mixes of previous Zelda music.
Gameplay
Here's the one that really matters. And don't worry, friends, LoZ: Oracle of Seasons does not disappoint... though I must admit I was far from blown away. In every Zelda game it seems there must be a (usually very well implemented) gimmick. OoT had the Ocarina, WW had the sea travel, LttP had the alternate dimension thing... Well, in Oracle of Seasons, Link has the ability to manipulate the seasons. This is used very well throughout the game and, as link gains control over another season, he also gains access to new areas and items. It's very cool.
However, you must find 8 oracles in the game (and thus there are 8 dungeons), and, though I know that Zelda is a dungeon-crawler game.. this really seemed to become a bother as I went on. Some of the puzzles simply seemed ridiculous, and, without the help of GameFAQs, I'd have never made it through. Stuff like that really bothers me because I don't believe I ever had such a problem in Link's Awakening or Minish Cap. Also, each dungeon had very few defining facts, so it became kind of monotonous as your progessed further.
Overall, gameplay is good and what one would expect from a Zelda title, but the dungeons didn't really thrill me as much as they have in other titles. Certainly not the best we've seen in a 2D Zelda title.
Misc
There's a lot to do here.. really. You can collect rings, items, go on sidequests, and your options are even greater if you play a linked game from a code you get from Oracle of Ages (or vice versa, if you're playing Oracle of Ages). I'm not really one to try to finish every little bit of the game, so I didn't see a lot of these extra things, but I like that they're there, and a lot of people really do enjoy searching for every little secret the game has hidden.
Emulation
This game emulates very well on Rlyeh's fGB32. I used fullscreen with FS1. Some timing problems in regards to music, and there was a little slowdown in big rooms or ones with many enemies, but all of this can be easily ignored.
Score : 4/5
Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting
