The greyscale nature of Game Boy made some graphics look nicer or even higher fidelity than NES. Link's Awakening felt to me like I was playing an SNES game. The best way I can explain it is the limited palette of the NES meant you couldn't really do nice shading unless you picked the blues and purples. Think the Batman games. But on the Game Boy every sprite can have an outline, shading AND highlights. Your brain fills in the gaps. It's harder to do with something already colored like NES. Also it's funny how Link's Awakening has you collect 8 different instruments to play a song when it only has 4 channels. But young me swore he was hearing all 8 of them playing at once! Haha

@ZipplyZane

5 ай бұрын

The smaller screen also helped. Compare Super Mario Land 2 to Super Mario Bros. Deluxe. They would use larger sprites than on NES, even though the resolution of the Game Boy was lower. And they had less to render on screen. The SNES also played with larger sprites than the NES commonly used.

@ZipplyZane

5 ай бұрын

Oh, and with careful arranging, you probably were hearing eight parts. They just interlocked in ways that only four played at the exact same time.

@FuzzballRenakitty

5 ай бұрын

@@ZipplyZane What was also neat were games that made use of the LCD lag time to display flickering graphics as transparent- I always thought that was so neat

@GuyDude-hk8uy

5 ай бұрын

@@ZipplyZane Indeed - counterpoint is a wonderful thing! Also, you can imply multiple voices even with just one voice by e.g. alternating a sustained higher note with moving lower ones, giving the impression there's a higher melody repeating a single note and a lower one moving around. I've always loved the idea of "limitation breeds creativity" and older consoles embody that really well.

@Moonchild1607

5 ай бұрын

Or just poor eyesight..

I don't often drop everything to watch a newly released KZread video but I do for strafefox

@weeraanmelden

5 ай бұрын

Agreed, the visuals are amazing, and most of the times very rare footage added as a bonus. (on top of the great story telling)

@chiarosuburekeni9325

5 ай бұрын

Exactly. This channel is so goated and underrated.

@zerocal76

14 күн бұрын

the BEST video game channel and that's saying a ton w/ the thousands there are on YT!

7:07 "Developing puzzle games like *Dr Mario which is perfect for the system*" Look, I love Dr Mario but the fact they made it work on the monochrome Gameboy is a miracle considering it's a game that's all about matching colors.

@darkcoeficient

5 ай бұрын

Damn straight

@weirdboo

5 ай бұрын

They created the third color with dithering, it was nothing new at the time. It’s what they do on newspapers to give the pictures shading

@cashnelson2306

5 ай бұрын

And they got it notably wrong, too, the red pills and red viruses use different shading.. definitely a bad line!

@demonpugo

5 ай бұрын

Dead right. Dr Mario was a terrible choice to port over. There’s a ton of puzzle games on gameboy, Dr mario ended up being the line between this game sucks and this game is just barely playable.

@nyguesswho

5 ай бұрын

Bro you got a fuckin point 😂

To this day Link’s Awakening is still one of the best TloZ games

@hieioni3354

5 ай бұрын

Link's* is* still Zelda games*

@echobase6372

5 ай бұрын

It will always be my favorite one. It's unique in ways that haven't really been duplicated, it's charming and quirky, and the story and tone are fantastic. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it was one of the first games I ever beat

@RetroHousecr

5 ай бұрын

@@echobase6372 back in the day some of its puzzles and dungeons got me going in circles for weeks. The story is one of the best the franchise ever had, I’m still getting the chills to this day

@hieioni3354

5 ай бұрын

​@@RetroHousecrI'm* still

@kalliopeffxi

5 ай бұрын

I'm usually good at pointing out AI voices... But damn, I can't tell! Editing of all your videos are amazing!!!

When you get a notification of a Strafefox video! Can't wait to get home, make dinner and enjoy the best channel. So much quality!

most underrated gaming history channel on youtube

I will never stop thinking that "Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins" and "The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening" at a programming level are eucharistic miracles 😅, they are still great to look at and play today ...excellent work as always!!!

I recently played Link's Awakening (DX) for the first time and it still holds up. It's such a marvelous gem!

You deserve a billion more subscribers!

@strafefox

5 ай бұрын

Thanks so much! :)

@ricardocantoral7672

5 ай бұрын

​@@strafefox Thank you for your awesome videos! 😊

This channel and "Gaming Historian" are my two favourite video game documentary channels... you guys are the best!! Such high quality!! A masterpiece of a video!!!

All these games have a special place in my heart. This brought back memories of sitting in the back of my parents car, playing Links Awakening hoping my batteries didn’t run out. Or me and my two childhood friends beating Tatanga and watching the Super Mario Land credits with a glowing sense of achievement. Thanks so much for paying homage to them with such wonderful videos.

I love how you go that extra mile with these by doing a lot of 3D animations and stuff in your little documentaries.

Just sat down with my lunchtime sandwich and this pops up on my feed - its going to be a good day!

your videos have a quality that makes them relaxing and easy viewing that I dont find in other videos. I think part of it might be the professional narration, combined with a tight script. The visuals are always top notch, and are the most important thing to me, but the combination of the well done narration and script make them always incredibly pleasing. This is really high quality stuff.

Strafefox uploads a video Day AUTOMATICALLY GETS BETTER!

A new strafefox video makes a Monday feel like Saturday

The best part of those gameboy Zelda and Mario entries is that the devs felt free to completely throw out everything associated with mario and zelda. Whole new tone, whole new weird settings and enemies and style. It was fantastic.

One of the classiest retro gaming channels on KZread. Another banger, of course.

Always a pleasure to watch these cultural revolution presentations 📺

Hearing the soundtracks for the first time in decades but still humming them besides.

Another banger in the books. Link's awakening is one of my all-time favorites. I was nine when it came out. Two of my friends also had a copy and we raced each other who could finish it first. 😂

I'm reminded of the days I would play my mom's gameboy. She had Tetris, Super Mario Land, and a mahjong game I could never figure out. Kids these days need only wait a few hours to recharge whatever it is they're playing with, but I remember all too well the days or weeks I had to wait for my parents to buy me some AAs, not to mention the chores I had to do for them.

Another masterpiece! The amazing animation and level of research continue to amaze me. Thank you so much!

@strafefox

5 ай бұрын

Thanks so much! Really awesome to read!

these two games are the atomic core of my gaming experience. Zelda particularly was an incredible piece of storytelling made even more poignent by it having taken me literal years to complete (I didn't even know walkthroughs were a thing back then). The ending is still one of the most affecting and emotive pieces of ludo-narrative I've ever had the pleasure of engaging with.

The original monochrome Game Boy, and specifically these three titles, will occupy a place in my heart until my dying day. They also are the only three video games that my mother ever beat, besides finding the "ending" to Tetris long before I was skilled enough to do so. Link's Awakening and the Mario Lands are *my* Mario and Zelda games. Sure I've played and love the rest, but those feel like home.

I consider myself extremely lucky to know about this channel, by far the best gaming documentary content on KZread and it blows my mind that the algorithm doesn't promote it at all. You deserve better!

Omg ... my childhood flashing before me right now. These masterpieces gave and still give me the feels.

My mom bought me a Gameboy (with links awakening) because my older brother would never let me play the NES. That was the day my love for handhelds began. It wasn’t the NES but it didn’t matter. My friends and I experienced so many great Gameboy games in those days. It was magical

Peak has returned!

I have such a soft spot for the Gameboy; everything about it is charming and endearing. It's the little console that could.

OMG when the KZread warn me about something new about Strafefox, makes my day!!

One of the only channels I have notifications on. Can’t wait to watch this!

Another masterclass video production, keep it up guys 👏👏

I'm not a 3D guy but I can tell whomever makes these videos enjoys it. The effort is noticed.

What a beautiful Monday.

Came to the channel to share the Donkey Kong and Killer Instinct video with a friend, stayed for the new video. As usual, a great small documentary. Thanks!

Coming into this video as a graphic designer, your impeccable use of complimentary colors is stunning. They don’t overpower the simple, yet charming, monochrome Game-Boy graphics. You also have some nicely understated bevels that vary in color depending on the gameplay you show, increasing in complexity when you display SNES gameplay. Throughout the video you always show what you’re talking about, which is something that even recent movies forget to do. On top of all of those high tier visuals, you then layer an on an informative and smoothly delivered script to round out this video. The end result is something that’s far beyond everything else on TV and KZread in terms of gaming history. Thanks for another great video!

@strafefox

4 ай бұрын

Thanks so much! It's really cool that you recognize the design work I do on these videos :) Along with writing the scripts, this is the aspect I spend the most time on each video. And yes presenting the Gameboy gameplay was a bigger challenge compared to the Snes or Mega-Drive themed episodes. I always want the backgrounds to ad some extra immersion and feeling but also completing the gamescreens and not taking away the focus.

Summer 93 will always be about me getting excited about Link’s Awakening. It finally got released in October 93 in my area of the UK and I was blown away. A masterpiece.

Geweldige video weer! Jaren lang plezier gehad van super marioland 2 in de auto richting zuid-frankrijk. Bedankt Jeroen.

@strafefox

5 ай бұрын

Dankje! Bedankt weer voor het kijken! :)

Easily KZread's most underrated channel.

Super Mario Lands OST is fantastic. Great video as usual!

@f.k.b.16

5 ай бұрын

I do like the music and it looks good too. The game itself is fun but seems like a knockoff Mario. The gameplay just seems clunky. I'm not saying it's a bad game... Just different from nearly all other SMB games.

I comment this every time, but damn it’s worth repeating. Best gaming channel on KZread - no question. Another masterpiece Jeroen, thank you!

@strafefox

4 ай бұрын

Thanks so much! Really appreciated!

The original Game Boy will always have a place in my gaming heart 😭 just like Strafefox will, too haha! I really do hope you guys release your videos on physical media format. The work and production quality that goes into these episodes deserve to be on disc!

Glad to see not only these videos coming but the raise in subs and viewers. Your attention to detail is top notch to say the least.

As usual, Jeroen you outdid yourself! I watched it twice while traveling on the Shinkansen, thank you very much!

Didn't expect both Mario Lands and Link's Awakening to share such a similar development story and direction, but it makes a lot of sense. All three of them strived from hardware and colour limitation to different new creative heights. Another outstanding video as usual!

So glad I get that notification. Absolutely professional-grade narration and presentation.

Great video as usually! 👏

Amazing video! As always

How lucky we all are that your uploads have become so much more frequent! Strafefox, you and your team NEVER disappoint.

Excellent content as always.

This was great , great editing as well

Great video again. Thanks.

It's always hype whenever you upload!

@strafefox

5 ай бұрын

Thanks! That's really cool to hear!

Amazing and high quality video as always!

2:11 "Instead of rushing it to the market, they took the time to develop..." Immortal fucking life lesson here, folks.

@gooeydude574

20 күн бұрын

The Sonic series could learn from this

Great video as always, Thanks.

Great video, very informative.

great video! good job!

I was missing this channel! Another superb video!! Loved it!!

Stunning, amazing inspiring work as always!!! thank you for all your hard work!!!!

Keep sharing the knowledge. 👍

Amazing content, as always. Love this channel

I always look forward to your videos. Thank u so much

If you think about it, Link’s Awakening has a similar plot to Wario Land 3. Main character trapped in an unfamiliar world, needing to obtain musical items to free a powerful entity that has some big influence on said world

Another quality video. Thanks! 🤩

Your videos are great in every way. I love this

Thank you for covering the LCD ghosting on the original Game Boy, a topic omitted in most videos about the system

Brilliant. The production on these videos are amazing. Thank you

Another great video. Thanks for all your hard work.

Another top tier production and super informative!! Excellent work, thank you for these visual and auditory feasts for the senses!!

Another great video by my favorite creators!!!

Awesome work as usual. You spoil us.

I always looking forward to your videos. Once again you've done an AMAZING job, thank you.

Another awesome video team. Love this channel. So inspiring. Quality second to none.

Some of my earliest and favorite games. Awesome video as always.

I love this channel! Another great video! Brought back a lot of fond memories of playing those games on my Game Boy back in the day.

Another great piece of work! I particularly liked all your 3D replicas of the Game & Watches.

I have many fond memories of my Gameboy. Great video yet again!

Insane production value and very well documented as always. Another incredible video!

These videos are a treat, I can’t get enough of them

A wonderful video, as always. I'm waiting for the followers of this channel to grow like crazy from one moment to the next, because the quality of your work deserves it. Thank you for your time and dedication. You can see the attention to detail and love in each of your videos. Greetings from Spain

As always, another amazing videos by Strafefox

Another super-high-production from my favorite youtube channel!

Literally one of the very few KZread channels which I keep with the alarm for new videos on! Outstanding video as always!

i love this freaking channel and for some reason the ending kinda made me tear

Great to see a video on the Gameboy of such quality. Thank you.

An amazing work as usual ! Thank you so much !

@strafefox

5 ай бұрын

Thanks!

These are amazing! Keep on going, we love these vids. Greetings from the Netherlands.

Wake up, babe. New Strafefox video!

Most people cite the original SMB as their first Mario game- but for me it was actually Super Mario Land! My sister had the double pack with a yellow Gameboy and both SML and SML2! Before I had a Gameboy of my very own I would sneak into her room after school and play on hers~

Always a good time when a new Splash Wave video drops. Kudos to your dedication to high production values. Even if it does take longer to make, it's much appreciated and has definitely garnered you a lot of fans.

Excellent video!

Amazing video again! How we took things for granted back in the day and how you show with this video how much work and intelligent minds were needed to provide the given art. Bedankt weer!

Fantastic work as always, and now I really have an urge to play Super Mario Land 2 again!

A *SINGLE* person was the pixel artist for Link's Awakening? Amazing ♥

Starting your day and knowing there is a new video by strafefox. What a perfect day ❤

I love this channel!

Fantastic work as always.

@strafefox

4 ай бұрын

Thanks so much!

Another amazing video. Thank you so much for always creating such amazing content.

@strafefox

5 ай бұрын

Thanks so much!