The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is easily one of my favorite games in the Zelda franchise. When the remake came out for the Switch in 2019, I was amazed by how unique the experience felt. The classic Zelda gameplay and emphasis on exploration was intertwined with this mysterious, unorthodox story that hit me in a way no other Zelda game has. Link's Awakening remains one of the most original entries in the Zelda franchise, and it's a game I still return to on a regular basis.

That being said, there's one fairly lackluster aspect of the Switch remake that has always been at the back of my mind. Despite my frustration with this part of Link's Awakening, I continuously found myself returning for more, with no idea as to why. Now, after 5 years of playing this game, I've finally realized that this single mode in Link's Awakening, despite its flaws, is merely a showcase of what the Zelda series might have in store. And now, I'm more excited about the franchise's future than ever before.

I Couldn't Enjoy Link's Awakening's Dungeon Maker

The Mode Ended Up Being Far Too Restrictive

The dungeon maker in the Link's Awakening remake piqued my interest when it was first announced. While I'm not the best at other level-creator games like Super Mario Maker, the idea of being able to design your own dungeons was too tantalizing to resist. So, when I finally got the game and the opportunity arose, I went straight towards Dampé's Shack and dove straight into the dungeon maker, only to be disappointed by the end result.

The dungeon maker in Link's Awakening is highly restrictive in its design. Creating a dungeon consists of choosing from a number of tiles, each of which represents a pre-made room that's likely ripped straight out of the game's nine different dungeons, and putting them together in a certain arrangement. Not only does the player have no control over the contents of each room, but the pre-determined placement of doors and chests means that your arrangement cannot be completely random, further restricting the freedom that a level creator should provide.

Playing other s' custom dungeons was also severely restricted in Link's Awakening on the Switch. The ability to share arrangements was locked behind a Link's Awakening amiibo, limiting players' accessibility to other people's dungeons.

It didn't take long for me to get frustrated at the dungeon maker in Link's Awakening. The unnecessary hurdles that I was forced to overcome only to make an arrangement that merely resembled an awkward rendition of dungeons I had already visited made for a system that was tedious and unrewarding to engage with. After slogging my way through the pre-set challenges to get all the various rewards, I quickly abandoned the dungeon maker and moved on to complete my playthrough of Link's Awakening, feeling disheartened by the mode's lackluster offerings.

A Zelda Dungeon Maker Has Huge Potential

Custom Dungeons Have This Sense Of Unfamiliarity

Since its release, I've completed multiple playthroughs of Link's Awakening on the Switch, each time begrudgingly making my way to Dampé's Shack to complete his challenges. Yet, with each subsequent playthrough, I found myself sticking with the dungeon maker for longer each time, experimenting with the wide array of tiles to make my own arrangements. I struggled to understand what was compelling me to give this mode more chances, since my frustrations over its restrictive nature never changed. That was, until my most recent playthrough at the end of 2024, when the reason finally hit me.

Dungeons are easily one of the best parts of any Zelda game, as they're emblematic of what makes the series so enjoyable. Exploring a dungeon for the first time is often incredibly exciting and rewarding, as you're encouraged to unravel every part of the area in search of keys, treasures and other secrets. However, if you're someone like me, who tends to revisit Zelda games on multiple occasions, that excitement and incentive to explore dwindles with each playthrough as you become more familiar with the dungeon layout and the secrets hidden inside, losing what makes them so special.

I found myself completely attached to this unfamiliarity in the dungeon maker mode.

That's what was encouraging me to return to the dungeon maker so often: unfamiliarity. As restrictive as the mode may be, and as repetitive as it is to explore the same rooms that are seen in the main dungeons of Link's Awakening, the multitude of possible arrangements means that I was never entirely certain what was waiting for me around the corner. In my most recent playthrough, I found myself completely attached to this unfamiliarity in the dungeon maker mode, providing a refreshing change of pace from exploring Link's Awakening's major dungeons that I had begun to speed through.

Having come to this realization, my perspective on the dungeon maker in Link's Awakening quickly shifted. I no longer looked at the mode as a failed experiment but instead merely as a starting point. It is a great showcase of the potential that a Zelda dungeon maker possesses, and how it can encapsulate those same feelings of unfamiliarity and need to explore that you only get when traipsing through a dungeon for the very first time.

I Hope The Dungeon Maker Gets Brought Back

The Mode Should Allow For More Creative Dungeon Designs

While the dungeon maker hasn't made an appearance since Link's Awakening, I'm still hopeful and excited about this mode making a possible comeback. The ability to create and share unique dungeon layouts would add a huge amount of replay value to future Zelda games, maintaining that sense of discovery that's core to the series. Even now, having played through Link's Awakening multiple times, that nervous, excited feeling I get venturing into the unknown never wavers when playing through a new arrangement, and that's what makes the dungeon maker so special.

Of course, there are a number of improvements that should be made to the dungeon maker to avoid the same frustrations that Link's Awakening caused. Mainly, the mode should give players more freedom over item and enemy placement, alongside more options in of the dungeon's layout. In doing so, it would allow for custom Zelda dungeons with a greater amount of visual and mechanical creativity, which would make them far more enjoyable and rewarding to design and explore.

Regardless, it's clear that the dungeon maker in Link's Awakening has changed my outlook not just on the Switch remake, but on the Zelda series as a whole. Even during the weakest parts of any Zelda game, the experimentation and desire to challenge series conventions that I ire about the franchise remains ever-present. I may not be the biggest fan of the dungeon maker in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, but its hidden potential has me excited about where the Zelda series could take this idea next.