GuestLog in

Link Man

Levels: Eh

Graphics: Eh

Music: No Change

Enemies: No Change

Bosses: Eh (few room changes)

Weapons: Eh (ammo usage)

Castle: Eh

Difficulty: EASY

Comments: I feel kind of bad for dumping on a hack that has so much custom art put into it, but Link Man is not good at all. It's like 70-80% base Mega Man 3 with the odd enemy placed in here and there. The visuals receive a massive and thematic overhaul, but the hand-drawn art sticks out like pencil drawings in a painting, rarely managing to impress—if at all. The best part is seeing which enemies/bosses/weapons are related to which Zelda staples (Ganon sitting in Wily's saucer got a dry chuckle out of me), but that's about all the charm Link Man has. Without that novelty, you're just playing a really subpar version of Mega Man 3 (where you're bizarrely limited to 2 mega buster shots instead of 3).

Though I've been playing Zelda since the first one came out on the NES, I'm no Zelda fangirl; it has gotten to be a bit... oversaturated. Still, when I saw this, I couldn't help but give it a go on the premise alone. I wasn't really expecting that much, and yet, it's clear that a lot of love went into this. It isn't just the same Zelda content that's regurgitated time and again, but a thoughtful look at the series, were it crammed into a Mega-Man-shaped box. I never expected to see a goriya or hinox boss, that's for sure! Even the Doc Robots are handled very cleverly. The stages are neat ideas, too; my personal favorite is the Swamp Palace. If you like Mega Man, and are interested in Zelda lore - old Zelda lore - then I'd say to absolutely give this a try.