Simply one of the best action / adventure game

This success, it is due to meet three factors.

1 - the excellent gameplay.
In 1993, "Awakening" is the fourth Zelda made by Nintendo, and it obviously benefits from all previous experience on home episodes.
If there is some specific course, the basis remains that of the excellent "A Link to the Past" released just a year before.

2-1 carrying mind-blowing.
If one recovers in 1993, we must recognize that the graphics of "Awakening" were surprising. Sprites are a little bigger and monochrome, but roughly we find the visual style of "A Link to the Past" ... while the little Gameboy is comparable in power to a NES.
Few Gameboy games that support the comparison. One can of course include "Mario Land 2" and "Wario Land", but I do not think a third-party publisher ever reached such a level of mastery on this hardware.

Let us add also the presence of two superb cinematic introduction and conclusion, the second being frankly moving - even 20 years later.
And the excellent soundtrack, including the superb walk-fish dream! What memories!

3 - the scenario.
"Awakening" has received special care in terms of the screenplay - and great freedom of writing.
The scenario is a call to dream and poetry, and is borrowing an unpublished romance on a Nintendo game.
The hero of the quest is closely linked to the fate of the inhabitants of Koholint, endearing characters living on a strange island.

In addition to its romantic scenario Awakening also includes tasty pretty funny dialogues with replicas and references to other Nintendo licenses.
Note also that other game characters will also make a small appearance here and there, sometimes on a letter, sometimes in a dungeon.

Today, it is surprising that Nintendo does not give more importance to the writing of his games (screenplay, dialogues).
If "Awakeking" marked many players, it is precisely because the story told was exciting, whimsical and peppered with humor.
And precisely because of that we can still take pleasure in a game that has almost 20 years and whose "soul" has not taken a wrinkle.

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Concerning DX Version:

In 1998, Nintendo released a deluxe edition colors for Gameboy Color: Link's Awakening DX (recently released on the 3DS Virtual Console).
Some changes or additions can be reported in addition to the colors:
- An additional dungeon whose game mechanics involve the "color"
- Changed some lines of text (or censored ... it's all about perspective)
- Some graphics optimizations
- The quest for the photographer (which prints pictures with the specific printer GameBoy - which is not possible with the 3DS)

Difficult to advise one or the other of these versions ...
It all depends on your interest in the series and consoles you have.
He who does not know the series will probably turn to the DX version 3DS - because it is easier to access and runs on a recent hardware
The collector-gamer will probably be tempted by both versions, considering the historical interest of the UK version of the Visual DX versions.