{"id":5370,"date":"2026-02-01T00:30:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T00:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/?p=5370"},"modified":"2026-02-01T03:09:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T03:09:27","slug":"sparklite-zelda-links-awakening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/archives\/5370","title":{"rendered":"Sparklite &#038; Zelda: Link&#8217;s Awakening"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I rolled the dice and purchased <b>Sparklite<\/b> this past month, after humming and hawing over the roguelite the past few years.  Five hours later, I got the platinum.<\/p>\n<p>My buddy&#8217;s Christmas gift arrived just afterwards: <b>The Legend Of Zelda: Link&#8217;s Awakening<\/b>.  Another game I&#8217;d been interested in playing, well, now I can!  A week of snow days at work helped facilitate a playthrough!  <\/p>\n<p>So &#8211; the question is: Which is the better Zelda game?  The answer, without question, <b>Sparklite<\/b>.  <\/p>\n<p>I haven&#8217;t the time now to dive into a full write-up, but some key points follow<\/p>\n<p><b>Sparklite<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fun, light combat\n<li>Meaningful upgrades\n<li>Enjoyable roguelite elements\n<li>Diverse biomes\n<li>Simple, trackable collectibles\n<li>Fantastic visuals\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Zelda<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bullshit 1993 level design\n<li>Awesome presentation\n<li>Where the fuck do I go now?\n<li>Obtuse and nonsensical\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now, I totally understand <b>Zelda&#8217;s<\/b> loyalty to its source material.  But as a gamer who didn&#8217;t play the 1993 game in 1993, I most certainly want nothing to do with 1993 design in 2026.  (yes, I know it came out seven years ago).  It was all just so absurd.  The early dungeons were fun, but dungeon 7, I&#8217;m looking at you &#8211; Holy shit, what bullshit.  It was one of those games that you complete and immediately say, &#8220;I want never to play this again.&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p><b>Sparklite<\/b> on the other hand, had its share of flaws, but was an enjoyable experience throughout.  I hardly put it down, and while the final trophies were a bit grindy, they weren&#8217;t necessary to complete the tale.  I had a great time playing this and I&#8217;m glad I dove in, despite reservations.  <\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/19c1717e00678-screenshoturl4187105570625667479.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/19c1717e00678-screenshoturl4187105570625667479-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-5387\" \/><\/a>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/19c1717d56217-screenshoturl3403856248619661782.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/19c1717d56217-screenshoturl3403856248619661782-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-5384\" \/><\/a>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/19c1717c8c160-screenshoturl5029426017912218439.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/19c1717c8c160-screenshoturl5029426017912218439-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-5386\" \/><\/a>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/19c1718b4c460-screenshoturl1287287978893144511.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/19c1718b4c460-screenshoturl1287287978893144511-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-5385\" \/><\/a>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192814-01kfr1gr97we8fbtq0gwp3pn0e4323118457735676774.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192814-01kfr1gr97we8fbtq0gwp3pn0e4323118457735676774-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-5376\" \/><\/a>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192819-01kfs5hfdphrwrzwyxjmsf4vzy8911556241256780189.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192819-01kfs5hfdphrwrzwyxjmsf4vzy8911556241256780189-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-5375\" \/><\/a>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192828-01kftn58d71j4asktw8yn43pm369117460382198801.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192828-01kftn58d71j4asktw8yn43pm369117460382198801-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-5374\" \/><\/a>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192855-01kg7xqwarem4mryrrvv2hdnv44463429334456209567.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192855-01kg7xqwarem4mryrrvv2hdnv44463429334456209567-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-5373\" \/><\/a>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192900-01kg7yykh55q0fbntbds5b4vd13453978138831952249.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192900-01kg7yykh55q0fbntbds5b4vd13453978138831952249-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-5372\" srcset=\"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192900-01kg7yykh55q0fbntbds5b4vd13453978138831952249-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192900-01kg7yykh55q0fbntbds5b4vd13453978138831952249-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192900-01kg7yykh55q0fbntbds5b4vd13453978138831952249-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192900-01kg7yykh55q0fbntbds5b4vd13453978138831952249-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260131192900-01kg7yykh55q0fbntbds5b4vd13453978138831952249.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I rolled the dice and purchased Sparklite this past month, after humming and hawing over the roguelite the past few years. Five hours later, I got the platinum. My buddy&#8217;s Christmas gift arrived just afterwards: The Legend Of Zelda: Link&#8217;s Awakening. Another game I&#8217;d been interested in playing, well, now I can! A week of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,15,4,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-worst","category-blog","category-games","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5370"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5388,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5370\/revisions\/5388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slateman.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}