Yes, Mina the Hollower is a love letter to Game Boy Zelda titles. It's also a 2D Soulslike, a top-down Castlevania, and somehow, something all its own. You can probably find a precedent for every mechanic here, to the point where it's almost impossible to discuss Mina the Hollower without invoking other games. But it manages to avoid feeling derivative by offering a tremendous amount of choice and variety in how you engage with those systems.
Shovel Knight, the previous project from developer Yacht Club Games, found similar success in remixing ideas from many of the best games of the NES era. But while Mina the Hollower takes some obvious cues from classic handheld Zelda titles, you need to know right now: this is not just an indie follow-up to Link's Awakening. Mina is, well, meaner, and if you're looking for a Nintendo-style blend of breezy overworld exploration and lightly challenging exploration, you're going to be disappointed. It's not a challenge on the level of, say, Hollow Knight: Silksong, but it will absolutely kick your teeth in if you're not willing to meet it on its own terms.
