Eric Barone's genre-defining farming sim Stardew Valley is most obviously inspired by Harvest Moon, but it also has plenty of The Legend of Zelda's DNA buried beneath the surface. That makes sense considering Barone's long history with the Zelda series, and now we can point to a specific game that made him fall in love in the first place: Link's Awakening, specifically the Game Boy version.
Talking to Game Informer for a story celebrating '40 years of Zelda's Legend', Barone named Link's Awakening his all-time favorite Zelda game. It's not necessarily a controversial pick, but it is fairly uncommon. We ranked Link's Awakening at number four, behind Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, and A Link to the Past, in our ranking of the best Zelda games, and even that feels a little high compared to general public opinion.
