Link's Awakening Questions.

I did a play through of Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening recently. It is a game I have played through many times, and is likely my favorite of the 2d Zeldas. While playing I got thinking about what is happening in this game, and how there are many unanswered questions concerning the events of the game.

We are told through the course of the game that the island it take place on is a dream of a being known as the "Wind Fish". The rules of this dream are unclear. We are told that all that exists (other than Link) are all parts of this dream. The bosses at the end of each dungeon all mention being part of this dream, and work toward keeping the "Wind Fish" asleep. However, none of the people (or talking animals) of the island mention any knowledge of being part of a dream. So do these people actually breed, and age, and die? We see children as well as old people, there is a graveyard to be found, but did all of these things just appear when the dream started, or did they develop over time?  Have the children all been children for possibly hundreds of years as the "Wind Fish" took its nap?

More over we see ruins on the island. Here again, have they always been ruins, or have there been civilizations they have risen and fallen over time on this island? In one ruin we find literal writing on the wall that the island is a dream of the "Wind Fish". Did the first people as part of the dream know this, and write it down, or did this ruin materialize with the message already in it?

We also see an odd level of civilization on this isolated island. We see a guy running a shop with a huge mechanical arm that gives out prizes, but no where else do we see this level of technology. We see that there is a library, and telephones throughout the island, but we see no evidence of any carpenters or electricians. 

What do you call this?

Is there a term for a game that is very much like a "Legend of Zelda" game, without actually being part of that franchise? There are whole separate franchises that are like this, "Okami" springs to mind.  There however seems to be no single term that describes this.

I hear the term "action role-playing" thrown around, but it not nearly enough of the games in that category are in fact "Zelda-like". For example Square Enix's "Seiken Densetsu" (Secret of Mana) series is very much an "action role-playing" game, while being nothing like a "Zelda" game. Often these kind of games are much closer to true "role-playing" games, simply using a more action oriented style of combat.

Games which are "Zelda-like" are, but are not limited to, "Darksiders", "Recore", "Okami", "Beyond: Good & Evil". These games all feel so very much like "Zelda". They all involve progression based around exploration and the attainment of items of one sort or another. In these games every thing found allows greater access to the world in some way, might let you pass a barrier, might allow you to damage a formerly invincible foe. Often reward are there to be found if you backtrack with what you have newly acquired. 


The lack of a term for this phenomenon just struck me the other day, and it seems odd for the amount of time this has been happening. The first "Zelda" game came out in 1986, the first game to be "Zelda" without the name was also 1986.  It just seems we could use a simple term for this in gaming.