16 years after the release of Link’s Awakening, someone’s finally released a patch restoring the saucy bits Nintendo of America cut to make the game more appropriate for the conservative U.S. audience.

In the North American version, the alligator artist in Animal Village paints a hippo model that sits down as you approach her (see bottom set of sprites in post image). Aside from the bow in her hair, she’s sexless. The Japanese version, however, gives her a hint of bosom and drapes her with a cloth cover, suggesting she’s a nude model.

Another edit U.S. copies received is the mermaid’s missing “necklace,” which she needs to sit on her favorite rock. In the Japanese edition, she’s actually lost her top. The restoration patch brings back those segments and relevant dialogue, and also fixes a typo and introduces a cave that was removed from the original game.

The patch is available for both the original Link’s Awakening and the DX release for GBC. Artemis251, who created the fix, has a lot of other curious items on his site for the game, like a Save Editor and a collection of unused sprites/rooms found in the game’s cartridge.

Preorder: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Dec. 7)

See also: Castaway Boy Keith, a Zelda clone for the Game Boy from Epic/Sony

[Via ROMhacking]

tags / the legend of zelda / links awakening / patch / homebrew / game boy / ec