Recently I borrowed my partner's copy of Links Awakening for the Nintendo Switch. I understand that many people did not enjoy the remake due to the graphics but I am one of the weirdos who somewhat enjoys the cutesy round graphics with the intense depth of field / forced perspective look. From a pure graphical standpoint I think this is a really good way of remaking a top down GB / GBC game for a new platform. I similarly enjoyed Pokémon Alpha Sapphire's graphics despite many others not enjoying them.
I think this has to be one of the most frustrating remakes I have played in recent history, solely for the inability to use the dpad for 8 direction movement. I am not against the remake using the joystick for movement, for example the aforementioned Pokémon game alows for the circle pad and the dpad to be used (for 360 degree movement and 8 direction tile based movement). My frustration with the controls in link's awakening is the forced use of the joystick with 8 direction tile based movement. What could have otherwise been an enjoyable experience is made more difficult, and leaves me wondering why I am not playing the original on my 3ds instead.
I do really enjoy many of the QoL improvements in the remake, the graphics, and the music. I also appreciate having the X and Y buttons available unlike the original gameboy versions. I'm still going to power through it, but sadly the GBC version is going to be the definitive version for me despite this version coming so close for me.
I'm curious, my playthroughs of both the original and the remake were so long ago - but does D-pad movement buy the player anything? I agree it's rather silly that it's not an option, but I don't remember being hampered by the control scheme in any way.
It doesn't add anything unless you have the muscle memory for the dpad movement over joystick for 8 direction input. I just find it awkward, and can't switch directions as fast. The corner zones also feel a little off compared to the cardinal directions, but this is likely just my muscle memory hampering me and not the game itself.
I feel like my issues with it are definitely nit-picky, and I can definitely see others enjoying the game and not caring whatsoever. I guess I just find it frustrating that a $79.99 CAD remake doesn't allow for both input methods.
For example I know my partner enjoyed playing with the joystick. And in other games like cuphead that give you the option he still played with the joystick instead of the dpad. Perhaps I'm just a little stubborn :p
About the only rationale I can think of is the joystick being better then the joycons dpad for movement, particularly when inputting two directions at once. I personally use a pro controller so I don't personally suffer from that in games where I use dpad, but I assume most people just stuck with joycons outside of the more "hardcore" switch owners.