How to play The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on Mac

Game summary

Link has washed ashore on a mysterious island with strange and colorful inhabitants. To escape the island, Link must collect magical instruments across the land and awaken the Wind Fish. Explore a reimagined Koholint Island that’s been faithfully rebuilt in a brand-new art style that will entice fans and newcomers alike. Battle enemies as you conquer numerous dungeons and uncover the hidden secrets of the island. Encounter Super Mario enemies like Goombas, Piranha Plants, and more, and interact with unique locals who help Link on his adventure. As you clear dungeons throughout the main story, earn dungeon rooms (Chambers), then arrange them into custom layouts in the all-new Chamber Dungeon. Place your dungeon entrance, Nightmare room, and everything in between as you try to fulfill objectives and play through a new dungeon. Tap compatible amiibo figures to earn more Chambers and and additional Chambers throughout the game in updated mini-games, such as the river rapids, trendy game, and fishing.
First released: Sep 2019

Play The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening like you would on any PC.
Did it work?
Help us improve our guide by letting us know if it worked for you.
👎👍