This remake of a Gameboy game passes the vibe check.
Link: Counterculture Warrior
I feel like whoever "discovered" that Pink Floyd and The Wizard of Oz kinda/sorta match up (only if it's on vinyl AND you're high as a plane) but I'll present my findings anyway.
Link's Awakening is full of not-so-subtle references to drug use. And they're adorable.
Cocainecoon
The clearest evidence comes from a cute little mission involving Tarin, a young father who was turned into a cuddly widdle raccoon. It starts with this incredibly specific dialogue that would feel right at home in The Wire.
Find the hallucino-gem
You're supposed to find a mushroom, turn it into magic powder and blow it up the raccoon's nose. Sure, it sounds like a night out with Hunter S. Thompson but it's a kid's game. This is totally innocent, right?
Then they use the word "mellow" and alarms start going off again.
A 20-sack of magic
So you take the special, glowing, blacklight-poster mushroom to a witch who cooks it into a "magic powder" like it's an episode of Breaking Bad - and then she says the most damning thing ever...
"Stay for a while, I think the cops are watching my pad"
"Why not try a bit in my hut?"
If you ever bought pot in the early 2000s from a paranoid burnout with a Fear And Loathing poster and a burned Phish CD you probably heard this line verbatim.
Free Tommy Chong
Anyway, you blow the "magic powder" in Tarin's face like you're Ike Turner and he turns into Cheech Marin who explains that this whole thing was caused by magic mushrooms because OF COURSE IT WAS.
I don't think that was a micro-dose, Tarin.
So Tarin comes down from his scary trip safely, surrounded by friends, and returns to his family. It was touch-and-go for a moment, but overall he had a good time.
Good vibes only
As you press on, there's more magic powder, fairies in bottles (absinthe?), and of course, whatever the hell Crazy Tracy is on.
To be clear, I don't think anyone's trying to push drugs to kids in this game. I think people who make games (or books or music or whatever) sometimes do drugs and then they put them into their art.
Play Freebird!
Most of the time drug references are a bummer. They're overly moralistic, or terrifying, or they're all-in on drug use which makes them completely annoying. Link's Awakening is one of the few things that gets them just right.
They make them cute.
What else would you expect from a game that's about putting a magical band together?