That’s one thing I always like about handheld games during that era especially the Zelda and Mario Land games. They weren’t under the thumb of the original developers that created the series so they were willing to take more risks.
I read in some interviews about the development of A Link to the Past they wanted to allow the player to map any item to either Y or B but Miyamoto made them change it back to just allowing an item equipped to Y and the sword always being equipped.
Link’s Awakening is next on my list, I’ve just started it and I’m looking forward to the rest of it!