‘Zelda wishes that the sometimes unreliable Link were just a wee bit stronger.’
In preparation for our Zelda Marathon podcast.
The collaboration between Nintendo and Capcom on The Legend of Zelda has led to the exploration of many concepts. If Capcom's first project, the Oracle trilogy (2001), was abbreviated, The Minish Cap seemed to be a more mature approach by Hidemaro Fujibayashi, which perhaps unwittingly closed a first era in the franchise's history. Designed to make the most of the 2D capabilities, The Minish Cap is fully aligned with the legacy of previous Capcom Zelda games; although the Western localisation has lost the thematic thread, it is worth noting that the Japanese subtitle for the Oracle games is Fushigi no Kinomi. The Minish Cap retains this element of amazement with Fushigi no Bōshi. The phrase immediately conjures up a collection of artistic works and emphasises an idea of wonder that is believed to be the essence of life.
The fushigi and fantasy worlds in Japanese art
The choice of the term fushigi can be seen as a pragmatic decision to follow the convention of the Zelda series, which has always used the possessive 'の' in its titles, as Miyamoto reminded Fujibayashi. At a deeper level, however, fushigi evokes an aesthetic tradition that dates back to the Heian period, before being actualised in recent decades. In the philosophy of Shinran (1173-1263), fushigi refers to that which cannot be grasped by the intellect, that which remains beyond human comprehension. In particular, human salvation depends on Buddha Amida's inconceivable Will (hongan no fushigi no jinriki), as well as his light that transcends understanding (fukashigi kō). Superficial acts of kindness are not enough: one must truly submit to Amida's Will, rejecting calculated actions (hakarai) and self-power (jiriki). [1] Shinran's thought was really an attempt to analyse the ethics of Japanese society and to deconstruct its rules.
The aura of mystery that surrounds the term fushigi is used today to mark the discrepancy with the rules and habits that have become customary. This can be illustrated by two contemporary examples that carry on this tradition of social critique. First, the term is central to the Japanese translation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by Sumiko Yagawa. She retains the title Fushigi no kuni no Arisu, given by Masao Kusuyama, and makes full use of the enchantment of fushigi to ‘[enable] a countercultural mode that liberates the imagination from routine prescriptions’. Fushigi no kuni no Arisu ‘should not be read only as entertainment or a storybook fantasy, but as a framework through which one acquires a fresh capacity to evaluate interpersonal relationships within society as a whole’ [2]. The fushigi no kuni is less a vain and illusory escape from the real world than a recontextualisation of the experiences of Japanese children and adolescents, as evidenced by the frequent use of the informal second person pronoun (anata), which equates the reader with one of Alice's confidants.
The same devices are used in the Ghibli films, where characters are taken out of their everyday lives to have wonderful adventures that allow them to reflect on themselves and the society around them – something that can also be found in the more realistic films, where the return to the countryside is a classic way of comparing customs. The most thoroughgoing film in this respect is certainly Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (2001), where the fantasy Japan of the Meiji era allows for a sharp critique of capitalism and its erratic progress. The behaviour of the Kaonashi, a purely fantastical creature, is transformed by its consumption by greedy individuals: it becomes possessive of Chihiro, reflecting the cycle of consumerism that reaches its peak in late capitalist societies. Symptomatically, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi is not a coming-of-age story, contrary to what American audiences might think. The original Japanese version has no dialogue in its final scene and does not emphasise Chihiro's experience; instead, the film is primarily a message to the viewer about a frenetic and disoriented society. Similar themes permeate the studio's other films, and it is not surprising to find the term fushigi in Joe Hisaishi's songs – Totoro is a mysterious encounter (fushigina deai), while for Chihiro it is existence (ikiteiru fushigi, shindeyuku fushigi) that is mysterious.
A gentle and vibrant world
This complex and intertextual aesthetic mythology, encapsulated in the term fushigi, is found in The Minish Cap. Without ever reaching the social critiques of the aforementioned works, the game delights in recontextualising Link in an environment that invites him and the player to become aware of their place in the world and their relationships with others. The player assumes the role of a young boy on a quest against Vaati, who seeks the Light Force to conquer the world after placing a curse on Zelda. Link is soon joined by Ezlo, a talking hat who helps him progress through Hyrule and into the Minish realm through portals found throughout the world. The title follows the traditional Zelda formula, with a series of dungeons interspersed with exploration of the overworld.
Immediately, The Minish Cap exudes an exceptional softness, supported by very expressive sprites, as well as pastel and shimmering colours. The characters embrace the graphic style of The Wind Waker (2002), making them always very lively. The fushigi is expressed by the contrast between big and small, but also by a constant interplay of references, which reflects a nostalgic love for a bygone era. The beginning of the game pleads in favour of this, with a particularly cheerful Zelda and a festival, which mimics the Millenial Fair of Guardia in Chrono Trigger (1995). There is a definite chemistry between the characters, as well as with Hyrule, supporting the verisimilitude of the universe and its inhabitants. Zelda is no longer the embodiment of a streamlined royal responsibility, but a character with her own agency, capable of marvelling at the world around her – anecdotally, this is also the angle taken by Akira Himekawa for the manga adaptation of Yottsu no Tsurugi Purasu (2005), where one page shows an ingenuous girl happily exploring the world with Link.
Calling for moderation and compassion towards people and the environment
Link's strong connection to the world around him – especially Hyrule Town – may echo Majora's Mask (2000), which deliberately designed Termina as a social dungeon. The Minish Cap proposes something similar, but with less emphasis on solving people's problems: to create happiness, all that is needed is to fuse two fragments of a Kinstone, which will bring luck and happiness to those who come together. These Fusions are sometimes necessary to obtain key items and progress in the game, but most are optional and simply open secret passages. The player is constantly invited to re-explore previous areas, which become denser after each Fusion. This maximalist philosophy of area design helps to create a relatively small kingdom of Hyrule, but one filled with many secrets that reward thorough exploration.
It is in the sections where Link becomes smaller that the game shines in its recontextualisation of the different environments. If Hyrule Town is already vibrant, with its NPCs going about their business and relocating as the player progresses, visiting the town as a Minish gives it a new vitality. As well as being able to explore back rooms, ceilings and small caves, different NPCs react differently. Animals that normally show their contentment to a normal Link will now talk to him or harass him. Cats and chicks are particularly playful and will be important creatures to avoid. These wonderful passages invite the player to rethink humans' place in the world and their relationship with the vegetal and animal worlds. Hyrule shines with a richness that must be cherished by all characters.
These ecological virtues echo the qualities of honesty and compassion that characterise the title. The Great Mayfly Fairy rewards an honest player, while the people of Hyrule show their appreciation for Link's help in the manner of the renowned Smith: Link respects the dignity that Hyrule bestows upon him when he helps the library find overdue books, and Anju stresses that it is pleasant to help fellow citizens. Instead, it is hubris that is constantly rebuffed: Ezlo laments his own vanity, and his hat shape is the punishment he receives for attempting to attain omnipotence, while Vaati is an illustration of greed, masquerading as human, but ultimately taking on inhuman forms – his monstrous transfiguration in the final battle is unstoppable as he transgresses the limits of natural harmony.
A game design between referential tributes and organic creativity
The Minish Cap is built around references, with relatively short sequences. Ignoring the side quests, the player quickly moves from the forest to the mountains, before gaining access to other very different areas. The pacing of the game is very similar to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996), which also relied on exceptional variety without ever lingering in one area. The Minish Cap also seems to borrow its humour and lengthy quests that span the entire game: the Goron quest can be started early, but cannot be completed until the final dungeon – and the Mirror Shield is only available after defeating Vaati. Similarly, interactions with Hyrule's inhabitants all have roots in previous games in the franchise, or even in other RPGs. The Melari's Mines are very similar to the Dwarven Hollow in Final Fantasy III (1990), and the very dense and lush nature of the Minish Woods and Lake Hylia, with their shaded colours, are reminiscent of Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana (1993), adding to the jumbled and sincere quality of the title, a sort of love letter to the entire production of 2D adventure games, be they action or RPG titles.
This fushigi approach allows the title to develop an aura that, while following in the footsteps of the Zelda franchise, brings a unique poetry to it. It is not so much the heroism of Link's quest that stands out, but the love that overflows from the world and its inhabitants. Exploration is always a pleasure, and the items support this experience perfectly: unlike other titles that have sometimes neglected certain items outside of dungeons, The Minish Cap manages to keep them relevant throughout the adventure – with the exception of the bow, which is overshadowed by the versatility of the boomerang. Fujibayashi has created unique items that are multi-functional and always essential for movement. The Gust Jar can be used to draw and repel elements and enemies, while the Cane of Pacci can be used to flip objects or create trampolines out of holes. Enemies can also be defeated in a variety of creative ways. In general, The Minish Cap rejects the idea of the sword as the main weapon as it has become established in 3D Zelda games: the sword is an item like any other, which the creative player can largely ignore if they use the rest of their arsenal wisely.
This emphasis on environmental puzzles throughout the overworld and the social construction of Hyrule contrasts with the dungeons, which are the weakest part of the title. Although there are six of them, they invariably follow a linear formula and seem to be little more than a series of obstacles that generally do not require exploration and understanding of the overall layout. The puzzles are generally simplistic and lack any real challenge. The Fortress of Winds fails to make the most of its vertical concept, and the Palace of Winds does little to disguise the fact that it is a long string of battles. While never terrible, these dungeons struggle to build effectively around their key concept, which can be a little frustrating: the idea behind the Temple of Droplets is great, but lacks finesse, while Deepwood Shrine has an interesting idea with the barrel, but it is secondary in the exploration of the dungeon. The Minish Cap fails to emulate the genius of Aonuma's dungeons, which, although working in 3D, had a much more holistic design: the GBA title focuses too much on micro-instances of gameplay.
Perhaps that was not its intention. The Minish Cap is first and foremost a unique setting and a tribute to a whole tradition of 2D games. Contrary to Fujibayashi's wishes, the Ultra Famicom never materialised, and the industry's efforts were largely focused on the novelty of 3D. In this respect, The Minish Cap is a summation, a nostalgic, fushigi work that closes an era before Twilight Princess (2006), the modern Zelda game fans had been waiting for. The title exudes a team's true love for the Nintendo franchise. Unlike many other games, Miyamoto never intervened to 'upend the tea table' [3], a testament to a successful vision. The game sometimes overemphasises its random mechanics, such as finding Kinstones for the Fusions, but it is hard to really fault it for that. The Figurines, already present in The Wind Waker, are here an opportunity for Fujibayashi to express his passion for Gunpla. The Minish Cap may not revolutionise the franchise nor the video game industry, but it leaves an indelible mark with its atmosphere. Its visual softness makes it a perfect graphic representative for the GBA, and Hyrule Town is undoubtedly the most vibrant and pleasant city in the series, a very special achievement.
__________
[1] Thomas R. Plant, Dualism and nondualism in the thought of Dionysius the Areopagite and Shinran Shōnin, PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, 2013, p. 40. Note that the term fukashigi is also used by Shinran and does not serve an exactly similar purpose; the topic is beyond the scope of this review, but see also Norihiko Kikumura, 「入出二門偈頌」における不思議と不可思議の研究, in 印度學佛教學研究, vol. 25, no. 1, 1976.
[2] Sean Somers, ‘Arisu in Harajuku. Yagawa Sumiko's Wonderland as Translation, Theory, and Performance’, in Cristopher Hollingsworth (ed.), Alice Beyond Wonderland: Essays for the Twenty-first Century, Iowa University Press, Iowa City, 2009, p. 200.
[3] Eiji Aonuma, Minish Cap - 2004 Developer Interview, on shmuplations, consulted on 4th March 2023.
In preparation for our Zelda Marathon podcast.
The collaboration between Nintendo and Capcom on The Legend of Zelda has led to the exploration of many concepts. If Capcom's first project, the Oracle trilogy (2001), was abbreviated, The Minish Cap seemed to be a more mature approach by Hidemaro Fujibayashi, which perhaps unwittingly closed a first era in the franchise's history. Designed to make the most of the 2D capabilities, The Minish Cap is fully aligned with the legacy of previous Capcom Zelda games; although the Western localisation has lost the thematic thread, it is worth noting that the Japanese subtitle for the Oracle games is Fushigi no Kinomi. The Minish Cap retains this element of amazement with Fushigi no Bōshi. The phrase immediately conjures up a collection of artistic works and emphasises an idea of wonder that is believed to be the essence of life.
The fushigi and fantasy worlds in Japanese art
The choice of the term fushigi can be seen as a pragmatic decision to follow the convention of the Zelda series, which has always used the possessive 'の' in its titles, as Miyamoto reminded Fujibayashi. At a deeper level, however, fushigi evokes an aesthetic tradition that dates back to the Heian period, before being actualised in recent decades. In the philosophy of Shinran (1173-1263), fushigi refers to that which cannot be grasped by the intellect, that which remains beyond human comprehension. In particular, human salvation depends on Buddha Amida's inconceivable Will (hongan no fushigi no jinriki), as well as his light that transcends understanding (fukashigi kō). Superficial acts of kindness are not enough: one must truly submit to Amida's Will, rejecting calculated actions (hakarai) and self-power (jiriki). [1] Shinran's thought was really an attempt to analyse the ethics of Japanese society and to deconstruct its rules.
The aura of mystery that surrounds the term fushigi is used today to mark the discrepancy with the rules and habits that have become customary. This can be illustrated by two contemporary examples that carry on this tradition of social critique. First, the term is central to the Japanese translation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by Sumiko Yagawa. She retains the title Fushigi no kuni no Arisu, given by Masao Kusuyama, and makes full use of the enchantment of fushigi to ‘[enable] a countercultural mode that liberates the imagination from routine prescriptions’. Fushigi no kuni no Arisu ‘should not be read only as entertainment or a storybook fantasy, but as a framework through which one acquires a fresh capacity to evaluate interpersonal relationships within society as a whole’ [2]. The fushigi no kuni is less a vain and illusory escape from the real world than a recontextualisation of the experiences of Japanese children and adolescents, as evidenced by the frequent use of the informal second person pronoun (anata), which equates the reader with one of Alice's confidants.
The same devices are used in the Ghibli films, where characters are taken out of their everyday lives to have wonderful adventures that allow them to reflect on themselves and the society around them – something that can also be found in the more realistic films, where the return to the countryside is a classic way of comparing customs. The most thoroughgoing film in this respect is certainly Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (2001), where the fantasy Japan of the Meiji era allows for a sharp critique of capitalism and its erratic progress. The behaviour of the Kaonashi, a purely fantastical creature, is transformed by its consumption by greedy individuals: it becomes possessive of Chihiro, reflecting the cycle of consumerism that reaches its peak in late capitalist societies. Symptomatically, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi is not a coming-of-age story, contrary to what American audiences might think. The original Japanese version has no dialogue in its final scene and does not emphasise Chihiro's experience; instead, the film is primarily a message to the viewer about a frenetic and disoriented society. Similar themes permeate the studio's other films, and it is not surprising to find the term fushigi in Joe Hisaishi's songs – Totoro is a mysterious encounter (fushigina deai), while for Chihiro it is existence (ikiteiru fushigi, shindeyuku fushigi) that is mysterious.
A gentle and vibrant world
This complex and intertextual aesthetic mythology, encapsulated in the term fushigi, is found in The Minish Cap. Without ever reaching the social critiques of the aforementioned works, the game delights in recontextualising Link in an environment that invites him and the player to become aware of their place in the world and their relationships with others. The player assumes the role of a young boy on a quest against Vaati, who seeks the Light Force to conquer the world after placing a curse on Zelda. Link is soon joined by Ezlo, a talking hat who helps him progress through Hyrule and into the Minish realm through portals found throughout the world. The title follows the traditional Zelda formula, with a series of dungeons interspersed with exploration of the overworld.
Immediately, The Minish Cap exudes an exceptional softness, supported by very expressive sprites, as well as pastel and shimmering colours. The characters embrace the graphic style of The Wind Waker (2002), making them always very lively. The fushigi is expressed by the contrast between big and small, but also by a constant interplay of references, which reflects a nostalgic love for a bygone era. The beginning of the game pleads in favour of this, with a particularly cheerful Zelda and a festival, which mimics the Millenial Fair of Guardia in Chrono Trigger (1995). There is a definite chemistry between the characters, as well as with Hyrule, supporting the verisimilitude of the universe and its inhabitants. Zelda is no longer the embodiment of a streamlined royal responsibility, but a character with her own agency, capable of marvelling at the world around her – anecdotally, this is also the angle taken by Akira Himekawa for the manga adaptation of Yottsu no Tsurugi Purasu (2005), where one page shows an ingenuous girl happily exploring the world with Link.
Calling for moderation and compassion towards people and the environment
Link's strong connection to the world around him – especially Hyrule Town – may echo Majora's Mask (2000), which deliberately designed Termina as a social dungeon. The Minish Cap proposes something similar, but with less emphasis on solving people's problems: to create happiness, all that is needed is to fuse two fragments of a Kinstone, which will bring luck and happiness to those who come together. These Fusions are sometimes necessary to obtain key items and progress in the game, but most are optional and simply open secret passages. The player is constantly invited to re-explore previous areas, which become denser after each Fusion. This maximalist philosophy of area design helps to create a relatively small kingdom of Hyrule, but one filled with many secrets that reward thorough exploration.
It is in the sections where Link becomes smaller that the game shines in its recontextualisation of the different environments. If Hyrule Town is already vibrant, with its NPCs going about their business and relocating as the player progresses, visiting the town as a Minish gives it a new vitality. As well as being able to explore back rooms, ceilings and small caves, different NPCs react differently. Animals that normally show their contentment to a normal Link will now talk to him or harass him. Cats and chicks are particularly playful and will be important creatures to avoid. These wonderful passages invite the player to rethink humans' place in the world and their relationship with the vegetal and animal worlds. Hyrule shines with a richness that must be cherished by all characters.
These ecological virtues echo the qualities of honesty and compassion that characterise the title. The Great Mayfly Fairy rewards an honest player, while the people of Hyrule show their appreciation for Link's help in the manner of the renowned Smith: Link respects the dignity that Hyrule bestows upon him when he helps the library find overdue books, and Anju stresses that it is pleasant to help fellow citizens. Instead, it is hubris that is constantly rebuffed: Ezlo laments his own vanity, and his hat shape is the punishment he receives for attempting to attain omnipotence, while Vaati is an illustration of greed, masquerading as human, but ultimately taking on inhuman forms – his monstrous transfiguration in the final battle is unstoppable as he transgresses the limits of natural harmony.
A game design between referential tributes and organic creativity
The Minish Cap is built around references, with relatively short sequences. Ignoring the side quests, the player quickly moves from the forest to the mountains, before gaining access to other very different areas. The pacing of the game is very similar to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996), which also relied on exceptional variety without ever lingering in one area. The Minish Cap also seems to borrow its humour and lengthy quests that span the entire game: the Goron quest can be started early, but cannot be completed until the final dungeon – and the Mirror Shield is only available after defeating Vaati. Similarly, interactions with Hyrule's inhabitants all have roots in previous games in the franchise, or even in other RPGs. The Melari's Mines are very similar to the Dwarven Hollow in Final Fantasy III (1990), and the very dense and lush nature of the Minish Woods and Lake Hylia, with their shaded colours, are reminiscent of Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana (1993), adding to the jumbled and sincere quality of the title, a sort of love letter to the entire production of 2D adventure games, be they action or RPG titles.
This fushigi approach allows the title to develop an aura that, while following in the footsteps of the Zelda franchise, brings a unique poetry to it. It is not so much the heroism of Link's quest that stands out, but the love that overflows from the world and its inhabitants. Exploration is always a pleasure, and the items support this experience perfectly: unlike other titles that have sometimes neglected certain items outside of dungeons, The Minish Cap manages to keep them relevant throughout the adventure – with the exception of the bow, which is overshadowed by the versatility of the boomerang. Fujibayashi has created unique items that are multi-functional and always essential for movement. The Gust Jar can be used to draw and repel elements and enemies, while the Cane of Pacci can be used to flip objects or create trampolines out of holes. Enemies can also be defeated in a variety of creative ways. In general, The Minish Cap rejects the idea of the sword as the main weapon as it has become established in 3D Zelda games: the sword is an item like any other, which the creative player can largely ignore if they use the rest of their arsenal wisely.
This emphasis on environmental puzzles throughout the overworld and the social construction of Hyrule contrasts with the dungeons, which are the weakest part of the title. Although there are six of them, they invariably follow a linear formula and seem to be little more than a series of obstacles that generally do not require exploration and understanding of the overall layout. The puzzles are generally simplistic and lack any real challenge. The Fortress of Winds fails to make the most of its vertical concept, and the Palace of Winds does little to disguise the fact that it is a long string of battles. While never terrible, these dungeons struggle to build effectively around their key concept, which can be a little frustrating: the idea behind the Temple of Droplets is great, but lacks finesse, while Deepwood Shrine has an interesting idea with the barrel, but it is secondary in the exploration of the dungeon. The Minish Cap fails to emulate the genius of Aonuma's dungeons, which, although working in 3D, had a much more holistic design: the GBA title focuses too much on micro-instances of gameplay.
Perhaps that was not its intention. The Minish Cap is first and foremost a unique setting and a tribute to a whole tradition of 2D games. Contrary to Fujibayashi's wishes, the Ultra Famicom never materialised, and the industry's efforts were largely focused on the novelty of 3D. In this respect, The Minish Cap is a summation, a nostalgic, fushigi work that closes an era before Twilight Princess (2006), the modern Zelda game fans had been waiting for. The title exudes a team's true love for the Nintendo franchise. Unlike many other games, Miyamoto never intervened to 'upend the tea table' [3], a testament to a successful vision. The game sometimes overemphasises its random mechanics, such as finding Kinstones for the Fusions, but it is hard to really fault it for that. The Figurines, already present in The Wind Waker, are here an opportunity for Fujibayashi to express his passion for Gunpla. The Minish Cap may not revolutionise the franchise nor the video game industry, but it leaves an indelible mark with its atmosphere. Its visual softness makes it a perfect graphic representative for the GBA, and Hyrule Town is undoubtedly the most vibrant and pleasant city in the series, a very special achievement.
__________
[1] Thomas R. Plant, Dualism and nondualism in the thought of Dionysius the Areopagite and Shinran Shōnin, PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, 2013, p. 40. Note that the term fukashigi is also used by Shinran and does not serve an exactly similar purpose; the topic is beyond the scope of this review, but see also Norihiko Kikumura, 「入出二門偈頌」における不思議と不可思議の研究, in 印度學佛教學研究, vol. 25, no. 1, 1976.
[2] Sean Somers, ‘Arisu in Harajuku. Yagawa Sumiko's Wonderland as Translation, Theory, and Performance’, in Cristopher Hollingsworth (ed.), Alice Beyond Wonderland: Essays for the Twenty-first Century, Iowa University Press, Iowa City, 2009, p. 200.
[3] Eiji Aonuma, Minish Cap - 2004 Developer Interview, on shmuplations, consulted on 4th March 2023.
I genuinely believe The Minish Cap is not only the best 2D The Legend of Zelda game, but the best game in the entire series.
The early-to-mid-2000s was such a damn magical time for Nintendo, especially for the Game Boy Advance. It was both a transition into modern games as we know them today and a generation shifting formulas. We saw this with games like Metroid Prime and Star Fox Assault changing the traditional designs of their originals, and it's been slowly working with The Legend of Zelda as well. And while Oracle of Ages & Seasons were only co-developed by Capcom, The Minish Cap takes on full direction from the Japanese studio, putting their feet to the ground to prove their worth.
The Minish Cap takes everything from previous 2D entries and, quite honestly, perfects it with fun and neat new tools at the player's disposal. You get your usual unique items for traversing the world and dungeons sure, with this adventure handing you things like the Gust Jar, Mole Mitts, and even Pegasus Boots. But this game takes things even further with the addition of creating projections of Link himself, which was introduced similarly in Four Swords Adventures prior, a neat mechanic that allows for even more deep exploration and puzzle-solving. The other main "gimmick" involves shrinking and growing Link using pedestals, which allow him to enter tiny crevices you wouldn't normally be able to access, essentially entering into smaller areas within large ones.
And if you thought all of that was enough, there are sidequests to be found everywhere, possibly the most of I've seen in this series (except for the recent Breath Of The Wild, of course), allowing you to upgrade your equipment, learn new attacks, and even collect little figurines. Even on top of all of this is the Kinstone trading system, a brilliant little side game where Kinstone pieces are dropped at random and used to unlock conversations and events with a wide variety of characters in the overworld. Truly addicting stuff and perfect for handheld play, with a story that isn't too overbearing and is perfectly paced.
Don't even get me started on the presentation either, because I can gush about it all damn day. To this day, I truly believe the Game Boy Advance is the peak for pixel art and design, and it shows in The Minish Cap. The pixel art is damn near gorgeous, borrowing a familiar vibrant palette from The Wind Waker and presenting itself with charming designs and incredible animation work. Especially when you shrink yourself down in size and explore tighter areas, the sense of scale is remarkable, usually pitting character sprites alongside much larger, more complex backdrops and setpieces. The music is no exception either, which is quite a surprise from composer Mitsuhiko Takano at Capcom. This is, overall, one of the best 2D Zelda presentations to date, and if you're looking for a game that truly takes advantage of Game Boy Advance hardware, look no further.
It's truly unfortunate that this is one of the few entries in The Legend Of Zelda series that isn't accessible nowadays, leading it to be a truly sleeper hit on every level. If you're going to experience a single game in this franchise, please trust me in saying this is the one you should be picking up.
A perfect video game.
The early-to-mid-2000s was such a damn magical time for Nintendo, especially for the Game Boy Advance. It was both a transition into modern games as we know them today and a generation shifting formulas. We saw this with games like Metroid Prime and Star Fox Assault changing the traditional designs of their originals, and it's been slowly working with The Legend of Zelda as well. And while Oracle of Ages & Seasons were only co-developed by Capcom, The Minish Cap takes on full direction from the Japanese studio, putting their feet to the ground to prove their worth.
The Minish Cap takes everything from previous 2D entries and, quite honestly, perfects it with fun and neat new tools at the player's disposal. You get your usual unique items for traversing the world and dungeons sure, with this adventure handing you things like the Gust Jar, Mole Mitts, and even Pegasus Boots. But this game takes things even further with the addition of creating projections of Link himself, which was introduced similarly in Four Swords Adventures prior, a neat mechanic that allows for even more deep exploration and puzzle-solving. The other main "gimmick" involves shrinking and growing Link using pedestals, which allow him to enter tiny crevices you wouldn't normally be able to access, essentially entering into smaller areas within large ones.
And if you thought all of that was enough, there are sidequests to be found everywhere, possibly the most of I've seen in this series (except for the recent Breath Of The Wild, of course), allowing you to upgrade your equipment, learn new attacks, and even collect little figurines. Even on top of all of this is the Kinstone trading system, a brilliant little side game where Kinstone pieces are dropped at random and used to unlock conversations and events with a wide variety of characters in the overworld. Truly addicting stuff and perfect for handheld play, with a story that isn't too overbearing and is perfectly paced.
Don't even get me started on the presentation either, because I can gush about it all damn day. To this day, I truly believe the Game Boy Advance is the peak for pixel art and design, and it shows in The Minish Cap. The pixel art is damn near gorgeous, borrowing a familiar vibrant palette from The Wind Waker and presenting itself with charming designs and incredible animation work. Especially when you shrink yourself down in size and explore tighter areas, the sense of scale is remarkable, usually pitting character sprites alongside much larger, more complex backdrops and setpieces. The music is no exception either, which is quite a surprise from composer Mitsuhiko Takano at Capcom. This is, overall, one of the best 2D Zelda presentations to date, and if you're looking for a game that truly takes advantage of Game Boy Advance hardware, look no further.
It's truly unfortunate that this is one of the few entries in The Legend Of Zelda series that isn't accessible nowadays, leading it to be a truly sleeper hit on every level. If you're going to experience a single game in this franchise, please trust me in saying this is the one you should be picking up.
A perfect video game.
Immediately apparent as one of the best looking games on the Gameboy Advance, but under the hood it’s filled to burst with creativity and charm.
The shrinking mechanic adds a consistent puzzle element across the world along with each dungeon, and the general controls and world design are among the most refined in the franchise.
The Kinstone system unfortunately led to many instances of slight disappointment otherwise not present in Zelda. “Oh man, just a kinstone?” was a fairly common sentiment running through my mind. That isn’t to say that the system is all bad, as using them can open up new areas or little puzzles to solve.
Despite that minor gripe, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is a can’t miss game, and it’s now one of my favorite Zelda titles. It’s a joy to play, which kept me from playing basically any other game from the moment I started it. Plus that mini Link sprite is, like, the cutest thing of all time.
The shrinking mechanic adds a consistent puzzle element across the world along with each dungeon, and the general controls and world design are among the most refined in the franchise.
The Kinstone system unfortunately led to many instances of slight disappointment otherwise not present in Zelda. “Oh man, just a kinstone?” was a fairly common sentiment running through my mind. That isn’t to say that the system is all bad, as using them can open up new areas or little puzzles to solve.
Despite that minor gripe, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is a can’t miss game, and it’s now one of my favorite Zelda titles. It’s a joy to play, which kept me from playing basically any other game from the moment I started it. Plus that mini Link sprite is, like, the cutest thing of all time.
Most underrated zelda game imo.On par with a link to the past.I have always had a tough time choosing between these two as my fav zelda.I do think minish cap is objectively a better zelda gameplay wise,whereas a link to the past was revolutionary and sooo many precious memories with that one <3
Makes thorough use of it’s shrinking mechanic to deliver some creative dungeons, the Fortress of Winds is a series standout for me. I also like how the items you find have a lot of use outside their intended dungeons, this game feels a lot more metroidvania-like than the other Zeldas. That said, I hate the kinstone feature, and I think the bosses lack the creativity of the dungeons.
nintendo, bring back 2d zelda games, you absolute cowards.
My replay ruined it. It’s not as great as I remembered. Too short, too handholding, too unspectacular.
This was the first Zelda game I ever beat way back when. I remembered so little of it that I couldn't even remember how much I liked it or not, so this was less of a "does it still hold up" and more of a "was it even good?". Turns out, it's very good.
I love the art style of this game, it's so vibrant and colourful. The shrinking mechanic also leads to some incredible pixel art when you end up in "close up" view so regular items are drawn as towering over you. Even when not in a close up view, I love how Link is just a few pixels on the screen, with the indicator of where he is by a speech bubble with Links head in it.
It's a relatively small world, but it's packed with so much content, so many secrets, so many reasons to re-explore old areas with new items that it doesn't waste a single bit of the small size.
I'm a big fan of the dungeons and item selection in this game too.
My only real issue with the game is that they didn't let you assign an item to the L button, meaning you have exactly 2 buttons for all of your items - one of which is your sword so realistically you're working with only 1 spare button most of the time. Luckily switching items from the menu is very fast and it never felt pace-breaking to me; I just find it weird they had an entire other button to use and just ignored it.
Some of the things for 100% are also tedious. The figurine "quest" is a very slow, very grindy process. Then there's the Kinstone fusions, an idea I love with how they can give you more heart pieces, expand the world by adding characters to areas, or even progress little plotlines of their own. But they stuffed too many of them in, and as a result a lot of kinstone fusions just lead to more kinstones which is like the epitome of padding.
I love the art style of this game, it's so vibrant and colourful. The shrinking mechanic also leads to some incredible pixel art when you end up in "close up" view so regular items are drawn as towering over you. Even when not in a close up view, I love how Link is just a few pixels on the screen, with the indicator of where he is by a speech bubble with Links head in it.
It's a relatively small world, but it's packed with so much content, so many secrets, so many reasons to re-explore old areas with new items that it doesn't waste a single bit of the small size.
I'm a big fan of the dungeons and item selection in this game too.
My only real issue with the game is that they didn't let you assign an item to the L button, meaning you have exactly 2 buttons for all of your items - one of which is your sword so realistically you're working with only 1 spare button most of the time. Luckily switching items from the menu is very fast and it never felt pace-breaking to me; I just find it weird they had an entire other button to use and just ignored it.
Some of the things for 100% are also tedious. The figurine "quest" is a very slow, very grindy process. Then there's the Kinstone fusions, an idea I love with how they can give you more heart pieces, expand the world by adding characters to areas, or even progress little plotlines of their own. But they stuffed too many of them in, and as a result a lot of kinstone fusions just lead to more kinstones which is like the epitome of padding.
A mecânica de ficar pequeno é muito divertida e bem aproveitada pelos puzzles, os segredos e principalmente pelos bosses. A quantidade de equipamentos muito legais de se usar, as Kinstones que é algo tão maravilhoso nesse jogo e o sentimento de progressão por conseguir determinado item e passar de certa parte é mágico. Sem falar nos gráficos, muito coloridos e com uma arte sensacional, a trilha sonora é perfeita também, o esperado de um Zelda.
Following Majora's Mask I decided to replay Minish Cap, since it was a game I was thinking about replaying for the first time in years and cause I've seen some people express ambivalence to it for a couple of years... and after finishing it 100%^, I can see why that is the case, and also why I only really remember the story and setting.
Now granted, it's easy to see how this is one of the stronger cult hit (would it be right to describe it as that?) in the franchise. The aesthetics still hold up so strongly today, the setting and use of Minish and this iteration of Hyrule are very cool and make for some really nice worldbuilding, and both Vaati and Ezlo are some of the more interesting and cool characters in the series, even if they're a bit underutilized in the grand scheme. The shrinking gimmick said Minish provides is something I oddly found to be pretty good, they use it for most cases and there was rarely a time I thought it was pretty arbitrary. It's also nice to play another Zelda game where item usage is very recurring, whether or not that's cause of the 2D nature
Outside of that though... idk, I like it and it provided a decent time, but I can't say anything more than that. The ideas are there, and there's nothing truly awful, but likewise nothing really struck out to me as "wow that was great!" like the past few Zelda games. You could say it's because I'm playing a 2D game now instead of a 3D one, but even then from what I've seen from AlttP, Link's Awakening and the Oracle duology, they play around with the 2D aspect in a much more fun and rewarding way.
I thought Kinstone fusions would suck big-time since that's a go-to criticism, but honestly they're OK. I do hate how the rewards are generally more rupees, shells, or Kinstone pieces, but considering they pretty much loop back to finding another person and fusing them together, also how abundant they are in dungeon and side activities, it's fine, plus Red and Blue fusions more or less being regulated to upgrades and a general growth to the world made that tedium a little easier to digest. Shells are awful though, having to spend several minutes using them for a slot machine to get 130 items necessary for a Heart Piece is the most tedious and aggravating aspect I faced in these 100%^ runs so far, and the fact that my options are to either grind or save scum just made it worse.
All that, coupled with other annoyances like how handholdy this game gets (seriously I did not remember how much obvious dialog was forced onto the player), aside, I still like the game, but it's definitely not one I feel strongly in revisiting.
^ = TECHNICALLY I didn't do 100%, there's medals for getting every Kinstone Fusions, and post-game unlocks like the Mirror Shield and more figurines needed for a medal, but considering those are mainly there for bragging rights, I think I'm fine in saying I at least "mastered" it w/ every Heart, every Tiger Scroll, and every upgrades collected.
Now granted, it's easy to see how this is one of the stronger cult hit (would it be right to describe it as that?) in the franchise. The aesthetics still hold up so strongly today, the setting and use of Minish and this iteration of Hyrule are very cool and make for some really nice worldbuilding, and both Vaati and Ezlo are some of the more interesting and cool characters in the series, even if they're a bit underutilized in the grand scheme. The shrinking gimmick said Minish provides is something I oddly found to be pretty good, they use it for most cases and there was rarely a time I thought it was pretty arbitrary. It's also nice to play another Zelda game where item usage is very recurring, whether or not that's cause of the 2D nature
Outside of that though... idk, I like it and it provided a decent time, but I can't say anything more than that. The ideas are there, and there's nothing truly awful, but likewise nothing really struck out to me as "wow that was great!" like the past few Zelda games. You could say it's because I'm playing a 2D game now instead of a 3D one, but even then from what I've seen from AlttP, Link's Awakening and the Oracle duology, they play around with the 2D aspect in a much more fun and rewarding way.
I thought Kinstone fusions would suck big-time since that's a go-to criticism, but honestly they're OK. I do hate how the rewards are generally more rupees, shells, or Kinstone pieces, but considering they pretty much loop back to finding another person and fusing them together, also how abundant they are in dungeon and side activities, it's fine, plus Red and Blue fusions more or less being regulated to upgrades and a general growth to the world made that tedium a little easier to digest. Shells are awful though, having to spend several minutes using them for a slot machine to get 130 items necessary for a Heart Piece is the most tedious and aggravating aspect I faced in these 100%^ runs so far, and the fact that my options are to either grind or save scum just made it worse.
All that, coupled with other annoyances like how handholdy this game gets (seriously I did not remember how much obvious dialog was forced onto the player), aside, I still like the game, but it's definitely not one I feel strongly in revisiting.
^ = TECHNICALLY I didn't do 100%, there's medals for getting every Kinstone Fusions, and post-game unlocks like the Mirror Shield and more figurines needed for a medal, but considering those are mainly there for bragging rights, I think I'm fine in saying I at least "mastered" it w/ every Heart, every Tiger Scroll, and every upgrades collected.
most underrated zelda by far
One of the key elements that makes the zelda games so special is the way they stimulate you to change perspective in order to advance in the adventure and discover secrets: in "A Link to the Past" this is done by switching between two different dimensions, in "Ocarina of Time" by traveling between different time phases, while in "The Minish Cap" you can take the form of tiny creatures that perceive the game world from a completely different viewpoint, enriching the exploration in an incredibly stimulating way. The overall design is absolutely on the level of the best Zelda chapters and the gameplay experience is very rich and satisfying, not at all trivialized by subsisting on a handheld console: adorable, full of secrets to discover and just plain fun.
I think this is my favorite implementation of the 2D Zelda formula to date, even if it's a bit easy to complete and short in duration.
Giving Link a Souls-Dodge-Roll and a wide, 180 degree sword swing makes combat a lot more accessible and strategic than LTTP or the other handheld 2D adventures. I got into some tough-ass fights which felt thrilling, especially toward the endgame. The dungeons can vary between "slightly difficult" and "a cakewalk," but the overworld itself has a lot of tricks up its sleeve that encourage you to think critically as you try to get from one plot beat to another.
I was there when the internet went up in arms over "Celda," but I think it's hilarious that not only has the Toon Link visual style prevailed, but that it probably looks the BEST in the 2D top down format. Even under the pixelated constraints of the GBA, this has a wonderfully distinct look that charms and delights.
I regret sleeping on this for as long as I did. A wonderful and pleasant adventure!
Giving Link a Souls-Dodge-Roll and a wide, 180 degree sword swing makes combat a lot more accessible and strategic than LTTP or the other handheld 2D adventures. I got into some tough-ass fights which felt thrilling, especially toward the endgame. The dungeons can vary between "slightly difficult" and "a cakewalk," but the overworld itself has a lot of tricks up its sleeve that encourage you to think critically as you try to get from one plot beat to another.
I was there when the internet went up in arms over "Celda," but I think it's hilarious that not only has the Toon Link visual style prevailed, but that it probably looks the BEST in the 2D top down format. Even under the pixelated constraints of the GBA, this has a wonderfully distinct look that charms and delights.
I regret sleeping on this for as long as I did. A wonderful and pleasant adventure!
Not the most memorable Zelda, but the GBA charm is undeniable, and the shrinking gimmick leads to some very fun puzzles. Do NOT bother with the statue machine heart piece though, not worth it at all
O melhor Zelda 2D da franquia.
I had a minor operation on my back and got seven stitches, and afterward the doctor told me not to do anything too strenuous. I decided to just game the rest of the day thinking that would be preferable to like working out or biking, but while I was finishing this game up I apparently leaned back in my desk chair so hard it made a bunch of blood squeeze out of my stitches and ruined the special disappearing bandages the doctor put on before. There was a huge stain on the back of my chair and I thought the stitches had straight up popped. I found out they were thankfully still intact when I went to urgent care but they had to do the special dressing all over again. I give this game four out of five stars.
The Minish Cap is, regardless of anything, the best 2D Zelda ever made. The mechanics are fun and creative. The combat is perfect, and the art style is quite possible the most beautiful thing to have even been put on the GBA. A must play.
absolutely jarring to me how this is not sitting in the best of bests zelda games altar but I'm also knowledgeable about the fact that every single zelda game is a banger so its pretty hard to make a top currently for me since as of yet nothing came close to the almighty twilight princess i love that game to death its fucking unreal and only because theres furry wolf link and hes kinda hot
minish cap gets back to the usual 2D formula and thats mainly why I made this big of a leap forward in time in the marathon because I just wanted to explore the 2D topdown games before getting into lush 3D beauty that will inexorably make me play skyward sword which is weird because everyone hates it but some close friends say its good so i dont know what do think5
for a game that mainly feels like a classic zelda it's incredible how much innovation can be done with just ONE additional mechanic (ok maybe 2 but we are not gonna talk about the multiplying link aspect here) like the very simple aspect of allowing link to shrink to millimeters can release a lot of possibilities for the game designers to exploit and thats so fucking genius
mostly I'd like to talk about something else first the art design of this game is absolutely unmatched the pixel art is incredible and jaw dropping to the point that I can say that its one of the most beautiful games I've seen in the GBA hardware and maybe in terms of pixel art one of the sickest to ever be made its absurd every single frame of the game can be screencapped printed and hung to a wall in a national gallery and people would say “oui oui i love this Monet” like every single environment is full of details here and there the main places you will traverse have a vibrancy and an attention to color and hue that its honestly just honey for your eyes theres absolutely no way that somebody will play this game WITHOUT tearing their hair off at how splendid all of this is it doesnt make sense how jaw dropping it is now the animations of the characters are full of life and thats true but i found pretty weird that some characters have some black outlines and others just bland with the environments behind them which is kind of a weird contrast but i didnt mind it that much because again the eye candy is real like look at this
that being said i wont just be all the day here telling you how great the art direction is because i got other things to do even though thats hard to believe
gameplay is usual zelda i wont give you the basic notions BUT somehow i must say that all the items are some of my favorite ones till now theyre really cool and make for a great arsenal of tools every time i say arsenal i think about ratchet and clank up your arsenal which i just realised it means up your ass im so quirky teehee
the dungeons are really interesting in this one because theyre arguably less than the usual number of dungeons in other games but literally EVERYTHING you do in this game is a puzzle literally you will just walk around the overworld and theres always something blocking your way its unreal and also theres something that i call the pre dungeons areas which also do act a bit as dungeons themselves like youre gonna get inside a dungeon and youll feel like all youve been doing is being in a dungeon and solving puzzle and that should be ideally a problem for me since i hate puzzles but its really a good fuel for my adhd since youre just gonna be occupied with a puzzle during the entire playthrough but whatever yeah and the main dungeons are good i guess i mean none of them are the ice palace of alttp so i can say that theyre really good maybe sometimes they will become a bit confusing or too long in general but whatever its not like the other games are better
something that was really weird is that since the overworld is pretty small compared to other games due to the gba factor they put a lot of shit to discover and to discover even MORE stuff theres a mechanic called fusion which was really weird every time i used it since i always thought about sex ??? idk im going crazy dont talk to me so whatever using some stones you will find throughout the game you can fuse them with stones that other characters have and make some stuff appear into the world idk how this works but it works and its just gonna fill the game with even more stuff its unreal
the story is also pretty simple and straightforward but i really loved how the town is brimming with charming characters the little hat is super charismatic and has an interesting backstory and relationship with link and i love links little hair in this one hes so fucking cute what the HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLL so anyway zelda is also extra charismatic and possibly my favorite iteration of the character till now shes so cute and just wants to be freed from her princess duties and dance in the matsuri also am i the only one or the beginning of the game feels exactly like the first 20 minutes of chrono trigger maybe im going crazy
so umh yeah the music is good as always i cannot really say anything in particular since this is just usual the legend of zelda music with new arrangements and OF COURSE its gonna be good like theres nothing quite like zelda music we already know that
yeah mmmmmmmmmmm idk i forgot what else i wanted to say but basically i love every single part of this game to death and the minish are the cutest zelda race till now if it werent for rito being super fuckable i want to suck every rito ever off its unreal umh sorry i meant this game is really good play it teehee
also upgrading your moveset is rad
minish cap gets back to the usual 2D formula and thats mainly why I made this big of a leap forward in time in the marathon because I just wanted to explore the 2D topdown games before getting into lush 3D beauty that will inexorably make me play skyward sword which is weird because everyone hates it but some close friends say its good so i dont know what do think5
for a game that mainly feels like a classic zelda it's incredible how much innovation can be done with just ONE additional mechanic (ok maybe 2 but we are not gonna talk about the multiplying link aspect here) like the very simple aspect of allowing link to shrink to millimeters can release a lot of possibilities for the game designers to exploit and thats so fucking genius
mostly I'd like to talk about something else first the art design of this game is absolutely unmatched the pixel art is incredible and jaw dropping to the point that I can say that its one of the most beautiful games I've seen in the GBA hardware and maybe in terms of pixel art one of the sickest to ever be made its absurd every single frame of the game can be screencapped printed and hung to a wall in a national gallery and people would say “oui oui i love this Monet” like every single environment is full of details here and there the main places you will traverse have a vibrancy and an attention to color and hue that its honestly just honey for your eyes theres absolutely no way that somebody will play this game WITHOUT tearing their hair off at how splendid all of this is it doesnt make sense how jaw dropping it is now the animations of the characters are full of life and thats true but i found pretty weird that some characters have some black outlines and others just bland with the environments behind them which is kind of a weird contrast but i didnt mind it that much because again the eye candy is real like look at this
that being said i wont just be all the day here telling you how great the art direction is because i got other things to do even though thats hard to believe
gameplay is usual zelda i wont give you the basic notions BUT somehow i must say that all the items are some of my favorite ones till now theyre really cool and make for a great arsenal of tools every time i say arsenal i think about ratchet and clank up your arsenal which i just realised it means up your ass im so quirky teehee
the dungeons are really interesting in this one because theyre arguably less than the usual number of dungeons in other games but literally EVERYTHING you do in this game is a puzzle literally you will just walk around the overworld and theres always something blocking your way its unreal and also theres something that i call the pre dungeons areas which also do act a bit as dungeons themselves like youre gonna get inside a dungeon and youll feel like all youve been doing is being in a dungeon and solving puzzle and that should be ideally a problem for me since i hate puzzles but its really a good fuel for my adhd since youre just gonna be occupied with a puzzle during the entire playthrough but whatever yeah and the main dungeons are good i guess i mean none of them are the ice palace of alttp so i can say that theyre really good maybe sometimes they will become a bit confusing or too long in general but whatever its not like the other games are better
something that was really weird is that since the overworld is pretty small compared to other games due to the gba factor they put a lot of shit to discover and to discover even MORE stuff theres a mechanic called fusion which was really weird every time i used it since i always thought about sex ??? idk im going crazy dont talk to me so whatever using some stones you will find throughout the game you can fuse them with stones that other characters have and make some stuff appear into the world idk how this works but it works and its just gonna fill the game with even more stuff its unreal
the story is also pretty simple and straightforward but i really loved how the town is brimming with charming characters the little hat is super charismatic and has an interesting backstory and relationship with link and i love links little hair in this one hes so fucking cute what the HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLL so anyway zelda is also extra charismatic and possibly my favorite iteration of the character till now shes so cute and just wants to be freed from her princess duties and dance in the matsuri also am i the only one or the beginning of the game feels exactly like the first 20 minutes of chrono trigger maybe im going crazy
so umh yeah the music is good as always i cannot really say anything in particular since this is just usual the legend of zelda music with new arrangements and OF COURSE its gonna be good like theres nothing quite like zelda music we already know that
yeah mmmmmmmmmmm idk i forgot what else i wanted to say but basically i love every single part of this game to death and the minish are the cutest zelda race till now if it werent for rito being super fuckable i want to suck every rito ever off its unreal umh sorry i meant this game is really good play it teehee
also upgrading your moveset is rad
I have officially beaten all the 2D Zeldas! (besides four swords i guess(wait does phantom hourglass count as 2D or 3D))
This was super fun! I like how they had multiple gimmicks in this game instead of just one. The cloning and the shrinking were both neat and were never frustrating. This is a more linear Zelda game that felt smaller in scale and I like that! Just a cute little romp where you get to play as Toon Link. There were also some really good dungeons and mini-dungeons. Wind Palace was sick just on the aesthetic alone.
Being the last of the 2D Zelda games I played, there just wasn't really anything groundbreakingly new for me. I've seen it all before :P Also, just like most Zelda games, there are moments of confusion where I can't figure out where to go in the overworld between dungeons, which are my favourite parts of the games.
Overall, this is still a super fun romp and severely underrated! I literally have never heard anyone talk about this game.
This was super fun! I like how they had multiple gimmicks in this game instead of just one. The cloning and the shrinking were both neat and were never frustrating. This is a more linear Zelda game that felt smaller in scale and I like that! Just a cute little romp where you get to play as Toon Link. There were also some really good dungeons and mini-dungeons. Wind Palace was sick just on the aesthetic alone.
Being the last of the 2D Zelda games I played, there just wasn't really anything groundbreakingly new for me. I've seen it all before :P Also, just like most Zelda games, there are moments of confusion where I can't figure out where to go in the overworld between dungeons, which are my favourite parts of the games.
Overall, this is still a super fun romp and severely underrated! I literally have never heard anyone talk about this game.
Zelda has become more and more of a truly wonderful experience the more of them I play and I was ready to finally dive into one of the best 2D games in the series I have heard from many people. Crazy how my first time ever hearing about this game was seeing the open game box in a Wal-Mart bathroom stall after somebody decided to use the five finger discount. All-in-all I did thoroughly enjoy it, however, I was not expecting a game that literally puts a puzzle in place to nearly do anything in the game. From finding out how to get to every dungeon or getting a specific item to access a certain area. A good bit of them were very kryptic at times and caused me to throw in the towel and head to Zeldadungeon.net to see the solution to a puzzle I would never have guessed. Certainly my biggest complaint regarding this one and became an ongoing frustration that took me longer than expected. To be fair, it is my first time playing the game so it does kind of happen and I do feel as though you can really get a better experience by playing alot of these Zelda games a second time! Music was wonderful, loved hearing the new Hyrule town music as well as old school tunes back from one of my favorites “A Link to the Past.” The Lake Hylia and Wind Fortress dungeons were some of the most fun I had with the game as well as a different type of sword system and plot points that weren’t about the master sword for a nice change of pace! Pretty cool different villian for the series and it would be wonderful to see this get a similar type of “Link’s Awakening” remake treatment. A must play for any Zelda fan obviously, just be sure to keep a guide handy this time around.
This is where 2D retro graphics peaked. The music and sounds of this one bring so much peace to my heart and soul. This game was made with so much love. But the Kinstones were really annoying to collect.
Such a comfy Zelda game.
Sure it's not everything people love from these games, it's stripped way back for the GBA, but I like it for exactly that reason.
This was the first Zelda game I actually beat by myself. It didn't make me feel overwhelmed and unengaged.
every other Zelda game for me went like this: man this game is cool, shame I'll never finish it.
until this one.
This one just hit right, and made me feel cool.
Sure it's not everything people love from these games, it's stripped way back for the GBA, but I like it for exactly that reason.
This was the first Zelda game I actually beat by myself. It didn't make me feel overwhelmed and unengaged.
every other Zelda game for me went like this: man this game is cool, shame I'll never finish it.
until this one.
This one just hit right, and made me feel cool.
One of the only Zelda games I've ever beat but I loved this game and definitely would play again
Easily the most under appreciated Zelda experience that you need to play. If this would have come out on a home console I think it would be mentioned as one of the all timers in the Zelda series.
I’m glad I finally got around to this one! I had a significant portion of my life where I just did Not get on with Zelda, so I unfortunately skipped things like this and Wind Waker even though I really probably shouldn’t have. Though I think that Minish Cap wouldn’t have clicked with me as well then as it does now. Minish Cap is endlessly charming, and while I do kind of get some of the criticisms (along with having several of my own) I’m glad I got a chance to play it. It’s definitely shorter than your average Zelda, but it really is jam-packed with secrets.
Perhaps… too many secrets. Kinstones are an idea that I like in theory but feel got to be a little too much in practice, particularly since it feels like more sidequests are time gated than your usual Zelda. I missed out on a cool endgame power up because I wasn’t sure how to deal with a sidequest, only to find that you can get locked out of it if you progress the story too much. I know this probably isn’t unique to this game but it feels a little more egregious than I usually expect from Zelda.
Aside from that, though, I thought the dungeons and environments were really creative, especially with the gimmick of switching between normal sized and teeny tiny! It’s really cute that you end up fighting bugs and stuff when you’re a Little Guy, and I really like that they decided to make several normal monsters into gigantic boss fights in dungeons where you’re small. The only issue I had was the context sensitivity of the R button, honestly. There were a few times I found myself switching back to Big/Small when I just… wanted to roll away from the Magical Size Platform. I mean, it’s a Zelda game. You should ALWAYS be rolling. If Link isn’t constantly yelling HYAH HUH HYAH HYAH then like, are you even playing Zelda? I think not.
The story itself isn’t particularly complex, but it’s pretty charming. I like Vaati alright, he’s a pretty decent villain even if he’s not a top favorite. Toon Link is SO cute, and the artwork is beautiful. Love them little pixel representations of Wind Waker designs. The Minish are also extremely good little guys, I love their designs! I also loved fun flavor things like the Swiftblade newsletters. What a good in-game hint system. I even liked Ezlo okay, although there was one thing that I rather disliked about him, which is that he’d offer advice without prompting before I even tried out the puzzle. I guess it’s an accessibility/playtesting thing, but come on, it’s Zelda. This is a game about puzzles. Let me mess around before giving me a hint.
I also have mixed feelings on the Four Sword gimmick, which is that it’s a REAL pain in the ass when they start mixing it into boss fights towards the end of the game. Having to babysit your shadow clones so they don’t vanish out of existence is a fun little puzzle when you’re in a dungeon and you can take your time, but it was by far the most frustrating part of the final boss fight.
Perhaps… too many secrets. Kinstones are an idea that I like in theory but feel got to be a little too much in practice, particularly since it feels like more sidequests are time gated than your usual Zelda. I missed out on a cool endgame power up because I wasn’t sure how to deal with a sidequest, only to find that you can get locked out of it if you progress the story too much. I know this probably isn’t unique to this game but it feels a little more egregious than I usually expect from Zelda.
Aside from that, though, I thought the dungeons and environments were really creative, especially with the gimmick of switching between normal sized and teeny tiny! It’s really cute that you end up fighting bugs and stuff when you’re a Little Guy, and I really like that they decided to make several normal monsters into gigantic boss fights in dungeons where you’re small. The only issue I had was the context sensitivity of the R button, honestly. There were a few times I found myself switching back to Big/Small when I just… wanted to roll away from the Magical Size Platform. I mean, it’s a Zelda game. You should ALWAYS be rolling. If Link isn’t constantly yelling HYAH HUH HYAH HYAH then like, are you even playing Zelda? I think not.
The story itself isn’t particularly complex, but it’s pretty charming. I like Vaati alright, he’s a pretty decent villain even if he’s not a top favorite. Toon Link is SO cute, and the artwork is beautiful. Love them little pixel representations of Wind Waker designs. The Minish are also extremely good little guys, I love their designs! I also loved fun flavor things like the Swiftblade newsletters. What a good in-game hint system. I even liked Ezlo okay, although there was one thing that I rather disliked about him, which is that he’d offer advice without prompting before I even tried out the puzzle. I guess it’s an accessibility/playtesting thing, but come on, it’s Zelda. This is a game about puzzles. Let me mess around before giving me a hint.
I also have mixed feelings on the Four Sword gimmick, which is that it’s a REAL pain in the ass when they start mixing it into boss fights towards the end of the game. Having to babysit your shadow clones so they don’t vanish out of existence is a fun little puzzle when you’re in a dungeon and you can take your time, but it was by far the most frustrating part of the final boss fight.
become smallest little guy gimmick
aww, you're sweet
copy gimmick and kinstone gimmick
hello, human resources!?
aww, you're sweet
copy gimmick and kinstone gimmick
hello, human resources!?
I found my original Game Boy Advance cartridge of this game...hidden inside a secret compartment of a drawer-thing that sat on top of my desk. It was absolutely covered in dust, and I'd literally thought I sold it fifteen years prior. I'm so glad I (still) own my original copy of this game, because it's one of my favorite Zeldas ever. Top 5 for sure, since games like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom don't personally appeal to me. Give me top-down and linear stuff any day of the week, tbh.
My favorite 2D Zelda so far. It's reasonably short and straight forward, which some people may dislike coming from entries like Link to the Past. However, I think the linearity of the game lends to its biggest strength: the dungeons. Because the game is very linear, the dungeons take into account what items you will have at that point and design puzzles and bosses and enemies around using specific items that you've gathered up to that point, rather than just focusing on whatever the dungeon item is. Between dungeons, you'll usually get an item or two as well, and this allows the dungeons to incorporate a wide array of items prior to even getting the dungeon item. The story is roughly the same as other entries: Zelda is in a bad way, go beat up an evil sorcerer to save her.
I vastly prefer the combat in this game to ALttP, even if I tend to think Zelda has fairly barebones and boring combat. The semi-circle swing as opposed to the quarter-circle swing feels much more natural to me, although I will admit this was the first Zelda I ever beat so that may be why I feel that way. From early on the game you're introduced to multiple enemies that you have to disarm using the wind sucker thing, or some you just can't fight yet because you don't have the boomerang or bow. I'm a big fan of these types of enemies because it makes the combat feel like a bit of a puzzle, however trivial, instead of just "Mash Sword For X Hits."
The minish gimmick is fine. It isn't intrusive and adds a layer of challenge to traversing dungeons, specifically the earth dungeon where you have to go through parts you've already explored, but tiny. The overworld parts of being tiny kinda sucked, but it was still fun to explore the world within the world provided.
The kinstone pieces are...definitely in the game. They serve as a way to elongate the game and remind me of the treasure charts in Wind Waker, except in Wind Waker sailing around could actually be fun sometimes. Walking around Hyrule was pretty boring for me, so I very rarely went back to actually locate whatever my kinstone reward was unless I was trying to figure out how to progress and stumbled across it. I've heard mixed opinions on kinstones in the past, but they didn't really make my experience any better or worse since I didn't engage with them in "100%ing Minish Cap" kind of way.
Overall, pretty solid game that I can see myself returning to in another few years. Ezlo is cool.
I vastly prefer the combat in this game to ALttP, even if I tend to think Zelda has fairly barebones and boring combat. The semi-circle swing as opposed to the quarter-circle swing feels much more natural to me, although I will admit this was the first Zelda I ever beat so that may be why I feel that way. From early on the game you're introduced to multiple enemies that you have to disarm using the wind sucker thing, or some you just can't fight yet because you don't have the boomerang or bow. I'm a big fan of these types of enemies because it makes the combat feel like a bit of a puzzle, however trivial, instead of just "Mash Sword For X Hits."
The minish gimmick is fine. It isn't intrusive and adds a layer of challenge to traversing dungeons, specifically the earth dungeon where you have to go through parts you've already explored, but tiny. The overworld parts of being tiny kinda sucked, but it was still fun to explore the world within the world provided.
The kinstone pieces are...definitely in the game. They serve as a way to elongate the game and remind me of the treasure charts in Wind Waker, except in Wind Waker sailing around could actually be fun sometimes. Walking around Hyrule was pretty boring for me, so I very rarely went back to actually locate whatever my kinstone reward was unless I was trying to figure out how to progress and stumbled across it. I've heard mixed opinions on kinstones in the past, but they didn't really make my experience any better or worse since I didn't engage with them in "100%ing Minish Cap" kind of way.
Overall, pretty solid game that I can see myself returning to in another few years. Ezlo is cool.
I grew up without any handheld gaming systems, and because of this I never had the ability to play The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. The game's screenshots and videos had me so intrigued: the mechanic allowing Link to shrink down to miniscule size sounded unique and inventive, and the graphics looked stunning (especially when Link shrunk down in size and real-world objects looked huge next to him). With no way of playing it I more-or-less forgot about, but I recently saw that it was available on the 3DS so I decided to finally give it a go.
I was hooked from the get-go. The first thing that got me was the game's incredible graphics. Minish Cap has a look quite similar to Wind Waker but in 2D. Everything was colourful and vibrant and the sprite and world design was fantastic throughout. It was so neat to see how different aspects of the world change depending on if Link was his normal size or if he was shrunken down to Minish size. Also, I was contantly surprised by how this was a GBA game. I didn't realize this handheld console was capable of making games look this nice!
The gameplay was a lot of fun too. Minish Cap plays just like any other 2D Zelda game, but the developers did enough to make the gameplay feel fresh. The new tools were pretty unique and they made exploring the dungeons and the overworld a lot of fun. I really enjoyed each of the game's dungeons. There weren't enough of them, but the puzzles within them were never overly complicated but they used the acquired tools in interesting ways. The dungeon boss battles were very well designed and were a definite highlight of the game.
While there is a lot to love about Minish Cap there is one glaring issue: it is short. I saw the credits roll at about 10 or 11 hours in, which is primarily caused by the lack of dungeons. The game only has four of them, and while they were great fun, a few more would have been appreciated. Completionists will get a couple more hours out of the game as there is a fair amount of additional content to unlock (heart containers, keystone matching, collectible trophies, etc.), but the adventure ends too quickly for those just playing through the main story and doing some of the side content.
Despite its short playtime I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Minish Cap. The game has a beautiful look to it, the gameplay is solid, the shrinking/growing mechanic is used in inventive ways, the puzzles are satisfying to solve, and the boss fights were very enjoyable. Minish Cap is definitely one of the best 2D Zelda games ever made. I highly recommend it for fans of the series.
I was hooked from the get-go. The first thing that got me was the game's incredible graphics. Minish Cap has a look quite similar to Wind Waker but in 2D. Everything was colourful and vibrant and the sprite and world design was fantastic throughout. It was so neat to see how different aspects of the world change depending on if Link was his normal size or if he was shrunken down to Minish size. Also, I was contantly surprised by how this was a GBA game. I didn't realize this handheld console was capable of making games look this nice!
The gameplay was a lot of fun too. Minish Cap plays just like any other 2D Zelda game, but the developers did enough to make the gameplay feel fresh. The new tools were pretty unique and they made exploring the dungeons and the overworld a lot of fun. I really enjoyed each of the game's dungeons. There weren't enough of them, but the puzzles within them were never overly complicated but they used the acquired tools in interesting ways. The dungeon boss battles were very well designed and were a definite highlight of the game.
While there is a lot to love about Minish Cap there is one glaring issue: it is short. I saw the credits roll at about 10 or 11 hours in, which is primarily caused by the lack of dungeons. The game only has four of them, and while they were great fun, a few more would have been appreciated. Completionists will get a couple more hours out of the game as there is a fair amount of additional content to unlock (heart containers, keystone matching, collectible trophies, etc.), but the adventure ends too quickly for those just playing through the main story and doing some of the side content.
Despite its short playtime I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Minish Cap. The game has a beautiful look to it, the gameplay is solid, the shrinking/growing mechanic is used in inventive ways, the puzzles are satisfying to solve, and the boss fights were very enjoyable. Minish Cap is definitely one of the best 2D Zelda games ever made. I highly recommend it for fans of the series.
Before the days of the Switch, the lines between console and handheld gaming were much more defined. Console games represented the cutting edge, they felt boundless and expansive. Handheld gaming on the other hand, was a medium defined by its restrictions. These games were small, both in terms of storage space and literal screen real size. They had to be designed to be compact, with shorter on-the-go play sessions in mind. As a kid, that didn’t really bother me. The convenience of being able to play video games in my bed trumped any interest in spectacle. But I think there’s also a real magic to handheld games, one that’s kind of been lost to time. There’s an intimacy to the experience, that tiny screen so close to your eyes, the speakers right next to your ears, the entirety of the system in your hands. It felt oddly personal, these miniature worlds you can fit in your pocket, seemingly crafted just for you.
I think about that a lot when replaying Minish Cap, a game that revels in its smallness. Its map is tiny but dense, inviting you to appreciate the nooks and crannies just as much as the larger picture. Thats where this iteration of Hyrule truly comes alive, a land that breathes in its smallest moments. The size-changing mechanic is more than just a gimmick, it’s a statement. This a game about appreciating scale, about minding the little details all around you. Behind every character, every wall, every tree stump could be a connection, a secret, an adventure, hidden in plain sight. While I’ve certainly explored bigger games, few are those I feel as close to as this one. Every pixel feels familiar, like I’ve traveled through it a million times before. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to travel through it a million times more.
I think about that a lot when replaying Minish Cap, a game that revels in its smallness. Its map is tiny but dense, inviting you to appreciate the nooks and crannies just as much as the larger picture. Thats where this iteration of Hyrule truly comes alive, a land that breathes in its smallest moments. The size-changing mechanic is more than just a gimmick, it’s a statement. This a game about appreciating scale, about minding the little details all around you. Behind every character, every wall, every tree stump could be a connection, a secret, an adventure, hidden in plain sight. While I’ve certainly explored bigger games, few are those I feel as close to as this one. Every pixel feels familiar, like I’ve traveled through it a million times before. If I’m lucky, I’ll get to travel through it a million times more.