Reviews from

in the past


There was a point in time after I initially completed the 3ds remake of Ocarina of Time when I was fascinated with Zelda and was clamoring for more. However, there was a problem, I was a kid who only got money on a few occasions throughout the year. Because of this inconvenience, it took me a pretty long while before I finally got to purchase most of them, but by that time, the Zelda craze I had was long gone so I didn't get far into playing them. Now that I've finally beaten Wind Waker, all I can say is I wish I played this sooner.

In terms of visuals, Wind Waker is a game that I personally don't think needed too much of an improvement as it still looks a lot more presentable than og OoT and MM partly in thanks to its cartoonish art style. Even with that in mind, the remake was still successful in improving how the game looks since it looks more beautiful than ever in HD.

For the most part, it's your typical 3d Zelda which pretty much entails that you will be exploring the overworld doing quests, venturing through dungeons, and solving puzzles. There is one key difference though and that is how you explore the overworld, sailing. It may not always be the most convenient way of traveling as you will have to change the direction of the wind multiple times, but exploring the seas is a fresh take for Zelda that I still enjoyed. The dungeons in the game were pretty enjoyable and filled with plenty of puzzles that while not absurdly difficult or cryptic will still kick your noggin into gear. Another thing that I wanted to point out is how quickly you go from each dungeon. While I did enjoy exploring around Hyrule in OoT and doing certain tasks before exploring dungeons, I still appreciated that you pretty much just go from one dungeon to the next until a certain infamous part of the game.

The Triforce quest while significantly toned down in this version based on what I've read was still an annoyance. Having to find the Triforce charts adds a repetitive step in getting the Triforce pieces and having Tingle decipher the Triforce charts is not cheap and also makes the quest more bothersome. The reduced amount of 3 charts to find and as a result, the fewer amount of times you have to visit the weird fairy-obsessed man, luckily only makes the whole quest slightly annoying. I can't imagine what it was like in the GameCube version knowing you have to find 8 charts and spend a ridiculous amount of rupees to decipher them all.

Triforce quest aside, its a fantastic Zelda game, GameCube game, and an even more fantastic Wii U game.

(5-year-old's review, typed by her dad)

You get to throw pigs into the water and also you can swim while holding pigs! And also you can run away from the island! But also you have a timer when you're gonna drown. You can only run away from the island when you're SWIMMING. Hee-hee!

a game so good it's the best game on two separate platforms.

My favorite entry in the series and one that I think should be played by all. This remake brought new life into the classic 2002 game with its new updated graphics, while still keeping the charm of the original's style. Though not adding much in terms of content, the base game itself is perfect, an epic tale with amazing combat, items and iconic characters. And the sea travel is my favorite mode of transportation in the entire series, as the sea is full of mystery and perils, making this game truely feel alive.

It’s a very charming Zelda game. Great music, a very expressive art style. I’ve never noticed how much of a sequel this was to Ocarina of Time. Quite satisfying for me to have some sort of acknowledged continuity. I only had a few issues in my adventure on the great sea, one major factor being pacing. It just felt that the pacing was a bit off during this game. Especially the Triforce collecting sequence. Some of the trials for these shards just felt uninspired. The Earth and Wind Temple weren’t really well designed imo. It’s strange that bird lady is sage of the Earth Temple and the tree lad is sage of the Wind Temple. These are just my issues I had during my personal experience with the game, and I understand not everyone will feel the same in these regards. There was one thing I especially loved about this game though, the final act.

The final act was purely captivating. I was tearing up just reading Ganondorf’s monologue. Very well spoken, as if you can actually feel the emotion of his words through the voiceless text. This Ganondorf has earned my admiration.


This is a beautiful, fantastic game that improves on the original with some QOL tweaks. I love nearly everything about it, but it has the weakest dungeons of any 3D Zelda game.

Dragon Roost - 7/10
Forbidden Woods - 7/10
Tower of the Gods - 7/10
Forsaken Fortress - 8/10
Earth Temple - 6/10
Wind Temple - 5/10
Ganon's Tower - 7/10

They're mostly "fine", with the Earth and Wind temples just being a drag every time I replay the game.

I love everything in the overworld and all the collectibles and quests. People complained about all the sailing when this first came out, but honestly I could cruise the Great Sea forever. Some of those temples just bring down an otherwise impeccable experience.

Wind Waker é um game que deixa o jogador bem confuso após terminar. Enquanto é lindo com uma mensagem bela e dungeons tão divertidas, é perceptível a falta de tempo que teve para o desenvolvimento. O oceano poderia ser mais rico em conteúdo, o jogo deveria contar com mais dungeons as quais foram cortadas e reformular a temida missão da Triforce da Coragem. Uma pena que o antigo conceito dos personagens envelhecerem durante a aventura não pôde tomar prioridade, pois seria incrível essa dinâmica e traria um sentimento incrível de fim de jornada.

O Remaster faz um bom trabalho ao adicionar itens novos, ter um inventário rápido e deixar a quest da Triforce mais dinâmica, porém ainda é ridículo a forma que o jogador deve descobrir onde os pedaços estão e completar o mapa com o peixe fomento maldito é muito demorado e chato. Caso você use um guia as coisas ficam bem mais toleráveis e até um pouco divertidas.

Por fim, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker é um jogo muito divertido e todo fã da franquia deveria dar uma chance para essa aventura tão bela, sutil e engraçada. Esse título prova que até em momentos de crise, o time por trás de The Legend of Zelda consegue fazer um jogo bom.

Aside from the bloom, this is a great remake, and, if played for the first time like me, a truly amazing Zelda game with full of charm and interesting locations. One thing I hated was the process of getting some heart pieces, especially the ship minigame.

Well, this is going to be the first time I do this


I’m not extremely interested in reviewing video games, but they’re few that I actually would like to review, and in this case, it’s this absolutely under appreciated gem, Wind Waker, after my most recent play through, it has become my favorite Zelda game ever made, now OOT, MM, ALTTP, TP, and all the others I’ve played are fantastic, but wind waker to me is on a whole other level.

So, let me explain why


I guess a good thing to start off with would be the story, we start off on a simple adventure to save Link’s sister after a bird captured her, but things quickly unravel into an absolutely phenomenal tale, with some pretty unexpected twists, fantastic spectacle, a beautiful sense of scope and adventure, and of course, extremely sad emotional moments, but what really makes this story are the characters, now the Zelda series has had its fair share of great characters, and wind waker follows this as well, Medli is absolutely wonderful, she might be the best out of all the new characters, I like her design a lot and she’s really well defined as a character, same with Makar, he’s just so damn cute, Link’s sister is great for the two minutes we see her, other characters like Valoo, the Deku tree, Jabun, all the characters on the islands, the ritos, the other Koroks, you don’t see a lot of these guys, but thanks to their fantastic designs, you can distinguish each character and even their personalities, god there’s just so many, my only real flaw is that I wish we saw a little more personality from a few, like the pirate crew, what little we see is great, but I mostly can only pin down Niko and Gonzo’s personalities, the rest just kinda do nothing, only on my most recent play through did I learn that there was a character named Zuko, he literally doesn’t have a line in the game, the only reason I know his name is thanks to a letter sent by Link’s sister, he literally doesn’t speak, poor pirate named Zuko, he’s got it pretty rough.......buddy (HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA).
Now, with all the minor ones out of the way, now it’s time for the big four, let’s start with pirate turned princess, Tetra

She’s another character we don’t see a lot, but even with just a few scenes, we see a nice arc throughout the game, she’s kind of an asshole at the beginning, but as the game goes on, she starts to sympathize with Link and even help him, with stuff like giving him a head start with the third pearl, or even helping him out with chasing the bird away, hell, Link didn’t even ask or anything, she just did it, it’s clear to see that she actually cares about others, admittedly, when she turned into Zelda I’d thought she’d become generic, but that last cutscene before the final fight is proof that this ain’t the case, she’s just all around great, and I wish we saw more of her.

But what is a Zelda game without a companion, an up to this point they’ve been a little annoying, can’t say anything about minish cap hat, but Navi was extremely irritating, and Tatl was actually decent, but the king of red lions/king daphnes is just so much better, he’s probably the second best only topped by Midna in twilight princess, but anyways, let me explain why this character is phenomenally written.

King of red lions (I’ll just call him KORL from now on) is just so good, his introduction is great, thanks to the two previous titles, you were probably expecting some fairy type companion after link gets picked up by a boat, then you hear a deep voice, then YOUR BOAT TURNS ITS FUCKING HEAD AND TALKS, this shit caught me off guard when I played this for the first time, anyways, KORL doesn’t really do much, in fact he’s not really important until the Jabun part, after that he’s nothing but fantastic, even during those earlier parts, the game hints that he knows more than what you think, Valoo speaks a weird language early on and he says nothing, but once you reach Jabun you realize he understands this language, it’s nice little hints to his big reveal of who he actually is, that being King Daphnes, he feels like actual help unlike Navi, and much like Tatl, he has an effect on the story, but this effect is a much bigger one, this idea would be expanded with Midna in TP, his arc through the game is so satisfying too, he’s a king who’s lost his kingdom and his people, and throughout the game we see him wanting to bring his kingdom, dragging Link and eventually tetra to bring back the old tactics to beat ganon once and for all, but ultimately, at the end, when he finally places his hand on the triforce, he doesn’t wish for the old hyrule to return, he just wishes to wash away the past, and forge a better path for the future, I’ll get too this later, but this final scene with him is so great.

But of course, what’s an adventure tale without an intimidating antagonist, and luckily, the best ganon to date.

Ganondorf in the previous games was always intimidating, but I bet by this point people were getting a little tired of him, especially after Majora’s Mask and how great and refreshing Skull Kid was as an antagonist, so why go back to ganon, he’s intimidating sure, but he’s kinda just a give me power machine, so what could they do to make him something new, well, make him a character, not just a character, one with some actually relatable traits to him, but before I go on with this, how about we have a little comparison with how this game uses Ganon against another Zelda game, I would pick OOT, but 1. That was the first 3D Zelda and they probably didn’t want to step to far out of there comfort zone, and 2. There’s one game that uses him extremely poorly, at least in terms of the story, I’m sorry to fans of this game, but I’m about to shit on Twilight Princess’s endgame.
Ok so basically throughout TP, they set up Zant as the game’s big antagonist, meanwhile they showed Ganon in a total of one god damn cutscene, this would make you think maybe Ganon has some effect on the story, but nothing too big, then you finally reach Zant expecting him
to be the final boss, then he says something about Ganon giving him powers, and I assumed this was the involvement, but then after you beat Zant, it’s fucking revealed that Ganon was the true villain all along and then you just go to hyrule castle and now he’s the main villain and final boss, with barely any setup, imagine if this was someone’s first Zelda, they’d be so fucking confused, it’s just not that greatly, Ganondorf feels more like an add on then someone who’s actually apart of the story, the thing that sucks most is that everything else that’s not the story in this endgame section is fucking fantastic, the whole final dungeon is pretty great, the battle against Ganon is incredible and is easily the longest fight against him, and while a lot of the character designs really sucked in TP, Ganondorf’s didn’t, he looks badass, it’s too bad this badass just shows up to the party when everyone wants to leave, I love twilight princess but I can’t never get attached to this ending part of the story, even if that ending itself is fucking phenomenal, and even more disappointing is that this could’ve worked, just set him up throughout the game more, make his presence known, don’t just shove him in at the last minute.
Now the difference with Wind Waker is that Ganon is an actual character, and actually affects the story, Ganon isn’t just some asshole in this game who wants to kill shit to take over shit, he’s actually got motivation and feels like something.
How do I describe Ganon in this, well, he’s kinda like Thanos in infinity war, on a much smaller scale of course, but still, he’s not a villain motivated by just genocide and taking over the world, it feels like a character who’s doing thing to motivate his own goals, ones of malice and domination, but there a difference here, Ganon thinks what he’s doing is right, he justifies his actions kinda like Thanos, in the end, it’s all for a greater goal for him, plus he’s cunning as hell, probably the most he’s ever been in the entire series, his design is of course fantastic, and that final cutscene before the final battle is just incredible, showing both his calm and cunning side, but I’ll get to that part of the game later.

Now what’s a villain, or companion, or any supporting character without a main protagonist, and Link is of course back, but not just back like normal, he’s back with a new fresh coat of paint and he is extremely expressive.

WW Link is on a whole other level compared to the previous and future incarnations, in the other games, let’s be honest, he’s nothing, he has a few facial differences sometimes, but he’s usually only there so the player can immerse themselves and kinda pretend to be Link, that’s why they give the name system, simply put, in previous and future titles, Link isn’t Link, he’s whatever you name him and pretend to be, but in wind waker, it’s entirely different, there’s not you playing the role of hero who saves everyone, no, you play as a character who’s a hero who saves everyone, but what attributes makes him this, well, firstly he’s a fucking badass and easily destroys the other link’s in bravery and courage, how did the other Link’s become the legends, well, it was their birthright, these fuckers already got all the fancy schmancy stuff and didn’t have to earn it, but WW Link, he got no birthright, he’s given nothing but shit at first, tetra makes fun of him like he’s going to cry in the first part, the townspeople don’t really see him as much, and even KORL says, even after he already bested two dungeons and gotten two pearls, that he’s not the hero of legend, but what does he do in the face of this shit, he doesn’t give a fuck, he works and works, besting everything in his path, oh what’s that, the triforce can’t just be handed over like to the other Link’s before, well fine I’ll assemble the bitch myself, and then he goes and does it, poor Link is pulled through so much shit and sees it through anyways, making him way more badass than any other Link. Secondly, Link in this is just a hell of a lot more expressive, even when he’s taking fucking pictures he can’t help big make faces, he isn’t just completely stoic in every cutscene, he actually interacts with the characters, when he struggles to lift or do things, you can see it on his face, when anything happens to him, whether it be interaction with people or harm done to him, which makes him an actual character, not just a piece of fucking wood.



Hmmm, what was I reviewing again, oh yeah, a video game, all in all, the story is fantastic, and the gameplay is just as much so.


Like all Zelda games, the main gameplay is fun, the first big thing we should talk about is combat, holy hell it’s fun in this game, of course you have all the big main stays like the jump attack and spin attack, but something that’s new in this game is the parry system, one where instead letting an enemy hit your shield the attack, you press A at the right time of an enemy’s attack, it may not sound like much, but it adds a surprisingly new twist to the swordplay, and it makes you feel more like a badass, but it’s not just swords you’ll use in combat, there’s also a huge assortment of items in this game, and this game has some of the absolute biggest improvements of items in these games, biggest example is the boomerang, remember how dog shit the boomerang was in OOT, it was only used for combat and it was kinda terrible, well in this game, it’s got a whole new purpose, not only can you fight with it (and it’s extremely efficient and effective), but you also use it to solve multiple puzzles across the game, it’s just an excellent item all around, and it’s even upgraded even more in twilight princess, all the other items are great too, the grappling hook is so fun to use, the korok leave is also well used, the bow and arrow is fast and efficient, you get what I’m saying, every item is fun to use, and is extremely well designed around the dungeons, puzzles, and bosses.
Speaking of dungeons and bosses, they’re all great, dragon roost cavern is a great first dungeon, it introduces you to the basics of dungeons, plus it breaks the tradition of first dungeon being earth/grass themed, and Gohma is not only a great boss, but also an extremely good twist on OOT’s Gohma fight, forbidden woods is also pretty good and Kalle Demos is a pretty decent battle, the tower of the gods is a pretty fantastic dungeon and Gohdan is, well, it’s hand head boss number 23303993 from Nintendo, forsaken fortress is fun the first time, and the second time is ok, plus helmaroc king is a satisfying boss, finally get to beat the shit out of the big chicken, the earth temple can be a little repetitive, but it’s creepy atmosphere and fun use of the mirror shield is really good though, plus Jalhalla is a really fun boss, the wind temple is probably the weakest one to me, but still pretty fun, Molgera is a boss I both love and hate though, on the one hand I love the use of the hookshot, on the other hand fuck those little snakes in the sand, they always get in the way when I’m trying to deal damage to the boss, and the final dungeon, well, I’ll be getting to that one soon enough.


A brand new addition to this game is the new way you get across the map, instead of simply running or riding on Epona, you sail on the high seas, and I have to be honest, I fucking love this part of the game, seriously, seeing the islands slowly appear in the distance is so good, the sailing is great (when you get the swift sail) it just feels exciting to steer and sail all over the ocean, and it’s all wrapped up in an absolutely beautiful piece of music, not only does it give you a feeling with excitement, but it also puts a sense of fear in you, particularly with the Big-Octos, the giant tornado that just intimidates you, and in rare occasion, the sky goes dark and you see the ghost ship, it makes the sea feel more dangerous, it’s just cool how much stuff they leave open for you to discover, it’s excellent all around, the islands are also pretty fun, Windfall is great, Outset is a nice starting area, Dragon Roost’s theme is incredible, even the little islands leave just that little impact on you.


All in all, wind waker is incredible, but now, we shall finally move onto it’s final few quests.




And as soon as we start we get to the one part of the game that’s pretty mediocre, you know it, I know it, that’s right, it’s the triforce reformation quest, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, MEDIOCRE PART OF AN ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL GAME, WOOOOOOOOOO.
Seriously though, with how great they did everything else, it’s crazy how half of this quest is one big disappointment, now don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate this as much as other people, it’s not even that bad, well, half of it isn’t, let me explain.

The Savage Labyrinth, the two locations here you battle enemies in four of the rooms, and the house maze are actually pretty solid, they’re fun challenges that feel rewarding to complete, the three treasure charts and the ghost ship one though, those are very bad, and one in particular is honestly disappointing as shit.
The three treasure charts are honestly so lazy, and to show you I’m gonna show you what discovering it all is like for a first time player.
After going through the trouble of enemies or a puzzle, you go into the place and play the wind’s requiem, an you go “oh man, I can’t wait to get this triforce piece” then you open the chest and BOOM CHART, then you think “ok, I’ll go to the location on the cha— why’s tingle’s face on this?”
Then you go to tingle’s island, and instead of just maybe doing it for free or even just a little bit of money, he charges you 400 RUPEES to finally get the location and get it from there, it’s dumb, it’s bad, and you have to do it 3 times in the HD version, meanwhile in the original, YOU NEED TO DO IT FOR ALL EIGHT PIECES, what was Nintendo thinking with these.
Anyways, those are bad enough, but they pale in what is (IMO) the most disappointing part of this entire journey, the ghost ship.
Now, this is more of a personal thing, so let me explain my story, two of them in fact, one of the best experiences is the game, and one of its worst.
Let’s start with that first one, so the first time I’m playing blind, trying to find any way to get pieces of heart around the sea, it was after i had beaten the Forbidden Woods and I wanted to look around before I continued more in the story, I believe I was heading towards crescent moon isle, when it started storming, now usually when it started storming at night in Wind Waker, since I was younger, I usually switched it to day cause I was kinda scared, but as I was pulling out the wind waker, a flash of lightning came down and in the distance I saw something, slowly I started moving towards this something, then I saw it fully, the music started playing and in view was the ghost ship, seeing it like this, with no prior knowledge, was one of the best moments I’ve ever had in the Zelda games, it’s a moment I always look back on with joy.
Fast forward to when I get the ghost ship chart, I’m excited to finally head into the thing that scared me so much earlier, what will it be, hopefully a dungeon!!!!


Cut to me about a minute later with a feeling of disappointment and I said out loud “that was it?” I mean, the game showed it early to clearly tease something, but like, why just make it another submarine thing that just has a spooky skin, it’s creatively bankrupt, and this is just my whole problem with the triforce quest, it’s just tedious disappointment.


So I’m going to try and fix it.

So here’s my basic plan, split the triforce into 3 pieces instead of 8, get rid of all the triforce chart shit, but the balance to this is, put these three pieces in harder spots to get to, these three spots are special, put the first one in the savage labyrinth, but put it at the bottom, that way we get as much challenge as possible out of this new quest, keep the second one in the ghost ship, but this time, make the ghost ship a full on dungeon, maybe not as long as the other ones, but seriously, imagine the ideas you could’ve cooked up with a dungeon like this, and the last piece should be a voyage around the ocean, what do I mean? Well have someone maybe give you the triforce chart, it could be anyone, KORL, the grandma, the deku tree, etc., and then you have to go to a bunch of different spots around the ocean, like this first triforce chart leads you to another chart, that leads you to something else, and it all eventually leads up to you finding the last piece, maybe throw in a little mini boss in there to.
They could’ve done so much more with this quest, I mean you could beyond my simple ideas, but unfortunately, Nintendo took the lazy way out with this quest.
Luckily though, this disappointing and mediocre quest ultimately leads to Wind Waker’s endgame, and what a phenomenal way to end the adventure it is, to me, it’s easily the best part of the game.



We start off with heading back to hyrule and then Ganon’s castle, and it’s a pretty good final dungeon, I like all the little puzzles leading up to the boss rematches and how they replicate a little bit of the dungeon they’re based off of, the boss rematches are pretty lazy, and while I don’t really have a problem with facing the first two bosses again, fighting big ghost boy and twinmold 1.5 is kinda lazy considering how recently we just fought them, but they’re fine, then we get to the phantom Ganon section and by god it’s great, taking out phantom ganon multiple times in the same looking rooms is confusing and kinda intimidating in a way, that makes it all the better once you reach the final room and get the light arrows, then you can finally completely destroy Phantom Ganon, it’s a pretty satisfying little puzzle and a nice challenge before the final fight begins.
Finally, after conquering everything and going some decently menacing stairs, you finally come face to face with........Zelda sleepi— OH SHIT GANON, I love this scene, seeing Ganon slowly go from calm and collected to screaming about how the gods destroyed you, it’s really intense honestly, and then one of the most terrifying things in the Zelda series happens, Ganon starts to morph into something, and as he is doing it you can hear his bones crack and stretch and you can hear him scream, it scared me when I played the game originally, then Puppet Ganon is revealed and I nearly shit my pants, this leads to a great fucking boss fights, and also one of the strangest in the entire series, the weird creepy movements and the ways you use the boomerang and the light arrows is very fun.
After that terrifying thing, you think you’re done, but, FUCK ME GANON IS STILL ALIVE, NOW I GOTTA MEET HIM ON A ROOFTOP?!?!?! After that cutscene, you have to climb up a comically long rope, and after a couple more tricks involving the grappling hook, we finally arrive to the final fight.


This leads to the final confrontation with Ganon, and, this cutscene is just fucking fantastic, Ganon telling the story of his people is tragic, you can even see it in his face, it’s not a look of evil, it’s just sorrow, it’s almost tragic, he’s obsessed with getting the triforce back together, to the point that it’s consumed him, you almost start to feel bad for him.

Then he starts beating a child, like literally punching link, it’s almost a little funny.
Then the triforce is finally assembled, and with all three pieces combined there’s nothing stopping Ganon from achieving his goal.


EXCEPT FOR A BOAT KING OF COURSE, KORL comes in and makes a wish before Ganon can even reach the triforce, he wishes for hyrule to finally be washed away, so they can let go of the past, it’s triumphant and an ultimate win for the heroes.

After that, you think Ganon’s got some secret plan, or he’s going to attack, you’re prepared for anything.
But then he starts laughing, laughing maniacally, it’s not a victory laugh, not a pity one, but one of defeat, and one of someone who has absolutely lost their mind.
After the laugh session and a badass cutscene with Link and Zelda teaming up to fight Ganon, the final battle begins, and what a phenomenal final fight it is, what it may lack in difficulty, it makes up for in fun gameplay, fantastic spectacle, a sweeping score, a phenomenal arena, it’s the game’s best boss and one of my favorites of all time.
After the valiant battle, Link does a badass finisher, finally stopping Ganon once and for all (at least for this timeline), then Link and Zelda have their final conversation with KORL, man I love this scene, seeing him express about letting go of hyrule moving onto something new is a great contrast to Ganon, who couldn’t move on from all these hyrule shenanigans, the water finally starts filling in, Link and Zelda are starting to be taken back to the surface, Link reaches for KORL, but he doesn’t reach back, link is taken away, and Rhoam washes away along with his kingdom, and after link and tetra resurface and are picked up by the pirate crew, everyone cheers and after the credits, set out on a new adventure to find the new kingdom, leaving us on a bittersweet, but ultimately satisfying finale to this masterpiece of a game.

Wind Waker is an absolutely phenomenal adventure, from start to finish it’s an extraordinary journey, and it’s one of my favorite games of all time.

Wind Waker is one of those games that has been discussed to death. I could give the usual beginning paragraph that talks about how controversial the game was on release because of its graphics, and how beloved it is now also because of those graphics. I'd say that I'm gonna spare you from reading about it but I guess I did just write about it.

In terms of gameplay, Wind Waker is fairly typical Zelda fare, and especially if you played Ocarina of Time before most of the ideas presented in this game will be very familiar. The main thing that differentiates it from that game and most other Zelda titles is how much weight is given to the overworld part when put against the dungeons (all 5 of them). This is the aspect that might make you love or hate this game.

If I had to be put on either camp, I'd be on the latter side. Not that the idea of exploring a mostly uncharted sea isn't intriguing, but the execution of it is sloppy and rushed. Mainly because there just isn't much to see and the act of sailing is very tedious. Combine the fact that you need to change whichever direction the wind is blowing every time, plus the fact that the map itself is pretty barren, and the tradeoff of finding a heart fragment or 200 rupies isn't all that worth it.

The game's rushed nature really shows itself when the game asks you to find 8 fragments of the Triforce, essentially doing what would otherwise be side quests, usually not very interesting ones. If I felt neutral towards the sailing originally, I started hating it by the end just because of how much time it was getting. There are some clever sections like finding the ghost ship, but by then I was completely checked out and was more waiting for the game to be over with.

And over it was pretty quickly, because what follows this is a really underwhelming final "dungeon". This is the part of the game that really feels like the developers had a lot more in mind that they had to scrap because they just didn't have enough time. It's a fairly simple series of challenges with items you should be very familiar with by then, combined with a very simple boss rush. The final couple bosses are kinda neat but even those feel like there should've been more to them.

Despite all the time spent wandering around aimlessly, I can't say I hated my time with Wind Waker. It will definitely be an acquired taste, and it might be a disappointingly small game (despite the premise), but the content that is there is usually of good quality. It plays well, the dungeons that are there are all very different from each other and pretty clever and interesting, and even at its worst it's at least creative. Worth playing, but stay far away if you hate padding and lack of clear direction.

I send the Ganondorf monologue to so many people.

In retrospect, Wind Waker is such a widely different experience from the other select few Zelda games I’ve played. Yet it packs an equal amount of unique charm and cleverness to offer a satisfying experience through and through. I really dug the island/sea setting and it pairs very well with the narrative and gameplay mechanics. While bloated at times, it’s easily one of my favorite WIIU games to date

A great and colorful zelda game, a lot of ww later game consists of sailing to miniature islands boasting reused assets, small puzzles or gauntlets, whereas the final dungeon and story feels a bit rushed after a certain point, everything leading up to that point is a briskly paced fun narrative journey through greater islands and larger dungeons that really stands out.

The attention to visual detail is majestic with both Link, goblins or other enemies reacting with fully animated emotions to their surroundings and hazards.

Other environmental details like flower and trees swaying in the same direction as the wind. Or specks of dust blowing away from the ground as the wind changes, all adds for a very organic artstyle. Windwaker is still one of the prettiest if not THE prettiest cel shading around. And the HD version lifts up the presentation even further, with some exceptions.

The bloom effect hits some sour spots at times and the shading really doesn't benefit as much in the darker areas, but when the sun shines and you're out in the light there's a whole other spectrum of the visual quality.

While the game runs at a generally stable 30 fps there's some occassional framedrops whenever too much is going on at once. But thankfully the HD version has so much more added in that remedies most of the issues of the original gamecube version.

Alongside a higher resolution, better draw distance and new instruments added for the OST that really makes a handful of tracks stand out even more, the HD version also adds a lot of small fixes with a new faster sail, gyro aiming + 1st person roaming, aiming cursor for cannon aiming, real time inventory+map with the gamepad etc, a bunch of small fixes that just makes the gamecube version hard to get back to.

While you can tell they had to resort to recycling assets for the sidequesting, Windwaker is still a great journey with sound mechanics, a great OST and glorious visuals. It's very understandable how many would considers this their favourite LoZ.


The only people who think this game has a bad art style are the people who think Unreal Engine Mario with clashing and stolen assets looks good.

This game's pretty fun, but it's got a few major flaws that hold it back. First off, the HD version makes some very good quality of life changes that smoothen out the experience. I like how it looks, but I still prefer the shading of the original in many areas. Now for the game. The dungeons are mostly pretty fun, but can be occasionally tedious. Exploring the ocean is cool, with a lot of fun stuff to find. It sometimes gets tedious. But the peak of tedium is the triforce quest, which takes forever and is extremely dull. Don't get me wrong, I like the game quite a bit. It's issues stack up way too much for me to put it above something like Twilight Princess.

once upon a time I was marathoning zelda then something absolutely terrible happened… I forgor

so I came back to the original plan and decided to play this gem love this game absolutely an incredible experience in the franchise now if only twilight princess and like 10 others weren't real this couldve been a great contender for the best zelda ever apart from some shit game design decisions if i have a saying in this

ive tried to play this game like 10 times and for some reason I always ended up getting my saves wiped I literally have no idea what's up with me and some games that keep on deleting their save files on me like it's happened roughly 30 times with TITS and I still cannot go back to it because im so damn scared which is a real issue since I want to play trails from zero / azure whatever their name is

for as much as I'm aware l between twilight princess and this one its probably a good opinion to say that this is definitely the fan favorite one of the bunch and also with a big margin . lich rally shook the gamecubes scrawny ass when this released im not gonna lie

so the legend of zelda black flag takes a huge detour from what came before which was umhhhhh ????? ok anyway taking a huge detour from ocarina and majora this new “timeline” (zelda timeline are dumb don't talk to me) sees the hero of wind living in a world completely surrounded by water LITERALLY 90% of the map is panthalassa I have no idea how this people can live a life of their own this way but it could be islandophobic of me to say that

the main little incipit is probably the sweetest part of the game you get to know your sister and your granny some of the other townspeople that count to like 5 people total and living that sweet sweet isolated life until a bitch gets abducted by a giant bird and then you follow her and then you save her and then she's a girl called dazel which is a very suspicious name and then you make friends with her crew and then she says bye hoe I'm a pirate and I love scissoring and then link decides to follow her for some reason which could or could not be related to your sis being suddenly abducted by the sexy lord of dark ganondorf but im not particularly sure because I was too fucking occupied with the first dungeon which was also a STEALTH . FUCKING . DUNGEON who the FUCK decides to open a game with a stealth segment you have to be kidding me im still trying to get accustomed to the controls here and you push me into a this mess youre joking who's the director I wanna talk with the director

this is the premise the end along the way youre gonna meet a talking boat who could or could not be a daddy and get acquainted to the most wonderful part of the game: sailing !!!!! I don't like it

I mean its not that I don't liiiiiike it and they actually make a huge effort in the HD re release to make me like it MORE since theres a “fast travel” option which doesn't necessarily mean I'm actually gonna enjoy the ride BUT at least I don't have to think about where the fucking wind is blowing and its like 2 times the normal speed so I can work with that , my issue will probably fall in the realm of the mmmmm too adhd inducing for me like most of the time when you're sailing youre just gonna sit there and do nothing sometimes the game spices it up putting an enemy in the water which only makes me more keen to just leave him there and change direction who the fuck likes boat battles who the fuck likes BOATS and the sea is mostly empty apart from like a island each square which doesn't amount to much if you ask me but this is me nitpicking because it gets way more tiring later

I gotta say windfall island is possibly my favorite part of the game because its just so comfy there's a lot of stuff to so and it's one of 3 islands that actually have some people living in it I wanna see the birth rates of this population because was its gonna be a blast and here you're ACTUALLY gonna get into the groove of the game with the opened map the unending sea the dread of your sister getting @;£#ed by ganondorf and the envy because you want that to be you and for the most part it develops as a normal the legend of zelda experience minus the sea

most of the dungeons are fine the forest dungeon is fine and the rito dungeon is fine they are both fine I gotta say the fucking vibes are unmatched though literally jawdropping atmosphere in both and the items are pretty good for the most part I don't particularly enjoy using the little magic wand THAT much but they actually managed to recreate the feeling I had with the ocarina pretty closely even though the ocarina is way way way better

the story actually flows pretty fine and the actual narrative is always just hidden by these dungeon to dungeon little segments that add a lot to the lore of the game and the general vibe they were going for it is really superficial level nothing too grand but for a zelda game targeted for minors it's as good as it can get probably my only issue is that they rely too much on the ocarina of time linking lore while the main story beats are pretty straightforward which isnt an issue per se but I definitely wanted sumn more for the story apart from the inevitable link to the previous greatest game in the canon

i do really believe that the land gameplay is probably one of the greatest in the series toon link has this really wobbly but firm feel to it that it just feels really good to play as and when you add the fact that the combat is super satisfying and the items are all pretty great you get one of the most complete games for sure what really made me regret this whole idea is that the sea gameplay is abysmal im not a huge fan of boats in gaming in general so that probably hindered my enjoyment by a damn lot that being said the heart pieces are treated like shit in this one literally could not believe they went from the incredible reward of majoras mask to just treasure hunting which is definitely in tune with the whole pirate vibe but cmon is little challenge room across the map the best you can do and what's really weird is that I didnt really mind the sailing until SUDDENLY the game asked me to get 8 triforce pieces around the map and at that point I just wanted to kms

in a way the post-hyrule arc is my least favourite part of the game because you get 2 more dungeons that have a bomb gimmick of controlling your partner(s) to solve puzzle but its SUCH . A . SLOG they're not really that bad but going back and forth from links and the partners consciousness really killed my flow and I Don't think the dungeons were designed as well as the earlier ones in the game but the real issue is that youre gonna get to TRAVEL . ACROSS THE LAND . TO GET TRIFORCE PIECES girlie ion honestly sailing was fine for me until then but going over and over again around the same hollow map gets tiring after a whole ESPECIALLY when you have no idea where the fuck these pieces are and also in the GC og version was worse so I wouldve defo NEVER finished this game in the original rest assured

as a concept its not really that bad because again its thematically and mechanically in line with the whole premise but the execution is just a slog to go through FORTUNATELY THO the last dungeon was a great payoff not my fav one but it was good better than other last dungeons in the series that's for sure and the final boss was pretty fucking weird if I gotta say so myself

oh and the music is goated as always TLOZ just can't miss yknow thats what it is ughhhhhh am I missing something here oh yeah the zelda here isn't my favorite zelda in the series neither is ganondorf and the rito look like shit im so glad they entirely furry fied them later in the series as they shouldve

masterpiece with a lot of questionable design decision but still manages to be another fucking BOP in this series of absolutely unbelievable games thank you everybody next time its probably gonna be skyward sword let's see what's popping

If a game could ever sell itself to me on charm alone it might just be this one. Even two decades after its release, and with so many games taking inspiration from the game's aesthetic, Wind Waker still feels like a breath of fresh air to play. The cel-shading here allows for an expressiveness that it feels like The Legend of Zelda had been trying to reach for for years, whilst making the series' tendency to bizarre character designs land in a much more consistently endearing manner than the previous entries. Even many of the stock enemies are just adorable in this game, from doggo darknuts to toucan wizzrobes. The game's soundtrack is also just incredible, helping make the game just have such good vibes to it; even during the Wind Waker's lulls it still largely manages to present spaces that are just so nice to exist in because of how all these elements come together.

The narrative aspects here feel very underrated to me; I hardly ever hear Wind Waker complimented in this regard, but gosh. Granted I think the Zelda series' ability to bring out striking moments of emotionality just generally goes undermentioned, but in my release order playthrough of the series Wind Waker may be the high-point so far in this regard. Moreso than how Link's Awakening gradually makes you accept that you'll have to let go, than the longing found at the heart of Ocarina of Time's exploration of the intersection of nostalgia and growing up, than how Majora's Mask stares oblivion and failure in the face, somehow Wind Waker's much simpler coming of age tale, told through the love you have for your family and friends, within the framework of an even heightened focus on the interweaving of history and legends, just hits perfectly for me with seemingly every story beat managing to land either in terms of emotion or humour. It helps that this is the first Zelda game to actually put work into making Zelda and Ganondorf feel like actual characters instead of just symbols, I just love both their characterisations a ton.

The actual gameplay of Wind Waker is where the game falls a bit short. I remember playing this game as a teenager and dropping it during the Triforce shard fetch-quest when the sailing was really starting to drag for me. The remake does a lot to help in this regard; the swift sail makes getting around much smoother, and the Triforce shard fetch-quest is significantly truncated to the point where it's actually genuinely fine. Even then by the time I had finished my recent playthrough I was still mostly done with the sailing, the initial joy starting to disappear as your map becomes largely filled in and the lack of variety in mid-sailing occurrences becomes increasingly apparent. Still it's worth it for those early highs of having the map open up to you, discovering all these weird and mysterious islands and piecing together how you're going to access their secrets later on, this portion of the game really is a blast and some of the most fun you can have with a Zelda game.

The dungeon design is less annoying than Majora's Mask, but largely unmemorable and run-of-the-mill, and whilst I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with a game being easy, Wind Waker is markedly so to the point where I would find myself just spamming sword attacks against enemies, accepting I was going to be damaged in the process, because the damage I was taking was just meaningless, throwing strategy out the window because the game couldn't really punish the fact that not thinking through your approach is just faster. At this point in the series sword combat was one of the weakest elements of the 3D Zelda entries, but due to the warped incentives brought by the non-existent difficulty this is the first time that the sword combat has seriously drifted into mindlessness for me.

I may sound harsh at points, but very little of this truly bothered me. The vibes really are just that good that they easily carry the game through its weaker moments, and whilst Wind Waker is certainly far from perfect it has become one of my favourite Zelda games during this return to it.

Definitely has its problems in the dungeon and world design departments but its charm is irresistible. Awesome soundtrack and art style, one of the best Zelda stories, and good characters. While Ocarina of Time was about growing up, Wind Waker is about being forced to grow up. You aren't "the chosen one", you aren't inhabiting some kind of magical fairytale world, and your call to action wasn't from a talking tree. Your sister was captured, the world is flooding, and your grandmother is spiraling. What's left of Hyrule has gone to absolute shit (and you didn't even need to set foot in a temple of time), and now it's your job to fix the colossal mess that the older generation created? You had to prove your worth as a hero not because it was your destiny, but because nobody else would step up. It's graphical style was seen as unpleasant when the original game released in 2002. And I think that reaction mirrors the way Wind Waker attempts to unlearn generational patterns of selfish inaction and mediocrity. We've come to appreciate this game's artstyle nowadays, and applaud Aonuma and co.'s progressiveness and willingness to bring change. And I believe those lessons can be applied to our own lives. The kids are alright - you don't need to be the "chosen one" to change the world.

Also, I'm gonna say it. The final scene in this game where link kills ganondorf is cooler than the one in twilight princess. Rawest moment in video games.

Wind Waker is part masterpiece, part open world slog. The open world is empty and getting around it sucks.
I know this is an unpopular opinion but boats in video games suck, guys. Moving slowly on a vessel with a massive turn radius that is constantly at the mercy of the wind just is not fun.
Everything else in this game rules, though.

This review contains spoilers

Classic entry in the Strand-type genre where Link must navigate the dying universe on his on-board AI-equipped spaceship in the far-future where entropy has reigned victorious.

"ohh the triforce hunt i can't stand the triforce hunt" 🤓

"Vamos deixar que o vento decida o nosso proximo destino"

”The wind will guide us!”

The original version of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker has, without a doubt, the WORST pacing of any Zelda game. Sailing takes too long, constantly having to take out the Wind Waker itself kills the pace, the Command Melody is annoying, and having to salvage each piece of the Triforce is tedious.

The Wind Waker HD fixes all of those issues.

The game gifts us with the Swift Sail, a sail that doubles our boat’s speed and causes a favorable wind to constantly blow in whatever direction we want, meaning that we don’t have to waste time pulling out the Wind Waker every five seconds to change the wind direction. The game no longer plays back every single song we play on the Wind Waker, which makes the Command Melody much less of a pace breaker; instead, it’s just another item in Link’s arsenal. Finally, five out of the eight Triforce shards are simply in the chests that you find, meaning significantly less time wasted hunting them down.

All of these changes make the game much faster, bringing it more in line with the masterful pacing of other Zelda games. Since I no longer felt bored and/or annoyed, I was able to soak in the experience of The Wind Waker.

The already gorgeous visuals have been given an HD overhaul and a new lighting engine; it’s pure eye candy. The story is stil magnificent. Even the dungeons, which I considered some of the worst in the series in the original, are actually… pretty good? They don’t stack up to the dungeons in other 3D entries and they’re still too easy, but they have solid puzzle progression and distinct visual theming. The Tower of the Gods and the Wind Temple are still awesome.

I partook in more side quests this time around. They’re not the best thing ever, but they have their charm. Windfall Island is essentially this game’s Clock Town, only much less depressing. Helping all of the residents with their problems is inherently satisfying and fleshes out the world of the Great Sea, showing you why Link needs to protect it from Ganondorf.

Speaking of the Great Sea, The Wind Waker’s oceanic overworld has a wonderful sense of adventure that only Breath of the Wild would be able to recapture. Sure, the Great Sea isn’t exactly dense, but there’s still lots to do and discover. So many mini-dungeons, so much treasure, so many Heart Pieces… it’s amazing. Exploring the Great Sea makes you feel like a true adventurer.

I honestly loved The Wind Waker HD. I still wish there were more complex dungeons, but I was more than satisfied with what I got. All of the little improvements and quality of life changes have boosted The Wind Waker from the most overrated Zelda game to one of the series’ best.

This looks like a Nintendo 64 game disguised as a Gamecube one. What I mean by that? Everything is very bland and uninteresting: the combat, platform levels, boat exploration, enemies, and so on. Would this game be acclaimed if it wasn't a "Zelda" game? You tell me...

While undeniably charming in its whimsical presentation, I can't say this one is my favorite in the Zelda franchise. Its biggest problem is of course the open world itself and the obtuse nature of its objectives. Honesly, I do not recommend playing it without a strategy guide tab open in your browser. With a guide it's maybe a 15 hour game, but without it it's probably at least 30; the hours tick up quick when you have to travel everywhere in search of what the hell to do next!

It's all decent fun until you have to find the Triforce Charts and Shards before you can tackle the final dungeon. That's where that strategy guide will come in handy most of all. After that, there's an awful "ganon's dungeon" that's basically a boss rush gauntlet filled with the lame-ass super easy bosses you've already fought. The final boss itself is nothing to write home about, but not bad.


I wanted to like this game... Really... Beginning is super promising with lots of lovable dorks, pixar like colorful world, new mechanics to discover, a huuuuge world etc. It does have all the things I need really, until game starts to get broken that is...

First problem is... Do you remember there is an infamous ign review that says too much water? This sentence is appropriate for this game fully. Map is biiiiig and you use wind song again and again and again to go somewhere(until you get the swift sail) and it gets ooooolllddd... And sadly most of the islands are super small challenge islands rather than something suprising. The most interesting ones for me was the fairy islands because they give permanent upgrades to you... That's it... So what you left is... Mostly empty map that you are forced to sail between until you get fast travel(also you need to look a guide for it) and swift sail. This takes sooo much time, if there is a way to check the sailing time, I wouldn't be shocked if it's something closer to half of the game time with just spending sailing on empty sea...

Second problem isn't that big but still... first half feels a bit too similar to ocarina of time for me. How you ask? With getting the same items again mostly. Yeah they tried to use them in more inventive ways like using them for stealthing around, using boomerang as a wind, using grappling to steal things etc But I felt it didn't differ that much when it comes to solving...

Game almost saves it for me with the last two real dungeons tho. They are what makes this game apart from ocarina of time. These last two dungeons require you to use not just your items but also you use abilities of the people you escort in the dungeon. So you have to use your brain to both combine your items and the powers of the people you escort. Hell yeah that's the thing I like! Combining abilities for solving rather than spamming one dungeon item to beat everything.

But I said almost because... After that everything gets broken... There is something called tri force hunting that forces you to get loooooots of gems and fight on the mini combat dungeons(they are boring tbh). Not just that, there is no last dungeon... You just do a boss rush with fighting every boss again then now bum final boss here... HUH!? At least story is still fun and animations are colorful to watch but... In a gameplay logic, there is almost nothing new after that 2 dungeons...

That makes me sad because in the beginning I was like whoaaa this game gonna be awesooommeee mood and in the last half... I felt tired and saying that just breaks my heart

they took an already amazing game and gave it a red sail so you could play it faster

Traveling on the open world was kinda boring but i like it. Like it very much. Dungeon's level design made me say "this game made by people who know video games." and i can tell you, the art desing is breathtaking.

This review contains spoilers

Looking back on my time with Windwaker HD a few years later, it's not an exaggeration to say this game helped save my life. I was in a dark, terrible place. In the least cheesy way possible, this game helped me remember just how beautiful colors could be.

In late 2013, a younger, more hopeful me picked up a Wii U in preparation for Smash the following year. I bought a bundle that came with a digital copy of Windwaker HD, and really got into it. I played about 25 hours of it, getting about halfway through the game, and something cooler came along and I forgot about it. 3 days ago, I had the idea to dig up the ole Wii U, which has rightfully been collecting a lot of dust, and finish Windwaker. I remembered literally nothing about it, and indeed my last save was from November 2013. I fired it up and was immediately blown away by the colors.

My first point I want to make is that this game is beautiful. It is not afraid to use colors to their fullest effect, something games for the last 10 years have been afraid to do. The ocean is amazing, and I never got too bored just sailing for a minute or two to my next destination. The seagulls flying with you, the sharks swimming around you, the distant weather systems, it's all just so wonderful. I'm not a fan of Twilight Princess, and frankly Windwaker puts it to shame. There are more colors than brown, black, and dark green. Breath of the Wild is the only other Zelda that comes close to being this vibrant. I was immediately engaged.

Secondly, the absurdity of the design. Wizrobes are tucans now? I'm in. The Stahlchildren are big dumb brutes with hammers way too big for them to carry? Sign me up. Redeads screech and their heads inflate to 3 times their size? Terrified. The main thing about the color schemes and the ridiculous design is that they are so consistent about it. Each area looks more interesting than the last, and each character is immediately recognizable and memorable (I'm looking at you again twilight princess).

Third, the ending. I remember I had a hard time with main 4 bosses when i fought them in the dungeons, specifically the Sand Shark. When i realized I'd have to fight them all again, I groaned and didn't understand why they'd do this to me. But when I got in there... It was so easy. They even took away my new weapons and abilities and warped me back in time to the state i was in when i first faced them, so no powerups from the game side of it. I was better. I was able to take out 3 of those 4 bosses without getting hit once. I felt incredibly powerful. And then they threw me right into Ganon, and I was way more confident than I would have been otherwise. Excellent game design. I don't want to ramble forever, but Puppet Ganon was a great boss as well and super clever. I got a little angry fighting the caterpillar because I can't aim for shit, but other than that I couldn't be happier.

The triforce quests were a little too long and drawn out, and I honestly feel that there were too many of them with 8 shards. Other than that, I'm so impressed. I've been so burned out on games the last few weeks that I end up closing everything 5 minutes after I boot it up, including my old favorites. Windwaker made me remember why I love games so much, and how beautiful they can be.