What a POLARIZING experience this was. Really high highs, very low lows. Overall I think I enjoyed my time with the game more than I disliked it, but this is absolutely a one and done experience. I don't think I ever want to play it again fghgfghj

The first thing that jumped out to me was the story—it's better than any of the more recent Zelda titles that have released in the last ten years (I'm looking at you TotK). The characters are so fun and expressive, and it even gave us the best version of Link and Zelda's situationship. They are SO cute in this game, that even as a raging lesbian I can appreciate them. It also gave us Byrne—he kicks ass.

I hear a lot of people complain about them but I never had much issue with the touch controls. They were responsive and the enemies are just slow enough to get around the bit of discrepancy you'd have as opposed to having button controls. I think we need more games with silly controls, that's kind of a lost art, and it brings charm to a game.

The pan flute was fun at first, it was just a silly little instrument that you blow into the microphone to use, but then I got to the fire sanctuary. That. That right there. That's the reason I will never play this game again. The fire and sand sanctuary songs are SO finicky, it took me HOURS to complete both. Everywhere else it's fine! The first three sanctuaries? Not a problem. Using it in the overworld? Not a problem. Just. Those last two sanctuaries make my blood BOIL.

Train's fine. I didn't really see much issue with it aside from the stupid one-hit kill demon trains. (Especially that last area, jesus christ why are they FASTER than you?) But oh my god it is impossible to upgrade your train in this game? I got three parts. THREE. I DIDN'T EVEN COMPLETE A WHOLE SET. You don't even unlock the ability to customize your train until you unlock the water realm so I just didn't think you could do it! Also you don't unlock fast travel until way too late. Like it's appreciated but they're so out of the way and come in so late that I basically never got to use it.

That's another thing, this game is so backloaded with sidequests, that I did like three before making it to endgame. Once I realized that you were basically forced to marathon all the sidequests in one go if you wanted to 100% it, I lost interest. It's all bunnies and ferrying people around anyway so who cares, I'd probably just get another pearl necklace for my troubles.

I do like that you can wear the conductor's outfit tho.

Anyway this game is definitely fun and worthwhile if you're a Zelda fan—especially since it comes packaged in with Zelda's most important role in the whole series. Seriously Nintendo, why can't we play as her yet? Why is she always being sidelined as a damsel in distress? Her name is in the fucking title for god's sake.

O jogo é muito divertido e embora a ideia dos trens realmente seja esquisita, a comunidade pega pesado demais com esse game. A movimentação é sem graça se comparada a The Wind Waker, mas pro DS é uma experiencia que funciona, embora pudesse melhorar. A dinâmica de ter a própria Zelda como companion e usar ela nas dungeons foi uma escolha muito legal e bem utilizada de modo geral. Embora muito dele seja similar a Phantom Hourglass, eu ainda acho o jogo muito divertido e com alguns momentos bem marcantes

I wish Phantom Hourglass didn't exist and this was the only Zelda DS game.

Firstoff, I actually love the characters in this game, or at least I loved this version of Link and Zelda. Probably the main talking point of this game is that Zelda is actually with you on the entire journey and boy do you feel it. She doesn't have an arc really, but the bond of friendship between her and Link was really cool to see through the story. Her and Link are total goofballs, and her actually having some use in dungeons and the story could at times be pretty creative. Bosses were actually fairly epic, considering the handheld that Spirit Tracks was released on. And I loved the look of the overworld and the mechanic of driving the train, even though I hated fighting things with it. That got annoying quick.

But even though this is an improvement over Phantom Hourglass, it still has a lot of problems. Unfortunately, this game inherited Phantom Hourglass's horrible stylus control mechanic, which means if you really want to enjoy this game you have got to get that DPad patch. Still, it's an imperfect solution because of the fact that controlling Zelda must be done with the stylus, so now you have the added headache of switching off between dpad and stylus movement and as a result some puzzles and dungeons feel like a mess.

By the end of the game, I was getting a little bored too. Not as early as with Phantom Hourglass, but it happened all the same. The late game dungeons have one of the worst gimmicks and items ever (sand rod) and it gets used way too much. Speaking of dungeons, one of the biggest problems aside from the controls that Spirit Tracks inherited from Phantom Hourglass is that damn main dungeon that you have to keep coming back to after every story dungeon is cleared to keep going up more floors. THANKFULLY they removed that annoying ass timer, but having to go back there every time drags the pace of the game down to a crawl and it did not have to be that way.

I think a remake of this game could fix a lot of things: the controls, some of the dungeons could be worked on to be better/faster, and the endgame needs a lot of work, but I think there are positives to see still. This is a game that a Zelda fan should NOT skip over. Skip Phantom Hourglass instead.

The little train that couldn’t quite.

Back when I first played it as a teenager, I hated The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. I said that it was the worst Zelda game ever. I said that the train limits your exploration and riding it around is boring.

And it turns out over a decade later I was still right, but now as a wizened sage, I think I was too harsh on it. Like an ounce. Half a pound of Too Harsh.

Spirit Tracks is not the worst Zelda game. It has a whole lot to like about it, maybe even love. But sadly, it also has so, so much going against it.

I want my thoughts on Spirit Tracks to be positive. But there are three fatal flaws that need to be addressed first. Any enjoyment there is to be had with Spirit Tracks is experienced while fully submerged in these fatal flaws. You can’t ignore them, and neither will this review.

The first fatal flaw is the controls. I will not speak too much on them because I already did that during my thoughts on Phantom Hourglass. It’s Bad. Simple as that. Spirit Tracks controls a little bit better than Phantom Hourglass but not enough to be anything but Bad.

The second fatal flaw, something you will thankfully not encounter much, is the instrument interludes. You know how bad it is if it’s a fatal flaw that you don’t encounter often. It’s a crudely formed simulation of playing a flute under the strictest parameters. You will curse Ocarina of Time for ever popularizing fun instrument microgames in Zelda. My advice is to play each note individually and not slur your notes, but even then that hasn’t worked for me every time. It’s bad.

The final fatal flaw, the actual killing blow, is the nature of the game itself. Going from place to place on the train on the titular Spirit Tracks. It’s not enough that it’s pretty slow getting around, or that the tracks are a convoluted nest of paths that you rigidly chug along, no. You are forced to look at the pleasantly rendered New Hyrule and you are denied fully exploring it. The forests and mountains in the distance are set dressing, not a destination.

There’s a lot of talk about linearity in Zelda these days, but I think the focus of that discussion is that there isn’t an open ended objective a lot of the time (it’s mostly Zelda 1 fans wanting to start any dungeon first, which I understand). Most Zelda games have set destinations, but a wide path leading to that destination, full of things to get distracted by. Spirit Tracks isn’t literally the most linear Zelda game (that title goes to Four Swords Adventures), but the lack of a wide path leading to your destination is painfully apparent. The experience of going from one important place to another is literally On Rails. Your only agency is to stop the train and clumsily catch a bunny if you see one. This is the second game to follow The Wind Waker and it ignores the cornerstone of its gameplay. Embarrassing.

Truly, the worst thing about Spirit Tracks is how good it can be despite all of its flaws. There are things about it that I feel would be nice to revisit. It’s no Wind Waker, but there is fun to be had.

Firstly, let’s get it out of the way, the music is excellent. The “Realm Overworld” and “In the Fields” songs are particularly solid bangers that I will never forget. In a game where the kitchen was mostly closed, it’s a blessing that the composers were still out there Cooking.

Secondly, this is the first and only Zelda game where Princess Zelda herself is your companion. She’s a ghost, but she’s with you all the way. And she’s a fun character to have talking all the time, she has a streak of self-centeredness that makes for some mildly funny interactions. This might just be my expectations being so low they’re subterranean after playing Phantom Hourglass but Zelda is good here. Watching her and Link go from strangers to friends over the course of the game is a genuinely nice thing, and watching them brace themselves for their uncertain future, together, is one of my favorite things. She’s also afraid of rats.

Her fear of rats is mechanically important, because when she possesses the invincible suit of armor enemies, the Phantoms, her hulking form will be left paralyzed with fear if she sees even a single rat. It’s cute, I like it. There’s even a pretty good puzzle involving her in the Phantom armor. You don’t have to write the order in which you have to press a switch, it’s automatically a good puzzle in this game.

The only issue with Phantom Zelda is that controlling her has you tracing a path along the floor, and not just outright moving her around like you do with Link (which is already a clumsy affair). It’s a stumble but I’m willing to accept that they made it this way because they wanted to. Maybe it’s to show off how much effort Zelda has to exert to control the armor. I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt because even though they’re going with a dumb stupid control style I don’t like, they’ve got the hang of it this time around. Now that’s some high praise. There’s at least one thing about the game to support that supremely generous theory.

The Sand Wand (which I accidentally called the Sand Rod in the first draft of this review) is maybe my new favorite Zelda tool. It’s not useful 24/7 but it shines like diamonds when there’s sand around, and hey check it out, it actually has synergy with the touch screen. So many of the other items that got their start with button gameplay in older Zelda games can feel like a square block/round hole situation on the touch screen. The boomerang used to be the most useful item but now that it’s tied to stylus gimmicks, it’s so obtuse and clumsy and slow that i rarely use it. The Sand Wand, being made specifically for stylus gimmicks, just works. You scribble all over the sand and pillars of the stuff emerge in an instant. And the puzzles they craft for the sand rod are genuinely clever, especially the boss for the Sand Temple, Skeldritch. Everything involving the Sand Wand is just the right amount of clever to make me be thankful for it.

Before this essay gets too long I want to praise the stamp stations. It’s a great way to emphasize Exploration in the grand scale (finding new locations on the rails) and then the small scale (finding the sometimes hidden stamp station at those locations). The rewards for collecting stamps are solid and fun, but I’ll be corny and say that sometimes the stamp itself is the reward.

There is sadly not all that much left for me to praise about Spirit Tracks. Byrne is a somewhat interesting and Cool character. I like his design well enough, his big Freddy Krueger hand is neat. Him being the muscle for a Demon opened the doors to the “demon era” of Zelda we’re in where seemingly all the evils of the world have a single origin. But this is a discussion for another game.

I have played Spirit Tracks twice and beaten it only once. Every phase of the final boss is a miserable time so if the game had a crumb of replay value, that brushed it off the table. I have not 100%ed Spirit Tracks and will more than likely never 100% it. I do not respect it enough to give it that much of my precious time.

I cannot in good conscience recommend The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. I now understand and acknowledge the good in it but that good does not outweigh the bad. This game gave me a headache both times I played it and those times were a decade apart. Two of my three favorite things in Spirit Tracks can be experienced with a savvy YouTube search. This game is not for Zelda freaks, it’s for Zelda scholars who play the games academically.

General opinion seems to be that this game is more liked than Phantom Hourglass, and I can see why with Zelda being an actual companion and not just a damsel in distress, but I cannot agree. Well not about the Zelda thing thats cool, that the game is better. The movement is more restricted being train tracks instead of an open ocean, but the thing I really did not like is that the main dungeon you keep going back to lets you straight up skip sections you have already done. While this sounds like a positive I prefered Phantom Hourglass' Ocean Temple because every new item you got let you take major shortcuts and get previously unattainable chests in the dungeon and it led to some powerful carathesis and one of the best examples in the series of how every item added to your roster makes you a stronger Link.

A fun and solid game all around, liked the world the story was fun, and had great moments between characters, especially Zelda. I think Zelda in this game has to be my favorite companion, she is full of life and energy and alot of the best scenes she are in and absolutely steals the show! The gameplay is also all around solid, all tough even though this game is 15 years old i still dont like the stylus controls and would have prefered standard controls. Alot of the items are fun to use. I think i made the game a little harder for myself at times since i dident take proper advantage of the ability you have to write notes on maps. The dungeons are fun and don't overstay there welcome except for a few that kinda goes on a bit too long. I absolutely love the train and that you can customize it, sadly the treasure mechanic isent verry good and if you want all train parts these days when you cant trade with friedns well good luck too you you will need it! FInaly and this is a me thing. I had alot of trouble with the flute, not because i suck at them. I feel that i dident even get the oportunity to suck at them even because im colorblind. I got stuck on all of the sanctuary songs and was so frustrated that i just looked up what notes to play on the final boss song. That sucked not gonna lie. The bosses for the most part are fun but alot of them become frustrating especially those where you have to control both Link and Zelda and the camera angle is at an angle, and you have to use both screens to see the boss, manuver, dodge their attacks, and attack yourself. They got frustrating real quick. All in all a solid game that for me anyway overstays its welcome abit towards the end.

Beating every Zelda in timeline order 10/20:

Spirit Tracks is a direct improvement to Phantom Hourglass in almost every way, but not by too much. The dungeons are more substantial, the music is stronger and the story is more compelling (and Linebeck III is here). I love the concept and feel of this world. Chugging around in the train, at a base level, feels great. I love to choo choo and go fast! It doesn’t take advantage of the DS nearly as much as its predecessor barring excessive use of the microphone to blow. Overall, it still ends up feeling a little bit meager as a Zelda game. The Tower of Spirits, while having some of the best puzzles in the game, require you to use Zelda. She ends up being a really interesting puzzle mechanic in some places while most of the time she made the dungeon drag with how slow she controls. The train is probably technically better than Phantom Hourglass’s boat, but it takes far too long to traverse the world, especially when you’re retreading the same tracks over and over. Any shortcuts must be unlocked through delivering people or materials in a sidequest. The sidequests? Not fun.

While I do overall enjoy Spirit Tracks more than its DS counterpart, it’s more about that it has a clearly defined identity than anything spectacular it does gameplay-wise.

Com certeza é uma das melhores versões da princesa Zelda na série, as interações dela com o Link nesse jogo são todas muito boas, além dela ser essencial pro decorrer da aventura.

A exploração do mundo poderia ser melhor, mas dentro das limitações é até perdoável.

Esse jogo é muito querido pra mim, mais por um fator nostalgia. Reconheço que os controles touch não são muito atrativos, mas toda a atmosfera, dungeons criativas e personagens cativantes fazem uma ótima experiência.

The soundtrack has no right being as good as it is.

Great improvements over Phantom Hourglass.

I like trains.