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.
The best 2D Zelda imo. A charming Zelda game metrodivania vibes. A game where you explore and backtrack a lot.
First off, as usually, the game looks nice. The music is great. The story is...fine/mid. It's basic. Nothing special. It does not ware out it's welcome. Honestly the length.
Let's get into the meat of this review though. The Kinstone system is a lot of fun, if you like backtracking. This is where the metroidvania feels come from. It wants you to backtrack a lot. Most of it is optional though. You connect a kinstone with a NPC and the world changes in some way. It's a neat little gimmick.
The kinstone system does have it's flaws though. You have no idea when a npc has a kinstone quest ready. So you spend a lot of time checking npcs over and over.
The other annoying thing is that they kinstone quests can be missed. Thus you miss out on certain things without ever knowing. Hiding massively important/beneficial items behind it is imo, not fair. Considering things can be missed with no knowledge. The game does not say, "Hey there is a quest here!" So you gotta check the same npcs 10x times and hopefully you catch them when they have a quest. But also hope you have the correct piece to connect with them.
The dungeons are mostly well designed. They are fun. The items are mostly neat. The bosses however...
This game doesn't have well designed bosses. The first and third are fun. The rest are very annoying. They are either terribly signposted as in boss 4. Or they seem to require you to take damage like boss 2 or have an infuriating time doing to the intended way. Boss 5 has too much going on so you are constantly getting hit. We will talk about the final separate though.
My biggest complaint is that the game has jank hit boxes. Like very jank. Enemies and bosses have unbalanced hitboxes while you lack any invincibility frames. This game is not above stun locking you into sevaral hearts worth of damage. Contact damage is devastating due to bad hitboxes and you having zero i-frames.
The final dungeon is fun but is lazy. You fight the same mini boss a total of at least 12 times. It's just lazy. The dungeon before it although not my favorite, felt much longer and well planned out. Had many neat puzzles. The final dungeon is mostly you fighting Darknuts over and over with the occasional puzzle/new mechanic.
The game is a bit jank. Enemies can turn on a dime but once you use an item you are locked in the direction. The copy ability is neat but also very finicky. It's almost inconsistent in terms of damage. If you copies get hit physically they disappear. No damage. If they get hit by fire, the fire affect will transfer to you. Which does not make any sense. But you don't take damage, you just run around on fire. If they get hit by electricity though you get damaged and stunned as if you got hit directly. IT'S JUST STUPID DESIGN. Makes no sense.
Prior to the boss you have to run through 3 rooms meant to just take your health away. The final room being 3 Darknuts. Darknuts suck. They are not hard. The are just hard to get consistent because they are so jank and can turn on a dime to block you. You gotta do these 3 rooms and a 3 phase boss with no way to replenish things in your bottles. It's brutal.
The final boss is badly signposted and infuriating. Only 1/3 phases I feel like was well designed and fun. The first phase is infuriating as it's just meant to damage you a lot. The second phase makes a lot of sense and is generally fair. The final phase makes no sense so you gotta trial and error it. It yet again has infinite ways to damage you. It can literally just block you in ways that force you to take damage. You can even fall of the side, as if we needed another way to take damage. It almost is not very intuitive. And it can give you terrible patterns. I'm glad I used save states because I doubt I could do it without them tbh.
I know I bashed this game a lot. But exploring this world is generally fun. Becoming tiny is neat. It has a lot of charm. It's a forgiving game mostly. It drops a lot hearts. Pots are consistient in terms of what they drop. So if it drops a heart, it'll always drop a heart. So you can farm hearts and consumables if you need.
You will like this if you enjoy exploring and backtracking. It's a fantastic game with some jank and bad design.
First off, as usually, the game looks nice. The music is great. The story is...fine/mid. It's basic. Nothing special. It does not ware out it's welcome. Honestly the length.
Let's get into the meat of this review though. The Kinstone system is a lot of fun, if you like backtracking. This is where the metroidvania feels come from. It wants you to backtrack a lot. Most of it is optional though. You connect a kinstone with a NPC and the world changes in some way. It's a neat little gimmick.
The kinstone system does have it's flaws though. You have no idea when a npc has a kinstone quest ready. So you spend a lot of time checking npcs over and over.
The other annoying thing is that they kinstone quests can be missed. Thus you miss out on certain things without ever knowing. Hiding massively important/beneficial items behind it is imo, not fair. Considering things can be missed with no knowledge. The game does not say, "Hey there is a quest here!" So you gotta check the same npcs 10x times and hopefully you catch them when they have a quest. But also hope you have the correct piece to connect with them.
The dungeons are mostly well designed. They are fun. The items are mostly neat. The bosses however...
This game doesn't have well designed bosses. The first and third are fun. The rest are very annoying. They are either terribly signposted as in boss 4. Or they seem to require you to take damage like boss 2 or have an infuriating time doing to the intended way. Boss 5 has too much going on so you are constantly getting hit. We will talk about the final separate though.
My biggest complaint is that the game has jank hit boxes. Like very jank. Enemies and bosses have unbalanced hitboxes while you lack any invincibility frames. This game is not above stun locking you into sevaral hearts worth of damage. Contact damage is devastating due to bad hitboxes and you having zero i-frames.
The final dungeon is fun but is lazy. You fight the same mini boss a total of at least 12 times. It's just lazy. The dungeon before it although not my favorite, felt much longer and well planned out. Had many neat puzzles. The final dungeon is mostly you fighting Darknuts over and over with the occasional puzzle/new mechanic.
The game is a bit jank. Enemies can turn on a dime but once you use an item you are locked in the direction. The copy ability is neat but also very finicky. It's almost inconsistent in terms of damage. If you copies get hit physically they disappear. No damage. If they get hit by fire, the fire affect will transfer to you. Which does not make any sense. But you don't take damage, you just run around on fire. If they get hit by electricity though you get damaged and stunned as if you got hit directly. IT'S JUST STUPID DESIGN. Makes no sense.
Prior to the boss you have to run through 3 rooms meant to just take your health away. The final room being 3 Darknuts. Darknuts suck. They are not hard. The are just hard to get consistent because they are so jank and can turn on a dime to block you. You gotta do these 3 rooms and a 3 phase boss with no way to replenish things in your bottles. It's brutal.
The final boss is badly signposted and infuriating. Only 1/3 phases I feel like was well designed and fun. The first phase is infuriating as it's just meant to damage you a lot. The second phase makes a lot of sense and is generally fair. The final phase makes no sense so you gotta trial and error it. It yet again has infinite ways to damage you. It can literally just block you in ways that force you to take damage. You can even fall of the side, as if we needed another way to take damage. It almost is not very intuitive. And it can give you terrible patterns. I'm glad I used save states because I doubt I could do it without them tbh.
I know I bashed this game a lot. But exploring this world is generally fun. Becoming tiny is neat. It has a lot of charm. It's a forgiving game mostly. It drops a lot hearts. Pots are consistient in terms of what they drop. So if it drops a heart, it'll always drop a heart. So you can farm hearts and consumables if you need.
You will like this if you enjoy exploring and backtracking. It's a fantastic game with some jank and bad design.
Childhood classic
One of the only games I had for the GBA and I'm so grateful it was this one :')
A charming, beautiful and fun game that would have easily been a 4/5 if not for the horrible final boss fight. You can see the love, care and passion that went into this game. This is easily one of the best looking GBA games I've seen. The pixel art is gorgeous, and Hyrule really thrives in this artstyle.
The dungeons are classic fun 2-D Zelda dungeons, and they are fun. The world itself is really cool to explore, and I really like the way the Minish aspect is integrated in the world. I think its done really well. When you become small, you get to see the same world in a different light, and its really cool to navigate as a little minish.
The music is alright, nothing really got me humming other than Zelda's theme, which is funnily just the OOT End Credits theme.
I really like the items in this game. They are really cool and require you to think out of the box, especially in the overworld.
I'm not too fond of the Kinstone mechanic, since its kinda annoying to fuse kinstones and then go to a random area to get the item, but it can be interesting sometimes.
However, let me get to the final boss fight. I will not spoil anything, but nothing in this fight makes sense. Firstly, its a chore to get to the boss, and if you die, you gotta do everything again. Secondly, they really force you to use the mechanics and items of the game here even when it makes no sense. Some of the stuff you need to do to beat the boss feels so overly complicated and unnecessary that it feels like it was done either for padding or just for the sake of the main gimmick of the game. This game could really have been a 3.5 or 4 if not for the atrocious final boss.
But still, a great game, and a must play for a Zelda fan!
The dungeons are classic fun 2-D Zelda dungeons, and they are fun. The world itself is really cool to explore, and I really like the way the Minish aspect is integrated in the world. I think its done really well. When you become small, you get to see the same world in a different light, and its really cool to navigate as a little minish.
The music is alright, nothing really got me humming other than Zelda's theme, which is funnily just the OOT End Credits theme.
I really like the items in this game. They are really cool and require you to think out of the box, especially in the overworld.
I'm not too fond of the Kinstone mechanic, since its kinda annoying to fuse kinstones and then go to a random area to get the item, but it can be interesting sometimes.
However, let me get to the final boss fight. I will not spoil anything, but nothing in this fight makes sense. Firstly, its a chore to get to the boss, and if you die, you gotta do everything again. Secondly, they really force you to use the mechanics and items of the game here even when it makes no sense. Some of the stuff you need to do to beat the boss feels so overly complicated and unnecessary that it feels like it was done either for padding or just for the sake of the main gimmick of the game. This game could really have been a 3.5 or 4 if not for the atrocious final boss.
But still, a great game, and a must play for a Zelda fan!
My experiences with the Zelda franchise have only been Breath of the Wild.
I always saw the franchise at other friend’s homes. I never was jealous, just didn’t have anyone to tell me that it was so awesome.
I loved The Minish Cap. What a fun, insanely packed game, The difficulty of the game certainly arose from me playing an older game and not always being precise with the dpad. Lots of bosses left me cursing and wanting to end my run. I’m glad I stuck it out and finished the game. It feels good to have started my journey on the Zelda franchise. Perhaps I’ll make a list?
I always saw the franchise at other friend’s homes. I never was jealous, just didn’t have anyone to tell me that it was so awesome.
I loved The Minish Cap. What a fun, insanely packed game, The difficulty of the game certainly arose from me playing an older game and not always being precise with the dpad. Lots of bosses left me cursing and wanting to end my run. I’m glad I stuck it out and finished the game. It feels good to have started my journey on the Zelda franchise. Perhaps I’ll make a list?
Likely the best 2D Zelda game, the game flows well without boring parts and has content to keep you playing if you want to do so after you finish it.
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is a delightful top-down Zelda adventure that packs a surprising amount of charm and challenge into its pint-sized world. Shrinking down to the size of the insect-like Minish offers a unique perspective on Hyrule, leading to clever puzzles and imaginative dungeons. The vibrant visuals and catchy soundtrack perfectly complement Link's micro-sized quest. While it's a bit on the shorter side compared to some Zelda entries, The Minish Cap remains an engaging and polished experience.
That final boss is mean
A definite contender for most underrated Zelda game. With a great art style, cool items, some of the best dungeons in the series, and one of the best companions, this relatively smaller Zelda adventure is really a stand out.
You know when you play a game and can tell that they had so much passion and fun while making it? This is that type of game.
Minish Cap is the absolute best looking game on the GBA. Additionally, its one of the best 2D Zelda games. They had to deal with a smaller overworld because of the limitations of the handheld, so they compensated with a shrinking gimmick that allowed you to fit entire dungeons in small areas around the map. This game hooked me from the first dungeon, when the main boss was revealed to be a common chuchu that found its way into your tiny dungeon. Just incredibly charming all around.
Vaati es mi crush de la infancia