I know a 1/5 seems harsh, but the new visuals where the bloom is so excessive it looks like you're staring at the screen through a smudged window and the conflicting lighting engines that turn models into clay when you approach a light source on top of the chugging frame-rate make this an unacceptable port to me in the moment-to-moment gameplay. It just looks and runs worse than the original too often.

Which is a shame because the addition of the Swift Sail, gyro-aim, d-pad item-mapping, shortened conduction time, and all the other QoL improvements are for sure nice.

I'll be sticking to the GCN version. It can be modded to have most of this QoL stuff anyway.

Note for just the HD version: I really don't understand why people think this game isn't an improvement in every way. The art is not IDENTICALLY depicted, but it still looks incredible.

This games art style was a spiritual awakening. I didn't know games could look so cool and unique.

Top 1% in video game music
Top 1% in art style
Top 1% in personality
Top 1% in sense of wonder/exploration

I always have and always will cherish this entry. I always compare Zelda games to this. BotW is the only one that's on the same level (for different reasons).

I must admit the triforce chart stuff is definitely bad, but that's ok. They fixed it in the HD version. :)

The first Zelda game I ever played from start to finish. To this day, Wind Waker remains one of the most charming games in the franchise. The ocean is exciting to explore and the entire game is refreshingly lighthearted and goofy, but it also knows when it needs to strike a serious tone.

The only sections of Wind Waker that I enjoy less than other Zelda games are the dungeons. They are a bit too straightforward and simple for my liking and end up boring me (except for the last main dungeon, that one's a banger). But even then, an argument can be made that the game's simpler dungeons lead to Wind Waker being perhaps the best Zelda game to start with.

After a month long hiatus, I finished wind waker for the Zelda replay, had some stuff going on and other games of course but here I am, to review again.

I will not go into too much detail here cause I already made a very long review a while ago, so I’ll just link that review below here cause it’s still accurate to my thoughts now

However, there are a few things that I want to go over that I really didn’t say in my original review

One negative I’d like to bring up is how a lot of the time in this game, there’s a ton of moments where they forget the age old rule or “show don’t tell”, instead here they “tell don’t show”, the example that irritated me the most is when you fully restore the master sword, you go outside the temple and see the fish talking to the king of red lions about how the forsaken fortress is completely empty, this moment has like next to no impact and also very lazily transitions into “link, get the triforce shards”.
A way to fix this moment I think would’ve been to just have link go to the forsaken fortress after getting the master sword restored, then you see that it’s empty, maybe have a mini boss with another phantom Ganon or something, and have either ganondorf use some spirit magic shit to tell you like “haha, I’ve gone to hyrule” or have king of red lions connect the dots and tell link what’s going on…………ok this is very specific and nitpicky but I’ve played this game like 20 different times and I just notice this kind of stuff.

The moblins are one of my favorite enemy designs in the whole series, they’re extremely expressive and are great in general……..man I do not have much to say

I’ve basically said the few things I wanted to say, everything I love about this game I expressed in my earlier review so like, not much to add here except for these two things.
I mean, I literally know this game so well that I remembered where every single heart piece was, not even kidding.

Overall, it’s still my favorite Zelda game rn, though I’d say it’s definitely tied with Majora’s Mask now as well, both are my favorites.

And next up is Minish cap, never played this one so I’m excited to check it out

The Wind Waker is one of those games that is instantly recognizable for its art style. Few games have aged as well visually as Wind Waker, and it looks even better with the new lighting in the HD Remake. Overall, The Wind Waker is a traditional Zelda game and plays out like you would expect. There are dungeons, unlockable items, and treasure to find. Its structure is quite different from other entries however, as it teeters near open-world at times with its emphasis on ocean exploration. Sailing around the seas of Hyrule is an interesting premise that makes Wind Waker stand out from its peers. Plus, learning how to do Barrier Skip even on a casual playthrough makes you feel like a part of history.

Pirates and Link are both cool, but it would have been even cooler if Link was a pirate

Gameplay:
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD is very much a follow-up to Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask as far as core gameplay is concerned. Link controls much like he does in those games, but feels a tad more “natural” to control in a way that is hard to explain (perhaps because his animations were improved?). Like in those games, Link is able to run around and interact with the environment, primarily via his sword, shield, and items. The sword and shield gameplay is about what one would expect, similar to the two previous games but with a new element—a sort of quick-time-event where the player must press A at just the right moment to make Link counter an enemy attack. While cool-looking I feel that the addition of reactions arguably makes the combat worse than other 3D Zelda games since it can feel like a waiting game with little between. Not every enemy operates on this system, but I find it somewhat disappointing that most of the more challenging ones do. There is not much to be said about the shield, it allows Link to block attacks when held up. Items are rather varied in Wind Waker, and while I would not say it is the absolute strongest selection in the franchise it still feels quite solid to me. I would have liked if some of them were utilized more but even as is none of them feel like they drop by the wayside too greatly.
One last main feature of Wind Waker is sailing, a new addition. Since the world of Wind Waker is a vast ocean spotted with small islands, Link must sail to get between them. Wind Waker HD also adds in the Swift Sail, which makes the boat move several times faster than the normal sail. I am sort of split on this addition; in an objective sense it is good because it cuts down on the unnecessary downtime that comes with sailing, a task which is not very engaging. However, the Swift Sail does expose just how short Wind Waker feels. The game is rather small compared to other 3D Zelda games, and in some ways it is quite noticeable. I think this topic would be better saved until I have gone over other elements of the game, so I will shelve it for the time being.
The meat of Wind Waker, as with most Zelda games, is its dungeons. Unfortunately for Wind Waker, it has without a doubt the weakest selection of the 3D games in the series. That is not to say they are bad. Generally speaking, they are fun to progress through and feel rewarding to complete. The atmosphere is great as always, doing a lot of work to sell the unique vibe of each one. The problem for me is that they really do not feel like they offer any real challenge, which makes them a bit dull at times. Barring the last main dungeon none of them are remotely non-linear, and the puzzles and battles present require little-to-no thought on the players part. I can appreciate trying to warm the player up to the game slowly but when it takes until the last dungeon for the game to pose any sort of legitimate challenge, I feel there is a problem. I fully recognize that I am probably a much more experienced Zelda player than most, but even for someone less versed in the series I think a better difficulty curve would have been appreciated. As I said before, the dungeons are enjoyable even with their flaws, but I believe the game could have greatly benefited from having just a bit more complexity. Additionally, though I would not say it is as big a problem, the game definitely feels like it is missing a dungeon or two (which we know is in fact the case based on developer interviews). There are only five main dungeons, plus two shorter segments that are probably best categorized as semi-dungeons (the Forsaken Fortress and Ganon’s Castle). I am all for shorter, high-quality games, but Wind Waker does feel a bit strangely paced and I imagine having another dungeon or two in the mix would have helped.
Despite being somewhat negative in this section, I do think that Wind Waker has pretty good gameplay. The combat is enjoyable and the dungeons are fun to explore. Ultimately, it is just missing depth. If there was a little more to it all I think the game could be even better, but as is it feels unfair to fault it too greatly.

Story/Characters:
Wind Waker leans into having a story more than any prior Zelda game, and while it is nothing complex, I thoroughly enjoy it. Link’s motivation to become a hero is rescuing his sister, making the adventure feel more personal than maybe any other game in the series from the start. Link has a ton of personality in this game, in large part thanks to how expressive his face and animations are. That goes for just about everyone else too, though they also have the benefit of being able to talk. The pirates are all fun, Tetra is a delightful character, and Ganondorf is suitably menacing even with the characterization he receives. It’s just a very solid story overall, and one with a lot for the player to chew on as well as far as subtext goes (which, as I have mentioned in my other Zelda reviews, is one of my favorite parts of the series).

Presentation:
To the surprise of few, Wind Waker HD has excellent presentation across the board. The visuals are somewhat contentious from what I have seen online, but I think they look great for the most part and make the world pop quite a bit. New textures would have been appreciated in some areas, but I cannot say they seem at all necessary to me.
The music is a similar boat (pardon the pun). It establishes an immaculate atmosphere, especially in conjunction with the visuals. The world of Wind Waker feels vast and ready to be explored, like it is just waiting for Link to plunder its lost treasures. Though I would not say it is the absolute best music the series, Wind Waker’s soundtrack goes a long way in creating the game’s distinct personality.

Conclusion:
My biggest criticisms of Wind Waker are all about what the game lacks. I wish there was more complexity in the combat, puzzles, and dungeon layouts, I wish the ocean was a little more fun to navigate, and I wish the game were longer. But personally, I find it hard to fault a game for lacking things too much when what is present is already good. Wind Waker is my least favorite 3D Zelda game having now replayed all of them, but I can safely say that it’s still great and worth the time of anyone who enjoys the series. Personally I prefer the HD remaster, but I know some like the original more, and either way I think most will have a good time with it.

Score: 81/100

The Wind Waker HD might be a game for babies. Lots of hand-holding throughout the game, including in some dungeon puzzles that would otherwise force you to actually engage with the rooms you're in and connect dots (looking at you, Ganon's Tower), quest markers for the main quest, and that extremely annoying gossip stone. The King of Red Lions looks so cool, both as a boat and as a man, but holy hell he needs to stop talking.

The Great Sea is really cool once you get the swift sail. Being able to move around this big ocean at fairly quick speeds really helps sell the adventure feel that they pretend to be going for. Lots of the side content has charming writing and fun looking characters. The QoL improvements on the Sea are much needed (bomb cannon showing trajectory is a god-send). Without the quest markers throughout the main quest, I think the Great Sea would actually be a super fun area to explore. Of course, they'd also need to let you have items a bit earlier so you can actually do things before the finale if they wanted it to be engaging. Still, it's a good vibe to just sail around and fight the subs and outposts and fish up treasure from time to time. The Triforce Hunt is obviously improved, although it still felt somewhat lacking. In WWOG, some charts were in very simple to reach locations and you only had to beat a few rooms of super easy enemies to get them. The "hard" part was getting enough ruppees to pay Tingle to then begin the search for the shard. That sucked. In WWHD, all they changed was that most of the charts were updated to just be the shards. This means that some Triforce Shards are hidden behind a few super simple enemies, which feels absurdly underwhelming. This also cut the playtime drastically, which is a good thing because I'm not longer spending hours just grinding currency, but it also made the hunt feel less like a hunt and took away some of the grandeur I felt hunting in WWOG. Still, I'd take HD hunt over OG any day of the week.

Good music, fun bosses, solid dungeons (except Wind Temple fuck you Makar you slow piece of trash). Lots of fun islands that give neat lore if you talk to the fish, which builds up the Ghost Ship suuuuper well (even if the actual ship was a tad underwhelming).

The combat is actually pretty decent. Action commands are fun and feel satisfying to hit even if it's just a quick time event. I actually used a shield in a 3D Zelda game during some fights! There were some attacks where I had to sidestep or backflip to dodge! Wow! Remotely engaging combat in a Zelda game! Who thought it could be possible! Not me!!!!!!!!!

WWHD is probably a game for babies. But man, it's like I always say: "googoo gaga where's my baba binky."

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.

This is my favorite Zelda game basically just because its very comforting to play. Sailing around is a joy, hitting stuff is fun, and Link, Tetra, and Zelda are all adorable. That said, it has some pretty significant issues and I think probably doesn't deserve to be the favorite of the majority of people.

First off, the open world is fairly empty, and mostly consists of (albeit very fun, and aided vastly by innovative use of the the Wii U subscreen) collectathon busywork. There's also only like, 6 dungeons, a few of which are somewhat tedious. There's no big midsection twist that changes the nature of the world or anything in the middle either, like in a lot of Zelda games, so as such it feels kind of narratively unfinished. You get the three pearls, go to the ancient tower to get the master sword, do a lot of collecting to power up the master sword and get the Triforce, then beat Ganon. Well done, roll credits.

So why am I giving in such a high score, then? Well, I've encountered this thing among people who really like Breath of Wild where they will excuse its empty world, dearth of dungeons, and overall meatless story progression by saying that it just feels like such a lovely game to explore, and The Wind Waker is that to me. The feeling of sailing the opaquely blue seas, braving grey storms and sepia dawns, to discover every square and solve the often impressively arcane little puzzles on each of them to get a cool little goody is just so addicting. There's so much magic to it, and what little story there is is also quite a unique take on Zelda about rebuilding a Hyrule long sunken into an endless sea. Its all capped off with a truly legendary final duel with Ganondorf, too, which makes even more memorable. I dunno, man, I just like it a lot.