Minha primeira memória de Twilight Princess é bem vívida. Eu tinha uns 9 anos e estava na casa de um amigo vizinho pra brincar e jogar. Enquanto isso, o irmão mais velho dele também estava com um amigo. A dupla estava na sala jogando esse jogo aqui, em sua versão do Wii, na parte da ponte que pega fogo. Eles estavam tentando de novo e de novo, mas não conseguiam passar, até que o amigo disse "Tá, vou olhar o guia de novo" e o abriu no celular, e foi lendo dando instruções de quais caixas empurrar pra conseguir pular. Algo no jogo me fascinou, mas só o joguei agora pela primeira vez, mais de 10 anos depois.
O que eu tenho a dizer é QUE ESSE MOLEQUES ERAM MUITO BURROS, MEU DEUS, ERA SÓ EMPURRAR UMA CAIXA NUMA POSIÇÃO ÓBVIA E PULAR!!!
Mas de certa maneira, que bom que eram, porque foi dessa maneira que eu descobri a existência de sites de guias de jogos, o que me possibilitou zerar muitos que eu não conseguiria quando criança. Acho que é por isso que essa memória é tão marcante. O anúncio da E3 desse Zelda marcou a indústria.

Foi mais marcante do que qualquer coisa nesse jogo.
Todo Zelda tem uma peculiaridade. Nesse, é virar um lobo que não expande as habilidades o jogo todo. De resto, é Ocarina of Time de novo, mais linear, e mil vezes menos mágico, fingindo dar algum foco pro combate e com o Malo Mart.

A "magia fantástica" é uma das coisas que mais amo nessa franquia, e todo mundo já tá cansado de saber que o tom sério e o realismo desse jogo são respostas a má recepção do Wind Waker. O Link não usa armas de fogo e fala palavrões como o Shadow (Mas é um lobisomem como em Sonic Unleashed) e não há nenhum tipo de gore. O visual é sim mais realista, mas sinceramente, acho isso uma grande besteira. As texturas podem ser mais detalhadas e nítidas, mas não divergem muito do que um Ocarina of Time seria se não fossem pelas limitações de hardware. Os personagens continuam tendo designs cartunescos e mais esquisitos do que nunca, e em nenhum momento a história é DARK como quer parecer que é. Eu até preferiria que fosse mais e se entregasse de verdade, mesmo que seja algo genérico de sua época. OOT e Majora's Mask são mil vezes mais "dark" e fúnebres mesmo com os visuais mais cartunescos, o que acaba os deixando mais sombrios ainda pelo contraste. Mesmo com tudo isso, parece que funcionou, já que esse era o Zelda que mais havia sido vendido até o Breath of The Wild.

A trilha sonora sempre é maravilhosa nessa franquia, e essa aqui continua boa, mesmo que seja a pior de todos os Zeldas que eu joguei até agora. Ela soa como instrumentalização midi de chip de áudio de console específico, mesmo que isso já não existisse mais na época, e de nenhuma maneira isso dá um charme a mais pra ela, tirando o canto da trilha do overworld noturno. Eu raramente gosto das músicas de combate da franquia, mas ninguém merece o tema de combate do lobo. Apesar disso, confesso que nunca achei que iria escutar breakcore em Zelda.

Pra resumir- gostei do jogo, excelência técnica, Midna é a melhor companion que o Link já teve, mas mesmo assim, não senti quase nenhuma emoção, nem positiva nem negativa. E eu queria muuuito ter sentido.
A parte mais marcante foi quando aquele cara simplesmente falou.

(Falando nisso, quero deixar claro aqui: odeio essa tradição de não ter vozes)

For some this is the darkest Zelda game, for others it's a rehash of the incredible Ocarina of Time. For me, it's possibly the best Zelda game of all time.

For this review, I played the HD remaster for the Wii U, the differences are subtle so wont be mentioned much. Everything I say here will apply to the Gamecube and Wii originals too.

In recent years, Twilight Princess has been seen as a bit of a 'black sheep' in the series, alongside Majoras Mask. I'll never understand this as in all honesty, Twilight Princess has an almost un-rivalled ability to suck you into it's cooky world of darkness almost instantly. Just like it did back in 2006, the game opens up with you taking control of of our hero Link. Here, he is a farm boy living in the cosy forest village of Ordon, helping the village with menial tasks, spending time with the village youths and of course, herding goats. Instantly, Link becomes that under-dog hero we all know and loves living the easy quiet life. We just know that something darker is brewing around the corner.

Without going into to many details, eventually Link and his best friend Ilia are attacked while giving Links horse Epona, a wash in the spring water fountain just outside of the village. The kids of the village are kidnapped and our hero is turned into the wolf we see on the cover, he awakens in a cell and we are met with one of, if not the single best character in the entire franchise, Midna. Midna is an inhabitant of the Twilight world, a sort of echo to Hyrule where everything is dark, Twilight monsters roam freely and contact with the regular world of Hyrule is extremely limited. It's a hauntingly beautiful sight every time we cross the Twilight barrier.

The afore mentioned Midna happens to be my favourite character in all of Zelda. In fact, I named my cat after her! Without spoiling too much, Midnas character evolves throughout the game in a way in which we have rarely seen in Zelda games or even Nintendo games for that matter, even to this day. She starts the adventure poking fun at Link in his horrible situation and having a disdain for the occupants of the light world, but eventually she molds into this loving character who trusts Link with saving not just Hyrule, but the Twilight realm itself. She's a wonderful character to experience.

In typical Zelda fashion, Link and Midna have to adventure throughout this vast iteration of Hyrule, meeting the different races that live there, traveling through dungeons, beating bosses, attaining different unique tools and solving puzzles, all in the name of saving Hyrule as he always does.

The version of Hyrule we have in twilight Princess is vast, beautiful and full of the memorable quirky characters the series is known for. The giant stone Gorons of death mountain at first don't get along well with humans, but with Links help, they become the friendly gentle giants we absolutely adore. They even have a handful of different designs, some of which are so hilariously lovable in their mannerisms that I have to say, they become the most memorable of all the Gorons in Zelda.

The Zora of Zoras domain are a beautiful graceful race of mermaid-like fish people. Very stoic in their nature, they have recently lost their Queen and we must help their Prince find his courage to lead the Zora as his mother once did.

We also have a new race, the Oocoo, of which late in the game we get to travel to their city in the sky and save them from a giant twilight dragon. They are little bald bird-like creatures that talk with weird mannerisms, can glide like cuccoos (chickens) and walk on walls, for some reason.. Instantly memorable!

Of course we also have the humans (Hylians?). In Twilight Princess, humans come in so many different varieties, just like in real life, all with different passions, styles and bursting with personality. A few of the most memorable are Rusl, Links mentor in Ordon Village. Agitha, a young 'princess' who lives in this games Castle Town and is obsessed with bugs, in which Link must collect them all for her. Fyer, a man who lives in the stunning Lake Hylia and owns a cannon, and is instrumental in helping Link later in the game. Falbi, who owns a Cuccoo mini game in which you must grab a cuccoo and float down towards Lake Hylia and land on a platform of treasure chests and possibly my favourite human character, Telma. Telma is the owner of Telmas bar in Castle Town who uses her, ahem.. assets.. to help Link and his friends throughout the adventure. She's brave, smart and always seems to know something more than the other characters with that cheeky wink she does constantly.

We also have a pair or Yeti, Yeta and Yeto who reside in the Snowpeak Ruins. They are a married couple that I cannot wait to meet every time I play the game. Their warmth (despite living on a frozen mountain) friendliness and humour are one of the peak sections to the game, if you pardon the pun, ha!

As I am sure most people know, Ganon/Ganondorf is the main big villain in the game, and he is great here with his best ever design. He's huge, menacing and seems so powerful in this world. Better still, we have Zant whom we meet early in the game and turns up from time to time. He's an inhabitant of the Twilight world, has an unbelievably interesting design and seems so unique for a villain in a Zelda game, he even has a good back story. You better believe we will be kicking his ass later on!

By now, you probably know how the classic format of Zelda is structured, we beat temples and dungeons. In Twilight Princess, dungeons have so much more to them stylistically compared to most other entries in the series. A few of my favourites are the Goron Mines, a fire temple of sorts in which we actually meet some aging Goron elders in the temple itself! This is where you get the Bow and Arrow! The Arbiters Grounds which seems to be the favourite among fans. It's a temple in the desert which becomes a very important place in the story and includes a call back to Ocarina of Time in which you must find and defeat 4 ghostly Peo souls. You also get the fan favourite Spinner tool which can connect to runners like a gear in various walls throughout the dungeon and Hyrule, leading to some adrenaline pumping high paced puzzle solving! They have to re-introduce this into the series some day. My favourite dungeon in the whole series is the Snowpeak Ruins. Married yetis Yeta and Yeto call this abandoned mansion in the snowy mountains home. Yeta isn't feeling great and she accidentally sends us around the mansion searching for her bedroom key while her husband Yeto is lovingly making a soup! We also get a brilliant weapon here, the Ball and Chain which can destroy things, mostly ice, and helps us throughout the rest of the game with some really unique application.

There are no bad dungeons in the game at all, some other great ones include the first temple in the game, the Forest temple in which Monkeys help us traverse the place and gives us the Gale boomerang, The City in the Sky where the Oocoo live and we get the brilliant double Clawshot letting us zip around like Spiderman and the seriously under-rated Lakebed Temple, which is a water temple under Lake Hylia. It's a water temple done right (I'm looking at you Ocarina of time) and where you utilise the easy-to-use swimming physics of the Zora armour.

Part-way through the game, Link is able to transform into a wolf at will, this gives him a digging ability which lets us find rupees, heart and the occasional cave which can house all sorts of goodies from large rupees, poe souls and heart containers. Wolf Link is also able to utilise his scent ability which lets him track people down in the story as well as finding the spots to dig! He can also fast travel around Hyrule in this form, which is needed as this game is huge!

Lets talk about the music quickly. It's unbelievable good. The Hyrule Field music is an instant ear-worm which I hum almost constantly. Kakariko village is present in this game with a little melody that difficult to not whistle! There is even a spaghetti western inspired song that plays in a hidden village later in the game where we must use our bow and arrow to clear out the enemies present! The highlight song is Midnas Lament however. Without spoiling the story too much, we must save Midna from death. This simply gorgeous piano ballad plays which is emotional, haunting and fitting for the character and what she is going through, a must listen even if you don't play that game.

If I had to pick some parts of the game that I don't particularly enjoy, well first would be the difficulty, it's probably too easy, but that makes it an excellent game for people looking to get into the game. I don't think I've come close to dying in the game ever in any playthroughs. There are these sections where you play as Wolf Link and must collect 'Tears of Light' to progress the story early in the game. This occurs three times early in the game and are shortened in the HD remaster, but they still feel like padding. Bearing in mind the game came out in 2006, I do wish that the Hyrule field was a little more inhabited like the towns and villages are but my biggest gripe is Zelda, The titular Princess herself! She's rocking a beautiful mature design here but she's not in the game much at all, I think we see her 2 times in total.

It's a masterpiece of a game and in my mind, Twilight Princess is a near-perfect entry into the series. Is it better than Ocarina of Time, Majoras Mask and Wind Waker? I'm not sure, they all have their highlights but for me, I'm picking Twilight Princess as my absolute favourite in the series.

Easily the best way to experience Twilight Princess. Some extremely minor things I prefer in the GameCube version but overall irrelevant. I've 100% this game on both normal and Hero mode. I don't recommend anyone does that lol.

The slow beginning is a bit annoying upon replay but it sets up the Hero's Journey perfectly, capturing the Ordinary World of Ordon Village and all its residents quite masterfully. A really cozy village. I don't understand how Link has a giant tree house with no bed but whatever it's his life.

The complaints about items not being useful after their dungeons I don't find particularly relevant or that truthful honestly. That really only felt like the case with the spinner and even then there's a few secrets you can find in the overworld with the spinner. Everything else is extremely useful in and out of combat depending on the enemy you are fighting.

Another annoying part I always get stuck on is in the Lakebed Temple when you have to clawshot onto a grassy wall which is almost comically out of view. I get stuck there everytime and I've been playing this game for over a decade at this point.

My main complaint is still that the game is way too easy. You have so many movement options with the sword skills Link learns and the enemies are still fodder. I used maybe 1 bottle during the Hero's mode enemy gauntlet in the desert. Bomb arrows trivialize lots of tough enemies like Stalfos. Darknuts are the most interesting enemies to fight but once you get their pattern down they are cakewalk.

The most challenging thing was playing through the Wolf Link dungeons with the amiibo on Hero Mode. That actually got very frustrating and felt impossible unless you had Zelda and Sheik as additional healing Amiibos. Wolf Link feels unresponsive sometimes to how you want him to move and he is really terrible at fighting the ice enemies. Still I got through it to get the 10k rupee wallet and those last Amiibo stamps.

Crazy how this is likely the last traditional 3D Zelda game. Skyward Sword can be argued to be another traditional 3D Zelda game but I felt like its world was not as fun to explore as this one even with its janky ugly textures throughout Hyrule.

Beating every Zelda in timeline order 6/20:

Twilight Princess was my first Zelda game and the one that I've beaten the most. By a lot. I love this game. After returning to it with a fully developed brain, it's not everything I'm looking for in a Zelda game, but it's damn near close. This is by far the easiest Zelda game I've played so far, and although all the bosses LOOK super cool, they are some of the most brain-dead easy sequences in the game, excluding the final boss sequence. The game takes a bit to get going in general, having you run back and forth in Faron Woods for like, 2 hours. Once you're in it though, the meat of the game is all great stuff. I love nearly all the dungeons in the game, and although they're not always difficult, they're always fun to work through. Their theming and designs are some of the best in the series. I still pick up on new things every time I experience the story, which speaks to its longevity. And I like the vibes. These are great vibes, all around. Makes me wanna be under a big blanket and play in a dark room until 3 am.

Twilight Princess is without a doubt the most nostalgic Zelda game for me, and anything I have to say about it probably doesn't hold up under scrutiny. But I fuckin love this game.

Part 4 of my father and son 3D Zelda saga.

Twilight Princess, while still a game that I absolutely adored, kinda stayed in the shadows when I think about my favorite Zelda games. Something about it didn’t stick in my head as much as all the other ones.

That being said I think if you look at this game more objectively that it is the best OG 3D Zelda, and it’s not really that close. Twilight Princess has the greatest story, characters, dungeons, bosses, and feel of any of the OG 3D Zelda’s. TP is also a powerhouse when it comes to charm and atmosphere throughout.

For some reason TP wasn’t as deeply lodged into my nostalgia engine as the previous 3. Although I truly believe that this game is fantastic, it just isn’t as special to me as the previous three for one reason or another.

As for my playthrough with my son, he absolutely loved this one. He said that this is his favorite, and having played each one back to back, and this probably being the best one it definitely makes sense.

The best thing I could say about this game is that it was so good it made me want to replay ocarina of time, my favorite game of all time, to see how they compare.

This game took the zelda formula and just perfected it while still pulling off some of the most creative parts the entire franchise has ever seen. The dungeons are superb, the atmosphere only matched by the series' best, and the stroy was geniunely fantastic. I wish there was more interesting side content, but that's about it. In that regard majora's mask will always stand out as the best in the series but I think that game along with OOT and TP really stand as the trifecta of the best games the series have to offer. I can't believe it took me so long to finish this.

'Tis been 7 years since I last played this game, I considered it my favourite game at that time as well. It's a pretty great adventure. Never feels like it drags on which is surprising considering the amount of "detours" it feels like you have to do to continue. Not really too big of a fan of 100%ing this game though. A lot of the Heart Pieces felt slapped around the place, Poes were annoying because you can't change the time of day and they only appear at night. I also didn't end up going for the Wii U exclusive stuff. Consider it as me technically 100%ing the GameCube and Wii version lol. Overall, this game is a pretty amazing time, I always have trouble ranking Zelda games. This series means a lot to me.