My first GameCube title and last mainline Zelda to play before TotK to catch up. And this game is much better than Four Swords on GBA by a mile. First off, this was a much bigger title in terms of the adventure as it was filled with much more levels compared to the predecessor. The single-player mode is handled much better here instead of how it was treated in the 3DS Four Swords, with the four Links being used as formations and such. However, one thing about this game is that it used a lot of locales and songs from A Link to the Past, but it had a few original songs in there though. And the use of the GBA felt a little shoehorned in there, especially with the multiplayer strictly being with GBAs again, which is a bummer.

Four Swords Adventures feels like a slow descent to madness. Playing through the game was cool at first because it felt like an evolution of Four Swords in some ways. There was more of a story happening, the levels were longer, some cool gameplay moments. But honestly the more the game went on, the more I was getting sick of it.

Let me start with things I like because there isn’t that many. I played the game in single player and I really like how they translated the multiplayer elements into the single player mode, it just makes sense to be able to control all Links whenever I want and toggle whenever I want to control a specific Link. I also like the GBA implementation, even though I played it in single player with a GameCube controller, just knowing what moments would’ve used the GBA screen was a really cool concept, especially its use in a couple of the bosses. I also really like the Palace of the Winds. That’s pretty much all I like about the game.

Other than that, I kind of had a miserable time playing Four Swords Adventures. By the time you get to the second temple, you’ve already seen it all and have to get through this repetitive slog of a game. I had to literally force myself to keep going because there’s really not much interesting things going on in these levels. The temples were dreadful and so were the bosses. It also didn’t help that the game didn’t have any original music or locations that felt original. I kept thinking to myself that I might have had more fun if I played it in multiplayer like the game is intended but I can only see that being fun in the beginning. The game gets old fast and I don’t think playing it with friends would’ve made it any better.

Honestly what baffles me is that I left this game feeling like I heavily preferred the previous Four Swords. It had far more interesting items, shorter levels, and overall a shorter and cuter experience. Which is exactly the kind of approach they should have for a multiplayer Zelda of this style. Don’t pad it out to make it the length of a full game because this multiplayer formula just doesn’t work for a full-length game. Four Swords Adventures should’ve felt like a cool side mode the same way Four Swords did. Instead it tried to be a fun multiplayer Zelda experience and failed in doing so. It’s not a fun time and is barely a Zelda experience. This currently ranks at the lowest of my list because at least Adventure of Link tries to do something different and is a bit more “adventurous” for lack of a better term. Four Swords Adventures is just an uninspired and clunky game with tons of wasted potential.

Disclaimer - I have never played this game with other people, only single player. I would actually wager that very few people who’ve played this game have done so with any more than 2 players due to how difficult it is to set up a multiplayer session - requiring a GameCube, a GBA, 4 link cables and three friends with another GBA apiece.

While the GBA linking concept is utilized in a creative and interesting way, the high barrier to entry for even playing this game as it’s intended is definitely a massive negative for the title as a whole.

That said, unlike the version of Four Swords on the DSi, four swords adventures actually has an enjoyable and well implemented single player mode. Arranging and switching between links is seamless and intuitive and it’s actually pretty easy to multitask with them and have the links do different things in quick succession. This mostly comes into play during boss battles, which are generally high quality.

The level design in this game is similar to the original four swords i.e pretty different from normal Zelda games. Most levels act as a sort of mini dungeon - even levels that take place outdoors - where the links will proceed down various linear paths and sometimes backtrack when new paths are opened by player actions. There are a couple levels that switch things up by acting more as puzzle boxes where the player has to talk to different NPCs and complete tasks and puzzles to proceed.

Combat generally feels good and is actually a bit more involved than most 2D Zelda games due to the expanded combat mechanics allowed by the four links.

The biggest flaw this game has - apart from the high barrier to entry - is due to how it breaks from the classic Zelda formula that fans know and love. While the mini dungeon focused design of FSA can be fun it’s not nearly as refined or engaging as the classic Zelda formula that Nintendo had perfected by this time. Four swords adventures, despite sounding fine on paper, is honestly just a huge slog to play. I actively had to force myself to finish. This was no doubt exacerbated by this game’s surprisingly long run time. It’s very repetitive and neither puzzles nor combat involves much challenge or engages the player in creative ways. After the first world you’ll have experienced pretty much everything this game has to offer. If you want to actually finish it you’re going to be in for a very boring and repetitive experience.

I’d only recommend this game to hardcore Zelda fans who want to see what it’s like and even then I’d probably only recommend they play the first few levels and then move. If it ever gets a remaster and playing with three other people is more practical id probably be recommending it to more people. However, as it stands, most people trying this game for the first time in 2023 will probably be playing single player which just isn’t a terribly worthwhile experience.

At first, this game is pretty simple. The objective is the same every stage, and that's collect 2000 Force Gems so you can destroy the things at the end of the stage. There's (almost) always enough Force Gems with plenty to spare, barring probably one level, and that's 4-3, the Hyrule Castle stealth mission. If you're tying to blaze your way through without getting caught, there's a realistic chance you could reach the end without enough Force Gems, which isn't a game problem, but a me problem.

One thing I wasn't too big a fan of was the number of Shadow Link fights. You got at least one per level, a couple of times two of them. It's not that they're bad, it's more that Shadow Link barely has any changeup to his moves aside from the arena. He's always dropping bombs that help you stun him. I do like the second phase where he changes to one of your Link's colors and only that Link can damage him, but the fight started getting a bit old after a while due to the number of times you fight him.

Vaati is an afterthought. By Level 5, Ganon is the main villain everyone's talking about. He's even the final boss while Vaati goes down like a chump. Even the Palace of Winds literally had Ganon statues laying around with no Vaati statues in sight aside from the front entrance. For a big bad wind sorcerer sealed up by the Four Sword, he lacked any sort of real impact, especially since you literally only see him at the start and end of the game.

That's not to say Ganon's any better. Sure, we hear mention of the guy in Level 6 and 7, along with the knights saying they were beaten by someone other than Vaati, but he kinda just...shows up at the tail end of the game in the flesh. We don't know his plans or anything. He just...appears.

Then there's the items. While some had a lot of time to shine, others felt like they were underutalized, like most of the Level 2 items like the Fire Rod especially, which only got a chance to use it's Level 2 abilities in the Ice Temple, where it was just a Cane of Somaria replacement. The shovel was barely used too. Roc's Feather got some nice time to shine, which is nice because I'm pretty sure it'll never appear again after this game.

Overall, as another relic of my childhood, it was alright. I'm pretty shocked at how easy the final part of the Ganon battle was since that was literally the part I never finished as a kid because I didn't know what to do at that part. Past me was pretty stupid.

A lot of people frame Mario Party as the friendship-ender but there was no game closer to disbanding my friend group back in 2004 than Four Swords Adventures. When developing a game such as this I think you should decide whether you want it to be competitive or want it to be cooperative. Nintendo, unwisely, chose both, and so the four of us playing split along even lines: half trying solely to make progress in the game, and the other half going for the high score every level, at the expense of everyone else.

I was banned from ever playing this game with friends after just one session. You can imagine which side I fell on. I never saw this game to completion, but that was probably for the best.

How come they literally went from making one of the best cooperative Zelda games with minimal competition, to one of the worst cooperative Zelda games with constant competition? And then blend this game with ALTTP and Wind Waker to make some horrible zombie????

Alright. Flack aside, the only thing I could say is that playing this game singleplayer isn't that bad at all. But...... That's it. This game's story is really bland, and for it to come after TWILIGHT PRINCESS in the Zelda timeline (a good Zelda game compared to this) Is baffling to me. This game belongs in the timeline of trashy games. The main enemies (Eyeball Vatti, Giant Discord Mod Blue ugly ahh Gannon, and just a cringy version of Shadow/Dark Link) aren't as fun as most of the main enemies in other Zelda games, and that's all I have to say. I don't want to rant too much about this game and after playing this game more growing up, it's safe to say that i abandon this game.

Honestly one of the most fun and chaotic multiplayer experiences I've ever played. I will note that getting 4 players together alongside 4 gbas AND 4 link cables severely hurts it a bit but if you're like me and you can manage to get the perfect set up, it's so worth it. I've played this game with 4 players like 4 or 5 times and every single time it was always hilariously competitive. I hope they can remake this game on like the switch where it would be much easier to set up because it's legitimately so fun!