Legend of Zelda Ranking
Nothing here!
15 Games
How do you possibly follow up the biggest adventure you’ve made thus far? Most companies would resort to trying to make something bigger; bigger map, more dungeons, elevating the formula. Not Nintendo though. They took a totally different approach and ended up making the weirdest, most creative sequel to the most critically acclaimed game of all time. When I say weird I don’t mean in a wacky way like Link’s Awakening, Majora’s Mask is more weird in a bizarre, freaky, and eerie way.
Majora’s Mask shines through its theming. It is for sure the most thematically mature game in the franchise. They go weird places in this game that you wouldn’t expect from Nintendo. The main premise is quite simple: you’re stuck in a 3-day time loop where you have to save the world from a world-ending crashing moon. I mean what makes that so special? Hyrule has always been under threat throughout the series. Well Hyrule is not Termina. It might look similar due to all the models being ripped from Ocarina of Time’s engine, but Termina carries itself differently than Hyrule does.
I talked about how Ocarina of Time is a very welcoming game that makes sure you’re fully equipped for the journey before embarking on it. Majora’s Mask is nothing like that. You start the game with your items and horse being stolen from you, falling through a hole, being cursed into becoming a Deku Scrub, and being terrorized by a dog in your first few minutes of the game. You look up at the sky and WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? The moon has a creepy face and is slowly hurling towards you. You then realize how the NPCs are aware of their impending doom and are dealing with it in their own different ways.
Everywhere you look in Majora’s Mask gives you an overwhelming sense of stress, dread and despair. From the UI constantly showing you a countdown to the end of the world to the brooding atmosphere accompanied by the unnerving music. The atmosphere is the main thing that sets this game apart from the rest of the series for me. Majora’s Mask is a moody, dark, and occasionally introspective game. Death is around every corner in Termina and it forces all the characters to reflect on what life means for them.
The main quest is simple but doesn’t shy away from its own emotional punches. Every region you go to has a major issue happening and has you discover a member of that tribe who didn’t die in peace. With your ocarina in hand, you play them one of the most powerful melodies in the series: The Song of Healing. As you help these inhabitants swiftly move on to the other side, they leave a mask behind with all of their sorrows. Which brings me to the main gimmick of the game: Masks. Termina definitely has a thing for masks, everybody has a mask for some reason. Some masks, like the ones acquired through the main story, transform you into the person who left that mask behind for you. Allowing you to play as a Goron, Zora and Deku Scrub for the only time in the series. Each with their own unique play styles and mechanics. Not all of the masks transform you however, some have unique quirks like making your run faster or invisible to enemies and some are purely cosmetic.
While there are only four dungeons, they are all great. All four of them are some of the best dungeons in the series to be honest and have such creative gimmicks and ideas. I’ll never forget the feeling of figuring out I had to flip the entire dungeon in Stone Tower to solve some of its puzzles. They did a fantastic job designing all of these. Especially with translating the difficulty progression that would normally span across 7-10 dungeons into 4. The first dungeon is pretty simple and good at easing you into the game but they get real tricky right after.
What I love so much about Majora’s Mask is that everything in its design is intentional and is there to drive the themes of the game home. While the map is significantly smaller than its predecessor, the compact world of Termina is a lot more deliberate in its design. Every corner of that map fulfills a specific, thought-out purpose in your journey. NPCs are sprinkled all throughout the map and my oh my are these some of the best NPCs I’ve encountered in any game. Each one of them either helps you, or gives you a meaningful side quest and they all feel like real people who have things to do and worry about. The happy-go-lucky postman that’s constantly running around town? Follow him around and you’ll see him cry in his bed after his shift due to the impending world’s end. Every part of the map and every NPC in the game is vital to Majora’s Mask’s revolutionary way of storytelling.
The side quests are one of the many integral ways Majora’s Mask approaches storytelling. Everyone in Termina is going to die and they know they’re going to die. With so much character given to the NPCs, you can’t help but feel bad for everyone. Death is looming around the corner for all of these people and they’re all in despair. Most of the side quests carry the general subtext of “I need to do this one thing so I can die in peace” and my god do they all carry such emotional narrative weight. From simple things like a farmer wanting to see his chicks grow up to be roosters to the shy inn keeper wanting to get married to her missing fiancé. All the side quests perfectly tug at your heartstrings as they give the people of Termina lives with hopes, dreams, and regrets. These side quests are home to my favorite moments of Majora’s Mask and are the main reason Termina is the most immersive setting in the series by far.
The way Majora’s Mask carries and presents itself is unlike any other game I’ve ever played. It can get really playful and witty and shift to some really depressing territory. The game never feels like too much though despite its heavy subject matter. There’s always a sense of hope you carry with you from helping Termina and its inhabitants. That’s what makes the main quest and the side quests so rewarding. You, the player, are directly responsible for making the game less stressful and less gloomy by helping as many people as you can. That is what I mean when I say every part of Majora’s Mask feels like it was created with intent. Everything just organically works into pushing the narrative and theme of the game without trying hard.
I really wasn’t planning on writing such a long review for Majora’s Mask but it’s really hard to talk about this game briefly. I always found Ocarina of Time to be the vastly superior game but playing these two back to back offered me great insight. Despite my emotional connection to Ocarina of Time, I feel like Majora’s Mask builds on its foundation in elevates on it in every way that matters to me. Bigger isn’t always better for me, I much prefer the approach the team took here into delivering such a heartfelt, meaningful, bold, and powerful game. Is it my absolute favorite Zelda game? It just might be. Majora’s Mask now sits at the top of my marathon ranking so far when pre-marathon it sat at fifth place under Ocarina of Time. I’m excited to see if favorites of mine like The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess manage to resonate with me more than Majora’s Mask did.
Majora’s Mask shines through its theming. It is for sure the most thematically mature game in the franchise. They go weird places in this game that you wouldn’t expect from Nintendo. The main premise is quite simple: you’re stuck in a 3-day time loop where you have to save the world from a world-ending crashing moon. I mean what makes that so special? Hyrule has always been under threat throughout the series. Well Hyrule is not Termina. It might look similar due to all the models being ripped from Ocarina of Time’s engine, but Termina carries itself differently than Hyrule does.
I talked about how Ocarina of Time is a very welcoming game that makes sure you’re fully equipped for the journey before embarking on it. Majora’s Mask is nothing like that. You start the game with your items and horse being stolen from you, falling through a hole, being cursed into becoming a Deku Scrub, and being terrorized by a dog in your first few minutes of the game. You look up at the sky and WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? The moon has a creepy face and is slowly hurling towards you. You then realize how the NPCs are aware of their impending doom and are dealing with it in their own different ways.
Everywhere you look in Majora’s Mask gives you an overwhelming sense of stress, dread and despair. From the UI constantly showing you a countdown to the end of the world to the brooding atmosphere accompanied by the unnerving music. The atmosphere is the main thing that sets this game apart from the rest of the series for me. Majora’s Mask is a moody, dark, and occasionally introspective game. Death is around every corner in Termina and it forces all the characters to reflect on what life means for them.
The main quest is simple but doesn’t shy away from its own emotional punches. Every region you go to has a major issue happening and has you discover a member of that tribe who didn’t die in peace. With your ocarina in hand, you play them one of the most powerful melodies in the series: The Song of Healing. As you help these inhabitants swiftly move on to the other side, they leave a mask behind with all of their sorrows. Which brings me to the main gimmick of the game: Masks. Termina definitely has a thing for masks, everybody has a mask for some reason. Some masks, like the ones acquired through the main story, transform you into the person who left that mask behind for you. Allowing you to play as a Goron, Zora and Deku Scrub for the only time in the series. Each with their own unique play styles and mechanics. Not all of the masks transform you however, some have unique quirks like making your run faster or invisible to enemies and some are purely cosmetic.
While there are only four dungeons, they are all great. All four of them are some of the best dungeons in the series to be honest and have such creative gimmicks and ideas. I’ll never forget the feeling of figuring out I had to flip the entire dungeon in Stone Tower to solve some of its puzzles. They did a fantastic job designing all of these. Especially with translating the difficulty progression that would normally span across 7-10 dungeons into 4. The first dungeon is pretty simple and good at easing you into the game but they get real tricky right after.
What I love so much about Majora’s Mask is that everything in its design is intentional and is there to drive the themes of the game home. While the map is significantly smaller than its predecessor, the compact world of Termina is a lot more deliberate in its design. Every corner of that map fulfills a specific, thought-out purpose in your journey. NPCs are sprinkled all throughout the map and my oh my are these some of the best NPCs I’ve encountered in any game. Each one of them either helps you, or gives you a meaningful side quest and they all feel like real people who have things to do and worry about. The happy-go-lucky postman that’s constantly running around town? Follow him around and you’ll see him cry in his bed after his shift due to the impending world’s end. Every part of the map and every NPC in the game is vital to Majora’s Mask’s revolutionary way of storytelling.
The side quests are one of the many integral ways Majora’s Mask approaches storytelling. Everyone in Termina is going to die and they know they’re going to die. With so much character given to the NPCs, you can’t help but feel bad for everyone. Death is looming around the corner for all of these people and they’re all in despair. Most of the side quests carry the general subtext of “I need to do this one thing so I can die in peace” and my god do they all carry such emotional narrative weight. From simple things like a farmer wanting to see his chicks grow up to be roosters to the shy inn keeper wanting to get married to her missing fiancé. All the side quests perfectly tug at your heartstrings as they give the people of Termina lives with hopes, dreams, and regrets. These side quests are home to my favorite moments of Majora’s Mask and are the main reason Termina is the most immersive setting in the series by far.
The way Majora’s Mask carries and presents itself is unlike any other game I’ve ever played. It can get really playful and witty and shift to some really depressing territory. The game never feels like too much though despite its heavy subject matter. There’s always a sense of hope you carry with you from helping Termina and its inhabitants. That’s what makes the main quest and the side quests so rewarding. You, the player, are directly responsible for making the game less stressful and less gloomy by helping as many people as you can. That is what I mean when I say every part of Majora’s Mask feels like it was created with intent. Everything just organically works into pushing the narrative and theme of the game without trying hard.
I really wasn’t planning on writing such a long review for Majora’s Mask but it’s really hard to talk about this game briefly. I always found Ocarina of Time to be the vastly superior game but playing these two back to back offered me great insight. Despite my emotional connection to Ocarina of Time, I feel like Majora’s Mask builds on its foundation in elevates on it in every way that matters to me. Bigger isn’t always better for me, I much prefer the approach the team took here into delivering such a heartfelt, meaningful, bold, and powerful game. Is it my absolute favorite Zelda game? It just might be. Majora’s Mask now sits at the top of my marathon ranking so far when pre-marathon it sat at fifth place under Ocarina of Time. I’m excited to see if favorites of mine like The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess manage to resonate with me more than Majora’s Mask did.
1
Ocarina of Time is a very special game to me. It’s the first Zelda game I ever played and the first single-player video game I ever owned. There’s not much to say about Ocarina of Time that hasn’t already been said in ways that would be more articulate than anything I could ever attempt. So I want to mostly talk about why Ocarina of Time is special to me personally and discuss my personal relationship with it.
I talked about Link’s Awakening’s Mabe Village giving me a “welcome home” feeling in my review of that game, the entirety of Ocarina of Time feels like that to me. I played through Ocarina of Time probably 7 times now while being at completely different places in my life and each time I find myself resonating with different parts of it. As a kid wanting to be a grown up, my favorite parts were when you’re playing as Adult Link and it felt like the entire world is dependent on you. Just like Link, it made me feel like I was still kid me but in an adult body and I was so heroic in it. I couldn’t wait to grow up and not be limited by my childish body, I couldn’t wait to be an adult that was a hero and not like other adults.
I remember finding the Adult world dungeons to be very difficult, I remember exactly what puzzles I had to look up the solutions to back then. I found myself growing into realizing how to solve those same puzzles in subsequent playthroughs. Ocarina of Time is filled with things like that for me, I have a memory attached to every corner of the map. I remember being 11 and hanging out at Lon Lon Ranch getting to know Malon. I remember being 15 when I managed to go through the Water Temple without a guide. I am now 23 and I still get freaked out jumping into the well of Kakariko Village.
Ocarina of Time wasn’t just a game I played multiple times throughout my life, it feels like my life revolved around Ocarina of Time. Saria, to me, is that childhood friend that I got distant with due to the circumstances of life. The same way she is for Link. I look back on that character and I just get a somber feeling wishing I spent more time with her while I had the chance, the same way I feel about good childhood friends of mine that I grew distant from. Kokiri Forest is the hometown I’ve moved out of and moved on from without looking back but still find myself nostalgic over how it held my hand and walked me through how to navigate the world. It was the perfect training ground for my journey not just in Ocarina of Time but with gaming in general.
Outside of what it means to me, let’s talk a bit more about Ocarina of Time. The game upped the ante for the series in every way. It had a huge world for the time which can be quite overwhelming, especially in a 3D space. Thankfully, the game is very linear and makes sure to hold your hand in every step of the way. Some people view this as a bad thing in retrospect but I really really don’t. Ocarina of Time is the first Zelda game that has an actual story happening throughout the entire game and that is thanks to its linearity. Constructing a good narrative requires sequencing, which you can’t do without linearity as we see in the new open-air Zelda games. I understand both sides have their crowds but I definitely belong in this one.
The transition of the series to 3D was done fantastically. At its core, Ocarina of Time takes the formula introduced in A Link to the Past and focuses on how to make that formula work in a 3D space. I’m especially impressed by how they made dungeons work in 3D. I won’t get into too much detail but this game truly is a technical feat especially for that time. To other franchises, the transition to 3D was very shaky and would take a couple of entries to be done right. How impressive is it that Ocarina of Time gets it right in its first attempt??
Ocarina of Time holds a great sentimental value in my heart. I always find myself coming back to it and I can never get sick of it. I’ve just finished it and I already can’t wait to go back and replay it again. This is one of the best games ever made and one of the most influential games ever made period. It was always my favorite game of all time and my favorite game in the Zelda series by a landslide.
However at the time of writing this review, I already finished Majora’s Mask as part of my marathon and in a shocking turn of events, I ended up ranking Majora’s Mask higher than Ocarina of Time. Was everything I know a lie? Is Ocarina of Time not my favorite Zelda game anymore? I don’t know. I never played Ocarina of Time so close to other Zelda games so maybe this marathon is going to provide much needed insight for me. This is exciting for me now because I’m curious what game ends up making it at the top after this marathon is over, but I am shocked how a game this special to me got dethroned by the entry right after. However, whether it ends up at number 1 or not, there’s no taking away the impact this game has had on my life and the gaming sphere as a whole.
I talked about Link’s Awakening’s Mabe Village giving me a “welcome home” feeling in my review of that game, the entirety of Ocarina of Time feels like that to me. I played through Ocarina of Time probably 7 times now while being at completely different places in my life and each time I find myself resonating with different parts of it. As a kid wanting to be a grown up, my favorite parts were when you’re playing as Adult Link and it felt like the entire world is dependent on you. Just like Link, it made me feel like I was still kid me but in an adult body and I was so heroic in it. I couldn’t wait to grow up and not be limited by my childish body, I couldn’t wait to be an adult that was a hero and not like other adults.
I remember finding the Adult world dungeons to be very difficult, I remember exactly what puzzles I had to look up the solutions to back then. I found myself growing into realizing how to solve those same puzzles in subsequent playthroughs. Ocarina of Time is filled with things like that for me, I have a memory attached to every corner of the map. I remember being 11 and hanging out at Lon Lon Ranch getting to know Malon. I remember being 15 when I managed to go through the Water Temple without a guide. I am now 23 and I still get freaked out jumping into the well of Kakariko Village.
Ocarina of Time wasn’t just a game I played multiple times throughout my life, it feels like my life revolved around Ocarina of Time. Saria, to me, is that childhood friend that I got distant with due to the circumstances of life. The same way she is for Link. I look back on that character and I just get a somber feeling wishing I spent more time with her while I had the chance, the same way I feel about good childhood friends of mine that I grew distant from. Kokiri Forest is the hometown I’ve moved out of and moved on from without looking back but still find myself nostalgic over how it held my hand and walked me through how to navigate the world. It was the perfect training ground for my journey not just in Ocarina of Time but with gaming in general.
Outside of what it means to me, let’s talk a bit more about Ocarina of Time. The game upped the ante for the series in every way. It had a huge world for the time which can be quite overwhelming, especially in a 3D space. Thankfully, the game is very linear and makes sure to hold your hand in every step of the way. Some people view this as a bad thing in retrospect but I really really don’t. Ocarina of Time is the first Zelda game that has an actual story happening throughout the entire game and that is thanks to its linearity. Constructing a good narrative requires sequencing, which you can’t do without linearity as we see in the new open-air Zelda games. I understand both sides have their crowds but I definitely belong in this one.
The transition of the series to 3D was done fantastically. At its core, Ocarina of Time takes the formula introduced in A Link to the Past and focuses on how to make that formula work in a 3D space. I’m especially impressed by how they made dungeons work in 3D. I won’t get into too much detail but this game truly is a technical feat especially for that time. To other franchises, the transition to 3D was very shaky and would take a couple of entries to be done right. How impressive is it that Ocarina of Time gets it right in its first attempt??
Ocarina of Time holds a great sentimental value in my heart. I always find myself coming back to it and I can never get sick of it. I’ve just finished it and I already can’t wait to go back and replay it again. This is one of the best games ever made and one of the most influential games ever made period. It was always my favorite game of all time and my favorite game in the Zelda series by a landslide.
However at the time of writing this review, I already finished Majora’s Mask as part of my marathon and in a shocking turn of events, I ended up ranking Majora’s Mask higher than Ocarina of Time. Was everything I know a lie? Is Ocarina of Time not my favorite Zelda game anymore? I don’t know. I never played Ocarina of Time so close to other Zelda games so maybe this marathon is going to provide much needed insight for me. This is exciting for me now because I’m curious what game ends up making it at the top after this marathon is over, but I am shocked how a game this special to me got dethroned by the entry right after. However, whether it ends up at number 1 or not, there’s no taking away the impact this game has had on my life and the gaming sphere as a whole.
2
Twilight Princess is exactly the type of game you’d expect to follow up Ocarina of Time. The 6 games that released post Majora’s Mask featured a significant shift in the overall vibe of the series. Not a bad one per se but as someone that holds the vibes of the Ocarina of Time-Majora’s Mask duology near and dear to their heart, it wasn’t hard to notice that the series was trying to forge a new identity for itself. One that strays away from the occasionally creepy and dark vibes of Ocarina-Majora and leans towards a more light-hearted and cartoonish vibe like in The Wind Waker and The Minish Cap.
While I still I really like those games, I couldn’t help but feel like an ingredient of the Zelda recipe was missing from them. All the games pre-Majora’s Mask felt like they had a good balance of feel-good light-heartedness and serious, more mature undertones while the post-Majora’s Mask games seemed to lean more towards the prior. I really have no issues with this as I thoroughly enjoyed them but I can’t deny that they felt different.
This, of course, caused a lot of discourse within the fandom. Ocarina of Time was a cultural phenomenon widely regarded as a pioneer of not only 3D games but gaming as a medium. This departure in identity over the 8 following years cast a fair share of doubt on the series ever reaching the heights of Ocarina of Time again. The Wind Waker was ruthlessly scrutinized, The Minish Cap barely sold, and Four Swords Adventures came and went with no noise. Forcing Nintendo to be like “You want another Ocarina of Time? Fine, we’ll make one.”
Twilight Princess isn’t just a modern version of Ocarina of Time like some people like to say, it is a full blown spiritual successor. Everything from the art style, to the music, to the world and dungeon design feels like a proper evolution of Ocarina of Time. It just feels like the obvious direction they would’ve went with with the series. Twilight Princess relies on the foundations of Ocarina of Time while forging its own unique identity.
The game goes for a grounded and more mature vibe overall, completely contrasting The Wind Waker. I love The Wind Waker’s vibe a lot but playing it after what came before brings a feeling of unfamiliarity, I know most of us had to readjust ourselves for The Wind Waker in the beginning of it and said “oh okay this is different!” That readjustment wasn’t as present in Twilight Princess. As soon as you boot the game up you get an overwhelming “oh we are so back!” feeling as it exudes the same aura as the pre-Wind Waker games. That familiarity to me is very comforting which is why I find myself gravitating towards Twilight Princess more, even though I think The Wind Waker is the much bolder and more adventurous game.
Twilight Princess is often criticized for its linearity. While it sports a big map, it’s not really an open-world experience like The Wind Waker’s. Frankly, I don’t really care about that. A lot of people say that exploration is a huge standard of the Zelda series and it is often used as a tool to gauge how good some of these games are. I don’t really agree with that, Zelda isn’t a series that thrives on openness and exploration for me. Instead I think Zelda thrives on the sense of discovery more. You’re discovering new areas, overworld secrets, dungeons, towns, etc. Linearity doesn’t stop that sense of discovery, it just guides it. I can see how that can be a problem if you’re looking for a sense of unguided discovery, but that’s not what I play these games for. I’ll get into what I do play these games for later in the review. But for now I just really want to establish how I don’t have any issue with the linearity of Twilight Princess. I think it’s the reason why the game works, the linearity allows for a tighter and more planned out narrative-driven hero’s journey take place.
The overall story of Twilight Princess is alright. It’s nothing really revolutionary, I prefer the story of The Wind Waker as an overall narrative, but Twilight Princess shines through its fantastic story moments. It’s very cinematic in the sense that the scenes feel like they were directed like they’re for a movie. There’s a lot of framing techniques, musical cues, and moody lighting used. Characters are very grounded with their movements and express themselves like normal humans do in the real world. Scenes like the attack in Kakariko, the vision in Lanayru, Midna’s lament, and Illia’s memory are wonderfully directed and are some of my favorite scenes in the series. If Twilight Princess was a movie it would definitely be a big blockbuster. It’s just so grand and epic in every way with massive set pieces sprinkled throughout.
My first criticism about Twilight Princess is the pacing of the first half of the game. I know people usually complain about the opening hours of the game but I really have no problem with the opening. I feel like it’s a great tone-setter and shows you what normal life for Link look’s like before the main inciting incident happens. It’s a literary tool that is used in most movies, books, and other forms of narratives we see today. My issue actually starts after the inciting incident happens. The the world is now engulfed in twilight and every time you go to a new area you have to first go through the twilight realm version of that area and free it. This is the worst thing in the game for me and not because of the Tears of Light quest.
A lot of the previous Zelda games featured a dual-world mechanic with one being the normal world and the other being a distorted version of that world. Seeing the normal versions of those areas first and then seeing how the distortion makes them look is cool, but doing that order in reverse doesn’t work for me for several reasons. First, it's about the first impression you get of the new areas, the Twilight realm feels the same in every region of Hyrule, so having the excitement of going to a new location be met with an oppressive atmosphere that is shared by every other area in the game, even when that atmosphere is done masterfully, just doesn’t give a good first impression to any area in Hyrule. It doesn’t help that the most notable change that happens after freeing these areas from the twilight realm is that they’re now brighter and have their own musical theme. The areas just feel the same but with a different filter on now so it doesn’t feel that satisfying to free them.
My other big complaint about these sections is how they bring some of the narrative conflicts to a halt and ruin some story moments that would have otherwise been much better done. This comes with the fact that in the twilight realm, you can see what’s happening in the real world but you can’t really interact with anything from it. A big example is the kidnapped kids from Ordon Village. When you see them get kidnapped you naturally worry about where they’ve been taken and want to save them. What is the next thing the game does with that sub plot? Have you stumble on them while you’re in the twilight realm, finding out that they are safe with adults while not being able to interact with them until you finish releasing the area from the twilight. I don’t like these sections at all. I will say though that the sound design in the twilight realm is fantastic. As it is with the rest of the game.
What I love about Twilight Princess is that it’s very atmospheric and that comes in large part from the music. The music is spacious, triumphant, and nostalgic, even if you’re hearing these tracks for the first time. There are so many highlights including: Title Theme, Ordon Village, Midna’s theme, Twilight, Meeting Zelda, Light Spirit’s Elegy, Faron Woods, Forest Temple, Hyrule Field, Kakariko Village, King Bulblin Battle, Queen Rutela’s Theme, Lake Hylia, Zant’s Theme, Midna’s Lament, Sacred Grove, Arbiter’s Grounds, Snowpeak, Hidden Village, City in the Sky, and Final Battle. I didn’t realize how many favorites I had until I started listing them out. This might be one of my favorite soundtracks in the series. The only criticism I have with it is that I wish it wasn’t MIDI. These melodies are mesmerizing and deserve a lot better. I hope if the game gets another rerelease, they remake the soundtrack to be orchestral.
An area where Twilight Princess shines for me is through its characters. Not counting Majora’s Mask, Twilight Princess takes a massive leap in terms of character writing. The people of this world feel real with real struggles, and complex motivations. Link himself is one of my favorite incarnations, he is just so expressive and responsive to what’s happening around him. He shows a wide range of emotions throughout the game: he gets passionately angry sometimes, remorseful, cheery, relieved, etc. He’s not as stoic and serious as all the promotional art of the game depict him. He’s just a simple farm guy with a big heart and wants to help out however he can and the game sells that through his characterization. He also works especially well with Midna, who is probably my favorite character in the franchise.
Midna’s the first character in the series that gets a proper arc. Midna is mischievous, sassy, charismatic, and just wants to use Link for her own selfish gains but as the game goes on, she grows a sense of admiration for Link and the sense of camaraderie that builds up between the two really carries the game. They are a great dynamic duo that really give the game its own sense of identity. Midna actually in many ways feels like the protagonist of the game with Link being the deuteragonist. She is the driving force behind the narrative, the stakes are much higher for her than they are for any other character, and she’s the one that has personal beef with main antagonist. This is Midna’s game and Link is just a vessel for her story to be told. The closest thing we got to a character this dynamic before was Tetra in the Wind Waker but the way she was handled in the back-half of that game kinda fizzled her out for me. God, I love Midna. Most of the emotional punches of the game for me come from her. There’s obviously the big Midna’s Lament sequence but that doesn’t come close to her agency and involvement during the final section of the game. All for it to lead to one of the most beautiful endings of the series which wouldn’t have hit at all if her character didn’t work.
Twilight Princess also has other characters that are really compelling! Zant and Colin come to mind as other stand out characters. Some characters do leave some to be desired though. Illia’s treatment is just weird to me, she’s Link’s childhood friend/potential love interest. I’m gonna go over minor spoilers Illia as a character so feel free to skip this paragraph if you haven’t played the game. I just don’t understand what they were even going for with Illia, she’s introduced in the beginning as someone that Link really cares about, then gets kidnapped and disappears for a while. At that point she’s used as a main motivator for Link to go through his journey. You don’t find her with the rest of the kidnapped kids, so you’d think they’re delaying that moment to do something interesting with her. Once you do end up finding her you find out she has amnesia? Interesting choice but nothing is done with that plot line at all. She just disappears for the rest of the game until close to the end where you help her get her memory back in a wonderful scene.. only for her to just stand there doing nothing for the remainder of the game. Just a very weird way to handle the character which is why she never worked for me.
Other characters that kind of fall short for me are Zelda and Ganondorf. Their designs do all of the heavy lifting for their characters, these two never looked this good before (or since to be honest). But other than that, they’re a bunch of nothing. Zelda gets a total of 3 minutes of screen time in the whole game and is only challenged by Ganondorf’s 3.5 minutes. Did these two really need to be in this game? Zelda and Ganondorf’s inclusion just feels like it happens out of necessity to the series traditions. Part of me wishes for a version of Twilight Princess that fully skips on including these two and instead makes Midna and Zant the Triforce wielders of the game. You could even change their names to Zelda and Ganondorf to offer a cute twist of expectations having the incarnations of those two be from the same tribe this time. I know the manga adaptation gives Zelda and Ganondorf some cool stuff so all I can hope for is for that to be added if we ever get a proper remake on the same level as Final Fantasy VII Remake. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening so I guess I have to live on with these incarnations that feel like nothing.
My favorite thing about Twilight Princess and what I think sets it apart from the rest of the series is its dungeons. This is the best dungeon lineup in any 3D Zelda game. Every single dungeon in the game ranges from great to fantastic. Forest Temple, Lakebed Temple, Arbiter’s Grounds, Snowpeak Ruins, City in the Sky, and Palace of Twilight are among my favorite dungeons in the entire series. Each dungeon has a visually and sonically distinct atmosphere that sets it apart from the others, some dungeons are spacious vistas of nature like the forest temple, some are ancient locations with cultural impact like the Arbiter’s Grounds and City in the Sky, and then there’s Snowpeak Ruins which is a fancy and sprawling mansion. I also love them all from a game design perspective, they serve a great balance of the simplicity of The Wind Waker’s dungeons and the labyrinthine design of Ocarina of Time’s dungeons. To me, these serve as the perfect level of challenge where they’re designed well enough for players to be able to figure out how the puzzles work without taking mental leaps to do so. They really are a highlight and the most fun part of the game for me, everytime I finish from a dungeon, I’d be so excited to get to the next one. Contrasting the sense of dread I get from some of the dungeons in some other Zelda games.
All of these dungeons are capped off with boss fights that I can’t describe in any word other than epic. Mechanically, they all function like regular Zelda bosses where you have to use the item you acquired in the dungeon to defeat them, but in every other way, these bosses are leagues above everything that came before. The sense of scale has been upped significantly, these bosses are big and they do a great job of making you feel like the most badass guy in Hyrule. I talked earlier about how Twilight Princess feels like a blockbuster movie with its set pieces, these bosses are what come to mind. Something really great is that each boss has their own distinct theme this time. Actually there are some really cool musical moments that happen with the bosses, mainly the triumphant tune that comes in as you get the upper hand on these bosses just fills you with so much adrenaline. Highlights for me are: Morpheel, Stallord, Blizzeta, Argarok, Zant, and of course Ganondorf.
Everything in Twilight Princess culminates in the climactic final part. Arguably the best final section of any Zelda game (only to be contested recently by Tears of the Kingdom). Only to be topped off by the best final boss fight of the series thus far, again only to be contested by Tears of the Kingdom. Ganondorf might only have 3.5 minutes of screen time but he makes them count! Fantastic final boss in every way and a fantastic ending to go along with it. I will never forget the first time I finished this game and how much I was in awe over this ending sequence. Top 3 favorite endings in the series by far.
Twilight Princess is not a perfect Zelda game but it sure comes close. It has every element that I look for in a Zelda game. I said earlier in the review that I will get into what I look for when I play Zelda games. What’s most important in a Zelda game for me is atmosphere, story, characters, music, dungeons, and bosses. Moving forward, I will be focusing on these 6 elements with each Zelda game I review as these categories are what’s most important to me. Twilight Princess excels in all of these categories which solidifies it as an S-Tier game for me and one of my favorite games in the series. I freaking love this game and I’m obsessed with it. I wasn’t planning on writing this much but I really love Twilight Princess so much that I just can’t stop talking about it.
While I still I really like those games, I couldn’t help but feel like an ingredient of the Zelda recipe was missing from them. All the games pre-Majora’s Mask felt like they had a good balance of feel-good light-heartedness and serious, more mature undertones while the post-Majora’s Mask games seemed to lean more towards the prior. I really have no issues with this as I thoroughly enjoyed them but I can’t deny that they felt different.
This, of course, caused a lot of discourse within the fandom. Ocarina of Time was a cultural phenomenon widely regarded as a pioneer of not only 3D games but gaming as a medium. This departure in identity over the 8 following years cast a fair share of doubt on the series ever reaching the heights of Ocarina of Time again. The Wind Waker was ruthlessly scrutinized, The Minish Cap barely sold, and Four Swords Adventures came and went with no noise. Forcing Nintendo to be like “You want another Ocarina of Time? Fine, we’ll make one.”
Twilight Princess isn’t just a modern version of Ocarina of Time like some people like to say, it is a full blown spiritual successor. Everything from the art style, to the music, to the world and dungeon design feels like a proper evolution of Ocarina of Time. It just feels like the obvious direction they would’ve went with with the series. Twilight Princess relies on the foundations of Ocarina of Time while forging its own unique identity.
The game goes for a grounded and more mature vibe overall, completely contrasting The Wind Waker. I love The Wind Waker’s vibe a lot but playing it after what came before brings a feeling of unfamiliarity, I know most of us had to readjust ourselves for The Wind Waker in the beginning of it and said “oh okay this is different!” That readjustment wasn’t as present in Twilight Princess. As soon as you boot the game up you get an overwhelming “oh we are so back!” feeling as it exudes the same aura as the pre-Wind Waker games. That familiarity to me is very comforting which is why I find myself gravitating towards Twilight Princess more, even though I think The Wind Waker is the much bolder and more adventurous game.
Twilight Princess is often criticized for its linearity. While it sports a big map, it’s not really an open-world experience like The Wind Waker’s. Frankly, I don’t really care about that. A lot of people say that exploration is a huge standard of the Zelda series and it is often used as a tool to gauge how good some of these games are. I don’t really agree with that, Zelda isn’t a series that thrives on openness and exploration for me. Instead I think Zelda thrives on the sense of discovery more. You’re discovering new areas, overworld secrets, dungeons, towns, etc. Linearity doesn’t stop that sense of discovery, it just guides it. I can see how that can be a problem if you’re looking for a sense of unguided discovery, but that’s not what I play these games for. I’ll get into what I do play these games for later in the review. But for now I just really want to establish how I don’t have any issue with the linearity of Twilight Princess. I think it’s the reason why the game works, the linearity allows for a tighter and more planned out narrative-driven hero’s journey take place.
The overall story of Twilight Princess is alright. It’s nothing really revolutionary, I prefer the story of The Wind Waker as an overall narrative, but Twilight Princess shines through its fantastic story moments. It’s very cinematic in the sense that the scenes feel like they were directed like they’re for a movie. There’s a lot of framing techniques, musical cues, and moody lighting used. Characters are very grounded with their movements and express themselves like normal humans do in the real world. Scenes like the attack in Kakariko, the vision in Lanayru, Midna’s lament, and Illia’s memory are wonderfully directed and are some of my favorite scenes in the series. If Twilight Princess was a movie it would definitely be a big blockbuster. It’s just so grand and epic in every way with massive set pieces sprinkled throughout.
My first criticism about Twilight Princess is the pacing of the first half of the game. I know people usually complain about the opening hours of the game but I really have no problem with the opening. I feel like it’s a great tone-setter and shows you what normal life for Link look’s like before the main inciting incident happens. It’s a literary tool that is used in most movies, books, and other forms of narratives we see today. My issue actually starts after the inciting incident happens. The the world is now engulfed in twilight and every time you go to a new area you have to first go through the twilight realm version of that area and free it. This is the worst thing in the game for me and not because of the Tears of Light quest.
A lot of the previous Zelda games featured a dual-world mechanic with one being the normal world and the other being a distorted version of that world. Seeing the normal versions of those areas first and then seeing how the distortion makes them look is cool, but doing that order in reverse doesn’t work for me for several reasons. First, it's about the first impression you get of the new areas, the Twilight realm feels the same in every region of Hyrule, so having the excitement of going to a new location be met with an oppressive atmosphere that is shared by every other area in the game, even when that atmosphere is done masterfully, just doesn’t give a good first impression to any area in Hyrule. It doesn’t help that the most notable change that happens after freeing these areas from the twilight realm is that they’re now brighter and have their own musical theme. The areas just feel the same but with a different filter on now so it doesn’t feel that satisfying to free them.
My other big complaint about these sections is how they bring some of the narrative conflicts to a halt and ruin some story moments that would have otherwise been much better done. This comes with the fact that in the twilight realm, you can see what’s happening in the real world but you can’t really interact with anything from it. A big example is the kidnapped kids from Ordon Village. When you see them get kidnapped you naturally worry about where they’ve been taken and want to save them. What is the next thing the game does with that sub plot? Have you stumble on them while you’re in the twilight realm, finding out that they are safe with adults while not being able to interact with them until you finish releasing the area from the twilight. I don’t like these sections at all. I will say though that the sound design in the twilight realm is fantastic. As it is with the rest of the game.
What I love about Twilight Princess is that it’s very atmospheric and that comes in large part from the music. The music is spacious, triumphant, and nostalgic, even if you’re hearing these tracks for the first time. There are so many highlights including: Title Theme, Ordon Village, Midna’s theme, Twilight, Meeting Zelda, Light Spirit’s Elegy, Faron Woods, Forest Temple, Hyrule Field, Kakariko Village, King Bulblin Battle, Queen Rutela’s Theme, Lake Hylia, Zant’s Theme, Midna’s Lament, Sacred Grove, Arbiter’s Grounds, Snowpeak, Hidden Village, City in the Sky, and Final Battle. I didn’t realize how many favorites I had until I started listing them out. This might be one of my favorite soundtracks in the series. The only criticism I have with it is that I wish it wasn’t MIDI. These melodies are mesmerizing and deserve a lot better. I hope if the game gets another rerelease, they remake the soundtrack to be orchestral.
An area where Twilight Princess shines for me is through its characters. Not counting Majora’s Mask, Twilight Princess takes a massive leap in terms of character writing. The people of this world feel real with real struggles, and complex motivations. Link himself is one of my favorite incarnations, he is just so expressive and responsive to what’s happening around him. He shows a wide range of emotions throughout the game: he gets passionately angry sometimes, remorseful, cheery, relieved, etc. He’s not as stoic and serious as all the promotional art of the game depict him. He’s just a simple farm guy with a big heart and wants to help out however he can and the game sells that through his characterization. He also works especially well with Midna, who is probably my favorite character in the franchise.
Midna’s the first character in the series that gets a proper arc. Midna is mischievous, sassy, charismatic, and just wants to use Link for her own selfish gains but as the game goes on, she grows a sense of admiration for Link and the sense of camaraderie that builds up between the two really carries the game. They are a great dynamic duo that really give the game its own sense of identity. Midna actually in many ways feels like the protagonist of the game with Link being the deuteragonist. She is the driving force behind the narrative, the stakes are much higher for her than they are for any other character, and she’s the one that has personal beef with main antagonist. This is Midna’s game and Link is just a vessel for her story to be told. The closest thing we got to a character this dynamic before was Tetra in the Wind Waker but the way she was handled in the back-half of that game kinda fizzled her out for me. God, I love Midna. Most of the emotional punches of the game for me come from her. There’s obviously the big Midna’s Lament sequence but that doesn’t come close to her agency and involvement during the final section of the game. All for it to lead to one of the most beautiful endings of the series which wouldn’t have hit at all if her character didn’t work.
Twilight Princess also has other characters that are really compelling! Zant and Colin come to mind as other stand out characters. Some characters do leave some to be desired though. Illia’s treatment is just weird to me, she’s Link’s childhood friend/potential love interest. I’m gonna go over minor spoilers Illia as a character so feel free to skip this paragraph if you haven’t played the game. I just don’t understand what they were even going for with Illia, she’s introduced in the beginning as someone that Link really cares about, then gets kidnapped and disappears for a while. At that point she’s used as a main motivator for Link to go through his journey. You don’t find her with the rest of the kidnapped kids, so you’d think they’re delaying that moment to do something interesting with her. Once you do end up finding her you find out she has amnesia? Interesting choice but nothing is done with that plot line at all. She just disappears for the rest of the game until close to the end where you help her get her memory back in a wonderful scene.. only for her to just stand there doing nothing for the remainder of the game. Just a very weird way to handle the character which is why she never worked for me.
Other characters that kind of fall short for me are Zelda and Ganondorf. Their designs do all of the heavy lifting for their characters, these two never looked this good before (or since to be honest). But other than that, they’re a bunch of nothing. Zelda gets a total of 3 minutes of screen time in the whole game and is only challenged by Ganondorf’s 3.5 minutes. Did these two really need to be in this game? Zelda and Ganondorf’s inclusion just feels like it happens out of necessity to the series traditions. Part of me wishes for a version of Twilight Princess that fully skips on including these two and instead makes Midna and Zant the Triforce wielders of the game. You could even change their names to Zelda and Ganondorf to offer a cute twist of expectations having the incarnations of those two be from the same tribe this time. I know the manga adaptation gives Zelda and Ganondorf some cool stuff so all I can hope for is for that to be added if we ever get a proper remake on the same level as Final Fantasy VII Remake. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening so I guess I have to live on with these incarnations that feel like nothing.
My favorite thing about Twilight Princess and what I think sets it apart from the rest of the series is its dungeons. This is the best dungeon lineup in any 3D Zelda game. Every single dungeon in the game ranges from great to fantastic. Forest Temple, Lakebed Temple, Arbiter’s Grounds, Snowpeak Ruins, City in the Sky, and Palace of Twilight are among my favorite dungeons in the entire series. Each dungeon has a visually and sonically distinct atmosphere that sets it apart from the others, some dungeons are spacious vistas of nature like the forest temple, some are ancient locations with cultural impact like the Arbiter’s Grounds and City in the Sky, and then there’s Snowpeak Ruins which is a fancy and sprawling mansion. I also love them all from a game design perspective, they serve a great balance of the simplicity of The Wind Waker’s dungeons and the labyrinthine design of Ocarina of Time’s dungeons. To me, these serve as the perfect level of challenge where they’re designed well enough for players to be able to figure out how the puzzles work without taking mental leaps to do so. They really are a highlight and the most fun part of the game for me, everytime I finish from a dungeon, I’d be so excited to get to the next one. Contrasting the sense of dread I get from some of the dungeons in some other Zelda games.
All of these dungeons are capped off with boss fights that I can’t describe in any word other than epic. Mechanically, they all function like regular Zelda bosses where you have to use the item you acquired in the dungeon to defeat them, but in every other way, these bosses are leagues above everything that came before. The sense of scale has been upped significantly, these bosses are big and they do a great job of making you feel like the most badass guy in Hyrule. I talked earlier about how Twilight Princess feels like a blockbuster movie with its set pieces, these bosses are what come to mind. Something really great is that each boss has their own distinct theme this time. Actually there are some really cool musical moments that happen with the bosses, mainly the triumphant tune that comes in as you get the upper hand on these bosses just fills you with so much adrenaline. Highlights for me are: Morpheel, Stallord, Blizzeta, Argarok, Zant, and of course Ganondorf.
Everything in Twilight Princess culminates in the climactic final part. Arguably the best final section of any Zelda game (only to be contested recently by Tears of the Kingdom). Only to be topped off by the best final boss fight of the series thus far, again only to be contested by Tears of the Kingdom. Ganondorf might only have 3.5 minutes of screen time but he makes them count! Fantastic final boss in every way and a fantastic ending to go along with it. I will never forget the first time I finished this game and how much I was in awe over this ending sequence. Top 3 favorite endings in the series by far.
Twilight Princess is not a perfect Zelda game but it sure comes close. It has every element that I look for in a Zelda game. I said earlier in the review that I will get into what I look for when I play Zelda games. What’s most important in a Zelda game for me is atmosphere, story, characters, music, dungeons, and bosses. Moving forward, I will be focusing on these 6 elements with each Zelda game I review as these categories are what’s most important to me. Twilight Princess excels in all of these categories which solidifies it as an S-Tier game for me and one of my favorite games in the series. I freaking love this game and I’m obsessed with it. I wasn’t planning on writing this much but I really love Twilight Princess so much that I just can’t stop talking about it.
3
This was one of the games I was most excited to revisit during this marathon as it’s the one I least remember. I have such fondness attached to The Wind Waker and always considered it to be one of my favorites despite not remembering it that well. Now that I replayed it, I can definitely see why I don't remember much of it.
My memory of The Wind Waker consisted of some story beats, the overall vibe of the game, sailing through the Great Sea, and the Wind Temple. Guess what? These are still the only things I remember even freshly after beating the game. This is not a dig at The Wind Waker in any way. I loved it and had a great time with it. After playing through the series, however, and especially playing the games In release order in my marathon now, some cracks definitely started to show.
I want to start with the most striking thing about The Wind Waker and the topic of most conversations surrounding it; the art style. The Wind Waker is so colorful and whimsical and they really picked the right art style for it. The game is just oozing with life and charm, all the characters are so stylized and expressive. The cel-shaded graphics also make The Wind Waker the most ageless game in the series.
Beyond just the art style, the overall presentation of The Wind Waker makes it stand out in every way beyond the other games. The game is a lot more cinematic than its predecessors, cutscenes are a lot more dynamic now, featuring more interesting camerawork all throughout. The soundtrack is phenomenal, the music can range from wacky to haunting all while sporting wonderful airy instrumentation. Highlights for me include: Title, Outset Island, Grandma, Great Sea, Dragon Roost Island, Forest Haven, Molgera, and the theme for a certain iconic Zelda location I won’t spoil.
There are some fantastic musical moments all throughout the game, little motifs come in and out all throughout the game providing great callbacks to the previous games. My favorite being the title theme from A Link to The Past subtly playing during one of the pivotal moments in the story. Another great use of sound design is the little musical notes that play with every slash you make during combat. Which really add a looney tunes kind of cartoony vibe to the game in a way I love. I’m surprised that concept has never returned in the series since then.
The story is one of the best in the series. I just love love love how the Great Sea serves as a giant backdrop to the story of the game. it’s my favorite contextualization of any setting in the series to be honest. There are some really great story and character moments. I do feel like, however, the story halts halfway through when you finally meet Princess Zelda. You get some major revelations and then there’s.. nothing until the end of the game. Which gets me to some of the cracks that started to show in this playthrough for me. It feels like there’s a huge chunk that’s missing from the game, thankfully it doesn’t harm the story in any way, its still a fully realized main plot but it just feels like there are some side plots that were planned that didn’t go anywhere.
Speaking of feeling like there’s a huge chunk missing from the game, I wanna talk about the dungeons of The Wind Waker. Now it’s no secret that there were two dungeons cut from the game because of time constraints and I honestly think it shows. Now Majora’s Mask only had 4 dungeons but the whole story was paced around those 4 dungeons and they made sure they were all great dungeons. I wish I can say the same about this game. The game only has 5 dungeons but it really feels like the story was building up for more, it just gets really shocking when you get to the big halfway point where the game opens up and there’s just.. 2 dungeons to do and the game just ends.
Let’s get to the dungeons, hoo boy. They are not bad but they don’t do anything remarkable and are very simple to get through. They do enough to feel like Zelda dungeons but they’re the bare minimum. Which feels like a letdown coming after Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask and the Oracle games which had fantastic dungeons with really cool and challenging puzzles. All the dungeons here are a breeze to get through which I don’t hate but I never associate Zelda dungeons with being laid-back experiences. The Wind Temple is the only dungeon in the game that exudes the labyrinthian feeling of classic Zelda dungeons which is why it’s the only one I leave the game remembering. I’m writing this review the day after beating it and I can’t tell you anything about any of the other dungeons in the game. Again, nothing inherently bad about them, just very unmemorable.
The Wind Waker has a very strong and distinct identity among its contemporaries in the series and will always be a standout in the vast sea of entries in the franchise. There are just so many things that are unique to The Wind Waker and so much of it comes from the themes of the game that I never truly grasped before this playthrough.
The Wind Waker is all about letting go of the old and forging a new identity which can be seen in most aspects of the game. The presentation completely sets it apart from the rest of the series, Link has a sister now, Hyrule is a thing of the past that everyone has moved on from, Link isn’t some legendary hero chosen by the gods but just a very brave kid who wants to save his sister and ends up proving himself as a hero in his own regard. All of it hits home in the closing moments of the game where the characters realize they need to move on from trying to fulfill old standards and decide to forge their own paths. In some ways, it feels like the Zelda team always wanted to go into this step of breathing a new identity to the series and this seemed like it was the beginning of it. If I was playing this game in 2002 I would’ve definitely left with “is this their way of rebooting the series?” as my main takeaway. Little did I know I’d be leaving another entry of the franchise with that takeaway in 2017.
Despite all of its shortcomings, The Wind Waker has a lot of heart and passion put into it. It sets itself in its own little island away from most of the other games in the series in my eyes. Keep in mind that Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are the only games I’ve never played in the series as of now. I wonder if those two would be in that same island I put The Wind Waker in. I think The Wind Waker excels in so many things and there’s a reason why it’s one of the most relevant games in the series. In some ways though, it will kind of always feel like it’s not a full experience and is kind of a watered down Zelda game to me, especially in its dungeons, and for that I can’t rank it higher than some of my favorites.
My memory of The Wind Waker consisted of some story beats, the overall vibe of the game, sailing through the Great Sea, and the Wind Temple. Guess what? These are still the only things I remember even freshly after beating the game. This is not a dig at The Wind Waker in any way. I loved it and had a great time with it. After playing through the series, however, and especially playing the games In release order in my marathon now, some cracks definitely started to show.
I want to start with the most striking thing about The Wind Waker and the topic of most conversations surrounding it; the art style. The Wind Waker is so colorful and whimsical and they really picked the right art style for it. The game is just oozing with life and charm, all the characters are so stylized and expressive. The cel-shaded graphics also make The Wind Waker the most ageless game in the series.
Beyond just the art style, the overall presentation of The Wind Waker makes it stand out in every way beyond the other games. The game is a lot more cinematic than its predecessors, cutscenes are a lot more dynamic now, featuring more interesting camerawork all throughout. The soundtrack is phenomenal, the music can range from wacky to haunting all while sporting wonderful airy instrumentation. Highlights for me include: Title, Outset Island, Grandma, Great Sea, Dragon Roost Island, Forest Haven, Molgera, and the theme for a certain iconic Zelda location I won’t spoil.
There are some fantastic musical moments all throughout the game, little motifs come in and out all throughout the game providing great callbacks to the previous games. My favorite being the title theme from A Link to The Past subtly playing during one of the pivotal moments in the story. Another great use of sound design is the little musical notes that play with every slash you make during combat. Which really add a looney tunes kind of cartoony vibe to the game in a way I love. I’m surprised that concept has never returned in the series since then.
The story is one of the best in the series. I just love love love how the Great Sea serves as a giant backdrop to the story of the game. it’s my favorite contextualization of any setting in the series to be honest. There are some really great story and character moments. I do feel like, however, the story halts halfway through when you finally meet Princess Zelda. You get some major revelations and then there’s.. nothing until the end of the game. Which gets me to some of the cracks that started to show in this playthrough for me. It feels like there’s a huge chunk that’s missing from the game, thankfully it doesn’t harm the story in any way, its still a fully realized main plot but it just feels like there are some side plots that were planned that didn’t go anywhere.
Speaking of feeling like there’s a huge chunk missing from the game, I wanna talk about the dungeons of The Wind Waker. Now it’s no secret that there were two dungeons cut from the game because of time constraints and I honestly think it shows. Now Majora’s Mask only had 4 dungeons but the whole story was paced around those 4 dungeons and they made sure they were all great dungeons. I wish I can say the same about this game. The game only has 5 dungeons but it really feels like the story was building up for more, it just gets really shocking when you get to the big halfway point where the game opens up and there’s just.. 2 dungeons to do and the game just ends.
Let’s get to the dungeons, hoo boy. They are not bad but they don’t do anything remarkable and are very simple to get through. They do enough to feel like Zelda dungeons but they’re the bare minimum. Which feels like a letdown coming after Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask and the Oracle games which had fantastic dungeons with really cool and challenging puzzles. All the dungeons here are a breeze to get through which I don’t hate but I never associate Zelda dungeons with being laid-back experiences. The Wind Temple is the only dungeon in the game that exudes the labyrinthian feeling of classic Zelda dungeons which is why it’s the only one I leave the game remembering. I’m writing this review the day after beating it and I can’t tell you anything about any of the other dungeons in the game. Again, nothing inherently bad about them, just very unmemorable.
The Wind Waker has a very strong and distinct identity among its contemporaries in the series and will always be a standout in the vast sea of entries in the franchise. There are just so many things that are unique to The Wind Waker and so much of it comes from the themes of the game that I never truly grasped before this playthrough.
The Wind Waker is all about letting go of the old and forging a new identity which can be seen in most aspects of the game. The presentation completely sets it apart from the rest of the series, Link has a sister now, Hyrule is a thing of the past that everyone has moved on from, Link isn’t some legendary hero chosen by the gods but just a very brave kid who wants to save his sister and ends up proving himself as a hero in his own regard. All of it hits home in the closing moments of the game where the characters realize they need to move on from trying to fulfill old standards and decide to forge their own paths. In some ways, it feels like the Zelda team always wanted to go into this step of breathing a new identity to the series and this seemed like it was the beginning of it. If I was playing this game in 2002 I would’ve definitely left with “is this their way of rebooting the series?” as my main takeaway. Little did I know I’d be leaving another entry of the franchise with that takeaway in 2017.
Despite all of its shortcomings, The Wind Waker has a lot of heart and passion put into it. It sets itself in its own little island away from most of the other games in the series in my eyes. Keep in mind that Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are the only games I’ve never played in the series as of now. I wonder if those two would be in that same island I put The Wind Waker in. I think The Wind Waker excels in so many things and there’s a reason why it’s one of the most relevant games in the series. In some ways though, it will kind of always feel like it’s not a full experience and is kind of a watered down Zelda game to me, especially in its dungeons, and for that I can’t rank it higher than some of my favorites.
4
Link’s Awakening was always an odd one for me. I had played the GameBoy Color version and the Switch version once before, it didn’t really resonate with me both times. Granted I knew about the big twist of the game and have known about Marin before playing the game both times so I never really had a blind experience with Link’s Awakening. Well, here I am now after my third playthrough and I can finally say that it clicked for me.
Link’s Awakening, and most of the Zelda series for that matter, shines when you approach it with no expectations. I approached my first playthrough with the expectations formed from everything I heard about the game. I expected more of a character arc for Marin, more thematic exploration on the truth behind Koholint island. What I got was.. very simple to say the least. It wasn’t at the level of Majora’s Mask when it came to theming. By the time I got to play Link’s Awakening, I had already played most of the series and felt like I’ve seen narratives that were much stronger and worlds that are a lot bolder than Koholint. So I really couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of “that’s it?” In both of my first playthroughs.
My third and latest playthrough is a part of my series marathon and I approached it already deciding where I stand on the game and was expecting my playthrough to solidify my stance on Link’s Awakening being just fine. I started playing the game kind of mindlessly just to check the box and move on but I was quickly won over from its first few hours. Link’s Awakening oozes charm in every aspect of it; the art style, the music, Koholint and its inhabitants, and even the enemies and bosses.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Switch remake’s art style at first as that’s not really what I imagined a modern Link’s Awakening looking like. However, I’ve greatly warmed up to it and I think it accentuates the wackiness and dream-like quality of Koholint island. I also think it provides a wonderful contrast to the games brooding theme. I was really vibing with the art direction this time and then BAM, first gobsmack was hearing the Mabe Village theme. I don’t even have that strong of a connection to Link’s Awakening but that theme felt like a warm hug welcoming me back home. I continued playing while being pleasantly surprised that Link’s Awakening has finally evoked an emotion in me.
I found myself being swooned over the charm of Link’s Awakening especially with its soundtrack. I already talked about Mabe Village but there are other tunes all throughout Link’s Awakening that swept me away and made me feel just happy to be in Koholint. Ballad of the Wind Fish, Animal Village, and Tal Tal Heights are among other highlights for me. The music alongside the art style made me really want to be in Koholint, it was just so so comforting, probably the most comforting setting in the whole series.
The biggest gobsmack for me was when I got to the Face Shrine and discovered the truth about the island. I had played through the game twice and am already familiar with the twist but this time it felt like the revelation hit me like a truck. Hearing the Face Shrine theme right after solidified my newfound love of the game. It finally worked for me. I realized at that moment that my expectations got the best of me both previous times and didn’t allow me to fully sink into the world of Link’s Awakening as I constantly compared it to other Zelda games and was constantly waiting for a big a-ha moment. Little did I know that that big a-ha moment would finally come many years later if I just put my guard down and let myself enjoy things.
The moving strings of The Face Shrine theme play in the background as I pondered over how I could have ever felt this game was “just fine”. I was reflecting on my thoughts on the game while maneuvering through the dungeon. As I fight the boss of the Face Shrine, something new happened, the boss was begging me not to go through with my mission as the music suddenly becomes intense. This happens with every boss moving forward, it’s a subtle addition to the dungeon gameplay loop but it made me realize just what I was missing. I realized I don’t need to be always waiting for a big in-your-face moment to solidify if I like something or not, that wait just makes me miss out on the beauty of subtlety and I think Link’s Awakening shines on that subtlety in its storytelling.
So yeah, this is probably the biggest shift I had in this marathon so far. I honestly learned a very valuable lesson that I’ll take with me to the next entries which is to just enjoy what I’m playing for what it is and not wait for it to win me. I need to take that stick out of my butt and enjoy things again. It took me 10 years but I can finally say that Link’s Awakening is a truly special game. It now means a lot to me and is now one of my favorites in the series.
Link’s Awakening, and most of the Zelda series for that matter, shines when you approach it with no expectations. I approached my first playthrough with the expectations formed from everything I heard about the game. I expected more of a character arc for Marin, more thematic exploration on the truth behind Koholint island. What I got was.. very simple to say the least. It wasn’t at the level of Majora’s Mask when it came to theming. By the time I got to play Link’s Awakening, I had already played most of the series and felt like I’ve seen narratives that were much stronger and worlds that are a lot bolder than Koholint. So I really couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of “that’s it?” In both of my first playthroughs.
My third and latest playthrough is a part of my series marathon and I approached it already deciding where I stand on the game and was expecting my playthrough to solidify my stance on Link’s Awakening being just fine. I started playing the game kind of mindlessly just to check the box and move on but I was quickly won over from its first few hours. Link’s Awakening oozes charm in every aspect of it; the art style, the music, Koholint and its inhabitants, and even the enemies and bosses.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Switch remake’s art style at first as that’s not really what I imagined a modern Link’s Awakening looking like. However, I’ve greatly warmed up to it and I think it accentuates the wackiness and dream-like quality of Koholint island. I also think it provides a wonderful contrast to the games brooding theme. I was really vibing with the art direction this time and then BAM, first gobsmack was hearing the Mabe Village theme. I don’t even have that strong of a connection to Link’s Awakening but that theme felt like a warm hug welcoming me back home. I continued playing while being pleasantly surprised that Link’s Awakening has finally evoked an emotion in me.
I found myself being swooned over the charm of Link’s Awakening especially with its soundtrack. I already talked about Mabe Village but there are other tunes all throughout Link’s Awakening that swept me away and made me feel just happy to be in Koholint. Ballad of the Wind Fish, Animal Village, and Tal Tal Heights are among other highlights for me. The music alongside the art style made me really want to be in Koholint, it was just so so comforting, probably the most comforting setting in the whole series.
The biggest gobsmack for me was when I got to the Face Shrine and discovered the truth about the island. I had played through the game twice and am already familiar with the twist but this time it felt like the revelation hit me like a truck. Hearing the Face Shrine theme right after solidified my newfound love of the game. It finally worked for me. I realized at that moment that my expectations got the best of me both previous times and didn’t allow me to fully sink into the world of Link’s Awakening as I constantly compared it to other Zelda games and was constantly waiting for a big a-ha moment. Little did I know that that big a-ha moment would finally come many years later if I just put my guard down and let myself enjoy things.
The moving strings of The Face Shrine theme play in the background as I pondered over how I could have ever felt this game was “just fine”. I was reflecting on my thoughts on the game while maneuvering through the dungeon. As I fight the boss of the Face Shrine, something new happened, the boss was begging me not to go through with my mission as the music suddenly becomes intense. This happens with every boss moving forward, it’s a subtle addition to the dungeon gameplay loop but it made me realize just what I was missing. I realized I don’t need to be always waiting for a big in-your-face moment to solidify if I like something or not, that wait just makes me miss out on the beauty of subtlety and I think Link’s Awakening shines on that subtlety in its storytelling.
So yeah, this is probably the biggest shift I had in this marathon so far. I honestly learned a very valuable lesson that I’ll take with me to the next entries which is to just enjoy what I’m playing for what it is and not wait for it to win me. I need to take that stick out of my butt and enjoy things again. It took me 10 years but I can finally say that Link’s Awakening is a truly special game. It now means a lot to me and is now one of my favorites in the series.
5
My oh my what a fantastic game. The true beginning of the series for me. A Link to the Past takes the best parts from Zelda I and II and lays the groundwork for the rest of the series, and it does a fantastic job doing it. The game aged its 32 years ever so gracefully as i would still consider it a masterpiece today.
This type of world design is my absolute favorite and there’s a reason why it’s been used as a blueprint for every Zelda game until Breath of the Wild. You get a big open map like the original Zelda but it’s structured in a way that makes it so you don’t go to areas you’re prepared for until the game takes you there. I know this sounds like basic-level game design but since the series seems to be moving away from this type of world design, I have a lot more appreciation for it. The entire world IS at your disposal but you can’t really navigate comfortably through it until you’ve earned it through the story. It just makes progression a lot more rewarding without limiting the exploration aspect.
Playing through A Link to the Past after most modern Zeldas would have you forget that this is the game that did almost everything first. Dungeons are now properly themed, with tighter puzzles focusing on a specific item. The added linearity elevates how the game tells its story. The environment is designed meticulously in a way that hides its secrets but does offer hints to the player through context cues. You can always tell what your next step is, you won’t be just wandering aimlessly until you accidentally trigger something. All of these aspects have become synonymous with the identity of the series until Breath of the Wild but A Link to the Past does it first and does so beautifully.
Is A Link to the Past the best 2D Zelda game? Not by a long shot. Most of the Zelda pantheon elevated on what came from this game and executed it better. However, A Link to the Past definitely deserves its flowers for laying such solid groundwork to the series that still hasn’t grown stale to this day. This game is THE blueprint for modern Zelda and there’s a good reason why.
This type of world design is my absolute favorite and there’s a reason why it’s been used as a blueprint for every Zelda game until Breath of the Wild. You get a big open map like the original Zelda but it’s structured in a way that makes it so you don’t go to areas you’re prepared for until the game takes you there. I know this sounds like basic-level game design but since the series seems to be moving away from this type of world design, I have a lot more appreciation for it. The entire world IS at your disposal but you can’t really navigate comfortably through it until you’ve earned it through the story. It just makes progression a lot more rewarding without limiting the exploration aspect.
Playing through A Link to the Past after most modern Zeldas would have you forget that this is the game that did almost everything first. Dungeons are now properly themed, with tighter puzzles focusing on a specific item. The added linearity elevates how the game tells its story. The environment is designed meticulously in a way that hides its secrets but does offer hints to the player through context cues. You can always tell what your next step is, you won’t be just wandering aimlessly until you accidentally trigger something. All of these aspects have become synonymous with the identity of the series until Breath of the Wild but A Link to the Past does it first and does so beautifully.
Is A Link to the Past the best 2D Zelda game? Not by a long shot. Most of the Zelda pantheon elevated on what came from this game and executed it better. However, A Link to the Past definitely deserves its flowers for laying such solid groundwork to the series that still hasn’t grown stale to this day. This game is THE blueprint for modern Zelda and there’s a good reason why.
6
I will be discussing the events of the Linked Game in this review since this was my linked game in my playthrough.
Both Oracle games I think are massively overlooked and underrated. They both offer different experiences from each other and highlight different elements of the Zelda series. Oracle of Ages is apparently the one focused on puzzles.
Oracle of Ages starts exactly the same was as Oracle of Seasons but now Link is transported to another kingdom and a different villain captures another Oracle. I was worried that I was about to go through the exact same game again but thankfully that’s where the similarities end between the two.
Also I forgot to note in my previous review that the art direction in both of these games is fantastic. I really love all of the character designs in these games.
I enjoyed Oracle of Ages more than Oracle of Seasons because it really felt like there was a lot more going on. There was focus on more characters like Queen Ambi and Ralph who are the only ones to have actual arcs across these two games. The story isn’t super special but I’m glad it does SOMETHING.
The dungeons in this game are all great. Capcom knows their way around creating good dungeons huh? Also once again this game has really great items unique from Oracle of Seasons. The Seed Shooter, Cane of Somaria and The Switch Hook are some of the best items in the series as well. With the Switch Hook being the highlight for me. The bosses are also all great! Vire’s boss fight being a Donkey Kong callback is genius!!!
Now on to the Linked Game content, uhh I expected a bit more but it’s cool I guess. Certain aspects carry over between games in cool ways. Princess Zelda also appears throughout your linked game only to get captured when you learn about Twinrovas super shocking super secret master plan which forces you to fight one more boss. I like that the linked content provides a better, more conclusive ending to the two games.
In some ways, Oracle of Ages feels like a greatest hits games. You liked the time travel in Ocarina of Time? Here you go! You liked the two worlds mechanic from A Link to the Past? Here you go! Zoras! Gorons! Jabu-Jabu!!! And you know what? I’ll eat it all up.
Both Oracle games are very close in quality and I can see the argument for preferring either over the other. However, Oracle of Ages is the definitely the one that resonated with me more.
Both Oracle games I think are massively overlooked and underrated. They both offer different experiences from each other and highlight different elements of the Zelda series. Oracle of Ages is apparently the one focused on puzzles.
Oracle of Ages starts exactly the same was as Oracle of Seasons but now Link is transported to another kingdom and a different villain captures another Oracle. I was worried that I was about to go through the exact same game again but thankfully that’s where the similarities end between the two.
Also I forgot to note in my previous review that the art direction in both of these games is fantastic. I really love all of the character designs in these games.
I enjoyed Oracle of Ages more than Oracle of Seasons because it really felt like there was a lot more going on. There was focus on more characters like Queen Ambi and Ralph who are the only ones to have actual arcs across these two games. The story isn’t super special but I’m glad it does SOMETHING.
The dungeons in this game are all great. Capcom knows their way around creating good dungeons huh? Also once again this game has really great items unique from Oracle of Seasons. The Seed Shooter, Cane of Somaria and The Switch Hook are some of the best items in the series as well. With the Switch Hook being the highlight for me. The bosses are also all great! Vire’s boss fight being a Donkey Kong callback is genius!!!
Now on to the Linked Game content, uhh I expected a bit more but it’s cool I guess. Certain aspects carry over between games in cool ways. Princess Zelda also appears throughout your linked game only to get captured when you learn about Twinrovas super shocking super secret master plan which forces you to fight one more boss. I like that the linked content provides a better, more conclusive ending to the two games.
In some ways, Oracle of Ages feels like a greatest hits games. You liked the time travel in Ocarina of Time? Here you go! You liked the two worlds mechanic from A Link to the Past? Here you go! Zoras! Gorons! Jabu-Jabu!!! And you know what? I’ll eat it all up.
Both Oracle games are very close in quality and I can see the argument for preferring either over the other. However, Oracle of Ages is the definitely the one that resonated with me more.
7
I won’t be discussing the events of the Linked Game in this review as I played this game first and Oracle of Ages was my linked game.
Both Oracle games I think are massively overlooked and underrated. They both offer different experiences from each other and highlight different elements of the Zelda series. Oracle of Seasons is apparently the one focused on combat.
There’s really not much for me to say about Oracle of Seasons, it’s good but not great. The game is very fun to play and the main mechanic of switching seasons is very creative and well utilized. Past Zelda games like A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time offered two versions of their maps, allowing you to constantly switch between them, Oracle of Seasons makes it four! The season switching is done very seamlessly and it’s genuinely very impressive.
Oracle of Seasons doesn’t really have anything going on with the story other than “save [DAMSEL] from [VILLAIN]” which is kind of disappointing coming after great stories like Link’s Awakening, Ocarina of Time, and Majora’s Mask. Like I thought we moved on from that kind of barebones storytelling. This was especially disappointing after going through Oracle of Ages because that game has a lot more going on than this one. To me, it feels like Oracle of Seasons just takes a step back in terms of story and calls it a day.
That’s pretty much the only thing I took issue with to be honest, this is a really good Zelda game that will give you a fun world to explore, fantastic dungeons and unique items. Holodrum isn’t as interesting as previous settings but it does the job. Sunken City and Subrosia are definitely highlights from this game’s overworld for me. Also you get animal companions this time which add really fun transportation methods!!!
The dungeons are fantastic. They’re all very cleverly designed and feature some cool fresh items like the Roc’s Cape and the Magnetic Glove! The latter being a highlight of the game as it’s used very creatively once obtained from the Unicorn’s Cave (which is the best dungeon in the game by the way). I also thought it was cool that the bosses are reimagined versions of the bosses from Zelda I. The final boss of Oracle of Seasons is also fantastic!!! One of the most thrilling 2D boss fights!
I don’t know like did these really need to be two separate games? They could’ve taken the best parts of both and we would have had a much better game. It just feels like this game is targeted towards fans of the NES Zelda games while Oracle of Ages is targeted towards fans of A Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening. Overall good experience but could’ve been better in terms of story and characters.
Both Oracle games I think are massively overlooked and underrated. They both offer different experiences from each other and highlight different elements of the Zelda series. Oracle of Seasons is apparently the one focused on combat.
There’s really not much for me to say about Oracle of Seasons, it’s good but not great. The game is very fun to play and the main mechanic of switching seasons is very creative and well utilized. Past Zelda games like A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time offered two versions of their maps, allowing you to constantly switch between them, Oracle of Seasons makes it four! The season switching is done very seamlessly and it’s genuinely very impressive.
Oracle of Seasons doesn’t really have anything going on with the story other than “save [DAMSEL] from [VILLAIN]” which is kind of disappointing coming after great stories like Link’s Awakening, Ocarina of Time, and Majora’s Mask. Like I thought we moved on from that kind of barebones storytelling. This was especially disappointing after going through Oracle of Ages because that game has a lot more going on than this one. To me, it feels like Oracle of Seasons just takes a step back in terms of story and calls it a day.
That’s pretty much the only thing I took issue with to be honest, this is a really good Zelda game that will give you a fun world to explore, fantastic dungeons and unique items. Holodrum isn’t as interesting as previous settings but it does the job. Sunken City and Subrosia are definitely highlights from this game’s overworld for me. Also you get animal companions this time which add really fun transportation methods!!!
The dungeons are fantastic. They’re all very cleverly designed and feature some cool fresh items like the Roc’s Cape and the Magnetic Glove! The latter being a highlight of the game as it’s used very creatively once obtained from the Unicorn’s Cave (which is the best dungeon in the game by the way). I also thought it was cool that the bosses are reimagined versions of the bosses from Zelda I. The final boss of Oracle of Seasons is also fantastic!!! One of the most thrilling 2D boss fights!
I don’t know like did these really need to be two separate games? They could’ve taken the best parts of both and we would have had a much better game. It just feels like this game is targeted towards fans of the NES Zelda games while Oracle of Ages is targeted towards fans of A Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening. Overall good experience but could’ve been better in terms of story and characters.
8
Spirit Tracks is actually pretty good! It improves on almost everything from Phantom Hourglass, better visuals, tighter dungeons, better music, better story. It’s a good sequel in every regard. It still has some shortcomings that I’ll get into but overall, it’s a really solid, inoffensive entry in the series.
The main story in Spirit Tracks is such a fun time. It puts a whole twist on your expectations of how the story would go. Zelda straight up dies in the beginning and haunts Link throughout the game. This story choice is just beyond genius, I’ve been wanting a game where Zelda is in a more active role and you can’t get more active than being the companion character. I talked on my Twilight Princess review about how much I adored Midna as a companion and how I wished Zelda would get to be as dynamic as she was and I got exactly what I wanted.
Zelda is the main character of this game and there is no question about it. They took a lot of what I love about Midna, all the crushed dreams I had for Tetra, and perfectly crafted the best Princess Zelda yet. She has so much personality here. She’s sassy, kind, very funny, and helpful. At first, she assumes that it’s Link that has to go through this journey, only to find out that she’s just as important as he is, ensuing hysterical and heartwarming moments all throughout the story. She starts off as a helpless princess but gradually gains courage throughout the adventure, eventually becoming Link’s knight in shining armor, despite not getting over her fear of rats.
Having a full game where the duo is going through the adventure together is what I’ve been wanting for a very long time and I’m so happy Spirit Tracks finally realizes that dream. Zelda and Link’s relationship in this game is the best in the series by far as you see it develop throughout the game. There's a real sense of camaraderie between the two that is just all so adorable. They made her so important to the story and the gameplay that she feels just as much of a hero as Link, if not more. God, I really loved her in this game. I really hope we get more entries in the future with the duo having this type of relationship and being each-other’s companions.
Spirit Tracks feels like it was made with more thought and effort than Phantom Hourglass did. I don’t know why but I was very surprised that they recorded new voice lines for Link, the first time a Toon Link doesn’t reuse the Wind Waker voice, and he sounds very different and much younger. It made me really feel like I’m playing as a different Link this time and I appreciated that bit of extra effort.
I don’t know what they did but I can swear that Spirit Tracks controls better. Link feels a lot more comfortable to maneuver and I noticed my hand hasn’t cramped once while playing which I can’t say the same for Phantom Hourglass. The game uses less DS gimmicks this time but when they are used, they’re used in pretty fun ways. Blowing on different holes in the Spirit Flute to play tunes on it is a very creative implementation that left me feeling impressed while I was grabbing my inhaler. There’s just a lot of aspects they’ve tweaked in an effort to make for a more streamlined experience. This effort is also immediately apparent with the upgraded visuals and the new music.
Phantom Hourglass left a lot to be desired in terms of music, there were only a handful of new tracks that would constantly be reused and mostly reminiscing tracks from The Wind Waker but that isn’t the case with Spirit Tracks. The amount of new music is great but it’s the quality of the music that really stuck with me. There are some absolute ear-worms, most notably the overworld theme “Full Steam Ahead” which is easily a top track in the series.
I wish the awesome overworld theme wasn’t accompanied by this specific overworld though. Conducting the Spirit Train is a pretty fun feeling! You get to control the speed, turn it to go on the path you want it to and even blow the horn whenever you want. It made me really giddy to control it in the beginning of the game but by the end it gets very very old. I complained in my Phantom Hourglass review about how the traversal was handled in that game and my god do I take it back. I wish Spirit Tracks had more of that and less of… whatever it is we got.
I really like how varied the map is. Each area has its own color scheme and sets of challenges that distinguishes it from the other areas. An improvement on Phantom Hourglass from that front. I don’t mind that the entire exploration is limited to the pre-determined tracks, it’s fun to navigate through a meticulously designed map to avoid the obstacles and make it to your destination. I just really don’t like the gameplay loop of conducting the train. It just takes too long to get to your destination that most of the game’s runtime was me sitting in front of my 3DS just watching the train go to the path I traced while occasionally popping in to clear obstacles. This got very infuriating to be honest, especially when i saw how they handled the “fast travel” system in the game. Which was so confusing and non-efficient that I preferred just going the long way every time.
I was kind of apprehensive when the game started and I saw that it was set in a new version of Hyrule. I was just praising The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass for carving their own identity away from Hyrule, and now you’re telling me those adventures still lead to the creation of Hyrule? Well, yes but no. New Hyrule is only Hyrule by name, I was very pleased to see that they continued the Wind Waker’s thesis in this new kingdom that has its own lore, tribes and beliefs. The Lokomo are a very interesting stand-in for the tribe of higher knowledge, a role that used to be fulfilled by the Shiekah. I’m happy that the Anouki’s were included in the founding of this new kingdom. They were given a lot more personality in this entry. I really enjoyed their specific subplot.
The Tower of Spirits is Spirit Track’s own dungeon the player has to constantly revisit throughout the story like Phantom Hourglass’s Temple of the Ocean King. In some ways it’s an improvement, I like how every revisit only opens 2-3 extra floors at a time. It makes the dungeon less daunting especially when you’re not required to replay through the floors you’ve already done, you can just pick up where you left off last time. These floors are also very well designed with some really challenging puzzles.
The only aspect that I feel like halts it from being an improvement is the fact they removed the time limit. The Tower of Spirits feels like it has significantly lower stakes which honestly I didn’t like. I ended up preferring the Temple of the Ocean King, to be honest, it had such a fun layer of challenge and intensity to it that I ended up missing here, which I know is a very controversial opinion.
The main dungeons are an overall improvement from Phantom Hourglass but only slightly. They get a bit more complex and contain more clever puzzles. Nothing really mind blowing, just super solid. The bosses are all great once again, this duology genuinely has some of the most fun and creative bosses in the series. The final boss was also fantastic in every way.
Overall, Spirit Tracks was a great time for me. It streamlined most of the aspects I had issues with in Phantom Hourglass and delivers such a tight, solid Zelda game with a good story, the best Princess Zelda, great music, clever dungeons, and creative bosses despite having an inferior overworld and on-going temple to its predecessor.
The main story in Spirit Tracks is such a fun time. It puts a whole twist on your expectations of how the story would go. Zelda straight up dies in the beginning and haunts Link throughout the game. This story choice is just beyond genius, I’ve been wanting a game where Zelda is in a more active role and you can’t get more active than being the companion character. I talked on my Twilight Princess review about how much I adored Midna as a companion and how I wished Zelda would get to be as dynamic as she was and I got exactly what I wanted.
Zelda is the main character of this game and there is no question about it. They took a lot of what I love about Midna, all the crushed dreams I had for Tetra, and perfectly crafted the best Princess Zelda yet. She has so much personality here. She’s sassy, kind, very funny, and helpful. At first, she assumes that it’s Link that has to go through this journey, only to find out that she’s just as important as he is, ensuing hysterical and heartwarming moments all throughout the story. She starts off as a helpless princess but gradually gains courage throughout the adventure, eventually becoming Link’s knight in shining armor, despite not getting over her fear of rats.
Having a full game where the duo is going through the adventure together is what I’ve been wanting for a very long time and I’m so happy Spirit Tracks finally realizes that dream. Zelda and Link’s relationship in this game is the best in the series by far as you see it develop throughout the game. There's a real sense of camaraderie between the two that is just all so adorable. They made her so important to the story and the gameplay that she feels just as much of a hero as Link, if not more. God, I really loved her in this game. I really hope we get more entries in the future with the duo having this type of relationship and being each-other’s companions.
Spirit Tracks feels like it was made with more thought and effort than Phantom Hourglass did. I don’t know why but I was very surprised that they recorded new voice lines for Link, the first time a Toon Link doesn’t reuse the Wind Waker voice, and he sounds very different and much younger. It made me really feel like I’m playing as a different Link this time and I appreciated that bit of extra effort.
I don’t know what they did but I can swear that Spirit Tracks controls better. Link feels a lot more comfortable to maneuver and I noticed my hand hasn’t cramped once while playing which I can’t say the same for Phantom Hourglass. The game uses less DS gimmicks this time but when they are used, they’re used in pretty fun ways. Blowing on different holes in the Spirit Flute to play tunes on it is a very creative implementation that left me feeling impressed while I was grabbing my inhaler. There’s just a lot of aspects they’ve tweaked in an effort to make for a more streamlined experience. This effort is also immediately apparent with the upgraded visuals and the new music.
Phantom Hourglass left a lot to be desired in terms of music, there were only a handful of new tracks that would constantly be reused and mostly reminiscing tracks from The Wind Waker but that isn’t the case with Spirit Tracks. The amount of new music is great but it’s the quality of the music that really stuck with me. There are some absolute ear-worms, most notably the overworld theme “Full Steam Ahead” which is easily a top track in the series.
I wish the awesome overworld theme wasn’t accompanied by this specific overworld though. Conducting the Spirit Train is a pretty fun feeling! You get to control the speed, turn it to go on the path you want it to and even blow the horn whenever you want. It made me really giddy to control it in the beginning of the game but by the end it gets very very old. I complained in my Phantom Hourglass review about how the traversal was handled in that game and my god do I take it back. I wish Spirit Tracks had more of that and less of… whatever it is we got.
I really like how varied the map is. Each area has its own color scheme and sets of challenges that distinguishes it from the other areas. An improvement on Phantom Hourglass from that front. I don’t mind that the entire exploration is limited to the pre-determined tracks, it’s fun to navigate through a meticulously designed map to avoid the obstacles and make it to your destination. I just really don’t like the gameplay loop of conducting the train. It just takes too long to get to your destination that most of the game’s runtime was me sitting in front of my 3DS just watching the train go to the path I traced while occasionally popping in to clear obstacles. This got very infuriating to be honest, especially when i saw how they handled the “fast travel” system in the game. Which was so confusing and non-efficient that I preferred just going the long way every time.
I was kind of apprehensive when the game started and I saw that it was set in a new version of Hyrule. I was just praising The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass for carving their own identity away from Hyrule, and now you’re telling me those adventures still lead to the creation of Hyrule? Well, yes but no. New Hyrule is only Hyrule by name, I was very pleased to see that they continued the Wind Waker’s thesis in this new kingdom that has its own lore, tribes and beliefs. The Lokomo are a very interesting stand-in for the tribe of higher knowledge, a role that used to be fulfilled by the Shiekah. I’m happy that the Anouki’s were included in the founding of this new kingdom. They were given a lot more personality in this entry. I really enjoyed their specific subplot.
The Tower of Spirits is Spirit Track’s own dungeon the player has to constantly revisit throughout the story like Phantom Hourglass’s Temple of the Ocean King. In some ways it’s an improvement, I like how every revisit only opens 2-3 extra floors at a time. It makes the dungeon less daunting especially when you’re not required to replay through the floors you’ve already done, you can just pick up where you left off last time. These floors are also very well designed with some really challenging puzzles.
The only aspect that I feel like halts it from being an improvement is the fact they removed the time limit. The Tower of Spirits feels like it has significantly lower stakes which honestly I didn’t like. I ended up preferring the Temple of the Ocean King, to be honest, it had such a fun layer of challenge and intensity to it that I ended up missing here, which I know is a very controversial opinion.
The main dungeons are an overall improvement from Phantom Hourglass but only slightly. They get a bit more complex and contain more clever puzzles. Nothing really mind blowing, just super solid. The bosses are all great once again, this duology genuinely has some of the most fun and creative bosses in the series. The final boss was also fantastic in every way.
Overall, Spirit Tracks was a great time for me. It streamlined most of the aspects I had issues with in Phantom Hourglass and delivers such a tight, solid Zelda game with a good story, the best Princess Zelda, great music, clever dungeons, and creative bosses despite having an inferior overworld and on-going temple to its predecessor.
9
The Minish Cap may be a small adventure but it sure packs a punch, albeit a light one. I have really fond memories of this game so I was very excited to revisit it and offer my palette some much needed cleansing after playing through Four Swords Adventures.
The Minish Cap is absolutely gorgeous. Its art style is timeless and charming and cements itself as my favorite looking 2D Zelda. The pixel art is so expressive and colorful with fluid animations. Just walking around Hyrule Castle Town is a feast for the eyes as you see the NPCs running around town and the colorful merchants in the market area.
Speaking of Hyrule Castle Town, this is definitely my favorite iteration of it in the series. It is just so lively and brimming with countless side quests and extra content. They did a good job making it into a welcoming hub to constantly revisit.
The overworld may be small but we can go smaller, literally. The main gimmick of The Minish Cap is giving you the ability to shrink down to the size of a minuscule tribe called the Picori. That ability originated in Four Swords but The Minish Cap takes full advantage of that mechanic, creating sprawling worlds for you to explore in your small size. Many buildings in the town have mouse-sized holes that you can enter and explore in a totally new way. Go into the library and you’ll see that there are some researching Picori living between the books. My favorite is the cafe where you find little Picori having their own makeshift cafe atop the wooden planks in the roof.
I really love the dedication put into the shrinking mechanic and the details used all throughout. Some Picori live in human shoes and use ribbons as blankets, buttons as bed, and so on. It’s just cute. One other favorite aspect of mine is the dangers of being small in the world. Now you have to sneak around the cat in the living room so it doesn’t chase you, you have to avoid raindrops as they completely crush you, your main enemies are insects. These aspects make the implementation of the shrinking mechanic really clever and cool.
The dungeons are alright. Not super revolutionary but solid dungeons with solid designs. They do lean on the easier side which I usually prefer but I found these to be a bit too easy. I think especially after playing through Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, which contain some really fantastic dungeons, The Minish Cap definitely leaves a lot to be desired. The bosses are all great across the board though. The Gyorg Pair boss fight from the Palace of Winds is my clear favorite and cements itself as one of my favorite 2D Zelda boss fights.
The aspect that hurts The Minish Cap in my eyes has to be the Kinstone mechanic. I do not like this one bit. Kinstones are medallions that are broken with their pieces scattered all across the world. Each NPC has their own Kinstone piece that could be completed by the pieces you collect along the way. Which opens the door for going through every NPC and seeing if you have the other piece of the Kinstone fragment they have. Fusing Kinstones would reveal secrets, make changes to the world, among other effects. I have a huge problem with this as sometimes, secrets in the overworld can’t be interacted with unless I’ve fused a kinstone with a random NPC that isn’t even anywhere close to what that fusion would unlock for me. I get that it’s supposed to encourage you to talk to every NPC but I would’ve appreciated if they went about it a different way. This mechanic really brings the game down for me.
I thought The Minish Cap would revitalize me from the dud I’ve been in since playing Four Swords Adventures and in some ways it did but not by a lot. I had a good time all in all but the sad part about this playthrough is that I realized that the game doesn’t have that spark I used to see in it. Playing the game younger, I was won over by how pretty the game was and how cute it was that I could shrink but behind that I failed to see how The Minish Cap is very much a watered-down, or I guess I should say shrunken down, Zelda experience. I think its charm is the biggest thing that’s making me prefer it over Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages but it will be in danger as soon as those games get a modernized remake.
The Minish Cap is absolutely gorgeous. Its art style is timeless and charming and cements itself as my favorite looking 2D Zelda. The pixel art is so expressive and colorful with fluid animations. Just walking around Hyrule Castle Town is a feast for the eyes as you see the NPCs running around town and the colorful merchants in the market area.
Speaking of Hyrule Castle Town, this is definitely my favorite iteration of it in the series. It is just so lively and brimming with countless side quests and extra content. They did a good job making it into a welcoming hub to constantly revisit.
The overworld may be small but we can go smaller, literally. The main gimmick of The Minish Cap is giving you the ability to shrink down to the size of a minuscule tribe called the Picori. That ability originated in Four Swords but The Minish Cap takes full advantage of that mechanic, creating sprawling worlds for you to explore in your small size. Many buildings in the town have mouse-sized holes that you can enter and explore in a totally new way. Go into the library and you’ll see that there are some researching Picori living between the books. My favorite is the cafe where you find little Picori having their own makeshift cafe atop the wooden planks in the roof.
I really love the dedication put into the shrinking mechanic and the details used all throughout. Some Picori live in human shoes and use ribbons as blankets, buttons as bed, and so on. It’s just cute. One other favorite aspect of mine is the dangers of being small in the world. Now you have to sneak around the cat in the living room so it doesn’t chase you, you have to avoid raindrops as they completely crush you, your main enemies are insects. These aspects make the implementation of the shrinking mechanic really clever and cool.
The dungeons are alright. Not super revolutionary but solid dungeons with solid designs. They do lean on the easier side which I usually prefer but I found these to be a bit too easy. I think especially after playing through Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, which contain some really fantastic dungeons, The Minish Cap definitely leaves a lot to be desired. The bosses are all great across the board though. The Gyorg Pair boss fight from the Palace of Winds is my clear favorite and cements itself as one of my favorite 2D Zelda boss fights.
The aspect that hurts The Minish Cap in my eyes has to be the Kinstone mechanic. I do not like this one bit. Kinstones are medallions that are broken with their pieces scattered all across the world. Each NPC has their own Kinstone piece that could be completed by the pieces you collect along the way. Which opens the door for going through every NPC and seeing if you have the other piece of the Kinstone fragment they have. Fusing Kinstones would reveal secrets, make changes to the world, among other effects. I have a huge problem with this as sometimes, secrets in the overworld can’t be interacted with unless I’ve fused a kinstone with a random NPC that isn’t even anywhere close to what that fusion would unlock for me. I get that it’s supposed to encourage you to talk to every NPC but I would’ve appreciated if they went about it a different way. This mechanic really brings the game down for me.
I thought The Minish Cap would revitalize me from the dud I’ve been in since playing Four Swords Adventures and in some ways it did but not by a lot. I had a good time all in all but the sad part about this playthrough is that I realized that the game doesn’t have that spark I used to see in it. Playing the game younger, I was won over by how pretty the game was and how cute it was that I could shrink but behind that I failed to see how The Minish Cap is very much a watered-down, or I guess I should say shrunken down, Zelda experience. I think its charm is the biggest thing that’s making me prefer it over Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages but it will be in danger as soon as those games get a modernized remake.
10
Phantom Hourglass gets a really bad rep. It’s really not as bad as a lot of people would have you believe. It’s one of two games I’m actually playing for the first time through this marathon, the other one being Spirit Tracks, and I can say that I’m pleasantly surprised by its quality. I started Phantom Hourglass many years ago but I never even got to the first dungeon, I ended up dropping it because I had games that interested me more at the time so the only impression I had of Phantom Hourglass was the first hour of adjusting to the controls which I found to be weird and unintuitive at the time.
Little did I know, I found myself warming up to the controls quite a lot this time, even when they occasionally made my hands cramp. Maybe because I grew up during this era of gaming where gimmicks were in every corner of the industry, but the way Phantom Hourglass controls reminds me of better days. If I had played this game 10 years ago or more I would’ve probably rolled my eyes at the amount of gimmicks used but in the current gimmick-lacking space in gaming, I find myself impressed and kind of yearning for this type of creativity. Having to use the microphone to yell for someone on the other side of an island to lower a bridge for me is goofy and amazing in all the right ways. The way the game controls just adds to its overall charm for me.
Speaking of charm, man It feels really good to be back in The Wind Waker’s world. It just has a different vibe than all the other worlds in the series. I really thought it was because of the cartoony arty style but we got 3 games in that art style between The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass and none of them had the same vibes that The Wind Waker gave me. This era just feels so fresh and full of new ideas. The Wind Waker was all about letting go of old standards and forging a new identity, away from Hyrule and its legends. I’m really happy they kept going with that thesis with Phantom Hourglass. The game has its own original bits of lore and history with The Ocean King and Bellum. Its own tribes like the Anouki, Yook, and the Cobble. Each with their own histories and conflicts. It just brings back a sense of much needed wonder after becoming familiar with the lore of the triforce and the nature of certain tribes like the Gorons and Zoras.
The story is pretty much nothing but it does the job. There’s a couple of “twists” here and there that you can kind of see coming. The characters do a good job of keeping the momentum going though. Linebeck, Oshus and Ciela are interesting enough to make me care about the events of the story but in the big picture aren’t standout characters in the franchise as some would argue, especially for Linebeck. Linebeck is pretty good don’t get me wrong, he’s very funny and is that standout character in the game but nothing super interesting happens with him and I felt like his arc was telegraphed very clearly. Once again, I’m immensely disappointed by the way Tetra is treated. I really really like Tetra and it’s very unfortunate how they keep misusing her in these two games. I’m really bummed that this is the last time I’m going to see her, I’m pretty sure she won’t be in Spirit Tracks, I wanted to go on a proper adventure with her again but sadly I’m gonna have to settle for these two misfires with her appearances.
The dungeons are actually pretty great. They do a great job utilizing the game’s unique control scheme to make for some really good puzzles. Better dungeons than the ones in The Wind Waker and The Minish Cap, they have a good sense of added complexity compared to those two. Making them feel like actual Zelda dungeons compared to the watered-down and overly simple dungeons of The Wind Waker and The Minish Cap. Phantom Hourglass actually restores some much needed faith in these toon games. These can be real Zelda experiences even with their different vibe.
I understand the frustration towards the Temple of the Ocean King as it’s a temple you constantly have to revisit throughout the game. That part is fine, the thing that’s frustrating is that you have to redo all the floors you had already finished to get to the new sections that open up. That aspect was daunting the first time I heard about it but honestly, there’s a lot of nuance to these revisits. You’re going through the same floors but the new items you picked up make you go through them faster and open shortcuts you couldn’t go through before. I also find it to be cool how you have limited time in the temple and you have to avoid enemies instead of attacking them. It honestly offered a really nice sense of strategy that I was kind of missing for a couple of these games.
The item utilization was actually pretty good. All of the items feel soo good to control thanks to the touch screen. Tracing the path you want your boomerangs to be thrown at is genius. The way arrows work is perfect. A highlight though has to be the grappling hook, returning from Wind Waker. It’s used in really creative ways throughout the dungeons and the Temple of the Ocean King that it really revitalized the game for me just when it was starting to get stale. My favorite implementation of the grappling hook was during the Gleeok boss fight.
Speaking of bosses, these boss fights are great. All of them are so fun and creative. Gleeok, Eox and the final Bellum boss fight are favorites of mine. The way you fight the final boss is just so creative and I loved every second of it. The final section overall was a really great way to top the game off.
I will say though that the game isn’t without its flaws. The sea traversal isn’t nearly as engaging as it is in the Wind Waker and the drawing mechanic just doesn’t work most of the time. Sometimes you get asked to draw symbols like the Triforce or an hourglass, which is a way for Nintendo to add one more use to the stylus but the problem is that these drawings most of the time don’t register. They programmed the game to register these drawings if they’re drawn in specific strokes for example, drawing a triangle starting from the right side would work while starting from the left side wouldn’t. This is absolutely insane, especially when the final boss relies on you to constantly draw.
Overall, I actually had a great time with Phantom Hourglass. It’s a cute little adventure continuing off the cute big adventure I loved with The Wind Waker. Spirit Tracks remains as the only Zelda game I’ve never touched so I am beyond excited to see where they go with this formula and this branch of the timeline, which is actually shaping up to be a favorite of mine.
Little did I know, I found myself warming up to the controls quite a lot this time, even when they occasionally made my hands cramp. Maybe because I grew up during this era of gaming where gimmicks were in every corner of the industry, but the way Phantom Hourglass controls reminds me of better days. If I had played this game 10 years ago or more I would’ve probably rolled my eyes at the amount of gimmicks used but in the current gimmick-lacking space in gaming, I find myself impressed and kind of yearning for this type of creativity. Having to use the microphone to yell for someone on the other side of an island to lower a bridge for me is goofy and amazing in all the right ways. The way the game controls just adds to its overall charm for me.
Speaking of charm, man It feels really good to be back in The Wind Waker’s world. It just has a different vibe than all the other worlds in the series. I really thought it was because of the cartoony arty style but we got 3 games in that art style between The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass and none of them had the same vibes that The Wind Waker gave me. This era just feels so fresh and full of new ideas. The Wind Waker was all about letting go of old standards and forging a new identity, away from Hyrule and its legends. I’m really happy they kept going with that thesis with Phantom Hourglass. The game has its own original bits of lore and history with The Ocean King and Bellum. Its own tribes like the Anouki, Yook, and the Cobble. Each with their own histories and conflicts. It just brings back a sense of much needed wonder after becoming familiar with the lore of the triforce and the nature of certain tribes like the Gorons and Zoras.
The story is pretty much nothing but it does the job. There’s a couple of “twists” here and there that you can kind of see coming. The characters do a good job of keeping the momentum going though. Linebeck, Oshus and Ciela are interesting enough to make me care about the events of the story but in the big picture aren’t standout characters in the franchise as some would argue, especially for Linebeck. Linebeck is pretty good don’t get me wrong, he’s very funny and is that standout character in the game but nothing super interesting happens with him and I felt like his arc was telegraphed very clearly. Once again, I’m immensely disappointed by the way Tetra is treated. I really really like Tetra and it’s very unfortunate how they keep misusing her in these two games. I’m really bummed that this is the last time I’m going to see her, I’m pretty sure she won’t be in Spirit Tracks, I wanted to go on a proper adventure with her again but sadly I’m gonna have to settle for these two misfires with her appearances.
The dungeons are actually pretty great. They do a great job utilizing the game’s unique control scheme to make for some really good puzzles. Better dungeons than the ones in The Wind Waker and The Minish Cap, they have a good sense of added complexity compared to those two. Making them feel like actual Zelda dungeons compared to the watered-down and overly simple dungeons of The Wind Waker and The Minish Cap. Phantom Hourglass actually restores some much needed faith in these toon games. These can be real Zelda experiences even with their different vibe.
I understand the frustration towards the Temple of the Ocean King as it’s a temple you constantly have to revisit throughout the game. That part is fine, the thing that’s frustrating is that you have to redo all the floors you had already finished to get to the new sections that open up. That aspect was daunting the first time I heard about it but honestly, there’s a lot of nuance to these revisits. You’re going through the same floors but the new items you picked up make you go through them faster and open shortcuts you couldn’t go through before. I also find it to be cool how you have limited time in the temple and you have to avoid enemies instead of attacking them. It honestly offered a really nice sense of strategy that I was kind of missing for a couple of these games.
The item utilization was actually pretty good. All of the items feel soo good to control thanks to the touch screen. Tracing the path you want your boomerangs to be thrown at is genius. The way arrows work is perfect. A highlight though has to be the grappling hook, returning from Wind Waker. It’s used in really creative ways throughout the dungeons and the Temple of the Ocean King that it really revitalized the game for me just when it was starting to get stale. My favorite implementation of the grappling hook was during the Gleeok boss fight.
Speaking of bosses, these boss fights are great. All of them are so fun and creative. Gleeok, Eox and the final Bellum boss fight are favorites of mine. The way you fight the final boss is just so creative and I loved every second of it. The final section overall was a really great way to top the game off.
I will say though that the game isn’t without its flaws. The sea traversal isn’t nearly as engaging as it is in the Wind Waker and the drawing mechanic just doesn’t work most of the time. Sometimes you get asked to draw symbols like the Triforce or an hourglass, which is a way for Nintendo to add one more use to the stylus but the problem is that these drawings most of the time don’t register. They programmed the game to register these drawings if they’re drawn in specific strokes for example, drawing a triangle starting from the right side would work while starting from the left side wouldn’t. This is absolutely insane, especially when the final boss relies on you to constantly draw.
Overall, I actually had a great time with Phantom Hourglass. It’s a cute little adventure continuing off the cute big adventure I loved with The Wind Waker. Spirit Tracks remains as the only Zelda game I’ve never touched so I am beyond excited to see where they go with this formula and this branch of the timeline, which is actually shaping up to be a favorite of mine.
11
I liked it a lot, the game is fun to play, and it's very nice to see where the series started. The game is unplayable without a guide, though; it's shocking to me how unguided the game is. It tells you nothing- about everything. You’re just thrown into the world with no objective, which is an interesting way of designing the game.
The game is HARD! It's ruthless and unforgiving. I'm very thankful l played on the Nintendo Switch, which gave me the ability to rewind whenever made a mistake, got hit, wasted a bomb, etc. I had to rewind constantly as the enemies get unpredictable by the time you reach the fifth dungeon, Lynels, Darknuts, and Wizzrobes were the most challenging enemies for me to beat.
The overworld is filled with secrets, and it baffles me how hidden they all are; you’re expected to burn down every tree, bomb every wall, push every statue, and just mess with the world in every way. I can see where the comparison Breath of the Wild has to this game comes from.
For a series that I think shines through its character, the only characters in this game are Link, Zelda, Ganon, and Old Men and Women. This is so surprising because I remembered Impa being a part of the game's events, then I realized that she's only in the manual and is the reason Link goes through this journey. I wonder if they planned for Impa to become a significant character in the series.
Overall, it was great and much more fun than I remember; I played this game so many times before and dropped it because I'd get lost, so l'm glad I went with a guide this time.
The game is HARD! It's ruthless and unforgiving. I'm very thankful l played on the Nintendo Switch, which gave me the ability to rewind whenever made a mistake, got hit, wasted a bomb, etc. I had to rewind constantly as the enemies get unpredictable by the time you reach the fifth dungeon, Lynels, Darknuts, and Wizzrobes were the most challenging enemies for me to beat.
The overworld is filled with secrets, and it baffles me how hidden they all are; you’re expected to burn down every tree, bomb every wall, push every statue, and just mess with the world in every way. I can see where the comparison Breath of the Wild has to this game comes from.
For a series that I think shines through its character, the only characters in this game are Link, Zelda, Ganon, and Old Men and Women. This is so surprising because I remembered Impa being a part of the game's events, then I realized that she's only in the manual and is the reason Link goes through this journey. I wonder if they planned for Impa to become a significant character in the series.
Overall, it was great and much more fun than I remember; I played this game so many times before and dropped it because I'd get lost, so l'm glad I went with a guide this time.
12
Um this was interesting. This really is just a side mode but Nintendo counts it as a main entry so I included it in my marathon. I played the single player mode and it was fine. Nothing particularly clever or fun to be frank. I could see this being a little more enjoyable if I had played it with someone else but not THAT much more enjoyable to be honest.
I’m happy to see the return to the Oracle of Seasons items like Roc’s Cape and the Magnetic Glove, that was a nice surprise! The Magnetic Glove definitely needs to be in more Zelda games. I’m mostly baffled that Four Swords is the first entry that features Toon Link, Vaati, the Minish Cap art style, and the Minish Cap shrinking mechanic most of all!!
Overall, Four Swords is an okay time as a single player experience. I’m thankful that it’s pretty short. Good foundation for the concept of a multiplayer Zelda, I wonder where Four Swords Adventures is going to go with that concept..
I’m happy to see the return to the Oracle of Seasons items like Roc’s Cape and the Magnetic Glove, that was a nice surprise! The Magnetic Glove definitely needs to be in more Zelda games. I’m mostly baffled that Four Swords is the first entry that features Toon Link, Vaati, the Minish Cap art style, and the Minish Cap shrinking mechanic most of all!!
Overall, Four Swords is an okay time as a single player experience. I’m thankful that it’s pretty short. Good foundation for the concept of a multiplayer Zelda, I wonder where Four Swords Adventures is going to go with that concept..
13
I associate The Adventure of Link with the growing pains of the Zelda series. In some ways it feels like a natural evolution of the original NES game while taking quite a few risks to differentiate it from the previous game.
I really appreciate the dedication they had in wanting to switch up the formula. The 2D perspective makes combat really fun, it’s the first time where taking on different enemies requires different strategies thanks to the inclusion of blocking and ducking. I also like that the world isn’t as barren as the original and is much more populated. The towns and NPCs definitely add some much needed life to this game. I also like that the game actually has some guidance throughout, I never really had to look up a guide while playing it and that’s already an improvement from the original.
Despite all this, this game just doesn’t work for me and it’s not because of its age. I just found the RPG-ness of it to be quite frustrating because it doesn’t go all the way with being an RPG but borrows elements that are ill-fitted for an adventure game. Battles should’ve taken place in the overworld. There’s absolutely no need to have an encounter system for this game. I also really don’t like how the dungeons are more of platforming sections than they are puzzles.
There’s just a lot that didn’t work for me honestly. I don’t think it’s a terrible game, it’s probably the only Zelda game that I just never see myself willingly replaying. This is very much a one and done for me. I’m happy I can just walk away from The Adventure of Link with a firm opinion on it and never have to look back.
I really appreciate the dedication they had in wanting to switch up the formula. The 2D perspective makes combat really fun, it’s the first time where taking on different enemies requires different strategies thanks to the inclusion of blocking and ducking. I also like that the world isn’t as barren as the original and is much more populated. The towns and NPCs definitely add some much needed life to this game. I also like that the game actually has some guidance throughout, I never really had to look up a guide while playing it and that’s already an improvement from the original.
Despite all this, this game just doesn’t work for me and it’s not because of its age. I just found the RPG-ness of it to be quite frustrating because it doesn’t go all the way with being an RPG but borrows elements that are ill-fitted for an adventure game. Battles should’ve taken place in the overworld. There’s absolutely no need to have an encounter system for this game. I also really don’t like how the dungeons are more of platforming sections than they are puzzles.
There’s just a lot that didn’t work for me honestly. I don’t think it’s a terrible game, it’s probably the only Zelda game that I just never see myself willingly replaying. This is very much a one and done for me. I’m happy I can just walk away from The Adventure of Link with a firm opinion on it and never have to look back.
14
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.
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.
15