In honour of the sport’s arrival on Swap 2 as a part of the Nintendo Classics GameCube lineup, this is our new retro evaluate of one in all Hyperlink’s most memorable adventures…
If I have been to place collectively an inventory of my favorite pre-Swap-era Zelda video games, those who got here earlier than the franchise-transforming Breath of the Wild, the place would 2002’s The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker slot in?
It is an attention-grabbing one, a divisive recreation for a few causes, however for me personally it lands within the high three, which — contemplating there are over 40 video games to select from (if we go all in with spin-offs) — is a fairly good consequence.
Sure, some might have baulked on the cel-shaded graphics after they have been revealed (did not get the hate then, do not get it now), while others noticed the entire wind-conducting and crusing about in a ship as a waste of time, however I completely adored all the pieces about it. There can also have been the odd fan who’d type of grown up with the grittier Ocarina Hyperlink, who then did not welcome this return to youthful and extra harmless/cutesy days, however we’re certain they bought over it as soon as they performed the factor.
Due to course, it is a Zelda recreation that is come to be virtually universally liked over time, with any perceived flaws or design dislikes smoothed over as soon as gamers bought to grips with its succession of pleasant dungeons whose deviousness comes as a pleasant shock when you think about the lovable, vibrant nature of director and collection producer Eiji Aonuma’s daring graphical overhaul.
Like every nice recreation on this collection, Wind Waker is a masterclass in how an journey recreation ought to stream, by way of narrative, by way of the way it doles out its new instruments and upgrades, and in the way it always raises the bar close to dungeons that take a look at you at each flip. As soon as you have gotten into its rhythms and made peace with crusing round, settling right into a slower tempo at instances as you journey round this most beguiling of worlds, it is onerous to not be very impressed certainly, even in the event you’re not 100% a fan of the (superb) artwork type.
There’s a fascinating high quality — a Saturday morning TV serial type of attraction — to this pirate journey that, each single time I sit right down to play it, attracts me proper in. I need to shimmy alongside its ledges, grapple and swing on its ropes, glide with a giant leaf by means of its…undergrowth? Who on earth would not need to spend a complete bunch of time exploring these delights?
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, on this GameCube type, is lacking the nips and tucks and an HD lick of paint from the later Wii U revamp. However actually, it makes little or no distinction – effectively, so long as the faster boat wasn’t a killer repair for you. Some might even want the unique’s color tone, so you are not lacking any actual game-changing advantages in sticking with the traditional type.
And what a type! This can be a splendidly streamlined, manageable, and always partaking slice of Zelda. It would not bathroom you down in busywork (hiya, Tears of the Kingdom‘s Depths), and seeks to attraction, shock and excite at each flip.
You may come to like crusing your (speaking) raft, I would wager, even come to like all of the little repetitive rituals which might be half and parcel of setting off for a brand new journey. Sure, it may be a bit tedious, however it’s so not like different video games, having all this peaceable area to mill round in while you fill within the recreation’s pleasant little chart of 49 puzzle-y islands. What an journey.
It is the type of recreation whose sandy seashores and windswept waves linger lengthy within the reminiscence. It is also bought probably the greatest variants of Hyperlink, so stuffed with expression and goofiness, you probably have any misgivings stepping into, you will doubtless have been put relaxed by the point the implausible tutorial opener is finished.
This most full of life and acrobatic of heroes can also be a dab hand relating to fight, supplying you with a contemporary and slick tackle the collection’ decades-old, lock-on type of battle that also feels completely nice to this present day, with its swishy sword methods and flipping round. In the event you come to Zelda for the standard stream of sensible new instruments and upgrades that preserve issues contemporary as an epic narrative unfurls, effectively, you are in for a great time, too. The dungeons and storyline listed here are series-best stuff (once more, pre-BOTW). I will not spoil it, in the event you’re one of many few who’ve but to play it, however let’s simply say that, moreover one or two rushed sequences close to the top, it is a cracker, and a recreation that manages to finish in an apparently downbeat, dark-ish means.
In the event you come for cute cities packed stuffed with red-nosed NPCs, bizarre shopkeepers, tons of collectibles, goofy facet quests, and sufficient entertaining facet stuff to balloon the operating time from 30ish hours for a campaign-focused run, to across the 70-hour mark for full 100% completion, this previous chestnut nonetheless has it the place it counts. Zelda’s kooky, eccentric model of worldbuilding by no means enables you to down, and that is not one thing that modified with this entry.
So, you are not getting the flashy HD model right here, clearly, and the unique — as a lot as I personally don’t have any points with it — does do issues just a little…effectively…it may be clunky at instances, for certain. The quicker boat is a pleasant factor to have, for example that a lot, and it stings as soon as you have had it on Wii U after which need to go with out.
There’s additionally that one godawful late-game questathon that they shortened for the HD revamp ( the one), however once more that is not a lot a deal-breaker as a barely annoying little bit of padding. Nonetheless, value noting because it’s one in all my valuable few precise points with this pleasant, ‘toon-styled romp, although.
Aside from these hang-ups, although, Zelda: The Wind Waker, from its gloriously sunny opening to its (kinda darkish) ending, is a blast, and one in all my favorite Zelda video games general. In reality, solely A Hyperlink to the Previous and Majora’s Masks high this one for me, if we’re speaking pre-BotW. I’ve replayed it a number of instances now, and it by no means loses the facility to attract you in, when you’re over the hump of the tutorial and into the meat of the deviously pleasant dungeons on supply. What a timeless deal with.
