Five great moments from Legend of Zelda

5. The Appearance of Dark Link in the Water Temple. (Ocarina of Time)

4. Zelda is technically a playable character. (Spirit Tracks)

3. Leaving the Church seven years later and seeing the devastation of Hyrule (Ocarina of Time)

2. The revelation that Sheik is in fact Zelda. (Ocarina of Time)

1. The moment that you enter the Dark World and realise that the game is a lot larger than you initially thought. (A Link to the Past)

Why I love the Legend of Zelda series

Ever since I played A Link to the Past back in 1992 the Legend of Zelda has been my favourite series (Metroid being a very close second) and to this day I still love going back and playing the games over and over again.

There isn't one particular reason that I love the series but a big part of it would be it's basic premise of a hero fighting through and rescuing a princess. It's obviously such a simple premise but Nintendo (and at times Capcom) manage to create such huge worlds and characters and story that it becomes so much more. Take the sidequests for example, especially in Majora's Mask, where you travel around interacting with characters and expanding on this world that Link inhabits and most of the time must save from devastation, it's just immense.

You could argue that each game seems to be the same and yes, to an extent the basic game play is pretty much the same for each and every game but again, it's what happens within the game that makes it so different. Just look at Ocarina of Time compared to Majora's Mask. Basic premise of Link having to save a land (Hyrule and Termina) but yet the games are so different in their game play and style. Ocarina of Time seems so innocent with Link starting out as a child at the beginning of the game before everything goes to hell and yet when he grows up and heads off to destroy Ganon he still retains the innocence and of course at the end when Link and Zelda are young again it comes back in floods. Majora's Mask on the other hand is the darkest game of the series with the mask seducing the Skull Kid with pure evil and power before attempting to destroy the Earth by crashing the Moon into it. Such contrasting games.

Of course I also love the game play and the fact that the games are so huge and you can spend hours and hours working through them but at the end of the day I would say that I love the Zelda games because they are just such epic games that keep me playing for hours and keep me coming back for more and more and not many franchises can make me do that.

A bad thing from Legend of Zelda

Tingle

Just why?

My Top Three Legend of Zelda Games

3. Ocarina of Time

Considered by many to be the greatest Zelda game of all time, Ocarina of Time just falls short for me. I don't actually have any problems with it (not even the Water Temple) but I just prefer MM and ALTTP.

2. Majora's Mask

Majora's Mask comes in second place for two reasons. The first is because I prefer how dark it is to OOT and the second is I really like the three day time limit. I think it adds a whole new element that really works.

1. A Link to the Past

It was close between this and MM but ALTTP just clinches the number one spot as it's the first Zelda game I ever played and it really is just a brilliant and classic game.

Why you should play....

When discussing Legend of Zelda games the majority of the conversation tends to be about Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past, following that it tends to be about Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess/Wind Waker and for some reason most of the time the handheld games tend to get ignored or only mentioned briefly. It's a real shame as the handheld games are rather excellent especially for me The Minish Cap for the Game Boy Advance.

Developed by Capcom and Flagship (one of Capcom's subsidiaries at the time) the game was released in 2004/2005 to critical acclaim.

The plot of course centres around Link having to rescue Zelda but this time instead of Ganon she has to be rescued from the clutches of Vaati (the evil being from Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures) after being turned to stone and then nearly drained of life. Turns out that for Zelda to be rescued Link needs the assistance of the Picori who can only be seen by children, hence why Link was chosen. On his Travels Link meets and rescues Ezlo (the cap of the title) who along with Vaati was once Picori and who aids you on your quest, mainly by moaning and insulting you and occasionally giving you useful hints and tips as and when required.

I won't delve any further into it so as not to spoil it for people who haven't yet played the game.

So onto the game play. As with any Legend of Zelda the basic game play has barely changed at all but it's the little things that make the difference and in this game it really is a 'little' thing as Ezlo has the ability to shrink Link to the size of Picori allowing him to access whole new areas to find secrets and to complete side-quests. It really is an interesting element as you may come across some water that you cannot pass and all you do is shrink down, hop onto a leaf and using the Gust Jar (one of three new items in the games, the other two being the Mole Mitts which allow for Link to dig through certain obstacles and walls and the Cane of Pacci which turns over anything that it hits) push yourself across the water to the other side.

Another new element is the inclusion of Kinstones that need to be fused together. On your travels you will only ever find halves of Kinstones with characters in the game holding the other halves. Making a complete Kinstone will have numerous different effects with new paths opening up or ruppees and even hearts being found once the fusion has been completed. Some of the Kinstones are related to the main game and have to be found whilst the majority are to be found for the side-quests but it's fun and useful to find them none the less.


Another element is the Tiger Scrolls, which there are eight of, that grant Link the power of new moves, mainly for the sword but also for the Pegasus Boots. Finally there are the shells that can be collected which are used on a machine that allows for Link to collect figurines of the characters and enemies in the game and of which there are a lot of. The more shells you collect the better a chance you have of collecting all of the figurines as the higher the shell total you submit the higher the percentage is of receiving a new figurine.

So enough with all that and onto the reasons you should play The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. Well for a start it's a genuinely warm and fun game to play. The graphics are great on the GBA/DS (depending on what you use) and the sound and music are wonderful. The game play on the surface is your useful Zelda game play that you will be very familiar with if you have played any Zelda games previously but if you have played Zelda games previously you will know that it's everything else on top that makes the games so wonderful. The addition of the new 'weapons', the Kinstones and the ability to shrink adds a whole new level to the games and makes the series feel new and inventive, so kudos to Capcom to that.

One of the criticisms of the game is that it's too short at around the ten hour mark, especially compared to the home console games but for a handheld game, for me anyway, that's a good time as the majority of the time I'm playing my handhelds in shortish bursts whilst out and about on the train anyway. Plus I can guarantee that you will be enjoying the game too much to notice anyway. If I remember correctly there are only five dungeons including the last level but that really is enough as a couple of them are rather large anyway.

Another criticism is that the difficulty is too easy, again especially when compared to other games in the series, but the way the game is you wouldn't want it to be difficult as it would take away some of the enjoyment that you have with the game and that is a main reason to play games, the enjoyment. So I really would recommend ignoring the negatives about time and difficulty and pick up this great as soon as possible if you don't already own it.

Happy 25th Birthday

(Not Spirit Tracks obviously, though if you are reading this in 23 years time then Happy 25th Birthday to Spirit Tracks.)

The Stats

So yes, that's the end of my fifteen minute 'review's and to really finish it off I thought I would provide a small list of stats if anyone is interested.

96 games played.
4 games gone.

1440 minutes of game play, give or take.
1440 = 24 hours of game play.

50 pages of a Word document.
22,024 words typed.

12 pages of written notes.
God knows how many lost pens.

1 worn out writer.

The end of the Alphabet

Z is for....

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’

Wii

Zack and Wiki was an early launch game for the Wii and as per usual when Capcom try something new and different it ended up not selling very well which is a shame as it is a fun game.

The game genre is a point and click/puzzle game and does have some really good challenges throughout its levels. You control both Zack and Wiki but in different ways. Zack is the main character who you have to point and click where you want him to walk and what you want him to pick up and use and Wiki is a golden flying monkey who you use to change living creature into inanimate objects to use to fulfil your objective, and example being the first level where you need to chop down a tree to cross a chasm to escape a falling boulder. You shake the tree to reveal a centipede which when shaking Wiki at it turns into a saw to chop down said tree. It is a really interesting concept an on later levels it can be a challenge finding the creatures and figuring out which one is best for which job.

There are also a fair few things to do in the game like complete music challenges to earn upgrades to Wiki or to receive maps to find hidden treasure which moves Zack up the pirate rankings. Each level also has a HirameQ ranking to determine the difficulty of the stage and to determine how many points you will earn throughout the level to for completing objectives, again to improve your pirate rankings and reputation. The puzzles can be quite challenging and can take rather a lot of thinking for how to complete them which surely can only be a good thing as you know that you are going to get your moneys’ worth with the game. Despite the kiddie look that the game has I really would recommend giving the game a go.

Within the 15 minutes: Stage two.

Will I play it again? Yes. Like Wario World I continued playing afterwards.

Zoocube

GameCube

Zoocube is a 3D puzzle game where you have to pair up two halves of an animal by catching them on a rotating Cube.

Of course it’s not really that simple as by now you should know that puzzle games never are. With it being a cube you get six sides with which to attach your pieces with only a maximum of five pieces being attached before the game ends. Obviously the more pieces you have attached to a side the harder it will be to spin the cube around without it latching on to where you don’t want it. One handy thing with the pieces is the ability to speed up the current piece which gives you extra points and will also release power-ups like bombs.

As well as the single player mode there is also a ‘blind’ mode where the colours of the pieces are removed meaning that you have to rely on shape alone as all of the pieces are the same grey colour and some of the shapes do look very similar. It does add a new element to the game if you fancy a change from the normal mode and in the long run can extend the life of the game. As mentioned previously it does hark back to the days of puzzle games being very simple but having quite a depth to it and being quite addictive.

Within the 15 minutes: Level two, stage six.

Will I play it again? I will in short bursts.

Zoop

Game Boy

Zoop is yet another puzzle game from the good old days that is very simple yet very addictive in its game play.

Simple premise, you control a little box inside a square and which is being surrounded by little rectangle shaped pieces. The catch is that the pieces are different colours and you can only dispatch of them when your square is of the same colour. The only way your square can change colour is by hitting against a piece of a different colour, still with me? It really is a lot easier than it sounds such as puzzle games were and it really is quite addictive, again such as puzzle games were.

Obviously as you progress the pieces appear on the screen faster and faster and as that happens it can sometimes get a bit tough trying to remember which piece turns you which colour, which can happen as early as the third level, they really don’t mess around with whacking the difficulty level up on this game. Overall there isn’t really much more I can say about the game but it is worth giving it at least one go.

Within the 15 minutes: Level three.

Will I play it again? Like Zoocube I will in short bursts.

Y is for....

Nothing I'm afraid.

Sadly for the penultimate letter of the alphabet I don't seem to own a single game that begins with the letter Y.

So, onto the last letter we go.