The History of Zelda - Part 2 Comments by Keza MacDonald

Windwaker was awesomo and anyone who doesn't like the graphical style should be shot. In the face ;).

Woot!

I love Zelda!

smeg head

Windwaker was awesome. I fully agree with lambtron. It's such a lovable game.

I haven't played all the Zeldas in this whole article, but I personally preferred ALTTP and LA to any of the 3D versions. I'm still really looking forward to Twilight Princess though - on the 'Cube.

I also think The Adventures of Alundra on PS1 was better than any 2D Zelda game. I really wish Sony would continue the series.

yeah but the triforce searching pissed me off particularly the one in the ghost ship.

Zelda WW is the only Zelda I havn't completed twice.

And it was a chore getting 2 people to play Zelda 4 swords not to mention the attention Span of a goldfish so I couldn't enjoy it for what it's worth. :(

I've only missed out Four Swords Adventures in that article. Multiplayer won't be possible, though - is it any good in single player?

Agree to an extent about Wind Waker - at the time I absolutely loved it. But the truth is that, as well as being ridiculously unchallenging, it was almost a half-baked Zelda game. 5 measly dungeons (out of which only the last two came remotely close to the dungeons in OoT or MM), plus a lot of meaningless backtracking and item-collecting just to advance the storyline. I love the sidequests in Zelda games, but most of them are desgined to be an optional extra - in WW some of them were forced on you, which was really annoying. It is still a glorious game, but definitely the weakest of the 3D Zeldas for me.

Majora's Mask is brilliant though. It uses a slightly flawed and odd concept, but pulls it off remarkably well. It's very similar to OoT, but at the same time massively different. It's the perfect example of an ideal sequel.

K

Currently playing Minish Cap and loving it. This has been a great set of articles Eurogamer! :-)

/continues to try and convince self he doesn't need a Wii and TP because he can't afford it :-(

I've just realised that I can play the only Wii game I'm interested in on a £20 second hand Gamecube!

Sweet!

I quite like these editorials as they provide insight into the character and feel of the games they talk about.
Much appreciated (although I'm not sure I will ever really "get" Majora's Mask, I just found it confusing and difficult when I tried it).

I must admit that I joined the "got fed up with all the Triforce finding/sailing" at the latter end of WW and stopped at that point. Fantastic title which far exceeded the ridiculous squealing from people due to the change in art direction. If only these people would wait and *play* the titles first ! {rolls eyes}

That extended sailing section was a tad out of line with the rest of it though, for me anyway - just felt forced and poorly thought through, especially at a point in the game where the story is really building - deflates the atmos somewhat. Maybe one day I'll fire it up and try to get through it but I must admit I'm more liable to be playing TP on the Wii or OoT on the Cube again first.

Still, the history really is pretty special when you read through both parts of this......

Oh the joy of right clicking on this article on the front page and choosing "Open *Link* in new tab"

:P

Majora's Mask has to my favorite. First few hours were bind boggling, but once you've worked out the 3 day system and how to save it's a pleasure to play. So many side quests, one that takes more work than the actual game. The constant feeling of pressure both from the time limit and the moon bearing down on you. Brilliant stuff.
And you got to meet Tingle (for the first time?)

the moments at sea where the seas would start to boil and the clouds darken.
Awesome game.

It will be interesting to see how Twilight Princess keeps up with Okami. That game has raised the bar for action adventures quite considerably, so if TP isn't absolutely stellar it might be somewhat of a disappointment.

I had no problem with the graphical style of Wind Waker just the yawn tastic travelling around that the game made you do.

"the moments at sea where the seas would start to boil and the clouds darken"

Indeed. As much as I tired of the Triforce sailing, that wasn't to knock the actual feeling of moments like that. The first time that happened it was one of those "wow" gaming moments that catch you somewhat off-guard......

I've only missed out Four Swords Adventures in that article. Multiplayer won't be possible, though - is it any good in single player?

No it's absolutely shite playing on your own, it's a completely different game when your playing with a friend same goes for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.

I'm hoping on the Wii that if these games get re-launched then they would have some sort of online multiplayer co-op or even better be able to access the game online via a DS.

But given Nintendo's online service it's highly doubtful the latter is possible. :'(

Soooo - the Twilight Princess review?

IMO
Wind Waker has to get special praise for the music...The classic zelda theme remix when you start sailing is incredible...
And I get goosebumps every time I let the intro sequence run and you ree the mural of 'the hero of time' with his sword held high in front of Ganon...
Sniff...

Particularly good was Majora's Masks final dungeon where you had to solve puzzles by flipping the whole level upside-down...

Roll on Twilight Princess and the very fortunately placed Italian holiday this december 8th...Need to stock up on food though...

Thank you EG for this articles.

As I realized just the other day, Zelda is the only gaming franchise I bought 4 games in the last two months and already have three (if you include both GC and Wii versions of TP) more on pre-order...

Tis true about the Wind Waker, the graphics are lovely but sailing from place to place is a chore!

Wind Waker is fucking sweet. Playing through it (for the third time) right now, and I think I prefer it to Ocarina despite the Triforce-hunting. The feeling you get when setting sail (as pointed out above, greatly helped by the incredible music) cannot be matched.

Another great article and I completely agree with the commenting about Four Swords. I brought it around to my aunt's place last Christmas and played it with my younger cousins and friends. It was really, really good fun. Don't any of you guys have relatives, cousins or siblings, with GBAs or SPs? It's well worth it. Hopefully I'll be able to set it up this Christmas and complete the game! :D

@Steroyd:

But given Nintendo's online service it's highly doubtful the latter is possible. :'(

What's so bad about their online service? Playing MK DS is great fun online and the Wii's online experience seems to be pretty seemless like Live.

Awesome article there, good work.

Have to say that people who say Wind Waker is too short are complete idiots. If you put the effort in there's tons of content in there.

I don't know why nobody likes the triforce-hunting. It's an essential part of the series and to me, it just brings back memories. Like looking for Transformers or something...

Particularly good was Majora's Masks final dungeon where you had to solve puzzles by flipping the whole level upside-down...

Agreed - worth playing through the game just for that dungeon. Seeing the sky and moon/ sun below your feet for the first time was a truly great moment. It was the MM equivalent of OoT's Water Temple, and the music was fantastic too. Made it all the more disappointing that none of the dungeons on WW were as awe-inspiring or challenging - I'm hoping TP has a few tricks up its sleeve.

I remember the sailing part in WW, where the classic theme from LttP kicks in - it only happens once in the game, after you finish the second dungeon and weather is permanently stormy. WW had quite a few nods to LttP in terms of style and music (especially the underwater castle), more so than OoT. Which was great.

K

Fantastic articles - realy enjoyed reading them both! Has got me in the right mood for Twilight Princess, whenever stock allows me to actually play it...

Majora's Mask was and still is my favourite Zelda game, followed by Ocarina. The whole weird atmosphere going on in Majora's really sets it apart in my opinion. Likewise, the transformation thing really worked in my opinion. Wind Waker was great until the Triforce part, but as most people have said that anyway I will stop to avoid sounding like a broken record.

@varsas no i don't have enough relatives that have GBA's or the same interest in what games i like either.

@Varsas 2 from my experience of Ninty's online service, you can't join lobby's per se, and you can only invite people via Friend code although if the later games with online play have these features please do tell.

I just have that feeling that wirelessly connecting to the Wii would require a patch which the DS doesn't do so you'd have to be required to buy the DS version of the game or something.

Anyone remember the bit in Majora's Mask where you had to guide Kafei through a mini-dungeon against the clock?
Anyone ever notice that you can't pause the game when you're doing it?!
The phone rang and I tried to pause it to no avail...Scared me...

All in all I see a lot of love (deservedly) for the whole series, mostly because it really has smart and beautiful set pieces. N64 & Cube games in particular...
Ah bliss....not long to go...

I didn't find the sailing laborious either. I almost got sick of it but then I found the warp tune, which is pretty much how all Zelda's work (they give you the warp as the explorable world expands to a certain size). One thing I did find was that it was much more fun if you kept a little copy of the map on paper and marked on it places to revisit.

I agree with a lot of the views in these articles and comments threads, however one thing that I think must make me quite strange is the fact that the only Zelda game I played and never really got on with, was Ocarina Of Time. I mean it was the only reason I bought an N64, I wanted to love it, but I just never could. I don't know whether it was the muddy, blurry graphics, the controller I never really got on with or something else, but I never actually got very far into it before giving up. Wind Waker however has to rate as one of the stand out moments of my 25 years odd gaming. It really was a stunningly crafted and beautiful game.

Ceatlan

I loved the graphical style in the Wind Waker and wil lbe re-buying it when I get a Wii

*WARNING - SPOILERS AND LONGWINDED GUSHING ABOUND*

Great articles, EG! I hope they're followed up by a nice high score for TP! :D These have really got my Zelda juices flowing, and I would be a little disappointed if this lovely story ends with "...but the new one sucks."

The Majora's Mask piece is ace, sums up everything that was so wonderfully brave and different about that game. The atmospherics of that game are never better illustrated than when you let the clock run down to the final six hours, the sky turns purple, and the most haunting, melancholy, apocalyptically tragic music starts playing as the world awaits its demise. Sooo good...and that's not even mentioning the ingeniuity of some of the design, both dungeons (Stone Tower Temple. Upside down. Nuff said) and the interactions made possible by the three day cycle. It's bewilidering at first, but persevere, and it's absolutely one of the top ten games ever made IMO, probably top five.

Wind Waker was quite fantastic too, just marred a bit by the clearly half-baked third act. You could see clearly where they'd obviously taken out a whole dungeon and replaced it with a dialogue scene (Jabun's Cave, where he just GIVES you that blue pearl thing, when you had to fight through a dungeon to get the other two), and enough has been said about the Triforce map hunt. Nevertheless, like the artcile says, the game is just...fun, and had a really liberating feel. People bash the sailing, but I loved the feeling of sailing this huge sea, watching islands pull into view, with that rousing music...it really pulled you right into it. And then there was the elegant and really surprising way that it linked into OoT's plot. Like most people, I thought that it would be a clean slate, plotwise, but then comes the Tower of the Gods (awesome), then...the castle frozen in time, the King, the stained glass murals of OoT's sages...ooooh. :D And the BRILLIANT use of Link to the Past era music cues, from the spine-tingling slow version of LttP's Hyrule Castle theme, and then, when Zelda shows up, the use of LttP's intro music...and then WW's intro!! OK, I'll stop talking now. I forgot how much I did like this game til I started talking...:P

Oh, and a word in for Four Swords, too. Don't bother with single player. Get the equipment, get at least two friends, and it is SO much fun. It really is LttP, but with four people working together, or frequently, against each other. Which reminds me - be warned that this game is WILL test friendships. For every moment where you feel all warm and fuzzy because you've all just worked together in a harmonious tag team to defeat a difficult boss, there are about ten where you just hate the person sat next to you, even if it's your best friend, either because he threw you off a cliff to get an item first, or because he looted your corpse when you died and were waiting to respawn. I thought two of my friends were actually going to kill each other when the latter incident happened once. But then later, we got stuck on a hard puzzle and were playing late into the night, so one of my friends fell asleep, so we had to take turns carrying his Link to the end of the level. :) It all works out.

I loooove Zelda.

Will I have a problem playing my american Game Cube games in a GB Wii?

Im going to start WW up again tonight.

It was the first zelda I ever played and I couldnet believe that people didnt like the art. It looks amazing. Playing TP is going to be very strange because its now looks "normal". I want my cell shading back.

Oh, and Phantom Hourglass look fantastic!

in my opinion the zelda games have gone downhill ever since the first game was made with every following game. granted, it's more like downmountain. except from the 3d zelda's i like windwaker best (with the exception of sailing). but my point is, the newer the zelda's, the less they left over for your imagination and exploration, (worlds are smaller, bomblocations are marked) and definitely the lesser of a challenge they left over for you. dammit you can just walk pas enemies!!!! and you don't even need the extra hearts!!! there's a feeling of unexcited boredome when i play these zelda's, but also i have to keep playing.

(1) Majora's Mask
Dark and sad. I love a good tragedy.

(2) Wind Waker. As good as Majora's Mask. I too was bored with gaming when this came out. I loved the fact it was shorter and simpler. I no longer had the time to go on huge quests. The flat face of Link allowed a great range of expressions on Link's face and I never realised how much that added to the game until I played a version without it. Who can forget those eyes moving left and right while sneaking up to corners?

(3) Link to the Past. It was the game that made me realise Nintendo wasn't rubbish afterall (as I had been brainwashed back in my Megadrive days). What a fool I was. It lacks an amazing story but it has eveything else.

(4) Minish Cap. It's all good. Only smaller. I prefer blue hats, I prefer red.

(5) Four Swords. Might rank higher if I could find someone to play with.

(5) Ocarina of Time. I can't be the only person who felt this on was a bit empty and a bit too spacious. Talk about fishing up tri-force in WindWaker, what about those damn Skulltullas!

(6) Legend of Zelda (NES). Played right through recently for the first time on a chipped Xbox running an emulator.

(7) Zelda 2 (NES). Almost played right through recently for the first time. Just got bored in the final dungeon. (actually I died and couldn't be bothered doing it all over again). I will go back one day but I doubt I'll be rewarded for my effort.

Not played
Oracle of Ages
Link's Awakening (played half through)

Anyone heard the System of a Down song 'Legend of Zelda'?
"Link, he come to town
Come to save the princess zelda
Ganon took her away
Now the children dont play
But they will when link saves the day
Hallelujah!

Now link, fill up your hearts
So you can shoot your sword with power
And when youre feeling all down
The fairy will come around
So youll be brave, and not a sissy coward

Now link has saved the day
Put ganon in his grave
So now zelda is free
And now our hero shall be
Link! I think your name shall go down into history!"

There's a reason Robin Williams named his daughter Zelda and not Golden Axe Warrior. These games all rule.

That's because you're too used to Zelda.

It's gotten to the stage where you know for a fact.

Find item
Use item to enter dungeon
Find another item to complete rest of dungeon
Use that same item to kill boss or exploit it's weak spot.

Wash rinse and repeat.

I dunoo there's something about the Zelda series that doesn't make it feel like a sequel to one another.

Very strange indeed when I think about it.

(5) Ocarina of Time. I can't be the only person who felt this on was a bit empty and a bit too spacious. Talk about fishing up tri-force in WindWaker, what about those damn Skulltullas!

Not only did you label number 5 twice, but the Gold Skulltulas weren't something you HAD to find like the triforce pieces.

Although i used a cheat/exploit to get all 100 the reward at the end was crap i think it was a Bombchu refill if you wanted to know.

@Steroyd: I guess I'm quite lucky in that I have a good number of male cousins my age or younger and so are interested in gaming!

Wrt the online service, Nintendo's servers automatically match you up with players. With other online services you normally have to create a game/match room and wait for people to join; you also normally see lots of lurkers around the lobby who don't join and lots of half full rooms; taking that aspect away from users makes it more seemless but it doesn't engender much of a community.

I don't think the DS will need to be patched at all. The Wii should be able to act as an access point like the ones you see in the shops, the demo pods. It's meant to be able to distribute DS demos from what I've read.

@Pac: I don't think we know just yet but I think it should work because I've seen a video of someone playing emulation games on the Wii by using an Action Replay. I hope the Freeloader works!

@nightsparkle: You're saying the LTTP is worse the TLOZ?

Almost brought a tear to my eye reading that. Best written Zelda retrospective ever?

Minish Cap and Majoras mask were probably the only two Zelda games I couldn't play through. Link to the Past was probably my favourite Zelda. OoT was great thos although I prefer Wind Waker.

My Four Swords thread. I played with kids as young as 8 who had never played a Zelda game before and they picked it up instantly.

Damn you varsas I knew people with gameboys and love games... just not Zelda.

and yes I have disowned them.

Majora's Mask is my favourite - What about the tree at the end with the Skull Kid! I so wasn't expecting to see that. Very poignant.

I too did not collect the tri-force pieces in WW. Are they at random locations, or does someone have a link to a good map/walkthrough with descriptions of where they are? Would love to see the ending, but just can't bring myself to sail around trying to remember the geography.

andyk: I'm pretty sure they are at fixed locations bar the ghost ship one. You should be able to find a treasure map or another method for each one and another map to help find the ghost ship.

Although the Tri-Force part of the game is a right bore, the Gannon boss fight in WW, for me, is the best one so far in any Zelda game.

The triforce pieces are in fixed locations...
And are actually there the whole time, problem is to keep you away from them the waters are filled with sharks...
Until you actually need to find them, then the sharks just disappear...Migrating to the south is my guess...