The Legend of Zelda Part 8

THIS POST HAS SPOILERS!!!!! YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the Zelda game that when you mention it many people go huh?  What system was that on?  It's amazing to me the number of people who never even knew this game existed.  While it has sold just over a million copies in its lifetime, it's 13th in terms of overall sales for the franchise.  Truly a shame that Nintendo only gave it to Ambassador 3DS adopters; if they want to make money they will release it somewhere again soon.

9. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (2004 Gameboy Advance)

Developed by Campcom in the wake of Four Swords, many people were nervous about how good of a job Capcom would do for the sole true Zelda title on the Gameboy Advance. Thankfully for us all, Capcom knocked the ball completely out of the park.

The story itself begins what is known as the Four Swords Trilogy.  This trilogy includes all events revolving around the Four Sword and the evil Wind Mage Vaati.  The Minish Cap (MC) is where this story arc begins and it does so much more to establish story than Four Swords or Four Swords Adventures ever did.

The story of the MC begins in the prologue (link to opening scene, it has very cool artwork and is worth the 50 seconds): "A long, long time ago...when the world was on the verge of being swallowed by shadow...The tiny Picori appeared from the sky, bringing the hero of men a sword and a golden light.  With wisdom and courage, the hero drove out the darkness.  When peace had been restored, the people enshrined the blade with care."  This opening sequence introduces a tremendous amount of lore into the Zelda universe: the Picori (more on them later), a hero that has as of yet never actually been in a game before, the Four Sword, and the "golden light (a force bestowed to the people of Hyrule by the Gods)."  I myself am a sucker for lore inside of game series, so this game will appeal to anyone with that kind of a fixation.  The story itself takes place 100 years after the last Picori festival, the time that the Picori world and human world are supposed to connected.  The people of Hyrule are excited about the upcoming sword fighting tournament; the winner of said tournament wins the right to touch the Picori Sword, the sword that was not only a gift from the Gods but was used by a previous hero to seal evil monsters inside of the bound chest.

Link, a blacksmith's apprentice and lifelong friend of Princess Zelda, is traveling to Hyrule to see the tournament and to present a sword to the winner.  He arrives just in time to witness the winner, Vaati, turn up to claim his prize.  Unfortunately for the people of Hyrule Vaati ends up turning Princess Zelda to stone, breaking open the bound chest, shattering the Picori blade and releasing many evil beings into the land of Hyrule.  King Daltus, the King of Hyrule, instructs Link to seek out the Picori (also known as the Minish) so that they might help reforge the broken blade (they were the ones that made it).  Until this point in the story, the Picori were but a legend and no one in Hyrule, apart from the royal family, knew they actually existed.  Link, armed with his newfound knowledge, travels to the Minish Forest where he encounters a strange green bird looking creature being attacked by some monsters.  After dispatching them quickly, Link learns that the things name is actually Ezlo, a Minish sage and craftsman who was once Vaati's master.  Ezlo tells of how he created a hat that would grant the wearer whatever they desired.  His young apprentice, Vaati, eventually stole the hat so that he could use it to exploit the evil in the hearts of the people of Hyrule. With Ezlo's help, Link will hopefully be able to reforge to Picori Sword, save the Minish, save Hyrule, and return Ezlo to his proper body.

This whole turn of events introduces one of the main mechanics to this game, Ezlo the hat (Wizard).  Ezlo rides around on Link's head throughout the entire game, offering forth useful information and occasionally acting as a parachute or other helpful item.  As you can see from the picture, Ezlo looks just like the green hat that Link usually wears, minus the large squawking yellow beak (Ezlo is hiralious).  However, Ezlo's main function in the game is to help Link shrink down to Minish size.  The Picori (Minish) themselves are of course a major focus in this game and the player will spend a good deal of time playing as Minish sized Link.  Link transforms into Minish Link by jumping on tree stumps scattered throughout the world and falling/shrinking through a small hole in the top.  Link will than emerge as a seriously small version of himself that the player than has to navigate around the world.  Controlling this little Link is a tad awkward, not necessarily in a bad way, mostly because there aren't really any games I can think of that have used this kind of a mechanic before; they put a small picture of your face by the dot to make it easier.  When Link is in Minish form and enters certain areas, the view changes from super small Link to normal looking Link but as if he were a Minish inside that area.

I really enjoy this gameplay mechanic so much because it just opens up the world to a staggering degree.  Not only are you trying to figure out where you can go with normal sized Link, but you are figuring out how to get into the houses and other buildings as Minish Link (the picture showing Link on a bookshelf is a scene I remember very fondly from the game).  I just plain love how they fit Link and the Minish into the environment; there are scenes on rafters, scenes inside furniture, under the floorboards, I just love how much effort they put into making the Minish environment seem like a genuine world apart.  The rest of Hyrule, apart from the Minish world, is a vibrantly colored world filled with the usual changes in environment for Zelda games.

I particularly enjoy the look of this game, the colors are all very bold without looking ridiculous and the whole game is just a pleasure to watch (play it on a gameboy player if you can, the experience is even better).

This colorful world is filled with a staggering 102 NPC's; way more than any Zelda game discussed in this blog so far.  While a good number of them don't say more than 1 or 2 phrases, I love the clear demand for excellence and immersion that Capcom was going for with this game.  Some of the NPC's are quite recognizable: the Carpenters from Ocarina of Time, Beedle with his shop, Anju, and many others with previous appearances in the Zelda franchise (even though all of the games are set decently far apart from each other).  My favorite out of all of the new characters has to be the Minish.  The interactions with these miniature beings are a heck of a lot of fun and I love the lore they bring forth to the Zelda universe. They are the ones who put rupees and other treasure under rocks (as a kid I always demanded an explanation for that and I'm glad this game gave me one)!  There are forest Minish, city Minish, mountain minish, all of it just makes sense; why wouldn't some Minish move away from the forest?  The Minish are quite possibly my favorite "extra" race (races that aren't Goron, Zora, or Deku) from any Zelda game and I really hope we see some shout outs to them in the future.  My one regret in terms of the characters of this game, keep in mind this is a regret not a complaint, is that the Gorons don't make more of an appearance.  I know they can't be in every game but I just love them and we only see them in a few select caves in this game.

The gameplay itself is very reminiscent of most top-down view Zelda games: the player controls Link with the d-pad and assigns items to the A and B buttons.  While a good number of the items in this game are the typical Zelda ones (bow, bombs, and boomerang) a number of them are quite untraditional and either appear in no other games or in just a few.  I really enjoy the items pictured here a great bit, the Mole Mitts and the Cane of Pacci.  Link uses the Mole Mitts to dig through certain softer sections of soil.  While you are limited in where you can dig, the game makes up for that by allowing you to dig in a surprising number of places throughout Hyrule; and they certainly never make it easy to find everything.  The Cane of Paccis used to flip over certain enemies and items during gameplay; it's a fun item to use for breaking pots. Another couple of items I enjoy that haven't made enough appearances in Zelda games are the Roc's Cape and the Gust Jar.

These items, used for jumping gaps and making wind respectively, are used to great effect throughout the game and I love the unique feel that they give the game.  I also love the amount of upgrades there are in this game: you upgrade your sword 3 times (all the way up to the Four Sword), you get the mirror shield, and you get light arrows, bigger bomb bags, and quivers; just another example of how this game commits to keeping you interested the entire way through.  

The dungeons in this game are all excellent; not one of them is mediocre.  All of them make great use of the items you find within them and all of them add to the lore and story of the game itself.  I love how the first dungeon, The Deepwood Shrine, is the place where humans and Minish used to meet up.  I love that the third temple, The Fortress of Winds, explains how some of the Minish moved into the sky and the mountains.  I especially enjoy that when I play these dungeons I feel connected to the world I am playing in.  Too often video games, including Zelda games, just toss in a snow temple or fire temple without giving any context whatsoever; I love that the developers of this game were obviously against cutting any corners whatsoever.  

The bosses in this game are just as high quality as the rest of the game.  The two bosses I want to highlight in particular are the fights with Mazaal in the third dungeon and the final fight with Vaati.  The fight with Mazaal (link to fight) is the perfect mix of challenge, item utilization, and just plain fun.  The player must use the bow to attack Mazaal's hands and then shrink down to size to attack the inside of his head; make sure to avoid his hands as they try to crush you.  Once inside his head, you have to attack one of the six pillars holding up his head, after which you will be chucked out and have to do it five more times.  Mazaal is definitely the best dungeon boss in this game, but he has nothing on the fight with Vaati.  This Vaati fight is arguably the best final boss fight in a Zelda game.  To start, the fight itself is actually quite challenging; something lacking in a lot of Zelda boss battles.  Vaati himself has three forms: a sort of heightened wizard form, his first monster form, and his final (traditional Vaati) two armed monster form.  Because the player will have the Four Sword as opposed to the Picori sword at this point in the game, several stages of the battles will involve making Link split into four Links and attack several points on Vaati at the same time; and not just with the sword.  

You will be tasked with dodging projectiles from Vaati, falling rocks from the ceiling, lasers shooting out of every projectile you don't destroy, shrinking down to Minish size, accurately shooting arrows, and staying the fuck alive.  This battle is superb (link to battle, don't be fooled by how fast the guy in the video beats Vaati, he knows exactly what he is doing), a great challenge and certainly one of the best moments in any Zelda game.
I must admit though, despite all of the awesomeness I have already discussed, I have yet to discuss the best thing about this game.  There are so many damn collectibles you can get/will want to get that the overall gameplay is extended by at least 20 to 30 hours.  Throughout the game you will find Mysterious Sea Shells which can be traded in to the most despicable man in the world, Carlov, owner of the figurine shop.

Carlov has in his possesion 136 different figurines.  136 brilliantly colored and artful little sprites that are just a joy to collect.  This game feeds right into that little spot in my brain that makes me want to get every single thing possible.  The figurines range from people, bosses, enemies, and even entire areas of the map.  Collect all 136 of the figurines and you will unlock the "Sound Test", a phonograph that gives you access to the entire soundtrack of the game.  I just love this feature so much because it gives you a serious reason to want to collect all of the figurines.  If the 136 figurines wasn't staggering enough there are also three different types of ability upgrade butterflies to catch, eight different sword techniques to can learn (only 1 is mandatory), and many Kinstones to find and fuse with people.  These Kinstones come in different colors and shapes and are used to unlock secret areas, give you large amounts of rupees, advance you in certain dungeons, and for getting a golden Tingle statue.  Im serious, you will collect everything in this game with a fervor with which you may never have experienced.  Prepare for a war of attrition, Kinstones, and Figurines.

This game is incredible.  It is without a doubt the most challenging handheld Zelda game and certainly one of the best in terms of overall story.  I wish the Minish weren't banished to this game as I think they could be utilized very well throughout the Zelda series. If you have never played this game, go and find yourself a copy; I'd highly recommend playing it on a Gamecube if you can because the full screen experience is so much better than on the crappy Gameboy Advance screen.  

Thanks so much for reading everyone!  There's honestly just so much to say about this game.  It's not higher up on the list, but don't let that fool you for a second.  Go play the crap out of this game.  Go do it now.

Next time, #8!