Zelda Game Reviews 7-12

These reviews are my own personal reviews of each Zelda game. I am reviewing each as if it were the year of release, so I won't fault older games for poor graphics or hardware limitations of the time. Also, I'm only considering the actual game, gameplay, puzzles, and other things like graphics and sound while leaving out the story. The review of the storylines will be a separate post. And please understand that my purpose isn't to criticize the games to tear them down, but to improve them. Most of them I would give a 9.5/10, and in my view, the changes I would suggest would make them 9.9/10 or better. 

Zelda Reviews Part 1

Title: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

Release Date: 14 May 2001

System: Game Boy Color

Game Format: 2D Top-down perspective, gated, linear

New innovations: Seed Bag, Magic Ring system, Password continuation system.

How it compares to past Zelda games: Extremely similar to Link's Awakening DX. It uses the same engine, music, and graphics (with newer additions).

What I liked: The game was modeled after Link’s Awakening, so I liked the graphics/music. But I thought the seasons affecting terrain was very cool (no pun intended). Subrosia added more area to the map, and there was a lot of nostalgia in regards to the placement of the first dungeon and the dungeon bosses. The ring and password system really made the game fun, and it felt like Link really was continuing the quest and able to bring along past upgrades, which is really cool.

What I didn’t like: The Maku tree got a little annoying. Also, like Link’s Awakening, the names of the 8 MacGuffins Link is after are easily forgettable. After finding out that this originally was going to be a LoZ remake, I was disappointed at how similar the games ended up being in some aspects - instead of a nice tribute it comes across as lazy development. 

Where it fits in the timeline: Second game in the “Fallen Hero” branch of the timeline. Preceded by ALttP, followed by OoA.

What I would have changed: Change the Master Sword to some other name, like the Great Sword or something. Mixed up a few of the dungeon bosses so they didn't turn out to be in the same order as LoZ. 

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Title: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

Release Date: 14 May 2001

System: Game Boy Color

Game Format: 2D Top-down perspective, gated, linear

New innovations: Seed Bag, Magnetic glove, Magic Ring system, Password continuation system.

How it compares to past Zelda games: Extremely similar to Link's Awakening DX. It uses the same engine, music, and graphics (with newer additions).

What I liked: Pretty much the same things as Oracle of Seasons. The game is the only one where time travel is treated like regular time travel, and forced the player to think 4th dimensionally. I also liked how some items in OoS got a level 2 upgrade (like the feather to the cape) while other items got an upgrade in this game. There were some really great puzzles in this one.

What I didn’t like: Labrynna seemed to have a lot of open, unused/unoccupied land, like the fairy forest or all the water that needed crossing to get from place to place. The Goron dancing seemed considerably harder than the Subrosian dancing and felt unnecessarily strict.

Where it fits in the timeline: Third game in the “Fallen Hero” branch of the timeline. Preceded by OoS, followed by LA.

What I would have changed: Change the Master Sword to some other name, like the Great Sword or something. And depending on if this game is played first or second, there is the possibility of having an unexplored square on the map – that needs fixing. And filled in the "empty" sections of the map with more interesting enemies and landscaping.

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Title: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords

Release Date: 2 Dec 2002 (Original), 28 Sept 2011 (Anniversary Edition)

System: Game Boy Advance (Original), DSi/3DS (Anniversary Edition)

Game Format: Top-down, multiplayer, stage-based

New innovations: Multiplayer, Minish Cap (Gnat hat).

How it compares to past Zelda games: It feels sorta similar to ALttP, but with brighter, more "cartoony" graphics and animation. 

What I liked: Finally getting to play Zelda multiplayer. Cutting the game up into stages made it easy to turn off and take a break. A new villain. The way the levels were always changing and adapting depending on the number of players and such. The connectivity between ALttP and FS made playing both games more interesting.

What I didn’t like: The setup is really expensive, given that you need 2 GBAs and 2 copies

of the game and a link cable to just play 2 player. It was really hard to find friends to play with, meaning it was nearly impossible to play FS or finish the new changes to ALttP. It doesn’t really give you a hint that there are 3 epochs, so the first time I played the game through once and called it good.

Where it fits in the timeline: Third game in the unified (i.e., pre-split) timeline. Preceded by MC, followed by OoT.

What I would have changed: Only the changes they already made for the Anniversary Edition, and to make it buyable anytime, and tweak the map to fit in better with others.

Thoughts on the Anniversary version: An improvement as far as usability goes, since it requires less equipment and more people have a 3DS these days. I also like that they added levels to replace the ALttP crossover functionality which makes the game a bit longer, and makes it a little more “complete” as a stand-alone game that doesn’t rely on ALttP as much.

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Title: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Release Date: 24 Mar 2003 (Original), 20 Sept 2013 (HD version)

System: GameCube (Original), Wii U (HD version)

Game Format: 3D, gated, linear

New innovations: Boots as regular item, spoils, temporarily playing as someone else, figurine collection, sailing, Beedle, Hurricane Spin, parachute-type item (Korok Leaf), stamina meter (when swimming).


How it compares to past Zelda games: Similar in 3D format to Ocarina of Time, but with some improvements and a newer, brighter cel-shaded graphical style. 

What I liked: I wasn’t thrilled about the cel-shaded graphics from the trailer, but I really loved them once I started playing. They let Link be so much more expressive than ever before. The ocean was quite open, but there were multiple things to make it interesting (barrels, seahats, etc.). The humdrum of the ocean was more or less corrected in the HD version with the swift sail. Having Tingle require so much money was a nice rupee sink. Playing with the Tingle Tuner was sorta fun for a bit, but mostly only useful for the gold statues and cheesing one particular mini-game. It has the right amount of nostalgia and new material while keeping it fresh.

What I didn’t like: Mainly the tediousness of the figurine quest, but that was mostly corrected in the HD version. I didn’t like how they messed with the Triforce shard quest in the HD version, though. And also how they co-opted the symbols from Oracle of Ages tunes to represent the three pieces of the Triforce (though that's now become a Zelda staple). 

Where it fits in the timeline: First game in the “Adult” branch of the timeline. Preceded by OoT, followed by PH.

What I would have changed: I would make it so that players can choose which of the changes to the HD version they could implement. The only change to the game itself I would make is to add one more dungeon somewhere, and make Hyrule (under the water) a little more explorable, even if there aren’t any real places of interest.

Thoughts on the HD version: As stated above, I wish there was a list of changes that we could customize. I felt like the only real changes that needed to be made were the addition of Hero Mode, the Swift Sail, the 12-exposure Pictobox, and the ability to drop off multiple photos at once to the figure maker. Moving around the Triforce charts and requiring Tingle to decipher fewer maps just reemphasized the rupee economy problem in most Zeldas. I would have also added the ability to connect a 3DS (wirelessly) to the Wii U to emulate the GBA functions from the original game.

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Title: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

Release Date: 7 June 2004

System: GameCube (single player) or GameCube/GBA (multiplayer)

Game Format: Top-down/side-scrolling, multiplayer, stage-based

New innovations: Formations, Force Gems.

How it compares to past Zelda games: Extremely similar to Four Swords, but with graphics and music based on ALttP, and featuring many more levels.

What I liked: Because it borrowed heavily from ALttP, the graphics and music seemed familiar (but see next comment). The inclusion of a 1-player mode is the thing that was sorely missing from the first Four Swords game, and a welcome addition.

What I didn’t like: Because it borrowed heavily from ALttP, the graphics were below what I was expecting from the GameCube. Like FS, getting the multiplayer going was expensive in that each player needed a cord and a GBA.

Where it fits in the timeline: Last in the “Child” timeline. Preceded by TP.

What I would have changed: I would have arranged the overworld map to fit in line with ALttP better, but keep the stages the same. The only other thing is to port it to the 3DS/Wii U.

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Title: The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Release Date: 10 Jan 2005

System: Game Boy Advance

Game Format: 2D Top-down, Linear, gated

New innovations: Mole Mitts, Kinstones, Gust Jar.

How it compares to past Zelda games: Graphically it looks similar to Four Swords, and musically sounds like ALttP.

What I liked: It has the origin of Vaati and Link's hat. It has 2 "gimmicks" - shrinking down small, and cloning Link. The origin and forging of the Four Sword. The overworld music theme was basically the same as ALttP. It had plenty of nostalgic references musically, and was the only game to reuse music from Zelda 2 (until ALBW used the Palace theme for the Shadow Link battles). 

What I didn’t like: There wasn't a whole lot to dislike but the game didn't take a whole lot of chances either. It also continued the trend of always having a previous hero. In other words, we'll never get to the "first" game ever because Link is always being a continuation of some past hero. 

Where it fits in the timeline: Second in the unified (i.e., pre-split) timeline. Preceded by SS, followed by FS. 

What I would have changed: I would tweak the story slightly to fit in better with FS and FSA, like having the extra Links be different colors. And maybe a way to keep track of Kinstone fusions. 

Zelda Reviews Part 3

Zelda Reviews Part 4