Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, is the best Zelda game to date
By Andrew Gwynn
What is now known as one of the greatest entries in the The Legend of Zelda franchise, and a winner of many awards and perfect scores handed out by numerous reviewers was not always this well praised. Believe it or not the legendary game “The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker,” was met with a very large and hateful reaction among fans.
At the Spaceworld 2000 event held by Nintendo a short clip showing the models from Ocarina of Time with updated graphics was presented to the crowd to show off the upcoming GameCube’s graphical capabilities. This short, almost 15 second clip got many of the fans excited. The dark and violent clip appealed to the more mature fans who believed they would get a more mature Zelda game. Fast forward one year later when the first trailer of The Wind Waker arises and the community is in shock.
“What the hell was Nintendo thinking? This has to be some kind of joke? Maybe it’s all a dream and when I wake up in the morning it will be all good?”
“I wanted mature, I got 5 year old.”
These are just a few of many comments that fans left on various threads all over the internet after trailer’s debut. The cartoony, cel-shaded graphics and young main protagonist were nothing like the game they were supposedly promised. However, just like one regrets the clothes they wore in middle school, as time passed people came to realize that this “abomination” was in fact a masterly crafted gaming experience.
Now after 13 years have passed since the it’s release, The Wind Waker, is considered a classic among fans of all ages. The Wind Waker, is the most unique entry in the franchise. From it’s gameplay, music, characters and world, The Wind Waker is truly the best experience for any fan.
Setting
One of the things that helps make this entry stand out from the others is it’s location and time period relative to other games. Say good-bye to the Land of Hyrule you once remember exploring and rolling around in, because after 100 the land has been flooded into what has been known as The Great Sea, a vast ocean filled with islands that are said to be the tops of the tallest mountains in Hyrule. Each and every single island holds something that helps that said island stand out in The Great Sea, from an island full of merchants looking to sell you anything you may need on your adventure, to multiple islands holding treasure for those clever enough to solve the puzzles before it. Having islands spread all over The Great Sea gives you a real sense of adventure, trying to discover new places and seeing who or what you could encounter on every new island.
Music
While amazing music is a very common and recurring theme in the Zelda Franchise, none stand out quite as much as the music in The Wind Waker. Most Zelda titles come with a fully orchestrated soundtrack to help the player feel truly heroic. The Wind Waker however, makes fully orchestrated pieces the minority. Instead the highlight of many songs are odd rhythms and instruments that aren’t usually found as the lead of a song. The pan flute, the sitar, different kinds of bass synths and many unique sounding indigenous instruments. The way the music defines what is currently happening in the game and the short instrumentals that match the action of the game help bring the world to life and give Wind Waker its own style.
Gameplay
The defining feature of The Wind Waker, is also the same thing fans hated upon first look. The cel-shaded graphics. This graphical style opted for a more cartoon-like appearance as opposed to more realistic style graphics. While fans at first hated this style, over time they have come to realize how smart of a choice this was. For one this graphical style allows the game to age beautifully. It’s 2016 and the game still looks great, while other entries have not had that luck. Another perk of cel-shaded graphics was it allowed the creators of the game to really bring the game to life by adding multiple facial expressions to characters and crating whatever atmospheres they want. For the first time the characters faces have many different expressions which helps bring a new sense of personality to characters such as Link and Zelda who in the past, had little to know facial expressions.
On top of the new graphical style, the style of gameplay has changed too. The core elements of going into puzzle filled dungeons, getting items and fighting bosses has remained but now you’re no longer rolling around the fields of Hyrule. Instead you’ll be sailing around The Great Sea, hopping from island to island. Also a new mechanic is the ability to control the wind, which is a recurring theme in both traveling and solving puzzles. The new look and play style of this entry was the first to do so and helps stand out from the other games which don’t even feature island hopping, sailing, or cel-shaded graphics.
Characters
One of the greatest things that sets Wind Waker apart from other Zelda games is it’s roster of creative characters that live in its world. On top of that, Wind Waker includes all new races that have not been in previous titles before. These new races really make you feel you’re in an all new world. With all the new characters you would think that they would lack originality, but it’s actually quite the opposite. All the characters you see all seem to have lives of their own, and their own troubles to work out. Sailors can be seen out at sea and then found at bars later in the night. The Ruto people need your help ridding evil from their island and you get to know they’re ways of life and their people. Those are just a few examples but the small things like watching non playable characters interact with each other really helps feel the large world of The Wind Waker feel alive. Another cool thing that makes the world feel alive is while you are out sailing from island to island, you can encounter enemy watch posts, submarines, giant octopus’s, storms and other stuff along the same line that you could really expect to happen in a large ocean. Just like a real adventurer you can also find sunken treasure and treasure maps. No other Zelda title can compare to this feeling of an actual world because they all lack the setting and characters that Wind Waker has.
My most favorite character though would have to be The Wind Waker’s version of Link. This version of Link is far different than any other version of Link done before and he may be one of the most important parts of this game that helps make it so much different than any other. First thing that is different about him is that he is shown to have a life before becoming this hero. He lives with his sister and his grandma on an island where his family and the other residents all care for him like any community would. In any other game Link has no known family and isn’t depicted as having any real life before his quest. Another thing that sets Wind Waker Link apart from others is his reasoning to going on an adventure. In this game Link has a much more personal reason. His sister gets kidnapped by the main villain and so he goes on a quest to go save her, and as he progresses he learns of a much bigger threat going on. In previous titles, Link is just told about the evil and then thrown in there, he has no real motivation to do so other than he has to be the hero. And the final reason and perhaps my most favorite thing about The Wind Waker, is the fact that Link is not the actual hero, it’s not his destiny. In other titles Link was always the hero of a prophecy or it was his destiny to save the day and he just became the hero. In Wind Waker, Link has to prove himself to be worthy of being the hero. He has to go through the tower of the gods, he has to restore power to the master sword, and he has to go out and search for the Triforce instead of it just being given to him. No other Link had to prove himself the way Wind Waker Link did, and it’s probably one of the biggest reasons why The Wind Waker is so much different than any other entry and why it is the best.