When I first saw the previews of “The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker”, I was skeptical. The only things I could base my opinion of the game on was the screenshots, and they didn’t look promising at all. I mean, what was with the Cel-Shaded graphics? It also seemed to have a stupid concept. Going around on a boat? What’s the point of that? Oh, how wrong I was.

“The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker” is one of the BEST GAMES EVER! Ok, that doesn’t give much info, but it is true. So let me explain to you why it is one of the BEST GAMES EVER!

First of all, there is the story. The events that took place in “Ocarina of Time” or, alternately, “A Link to the Past”, are now Legend. Stories of the new time tell of an ancient kingdom, where a power-hungry creature named Ganon sought a Golden Power, the Triforce. He gained its power, and destroyed much of the land. His reign of terror was halted by a boy, clad in green. The boy used the power of the 8 Sages to seal away Ganon forever.

Many years later, the kingdom is gone. The memory of the ancient event is preserved on the Outset Islands, two islands that are inhabited by a group of villagers. On this island, it is the custom to give young boys green clothes to wear when they come of age. They are trained to be courageous destroyers of all evil.

Link is one of those boys. The game starts on his birthday. One of his birthday gifts, from his sister, is a telescope. While he looks through the telescope, Link sees a giant bird, carrying a woman. The bird is being chased by a pirate ship, which is desperately launching stones at it from a catapult. One of the stones hits the bird straight on, and he drops the woman into a forest at the top of the island. Link gets a sword from a local sword master and runs off to rescue her. His sister secretly follows him, and after Link rescues the woman, his sister tries to run to him. While his sister is on a rope bridge that connects the islands, the giant bird flies around and snatches her up. The woman, whose name is Tetra, turns out to be the pirate’s captain. Link convinces the pirates to take them to where the bird has taken his sister, and he sneaks in to find her. But just as he is about to reach her, the giant bird catches him and takes him to a mysterious robed figure, who indicates that the bird should just toss Link in the ocean. A boat with a talking figurehead (or end, as it is just a Canoe or Sailboat) rescues Link. The boat tells him that the robed figure was Ganon, the evil creature of legend. Thus, Link starts his quest to save his sister and the world from destruction.

Since this game takes place many years after Hyrule is gone, all the creatures from it are gone as well. The Humans are still there, of course (Hyrule was only one kingdom out of many with Humans), but Gorons, Zoras, Gerudos, and Kokiris are all gone. In their place are such creatures as the Ravi, which are Bird-like creatures, and the Kokoros, which used to be Kokiris until they moved and changed their form to leaf-faced tree things. The loss of those races is, needless to say, rather disappointing. I mean, the Ravis (or is Ravi the plural form also?) are cool, but I liked the Gorons and Zoras too.

The graphics in this game are awesome. Though not very impressive in screenshots, the Cel Shading looks great in action. Chinese Firework-type explosions are used for special effects, with all curly, colored smoke and such. Link himself looks pretty good, and in the beginning, before he gets his green clothes, he still looks pretty good in a blue shirt and orange pants.

Link’s expressions are done rather well, and there is a new technology thing that Nintendo apparently has that makes certain parts of creatures or NPCs act like a bungee cord. On a guard creature, the lip of it bounces around a bit, and one of the characters on the Outset Islands is a little boy with a huge, bouncing string of snot coming from his nose. I mean, of course that’s disgusting, but it’s also pretty advanced. In previous games, everything was just blocks, basically. There were not really “Independent Parts”, just people who stayed in the same place, and maybe moved their head to look at you. But now, people will walk around sometimes, and occasionally, groups of kids will follow you around. The overall effect of it is absolutely stunning.

The sound in the game is another great feature. The music is more upbeat than previous Zelda games, which I always thought was a little scary. The battle sounds are a little different, as when you score a hit, instead of a “ching!” or a “thwack!” there are now notes that are played on an instrument when you hit (I’m not sure which one, but I’m pretty sure that it’s a string instrument). This makes the combat system more interesting than other games, and separates it a bit from the rest.

Overall, this is an incredible game. The graphics, sound, and storyline are all superb, and this is a great addition to the Zelda series.

Final Score: 10/10.

Zelda Wind Waker Walkthrough

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