The Legend of Zelda (Animated Series)

 

This show overwhelmingly gets bad reviews, but as a huge fan of the Legend of Zelda series, I felt like I had to watch it. This show ran for one season in 1989 as part of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show! The timing is important, as it slots its release just after Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and before A Link to the Past. At this point in time, with only two games being released, the majority of the Zelda series lore had not been written. I think it's possible that Nintendo had know idea that this game series would explode in popularity in the 1990s with the success of A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. I'm using this perspective as a reason to explain so many of the odd attributes for this show. For instance, Hyrule Castle looks nothing like the Hyrule Castle featured in the games. Link's sword is tiny, more like a dagger. The Master Sword wasn't introduced until A Link to the Past, so I guess that makes sense. Other than shooting energy from the sword, it is nothing like the swords in the game. Finally, there is the issue with Link.

Link is a famously mute character. Obviously, he can't be mute in a TV show where he is the main character, but he is an absolute dope in this show (on a side note, I'm interested to see how they handle Link in the upcoming live action movie). You don't have to do much research on the show until you read about the "Excuuuse me, princess!" issue. These episodes are 13-15 minutes in duration, and Link says this line at least once per episode. In one episode he says it 5 times! The ongoing theme of him trying to get a kiss from Zelda by saying "kiss me, princess" is equally annoying. It portrays Link as a desperate weirdo loser who is nothing like the Hero of Time we've come to know. Thankfully, Zelda is a strong character in the show, and is more similar to how she is portrayed in subsequent games.

The best part of this show are the enemies. It wasn't until Breath of the Wild that I really started to learn the names of the enemies. The show features numerous enemies accurately, which is pretty cool when you consider how early this show occurs in the Zelda timeline. I know when I was playing Zelda games in the '90s, I had no idea what the names of the enemies were. They even accurately show Ganon in his beast form. 

No matter how you cut it, this show is bad. The writing is terrible and Link is not portrayed well. Zelda is a strong character, however, and the enemies are well represented. If you're a fan of the games, I think it is worth watching just to complete as much content of the game series as possible. Set your expectations low and you won't be disappointed.

The Legend of Zelda - The Minish Cap (Game & Manga Book)

 

The Minish Cap (MC) was one of the few Zelda games that I had never played. Never owning a Game Boy Advance, I never had the opportunity to play the game until it became available on the Switch 2 via the Nintendo Classics catalog. I'll be honest, I had low expectations for the game. The cover art for the game is odd, and the idea that you wear a hat that looks like a duck seems bizarre. After playing the game, however, I'd rank it as my second favorite 2D Zelda game, behind A Link to the Past (ALttP). MC provides classic Zelda gameplay, with the fun twist of being able to shrink in size to perform certain tasks and interact with the Picori people. It's gameplay is similar to the gameplay in ALttP and honestly the story is probably a bit better. From Chat GTP:

The story follows Link, a young boy living in the kingdom of Hyrule, who sets out on a quest after a major disaster strikes during a festival. A mysterious sorcerer named Vaati shatters the sacred Picori Blade and turns Princess Zelda to stone while searching for a legendary power called the Light Force.

To save Zelda, Link teams up with a talking, magical hat named Ezlo, who was once Vaati’s mentor. Ezlo reveals that the Picori Blade can be reforged with the help of the Minish (also called Picori), a tiny, hidden race that only children can see.

Link journeys across Hyrule to find four elemental powers needed to restore the blade. Along the way, he gains the ability to shrink to Minish size, allowing him to explore hidden areas and interact with the tiny world around him. As he restores the blade into the powerful Four Sword, Link also uncovers Vaati’s backstory: once a Minish himself, Vaati became corrupted by his desire for power and transformed into a powerful wind mage.

In the final confrontation, Vaati succeeds in partially draining the Light Force from Zelda, transforming into a monstrous form. Link defeats him using the restored sword and his newfound abilities, saving Zelda and restoring peace to Hyrule.

In the end, Ezlo is returned to his true form, the Minish are honored for their role, and the reforged blade becomes known as the legendary Four Sword, setting up future events in the Zelda timeline.

A manga book for the game exists as well, which I read after finishing the game. The book does a good job of generally recapping the story, and the art if nothing else is amusing. This game has a particularly strong plot, and thus lends itself well to other media types. However, as with other Zelda games, a large portion of the game is centered around dungeons and discovery, which is hard to replicate outside the game. As with other manga books, the MC book mostly skips over these portions of the game. It's a quick read, and provides a nice general overview of the plot. It will be interesting to see how the upcoming live-action movie handles dungeons and the general exploration of Hyrule. 

Legend of Zelda Manga: A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, & Majora's Mask

After the mammoth 11 part Twilight Princess manga book, the remaining books have been much shorter, typically in 1 or 2 parts. Subsequently, I have a little to say about each one but not a lot, so I decided to combine their posts into one larger post where I discuss all of the remaining books. After Twilight Princess, I read A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask. Following the chronologic order of the game's release, I will start with A Link to the Past.

A Link to the Past (LttP) is one of my favorite games in the Zelda series. It's on my podium or top 3 list of favorites. Somewhat paradoxically, the manga book was one of my least favorite books in the series. The gameplay in LttP is fantastic and what makes it such a great game. Level design, visuals for the time, music etc. are really quite good and hold up well even decades later. Looking at the game from the perspective of a story that you can read in a book, however, you realize that the plot is really quite thin. Because of this, I don't fault the author for this book being not great. I think the story of the game just isn't robust enough to support a book. They also introduced a new character, likely to add something to the story, but who ended up not contributing much. Beyond the book's visuals, I'd stick to the game for this story. 

Ocarina of Time (OoT) the book was similar to LttP the book. The plot to OoT is more substantial than the plot of LttP, and thus easier to base a book around, but the story as told in the book is not as good as the story as told in the game. Again, a large part of the game is based around temple design which simply doesn't translate great to a plot of the book. The most interesting part of this book in my opinion was the two short stories following the main story. One short story focused on the Skull Kid, which is one of my favorite side characters in the Zelda series. He appears in OoT, as well as more prominently in Twilight Princess and Majora's Mask. The second short story introduced the Watarara, a bird-human hybrid race which evolved into the Rito. My first introduction to the Rito was in Breath of the Wild (BotW). They play a large part of the story in BotW, but much like the Korok race that was discussed in the Wind Waker (WW) post, seemingly came out of nowhere since I had not played the WW until recently. From the context of the games, the Rito first appeared in the WW, but were based on the Watarara race introduced in the short story at the end of OoT. To my knowledge, the Watarara have not appeared again in any format.

When it comes to the Nintendo 64-era Zelda games, I go back and forth in my mind on which one is my favorite - OoT or Majora's Mask (MM). OoT is largely regarded as one of the best video games of all time, and thus 99/100 people would say OoT is better. I would agree with that in terms of gameplay and level/temple design. The plot in OoT is also very important in terms of the greater Zelda universe. However, taken from the perspective of an individual game, the story from MM is quite good and lends itself to the plot of a book quite well. It takes place in an alternate universe, features a great plot where the moon is crashing into earth all because the Skull Kid stealing Majora's Mask, and the book features Anju and Kafei's story, which is likely the most famous side quest in the entire Zelda franchise. Out of these 3 games, MM is arguably my least favorite if I had to rank them. However, it has the most intriguing story and thus translates into a book the best. Thus, it was my favorite book of the three.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

 

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (WW) has always been a game that intrigued me. The visuals of cartoon Link combined with the open world consisting of a sea was such a change of pace from what we had seen in all of the prior games in the series that on the surface I wasn't sure what to make of the game. It seemed almost like it would be more of a side game or one that would exist on a Gameboy system. That was not the case, however. WW was the main game of the Zelda series on the GameCube, and it being on a main system made it even more intriguing because you knew it should be more than an experimental game, it should be really good. I never owned a GameCube, and thus never played this game, until now. 

The Switch 2 includes a few GameCube games as part of its online+expansion pass, and WW is one of the games that is available (fingers crossed that the GameCube version of Twilight Princess becomes available. The 40th anniversary of the series seems like the perfect time to include this game...). I was excited for the opportunity to play this game, because it is the only main system Zelda game that I've never played, and one of only a few Zelda games at this point that I've never played. Immediately I noticed that it suffered from a poor outdated game design decision: inverted camera controls, which were mirrored compared to the camera controls of literally any other game I've played in the past 10+ years. Luckily you could remap the buttons to fix this. Otherwise, I may not have been willing to play the game.

Once I got past the camera controls, however, I really enjoyed this game. It took me a bit of time to get used to the visuals, but once I did I really started to like how this game looked. I wouldn't want every Zelda game that I played to look like this, but toon Link, with his fantastic facial expressions, and the way explosions and fire looked was really cool, almost like a cartoon or comic book that came to life. 

The gameplay was mostly classic Zelda. You take on a few temples, then have to find pieces of the triforce that have been scattered across sea-covered Hyrule to restore the energy of the master sword, before taking on Ganon. One unique aspect of this game is that not only do you meet champions or sages who help you along your way, they actually join you in a couple of the temples. Oftentimes having a sidekick can be a pain, especially in older games, but I think WW did a good job with the concept. You use their abilities to help unlock certain portions of the temple, which adds to the gameplay and level design. As you advance in the game, you pick up new items which are needed to advance in the temple and defeat the boss. These items also allow you to access other parts of the world that have side items, quests, etc. All and all WW featured classic gameplay. My only two minor complaints with the gameplay is that (1) traversing the sea was a bit tedious and boring, honestly, and (2) the game gave zero direction or indication on how to find the triforce shards. Luckily, as the game progressed it did unlock a fast travel system. I had to use a guide to find the shards, however, and paying Tingle nearly 400 rupees to translate every map for the multiple shards was a bit tedious as well, requiring some rupee farming. 

A couple of random things that occurred in this game caught my eye as well. The first was the introduction of the Rito race. The first time I came across the Rito was in Breath of the Wild (BotW). However, I later learned that the Rito was inspired by a short story at the end of the Ocarina of Time (OoT) manga (more on that in an upcoming post), and I believe their first appearance in a game was WW. The second thing that caught my attention was the explanation of the Korok race. Similarly, my first encounter with a korok was in BotW. They appear in WW, however, and it is explained that they are the descendants of the forest children from the Kokiri Forest from OoT. After Hyrule was flooded, the Kokiri children were transformed into Koroks. Lastly, Link has the ability to sail using a leaf and magic, similar to how he uses his sail cloth in BotW, and I believe this game is the first game where this mechanic is used.

Overall, I really enjoyed WW. The gameplay is classic Zelda, and the game features a number of firsts for the series as mentioned in the above paragraph. The visuals are really cool, though I wouldn't want every Zelda game to look this way. The music is really good as well. I appreciate the change of scenery we get by flooding Hyrule, but navigating the sea was a bit tedious and boring, and so I do knock the game down a few notches on my favorite Zelda game list. WW does not make my podium, but I definitely think it is worth playing if you're a Zelda fan. I'd say it ranks somewhere in the middle of my favorite Zelda games. I'm glad that I got the opportunity to play it, even if it was 20+ years after it was released. 

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Books)

 

For a gaming series that spans such a wide timeline, and features some of the best games ever made, it is very difficult to point to a single game in the series as being my favorite. And yet, I continue to come back to Twilight Princess (TP). It initially came out on the GameCube, a system that I never owned. It subsequently came out on the Wii, which is the system I played the game on, with its weird motion controls. Not having the GameCube is important in this story because it means I never played Wind Waker (until now, that is). This means that the Zelda game that I played prior to TP on the Wii was 1998's Ocarina of Time (OoT), nearly a full decade prior to TP's release. Ocarina of Time is a great game, and is rightfully praised by almost everybody. TP blew my mind when I played, because it was set in a similar-appearing version of Hyrule as OoT, but everything about it was bigger and better. The story was also much darker and complex, and I found that to be appealing as well. It has the best plot of any game in the series, in my opinion. 

I mention this background for two reasons. One is to explain how much I like the game and why I like it. The second is to point out that the game isn't exactly easy to play these days. While I still have a Wii, using the motion controls is cumbersome and the game doesn't exactly translate great to modern TVs with the Wii's outdated connections. An HD version of TP came out on the Wii U, and when I bought the Switch I thought about buying a Wii U instead so that I could play BOTW and TP HD, but decided against it because the Wii U was going for $350+ at the time. Probably made the right decision going with the Switch. Doing a quick Ebay search shows that the Wii U is currently selling between $50-$250. This is where the Twilight Princess book series comes into the conversation, because it was a great way to relive the game without being able to easily play it.

The Twilight Princess is a series of 11 books, written in Japanese Manga style. I never read comics as a kid, let alone manga. For the uninitiated, manga is written right-to-left, and you start at what would be the back of the book and progress to the beginning. It took a bit to get used to, but after a while it became easy enough to read. The animation is spectacular and really brought the TP version of Hyrule to life. My only small criticism is that some of the scenes were a bit dark and/or small and difficult to see. Overall, though, the visuals were great and really brought the game and story to life. The books mostly follow the events of the game, with small variations. Link is famously mute, and puzzle solving in temples is a major part of any Zelda game. Neither of these features of the game necessarily translate well to a book, so some improvising had to occur. For the most part, I think the author(s) did a good job with this. There were a couple of parts of the story where it strayed far enough off the main plot that I found it annoying, but this was infrequent. 

Overall, the books did a great job of retelling the story of one of my all time favorite games. The animation was great, and really made me feel like I was back in Hyrule at the time of the events of Twilight Princess. There are several other books by the same authors for other games in the Legend of Zelda series which I plan to read in the future.

Nintendo Switch 2

 

I purchased a Switch 2. It wasn't a matter of if, but when. The interesting thing is that when details of the Switch 2 were first revealed, there wasn't anything coming out with it that I thought was exciting enough to immediately purchase one. That hasn't changed. To this day, the 20+ year old The Wind Waker and The Minish Cap are still the most exciting games on the system to play that I didn't otherwise have access to. Both games are in the Legend of Zelda series, and I haven't played either one previously. Because of this situation, I balked at immediately purchasing a Switch 2. Plus, the last games I played on the Switch were Echoes of Wisdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, both around a year ago.  However, after getting the Portal, with its bigger screen, the Switch was really starting to feel long in the tooth. Plus, my kids still play games on the Switch on a weekly basis. What triggered me to make the purchase now was reading about a major update coming to the Switch 2 for Animal Crossing, a game my kids play regularly. I thought that if I'm going to upgrade to it eventually, I might as well do it now so that everyone can benefit from the upgrade instead of arbitrarily waiting. 

The larger screen is a much welcomed upgrade, though the ergonomics of the Switch 2 aren't any better than the original Switch. The Playstation Dualsense and the Portal that it's designed after remain top of the market in terms of comfort in my opinion. The OS looks the same and I haven't been able to tell much of a difference in graphics, though all the games I've played on it are Switch 1 games. The load times are noticeably faster, however.

There are several game ports available on the Switch 2, and the reviews I've read state that most of these ports are much better than the ports on the first Switch, which was severely underpowered for most of the port games. If there were games that I absolutely wanted to play in handheld mode or on the go, these games would be intriguing for me. As it stands, most of these games I've either already played or have access to on the Playstation or through Playstation Plus, so this hasn't been a huge selling point for me thus far. But it is nice to have the option, at least until Sony has its own dedicated handheld device. I'm interested in Nintendo hardware almost entirely because of their exclusive games. I'll almost always lean towards the Playstation for non-Nintendo games. For me, this upgrade wasn't a necessity at the current moment, but eventually Nintendo will come out with a Zelda game or a Mario game for the Switch 2 that I won't want to pass up. Because of this, I decided to just go ahead and upgrade so that I can enjoy other perks in the meantime, even if the biggest perk for me thus far is the ability to play two 20+ year old games. 

Echoes of Wisdom

 

I had no idea Nintendo was making this game, and thus was surprised when it was announced. When I first saw it I thought the concept of playing as Zelda instead of Link was neat, and I placed it on my gaming radar but honestly it wasn't a game I was placing too high on my gaming pedestal. However, once the game was released and I read reviews, and more importantly saw all of the creative ways other players were progressing through the game, I became much more interested in playing Echoes and bought it shortly after it was released. Having finished the game and many of the side quests, I thoroughly enjoyed Echoes and I think it is an important game in the Zelda series for a number of reasons. 

Both Breath of the Wild (BOTW) and Tears of the Kingdom (TOTK) were masterclass games, not only for the Switch and the Legend of Zelda series, but in all of gaming. They deviated from the game design that dominated the Zelda series starting with Ocarina of Time by making the games entirely open ended. Link was placed in a large world and could theoretically go any place that he wanted to go. Special items were gone, and so were dungeons, though they made a bit of a comeback in TOTK (thankfully). Previous Zelda games limited where you could go based on the items that you had, which you acquired by beating dungeons. Switching this tried and true gameplay for BOTW and TOTK was truly gutsy and paid off big time, as both games are incredible and I'd include them in the conversation of best games I've ever played. However, the old formula is also very good and I think periodically having games that use the old formula is a great idea. As I was playing Echoes I was reminded of how fun it was to play through dungeons and acquire new items. 

Echoes was not just a return to previous gameplay, however. It really was a hybrid of previous gameplay tactics combined with one of the best features of TOTK - building and using items to accomplish tasks. TOTK allowed the player to build and fuse various items to create bridges, cars, ladders, etc. to get places. This gave players creativity in how they decided to get places and progress through the game. This created fantastic videos online of players building all types of wild items as they progressed through the game. Echoes mimicked this activity by allowing you to place items you've previously came across. These items were called Echoes, hence the name of the game. Placing Echoes is how you solved various puzzles and even how you defeated enemies. This also made for fantastic online videos of players placing all kinds of items in wonky places as they figured out how to solve puzzles. Oftentimes there were many ways to solve them based on the Echoes you had, and thus you had to be creative to figure out which Echo would work the best. The most famous Echo is the bed, one that you learn early in the game and is quite useful as a way to build a bridge or get some rest to replenish hearts.

At first glance the game looks very similar to 2019's remake of Link's Awakening. Both games use the same art style and are made by the same developer Grezzo. The gameplay in Echoes is different, however, since Zelda is the main protagonist for the first time in Echoes. I applaud featuring Zelda as the protagonist. Fighting with Echoes, however, was a bit awkward, especially at the beginning of the game when you haven't learned too many Echoes. It gets better as you progress through the game and learn more Echoes, but there were definitely times where I wish I could just slash an enemy with a sword like Link instead of pecking them to death with multiple birds. The game does allow you to channel your inner Link and turn into a version of him temporarily, but the main way to fight is to spawn an Echo and stand back and let them do the work. Additionally, there are a lot of Echoes in this game (127 to be exact), and the menu to select which Echo you want to use quickly becomes large and cumbersome. I think some time could've been spent developing an organization system for this list. Despite having a large number of Echoes to choose from, I really only routinely used 10-20 of them. Those are my only complaints about the game, and in the grand scheme of things are really quite minor. Going back to the similarities in art style between Echoes and Link's Awakening, I'm all for Nintendo continuing to periodically make games in this style. How about a remake of A Link to the Past?

All of this was a long winded way of saying I really enjoyed this game. I initially was only mildly interested in playing it, but once I saw the unique gameplay and creativity needed to progress through the game, my interest piqued. It is truly a Zelda game, complete with Gorons and Zora and all of the familiar locations of Hyrule and comes with gameplay that mixes traditional Zelda games with the creativity of TOTK. As the Switch reaches the end of its lifecycle, and rumors of its successor run rampant, this game will likely be the last game I completely play through on the system. What a fantastic way to finish one of my all-time favorite gaming systems. 

Nintendo Music

 

In a week that featured tech news that included new Mac announcements and November's Playstation Plus games of the month, who would've thought that an app from Nintendo would have been the most exciting news? The Nintendo Music app was nowhere on my radar. In fact, I don't think any of the gaming blogs knew about this. When it was announced, I was super excited because I listen to video game music all of the time. Most of the gaming music I listen to is from Nintendo games, specifically the Legend of Zelda series. I currently listen to Nintendo music on YouTube, which works OK but you have to deal with advertisements and sometimes it is difficult to navigate to specific songs. The Nintendo Music app gets rid of ads and makes finding and listening to specific songs easy, which is why it is so exciting. The only small issue is that the library is a bit small. However, although it has been out less than a week, they've already expanded the library and so I expect that this will continue to include all of the Zelda music at some point. I'm super excited about this app and had no idea it was in development, so it was a complete surprise. 

Lego Great Deku Tree

 

I had been waiting for years for a Legend of Zelda Lego set, so suffice to say I was excited when I first learned about this set. However, it was with some mixed emotions. While the Great Deku tree plays a memorable role in a few of the Zelda games, it isn't exactly the most eye appealing or fun structure to build. Maybe Hyrule Castle was too obvious? Regardless of my thoughts on the choice of the inspiration for the set from Hyrule, I had to get it because of my love of Zelda games.

The first thing I noticed about this set is that it is huge. Everything about it, from the box it comes in to the footprint of the finished product. In fact, at 2,500 pieces, I'm pretty sure it is the largest Lego set I've ever built. The build itself was pretty simple and a bit cumbersome with a lot of flowers and decorations. There was nothing overly interesting about the build, although it did incorporate some technic pieces. The best part of the set is that you can decide which version of the Great Deku tree you want to build: the tree from Breath of the Wild, or the tree from Ocarina of Time. I chose the tree from Breath of the Wild (pictured above), as I think it is the more appealing version of the Great Deku and Breath of the Wild is fresh in my mind since I've played it more recently. I liked that it included the pedestal where the Master Sword is found, as well as Hestu. Regardless of which version of the tree you decide to build, it includes child Link's bedroom from the Kokiri Forest in Ocarina of Time, which is a bonus. The other thing that is nice about this set is that Lego was generous with the mini figures. It includes Zelda from Breath of the Wild, as well as Link from Breath of the Wild and adult and child versions of Link from Ocarina of Time. 

Lego continues to do a good job dividing its parts into many individual bags, making building quicker as you spend less time searching for the parts you need. With every set I get I think Lego improves on this approach, and the Great Deku tree is the best example of this yet. Despite having 2,500 total pieces, I spent very little time having to search for parts. It's worth noting, however, that despite having 2,500 total pieces, you don't actually use all of them as some are reserved for the other version of the tree. Regardless, it is a lot of pieces and as I mentioned above, the footprint of the tree itself is quite large. The other interesting thing about this set is that it didn't include any stickers, which I really like. Any piece that had graphics on it came pre-made. I think this is a plus. Who wants a Hylian shield with a crooked graphic?

Overall I enjoyed this set, mostly because it is a Zelda set. The Great Deku tree itself is OK, but I look forward to additional sets featuring scenes from Hyrule and the Legend of Zelda games. Maybe the Temple of Time or a scene from Zora's Domain could be next?

Tunic

 

I have a love/hate relationship with this game. Its resemblance to Zelda games, specifically 2019's re-release of Link's Awakening is an obvious attention-grabber for me. The gameplay is quite similar to Zelda games. You start in an overworld filled with enemies. Much like BOTW, you start with a stick as a weapon. You quickly find a sword, however, and as you progress through the game you pick up other items that are helpful for your journey - a shield, a hookshot-like device, the ability to teleport short distances, etc. Acquiring these items allows you to access previously blocked areas of the map. All of this is very much like old school Zelda games and was a nice return to classic gameplay as BOTW and TOTK have deviated from this a bit.

The newer Zelda games do a good job of explaining the story. The older ones, however, are a bit more mysterious. I still remember A Link to the Past and how it started you off in Link's house with almost no explanation on what to do. Tunic gives no explanation on what you are supposed to do. In fact, even after finishing the game I wasn't sure I understood what just happened. I read a few plot summaries and I think I got it now, but the game is very vague. In fact, there is essentially no written words in the game, and there are no spoken words at all. The signs in the game are written in a made up language and thus cannot be read. The only real communication or explanation that you get comes in the form of a digital instruction manual. The pages are scattered throughout the overworld, which you are able to collect as you progress through the game. Even the instruction manual provides just vague explanations. In general I'm OK with the game being vague, as putting together the pieces of the plot puzzle can be fun. However, it can make it a bit challenging to know what to do next or where to go next. I found myself watching strategy videos a lot as a progressed through the game. 

I'll do just a quick plug for the music and graphics in the game. The overworld has a very simplistic look. As mentioned above, it is very reminiscent of 2019's remake of Link's Awakening, though Tunic is a bit less vibrant. Overall it has a fine look but nothing to write home about. However, some of the stages, especially later in the game, are quite stunning. The Quarry and Monastery are two locations that come to mind that are fantastic looking. The game has a bit of a depressing feel to it, honestly, and the music fits this theme quite well. Although none of it is overly memorable, I remember thinking on several occasions while playing that it sounded appropriate and fit the scene quite well. I think the music that stands out the most for me is the song that plays in the background as you face the game's final boss, the Heir. This could be because I had to fight the Heir about 40 times before I beat her, however. Which leads me to the part of the game that contributed to the hate part of the love/hate relationship.

Tunic is really hard. I don't mind a challenge or hard game, but at times Tunic was frustratingly hard. I've already mentioned that there wasn't always clear instructions on what to do or where to go next. This in itself can be frustrating. But what pushed my frustration over the edge was how dying was handled. When you die, you spawn at your last save point and your life/potions and magic are restored. This is fine and mostly standard across other games. However, any special items you used, such as bombs or bottled magic, does not restock. This puts you in a real bind when fighting bosses. If you use your special items and fail, it can be very tough to beat the boss, as your supplies no longer exist. I found myself needing to try several times to beat the bosses, so many times that on a handful of occasions I contemplated quitting the game. 

I hate comparing Tunic to the Legend of Zelda as much as I did because it truly does stand alone as its own individual game. The comparisons are inevitable, however, as the similarities between the two games are great, right down to the appearance of the main character. Overall I enjoyed the game and would recommend it. It is frustrating, however, that the game can be so unforgiving that I thought about quitting. I think Tunic could have been challenging but a bit more forgiving when you die. At least give us our special items back when we respawn!

Tears of the Kingdom: Part 4 - Tears vs. Breath of the Wild

Comparisons between Tears of the Kingdom (TOTK) and Breath of the Wild (BOTW) were inevitable. The two games take place in a nearly identical version of Hyrule. Maybe even more importantly, both games are on the Nintendo Switch. This may be the most important aspect of comparing the two games. Oftentimes it is very difficult to compare games across generations of consoles because the technology improves so much with each new generation. If I take a step backwards from comparing these two games and list my top 3 (the proverbial podium) favorite Zelda games, in no particular order they are A Link to the Past, Twilight Princess, and Breath of the Wild. Each of these games comes from a different console generation, so it is difficult to say that A Link to the Past is better than Twilight Princess. This isn't the case for TOTK and BOTW, so direct comparisons are easier. After playing BOTW for around 200 hours, and TOTK for around 100 hours, let's dive into my thoughts on the two games.

I played both games the same way. I focused on the main story quests first, and then after I "finished the game" by seeing the credits role, I focused on the side quests. In BOTW, I found and finished all 120 shrines, and did the majority of the side quests and DLC. In TOTK, I am currently in the process of locating and finishing all of the shrines. I plan to focus on the side quests afterwards. With both games taking place in essentially the same version of Hyrule, the game looks and feels very similar. And yet, despite how good BOTW is and was, TOTK somehow improves on nearly every aspect of the game. 

To emphasize just how good TOTK is, let me list the various aspects of the game and which game is better in each category. The plot: TOTK. In fact, Tears has one of the better plots of any Zelda game and one of the more memorable endings to any game in the recent past. BOTW's plot is fine, but so much is prefaced on events that happened 100 years prior to the events of BOTW that it feels a bit distant. TOTK builds on the events of BOTW, and the aftermath is quite visible as you traverse Hyrule Kingdom. You have to look no further than the massive floating Hyrule Castle to be reminded of the Uprising. 

Similar to the plot is the castles/temples: TOTK takes the prize here as well. The Divine Beasts of BOTW and their leaders were too similar and honestly not that memorable. When I started the Regional Phenomena main quest in TOTK and traveled to Rito village, I remember thinking about how epic the journey to the floating ship creating the storm over Rito was. And while the stage itself felt a lot like the Divine Beasts, the boss battle was absolutely epic as well. In the grand scheme of Zelda games, both games rank lower in this category, but between the two no question TOTK wins in this category as well.

I cannot tell a difference in the graphics between the two games, and both games have great soundtracks, albeit similar. I'm calling a draw in these two categories. Same for the controls. TOTK does suffer from more frequent frame rate drops than BOTW. You can tell that the Switch is pushed to its limits to run this game. It is an amazing feat that Nintendo was able to get this game to run on 6 year old hardware that wasn't exactly cutting edge when it was originally released. I should also point out that although I've said a couple of times that both games take place in similar versions of Hyrule, this is only partially true. The surface of Hyrule is essentially the same, but TOTK adds the depths, which is like a large cavern under Hyrule that doubles the size of the map. As if this wasn't enough, there are also numerous sky islands to visit above Hyrule, so the map in TOTK is actually quite a bit bigger than BOTW's Hyrule.

I was playing BOTW the other day, helping one of my daughters progress in her game. As I was working on a shrine puzzle, I found my self wishing I could ascend like you can in TOTK. With all of the game enhancements found in TOTK, I think it would be a bit hard to go back and replay BOTW. With all of the aforementioned evidence, I don't think there is any question that TOTK is the better game. The bigger question is will TOTK replace BOTW on my podium. While I think there is some merit to the fact that BOTW was first and more revolutionary, if push comes to shove I would replace it with TOTK on my podium. For the time being, however, I'm going to let them share the spot on the podium. BOTW is a fantastic game, and somehow Nintendo managed to make TOTK better in nearly every category. 

Tears of the Kingdom: Part 3 - Crisis at Hyrule Castle, Defeating Ganon, & Finding Zelda

Six months after its release date, and more than 75 hours of gameplay later, I finally finished the main story quests for Tears of the Kingdom (TotK). I was not in any hurry to finish this game. In fact, I stalled a bit on the final main quests Crisis at Hyrule Castle and Defeating Ganon. The reason was because I was scared. One of the aspects of TotK and Breath of the Wild (BotW) that I love is that the games give a true sense of adventure. The path to the Wind Temple, climbing higher and higher into the sky with its sense of isolation feels like you are on a true journey. The Crisis at Hyrule Castle turned out not to be as difficult as I thought. It was a great way to explore the castle, however, because unlike BotW, Ganon is not in the castle in TotK. The Defeating Ganon quest involves exactly what the title implies, only you have to find him first and the game doesn't really give you any hints. Turns out he is hiding right in front of you the entire time.

At the beginning of the game, Link and Zelda go into a cavern beneath Hyrule Castle to explore the disruption known as The Upheaval. The Upheaval causes chunks of land to rise to the sky, forming islands above Hyrule and lifts Hyrule Castle into the sky. From the chasms where the land has risen seeps gloom, a deadly substance. While exploring, Zelda falls into a chasm and disappears, and Link has his hand ripped from his body by a mummy-like enemy. Link awakens on one of the islands floating above Hyrule. The Upheaval completely changes the landscape of Hyrule, and the game begins. It turns out that Ganon is within the chasm created when Hyrule Castle lifted into the air, the same place he was at the very beginning of the game.

The journey to get to Ganon is absolutely epic. You dive deep into the chasm below Hyrule Castle. The path is littered with gloom and enemies. Gloom not only hurts you when you come into contact with it, it removes a heart as well, decreasing your total health. This is why I was scared to start this particular quest. I knew I couldn't just go on this journey without preparing. I had to get plenty of meals to not only restore hearts, but also to restore my total hearts after I came into contact with gloom. At the end of the path you reach a large room where you have to face Ganon's army, which consists of four rounds of enemies. This path takes about 20 minutes to complete, and along the way there are no fast travel locations (shrines), no save points beyond auto save, and no way to restock your supplies. You better come prepared, because there are plenty of opportunities to get injured and lose hearts to gloom. 

Once you finally get to Ganon, the battle is absolutely epic as well. There are four rounds to the battle, with the fourth round taking place in the sky as Ganon is transformed into Demon Dragon. The battle is tough. I died probably 15 times, despite my numerous meals prepared by Elle. The four rounds are psychologically tough, because once his health bar is depleted, you think you've defeated him, just for him to transform into a different version of himself. I had 5 or 6 shields going into the battle, including the Hylian Shield, the toughest in the game, and by the end of the battle I was down to one shield that was nearly broken because of all the blocking of Ganon's attacks. I thought I was well prepared, but by the end of the battle I was absolutely on fumes, with low hearts and very few supplies remaining.

Through a separate main quest (that is somehow optional), you learn that in the past Zelda transforms herself into a dragon in order to deliver the Master Sword to future Link to aid in his adventure to defeat Ganon. In the final stage of the battle, Ganon transforms into a dragon, and with the help of Zelda's dragon form, you defeat Ganon in the sky above Hyrule. The entire quest to get to Ganon and the battle that follows is absolutely mega (to quote Zac Brown). It is definitely one of the more memorable battles against Ganon in the Legend of Zelda series.

Tears of the Kingdom: Part 2 - Regional Phenomena

 

I'm 40-50 hours into this game and just finished a major main quest called Regional Phenomena. The events of the Upheaval have left Hyrule in a confused and messy state. Link is set out to explore the main regions of Hyrule to investigate unusual events that have occurred since the Upheaval and see if they are related to Princess Zelda's disappearance. This takes me to the familiar Hyrule locations of Gerudo Desert, Zora's Domain, Rito Village, and Death Mountain. This also allowed me to interact with the familiar people of each location from Breath of the Wild (BotW). Each location is experiencing some sort of disaster, and Link works with the local hero to rid the area of the disaster. While this helps bring normalcy to each region, it does not provide any clues regarding Zelda's disappearance, unfortunately. However, two major events occur in the process of this journey.

The first is the introduction of the buddy system. BotW is a solitary game. You explore Hyrule alone, and you interact with people somewhat sparingly. This makes the game a bit lonely. In Tears of the Kingdom (TotK), a champion warrior from each region joins you in your efforts to rid the area of disaster. Once you are successful, the warrior's essence joins you for the rest of your travels. This gives you their unique abilities to help with your quest and makes the game much less lonely. They even help you fight enemies without prompting. 

The second is the return of temples. One of the big negatives of BotW, in addition to breakable weapons, was the lack of temples. The divine beasts in BotW were completely forgettable. In contrast, some of the best memories of previous Zelda games were the challenges and bosses found in the temples, so I was glad to see them return in TotK. The Wind Temple felt a lot like a divine beast from BotW, but the boss battle was absolutely mega. The quest to get to the temple was terrific as well. The Lightning Temple was probably my favorite. With 7 floors, the pyramid shaped building with its lighting puzzles felt like a proper and traditional Zelda temple. None of the four temples I've encountered thus far are as long or challenging as temples from previous Zelda games, but the return of temples in general is an improvement over BotW.

Tears of the Kingdom: Part 1 - Initial Thoughts

 

Tears of the Kingdom (TotK) is one of those once in a decade games that I anticipate playing for 100+ hours over the course of a few years. If it is anything like Breath of the Wild (BotW), it will beg exploration and return for further play. Therefore, it is not a game that lends itself to one single post. I plan on periodically publishing posts about the game that as I experience its various levels and quests. This first post explores my very initial impressions. I got the game on launch day and have played it for just over 10 hours in the first 1.5 weeks since launch. From a main storyline perspective, I'm about to enter the Wind Temple.

The game begins a few years after the events of BotW. The opening cutscene does a great job of setting the stage. Link and Zelda are exploring a newly discovered cave underneath Hyrule Castle, a consequence of an event called the "Upheaval". A mysterious substance called the "Gloom" has been discovered in Hyrule and is making people ill. Link and Zelda believe this cave is the source of the Gloom. I like how Link starts with the Master Sword and a full amount of hearts. However, he becomes majorly injured by the source of the Upheaval, reducing his heart total to the traditional starting number of 3 hearts. The Master Sword becomes broken, and Zelda falls into a crevasse, naturally. When Link awakens, his hand is injured and he receives a replacement hand from a Zonai named Rauru. You learn that the Zonai race of people are the original founders of Hyrule. Also, when Link awakens, he is no longer on Hyrule. Instead, he is on a newly formed island in the sky called Sky Island.

Zelda games are well known for their long introductory stages, and Sky Island is where the intro stage takes place in TotK. Compared to previous Zelda games, the introductory stage on TotK felt the most necessary, as new gameplay mechanics such as the Ultrahand and ability to fuse items are introduced. The Zonai spirit Rauru instructs Link on how to get these abilities after giving you his arm. It would have been odd for Link to have awakened with these abilities without any explanation. However, as with other introductory stages in past Zelda games, I found the level to be tedious and a bit frustrating. It took me 3+ hours to complete, I had to reference a guide a couple of times just to figure out hot to navigate the island, and I died a handful of times. Once I passed the stage, however, I was returned to Hyrule and all was well.

When I first read that the game would take place in a similar version of Hyrule, and when I first saw video of the game, I was a bit disappointed. I wanted a new environment to explore. I can safely say that after playing the game I am no longer disappointed. It is the same Hyrule as BotW, but it has been altered by the events of the Upheaval. Citizens are in a state of panic and rebuild, as they try to understand what caused the Upheaval and the source of the Gloom that has altered their world. You immediately feel back at home when landing at Hyrule Field from Sky Island. And yet, the Upheaval has altered the landscape enough that you want to explore Hyrule's nooks and crannies to see what is different compared to BotW. The story and newly altered Hyrule environment beg for adventuring, and I'm just getting started.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (& Seasons)

 

Despite declaring the 3DS dead in 2020 (which it was), I found myself playing the system yet again this past month. After playing Oracle of Seasons (OoS) back in 2018, I wanted to play Oracle of Ages (OoA) but never got around to doing so. When news came that they were shutting down the eShop on the 3DS, I went ahead and bought OoA so that I would have a copy of the game to play at some point in the future. I haven't played a game on the Switch since finishing Skyward Sword HD last year. With a week-long trip scheduled for fall break, I thought now was an opportune time to play OoA. My post on OoS from 2018 mostly discussed Nintendo's Virtual Console (which is great), so I wanted to include OoS in my discussion on OoA as well, because both are great games that deserve discussion.

OoA & OoS came out on the Game Boy Color (GBC) back in 2001, so a little over 20 years ago. To put that in perspective, these games were released after the Playstation 2 debuted. Despite that, they look like Link's Awakening (Game Boy, 1993) and A Link To The Past (SNES, 1992). I actually think A Link To The Past looks better graphically, despite being 10 years older. The Game Boy Color was the successor to the original Game Boy. I never owned one so I don't have any game to compare to these two, but I find it interesting how these games look graphically in 2001, when 3D graphics were well established. I don't know if it was a design decision made by Capcom, or if the Game Boy Color was that limited in the graphics department. Either way I like the retro look of the game.

Speaking of retro, the sound on this game is fantastic 8-Bit midi. Again, I don't know if that was a limitation of the Game Boy Color, or if it was a design decision by Capcom. It makes the game feel older than what it really is, but overall I enjoy the music and sound effects.

The gameplay is classic Zelda as well. You have to defeat a series of temples or stages, acquiring items as you go along. It includes one of my favorite aspects of older Zelda gameplay - areas that you can see but cannot access until you gain the correct item. Adding to this, changing the time period in OoA or the season in OoS changes the map in ways that allow you to access other areas. It's an intriguing idea that is unique and works well. It really adds to the gameplay.

Unlike most posts I publish on games, I actually haven't finished either one of these games. I'm stuck on the final boss on OoS, and I've played through about 25% of OoA. I'm saving OoA as a travel game, so that I have a game to play while I'm on the road. With that being said, I plan to finish it but don't know when. However, I feel like I've played enough of the game to get an idea of the look and feel of it. These games are quite fun and are great additions to the Zelda lineup of games. I feel like they fly under the radar a bit since they were on a handheld system (as opposed to a main console). They have classic Zelda gameplay with a retro look that I appreciate, regardless if this was an intentional design or a limitation of the GBC. I'm looking forward to continuing to play OoA and hopefully finishing OoS.

Nintendo Direct - September 2022

 

I bought the Switch back in 2017 exclusively to play Breath of the Wild (BotW). The game was also released on the older Wii U system, and I thought about buying it instead of the Switch because it had Twilight Princess HD, a Zelda game that is on my podium of favorite Zelda games, and The Wind Waker HD. I've never played The Wind Waker so I was interested in giving that game a play. Despite being an older system, the Wii U at the time cost as much as the Switch, and in some instances up to twice as much as a Switch. With that being said, I got the newer Switch, which turned out to be the right decision as I have played and enjoyed that system far more than I ever would've imagined.

Rumors of Switch ports of Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker have been around for years at this point. They gained some steam prior to this week's Nintendo Direct. The event came and left without an announcement of the games. I was a bit disappointed, but I didn't have my hopes too high. Plus, I have a pretty full game queue with all of the games from Playstation Plus. I would enjoy playing the games in HD, so hopefully they will get rereleased at some point.

The highlight of the event for me (and many others) was the announcement of Tears of the Kingdom, fka BotW 2. BotW is also on my Zelda podium, and is one of my favorite games of all time. Despite finishing the game in 2018, I still periodically play the game to find Korok seeds and experience Hyrule. I just recently found the final Shrine. It is exceedingly rare for me to revisit games like this after I finish the main story. It is a testimony to how much I like the game. Suffice it to say that I am really looking forward to Tears of the Kingdom. We also got a release date for the game - May, 2023. I will have the game preordered and downloaded so that I can play it as soon as possible.

Breath of the Wild: DLC - Part 2 & Final Thoughts

The downloadable content (DLC) for Breath of the Wild (BOTW) added extra side quests and challenges, and definitely fueled my interest in playing the game again. Some of the side quests involve helping people find items. A lot of the side quests involve finding cool items from previous games, such as Majora's mask or Midna's helmet. These items do provide some boost, such as increased Guardian resistance. But they mostly just serve as cool relics to showcase from previous games. My favorite item is the Korok mask. It shakes and makes noise when you are close to a Korok seed. This is a significantly less tedious way to find Korok seeds, versus looking at a map of their locations on my iPad and finding them that way. I have found numerous Korok seeds just wandering around wearing my Korok mask.

One of the main additions that comes with the DLC is the Trial of the Sword. In this trial, you loose all of your items and have to fight increasingly difficult enemies. I haven't done it yet and probably won't do it in the future. It sounds tedious and difficult and likely would just frustrate me. I think completing the Trial of the Sword strengthens the Master Sword, but from what I've read, it still needs periodic recharging despite extra strength. The fact that weapons break and the Master Sword has to recharge is my least favorite aspect of this game.

The other main addition is the EX The Champion's Ballad. I also haven't done this one because it looks hard and tedious. However, I might attempt this at some point because I'd really like to get my hands on the Master Cycle Zero.

I was able to progress on several aspects of the game after acquiring the DLC. Currently, I have played the game for over 190 hours. I've completed 15/20 Main Quests, and I think the 5 that are left are all in the EX The Champion's Ballad. I've completed 42/42 Shrine Quests, and after 190 hours of gameplay, I finally located and completed 120/120 Shrines. I have completed 73/90 Side Quests. Some of the remaining side quests sound tedious and I likely won't complete them. However, there's a chance I will go back and complete some of the remaining side quests that I just haven't taken the time to do yet. There are always more Korok seeds. Despite putting some effort into finding them (using the map from my iPad) and consistently wandering around with my Korok mask on, I have only found 206 seeds. There are 900 Korok seeds spread throughout Hyrule. I think the high number of remaining Korok seeds to find is why, despite all of my above mentioned accomplishments, I have only completed 40% of the game. This is up from 33% completion before playing the DLC. This is one of the reasons why this game is so great - there is just so much to do and discover. This is also why I am publishing this post now and not after I have a higher completion rate. There is still so much to do, and with BOTW 2 scheduled to release in 2023, there is a really good chance I won't get above 50% completion. What an amazing game.

Breath of the Wild: DLC - Part 1

 

Breath of the Wild (BotW) was released at a time when I wasn't posting much, and thus I never had a post dedicated to the game. This is despite the fact that BotW is not only one of my favorite Zelda games, it was one of my favorite games of any genre or series. BotW is the exact opposite of many previous Zelda games, especially Skyward Sword. Most Zelda games show you locations you cannot access initially because a rock is in the way, or the grass is too tall, or there is a wall you cannot scale, etc. From the moment you start BotW, you are allowed to explore the entire map, including Hyrule Castle. The map is huge and the environment is beautiful. It's my favorite version of Hyrule, so much so that it is the only Zelda game I've continued to play after finishing the main story, without restarting the game. Despite finishing the game nearly 4 years ago, I still return to my original game to play because the environment is so fun. This is actually pretty unique for me for any game (the one big exception is Sim City 4), which goes to show how much I like this game. Despite playing BotW for over 140 hours, and finishing the main storyline by defeating Calamity Ganon, I only completed 33% of the game. After finishing Skyward Sword, I was in the mood for more Zelda, so I decided to return to BofW's Hyrule, but this time with a purpose. That's where the downloadable expansion packs come into play.

BotW is a fantastic putzing game. It is very easy to launch the game and wander aimlessly, waisting time and accomplishing nothing. It's easy to do this because the game environment is so good. I wanted to complete more of the game, but do so with objectives beyond finding Korok seeds. The downloadable expansions add a number of side quests and trials, and is a great way to return to the game with some objectives to accomplish. I started this process a couple of weeks ago and thus far have enjoyed my return to Hyrule, finding various rare treasures and helping locals with various tasks. Part 2 of this topic will update you on my progress on the game and my thoughts on the two DLC packs.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD - Final Thoughts

 

After playing through the HD remake of this game and publishing several posts about the game, where does Skyward Sword stand in the grand realm of the Zelda series? I'm going to cite this review from Polygon because I completely agree with what it has to say, and I am going to base my final thoughts on their review. The short answer to the question is that I think Skyward Sword is very good.

Looking at this game from a 2021 perspective, in the era of Breath of the Wild, it is a bit easier to digest some of the game's faults. I haven't discussed Breath of the Wild much (I have an upcoming series of posts planned about the game, so more to come.), but it is the complete opposite of Skyward Sword.  It released in 2017 and was the first major game to follow Skyward Sword, which released in 2011. Breath of the Wild is a completely open-ended game which requires exploration and does not utilize hand-holding techniques commonly employed in previous Zelda games (such as Fi). Knowing that Breath of the Wild exists and is a fantastic game is important in how to view Skyward Sword, because from a 2011 perspective you get the feeling that Zelda games may have lost their way. The exploration and discovery elements, two aspects that the series is famous for, are non-existent in Skyward Sword. Instead, we are placed in a game which essentially forces the player through the various regions in order to tell a very specific story. This is interesting because for me, the story in Zelda games is something I don't usually pay a lot of attention to. Typically there is the enemy, usually Ganon, who is after the Triforce, and Link has to acquire the Triforce to save Zelda and Hyrule. Any details beyond this are moot, as the gameplay becomes the important aspect of the game. In Skyward Sword, the story is the main element of the game, and it is a very important story as it tells how Hyrule was created and is the beginning of the Zelda timeline. In 2011, there was fear that Zelda gameplay was changing. We now know this isn't true based on Breath of the Wild's release.

Many of the negatives that I remember about the game continue to exist, but aren't as bad as I remember them being, with two big exceptions: the Silent Realms and the re-visiting of locations multiple times. The Silent Realm trials loose their appeal after the first trial, and yet you have to go through 3 additional trials. The re-visiting of the locations the second time isn't bad because you access new areas and temples and I think helps to advance the story. The third visit to learn portions of the Song of the Hero, however, seems completely unnecessary and feels as if it were added to the game at the last minute simply to extend the game. The multiple battles with the Imprisoned are annoying as well, though I get that the game was using the battles to increase the urgency of Demise's growing power. The HD remake attenuated Fi and got rid of motion controls, two other aspects of the game that commonly get criticized, so it is difficult to analyze those portions of the game.

Despite the blaring negatives, there are many positives about Skyward Sword that deserve praise. The game looks fantastic. The music is great. There are many memorable temples and items, as well as memorable characters. Elements of gameplay such as collecting items and upgrading weapons are introduced to the series. The linear, story-driven gameplay is easier to accept now than it was in 2011, knowing that Breath of the Wild exists. The game still doesn't make my Zelda podium (Which consists of the following games in no particular order: Breath of the Wild, Twilight Princess, and A Link to the Past.). However, it has went from a game that I remember not liking very well, to a game that I think is actually quite good. I might even play it again at some point. 

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD - Other Aspects of the Game

 There are a few other aspects of this game that I wanted to discuss that didn't fit into my breakdown of the game as the plot progressed. 

Music: The music in this game is fantastic. Zelda games are known for their music and I will commonly play a game soundtrack or mix on YouTube as the songs get stuck in my head. However, I had minimal recollection of the music from the first time I played Skyward Sword. For whatever reason, it just didn't stick with me as being memorable. A few weeks prior to playing the game, I started listening to the soundtrack to get me in the mood to play the game. What I discovered is that this game's soundtrack is fantastic. It is the first time a full orchestra was used to create the music, which results in a full and rich sound. It's become some of my favorite music from the series.

Collecting bugs and other items: This game introduced the concept of collecting bugs and other items such as tumbleweeds and enemy parts like tails. The first time I played this game I didn't pay much attention to this portion of the game. However, this concept carried over to Breath of the Wild and was expanded so this time around I was used to collecting and the benefits that come with it. I think the first time I played the game I found it to be an unnecessary nuisance. I've mentioned before that as I've aged, I have become more interested in completing as much of a game as I can. With this being said, this time around I collected every bug and item in the game. There is a sense of completeness by doing so and you get to use the items to upgrade your beetle and shield, among other things. In this sense the items almost act as a form of currency, along with rupees. I think this concept overall was a positive aspect of the game.

Along the same line of random items, the stamina meter and sailcloth were huge in this game as well. Admittedly, the stamina meter was underdeveloped in this game. It essentially served as a way to limit how long you can run but really didn't play any important role in gameplay. The sailcloth was a logical choice for allowing Link to land softly when descending to the surface, but otherwise was a bit underdeveloped as well. However, both items carried over to Breath of the Wild and played very important roles in gameplay, and for that I give Skyward Sword kudos for introducing the items to the series.

Fi: Link's assistant Fi was always a source of complaints for this game. Her knack for pointing out the obvious and generally interrupting gameplay was second to none. Nintendo toned her down in the HD version which was welcomed. Despite this, even my kids complained when she would appear to say something obvious, but generally she wasn't too bad this time around and I thank Nintendo for that. Also, in the original version of the game there would be an announcement every time you collected an item, even if it was your 100th dust relic. This time around, there would be an announcement only the first time you collected an item. This was a welcome change as well.

Motion Controls: The motion controls frustrated a lot of people in the original game. I honestly don't remember them being bad, but Sarah said I complained about them at the time and anytime you read about this game they are mentioned as a pain point. The HD version had a hybrid set of controls, where you could use a joy con for motion or the pro controller if you wanted to omit motion. I used the Pro controller for the entire game, choosing to omit motion. However, motion controls were so imbedded into this game that it was impossible to omit them completely. For instance, you had to fight enemies based on how they were blocking and even choosing answers to questions on screen utilized motion controls. Nintendo compensated for this by using the right directional stick to control your sword instead of a traditional button. You would swing your sword based on which way you pushed the stick. This took a bit of getting used to, as the right stick is typically used to control the camera. However, after a few hours I became comfortable with this control scheme and I think it is a little bit of the best of both worlds in terms of mixing motion without having to deal with centering the cursor all of the time. It was interesting because you had to think about how you were going to swing your sword when attacking an enemy, which is unique. I will say that most of the time I just mashed the control stick like I would do a button and I was victorious regardless, but the idea of swinging where the enemy isn't blocking is a good one, at least. Also, for what it is worth, the camera's position was never an issue so not having the control was not a problem. I think Nintendo did as best as they could with the controls.