Here at LadiesGamers we’re all having a big review of our personal relationships with the Legend Of Zelda series. As someone who was raised on Nintendo consoles, games from The Legend of Zelda series have always been something I’ve played through the years.
Ocarina of Time
The first Zelda game (I played), and possibly the first game I got to control myself, was The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. You can read more about my experiences with it here. I never finished it as a kid and our Nintendo 64 and games were stolen a few years later. Thankfully I can access the game by the Gamecube port, or the 3DS remake.
Wind Waker and Twilight Princess
The Nintendo GameCube was the console where I started getting more into games. With Wind Waker I never knew of the issues in regards to Toon Link’s design. It also didn’t occur to me as a problem at all. The REAL issue with the game is the kid with the giant snot glob on his nose that keeps chasing you around. I still had the problem of sticking to the starting area, but I do remember getting a bit further even if the Bokoblins (which I called pig men) scared me.
Cuccoos are infamous among Zelda fans for their vengeful nature. The pigs on Outset Island, are equally minded. After I collected all the pigs to their pen, I wondered if I could hit them. I hit one a couple of times, and then, all the pigs turned angry and started attacking me. I was pushed into their trough and died. Of course, I didn’t play the game for a while, and was very scared of the pigs that in my mind, ate me alive.
We also had Twilight Princess, which I made less progress in than Wind Waker. Again the starting village was peaceful and had quite a few activities to do. When the Wolf Link amiibo was announced to have a function in Breath of The Wild, I played the Wii U port of Twilight Princess. I actually lent the game (and my console) to my boyfriend, and it was the first Zelda game he ever finished.
Skyward Sword
Most of what I remember from Skyward Sword was my step-dad playing it. The game has a mixed reputation due to motion controls and the stamina meter. I struggled with the motion controls, but this game was the first step in my game collecting hobby. As when I moved in with my grandmother, I saw that she had a Wii and decided to get Skyward Sword again. There was a release of the game which came with a special Wii mote and the soundtrack. Not long after I picked up a Wii U once Hyrule Warriors had been announced, and started a sizeable Wii and Wii U collection.
Triforce Heroes
The only (pre-Switch) handheld and 2D Zelda I’d ever played. Thankfully I’d managed to convince my boyfriend into buying a 3DS sometime before this, and bought my brother a copy. With that we had enough people to play the game. I really enjoyed it, especially since it was just right for the three of us. Eventually we stopped throwing each other into pits to play the game properly. I still enjoyed throwing one of them to the other at such a distance that they were perpetually being thrown between us and could do nothing about it. They also liked to play in the online arena, and team up, when it was supposed to be a free-for-all.
Breath of The Wild
Breath of The Wild was not the only launch Switch game I picked up and in all honesty I was tempted to try out Super Bomberman first. I really enjoyed all the different things you could do, and bought my brother a Wii U copy so he could play as well. It made a particular pair of shrines, quite easy to do. I mostly messed around in the huge 3D playground of the world. Eventually I learned the trick to beating Guardians and could explore a little more freely. I’d gotten a maxed out Wolf Link amiibo and could take him on my adventures, unfortunately by the time I hit Death Mountain he was basically useless. Some time after the game released I started going after the Divine Beasts.
When it came to Ganon’s castle I had my brother watch me play, and he was my guide (having beat the game in under two weeks). It really isn’t that hard of a game since you can just pause and eat at any time, even at the final boss. That said, I really love the engine and physics of the game and people get up to some ridiculous stuff.
I haven’t played much since, though I did finally fight a Talus, the Igneo one specifically. When LABO VR came out I gave that a try but got motion sick very quickly. It does give the game a nice diorama feel though. I think part of the reason I took so long to beat the game was because I wouldn’t see much reason to keep going after I beat it. There is of course the DLC content, but I don’t really want the motorbike.
Spin – offs
There are also a few spin-off games I’ve enjoyed that make use of Zelda characters.
Hyrule Warriors which has released on the Wii U, 3DS and Nintendo Switch is great. It’s a Dynasty Warriors style game but with various Zelda characters, locations, music and themes. Almost all the character have unique movesets, there is a silly story mode that I love to play in co-op. The Switch version has a better frame rate than the Wii U and some of the 3DS content such as Linkle’s story.
I just recently bought Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer feat. The Legend of Zelda. Yes, that is the whole title. Something not mentioned at all in trailers or by most people is that the game is fully playable in co-op. I’m not entirely sure if it’s balanced for this as we can revive each other. If we’re low health we would die on purpose to get refilled. Following the beat isn’t as difficult as I expected it to be, but the songs are all based on previous Zelda music. With the auto attacks you have to be a lot more cautious of cuccoos than normal. We’ve had fun with our short time with it so far, and I think it makes a good game for couples.
Cameos
There are also games that I wouldn’t say are spin-offs of the Zelda series directly, but sometimes the characters appear in certain games.
Such as the Super Smash Bros. series, in Melee I loved playing as Zelda since she can teleport up, but also transform. The temple stage and music is also one of my favourites.
With the Welcome Amiibo update to Animal Crossing New Leaf certain amiibo would bring new characters to the camp. Four of these characters were based on Zelda ones. Ganon, Epona, Medli and Wolf Link. Ganon of course being his pig like form from earlier games. You can get these villagers to move into your town, but before that you can buy special furniture items from them such as rupees and cuckoos. I have Medli in my town.
Upcoming
The next Zelda game coming out is a remake of Link’s Awakening. Since the news I’ve played a bit of the GameBoy Color version from the 3DS e-shop. It’s actually quite forgiving as when I die in a dungeon, there appears to be certain checkpoints. Comparing it to E3 demo footage the game looks to be a very close remake and it’s neat to see the enemies in the new art style.
The Legend of Zelda Link’s Awakening for Nintendo Switch will release on September 20th this year. Depending on your region there may be a very nice collector’s edition with it. It will also have a new dungeon creation feature, and amiibo compatibility.
The Breath of the Wild sequel was announced to be in development at this year’s E3. It looks to be what I hoped the next Zelda to be, that is the Majora’s Mask for Breath of the Wild. Having a darker tone while still using the same engine and most assets. I’m perfectly content to wait, after all there’s still many Zelda games I have yet to beat.