Firstly, I want you to read this review. It pretty much gets my point across. When you’re done with that, then you can move onto the rest of my stuff. It kinda fits together. You’ll see.
So, RE4 is Zelda good. Yep. But how good is Zelda? Duh. That’s a no-brainer. But for the sake of completeness and having proof, it’s time I reviewed the newest entry into the Legend of Zelda series. That’s right, it’s about time I shared my thoughts about The Legend of Zelda: the Minish Cap.
To start, the game is flawless. That means it has not even a single flaw. Some minor annoyances, but nothing big enough to be considered a flaw. Many people will disagree with what I’m saying, what with so many people focused so much on how many dungeons a game has, or how many hours it takes to finish. These people are dumb. These people are asses. these people are dumbasses. I’ll not lie, the Minish Cap has “only” six dungeons. This is not far off from the last two games; Majora’s Mask and the Wind Waker. The one thing that most people do not realize is that while the main quest may be “short”, there are more bonus kajiggers to find and questdoodles to complete than you could shake any type of long object at, be it a stick, a hockey stick, or a cardboard tube. But that is not my point, my point is that while the main adventure is (again with the quotation marks) “short”, the game is a simply amazing video game experience.
The Minish Cap is without a doubt one of the best GameBoy Advance games out there. You’ll be seeing this one on more than a few “Best games of 2005” lists. The most defining point is the fact that it’s an entirely new adventure. While we’ve seen a couple of new Zelda games in the last few years (the Wind Waker, Four Swords Adventures), Nintendo has been doing a lot of porting. Most of it was promotional material, but that’s not important. Only a new Super Mario Bros game would impress and shock us more. Aside from the story, there is plenty of new stuff in the Minish Cap. For one, Link isn’t really any hero of destiny in this one, he just kind of gets voted into it when he turns out to be the only able person in the room at the time. Heck, the game would star the King of Hyrule or his attendant if it weren’t for a convenient plot point. It’s not a huge point of interest, but it’s a neat little change. Aside from that, not one of the bosses have been seen in a previous game. Wait… One of the bosses was seen in a previous game (and the final boss, but he was… different… in that one, so it doesn’t count). The dungeons are excellently designed, with some puzzles that can leave you scratching your head for quite some time. There are no less than three new tools for Link to acquire, and plenty of other great new additions.
But of course, the game also has it’s share of classic influence. Most notable, it uses the great GB Zelda control scheme of equipping one weapon to the A button and another to the B button. Sadly, a couple of the cool hidden weapon combos from Link’s Awakening are missing, namely the bomb arrows. A lot of the sub-characters come from the range of past Zelda games. Sadly, the old man from the first game is still missing. Plenty of Link’s Awakening’s enemies make their fantastic returns, such as Bob-ombs and those face-plated guys. You know, the ones where you had to remove the armor with the hookshot. Plus, I’m pretty sure that a lot of the sound effects come straight from Link’s Awakening. That’s my favorite Zelda game of all time, for those who didn’t know. A lot of Wind Waker influence is presented in terms of visuals, and the Palace of Winds level will make many people think back to Four Sowrds Adventures, had they played the game. Oh yes, and it also just happens to be a prequel to the established Four Swords storyline. Possibly the best part is that the Ocarina has gone back to it’s original use as transportation and transporation alone. I hated having musical instruments as key items.
So what’s this all about the game being small and such? Well, the first thing you’ll notice is that the map is deceptively tiny. This will throw you off, as the world map is a decent size, though notably smaller than those of past Zelda games. But, while it doesn’t have an entire alternate map, there is plenty of exploration opportuninty, with winding paths everywhere and many spots accessibl only to a tiny Link. The square mileage may be less, but its more crammed with stuff than you might assume. And yes, the dungeon count is six. Four main dungeons, one “red herring” dungeon, and the final castle. They’re certainly large places, and each has it’s own unique ways of tripping you up, be it inconspicuous bombable walls or mine cart mazes.
Is it hard? In a word: maybe. It’s like the every Zelda and Metroid game. If you look for all the optional/hidden power-ups, it’s gonna be a bit easier. If you try to make it through without picking up any heart containers, you’re probably gonna have a hard freaking time. Me, as good as I may be, I get hit a lot. I’m prone to tkaing damage. that’s why I take longer to get accustomed to games where life refills are few and far between. But that’s not to say that the enemies win only to my incompetence. Plenty of them, like the Tektites and Ropes, move rather sporadically and are at times difficult to dodge. Such is the way of a game presented in two dimensions. the bosses start off pretty easy, but soon escalate to the point where you might actually get frustrated. The real key to winning in this game is to know which item to use on what. Almost every enemy has a weakness to one of Link’s various tools, and you just have to figure that out. Some people would never even think to use the shield to reflect boulders back at an enemy, or to stun a particularly nimble foe with the boomerang.
Possibly the thing I like most about the Minish Cap is the level on which you interact with all the characters you meet along the way. Almost every single peson in the game plays some sort of role. For the most part, they just hold kinstones, a new sub-quest dealie where you collect halves of stone coins, and then must find the peson with the other half. Fusing the kinstones will usually yield something of value, be it a secret path or a treasure chest stuffeed with rupees. Sometimes it even gives life to extremely durable golden enemies. There are 100 fusions in total, and a lot of them are randomly generated. Also, the people are really animated. The one I first noticed was a girl at the cafe, who when talked to spun around on her stool and gave her hair a mighty flip. I immediately crapped my pants and was floored. I’ve never seen such a minor character animated so intricately and smoothly. Oh yes, and the town is easily the greatest Zelda town ever. It feels so alive. It’s huge, contains tons of people to speak with, is extremely complex and packed with secrets, and changes ever so slightly over the course of the game. A Link to the Past intoduced the cucco. With Ocarina of Time came dogs. And now there are even cats and cucco chicks prowling the streets. All of which you can talk to while tiny. Except the room full of chicks. They just all come after you in a horrid flurry of down and talons.
The music is another portion of the game which is beyond exceptional. It borrows some music, but is also ripe with many of its own original tracks. Me, I was offended by the complete lack of the Zelda theme in Ocarina of Time. Majora’s Mask remedied the situation a little, and then the Wind Waker (while it’s original stuff is way above par) went back and almost completely forgot it. I love the piece, and the Minish Cap has no such lack of it. Most sections of the world map have either it or a variation playing (the Cloud Tops area mix is ineffably good), and there is no way that a GBA speaker could do the beautiful tunes in this game justice. Even the DS speakers don’t do the job perfectly. This is one of those games where you need headphones to get the true value out of the music. Oh yes, and there’s an excellent, excellent Castle remix for the last level. Ever since listening the “Trifore Majeure” song featured on OC Remix, that’s been one of my favortie Zelda tunes. Sadly, no palace music from Zelda 2. I really like that one too. But it’s top notch stuff people.
Like I said at the beginning, I adore the game, and if you like Zelda at all, you will too. It’s possibly the best GBA title to date (by production values anyway), and is a good sign that the Nintnedo and Capcom make excellent partners. Woo Capcom. It would be out of place, but I wouldn’t mind seeing maybe a MegaMan reference, or at least a Street Fighter reference in the next one. but, I’ve been working on this review for over an hour now, so it’s way past time to wrap it up. Minish Cap = excellent. You buy now. If you not buy, and you own GBA, you fool. Damned fool. Fool who clearly can’t appreciate the best things in life. If I were a guest in Rollercoaster Tycoon, I’d say it’s of excellent value. The only thing that scares me is that my youngest brother bought it as well, and is doing almost as well as I am, and I haven’t helped him at all. He’s getting too good. At this pace, it’ll be only a year or two before he’s better than me, and I don’t know if I’mma be able to deal with that.
Oh yeah, and on a side note, there’s a new Steve artice/rant thing. Like most of them, I agree, but with exceptions. no direclt link for youse guys this time. I’m too damned lazy to figure out the URL.