Quick Look: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD

Four minutes in and I'm already screaming at Brad. Poor Brad.

Damn this game looks good in HD. Shame I don't have a Wii U though.

For what its worth, I think you're nuts.

Okay, maybe that's a bit too harsh. However, if you have access to this game on a Wii or GC, just play it there instead. There's also always the PC, which can make any Wii or GC game look gorgeous now.

So if TP came out first, would everyone like that better than WW because WW is when Zelda started to become stale?

And how is this game having any frame rate issues?

It kinda makes me sad to hear Brad talk about how he loved every zelda game he played but be completely dismissive of twilight princess and skyward sword without having played them. I know he didn't have a wii but he should give those games a try and at least decide for himself. To me the true measure of the quality of a zelda game is their dungeons, and those 2 games have the best dungeons.

Wind Waker, currently and then, is way better than Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. Unfortunately a lot of reviewers think they've moved past Zelda, but I've stayed up with it and played all of them multiple times and Zelda's just gotten way worse. The portable games are still bombin' though. I'm not too optimistic about the HD Zelda that will come along eventually, but the 3DS game is a hotly anticipated game for me.

And I really want to revisit this. Wind Waker may be my very favorite game in the series except maybe Ocarina of Time.

@iamian said:

I completely agree. Skyward Sword is up there as one of my favorite Zelda experiences, so it makes me really sad to see the crew constantly talk smack about them without giving them much of a chance. I think it's all the more crazy because Brad seems to have come to this conclusion based on other people being down on the games, but then laughs off the idea that people complained about Wind Waker even though it turned out to be a great game.

@andrewf87462: There is an easy way to rectify that situation

I've played all the games in the series and consider it perhaps my favorite game franchise and I HATTTTTEEEE Skyward Sword. I found Twilight Princess super boring and can't even remember it at this point. It's really not worth looking into.

Also, let's be real, Ocarina still has the best dungeons. C'mon.

@mormonwarrior: Obviously not everyone is going to share the same opinion on the series. There are plenty who consider Majora's Mask the best Zelda game, but I'm not one of them. (Not that it's bad by any means.)

It's not about whether Skyward Sword is the undeniably best game in the series, it's really an issue of dismissing games without even trying them first. Playing a game and not liking it is far more acceptable than just assuming you won't like the game because some other people said they didn't like it.

Also, a few of OoT's dungeons might be placed up with the best dungeons, but definitely not all of them. Are you really going to put the Water Temple above every dungeon in any other Zelda? I don't think so.

The only things I really liked about Winder Waker was the art style and the ending.

Yea the 3DS version of OoT is fantastic 3D looks great to game holds up I beat it so fast on the 3DS just because I beat it enough to know the critical path.

I like how people call TP the worst Zelda though the waggle crap got old but the game itself was solid the worst entry in the series for me is MM by Far I don't care how many diehards try to come to my house and kill me that game is a god damn mess.

The music in this game is so good.

Sometimes I just cant help but say to my screen "Fuckin' dumbass"

I had myself convinced for a long time this game was called Wind Walker. A friend called me out on it last year and brought it all crashing down. I need to play this game to make sense on why you're waking wind.

I...I love the water temple. So yes, I'd say OoT still has the best dungeons in the series by far. At least the adult temples...the kid dungeons aren't as good. I go back and replay OoT every year in large part because I love the adult dungeons so much and the whole game has aged so well. I didn't like most of the dungeons in Twilight Princess and none of the ones in Skyward Sword stood out to me, though there were some solid ideas in there. My one criticism of Wind Waker was that it was overly easy in combat and puzzles, but I still really liked the dungeons that were there, if for nothing more than visual splendor and that sense of discovery.

And in general, I'd say your assessment is correct - people shouldn't just dismiss a game offhand necessarily before playing it unless there's a strong reason to do so. There's reviewers that really loved Skyward Sword (though I'd argue that's because most outlets, like IGN, handed the review off to their resident apologist Nintendo fanboy/girl and not to someone that just appreciates the games and could give a good general opinion...whatever, this was the one time I thought Tom Mc Shea at GameSpot wasn't a total moron and gave a game the proper score, but I digress). Even Patrick really appreciated the game, even though he didn't love everything about it. But then, those in the games press have to play just about everything and when it comes to crunch time at the end of the year, it gets really hard to take time for a game that a lot of your colleagues are saying isn't worth the time investment. I'd say Brad could safely skip SS based purely on what I know of his opinions of games and what tends to irk him. Also, he never bothered to buy a Wii, and were he to do so just for that game I think he'd be severely disappointed. Both Mario Galaxy games are worlds (...galaxies? sorry) better than TP or SS.

I did a blog post in anticipation for Skyward Sword here back in 2011. It's about every game in the series and where I'd personally rank them. Give it a look if you'd like. You're certainly entitled to your opinion, and I'm entitled to think you're crazy. :)

@mormonwarrior: Dodongo's Cavern, Forest Temple, and Spirit Temple are the stand out dungeons in OoT imo. Maybe Fire Temple too, although that one does have some kind of annoying parts. The others aren't bad by any means, but I think any other 3D Zelda has at least one dungeon notably better than them, if not more.

Also I'm pretty sure the WiiU can play Wii games. Not that I necessarily think Brad needs to play it. Even if he might have enjoyed it under different circumstances it's probably too late now. It just makes me kind of sad that they keep acting like anything past Wind Waker is bad without having played those games.

Man I really hate the way this game's visual style. I don't know there is just something about it that has always prevented me from playing it. Just can't get past it.

Bradley. >.<

Wow, this game still looks beautiful.

Yeah, I enjoyed TP also.

Ugh why didn't Brad hold forward when he was shooting out of those plant pods that shoot you out?? Kinda frustrating... also he doesn't use the spin attack enough (on the Chu-chus.) For instance, the boss of the Forest Haven can be defeated in one cycle if when he's exposed you just spin attack him like 3-4 times very quickly (spin the left stick and press the attack button.)

You and I are friends now.

@claude: Nah I really like Twilight Princess, the game's combat is just much more fun using a controller, especially since I dont have to wear out my wrist just to strike enemies, I prefer pressing the A button. It's like this game's combat minus the easy counter, plus the little techniques you could get like the shield bash, mortal draw, etc.

Also my post got deleted sort of I tried to edit it so sorry.

Sucks that I want to buy a console to play a ten year old game. But here we are...

Wind Waker is pretty great, probably better than Twilight Princess but I actually finished Wind Waker for the first time earlier this year(started it multiple times but the sailing always drove me nuts) and haven't played Twilight Princess since it came out. Interesting how much people are shitting on Twilight Princess while Wind Waker is almost as flawed if not equally so. Wind Waker is too easy, I'm pretty sure the only reason I'm able to recall the bosses is because they're all visually interesting which is great and the whole game looks amazing but boy, none of them are remotely challenging, the final boss, while the set up is awesome, is a little anti-climatic which is something Twilight Princess does not suffer from at all. Also the sailing gets REAL tiresome if you don't just hurry through the story to get the bow in order to shoot the dude in the tornadoes to get the warping ability. That being said once you get that warp ability, Wind Waker is easily the most fun Zelda to explore. A lot of people seem to complain about the Triforce fetch quest in the late game but it didn't bother me too much. Not trying to rain on anyone's parade here but I just think people are overlooking some major faults in Wind Waker while focusing entirely on the faults in Twilight Princess. Again, I really like Wind Waker! And Twilight Princess! At the end of the day, my favorite's still Ocarina of Time.

P.S. Though if I'm being 100% truthful, Okami is my favorite "Zelda" game.

For anyone that cares.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mq9mrGu1dg

Twilight Princess gets such a bum rep. I loved that game dearly. It has some of the most sinister, dark shit I've ever seen in a Zelda game, like proper chills. It's a pity the beginning is so slow. I think it gets most of its flak, and deservedly, for the first couple of hours.

I don't give a fuck what people say. I still like Twilight Princess. I'm also one of those people who liked Majora's Mask.

Make what you will out of that.

AUGhdgiudgoiu brad why did you jump off that ledge with the bomb plant jesus

Holy crap, link backed up against that wall was so adorable. I've kinda wanted a reason to get a WII U for a while, and I remember nothing about this game apparently, so I'm stoked to play this.

This makes me want a Wii U so bad. I'll probably never end up buying one until the price really drops but eventually I will be playing Wind Waker in pretty HD.

@ntm: Thanks for the memories.

And will ruin all other Zelda games by comparison. Though Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask were not far behind in terms of Epicness.

I have never played Wind Waker, there I said it.

Also I don't understand all the hate for Twilight Princess, it wasn't my favourite Zelda game, but it was still a pretty great game.

Oh my god. The salvage mechanic looks maddening.

The game does look pretty though.

UPDATE: "C'mon King of Red Lions, I thought you liked to party" is my favorite thing I've heard today.

Can you elaborate on that oh so insightful post?

I thought Twilight Princess was a fantastic game. Tell me how I'm wrong.

Yeah Dog, you are rich.

It still has weak damage enemies and heart-spewing grass errwrrr in dungeons.

Not actually enhanced.

The horrendously low res shadows! Can't unsee!

Man this looks nice. I'll definitely play this when I get a Wii U.

So I'm pretty certain the green icon telling you where you land with the deku leaf is just a slightly modified version of the icon that told you where the tingle tuner's cursor was. I'm sure most people never messed with it, but my friends and I had some good times dropping bombs on each other and mashing A to stop all progress with the tingle tuner. GBA connectivity was a weird, cool thing for its time.

I know I "should" like this game, but I really don't like this sudden influx of "people who wanted realistic Zelda are dumb!" I think the design of Link in this game is rather weak, and I'm not that fond of the art outside of it being slightly pretty.

I just never loved this game like others do. But, I'm not really big on Zelda except for Link to the Past, Ocarina, and Twilight Princess.

Not sure if this merits buying a wii U, but hot damn I'm tempted.

@mrcraggle:

Same here. I've tried over a few times to play Twilight Princess. Last year I went out a bought a Game Cube, CRT TV and Twilight Princess because I finally wanted to play it. Played for about 10 hours and just stopped. Eventually resold the Game Cube, CRT TV and Twilight Princess (it just didn't hook me in).

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

The meter, we all noticed it right? haha the reaction to it by Vinny and Brad was fun. :p