The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

The young Link sleeps in at his uncle Smith’s house, enjoying a good rest before heading into Hyrule Town for the Picori Festival. And why not? Link knows he'll need all of his enegry to see everything the festival has to offer. Princess Zelda, precocious as always, can’t wait that long. She barges right into the Smith’s front door to collect the tournament champion's ceremonial sword and grab her young friend Link. As she pulls him groggily out of bed, his blond hair still mussed, she sets off running for Hyrule Town, Link trailing along like a young puppy. They arrive in town, activity already in full swing, taking in all of the excitement until it’s time to crown the tournament victor, Vaati. Vaati’s two prizes await; the ceremonial sword Link’s uncle forged, and his chance to touch the fabled Picori Blade, a powerful artifact of Hyrule that legend has it was used to banish an evil demon long ago. Vaati, though, has other plans. His dark countenance settles on the box holding the blade, and he blasts away the sword, breaking it and unleashes a horde of creatures. Zelda unleashes her hidden power and stalls the creatures. Vaati, realizing that Zelda is a threat, petrifies her for her insolence and knocks Link unconcious as the evil creatures scatter to the four winds. Once Link wakes, he realizes that his day is only just beginning. Alone, he will be the savior of Hyrule by finding the lost Picori, repairing their sacred blade, and finding a way to break Vaati’s curse over Zelda. So begins another adventure for Link.

The Gameboy Advance has always been positioned well for mixing 16-bit gaming with more modern twists. Games like Metroid Fusion and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga were great modern takes on their SNES counterparts, Super Metroid and Super Mario RPG. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap continues this trend by taking tried and true action-RPG gameplay from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and adding enough new bells and whistles to keep the action fresh.

The classic pieces of Zelda’s gameplay don’t change much from their roots, and that’s probably a good thing. You’ll move around the world of Hyrule, running through dungeons, swinging your sword at hosts of enemies, clearing block puzzles, and picking up key items that allow you to uncover new areas to explore. You’ll start very weak, with only a sword, shield, and three hearts worth of health. As you progress, you’ll find more hearts, pick up more weapons, and power up your sword. Most of what you'll uncover during the game is carried over from past games, like the bow, boomerang, and bombs. Even the new equipment is a slight variation on past items. For instance, you’ll light torches with the Flame Lantern instead of the flame wand and you’ll dig up items out of the dirt with the Mole Mitts instead of the shovel. While the game is still very fun, a bit more variety would have been a nice touch.

There are a few notable new gameplay twists in The Minish Cap. Just as you begin your adventure, you’ll meet an enchanted hat named Elzo. Besides offering you sage advice, like reminding you what quest you’re currently on should you forget, he also is the key to entering the world of the teeny tiny Picori, or as they call themselves, the Minish. By jumping on strategically placed portals, Elzo shrinks Link down to Minish-size. This allows you to get through small cracks, fall through tiny holes, and get around obstacles a normal human couldn't. This transformation is really well thought out, as it’s the key to getting through the game's constant puzzles. It’s also pretty neat to see the world through the eyes of a Minish. For instance, a couple of boss battles will find you running into some of the games easiest enemies while shrunk. While an octorock poses little danger to you normally, it's a real struggle to take it down when it's four times your size. It is an inspired choice to make you struggle to beat one of the game’s easiest enemies because you’re so small.

One of the main sidequests to The Minish Cap is kinstone fusion. Throughout the game, you’ll find kinstone pieces by opening chests, defeating monsters, and cutting down shrubs. If an NPC displays a thought bubble when you walk up to them, they may have the other half of one of your kinstones. If the two of you do have a match, the completed kinstone will fly off to some corner of Hyrule and open up a hidden path, reveal a treasure chest, or possibly summon a very difficult gold version of one of Hyrule’s many creatures. You’ll spend a lot of time trying to fuse every kinstone, as the other half may be anywhere humans, Picori, or other creatures live. This is a fun diversion, and the rewards of fusing kinstones are worth the time it takes to track down someone with whom to fuse kinstones.

The presentation of this game is right on par with classic Zeldas, and the overall look of this game is lifted straight from A Link from The Past. Hyrule still contains a mix of lush fields, rocky mountains, spooky graveyards, and misty woods. The graphics are very good; Hyrule is a lush and vibrant land, so there’s a lot of color on the buildings, and the grass is lush and green. All of the game sprites are well animated, and most everyone has a lot of character. Most of the audio should also be very familiar to Zelda veterans. You’ll hear the classic Zelda theme as you traipse about the world, the fanfare from finding a key item, and a little tune when you open up a hidden path.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is one of the best games on the Gameboy Advance, and stands up tall against any of the classic Zelda games. You might feel a bit of déjà vu while playing this game, but The Minish Cap is so entertaining that this is a small problem.  The main quest will take you under ten hours, but you can tack on a few more by completing the sidequests.  Any player of any age will enjoy this game.