Just beat Phantom Hourglass. As usual, tl;dr is that it's a good game. Very charming and a good template for how to use touch screens. Enjoyed myself.

I've played Phantom before, when it first came out on the DS. I remember, at the time, feeling like people really shit on the game and it didn't deserve the hatred it got. This time I have to agree with myself and say it REALLY DIDN'T DESERVE IT. It's not fantastic, however. There are still problems that I don't think any touch screen game now really addresses. But, thankfully, the adventure feels short.

The game looks bad. In comparison with Wind Waker, the visuals do feel like a downgrade. I don't really remember any DS games looking good at the time, however. The device just doesn't have that kind of power in it. The world is colorful, however and things are very distinct. And, it looks better than an N64 game... but not by much.

Gameplay is pretty simple and plays like 2D Zeldas but with touch controls as the primary means to do everything. Tap an enemy to attack it or swipe at it. Press the screen in the direction you want Link to go. It feels very natural to control Link with the stylus. And the items are pretty great to use on the DS (I played this game on the Wii U. You can buy it on the Wii U eShop). Boomerang was a treat to use, since you select it then draw the path you want it to go. Bombchus are the same way and it's really nice to have the boomerang just fly circle in front of you to stun an enemy while you run back to get some space. Bow is alright. Select it, press the screen at what you want to hit and let go. Grapplehook and hammer are the most interesting. Grapplehook can be used to pull light items towards Link or pull Link to heavy objects. You can also make a tightrope by linking two objects with the grapplehook. You can then walk across it or walk against it to help you jump across gaps like a slingshot or (and I really liked this twist at the time) use it to bounce arrows at different angles. Hammer is pretty cool as well, allowing you to hit enemies or switches at a distance without having to move Link. You also get bombs, a shovel, shield, and sword. Everything is controlled by the touchscreen. You can quickly equip one item (that you have selected from the Item menu) with the shoulder buttons on the DS. Also, face buttons are a good quick way to select the menu or see what you've collected. You can also use maps to draw notes so you don't have to remember everything all at once. It's very nice to use for puzzles about pulling switches in a certain order or finding out who is the liar out of a group of characters.

The world of Phantom, like Wind Waker (seeing as this is a direct sequel) is covered in ocean. So, like Wind Waker, you have to use a ship to get anywhere. This time, however, you use the screen to draw the path you want to take and the ship is essentially on rails after that, allowing you to focus on bombing enemies or objects in your way. There is a way to teleport to other "quadrants" (the world map is broken into four quadrants), but the teleport spot seems like it's a bit away from where other islands are. Sailing doesn't take much time, however, unless you're trying to move to an island in another quadrant. You can also be boarded by certain enemy ships. One of the reoccurring events is a pirate named Jolene chasing you down. You quickly learn how to beat her, but it become a chore at a point. Luckily, by games end, you stop having to fight her right before receiving your upgraded sword. Each island usually has a hidden chest or two to find.

Characters one of the weaker aspects of the game. You see some characters again from Wind Waker (Sploosh dude, the telescope people that say Ho Ho when you talk to them, Tetra and her pirate gang, Beedle. Side note on Beedle, they didn't give him any voice lines. TRAGIC!) but nobody really stands out. They try to make the owner of the ship you're using, Linebeck, to be a cowardly, treasure-hungry rogue that has a heart of gold by game's end. The cursor in the game is a fairy named Ciela. She is quick to speak her mind, but is very loyal and kind-hearted quickly willing to help Link find his friend Tetra. Also, she has amnesia. Ciela and Linebeck are constantly bickering which can be fun or annoying if you're tired of seeing it in other forms of media. Oshus is an old man that helps guide Link by setting him on his quest for the Ghost Ship. He is also the one the cares for Ciela at the beginning of the game. Typical Old Man in a Zelda game. Gorons are here, two new races called the anouki and the yook. No one really stood out to me, so it was hard to get attached to anyone besides Linebeck, Ciela, and Oshus, since Link interacts with the first two so often and Oshus is needed to point you in certain directions at important points in the game.

Temples are both great and disappointing. The temples you go around to to get new items, spirits, Sand of Hours (BAD NAME! but they probably didn't want to use the Sands of Time due to ANOTHER game that came out around the time), and Pure Metals are very enjoyable, especially once you get the item and it teaches you how to use said item. Bosses are very clever, using the best parts of what the DS is all about (touch, second screen functions). Everytime I got a new item to use on the boss, I was always surprised and pleased to use it and beat the boss. However, there is one exception and that's everything having to do with the Temple of the Ocean King. It is a reoccurring temple you must go through in the game to find a map for your next objective. The differences with this temple versus other temples would be it resets itself and you have a hard time limit. When you first go in, the temple eats away at your hearts (unless you're stand on safe zones). When you get the Phantom Hourglass, you have a timer that ticks down until, eventually, the temple saps your hearts again. The enemies are called Phantoms. We have 3 varieties of Phantom knights (regular blue, fast red, and teleporting yellow), the phantom Eye (can see in 360 around itself and alerts other enemies on the floor and eventually impede Link's movements), and Wizzrobes (can move through walls, have Boo like functions in that they only approach when Link's back is turned and turn themselves invisible when looked at). The knights are the main hurdle (outside of puzzles) and Link has to sneak past them in order to make it through the dungeon. If a knight or wizzrobe hits link, not only do you lose health, but you also lose time on your hourglass, making the window to reaching a new point in the dungeon much tighter. Luckily, with each you item you receive, a new shortcut is available, making traveling through each floor faster and easier in a lot of cases. Also, once you reach a certain point in the temple, you are a allow to just warp to a floor without having to go through previous floors but receive a time pentalty equal to how long it took you to get to point on that "run". You can choose to start at the beginning to try to get a better time to that point, which adds a weird speedrun aspect to the temple. I remember many people HATING this aspect of the game. When I played the game at release and when I played it now, I can see why it's frustrating. At the time, touch controls were still very new, so getting used to that aspect of the game and having to re-do a dungeon multiple times can be a bit tedious. But, playing the game again, I think it isn't that bad. We have had touch controls for over a decade now, and mobile games on smart phones have taken off, many of them using similar controls that Phantom Hourglass uses now. It's totally managable in 2019, especially if you more items and write good notes. And, going through the floors after recieving your upgraded sword is a real treat too. I started thinking of it like a Metroid game but just in one temple.

Music isn't too amazing. A lot of tracks are taken from Wind Waker so if you liked Wind Waker's tunes, you'll be alright here. And that's all I got to say about the music here, besides it was nice hearing the Goron track again on better hardware.

Phantom Hourglass isn't going to top lists of best Zelda's. At the time of it's release, Nintendo really tried to push the touch screen and dual screen function of their new handheld and that pushed people away from the tight, responsiveness of previous Zelda games. And I understand that, at the time when it was all new, it could easily push people away. But, every Zelda game has something different that always seems to push people away. Zelda 2 is way different than the first Zelda. Link to the Past is pretty different from the previous Zelda's. Ocarina of Time was the first 3D Zelda, Majora's Mask's time mechanics, Wind Wakers visual style and ocean exploration. Oracle games attempted to have one large adventure on two carts, Minish Cap being a love letter to Zelda up to that point. Each Zelda game I've played for the past year has shown me how... wide the flavors are to this franchise. There are a lot of things that are going to be similar but at the same time, a lot that will be changed up too. They aren't afraid to throw something at the wall with this franchise, experiment and keep what works for the next game. Phantom Hourglass is an experiment that helped pave the way for a whole new market of video games. I don't think it deserved the hate that it got at the time (like Wind Waker.) I kept finding myself pleasantly surprised with items and bosses and that couldn't have happened with a traditionally controlled Zelda game. And I'm here for that. This game isn't a top Zelda for me. But a middling Zelda game is still a damn good video game.

Spirit Tracks next!