The guy who posted that on Flickr seemed to think the Japanese disc design was better. Why, I don’t know, since they’re practically identical.
I saw a gold cart copy of Majora’s Mask this weekend at a GameStop. Something a lot cooler about golden cartridges than golden discs. I’m surprised there was never a gold GameCube released in a Zelda bundle.
“How anyone can criticize Wind Waker is beyond me. This was one of the best games of all time.”
Nicholas, the endless sailing and obvious extension of the length of the game by scattering maps and Triforce pieces EVERYWHERE was a major complaint by countless gamers and in several reviews, even by huge fans of the Zelda series.
As far as the average game goes, yes, Wind Waker was a great game. But compared to the rest of the Zelda series, it very well may be at the bottom of the barrell. A one-two punch like Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask was a hard act to follow, and many people felt that Wind Waker just didn’t bring as much new, innovative, and fun to the series (other than the clearly different animation style, which was another major point of contention among fans… either you loved ir or hated it, generally speaking).
I’m glad that Nintendo are taking their sweet time so they don’t make the same mistake with Twilight Princess.
I would rather get another Wind Waker for the Gamecube & Twilight Princess on the Revolution. Whatever you might say its Zelda, is not a regular game you play once and that’s it. This is like a mayor event in gaming.
You guys complain for everything. Item Scavenging is a big part of the RPG genre, I can’t believe you are not aware of that.
it took me ages to complete WW, its a massive game, and although all the sailing around can tire you out (in some cases, i got so frustrated i left it for a few months) its one of my favourite games, ever.
I agree with you totally on WW. I don’t know if it’s the vivid colours or that silky smooth animation or that musical score or even that feeling of an epic voyage on the high seas.
What I do know is that WW is an enchanting game of the highest order. One of my fave games ever of all time.
Here’s a review from Jace at Retrogames UK.
” know, I should have reviewed this ages ago, but if there’s a good reason I can give you for not being quicker, it is that i’ve been too busy playing it. The latest Zelda game (as if you didn’t know) sees you not as Link, but as a new hero, who’s island home hints at the history of the Zelda legend. Before you know it, you have stepped into Link’s shoes, and are again the chosen one.
The whole play area of the game is made up of a great ocean, spanning miles, and peppered with islands and mysteries. As you progress through the early stages, the game opens up, bigger and bigger and before you know it, you are free to sail in your own boat to anywhere you choose. Similar to how the world of Hyrule opened up as you completed the Deku tree in Ocarina of time, except much much bigger. The world is so huge, it takes you a lot of time to just figure out where you’re going to head. Voyages can take a long time, and with the aid of sea charts you can plot your destinations and discover new islands on the way.
It is the realtime travelling between islands which really adds the atmosphere (though later a teleport system opens up, which kind of spoils things), keen not to waste time, but with so much mystery to unlock that it’s so hard not to get destracted. Windfall island will be one of your favourite ports of call, full of shops, people, and gaming establishments. After a long time at sea, it feels like you are coming home as you sail back into the port of windfall. Believe me, it’s an emotional experience.
Emotion is a vital part of the game, and while the graphics are the best you will currently see on any videogame, it is the soundtrack which evokes so much feeling. Some of it is borrowed from the earlier games, but much is new, and is possibly the greatest soundtrack of any Nintendo game past or present.
You will have probably seen the graphics for yourself, but the fluidity of animation is amazing, and takes your breath away until you get used to it. Flames, water, objects on tables, all react as they should, with real physical presence. The sailing in particular is graphically stunning, with waves lapping up over the front of the ship.
As you would expect, there are more hidden surprises in this game than you can imagine. Miyamoto-san must have been working twenty four hours a day just seeing where he could fit more in. This in the end, is still a role playing game, despite it’s arcade feel, the quest to upgrade your weapons, wealth and special objects is just as enticing as the missions themselves. With each dungeon complete, your confidence grows, the new weapon you were rewarded with will see you through another scrape or two, but things are often closer than you think they will be. End of level bosses in particular are often harder than first acknowledged. As ever, difficulty has been perfectly tuned. There’s enough to draw in the complete novice, and tough enough challenges for the seasoned Zelda fan.
Now, if you don’t own this game, and if I haven’t made it very clear so far, then you need to buy it. If you don’t own a Gamecube, or the game, then you need to buy both, right now. £130 for the console and game is a very small price to pay for not just one of the greatest games of all time, but pretty much it. What would the mass market gamer buy with his £130? Fifa 2003, Primal, and Starsky & Hutch. Crazy. I’ve played a lot of games over the past twenty five years, but this really takes the biscuit. I’m 30 hours in, and if I think about it too hard, I start panicing that i’m going to finish it soon. I don’t want this experience to end, but at the same time, can’t leave it alone long enough to string it out. This review can’t do it justice, you can’t talk about the nuts and bolts, it’s the title as a whole, the emotion, the incredible feeling of attachment. Zelda – Windwalker is the greatest game i’ve ever played. Full Stop! JACE RATES 10/10″
….Aaaanyway, Wind Waker was great. No need to bring essays into this.
I like the Japanese’s color, but like InvisiMan sed, the gold disc goes together with the gold case like a black bra and panties. And in regards to its worth as a game, it was admittedly – by Shiggs’ confession – artificially elongated with the Triforce piece search at the end because the team had cut out those 2 hard dungeons (to keep it accessible for wimps) and needed filler.
That said, WW was magical to me- that grand feeling of being a little island boy out to save the world, the complete isolation you feel when you’re searching for sunken treasure in the middle of the ocean at night, the look of it all. Basically it oozed atmosphere. If Wind Waker came with Twilight Princess graphics, it would’ve been a mediocore game in comparison. The adventure wasn’t what made WW grande, which is why alot of ppl are quick to say it’s the worst one. Just like Adventure of Link– it was different so it was unjustly deemed inferior.
I have to say, I really had no problem with the sailing. For one, you get to warp pretty early on eliminating most of the travel time. Before that, you are only required to travel short distances.
Maybe others have trouble navigating and get lost easily. I remember hearing about people leaving their boat sailing while they went and did something else. No wonder it took so long, they probably sailed by it 4 or 5 times.
I have no recollection of sailing long periods of time at all.
“Whatever you might say its Zelda, is not a regular game you play once and that’s it. This is like a mayor event in gaming.
You guys complain for everything. Item Scavenging is a big part of the RPG genre, I can’t believe you are not aware of that.”
I played it once and that was enough for me.
And item-whoring sure did not play anywhere near THAT big of a role in either Ocarina of Time or Majora’s Mask, which IMO easily surpass Wind Waker as far as Zelda games go.
“I have to say, I really had no problem with the sailing. For one, you get to warp pretty early on eliminating most of the travel time. Before that, you are only required to travel short distances.”
But you have to play the stupid song every time you want to warp (and maybe you enjoyed that, but frankly I did NOT), and the warp system would have made sense if you could warp to any square on the map. But no.. you can only map to certain areas and you have to sail the rest of the way.
Riding Epona in OOT and MM was fun. Sailing a boat for 12 years in WW was not. And if you have no recollection of sailing for remotely long periods of time, I’m afraid you didn’t play the same game that I did.
I didn’t hate WW, but I would not recommend it to a first-time player who is new to the Zelda series. Ocarina of Time or Majora’s Mask would be much better choices, far and away.
Anomaly: Patience is not my problem. I am one of the more patient people you’ll meet. Patience is most definately a virtue, and this is a truth that, appearently, the Wind Waker dev team was unaware of. I mean, if they were at least to have you hold forewars while sailing or something, I could have looked the other way. But having the player turn the controller off and go take a shit while they wait for Link to reach the next island is not good game design. That’s the kind of shit you’d excpect from a dungeon crawler based off a movie liscence. And don’t even try to defend the dogshit triforce hunt near the end. That was so shitty, that even the game’s producer thought it sucked. This, of course, isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the chunks of the game that didn’t take place on the high seas. The dungeons and the rest of the game that required at the very least a pulse to complete were pure gold, and this is why I am psyched about Twilight Princess.
Also, I, too, have nothing against 4CR. What was wrong with them?
Patience is only sometimes considered a virtue, and then wrongly so.
Anyway, why do you keep bringing up Majora’s Mask? That was easily my least favorite Zelda (right ther with Zelda II). Constantly having to go back through the same time period was a little onerous… MUCH more so than sailing.
So, riding a horse is okay but sailing isn’t? This is clearly a personal preference, and I much prefer the water anyday… Even in real life.
To be honest, I liked Oracina of Time but it was no where near my favorite. I’d rank them in this order: Wind Waker, A Link to the Past, Zelda I, Ocarina of Time, Zelda II, then Majora’s Mask. I’m not saying any of the games were bad, but I enjoyed some more than others.
I found the entire Wind Waker to be enjoyable. Yes, even the triforce hunt at the end. In fact, it reminded me a lot of the original Zelda where you hunt for Triforce pieces the ENTIRE time.
“But having the player turn the controller off and go take a shit while they wait for Link to reach the next island is not good game design.” Again, this would be where you must have went around the entire world 5 times. If you had been looking at your map and navigating, you’d probably hit the location before you got the controller turned off. Question: did you get lost while trying to wipe your ass too?
Sure, Wind Waker may not be everyone’s favorite… But it was mine, and most people’s complaints aren’t fair ones.
I can’t recall ever getting lost while playing through. It usually went like this: -Open map -Look for next destination -Point wind towards next destination -Point ship towards next destination -Open sail -Go take shit -Wipe Ass(Which, most of the time, I can accomplish without flaw) -Return and wati a little wile longer before Link hets to next destination
-Open map -Look for next destination -Point wind towards next destination -Point ship towards next destination -Open sail -Go take shit -Wipe Ass(Which, most of the time, I can accomplish without flaw) -Return and wati a little wile longer before Link hets to next destination
I guess anyone can tell the toilet’s not the only one that’s full of shit.
Yeah, except for Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma. Heh, calling me full of shit. Cheap shot, that was. Your mother must be proud. Since it has come to this, I say let’s just agree to disagree. We’re not accomplishing anything here.
Sure, I’m the only person in the world who thinks that Wind Waker was less than perfect. Everyone else agrees with you. I shouldn’t have doubted you, oh master, for as we all know, your opinions are right. Whatever, fuck it.
There are a few things you can do whilst sailing that don’t involve leaving the couch or dropping the controller. You have to be bright enough to think of them. Me, I simply make up lyrics to the sailing music.
sqd3
obviously US..its all about the gold zelda carts!!..or discs in this case..
Anonymous
The one that has less shitty map hunting on it. That pretty well ruined the game for me.
Nicholas Roussos
How anyone can criticize Wind Waker is beyond me. This was one of the best games of all time.
I must have missed something because I didn’t have any trouble sailing for long periods of time or “map hunting” whatever that is.
David
The guy who posted that on Flickr seemed to think the Japanese disc design was better. Why, I don’t know, since they’re practically identical.
I saw a gold cart copy of Majora’s Mask this weekend at a GameStop. Something a lot cooler about golden cartridges than golden discs. I’m surprised there was never a gold GameCube released in a Zelda bundle.
neonez
man they’re both just so dang cool lookin
Anonymous
“How anyone can criticize Wind Waker is beyond me. This was one of the best games of all time.”
Nicholas, the endless sailing and obvious extension of the length of the game by scattering maps and Triforce pieces EVERYWHERE was a major complaint by countless gamers and in several reviews, even by huge fans of the Zelda series.
As far as the average game goes, yes, Wind Waker was a great game. But compared to the rest of the Zelda series, it very well may be at the bottom of the barrell. A one-two punch like Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask was a hard act to follow, and many people felt that Wind Waker just didn’t bring as much new, innovative, and fun to the series (other than the clearly different animation style, which was another major point of contention among fans… either you loved ir or hated it, generally speaking).
I’m glad that Nintendo are taking their sweet time so they don’t make the same mistake with Twilight Princess.
vakerorokero
I would rather get another Wind Waker for the Gamecube & Twilight Princess on the Revolution. Whatever you might say its Zelda, is not a regular game you play once and that’s it. This is like a mayor event in gaming.
You guys complain for everything. Item Scavenging is a big part of the RPG genre, I can’t believe you are not aware of that.
Fank
Meep! Where is the European disk? Gold FTW..
Anonymous
it took me ages to complete WW, its a massive game, and although all the sailing around can tire you out (in some cases, i got so frustrated i left it for a few months) its one of my favourite games, ever.
you know im right.
InvisibleMan
Gold looks a whole LOT better!
Also, the way it ties in with the design of the U.S. cover is excellent…
Anonymous
WHOOOOOO! ZELDA! woot! woot!
Link from South-Central
WHOOOOOO! ZELDA! woot! woot!
mis
Nicholas –
I agree with you totally on WW. I don’t know if it’s the vivid colours or that silky smooth animation or that musical score or even that feeling of an epic voyage on the high seas.
What I do know is that WW is an enchanting game of the highest order. One of my fave games ever of all time.
Here’s a review from Jace at Retrogames UK.
” know, I should have reviewed this ages ago, but if there’s a good reason I can give you for not being quicker, it is that i’ve been too busy playing it. The latest Zelda game (as if you didn’t know) sees you not as Link, but as a new hero, who’s island home hints at the history of the Zelda legend. Before you know it, you have stepped into Link’s shoes, and are again the chosen one.
The whole play area of the game is made up of a great ocean, spanning miles, and peppered with islands and mysteries. As you progress through the early stages, the game opens up, bigger and bigger and before you know it, you are free to sail in your own boat to anywhere you choose. Similar to how the world of Hyrule opened up as you completed the Deku tree in Ocarina of time, except much much bigger. The world is so huge, it takes you a lot of time to just figure out where you’re going to head. Voyages can take a long time, and with the aid of sea charts you can plot your destinations and discover new islands on the way.
It is the realtime travelling between islands which really adds the atmosphere (though later a teleport system opens up, which kind of spoils things), keen not to waste time, but with so much mystery to unlock that it’s so hard not to get destracted. Windfall island will be one of your favourite ports of call, full of shops, people, and gaming establishments. After a long time at sea, it feels like you are coming home as you sail back into the port of windfall. Believe me, it’s an emotional experience.
Emotion is a vital part of the game, and while the graphics are the best you will currently see on any videogame, it is the soundtrack which evokes so much feeling. Some of it is borrowed from the earlier games, but much is new, and is possibly the greatest soundtrack of any Nintendo game past or present.
You will have probably seen the graphics for yourself, but the fluidity of animation is amazing, and takes your breath away until you get used to it. Flames, water, objects on tables, all react as they should, with real physical presence. The sailing in particular is graphically stunning, with waves lapping up over the front of the ship.
As you would expect, there are more hidden surprises in this game than you can imagine. Miyamoto-san must have been working twenty four hours a day just seeing where he could fit more in. This in the end, is still a role playing game, despite it’s arcade feel, the quest to upgrade your weapons, wealth and special objects is just as enticing as the missions themselves. With each dungeon complete, your confidence grows, the new weapon you were rewarded with will see you through another scrape or two, but things are often closer than you think they will be. End of level bosses in particular are often harder than first acknowledged. As ever, difficulty has been perfectly tuned. There’s enough to draw in the complete novice, and tough enough challenges for the seasoned Zelda fan.
Now, if you don’t own this game, and if I haven’t made it very clear so far, then you need to buy it. If you don’t own a Gamecube, or the game, then you need to buy both, right now. £130 for the console and game is a very small price to pay for not just one of the greatest games of all time, but pretty much it. What would the mass market gamer buy with his £130? Fifa 2003, Primal, and Starsky & Hutch. Crazy. I’ve played a lot of games over the past twenty five years, but this really takes the biscuit. I’m 30 hours in, and if I think about it too hard, I start panicing that i’m going to finish it soon. I don’t want this experience to end, but at the same time, can’t leave it alone long enough to string it out. This review can’t do it justice, you can’t talk about the nuts and bolts, it’s the title as a whole, the emotion, the incredible feeling of attachment. Zelda – Windwalker is the greatest game i’ve ever played. Full Stop! JACE RATES 10/10″
http://www.retrogames.co.uk/rant/html/2003.html
Rollin
….Aaaanyway, Wind Waker was great. No need to bring essays into this.
I like the Japanese’s color, but like InvisiMan sed, the gold disc goes together with the gold case like a black bra and panties. And in regards to its worth as a game, it was admittedly – by Shiggs’ confession – artificially elongated with the Triforce piece search at the end because the team had cut out those 2 hard dungeons (to keep it accessible for wimps) and needed filler.
That said, WW was magical to me- that grand feeling of being a little island boy out to save the world, the complete isolation you feel when you’re searching for sunken treasure in the middle of the ocean at night, the look of it all. Basically it oozed atmosphere. If Wind Waker came with Twilight Princess graphics, it would’ve been a mediocore game in comparison. The adventure wasn’t what made WW grande, which is why alot of ppl are quick to say it’s the worst one. Just like Adventure of Link– it was different so it was unjustly deemed inferior.
Nicholas Roussos
I have to say, I really had no problem with the sailing. For one, you get to warp pretty early on eliminating most of the travel time. Before that, you are only required to travel short distances.
Maybe others have trouble navigating and get lost easily. I remember hearing about people leaving their boat sailing while they went and did something else. No wonder it took so long, they probably sailed by it 4 or 5 times.
I have no recollection of sailing long periods of time at all.
Anonymous
“Whatever you might say its Zelda, is not a regular game you play once and that’s it. This is like a mayor event in gaming.
You guys complain for everything. Item Scavenging is a big part of the RPG genre, I can’t believe you are not aware of that.”
I played it once and that was enough for me.
And item-whoring sure did not play anywhere near THAT big of a role in either Ocarina of Time or Majora’s Mask, which IMO easily surpass Wind Waker as far as Zelda games go.
“I have to say, I really had no problem with the sailing. For one, you get to warp pretty early on eliminating most of the travel time. Before that, you are only required to travel short distances.”
But you have to play the stupid song every time you want to warp (and maybe you enjoyed that, but frankly I did NOT), and the warp system would have made sense if you could warp to any square on the map. But no.. you can only map to certain areas and you have to sail the rest of the way.
Riding Epona in OOT and MM was fun. Sailing a boat for 12 years in WW was not. And if you have no recollection of sailing for remotely long periods of time, I’m afraid you didn’t play the same game that I did.
I didn’t hate WW, but I would not recommend it to a first-time player who is new to the Zelda series. Ocarina of Time or Majora’s Mask would be much better choices, far and away.
Anonymous
gold looks more ancient
Silent K
I know this is off topic – – –
But, what happened to 4CR?
anomaly
Silence, blasphemer!
There shall be no talk of 4CR in these hallowed webpages.
Oh, and the cheap bastards had their site pulled because they hadn’t paid their hosting bills -_-
As for those “special” folks who dare criticize WW, maybe you’d be better off playing Halo and trash talk with your impatient buffoon peers.
WW is a masterpiece, an orgy of perfect gameplay and atmosphere, and you’re typing out of the final stage of your digestive system.
Fank
Hey, 4CR is a good site.
Anonymous
Anomaly: Patience is not my problem. I am one of the more patient people you’ll meet. Patience is most definately a virtue, and this is a truth that, appearently, the Wind Waker dev team was unaware of. I mean, if they were at least to have you hold forewars while sailing or something, I could have looked the other way. But having the player turn the controller off and go take a shit while they wait for Link to reach the next island is not good game design. That’s the kind of shit you’d excpect from a dungeon crawler based off a movie liscence. And don’t even try to defend the dogshit triforce hunt near the end. That was so shitty, that even the game’s producer thought it sucked. This, of course, isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the chunks of the game that didn’t take place on the high seas. The dungeons and the rest of the game that required at the very least a pulse to complete were pure gold, and this is why I am psyched about Twilight Princess.
Also, I, too, have nothing against 4CR. What was wrong with them?
Nicholas Roussos
Patience is only sometimes considered a virtue, and then wrongly so.
Anyway, why do you keep bringing up Majora’s Mask? That was easily my least favorite Zelda (right ther with Zelda II). Constantly having to go back through the same time period was a little onerous… MUCH more so than sailing.
So, riding a horse is okay but sailing isn’t? This is clearly a personal preference, and I much prefer the water anyday… Even in real life.
To be honest, I liked Oracina of Time but it was no where near my favorite. I’d rank them in this order: Wind Waker, A Link to the Past, Zelda I, Ocarina of Time, Zelda II, then Majora’s Mask. I’m not saying any of the games were bad, but I enjoyed some more than others.
I found the entire Wind Waker to be enjoyable. Yes, even the triforce hunt at the end. In fact, it reminded me a lot of the original Zelda where you hunt for Triforce pieces the ENTIRE time.
“But having the player turn the controller off and go take a shit while they wait for Link to reach the next island is not good game design.” Again, this would be where you must have went around the entire world 5 times. If you had been looking at your map and navigating, you’d probably hit the location before you got the controller turned off. Question: did you get lost while trying to wipe your ass too?
Sure, Wind Waker may not be everyone’s favorite… But it was mine, and most people’s complaints aren’t fair ones.
anomaly
(Sigh)
I guess it’s a love-it or hate-it thing.
But it’s several GOTY awards probably make up for this “shortcoming” (BWAHAHA)
Whatever.
4CR is a good site .. . if you like reading self-important, chest beating drivel. The story submitters make the site.
Anonymous
Also .. . can it be considered the game’s fault if your navigation ‘skills’ suck? Lmao.
Anonymous
I can’t recall ever getting lost while playing through. It usually went like this:
-Open map
-Look for next destination
-Point wind towards next destination
-Point ship towards next destination
-Open sail
-Go take shit
-Wipe Ass(Which, most of the time, I can accomplish without flaw)
-Return and wati a little wile longer before Link hets to next destination
Link from South-Central
its all about the gold disk gentlemen
anomaly
-Open map
-Look for next destination
-Point wind towards next destination
-Point ship towards next destination
-Open sail
-Go take shit
-Wipe Ass(Which, most of the time, I can accomplish without flaw)
-Return and wati a little wile longer before Link hets to next destination
I guess anyone can tell the toilet’s not the only one that’s full of shit.
Anonymous
Yeah, except for Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma. Heh, calling me full of shit. Cheap shot, that was. Your mother must be proud. Since it has come to this, I say let’s just agree to disagree. We’re not accomplishing anything here.
anomaly
Cheap shot or not, everyone’s clearly against your claims here.
Oh, and don’t twist that article you linked just to attempt back your claims, no one’s buying it.
Clearly, your straw-grasping is pathetic.
Kthxbye.
Anonymous
Sure, I’m the only person in the world who thinks that Wind Waker was less than perfect. Everyone else agrees with you. I shouldn’t have doubted you, oh master, for as we all know, your opinions are right. Whatever, fuck it.
anomaly
Glad to have shown you the light, son.
^_^
Bwhahaha forget it.
Digital Flareon
There are a few things you can do whilst sailing that don’t involve leaving the couch or dropping the controller. You have to be bright enough to think of them. Me, I simply make up lyrics to the sailing music.
Anon
US v Japan?
Western V Japanese wind waker disc, ignorant Americans as usual.