ManaByte
Gold Member
This year is the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, and although Nintendo is ignoring the anniversary I've been going back and playing the NES, SNES, N64 and GCN Zeldas (ok, and I played Minish Cap the other night too). I actually think that Wind Waker, in the end, was the better GameCube Zelda than Twilight Princess.
After 20 years a lot of the vitriol might have subsided, but when the game was originally released people revolted against it. At the time, Nintendo fans were really trying to fight back against the "Nintendo is kiddie" image, and Nintendo wasn't helping things much with a purple console that had a handle and then a cartoony Zelda.
It also didn't help that Nintendo initially showed THIS Zelda at Spaceworld 2000:
Only to give people THIS Zelda at Spaceworld 2001:
The demand for a "mature" Zelda spawned memes. When IGN learned of the "mature" Zelda being revealed at E3, they staged the photo that became the "reaction guys" meme. People rejoiced, and Miyamoto won E3 just by swinging around the Master Sword on stage. But in the end, I think Twilight Princess was a more disappointing Zelda compared to what was done with Wind Waker. It feels like Nintendo really trying too hard to win over those people who demanded a dark and "mature" Zelda, but it lacks the fun (and even innovation) that Wind Waker had.
Wind Waker has also aged MUCH better. Its cell-shaded graphics have been more kind to it than Twilight Princess's darker and more realistic take. And I feel the sailing/wind mechanics was something more interesting than the Wolf Link stuff in Twilight Princess (I also don't think Okami helped things much as it was released in the same year as Twilight Princess).
I'm NOT saying Twilight Princess is a bad Zelda game, I just think the years have been much kinder to Wind Waker than its original reception and after twenty years it feels like the better of the two Zelda games Nintendo released that generation.
After 20 years a lot of the vitriol might have subsided, but when the game was originally released people revolted against it. At the time, Nintendo fans were really trying to fight back against the "Nintendo is kiddie" image, and Nintendo wasn't helping things much with a purple console that had a handle and then a cartoony Zelda.
It also didn't help that Nintendo initially showed THIS Zelda at Spaceworld 2000:
Only to give people THIS Zelda at Spaceworld 2001:
The demand for a "mature" Zelda spawned memes. When IGN learned of the "mature" Zelda being revealed at E3, they staged the photo that became the "reaction guys" meme. People rejoiced, and Miyamoto won E3 just by swinging around the Master Sword on stage. But in the end, I think Twilight Princess was a more disappointing Zelda compared to what was done with Wind Waker. It feels like Nintendo really trying too hard to win over those people who demanded a dark and "mature" Zelda, but it lacks the fun (and even innovation) that Wind Waker had.
Wind Waker has also aged MUCH better. Its cell-shaded graphics have been more kind to it than Twilight Princess's darker and more realistic take. And I feel the sailing/wind mechanics was something more interesting than the Wolf Link stuff in Twilight Princess (I also don't think Okami helped things much as it was released in the same year as Twilight Princess).
I'm NOT saying Twilight Princess is a bad Zelda game, I just think the years have been much kinder to Wind Waker than its original reception and after twenty years it feels like the better of the two Zelda games Nintendo released that generation.
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