Support NeoGAF

[darth.shrimp]

The Wind Waker is the first game I bought with my own money back then on the GC, so it has a lot of sentimental value, but after replaying it a few months ago (right before the release of TotK), this game is still pure magic. Felt the same as when I replayed Tales of Symphonia last year - pure magic.

love wind waker!...

unfortunately, my attempt to replay it on game cube recently was a failure due to the fact that, after all this time, i was unable to adjust to the inverted controls. played it for several hours, but eventually just had to quit - the ol' brain ain't nearly as versatile as it once was - damn that muscle memory!...

Same. Since the playthrough I mentioned above was on an emulator (I still have the original disc and my GC somewhere, just no TV to hook it into), I just inverted the x-axis on the right stick. Made conducting songs a bit awkward, but at least the camera moved the right way.

 

[Bloobs]

WW and TP are great. Was skeptical with WW at first but I fell in love with the world pretty quickly. Its a shame some dungeons got cut but I didnt miss them. Triforce quest never bothered me. TP however, I didnt like so much when I played it on GC. But after that turd SS I thoroughly enjoyed the remaster on WiiU.

 

[Majukun]

likely the worst 3d zelda, way too easy, flat combat, very few level design novelty compared to oot/mm and very little actual content

 

[JimboJones]

I can't play past the triforce quest any more, it just sucks the fun right out once you get to that point.

 

[kondorBonk]

I'm always a defender of the Triforce quest. The remake fixed the pacing and with the new quick sail made the quest so much more enjoyable. It was the section that felt the most like being a pirate, exploring new areas and reading treasure maps.

The artstyle and the idea of a great ocean are so fantastic. Id love to revisit that idea again in a future title.

 

[Hudo]

I like Wind Waker a lot and would love to see Fujibayashi's take on a seafaring Zelda game. But I am also heavily biased since I live on the coast and love the sea.

 

[DGrayson]

I'm always a defender of the Triforce quest. The remake fixed the pacing and with the new quick sail made the quest so much more enjoyable. It was the section that felt the most like being a pirate, exploring new areas and reading treasure maps.

The artstyle and the idea of a great ocean are so fantastic. Id love to revisit that idea again in a future title.

I dont mind the triforce quest but its also disappointing knowing that they had more dungeons planned. I would have liked more dungeons AND the triforce quest.

One of my personal favorite parts of thsi game is getting your own private island. Whenever I replay this game I always go to the island before going to the final area/Ganon and I chill on the beach chairs watching a storm.

 

[AJUMP23]

I think it is one of the best Zelda's too.

 

[RoadHazard]

It's brilliant in many ways, for example that great sense of adventure you mention, but it's also deeply flawed. Only four dungeons, which would have been alright if there was a lot of good side content, but there isn't. The open world is mostly pointless, very few of the 64 islands (or whatever) have anything of value to find.

It's a good a good first attempt at a true open world Zelda, but it's not even 1/10 of the game BOTW (and later TOTK) would become. Now, sure, more isn't always better, but WW has too little of everything.

It does feel great to play though (better than both TP and SS), and visually it also holds up very well.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

you trade the fish dish to the Old Man for him to give you the jacket

That's what I meant, my guy

 

[Sleepwalker]

The Wind Waker is the first game I bought with my own money back then on the GC, so it has a lot of sentimental value, but after replaying it a few months ago (right before the release of TotK), this game is still pure magic. Felt the same as when I replayed Tales of Symphonia last year - pure magic.


Same. Since the playthrough I mentioned above was on an emulator (I still have the original disc and my GC somewhere, just no TV to hook it into), I just inverted the x-axis on the right stick. Made conducting songs a bit awkward, but at least the camera moved the right way.

Are you me? WW and tales of symphonia are my favorite gamecube games.

 

[MagnesD3]

Wind Waker had similar strengths to the BOTW series (exploration) except the ocean is a thing was super unique, its artstyle is quite neat as well and it got to have real dungeons so yeah it's pretty good. Might be my third favorite Zelda after Twilight Princess and Ocarina but it's hard to tell.

 

[Neff]

Why haven’t they ported it to Switch yet?

Apparently they have and they're just sitting on it.

WIND WAKER is better than TWILIGHT PRINCESS.

IN EVERY...SINGLE...WAY.

Challenge level? Quantity of dungeons? Quality of dungeons? Zelda hotness? Ganon badassery?

nop

 

[Apocryphon]

Apparently they have and they're just sitting on it.



Challenge level? Quantity of dungeons? Quality of dungeons? Zelda hotness? Ganon badassery?

nop

Twilight Princess, Half Life 2 and it’s episodes were also already ported to the chipset and are available on the NVIDIA Shield like Portal, Mario Galaxy, NSMB Wii, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Mario Kart Wii but we haven’t seen those yet either.

I honestly hate how Nintendo seems to spread things out. It’s no wonder Nintendo games are so heavily emulated.

 

[Neff]

Twilight Princess, Half Life 2 and it’s episodes were also already ported to the chipset and are available on the NVIDIA Shield like Portal, Mario Galaxy, NSMB Wii, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Mario Kart Wii but we haven’t seen those yet either.

I honestly hate how Nintendo seems to spread things out. It’s no wonder Nintendo games are so heavily emulated.

Yeah I'm still annoyed that we have no Switch version of Donkey Kong Country Returns even though it essentially exists.

 

[Rran]

Only four dungeons

There are seven dungeons though: Dragon Roost Island, Forbidden Woods, Tower of the Gods, Forsaken Fortress, Earth Temple, Wind Temple, Ganon's Tower. All of which have maps, compasses, dungeon items, and bosses.

 

[Mozzarella]

Legend of Zelda series is amazing.
It has a lot of great games.

 

[Sentenza]

I can't really say I share the enthusiasm.

Possibly my least favorite of the major Zelda games, too.

 

[RoadHazard]

There are seven dungeons though: Dragon Roost Island, Forbidden Woods, Tower of the Gods, Forsaken Fortress, Earth Temple, Wind Temple, Ganon's Tower. All of which have maps, compasses, dungeon items, and bosses.

Ok, four full dungeons and a few mini ones.

 

[calistan]

Haven’t played it since it was new, but I remember being really disappointed by some things.

The sea voyaging is no good - doing the thing to set the wind direction, over and over, while you ride on the featureless landscape in the mostly vain hope of seeing anything remotely memorable.

I can’t recall any other game where it’s so blatantly obvious that stuff has been cut in order to get it out the door. I can’t recall exactly what it was, but there’s something you’re questing for and you have dungeons, missions, etc, to get each piece, but then the final part is just given to you without any gameplay whatsoever.

I loved the look of it, and using the Game Boy link was pretty cool, but it’s mostly empty and the game seemed to be 80% finished. Not many other AAA titles would have got a pass for that.

 

[Honey Bunny]

Play Majora's Mask, OP.

Majora's Mask? That was an OK tech demo.

 

[Muffdraul]

IMO WW was the last truly great and classic Zelda, until BotW came along.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

How is it that you only discovered Wind Waker over 20 years after it came out? You are the one who also thought no one was talking about Persona 5 Royal, right?

 

[PlayerNumber0ne]

Wind waker is one of my all Time favourite games Love it so much

 

[Lillie]

is WW and TP never going to be ported to switch?

 

[Closer]

I'm a simple man. I see Wind Waker love, I spread love. Love this game to pieces.

 

[lostinblue]

It was OK. The endless fetch quest for the triforce really killed it for me; seemed lazy.

Great game, I don’t think I’d put it in my top 5 Zelda’s though. The Triforce quest is a bit of a drag and there are surprisingly few dungeons. I wasn’t a huge fan of the wind manipulation mechanic either.

This was fixed on the WiiU version, which is the version the OP is playing. I don't think it was meant to be lazy on their part, it's just that they kind of ran out of time. Remember Wind Waker has a bit less dungeons than usual for a Zelda game. They notably even admitted they cut dungeons that they used them for other games afterwards. I guess they were trying to make up for the cut content. Sometimes good things happen when such cuts happen,

Also, the Japanese triforce quest was more extensive so the version we got was already improved.

 

[Laieon]

Wind Waker is my all time favorite game, just an absolute masterpiece and the last 3D Zelda I'd place in that category.

 

[Fuz]

Yep, amazing game. I loved the art style and who criticize it doesn't understand jackshit. I love it more than BotW (but less than OOT), maybe because I love sailing.

 

[TikiLagoonSam]

I started playing Zelda with Breath of the Wild, which became one of my favorite games ever. I then played Tears of the Kingdom, and six years of skepticism about it and just my general dislike for Nintendo could not stop it from somehow topping even BOTW for me.

I was such a huge fan of these Zelda games. I had never played Nintendo before the Switch, I had heard of the other Zelda games, but BOTW was where I started, and with TOTK solidifying my love for the series, I asked GAF if I should try to play the older games. GAF recommended I needed to try four games: A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, and A Link Between Worlds.


my understanding is this game flopped because gamers are fucking idiots who looked at the (by the way amazing) graphics and decided this game was not worth their time. because of this, it looks like nintendo walked back most of the cool things the Wind waker did for almost 15 years and instead just gave gamers more ocarina of time.

which is fucking bullshit, because wind waker was breath of the wild 15 years before breath of the wild.

Context is important for this moment in gaming history. It wasn’t that we were mad because the graphics looked bad. We were mad because Nintendo came right off the heels of releasing the greatest game of all time , Ocarina , and its amazing follow up , Majora, then released their most graphically powerful system in history that competed with Sony, Microsoft, and Sega’s hardware power, showed us THIS demo:

AND THEN they unveil the new Zelda game that begins with this shot:

If you weren‘t mad or dissapointed at that time, you were either lying to yourself, or you didn’t care for Ocarina and Majora.
It turned out to be an AMZING game and in my top 3 Zeldas, but it still was a mistake releasing that game at that time. Nintendo admitted to that mistake as well. It singlehandidly declared the Gamecube a kiddie system (even though it wasn’t) and doomed its sales.

 

[TikiLagoonSam]

Apparently they have and they're just sitting on it.



Challenge level? Quantity of dungeons? Quality of dungeons? Zelda hotness? Ganon badassery?

nop

If Twilight Princess didn’t have those awful and boring wolf link segments, it would probably be 1 or 2 on the greatest zelda list.

 

[Neff]

If Twilight Princess didn’t have those awful and boring wolf link segments, it would probably be 1 or 2 on the greatest zelda list.

Don't even mind the wolf bits. They made for some interesting environmental puzzles and the boss on the lake was neat.

My only real complaint about Twilight Princess is the fact that it takes FOR... EV... ER... to get going at the start. Otherwise, fantastic game.

 

[TikiLagoonSam]

Don't even mind the wolf bits. They made for some interesting environmental puzzles and the boss on the lake was neat.

My only real complaint about Twilight Princess is the fact that it takes FOR... EV... ER... to get going at the start. Otherwise, fantastic game.

”Dont mind” is code for “boring but I love the game so I will defend it”. I get it. The boss on the lake was neat but Link fighting that with certain abilities would still be better. The pacing of the game without Wolf Link wouldve blown our minds because there is so many great moments in that game that get diluted with wolf link segments in between.

 

[Neff]

”Dont mind” is code for “boring but I love the game so I will defend it”. I get it.

For some, not me. I genuinely liked them.

 

[EverythingsOverrated]

Context is important for this moment in gaming history. It wasn’t that we were mad because the graphics looked bad. We were mad because Nintendo came right off the heels of releasing the greatest game of all time , Ocarina , and its amazing follow up , Majora, then released their most graphically powerful system in history that competed with Sony, Microsoft, and Sega’s hardware power, showed us THIS demo:

AND THEN they unveil the new Zelda game that begins with this shot:

If you weren‘t mad or dissapointed at that time, you were either lying to yourself, or you didn’t care for Ocarina and Majora.
It turned out to be an AMZING game and in my top 3 Zeldas, but it still was a mistake releasing that game at that time. Nintendo admitted to that mistake as well. It singlehandidly declared the Gamecube a kiddie system (even though it wasn’t) and doomed its sales.

I was one of the few people that was actually excited about the new visual style when it was first shown. I remember following live updates from IGN as Spaceworld was going on and there was a few minutes before people finding out about the cel shaded look and then this first image (the one above) being released and then the ensuing mass meltdown followed.

Overall I think WW is still a very good game, but replaying the HD version on WiiU actually made me drop it a few positions on the ole Zelda power rankings. The pacing of the game is a bit odd - spend a couple hours to get your sword and get into the flow of things to lose your sword and be forced into a mediocre stealth based dungeon, the triforce retrieval still sucks even though its cut in half, and sailing is still boring and mostly uneventful.

Don't even mind the wolf bits. They made for some interesting environmental puzzles and the boss on the lake was neat.

My only real complaint about Twilight Princess is the fact that it takes FOR... EV... ER... to get going at the start. Otherwise, fantastic game.

TP has the most painful opening to any Zelda game. It's probably a solid 8 hours before getting to the first temple. Other issue I have with TP is how little most of the items you get in the temples get used outside of that said temple. Great game though.

 

[ValiantTraveler]

I never got the chance to play it, and I would absolutely buy a port or remaster.

 

[Neff]

It's probably a solid 8 hours before getting to the first temple.

For the first time... it's probably not far off that. The last time I played it was a couple of hours or so, and that's with me pretty much knowing exactly what to do.

Whoever thought that the player needed a repeat of that fucking sheep mini-game was hopefully fired long ago.

Other issue I have with TP is how little most of the items you get in the temples get used outside of that said temple.

Yep, this is a common complaint I don't think anyone would disagree with. IIRC you use that skateboarding gyro thing twice at most once you leave the prison temple.

 

[NinjaBoiX]

Why haven’t they ported it to Switch yet?

I think BotW sales had a ridiculously long tail, probably didn’t want to upset that.

They’ll definitely release it at some point, whenever a current Zelda release isn’t all selling well and they aren’t starting up the hype train for a new one.

 

[Phase]

Windwaker comes in just below OoT and MM for me. All-time game.

 

[Camreezie]

Crazy that this isnt on the switch yet. This and Twilight Princess are all thats left and then all 3D zeldas are switch playable and the HD versions are wii u port ready