Bomber’s Notebook #004 – Zelda Games: The Ordinary

Over a dozen canon Zelda titles have been introduced to the gaming populace over the past twenty-five years, each unique in their own ways. This week and next week, I will be listing which installments I believe are outstanding and which ones I regard to be less stellar.

The judgement of each will be based off of what quality the game is overall, its reception, impact on the gaming world and sales figures. Next week I will be doing the same thing for the Zeldas which stole the spotlight. But to start it off, I’ve wracked my puny little brain to develop a list of the Zeldas which stood in the shadows of their more beloved counterparts.

For your reference (you’re welcome), I developed the chart below. Making money is what the gaming industry is about, so the capital that Nintendo rakes is of utmost importance.

Chart of sales figures of Zelda games from Legend of Zelda to Spirit Tracks (I did not include SS, as it is still a relatively new release and its sales numbers are not definite at this point in time)

Adventure of Link

With profits still flowing in from the original Legend of Zelda, Nintendo released its second Zelda effort with Adventure of Link. It’s funny how little resemblance AoL bears to the LoZ considering that it is a direct sequel to it. The overworld’s graphics seem to be a step down from the original Zelda. It is presented from a top-down view like the original Zelda, but looks more sloppily thrown together. The more definitive areas from a side-scroller view that Link enters make up for it, though. These areas are several paths that lead underground, stretch across bridges, fields and forest areas. Scattered across the overworld are these 2D side-scrolling platforming areas that almost appear too often, fragmenting overworld travel.

Perhaps the departure from what made the original Legend of Zelda great was the lack of Miyamoto’s involvement in the game’s development. He says in the below interview that Adventure of Link was his idea, but he left it alone for a separate team to handle.

It was my idea, but the actual game was developed by another team, different people than those that made the first game. Compared to Legend of Zelda, Zelda II went exactly what we expected. All games I make usually get better in the development process since good ideas keep coming, but Zelda II was sort of a failure.

~ Shigeru Miyamoto

The second installment in the Zelda series took a wrong turn early on, which is quite the shame. It’s nothing at all like Zelda games we’ve seen after it, and that makes sense. In the eyes of many, AoL is considered a mild mistake, but serves as an interesting classic game. As we know now, the Zelda franchise was never meant to be hardcore RPG.

AoL, however, uses a standard RPG leveling system that includes experience points, magic spells and NPCs. Link can gain experience points to upgrade anything from his attack power to his magic spells and life. Raising a level of life will decrease the damage inflicted to him when hit, decrease the cost of magic spells, etc. For the first time, Link can crouch, jump, and swing his sword in directions that he could not in the previous game due to the side-scroller view during combat. It’s a simple addition to the Zelda gameplay, but it goes a long way.

However, players seem to like the original Zelda’s gameplay better simply because of its more traditional top-down view. AoL is also infamous for its unforgiving difficulty, raising the frustration bar higher than it was set in LoZ. It is for this very reason many gamers are turned off by Adventure of Link and tend to seek adventure elsewhere. Despite the game’s problems, it sold over 4 million copies.

The main adversary in Adventure of Link is Dark Link instead of Ganondorf. It’s a welcome change, but makes the game feel less epic. Boss battles are quick, but Dark Link does offer something different in the sense that Link must fight an twisted version of himself. Gamers will often complain about Adventure of Link for very valid reasons. It’s not because it’s different, but rather because it did not succeed in making the franchise’s change in vision as enjoyable as it could have been.

Needless to say, I don’t think that it’s one of the best games of all time, but it’s still very much worth playing. It is for these reasons and more that Adventure of Link has been branded as the franchise’s black sheep.

The Oracle Series

Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages were meant to be released on the Game Boy Color along with one more game, each representing a piece of the Triforce. Unfortunately the third was cancelled and the names were changed to those seen above. I would have really liked to see the third game in said series, but it’s okay. Oracle of Ages and Seasons turned out to be marvelous, even if their other sibling was cancelled.

As the titles might imply, Seasons is centered on the changing of the seasons and Ages around time. The gameplay of both games were very similar to that of Link’s Awakening, meaning that everything from the basic controls to the soundtrack seem taken right out of LA. The visuals are slightly more impressive since they’re in full color, but aside from the not-so-familiar antagonists, OoS and OoA were run-of-the-mill Zeldas, their only gimmick being the compatibility between the two games. While it was an interesting addition, it is novel and didn’t really need to be there.

Onox, the General of Darkness serves as the main antagonist in Oracle of Seasons. Link is called by the Triforce to meet with a strange character named Din, who just so happens to be the Oracle of Seasons. Link must travel to locations in both Holodrum and Subrosia to conquer eight fearsome dungeons. Once he obtains the eight Essences, he is able to enter General Onox’s tower. The plot of Oracle of Ages isn’t so different from its sister/brother game, Oracle of Seasons. Link is instead transported to Labrynna and saved Impa from a horde of grotesque monsters.

Veran emerges from Impa’s body and reveals to Link that she is the Sorceress of Shadows. She then takes control of Nayru, the Oracle of Ages’ body and wreaks havoc, distorting the flow of time in Labrynna. The Oracle games were developed by Flagship, but unfortunately aren’t two of the more memorable games in the series. Many fans understandably view the Oracle games as underrated. There really isn’t anything particularly eye-catching about OoA and OoS, but they still held their ground despite not being developed by Nintendo.

ALttP + Four Swords

Released in 2002 was A Link to the Past and Four Swords for the Game Boy Advance. The game contained a modified version of A Link to the Past and a new multiplayer game titled The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords. By no means was the game intended to be a headliner, nor did it receive an enormous amount of attention. That certainly is strange, since it was the first to feature multiplayer and a total of four Links, executing it marvelously. Link carries the Four Sword instead of the Master Sword, allowing Link to split into four. This new gameplay mechanic would be used in both Four Swords Adventures and the Minish Cap.

Puzzles and such were designed around the capability and gave the Four Swords games a whole new dimension in terms of complexity and combat. Four Swords, however, was by all means a welcome addition to the series and tried somewhat fruitfully to garner the interest of an unfamiliar spectrum of gamers. Unfortunately for Nintendo, this offline multiplayer release was not as critically acclaimed as some previous installments. In fact, had it not been for the revamped A Link to the Past bundled with Four Swords, it might not have sold as many copies nor received as warm a reception from critics.

I believe that the series flat-lined for a few releases in a row until the release of the one of the most polarizing Zelda games known as the Wind Waker. ALttP + Four Swords actually sold a decent number of copies. I don’t think Nintendo put a lot of effort into this release but they still profited quite a bit from this release, which was probably what they had intended. It’s easy to say that in terms of structure, Four Swords isn’t ordinary at all, but it wasn’t that memorable either.

Four Swords Adventures

Looks like Link has Multiple Personality Disorder

Four Swords Adventures was developed for the GameCube and published by Nintendo in 2004 for both Japan and North America. This release would turn out to be quite the flop, though the game is still considered a Main Zelda. Sales were at a record low and the game wasn’t looking so hot. Critics were not enthusiastic about the strange new format in which the game operated, and many wondered why the graphics seemed like a downgrade from Wind Waker. While FSA retains that classic A Link to the Past atmosphere in terms of graphics and the soundtrack, it is rather short and lacks what makes a Zelda game memorable: the oh-so-familiar but classic gameplay.

Instead of taking the traditional route, Nintendo decided to split the game up into levels rather than giving the player an entire overworld in which to complete sidequests and spend leisure time. These episodes make the game seem too straightforward for its own good. The game has multiplayer capabilities in the “Shadow Battle”, but a Game Boy Advance is needed to do so. The GBA could also be used when entering rooms in the game, which then transfers the action to the GBA. This is only optional and the singleplayer plays perfectly fine without Nintendo’s dated handheld, though multiplayer is linked to the GBA.

FSA is a direct continuation of the Four Swords game. Vaati’s seal is weakening, and he eventually breaks that which had bound him and was able to wreak havoc on Hyrule. Ganon also makes an appearance in FSA, revealing to Link and the player that he is the mastermind pulling the strings. The visuals are similar to that of Wind Waker’s, almost like a 2D version. Once again there is use of the Four Sword which allows link to split into four warriors. Many changes in gameplay did not receive warm welcomes from gamers. Link could carry but a single item at a time, which made gameplay slightly more tedious and puts a restraint on your freedom to select and choose whichever item applies to the situation.

Gameplay is limited and Link… just doesn’t feel like Link since he can’t travel around a vast overworld and do as he pleases. As unique and strangely lovable FSA is, it sold very poorly and received the lowest critic scores of any original Zelda game.

Phantom Hourglass

Link from the Wind Waker was just too cute to forget. That’s exactly why Nintendo decided to let him star in a daring new adventure in 2007: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Due to the Wind Waker’s satisfactory sales numbers, Nintendo decided to build off the Wind Waker fanbase and please them with another cel-shaded epic. Phantom Hourglass picked up right after the events of Wind Waker, and Link and Tetra are searching for a new Hyrule. The visuals of PH weren’t radically different from Wind Waker, but the gameplay sure is. The game was released for the DS, so the controls in the games had to be completely switched around and flipped upside-down.

Link is controlled by the stylus and battle is performance by swiping the stylus every which way. The A button on the D-Pad is used to roll, so it’s also very inconvenient to roll with a stylus in one hand and the DS in the other. Phantom Hourglass takes place on the Great Sea, but a different one than we saw in the Wind Waker. Bellum is the antagonist of this game, not Ganon. Dungeons aren’t too impressive due to the repetitiveness and uninspired soundtrack. Another reason why dungeons needed an overhaul was because the game operates in 2.5D.

Though the game still received positive reviews, it just didn’t stack up to previous Zelda games. Nintendo must have done something right to move so many copies of Phantom Hourglass. Perhaps it was that fans wanted to see a sequel to Wind Waker, especially since the lovable personality of Tetra made a return. I personally feel that PH is not a strong installment in the series. It marked the franchise’s jump onto the DS, but wasn’t a particularly strong entrance at that.

Spirit Tracks

Spirit Tracks, on the other hand, featured catchier tunes and greatly improved on all aspects of Phantom Hourglass. Instead of an ocean setting, Spirit Tracks was instead set in a more traditional-looking Hyrule hundreds of years later, where trains become the main form of transportation. ST didn’t continue the mechanic of sailing but introduced something entirely different: travelling on trains. It was a risky gamble that didn’t totally pay off. The literal on-rails fast travel strips away the freedom and roaming from previous titles and replaces it with stilted sections of gameplay. If it’s any consolation, the Hyrule Field theme is unbelievably awesome.

Speaking of music, the soundtrack has an unprecedented level of quality for a handheld game. I don’t believe that anyone will be forgetting the final boss battle theme for the Malladus Beast. The game generally received lower scores than Phantom Hourglass and also sold more copies but remains a great improvement from the first DS Zelda. This was probably due to the fact that it is Phantom Hourglass’ successor, and people had already seen the style of gameplay before. Spirit Tracks is essentially very similar to Phantom Hourglass. Not much can be said about Spirit Tracks that hasn’t been said about Phantom Hourglass. Spirit Tracks stood at a level that Phantom Hourglass wish it could have been at. While ST tried to create its own unique flavor, it fall just a tad short of being an indelible experience for fans old and new.

So do you agree with the list? Do you disagree with some of the choices? Are you excited to see next week’s editorial? Feel free to let us know in the comments below!

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