The Rejuvenation of The Wind Waker’s Nintendo Gallery

When

I was coming to terms with the full potential of the Tingle Bottle — I think

somewhere between Dragon Roost Island and Forest Haven — I had myself a nice

thought. Here’s how it came about.

Tingle

Bottles are a wonderful invention that has evoked the sense of a sailing

adventurer while harnessing our ability to communicate “overseas”. While

breathing in the rolling waves and the spewing lava of Fire Mountain — knowing

that one day I’d freeze it and access the treasure within — I decided to send

out a few bottles. Some scribbles, some regular photographs, some selfies. And then I thought to myself: what would happen if I sent out Tingle Bottles asking

Zelda fans for article ideas? Here’s what I typed.

“To the lucky finder: I write

for Zelda Informer. Add me and suggest an article for me to write. 🙂

” My initial response asked me

to talk about the varying levels of fun and frustration in the quest to complete

the Nintendo Gallery.

My favourite thing about writing for

Zelda Informer is the relationship that develops with the series’ fanbase and what with the internet being utilised effectively in The Wind Waker HD, I thought Tingle Bottles might be a way to take that relationship one step further.

First

off, I had to make sure I completed the Nintendo Gallery in order to present as

accurate an experience as possible. It was a daunting task, especially left

incomplete as it was in all the years I played the original on the Gamecube. Similarly,

I made the decision to leave Rollgoal in

Twilight

Princess

unfinished, lest I throw my Wii controller out the window.

Having

completed the Nintendo Gallery in

The

Wind Waker HD

, I will say it was worth it, while acknowledging that it has

well and truly been rejuvenated on the Wii U. Anyone who completed the Nintendo

Gallery in the original can hold their heads high in the knowledge that they

have all the patience, panache and perseverance of Link himself. I, alas, am

not one of you.

The

change, thanks largely to the internet — and partly to the Swift Sail — is so

dramatic, it could simply be put that the Nintendo Gallery is fun and

frustration in its two forms. In the original game, it’s a frustrating,

back-and-forth jumble of pictographs and Songs of Passing (or should that be

Song of Passings?), and in

The Wind Waker

HD

it’s generally a sprawling, community-enhancing source of fun. After

all, it can be completed alongside the central plotline. The Master Sword feels

truer in Link’s hands when we know that Forest Haven’s miniature, neighbouring

island home of figurines is full to the brim.

The

Nintendo Gallery side quest always required the player to be tactical in order

to complete it. And a strategic approach of any kind, such as when to take

which pictographs and why, inevitably

made the process quicker. For example, in

The

Wind Waker HD

, because of the somewhat unfortunate redundancy of the Forest

Firefly, the Deluxe Picto Box becomes accessible earlier in the game. With the

possibility of having it in Link’s possession when reaching Forest Haven for

the first time, the player is able to take snapshots of all ten Koroks before

they fly off to spread their seedlings.

Also,

safe in the knowledge that Windfall Island’s relatively large population stays

put for the game’s duration, Link’s Picto Box can be filled with

location-specific enemies and characters, with space for one or two selfies along

the way.

And

then things truly get going. The pleasing glint of the sun as it rises on the

sea is met with something unfamiliar: the glint of correspondence, having

travelled over the waves of the ether, rolled tight into a Tingle Bottle.

The

Nintendo Gallery owes much of its joy to this ability. Sometimes it’s in the

fact that a Darknut paunch or midriff or even Tetra’s face obscured through a

gold gauze is enough to warrant a figurine from Carlov. Other times it’s simply

presenting pictographs of bosses “borrowed” from generous comrades. Let someone

else spend a heart-stopping moment with the camera where their sword should be.

Within

no time, a large proportion of your figurines have been accumulated, and what’s

more it doesn’t feel like a stress. Until of course, you’re just waiting for a

Mighty Darknut pictograph. And having been handed over the likes of Puppet

Ganon, Fado and Molgera, you forget that it’s a privilege to not have to go

searching yourself. This isn’t really a stress. It’s just playing the game.

In

a lot of ways, the original’s Nintendo Gallery side quest was a metaphor for

the collection of the Triforce pieces. Slow, laborious, stifling. The plot’s

impetus was in danger of deflating. Any gamer capable of taking on the Nintendo

Gallery on the Gamecube after that either a) enjoys a monumental ordeal, or b)

is wired enough so as to question the entire existence of humankind.

It

became a way of passing time, along with the mysteriously serene sliding puzzle

on Private Oasis. That’s one of the best things about

The Wind Waker. No matter where you are in the game, the waves will

continue to roll in onto the island shores; there are brief stops to be made at

every turn.

One

of the slight disappointments in

The Wind

Waker HD

is how straightforward the gallery still is. For every pictograph

of a character, there’s a figurine. It would have been nice to receive rewards

along the way this time. Manny, who I love simply for the old school Octorok on

her bag, could have proudly given Link some sort of badge or sticker or gem for

every completed room. Obviously, with the Miiverse, it’s entirely possible to

complete a room in a few minutes now. Still…

It

was entirely possible that

The Wind Waker

original could be Deku Leafed, Grapple Hooked and Light Arrowed to the end

without even opening the hatch that leads to the Nintendo Gallery. But in the

HD remake, it’s almost impossible not to. With literally hundreds of people readily

available to answer your every distressed query and provide a desperate

pictograph, that hatch can’t remain closed for long.