Navi Trackers

Tetra's Trackers

Release
Platform	Date
Nintendo GameCube (part of Four Swords Plus)	March 18, 2004 2004
Credits
Developer	Nintendo
Publisher	Nintendo

Navi Trackers is a puzzle-based treasure hunting game that was included in the Japanese and Korean versions of Four Swords Adventures. The game was formerly planned as a stand-alone title named Tetra's Trackers, but it was turned into an optional mode of Four Swords Adventures somewhere along the line in development. Players use Game Boy Advances as game screens and controllers via a link cable, while the television screen shows navigators narrating the action and a basic map.

In this game, Tetra or other navigators serve as guides to Link as he searches the land for members of Tetra's pirate crew in a specific order to gain stamps from them. Link must collect as many stamps as possible within a given time limit. In the multi-player game, players must compete with each other to gain higher scores. In a single-player game, the player has the choice of playing against Tingle (Tingle Battle), or collecting the stamps alone within a given time limit (Time Attack).

Development

Navi Trackers began as a remake of the Satellaview game Marvelous: Mou Hitotsu no Takarajima ("Marvelous: Another Treasure Island"), an early game Eiji Aonuma worked on, and some images of these characters remain, unused, on the final disc. The soundlink narration, similar to that used on BS The Legend of Zelda and Ancient Stone Tablets, became Tetra's narration and the characters were replaced with the Wind Waker pirates.

When first announced at E3 2003 as The Legend of Zelda: Tetra's Trackers, it was originally planned to be a stand-alone game release. However, Nintendo canceled the project as a standalone game without any official announcements. Later, the game was included in the Japanese and Korean version of Four Swords Adventures as the multiplayer mode Navi Trackers.

Likely because of the difficulties in rerecording voice acting in other languages, the mode was not included in all releases of Four Swords Adventures outside of Asia.

Story

The story takes place right after The Wind Waker, where Link has to prove himself worthy of being a pirate in Tetra's "Pirate Test". Three other pirates are disguised as Link and battling with him in a little contest. Link must pass all 12 of Tetra's test to become a pirate.

Gameplay

Official Description

"Tetra, the leader of the pirates, has put forth a challenge!"

Link must race his way through various settings, collecting stamps from Tetra's pirate cohorts. To rise to the challenge, he will have to use all his exploration and navigation skills. Accepting this hefty task, players search for pirates placed strategically around Pirate Island and receive a stamp from each one as proof that they actually found them. Pirates must be found in the correct order, so players rely upon map information and hints provided by Tetra through the fabled Pirate's Charm. Up to four players compete to see how many stamps they can collect before time runs out.

Features

• Experience a new level of connectivity between Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance. Compete against one another to prove your skills as trackers.

• Control four different colored versions of Link, from the Legend of Zelda series, including characters from The Wind Waker. Tetra, the young leader of the pirates, guides you as you race to gather stamps from her pirate followers.

• Use the Game Boy Advance as a game screen and a controller, and race against up to three friends. Exclusive information appears on each player's screen, while Tetra guides the group along the way with cues that appear on Nintendo GameCube.

Characters

All the characters from this game are from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

• Players
• Navigators
• Tetra's Pirates

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  Gonzo

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  Mako

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  Niko

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  Nudge

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  Senza

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  Zuko

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  Tetra

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  Sue-Belle

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  King of Red Lions

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  Green Link

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  Red Link

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  Blue Link

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  Purple Link

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  Tingle

Trivia

• The word Navi in Navi Trackers is probably taken from the word Navigator.
• In Navi Trackers, Tetra and her pirate crew have full voice acting instead of the usual text-only dialogue. The game also has a primitive text-to-speech engine, possibly relying on prerecorded snippets of audio - the navigators (Tetra, Sue-Belle, and the King of Red Lions) can pronounce the two-character name the player selects at the start of the game.
• Navi Trackers features the only other home console of The Wind Waker's cel-shading style as well as the only 3D representations of the four colors of Links within The Legend of Zelda series.

Gallery

Art

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  Tetra's Pirate Crew and Link

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  Tetra

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  Tetra with Pirate's Charm

• 

  Red Link

Screenshots

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Tetra's Trackers E3 2003

A number of screenshots were released at E3 2003 in promotion for an English-language Tetra's Trackers version which was never released. In addition, the logo shown at E3 remains in the final game files, unused.

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Videos

Game Intro

Gameplay demo of the Korean release with unofficialy translated elements

2016 Zelda Dungeon Informer Marathon playthrough.

References

1. ↑ "Nintendo Online Magazine (JP), translated by Glitterberri for TCRF", It all started with an 8 year old game called Marvelous, which made use of the Satellaview satellite transmission system. In that game, players would collect stamps while listening to a radio broadcast. We replaced [the satellite transmission system] with the connectivity function, used Tetra's character as the vocal guide, and incorporated the pirates. Actually, all three of us [producer Eiji Aonuma, director Toshiaki Suzuki, and director Yoshinori Tsuchiyama] worked on the satellite broadcast project. You could say we didn't imagine we'd reunite like this. (He laughs.)
2. ↑ Zelda Capital