The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks was released on the Nintendo DS and is the direct sequel to the first DS Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

Story

Main article: Spirit Tracks Story

Link, a young boy in training to become an engineer under Alfonzo, lives with Niko in Aboda Village. He travels to Hyrule Castle to receive his Engineer Certificate from Princess Zelda, but during the ceremony, the princess disceetly hands him a letter, requesting him to read it alone. The letter reveals a passage into the castle, and she asks him to meet her that night. When he does, she asks him to help her sneak out of the castle so she can visit the Tower of Spirits and discover what's behind the missing Spirit Tracks. However, on the way there, the tracks disappear beneath them and they crash. Byrne and Chancellor Cole appear, and they kill Zelda and take her body. Link finds her spirit wandering around Hyrule Castle later, but he's the only one who could see her. The pair must then recover Zelda's body and defeat Malladus.

Gameplay

Gameplay involves Link defeating enemies, exploring New Hyrule using a train, and solving puzzles. First Link must create new tracks by defeating a level in the Tower of Spirits obtaining a Railmap. Then he must enter the sanctuary of the specific realm and play duet with a Lokomo creating the tracks necessary to enter the Temple of the specific realm. After defeating the Temple Link must return to the Tower of Spirits to obtain yet another Railmap. He must defeat all five Temples and all six(?) levels of the Tower of Spirits and then defeat Malladus to complete his epic adventure.

Controls

The controls for yet another DS Zelda game are basically the same. Use the stylus to move, swipe to attack, tap to use a jump attack, make a circle to do a spin attack, and thrust forward to stab. Tap the Menu button to open the menu and the items list to select an item. Tap the items icon to use it and tap on the screen. Double-tap to roll; it just wouldn't be Zelda without it.

Items

Main article: Spirit Tracks Items

• Whirlwind:

  Blow into the mic. to create a whirlwind.

  Other Games: None

• Boomerang:

  Draw a line to create a path for the boomerang to follow.

  Other Games: The Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Phantom Hourglass

• Whip:

  Tap the screen to grab items, swing from branches, attack enemies, and more!

  Other Games:Skyward Sword

• Bombs:

  Throw them at walls and enemies and such to blow them up.

  Other Games:The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Phantom Hourglass, Skyward Sword

• Sand Wand:

  Tap sandy areas to raise them up, occasionally revealing hidden treasure like rupees.

  Other Games: None

Heart Containers

In Spirit tracks you start of with three hearts and can collect five more via completing dungeons. Beside these, there are eight more you can collect.

1. "Take 'em all on."

   For this one, you must beat level one of the "take 'em all on" minigame in Castle town. The woman will give you the container for completing it.

2. "Rabbit Hunt."

   Catch five rabbits from over the world and return them to the guy at rabbit haven. He'll give you the heart container in return.

3. "The inflation of sanctuaries."

   There is a shop in the snowfall sanctuary, which happens to be selling a heart container. Buy it for a whopping 2,000 rupees.

4. "Swordsman's challenge."

   You can get this by playing the Swordsman's challenge minigame. You must get at least 60 hits for the heart container.

5. "Whip race."

   Do the whip race minigame. Beat it in under 75 seconds for the heart container.

6. "Pirate rescue."

   The pirate rescue minigame holds this heart container. After beating this minigame for the first time for the forcegem. Do it again so that there is a goron you have to save. Beat it with at least 4,000 points for the heart container.

7. "Golden Beedle."

   After spending at least 5,000 rupees at beedle's air shop, you will have 500 points and will become a gold member. As a gift beedle will give you a heart container.

8. "Block puzzle."

   Beat all the three block puzzles at the ends of the earth station to find it in a golden treasure chest.

Characters

Main article: Spirit Tracks Characters

• Link
• Princess Zelda
• Chancellor Cole
• Malladus
• Niko
• Alfonzo
• Byrne
• Anjean

Enemies

Main article: Spirit Tracks Enemies

Locations

Here is a listing of all of the locations found within The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

Reception

Spirit Tracks has received generally positive reception by both critics and users. GameInformer gave the game a score of 8 [1] and Spirit Tracks has received an average press score of 8.7.^{[citation needed]} Improving in nearly all aspects, Spirit Tracks trumped its predecessor, Phantom Hourglass.^{[citation needed]} Negative feedback mostly centralized on the mundane overworld design, as many felt the train took away the freedom of exploration.^{[citation needed]} As of May 5th, 2012, the game has sold 3.08 copies worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

Merchandise and Product

• The Spirit Tracks Furata Choco Egg Trading Figures are candy made by Furuta Confectionery where a small figure is inside a chocolate egg shell. It was released on January 17, 2011.

Trivia

• The names of bosses, temples and other things have different names in the European version.