The Legend of Zeldais a franchise that has an equal measure of tradition and innovation. There are expectations of each new game in the beloved Nintendo series, including heart containers,Hyrule’s pastures, and a plucky protagonist who valiantly fights to save the day. It’s a series that is a great source of comfort for millions around the world, and joining Link on another one of his familiar adventures to (hopefully) stop evil once and for all is always a treat. It satisfies the adventure genre in the same way that its cousinSuper Mariocovers the platforming space. 37 years of consistent excellence has brought it to today, whereTears of the Kingdomwill look to boost its legacy once more.
However, it isn’t afraid to go out on a limb and do something different. Often, this not only improves theZeldaformula but also helps to push the gaming industry at large further with new ideas that other companies can be inspired to either develop on or hijack almost verbatim.Breath of the Wild’s non-linear exploration,Skyward Sword’s motion controls, andA Link to the Past’s refining of franchise staples have all been instrumental inThe Legend of Zeldaforging a legacy of excellence. Most fans will have a different answer as to which is the best, and some will praise the 2003 GameCube titleThe Wind Wakerthe most. It’s a game that wore its art style on its sleeve, and after initial impressions were mixed, it has since proven to be a great decision by Nintendo.
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The Wind Waker’s Art Style was Controversial, But is Now Beloved
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Wakerlaunched as a GameCube exclusive, and over the years, people have warmed to its art style. Compared to the darker, moresomber tone ofMajora’s Maskbefore it and the drab, colorless palette ofTwilight Princessthat succeeded it,The Wind Wakerwas far more visually uplifting. Its story was in line with other entries in the franchise, with spots of real drama like Link’s naive encounter with Ganondorf at the Forsaken Fortress and the final boss fight, but it was wrapped in a presentation style that implied it was a joyful, whimsical affair.
A lot of people didn’t like it, as the cel-shading and cartoonish character models prioritized bright colors rather than accurate and detailed environments and features.Twilight Princessfelt like a direct response to it, as it wielded something more realistic and brooding. The latter is a great game, but it’s hard to argue that there is any 3DZeldatitle that has stood the test of time better than the 2003 GameCube masterpiece because it didn’t attempt to push the boundaries of the hardware at the time, and instead created something timeless it rarely, if ever, feels outdated. Even 20 years later, dusting off a GameCube and playing through Link’s quest out at sea is as fun as it’s always been, and the biggest reason is because its visuals are still beautiful.
The Wii U Remaster of The Wind Waker is Wonderful
TheWii U was, by all accounts, a failed console. It had some stellar first party offerings that sadly weren’t capable of drawing fans in as the hardware simply wasn’t up to par. AZeldagame is always a good opportunity to sell systems, but with the Switch’s development already well underway, it made no sense for Nintendo to keepBreath of the Wildas an exclusive, so it launched as a day-one Switch release. Before that, though, a wonderful HD remaster ofThe Wind Wakerwas doing all it could to keep the console alive. It was the most significant singleplayer bright spark of that product’s life, and was one of the biggest draws into its ecosystem despite being a rerelease of an experience that, at the time, was over a decade old.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HDis delightful, adding plenty of quality-of-life improvements that brought it into the modern day. The most impressive thing about it, though, is that save for a few sharpened edges the art style wasn’t tampered with at all, and it was still one of the system’s prettiest games. Its aesthetics spoke for themselves, and dropping players back into The Great Sea with the King of the Red Lions was like transporting them back to 2003, because the same level of wonderment could be extracted from the way it simply looked. It speaks volumes thatThe Wind Wakeris constantly brought up when people talk about first-party games of the past thatshould make the leap to the Nintendo Switch.
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The Wind Waker’s Art is Iconic, and Deserves to be Remembered Fondly
The only reason the Wii U HD remaster needs a port to newer hardware is to give it to more people, as the Switch’s impressive sales have meant that there are more people in the Nintendo sphere than there have been for years. There’s not much that can be improved as the basic nature of the presentation has a low ceiling, but an incredibly high floor. It’s not going to leave shock with its beauty likeRed Dead Redemption 2orThe Last of Us 2, but it will take a very, very long time to stop looking good, showing that age really is just a number.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Wakeris a product of Nintendo’s ever-strong innovation and willingness to go left when everyone else goes right. Its core design and progression structure isn’t significantly different to its predecessors, but throwing away the strides thatOcarina of TimeandMajora’s Maskmade in the 3D space in favor of low detail and bright colors was a huge risk. It may initially have been cause for hesitation, but two decades later it’s a valid reason to revisit it, as it looks as good today as it did twenty years ago.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HDis available on Wii U.
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