The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – Irrational fangirl rage and why I love this title.

Recently at the Silver Snail Halloween Party, Jess and I were hanging around outside just chilling, taking a break from all the action inside when a cool woman dressed as Rogue sauntered over to talk to us. I was dressed as Mystique from X-Men (comic book inspired) so we chatted about X-Men cosplay briefly and the conversation somehow switched over to Zelda. Now, me being the Walking Talking Zelda Encyclopedia that I am, I got excited until she said, “You know what I hate? Wind Waker. I hate the graphics! They suck! Worst Zelda game ever!”

Anyone who knows me knows that the gloves come off when someone insults any of my favourite games in the Zelda series. I have been known to, while intoxicated, start personally insulting people way past the point of return. I’d like to think that in my adult years I have grown and learned to control my outrage, but… well, clearly not as well as I’d like. I became a little prickly, but thanks to some… ahem… natural endorphins I had floating around in me, I was able to hold back my outrage. I calmly told her that the graphics were actually pretty sweet and I really loved the game. As she kept talking about it, my eyes were kind of bugging out of my head, but I kept it inside. I promise! She was cool, she didn’t know me, therefore she didn’t deserve my fangirl rage.

But I really want to strike a blow to all the casual Zelda fans out there who, for some reason, shit talk Wind Waker. The game is short and there is a lot of sailing, yes, but there are some amazing attributes about it. There are common misconceptions that need to be refuted so why not do it now?

1. “Crappy graphics! Not ‘Zelda-like’ at all!”

This particular “reason” for why people were immediately distrustful of Wind Waker blows my mind. Every game up until Ocarina of Time was not 3D rendered models with “realistic” faces (not that you can really call OoT realistic…)! All of them were sprite-like, cartoony and fun!

In fact, if you look at the chronological order of Zelda games starting from The Legend of Zelda until Link’s Awakening (right before Ocarina of Time) you’ll notice that the games get progressively more “cell shaded” and “cartooney”. That’s not even counting Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, commonly looked over handheld titles, which were released directly after Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask and look just like Link’s Awakening DX. The amount of people who say “that’s just not what Zelda is, I’m a REAL Zelda fan” about Wind Waker sends me into an irrational downward spiral of rage, because “real” Zelda fans would at least acknowledge that the vast majority of Zelda titles, whether they be console titles or handheld titles, have been sprite-like and cell-shaded or at least inspired.

I mean, come on! Link’s Awakening had freaking Shy Guys. SHY GUYS. You know, the little masked and robed short dudes that shuffle around in levels from Super Mario Bros 2? Yep, Nintendo has recycled them in many different games, but most notably as “Masked Mimics” in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.

Wind Waker has some of the most beautiful cell shaded graphics I’ve ever seen. There was a little bit of an outrage because people wanted, essentially, Twilight Princess. And in my opinion, Wind Waker is ten times the game Twilight Princess ever will be. Twilight Princess’ overuse of bloom lighting burns my retinas and the game is a little uninspired. Wind Waker, on the other hand, is sharp, smooth, colourful, fun and very reminiscent of A Link to the Past. It truly is a classic and beautiful game.

2. “The game is too short.”

This criticism I can get behind because yes, the game really is too short, although I don’t think it diminishes the great design of the dungeons that are already in the game. Originally, Wind Waker was supposed to have temples for each Triforce fragment, but because they were behind schedule and rushing to get the game out for it’s launch date, they were forced to cut it short. Despite the fact that I would have appreciated more dungeons, I’m happy they cut the temples out instead of rushing it out like a famous and well-loved game in the series: Link to the Past. There are three eyeball bosses. Three. Eyeball. Bosses. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love Link to the Past. But seriously, one quarter of the dungeons in that game could have been cut and there wouldn’t have been any difference. There are some amazing dungeons, such as Thieves’ Town and Turtle Rock, but for the most part a lot of the dungeons feel repetitive.

3. “Ugh, so much sailing.”

First off, the sailing is amazing. Period. I love it. The music is jaunty and memorable, the seagulls are fun to shoot at, the treasure is fun to find; in general, the wayward seafarer theme sets my heart aflutter. I love finding little pirate boats to pillage and I love trying to sneak onto islands early, before the story comes to that point. Even when replaying the game, I really love sailing my badass Red Lion/King of Hyrule mentor boat around. And besides, after you learn the Ballad of Gales, if you really hate the sailing you can warp around the map.

The sailing was a nice change from Epona, everyone’s favourite filly, and brought new life back the series. Wind Waker said to Zelda fans, “Hey, there’s more to Hyrule than what you’ve played before. There’s more than just horse riding, warping around with your Ocarina, dark worlds and creepy, vine-wearing Great Fairies.”

Hey, you know what, I love The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker so much that I just might go and play it again now. Hmmm, sounds good. Sail on, brothers and sisters, sail on!