Retro Review: Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

By Lakyn Gardner

lagardner@lc.edu

Welcome back to Retro review. Today’s article will be more “review” than “retro”. This week we’re looking at Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker; this was the tenth installment in the Legend of Zelda series, developed by Nintendo for the GameCube and released in 2003.

This game was one of the first Zelda games I could fully comprehend and appreciate as a child. The cell-shaded graphics, the bright colors and the theme of adventure had me deeply intrigued. As a child, I put many hours into completing this game over and over again. Anytime I was sick I would just start a new game and then beat it that day. The game was re-released for the Wii U in 2013, which is a dream come true for me to see my favorite childhood game brought back to life in HD.

The game is a pretty cut and dry Legend of Zelda story. Our hero Link sets out on an adventure to save the world. However, this world is not the traditional Hyrule we’re used to. This world is completely submerged in water with only a few islands to inhabit. First, you must go off and find 3 different pearls to obtain the master sword and after that, you must go collect 13 pieces of the Triforce. I enjoyed traveling around the ocean like a pirate in search of the pieces. Getting to go back and replay the game and relive it was so nostalgic.

Wind Waker was developed for the GameCube, which to this day has one of the best gamepads ever made. The gamepad for the GameCube was — and still is — used in many fighting game tournaments. The controls for this game were flawless, it had plenty of variety in the weapons, amazing characters and cool abilities to learn. If you take this game at face value and don’t go around completing the sidequests, it’s a pretty generic game; however, the replayability of this game, I believe, is infinite. 

Once you beat the game, there’s a hero mode, which is a more difficult version of the game for those who want a challenge. Throughout the game, there are many side quests and mini-games to play to keep you entertained. Additionally, for replayability, there is a randomizer made for this game which is amazing and has tons of community support. 

Overall, I give this game a 10 out of 10.

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