Category: Nintendo GameCube

The Legend of Zelda Collector’s Edition Part 3: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo Gamecube)

suburbantimewaster4 Comments

Link has always been known as the boy without a fairy by his fellow Kokiri.  The minute he finally has one he also has a quest.  He needs to gather three items and use them to open the sacred realm, getting the Triforce before the king of the Gerudos, Ganondorf, beats him to it.

What 90s Zelda fan doesn’t remember this game?  It was the first to hit 3D consoles, the first where you got to ride a horse and, for those of you familiar with the fan fiction world, the inspiration for the dreaded My Inner Life.  The first Zelda game I played was A Link to the Past, but this was the first game I owned.  The plot follows that of a typical Zelda game, find three items and then see a huge plot twist.  Now you have to collect more items.  Some plot elements are similar to Peter Pan, such as the fairy and a fact regarding the Kokiri you discover later on.  Navi is the first of her type and boy does it show, but more on that later.  Link, like the rest of the games, is an avatar for the world of Hyrule.  He says nothing and goes where he’s told.  Zelda drives the plot, risking her life to help Link and doing everything she can to save Hyrule.  The lengths she goes to are very daring.

I absolutely love the game play.  You can set any items you find to l, r, or z, taking place of the four c buttons of the N64, save the sword and the shield.  L targeting has helped me on more than one occasion.  The only problem is the fairy that makes it possible is very annoying.  Navi has a tendency to give information when you really don’t need it and sometimes you have no choice but to hear it.  Her targeting usually makes up for it until the second to final battle where she can’t do anything.

As for other features this game has, you can play songs on your ocarina, use your brain to go through dungeons and defeat bosses, and search the world for heart pieces.

Collect four of them to get a free container.  Some heart pieces require mini-games, the shooting being my least favorite but that’s because I can’t get my hands steady enough to complete it.

As a child, I loved this game and I still love it as an adult.  I give it 8 out of 10, the beginning of a new era of Zelda games.

The Legend of Zelda Collector’s Edition Part 2: Zelda II-The Adventure of Link (Nintendo GameCube)

suburbantimewaster6 Comments

An evil wizard has cast a sleeping spell on Princess Zelda.  In order to awaken her, Link must travel to six palaces and return the rods to get the Triforce of Courage.  Unfortunately, minions of Ganon have set out to kill Link in order to revive their master.

All right, a few issues with the plot.  For one thing, the decree that Hyrule royal family name every daughter Zelda sounds very confusing.  What’s going to happen when the family has two daughters?  Do they just name them Zelda 1 and Zelda 2?  Another thing, I don’t get why Link’s blood is required to revive Ganon.  He seems to revive in every other game just fine without it.  The only explanation I can come up with is that Ganon’s minions have been secretly killing Link whenever he settles down with a family.  I get that the whole purpose of this plot point was to give Link enemies to fight but it makes no sense.  They would be constantly stalking him day in and day out never giving him a moment’s peace.  He wouldn’t be able to do anything without armed guards around him every day of his life.  In addition, what is Link doing in Zelda’s chamber?

I get that the game needed a place for him to start but there is no reason for him to be there.  At best, he’s admiring her beauty while she sleeps.  At worst, well, I really don’t want to think about it.

As for the game play, they pretty much took away everything that made it great.  Instead of solving puzzles, you have to fight your way through everything and if you’re anything like me, you will die quite often.  If you back out, you can’t gain levels.  You can also talk to people in town to gain magic, but you have to complete a quest first.  If you’re low on health, you can visit a woman in a red dress who will take you to her house and heal your wounds.

In other words, while many women have a crush on Link in Ocarina of Time, this is the game where he got the most action and I’m not talking about fighting monsters.  I don’t know if the makers were too naive to figure out what that was implying or this was their desperate attempt at fan service.  Don’t get me wrong, I can understand if hot animated characters arouse you but if a pack of pixels turns you on, please remove yourself from the gene pool.

I once had a very painful cramp in my foot.  Just when I thought it was gone, the pain came back double.  That is exactly how this game rolls.  I give it 0 out of 10; if you’re playing all the Zelda games, just skip this one.

The Legend of Zelda: Collector’s Edition Part One- The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo GameCube)

suburbantimewasterLeave a comment

In 2003, Nintendo released four Legend of Zelda games on one disc for the Nintendo GameCube.  The Legend of Zelda, Zelda 2: Link’s Adventure, Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask.  Each game has its own charm with the exception of Link’s Adventure but I’ll get to that later.

Hyrule’s in trouble, the evil Ganon has the Triforce of Power and is after the Triforce of Wisdom.  The princess Zelda has broken it into eight pieces and scattered the Triforce throughout the world.  Now it’s up to Link to reassemble the Triforce and rescue Zelda.

The game that started the Zelda franchise doesn’t really have a plot other than rescue the princess.  Still, I do like that even when captured Zelda takes an active role in the game.  If it weren’t for her, the Triforce of Wisdom would have been in Ganon’s hands and Hyrule would have been doomed from the start.

You aimlessly wander around the map and try to find the Triforce pieces located in eight dungeons.  Then you go to Ganon’s tower for the final battle.  You can also find heart containers, various upgrades for items and destroy enemies to get health and rupees.

Be sure to visit a fairy if you’re low on health.  In all honesty, I don’t get how anyone found anything in this game before the days of strategy guides.  There’s no one telling you where you’re supposed to go unless you count the few hints given by old people.  Once you get the hang of it, you can’t stop playing.

Despite the confusing system, I absolutely love this game.  I give it 6 out of 10, a perfect beginning to the Legend of Zelda.