The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube)
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The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
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| Publisher: | Nintendo |
| Developer: | Nintendo |
| Alternative Title: | Wind Waker (colloquial) |
| Release date: | JP: date/monthintext/year NA: date/monthintext/year EU: date/monthintext/year AU: date/monthintext/year |
| Genre: | Action Adventure |
| Number of Players: | 1 |
| Rating: | ESRB - ESRB-rating PEGI/ELSPA - PEGI-rating CERO - CERO-rating |
| Platform: |  Nintendo GameCube
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| Media: | mini-DVD |
| Online Functions: | No. But connectivity option with GBA |
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Description
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was the first Zelda title to be released for the Nintendo GameCube. The Zelda franchise is one of Nintendo's most popular franchises; therefore many of the innovations introduced were controversial.
The GameCube's superior graphical capabilities allowed Nintendo to use cel shading; ditching the style of Link's well recieved Spaceworld demonstration promped particular concern, preferring a representation of Link in a cartoon world threw many fans into hysteria, prompting online petitions. Elsewhere, the lengthy sailing sections (see Gameplay) caused many reviewers to give mixed reviews.
Despite being widely acknowledged as inferior to its predecessor The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker remains one of the GameCube's finest pieces of software.
Story
Like all Zelda games, The Wind Waker focuses on a protaganist named Link. However this game shifts the series towards a more sophisticated narrative.
When Link's sister is kidnapped, he must travel with a group of pirates to save her. This ultimately leads to much adventure.
Gameplay
The Wind Waker follows the set pattern of gameplay established by previous games in the series. Taking the form of a pseudo action RPG, The Wind Waker gives little attention to its story, instead focusing on the completion of dungeons. Played from a third person perspective, the player guides Link past each dungeons puzzles and enemies, with iconic weapons such as the Master Sword and Boomerang.
The 'Wind Waker' of the title refers to a magical conducor's baton Link gains early on in the game. It allows him to control the winds, enabling him to steer his boat and solve puzzles.
Overworld
After its graphical innovation, perhaps the most original feature of The Wind Waker is its overworld. Consisting of islands scattered throughout a vast ocean. Link sails between these in his boat, the Red Lion. Despite offering the player huge freedom, this was often criticized in the media. Many claim that the size of the overworld was exploited, forcing the player to backtrack in a cynical attempt to increase the length of the game.
Review Scores
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is widely accepted to be one of the finest games of the current generation of consoles.
Scores:
- Nintendo Official Magazine: 10/10
- Edge: 9/10
Trivia
- The launch of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was accompanied by a release on the GameCube of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, along with a 'remixed' version of that game (subtitled "Master Quest"). Americans received this bonus disc in a seperate box if they preordered the title. Conversely, the bonus disc was included in the initial release of PAL titles, which had "limited edition" on the front cover.
External links
Screenshots
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Credits
Executive Producer Satoru Iwata
Producers Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka
Director Eiji Aonuma
Script & Event Planning Mitsuhiro Takano, Hajime Takahashi
System Director Shigeo Kimura
Assistant Directors Yasuyuki Oyagi, Kimiharu Hyodo, Toshihiro Kawabata, Isao Moro, Kentaro Tominaga, Taku Matoba, Yoichi Yamada, Kenta Usui, Yoshiaki Koizumi
GBA Planning Toshiaki Suzuki
Design Managers Yoshiki Haruhana, Satoru Takizawa, Masanao Arimoto
Character Design Ryuji Kobayashi, Yoshiyuki Oyama, Keisuke Nishimori, Yo Ohnishi, Koji Takahashi, Daisuke Kageyama
Map Design Shinichi Ikematsu, Hiromasa Shikata, Hirotake Ohtsubo, Yoshihisa Morimoto, Koji Kitagawa, Akito Osanai, Yuu Kudo, Kanae Kobata, Eiji Mukao
3D Animation Kimihiro Ozaki, Takahiro Nishigaki, Chikako Nishizaki, Takashi Yamaguchi
Screen Design Takahiro Hamaguchi, Satoshi Furukawa
Effect Design Yusuke Akifusa, Haruyasu Ito
Music Kenta Nagata, Hajimi Wakai, Toru Minegishi, Koji Kondo
Demo Design Takumi Kawagoe, Naoki Mori, Hiroyasu Kuwabara, Shunsuke Makita
Programming Directors Toshio Iwawaki, Kazuaki Morita
Player Programming Hiroshi Umemiya
Main System Programming Kenzo Hayakawa, Yuhiki Otsuki, Kunihiro Komatsu
Game System Programming Makoto Sasaki, Kenji Matsutani
Camera Programming Masatoshi Ogawa
Enemy Programming Takamitsu Kuzuhara, Takafumi Noma
2D Programming Atsushi Sakaguchi, Shigeki Yoshida, Nobuo Okajima
NPC Programming Nobuhiro Sumiyoshi, Atsushi Nishiwaki, Yoshitaka Takeshita, Satoru Takahata, Nobuhiko Sadamoto
Object Programming Masaro Sakakibara, Kouji Sakai, Eiji Nishikawa, Masaru Nii, Hiromichi Miyake, Gentaro Takaki
GBA Programming Shigehiro Kasamatsu, Yukari Suzuki
Programming Support Yuichi Yamamoto
Sound Effect Programming Masafumi Kawamura, Taiju Suzuki, Takahiro Watanabe
Tool Design/Programming Yasunari Nishida, Masato Kimura, Yasuhiro Kawaguchi, Hirohito Yoshimoto, Yoshinori Tanimoto, Takashi Endoh, Tetsuya Sasaki, Yasuki Tawaraishi, Toshikazu Kiuchi, Yusuke Kurahashi, Hiroyuki Koono, Tatsuro Ota, Kei Miyamoto, Yohei Fujino, Masahiro Nitta
Library Programming Hiroto Yada, Hajime Nakamura, Eiichi Shirakawa, Motoi Okamoto
Sound Library Programming Taro Bando, Yoji Inagaki, Hideaki Shimizu, Yasushi Ida, Mitsuhiro Hikino, Toru Asakawa
Technical Support Masahiro Imaizumi
Voice Sachi Matsumoto, Hikari Tachibana, Takashi Nagasako, Eiji Maruyama, Osamu Hosoi, Hironori Miyata, Takeharu Ohnishi, Asami Imai, Chiaki Takahashi
Progress Management Keizo Kato, Shinya Takahashi
Debug Support Hironobu Kakui, Yoshito Yasuda
North American Localization Richard Amtower, Nathan Bihldorff, Reiko Ninomiya, Tim O'Leary, William Trinen
Localization Management Leslie Swan, Jeff Miller
NOA Engineering Debug Team Scott Callahan, Paul Rush, Dan Simpson, Tim Casey, Miho Hattori, Christine Zumwalt, Andrew Becraft, Robert Crombie, Yoshinobu Mantani, Raychole L'Anett
Supervisors Tadashi Sugiyama, Hideki Konno, Toshihiko Nakago
Special Thanks Takaya Imamura, Tomoaki Kuroume, Takeshi Hosono, Hiromu Takemura, Satomi Maekawa, Noriko Ikegawa, Kazumi Yamaguchi, Jun Takamura, Aya Sumimoto, Shinko Takeshita, Atsushi Miyagi, Kenta Motokura, Akiko Hirono, Yoshihiro Matsushima, Tomomi Iwasaki, Tsuyoshi Watanabe, Shigeki Yoshida, Yasuyo Yamamoto, Akira Ito, Naoki Takami, Junya Hanai, Super Mario Club, ARTSVISION Co. Ltd., SRD Co. Ltd.
editThe Legend of Zelda | The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link | The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) | The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (GB) | The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (GBC) | The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC) | The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC) | The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time | The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask | The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube) | The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA) | The Legend of Zelda: Collectors' Edition (GameCube) | The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GameCube) | The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess | The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
