Collection essentials #551: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC)

The first Legend of Zelda game for the new generation was hotly anticipated. And no one saw what was coming. Instead of evolving the same graphical style used in Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, the developers decided to give Wind Waker an entirely different and distinct look. The game’s graphics use “cel shading,” something that makes video games look more “cartoon-like.” It’s a very stylish choice, and one that really helps Wind Waker stand out.

The game’s opening story tells a legend of a great evil and a “hero of time” who appeared and defeated it, something that fans will recognize as the events of Ocarina of Time. Wind Waker takes place many years in the future, in which the great evil (Ganon) has returned again but this time without a hero to slay him. The world now completely different, as characters live on a series of islands amidst a vast ocean. 

The protagonist, another boy named Link, lives on one of these islands, and the plot gets moving when his sister is kidnapped by an evil creature and brought to the mysterious forsaken fortress. Link gets there with the help of some pirates. It’s not long before Link meets a sentient boat named “The King of Red Lions,” who tells him about Ganondorf and what kind of power Link will need to accumulate to defeat him.

Wind Waker features pretty much the same basic controls and gameplay elements of the previous two console Zelda games. There are some new things added, such as the ability to “parry” an incoming enemy attack with the right timing, something that has become very popular in gaming since then. There are also some objects that Link can pick up off the ground and fight with, such as long enemy spears.

The biggest difference in Wind Waker’s gameplay lies in exploration. Since Wind Waker is set in an ocean world filled with islands, players have to spend a lot of time sailing. Link has the ability to play his magic baton (the “Wind Waker”) to change the direction of the wind. Link has a map that the player can gradually fill in by summoning the cartographer fish of each island. It can be pretty addictive checking out each of the game’s islands to try and find what secrets they uncover. Some secrets require items that Link doesn’t get until later in the game, so it behooves the player to take notes about which islands they’ve visited with clearly-unsolved secrets.

Wind Waker released to critical acclaim, but was a bit of a controversial entry. It was, unfortunately, a game that contributed to Nintendo’s “image problem” as a perceived “kiddy company.” The previous two Zelda games had a failure mature tone to them. Especially Majora’s Mask, which was downright dark and dealt with themes of impending death. Going from that to this very bright, cartoony look really disappointed a lot of people. The game sold a few million copies, great numbers on paper, but they fell below Nintendo’s sales goals as the GameCube as a console failed to win back more of the market share that Sony had grabbed from them in the previous generation.

As a Nintendo kid who started his teenage years just a short time before Wind Waker’s release, I read about Wind Waker in Nintendo Power magazine and was totally psyched for it. The pre-order bonus of Ocarina of Time: Master Quest led me to place a pre-order for the first time in my life. This was the first time I’d be getting a brand new Zelda game right at launch, and I was pumped. And I wasn’t disappointed! I absolutely loved Wind Waker and played lots of it, mapping out every single island there was (though I didn’t 100% the whole game). I really dug the stylish new cel-shaded look, which is aged better than standard GameCube 3D graphics would have. The gameplay was awesome, and the story had some real memorable moments which impressed me. At the time, I was so into it that I named it my new favorite game of all-time. The copy shown in the photo is the very one that I pre-ordered and bought all those years ago. Back then I wasn’t great at figuring out video game puzzles, so I would regularly peek at a strategy guide while at game stores whenever I was stuck, without ever buying one!

Do I still consider it my favorite game? No. Wind Waker has some flaws, which you’ll often hear players point out. While the sailing is pretty cool, it can also be a hassle. Getting from place to place can feel tedious, boring and too long, especially early in the game when you have fewer means to get to places quickly. There’s also one particular mandatory “fetch quest” late in the game that’s rather infamous.

It’s hard for me to say where I’d rank Wind Waker among my favorite Zelda games. I don’t think I’d put it at the top, but that says more about how great the series is than it does about Wind Waker’s quality. It’s a must-play for anyone who likes Zelda games. The game received an HD version years later on a future Nintendo console, and that’s probably the best way to play the game now, but there is still merit to the original GameCube version, especially if you have a Game Boy Advance to connect for using a special item. Nowadays, the most accessible way to play the game on current hardware is via the Switch 2 with an online subscription, as it’s free to play for subscribers. 

I’ve beaten Wind Waker in some form twice. The first was obviously back the year it first released, and my original save file survives to this day. The second time was in the early 2020s, as I played the HD version in Spanish while I was learning the language.

Zelda is one of my favorite series, and Wind Waker is another magical entry that brings a lot of fond memories. It’s one of the GameCube’s most iconic titles and a quintessential essential in my collection.