The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap Review

Developer/Publisher: Nintendo/Capcom

ESRB Rating: E for Everyone

Reviewed by: bard

Overview:

+ GREAT gameplay reminiscent of classic Zelda titles.

+ Lots of fresh items, puzzles and moves.

+ Wonderful graphics and music.

+ Fulfilling and interesting game all-around.

- It's a bit too short.

Link's Tiny Adventure

The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap is a new 2D Zelda game for the Game Boy Advance, much in the same style as the SNES title A Link to the Past. Our hero travels through the world in top-down style gathering items like bombs, boomerangs and heart containers that allow a greater exploration of the land and an easier time fighting enemies. The game progresses very smoothly and introduces complex puzzles, multi-step treasures to uncover and loads of items to find. The overall progression is surprisingly well-balanced and caters to both veterans and beginners alike.

The story starts off innocently enough: Princess Zelda and the hero Link visit the annual Picori festival where the thumb-sized people pay their centennial visit. The winner of the swordsmen competition has the privilege of touching the ancient Picori sword, a relic that seals evil powers inside a treasure chest. The winner is a mysterious sorcerer named Vaati who, big surprise, breaks open the chest and releases monsters into the world. Oh, and did I mention he turns Zelda into stone? Bummer. Link is quick to hop to the rescue and sets off on his adventure.

The center of gameplay in Minish Cap revolves around, well, the Minish Cap. This hat gives Link the ability to change size at certain places, a move well-utilized by the developers at Capcom. Many areas can only be reached by changing sizes. Puddles of water or bumps in the ground become oceans and mountains. You'll look at your world in a different way as you traverse, hoping to find a tiny door or miniature path you can crawl through.

Shiny, Happy Bits

Link finds a host of new weapons along the way, but not at the expense of the old favorites. Bombs, boomerangs, swords and shields are his staple, but a Gust Jar and Picori Stick are two new items that stir things up quite a bit. There's just enough new-ness for fans of the series to regain their wide-eyed enthusiasm. Kudos to Capcom for pulling this off on a decades old franchise.

Dungeon design in The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap has also received a refreshing facelift. Puzzles are more creative and interesting. One forest dungeon has you rolling a gigantic barrel from the inside in order to match holes to find a way out. The difficulty has been pared down, but the fun is certainly there.

Also worth mentioning is the huge sub-quest of collecting and fusing Kinstones. Scattered throughout the land are over 100 Kinstone pieces of different shapes. Each time you meet someone, check to see if one of your pieces matches their piece. If they do, fuse them and see what kind of special things happen: treasures appear, rocks shift, golden enemies pop up, even beanstalks to the sky. This is a great addition that adds to the longevity of this relatively brief title.

Pretty Pictures

As far as the visual and audio package are concerned, Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap delivers exactly what you'd expect. Remixes of old favorites, mostly from the recent GameCube title Wind Waker, will sing in the background. The world of Hyrule is colorful and easy to see and surprisingly well-drawn.

Minish Cap is a real treasure for your Game Boy Advance collection. Not only will old fans shed a nostalgic tear, but fresh faces will get to taste the magic this series so wonderfully conveys. Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is a bright, challenging and well-balanced adventure. Pick it up and you'll find you won't be able to put it down.