I know I am a bit late to the party, after all The Wind Waker was released over a decade ago, but after months of stopping and starting, I have finally beat the game. When it was first released in Europe back in 2003, I didn’t play The Wind Waker for a number of reasons. It was mainly due to the fact that I didn’t have a GameCube as a kid, but also because I had previously played through Ocarina of Time and Majoras Mask which had a darker edge, and the brighter and cartoon-like style of The Wind Waker didn’t appeal to me as much. A few years passed and when I finally got my hands on a Nintendo Wii, I played through Twilight Princess and loved the even darker tone that it had. So after playing through 3 dark Zelda games I thought The Wind Waker just wouldn’t be my thing… this was of course was not the case!

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Skip forward to last year, I finally got my hands on a Nintendo GameCube and through shear luck, a friend gave me his old copy of The Wind Waker. Over the years I had read many articles on how great a game it was and had been told by almost any gamer who talked about the game that it was a must play for any gamer. Now a few years older and a few years wiser (kind of), I decided it was time to see what all the fuss was about.

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I started playing The Wind Waker about half way through last year, but due to various distractions I only played it from time to time. A few weeks ago however, I decided that it was time to knuckle down and beat the game.

Anybody who has played through The Wind Waker will know of the notorious fetch quests towards the end. These require you to do a number of long arduous missions in search of triforce shards which are scattered across the map. When I started these fetch quests I thought they would take me an age to complete, and this again detoured me from playing the game to completion. After I got the first two shards however, the task at hand didn’t feel as daunting so I got stuck in and managed to collect them all within a few days. After I had my Triforce of courage it was time to face the evil Ganondorf and save Princess Zelda! The final fight wasn’t too difficult but fighting alongside Zelda to defeat Ganondorf made the battle that bit more special.

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Getting ready for the final battle.

So now, after years of missing out on this wonderful game, I have finally discovered how great it really is. I now love the brighter and cartoon-like style of the game, it brings a sense of innocence that takes me back to my childhood, sitting too close to the TV watching Saturday morning cartoons. Another element of the game I grew to love was Links facial expressions which had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion. Sailing across the open ocean, finding hidden treasures, the story line, the characters, the enemies, and now the artwork all made this game something special and one which I now regard as one of my favorite of all time.

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With Breath of The Wild just around the corner, I feel like expanding my Zelda experience and playing through some more Zelda titles that I have yet to complete. First on my list is the original Nes title The legend Of Zelda, a classic that I have played many times but have yet to complete, and now it is time.

Thanks for reading! Leave a comment and let me know what your favorite Zelda game is, and as always good luck on your journey along the retro road.

Naoise.

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