Posted January 9, 2015 So, I finally completed Wind Waker HD! I bought my Wii U last May and, for one reason or another, hardly touched it until recently. Within the last week, though, I decided it was finally time to give this game the attention it deserved. What can I say? Wind Waker HD is utterly, staggeringly good and totally renewed the love for the game I've had since 2003. I rejoined my playthrough after completing the first couple of dungeons, and set about reacquainting myself with the game world. Almost immediately, I encountered something that sums up why I'm so impressed with this game. On Dragon Roost Island, there is a block set high up in the vertical cliff. You know you can't get high enough to pull it from outside, and it seems very unlikely you could lower a platform to its level, so you deduce you must somehow get round the other side and push it out. One way or another, you must get to the block from the other side. So, you make your way around Dragon Roost Island - flying, fighting and jumping - until eventually you find a cave that takes you right through the core, and you can push the block out from inside. That right there is why I love Wind Waker - it's the most "3D" Zelda ever. Twilight Princess had a touch of this with Kakariko Village, but only Wind Waker constantly makes you think in three dimensions. Another thing is the physics. Every drape can be burnt, every wooden panel destroyed and every rock exploded. You can freeze things, or fire arrows imbued with Light. Combine this with the fact you can wield so many enemy weapons - Darknut swords (which you can knock down columns with), Moblin staffs, Bokoblin swords, even Phantom Ganon swords - and you have a Zelda with the ultimate sense of "play". My highlight this time through was the Earth Temple, using the Mirror Shield with Medli. Pulling out all the mirrors and bouncing the light off them/each other is just one of the most awesome puzzles in the whole Zelda series. On the flipside, my lowlight might actually have been the Wind Temple, as the central room is so vast and it's arguably less fun to work with Makar. In my opinion, this dungeon easily rivals OOT's Water Temple as the most confusing. So what about this specifically as a remake? Well, it's an astounding revision of the original game. The Swift Sail means you can get anywhere in no time and the Nintendo Gallery (Pictograph) quest has been made so much more convenient. I finally got all the figurines! My favourite addition, though - believe it or not - is the motion control! When using the Bow, Grappling Hook or Hookshot, a nudge from the gyroscope here and there makes things so much more intuitive. This is motion control done properly! Another addition is the ability to move whilst in first-person, whilst using many of the weapons too. It's no exaggeration to say you can play a lot of Wind Waker HD as an FPS! One thing that struck me is that Wind Waker is so hardcore. Back in the GameCube days, I think many of us saw it as significantly easier than OOT/MM. A couple of generations later, though, it's clear this game truly has more in common with the N64 era than the present day. The puzzles are challenging, knowing where to go can be very obscure and there are several tests of gameplay skill. Even the battles are not all pushovers. Significant aiming skill is required in some of them, especially Puppet Gannon. That's not to say Wind Waker HD is totally perfect. This time round, I actually began to understand why it's not everyone's cup of tea. There are so many sidequests and diversions, navigating the Great Sea (and therefore the whole game) could be seen as totally baffling by some, arguably breaking the pacing of the narrative. To many of us, though, this all part of why we love the experience. Goddess statues beaming light across the Sea, Hyrule Castle coming to life, Valoo roasting Ganondorf's Tower. Going back to find Princess Zelda, the ambush by Might Darknuts, breaking through the barrier and entering Hyrule. Getting the Light Arrows, the King of Hyrule's interjection, teaming up with Zelda to bounce the light back at Ganondorf. The more, I played Wind Waker HD, the more I loved it. By the end of the game, my adrenaline pumped as I stormed Ganondorf's hideaway, taking on all ranks of his army - Moblins, Darknuts... all the forces he had amassed! Flipping heck, the climb to the top of the room before the very final fight has such height and sense of scale, it rivals anything from Super Mario 64! All this and more is why, to me, Wind Waker has still not been bettered. It's the cream of the crop, a true height in quality that is hard to match, yet alone surpass. Remake or not, Wind Waker HD is a piece of software of staggering quality for the Wii U; and for me, still a true 10/10. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 10, 2015 I always claim Ocarina of Time to be my favourite Zelda game but I honestly feel that Wind Waker HD has pushed me to re-evaluate that view. It truly was amazing to play through the game again, particularly in glorious HD, and as much as I feel uneasy about giving such an accolade to a remake, it may well be the best game on Wii U up to this point Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 10, 2015 I always claim Ocarina of Time to be my favourite Zelda game but I honestly feel that Wind Waker HD has pushed me to re-evaluate that view. It truly was amazing to play through the game again, particularly in glorious HD, and as much as I feel uneasy about giving such an accolade to a remake, it may well be the best game on Wii U up to this point Oh yes, it's a thrill to know you're playing the first HD Zelda! Not only does it look great, it almost feels like it was designed in HD - how far you can see into the distance, for instance. Although it worked fine on GameCube, the high definition visuals give you so much more information about what's in the distance, which platforms you can land on etc. As much as I love OOT, and I really do, I feel it's showing its age a bit in terms of design. With Wind Waker, on the other hand, there are very, very few clues it was designed a couple of generations ago. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 10, 2015 It's funny, even as great as this game looks, I absolutely prefer the GC version visually. WWHD looks like a game whereas the original WW looks like a cartoon, the GC version is beauty that's second to none! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 10, 2015 It's funny, even as great as this game looks, I absolutely prefer the GC version visually. WWHD looks like a game whereas the original WW looks like a cartoon, the GC version is beauty that's second to none! It's strange how the shading drops off at times, too - eg. "You've got a piece of heart!" I don't know why it does that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 11, 2015 I decided to load this game up last night and have a little mess around, first time I played it on my new TV and thought I'd try turn the 3D option on see what it would look like. Added some great dept to the image, especially when on an island, Outset and Windfall came even more to life Took me ages to remember where I left that save file off in terms of objectives, then I remembered it was just before the final battle, so went and beat ol'Ganondorf again Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 14, 2015 Going through this again. So so good- going for all figurines this time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted August 30, 2015 Jeez, all those 50 levels of the labyrinth just for 'Hero's charm' Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
