The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (Wii U) Review *Moderate Spoilers*

I really enjoyed my time with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD in a way that makes me regret frequently bashing on the original Twilight Princess for so many years. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely still have notable criticisms of the core game, but Twilight Princess is undeniably a great adventure. Besides some questionable bug-hunting scenarios in the game’s first half, its main quest is near perfectly-paced and is simply one compelling venture after another, full of atmospheric dungeons to explore and monstrous bosses to take down. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the game peels back a new layer and hidden pockets of the world reveal themselves. Its music, its varied bestiary, its quirky characters, and its large yet focused world all have a high level of special care and attention paid to them, and its mechanics and feel of play is snappy and satisfying. It’s not one of my favorite Zelda games, fairly far from it in fact, and to me it’s not one of the more special or stand-out games in the series, but it’s a grand quest that has been carefully crafted, and one that I always enjoy undertaking.

My biggest criticism of Twilight Princess used to be how derivative and redundant it feels. Right from the get go, it was conceived as a “true successor” to Ocarina of Time and a service to fans displeased with The Wind Waker, and therefore the game has always had a bit of a sour aftertaste for me, given just how much I admire the series’ daring creativity in following up Ocarina with Majora’s Mask and The Wind Waker and how brilliant I feel those games are. While the game’s legacy in this regard is still a sore subject for me, I’ve gained a better appreciation for the familiar world and callback nature of Twilight Princess over the years, and in my recent playthrough of TPHD, I openly embraced this side of the game more than I ever have before. The game makes it clear that this is the same world that we adventured through in OoT, but great attention has been made to show how it has developed and changed. Magic is a thing of the past and Hyrule has largely embraced technology. This is fitting with the narrative actually, which deals with dastardly magic-wielders who were imprisoned ages ago for misusing their power, and I get the impression that, either figuratively or literally, magic is outlawed in this particular incarnation of Hyrule. Link’s own arsenal reflects this: instead of using magical fire and ice arrows, he constructs more pragmatic “bomb arrows”, and instead of magic spells and wands, he uses a high-tech gear to glide across walls, a no-nonsense ball and chain, and a more realistic-looking Hookshot than ever before. The game’s most “magical” item is probably the Dominion Rod, but even this is some sort of ambiguous mix of science and magic.

Basically, although they largely contain the same locations, TP’s world actually feels much different than OoT’s, and it’s neat to see how that world has evolved. Kakariko Village is now straight out of the American Wild West and has a decidedly industrial feel to it; the Gorons now wear clothing, have a culture centered around sumo wrestling, and use gigantic magnets to mine ore; Castle Town has grown into a bustling city, complete with a medical clinic and a ritzy shop reserved for the upper class. As one further ventures into Hyrule’s historic landscape, echoes of the past begin to reveal themselves. The most magical area in the whole game is hidden deep within the forest and that is exactly what it feels like: an echo, a distant memory of a more enchanted past. It was in this area where it particularly hit me that Twilight Princess is a cleverer Ocarina follow-up than I’d previously thought, and the “magic” that I’ve long felt the game was lacking in comparison to that N64 classic might be quite intentionally absent…and that’s actually quite brilliant in its own way. While I still don’t exactly want to be paying Kakariko Village and Zora’s Domain a visit in every new Zelda game, I’ve grown to appreciate what Twilight Princess accomplishes, and my initial disappointment in the world’s overt familiarity has long since worn off and been replaced with an admiration for how this artfully-crafted world has been constructed.

My biggest criticism with Twilight Princess these days is actually its central narrative, which is unfortunately plagued with examples of poor storytelling and shallow attempts to be something “dark” and “deep”. Whereas many previous Zelda games contained a fairly straightforward and simple plot on the surface with deeper themes embedded in the details, Twilight Princess goes about things a bit less subtly and attempts a more overtly complex tale, utterly tripping all over itself in the process. The situation is dire in the game’s compelling early sections, but the whole intriguing premise of an eerie otherworldly force slowly turning Hyrule into a netherworld full of bizarre monsters and its citizens into spirits terrified to leave their homes completely falls apart as soon as Link enters Hyrule Castle Town for the first time and finds that its citizens are simply living out their lives as normal, with the only hardship being a water shortage that people are only marginally concerned about. One guard standing in a corner exclaims “I’m so bored…” when you listen to him as Wolf Link. Dissipating the Twilight from this area literally changes nothing except for the fact that Castle Town’s citizens are no longer ghosts. This is very poor storytelling and it all but shatters the game’s eerie atmosphere in the early bits. A compelling series of events at the mid-game notwithstanding, the central narrative all but falls off a cliff in the game’s second half when the game’s antagonist decides to take a vacation until the finale, but not before supposedly encasing Hyrule Castle in a giant golden diamond that’s supposed to be threatening I guess? There’s just no narrative impetus at this point, and the game turns into an adventure for the sake of an adventure.

Perhaps that’s not the worst thing in the world though, as these later bits contain some of the best scenarios in the game and one tends to forget why they’re doing any of it simply because they just can’t wait to see where the game will take them next, from making soup with Yetis far off in the snowy mountains to absconding to a City in the Sky ruled by nightmarish chicken people. Though the whole affair largely lacks the narrative cohesion and context of many other Zelda games, by the time the credits role after an epic finale, one really feels as though they’ve been on a satisfying adventure. The narrative isn’t all bad as well and certainly has its strengths. While I wish there was a bit more to it, the Twili have a fairly compelling backstory and Midna has a decently compelling character arc (plus, her and Wolf Link are just really cute together). Besides this, the many subplots are often what shine brightest in terms of TP’s storytelling, from touching moments with the timid Colin, to the notably emotional story of Rutela and her son, to Link’s adventures with the aforementioned Yetis, one of my favorite sections in any Zelda game. This is to say nothing of the Hero’s Shade character, a facet that I’ve always loved, as well as a memorably subtle narrative moment during the endgame involving a certain resilient enemy that has hounded Link the whole game. If nothing else, Twilight Princess has heart, but on the whole its main narrative is the kind that is entertaining the first time through the game, but simply doesn’t hold up under scrutiny or subsequent playthroughs, and lacks the depth and lasting appeal of previous titles like Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker. Having lots of flashy cutscenes, copious amounts of dialogue, and being “cinematic” doesn’t necessarily equal good storytelling in a video game, and Twilight Princess, for me, serves as a sterling example of this compared to its predecessors. There’s much more I could say here, like how laughable and silly the game’s frequent attempts to be “cool” and “edgy” are, but suffice to say Twilight Princess has an ambitious narrative with some high points and some very low points, but is unfortunately too sloppily-delivered to reach true greatness.

All of this is praise and criticism I could apply to the GameCube and Wii Versions of Twilight Princess, but we are talking about Twilight Princess HD here, so let’s talk about what’s new, and whether or not this is a worthy remaster. The most obvious and strongest aspect of TPHD is…well…the HD. More specifically, the developers did some fine texture work here, and this crisp new look shines a new light on the game’s detailed world, illuminating every moss-covered stone and Hylian letter. This remaster proves that TP deserved an HD remaster just as much as The Wind Waker, if not even more so since the original didn’t age as gracefully on a technical level. I have always loved the art direction in Twilight Princess: that strange otherworldly glow at night, the bizarre creature and character designs, and its bright green fields under perfect blue skies. Taking a walk through Castle Town really demonstrates how much more vibrant the world feels in TPHD, and this game’s artfully-crafted world deserved to be appreciated on modern televisions. If nothing else, this remaster makes a decently compelling case for that “realistic” Zelda game that many pine for. My qualms with the game’s visual makeover are few, but I do have some: some textures could have been a little more cleaned up and some graphics were oddly taken out, like distant bluffs in Kakariko Village. Also, the lighting seems a little off in some sections and the game’s signature “atmospheric glow” (aka bloom) has been muted somewhat, which I found fine for most of the game but this does take away some of the surreality of the Twilight sections and especially the late-game Palace of Twilight area, which has lost a lot of its visual luster in this version. While I’ve yet to go back and directly compare to the original, I found the look of the game to be mostly faithful on the whole though. Overall the texture and resolution work cleans up and polishes Twilight Princess’s Hyrule and lets the game’s creative and beautiful art direction truly shine.

Besides the visual makeover (which the game’s screenshots and trailers really don’t do justice), several smart tweaks have greatly improved the overall play experience here, each in their own small way, with only a few questionable outliers. Many animations have been made faster or streamlined somehow, alleviating some of the most tedious aspects of the original: Link no longer takes a decade to climb up vines and transforming into a wolf and back is now only a tap on the touchscreen away. The game’s infamous rupee problem has been thankfully copiously addressed: no more rupee reminders every time one turns the game on (thank the goddesses), rupees no longer get thrown back into an unopened chest when they don’t fit in Link’s wallet, and all of the wallet upgrades have grown in size (though perhaps still not as much as they should have). In addition, fifty new collectible “stamps” for use in Miiverse posts have been scattered throughout the world, giving the player something new to find instead of another purple rupee, though I do wish more effort was put into integrating them into the game’s world. It can be quite jarring to be exploring an ancient crypt only to open a chest and stumble upon the “Surprised Midna” stamp. The reward for collecting all of the stamps is also a big spoiler for those who have never finished Twilight Princess before. What is neat though is that there is a stamp for every letter in this game’s Hylian alphabet, making it easier than ever to read the Hylian liberally featured throughout the world on signs, in dungeons, on monuments, and so on. There is also a new “Ghost Lantern” item that makes the Poe Soul-collecting quest easier to manage, and the game even adds Poe counters to each area and to dungeons, just like Ocarina of Time had with the Golden Skulltulas.

Of course, the game makes use of the GamePad in a similar way to The Wind Waker HD as well, though not quite as adeptly as that game did due to some unfortunately awkward interface issues. Having all of Link’s many gadgets and items always at the ready between one’s hands is as convenient as ever, but I found myself almost never using the map on the GamePad’s screen in TPHD. This is partly due to the fact that the world map in Twilight Princess is a lot less important than the one in The Wind Waker, but is also simply because I’d rather view the maps on my big TV screen rather than squint down at the GamePad. Unfortunately and frustratingly, however, the map can not be scrolled on the TV screen with the right analog stick (which uselessly copies the function of the left stick) and the designers force the player to use the touchscreen to scroll the map. Switching to bomb arrows also probably could have been less awkward, as in order to do so one needs to pause the game, tap on the bombs on the GamePad, hit a button to combine them with the bow and arrows, and then unpause, which totally breaks the flow of the experience and defeats the whole purpose of having the items readily available on the touchscreen in the first place. Similar to Wolf Link, why couldn’t there just be a quick “combine” button somewhere on the touchscreen?

Besides this, there are some other additions and tweaks that I’m mostly indifferent to. I appreciate the ability to use gyro motion control for aiming and some other functions, as well as the option to aim either in first or third person, and in my opinion this includes basically the only worthwhile unique feature of the Wii Version of Twilight Princess compared to the GameCube version in this package. Still, I almost always played with the motion controls off as these days I more and more appreciate the consistent accuracy of sticks and buttons. It should be noted that in order to walk around freely in first-person, the player needs to hold down the “ZL” trigger, unlike in Skyward Sword and The Wind Waker HD, which is odd. There are less Tears of Light to collect in the first half’s Twilight sections, though this ultimately doesn’t change too much since one still has to traverse basically the same ground; there are just a few less bugs to squash along the way. Still, if someone wants to just blow through these sections (which are easily the weakest in the game in my eyes, despite an interesting atmosphere and some good narrative moments) as quickly as possible, this will shave some time. Finally, there is the Wolf Link amiibo included with the physical version of the game (the other Legend of Zelda amiibo can also be used, but as I don’t own any of them, I won’t be talking about their functionality…it’s pretty shallow anyway). Wolf Link basically serves two purposes: it can be used as a “quick start” at the title screen to immediately jump into a save file, and it can transport Link and Midna to the new “Cave of Shadows” mini-dungeon. Similar to the new stamps, I’m disappointed that zero effort was put into organically integrating this new area into the world, but nevertheless it’s a decently challenging and decently well-designed new bonus, even if the way it is set up is a bit annoying. It contains three sections that unlock at certain milestones over the course of the main game and previous sections need to be redone to get through the whole thing. The ultimate reward is a new “Colossal Wallet” that holds 9,999 rupees, which I found to be laughably useless considering how late it is that the game first lets you acquire it. While I was iffy at first about locking a section of the game behind an amiibo, ultimately the Cave of Shadows is basically just a Wolf Link-exclusive “Cave of Ordeals” aka enemy gauntlet, and is something completely extraneous that can be easily ignored without missing out on too much.

Twilight Princess HD is overall a very solid remaster, but while amiibos can be ignored, several notable shortcomings cannot. The only tweak that I really have a big issue with is the change made to horseback riding control, which feels notably stiffer and more awkward. Riding Epona across the vast fields of Hyrule is one of my favorite aspects of the Twilight Princess experience, and I almost always prefer galloping to my destination and taking in the breadth of the world over instantly warping. While I eventually more or less adjusted to the new controls, getting there was a trial as I struggled to make turns effectively and frequently bashed straight into walls. I still mostly enjoyed this aspect of the game, but even up until the end something just felt off. This change brings to mind the tweaks that were made to the Zora swimming in Majora’s Mask 3D, and while those were far more detrimental to that experience than the horse controls are here, I really just have to scratch my head and truly believe that Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma and the people who work on these remakes and remasters really need to take the old adage of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” to heart. It’s quite frustrating to me that what I feel to be two of the most fluid and enjoyable mechanics in the whole Zelda series have now been mucked up in both of their games’ respective remakes. I’ve also heard that the swimming controls were altered in TPHD as well, but hardly noticed and luckily had no issues with them.

My biggest issue with Twilight Princess HD though is actually probably its omissions and several things that weren’t tweaked. It’s irritating that fluid mechanics like the horseback riding that needed no altering were messed with, while some areas of control that really could have used some tweaks, like the wonky flying and snowboarding mechanics as well as Wolf Link’s slow and clunky-feeling movement, were left unaltered (as far as I can tell anyway). Likewise, I’m a bit disappointed that the music seems to be mostly untouched after The Wind Waker HD at least got a few remastered songs. If any of the music was remastered or altered, I didn’t notice, except for maybe the ending credits theme. While on the subject of music, it’s a shame that the enemy battle theme still drowns out Midna’s Lament, which really kills the mood during that pivotal scene. I have some other minor quibbles, like the terrible Magic Armor item being exactly the same piece of garbage as it was before, and also the weird fact that they got rid of the great cinematic that used to play after the title screen, but my personal biggest peeve and what I feel is a really glaring omission is the inability to remove most or all of the heads-up display elements on the game’s main screen. An uncluttered HUD has been an option or simply the default in every Zelda game since 2011’s Skyward Sword, including The Wind Waker HD, and I find it odd and worrisome that it was forgotten here, especially since I almost always appreciate such a feature in games.

Besides these issues, Twilight Princess HD is notably unpolished for a Nintendo title. There’s nothing game-breaking or anything, but I consistently encountered glitches and examples of poor coding throughout my experience with the game. Grass glitching out, a totally immobile enemy, a frequently stuttering camera, movement control occasionally getting wonky, and the “ZR” button randomly and very annoyingly sword slicing instead of shield bashing on a quite frequent basis are some of the issues I encountered. In addition, I happened to notice enemies floating in the sky over the places where they were set to spawn in a few instances and perhaps most glaringly of all was when I turned the camera while looking out a window in a certain dungeon, only to find that I could see the entire next section of the dungeon floating in a white void outside the window, a particularly sloppy and inexcusable flaw that I can’t imagine someone missed. I also noticed some framerate stuttering that I don’t remember being present in the original in a few sections, such as in Zora’s Domain. Granted, I happened upon a few technical issues (including slowdown) in The Wind Waker HD as well, but not nearly as many as I encountered here. Perhaps some of these issues were present in the GameCube and Wii versions of the game, but I have never noticed any of them or any other glitches or bugs in my countless playthroughs of the GameCube version and one playthrough of the Wii version.

Due to these technical issues, some strange omissions, and overall perhaps not as many alterations as there could have been (and one notably negative alteration), Twilight Princess HD is overall an inferior remaster job to The Wind Waker HD, but it’s still very solid and I’m glad it exists, mainly for the new visual polish it brings to the game. Simply playing through TP this particular time has made me find a new appreciation for the game and in this playthrough more than ever I’ve focused on what I really love about this experience, and this is perhaps in no small part due to the remastered visuals and the handful of smart tweaks that streamline the game and fix some of its annoying little quirks. Despite my qualms with the narrative and some other factors, there’s a lot I love about this game. I’ve replayed Twilight Princess many times in part because I am always looking to find some new epiphany with the game; to see something in it that I haven’t before. While I’ve gradually grown to appreciate the game more and more over the years (and admittedly have also just found more to criticize), I feel as though with this most recent playthrough of Twilight Princess HD, I’ve finally found what I’ve been looking for. I’ll always have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with the game, but as I’ve run out of things to criticize over time, I’ve only noticed more and more the strengths of this flawed masterpiece, like its atmosphere, its well-constructed main quest, its excellent dungeons, its beautiful world, its strong art direction, its varied monsters and characters, its more unique and creative elements, its crisp mechanics, and even the comforting pleasures of a traditional Zelda adventure that doesn’t break the mold too much. I don’t much like the term “definitive”, but even despite the bugs and some other small gripes, Twilight Princess HD makes enough smart design tweaks and effectively polishes the visuals enough that I’d at least call this the best version of the game, and the one I’m likely to default to playing in the future.

Changes I’d Like to See in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

Another Ze-make announced, another leak confirmed. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD is on its way to Wii U next spring, and I’m personally hoping that a Wolf Link and Midna amiibo isn’t the only novelty this new version will be boasting. At first glance, the visual makeover TP is getting seems to pale in comparison to the transformation that The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker underwent with its HD counterpart, but upon closer inspection, the visuals have certainly been cleaned up to a large degree and it looks like the game will be boasting at least much sharper textures if not entirely redone ones. TWWHD looks so notably beautiful in this modern day and age simply because its art is much better suited to the HD remaster treatment and has aged so gracefully, and Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma alluded to that very notion around the time of the HD remaster’s release. The lighting changes and added bloom also had a purpose when implemented in TWWHD, which was to capture the mood of the bright, sunny ocean setting, whereas TPHD may not have any use for similar drastic alterations. Similar to TWWHD, TPHD will not be a full remake like the 3DS Zelda remakes, but rather an HD remaster with hopefully a few tweaks here and there. Whereas my love and respect for the original experiences that The Wind Waker and Majora’s Mask provide made me wary of the changes being made to those games for their reintroductions, I don’t have the same kind of fondness for Twilight Princess and I’ll happily welcome some changes to TP that might differentiate it from the original and smooth out the experience.

I’ve thought up some alterations that I think have a realistic chance of being applied to TPHD. Again, this isn’t a full remake, so I don’t expect anything to the extent of the changes in Majora’s Mask 3D, for example. With this in mind, thinking up this list was a bit tricky because even though it sits at the lower end of my personal Zelda totem pole, Twilight Princess is actually a very polished game and there aren’t actually that many basic changes I can think to make. Most of my major quantifiable issues with Twilight Princess (and trust me, there are a lot) are baked into the DNA of the game and not the kind of thing you can just twist with a wrench a few times like Nintendo did with some aspects of The Wind Waker. That said, here are some of the tweaks I’d happily welcome when I experience this new version of Twilight Princess next spring.

GamePad Functionality

I’ll get the obvious one out of the way first, and going by the currently available screenshots and footage of the game, this stuff is all but totally confirmed anyway. It seems the game’s primary control scheme will be the GamePad, and so I fully expect the same kind of wonderfully-implemented functionality that TWWHD saw to be on display here: things like inventory and map management being on the second screen and gyroscopic aiming, which is honestly perfect because the motion-controlled aiming of the Wii version of Twilight Princess is the only aspect of that version I prefer to the otherwise superior GameCube release, so the HD version is poised to be the definitive version for me control-wise (although nothing quite beats the feel of the GameCube controller for me). As a side note, I’m very pleased to see that the HD version is being modeled after the GameCube version’s world map, so no mirror-world here like in the Wii version. Since I am far, far more familiar with the GameCube version (and also other factors like the world’s layout being more consistent with past Zelda games and also containing Hylian text that is based on the English alphabet and that is very readable if it’s not mirrored), I’m perfectly fine with this just being the way the game is, but an ability to swap between the mirror map and the standard one would be fine as well.

Camera and Miiverse Functionality

Taking another nod from The Wind Waker HD (there’s going to be a lot of that here), it’d be great if the Picto Box was introduced to Twilight Princess for this HD version (it was absent in the original game) and some kind of similar Miiverse functionality was also implemented. There’s no figurine quest or anything of the like in TP, but I’d still love to be able to photograph characters and scenery in TP’s world and share them on Miiverse (of course, I can also just do that by taking screenshots with the Home Button). Twilight Princess is actually fairly steeped in lore if you’re a hardcore fan of the series like me, and there’s a fair amount of food for theorizing in the game, so being able to share discoveries and discuss them online would be neat. Of course, if something akin to the figurine quest or maybe just the ability to photograph people and monsters in the world and get a short bio on them could be implemented, that would be most welcome. Twilight Princess is really lacking in any kind of feature like that compared to the other 3D Zelda games, so this remaster would be the perfect opportunity to remedy that and flesh out the game’s world. Even if nothing this ambitious is added, TP still has some of the most interesting architecture and lore in the series and the sharper textures will make studying features like the designs on the walls of the Temple of Time and the aforementioned readable Hylian text throughout the game a new pleasure, and being able to snap, save, and share some pictographs would make this even more enjoyable.

Refine Wolf Link

This is perhaps a more ambitious hope. Link’s wolf form may be the most underdeveloped “unique mechanic” in the entire Zelda series and it seems like an afterthought added to the game in order to give Twilight Princess a big unique feature to make it stand-out from other Zelda titles, something that it otherwise lacks. While overhauling Wolf Link entirely would call for a redesign of the whole game and is obviously not what I would expect, I think some minor tweaks here and there could at least make dashing around and fighting as the clunky lug a smoother experience. Instead of having to constantly hammer a button to make the otherwise sluggish beast dash in short bursts, just having the option to press or hold down a button once to run would be grand. Perhaps an even better choice might be to handle wolf-running the way it works in the far superior wolf simulator, Okami, where Wolf Link would start out at a measured gait and then gradually burst into a full sprint if the analog stick contained to be held forward. Also, please for the love of Din smooth out wolf combat, so enemies don’t fall down after one strike and invulnerably lie there for half a day before getting up and letting Link chew on them again. Whenever I play the original game, I have to resort to using Midna’s charge-up one hit kill attack in every single combat encounter in wolf form because fighting the normal way is just so bloody tedious.

Besides just overall touching up the way Wolf Link feels to play, maybe the bug-hunting sections where the beast gets the most action could be streamlined somehow as well. While I don’t hate these sections, mainly because of the atmosphere present in them, I find them far more tiresome personally than the Triforce shard hunt in The Wind Waker (which I never actually found tiresome at all, but I can see why people don’t like it), so if they tweaked that for TWWHD, maybe they can find a way to make some changes here. I’m not saying that the two sections are really all that equitable, just that they are both oft-maligned aspects of their respective games. I’m not exactly sure how they could alter the bug-hunting parts to make them feel less like a chore, and to be fair it would probably be harder to do than the rather simple and clever way they tweaked the Triforce hunt, but perhaps just something as simple as shortening them somehow to make the whole affair less drawn out so I can get back to dungeon-crawling and sword-slashing as human Link would be acceptable.

Rupees are so Annoying in this Game

You can never fit them in your tiny wallet. Link puts them back into a chest when he can’t hold them (which, again, is always), so a closed chest remains, forever mocking you and possibly even confusing you on a dungeon map. And of course, the game just loves to tell you how much each of these suckers is worth. Again. And again. And again. Every time you turn on the game. How to fix this? First off, just have a huge wallet from the start like in A Link Between Worlds (and swap out the wallet upgrade prizes from Agitha with some heart pieces or something; they did this kind of “reward-swapping” in TWWHD in some areas so there’s no reason it can’t be done here). At the very least increase the max number of rupees Link can hold; I’ve never understood why the largest wallet in TP can still only hold one-thousand rupees (not to mention you’re likely to get the largest wallet late in the game if at all) when Majora’s Mask had a freakin’ bank and The Wind Waker’s rupee max was five-thousand, especially considering just how many rupees Link finds in Twilight Princess. Next, ditch the “rupee saving” mechanic, or at least mark an already-opened rupee chest on the map with a rupee symbol. Finally, and obviously, for the love of Farore just get rid of the rupee reminders. I KNOW HOW MUCH A BLUE RUPEE IS WORTH DAMMIT. 

Seriously, this game and its rupees.

Selective Redone/Orchestrated Music

Taking yet more inspiration from The Wind Waker’s HD remaster, it would be great if selected tracks from Twilight Princess’s score were remastered and in some cases orchestrated. I’m not asking for the entire soundtrack to be redone, but merely given a similar treatment as in TWWHD, with selected songs being redone and in TPHD’s case, hopefully orchestrated. I’m not someone who believes all music in the Zelda series should be orchestrated and I firmly believe digital music (and other forms of music) still has a place, but Twilight Princess perhaps more than any other Zelda game begs to have a large portion of its soundtrack orchestrated, especially the (and I use this word properly) epic Hyrule Field theme (which already has an official orchestral version out there, so there’s really no excuse not to include at least that version or if not, do a new version).

Better Difficulty Balance

Twilight Princess has a great variety of fierce-looking beasties. Unfortunately, rarely do they ever pose an actual threat to the incredibly overpowered Link. Now, personally I don’t play Zelda games for difficulty, but some level of challenge and real opposition in the hero’s quest is appreciated, especially in regards to bosses. Twilight Princess has some wonderful dungeons and along with these tantalizing labyrinths are some very memorable boss encounters. But they’re all piss easy. Mainly this has to do with the strategy involved in taking them down often being pathetically obvious and extremely formulaic. It’s sometimes tough to really feel like a hero when these massive creatures’ menacing appearance is so betrayed by how easily Link stomps on them. With this in mind, I don’t expect completely redesigned encounters like in Majora’s Mask 3D (hopefully if that were the case, they’d be more well thought-out than in that game though), but I think monsters, bosses, and obstacles dealing a bit more damage to Link would go a long way. Of course, this probably won’t happen and the developers will likely just slap a “hero mode” on TPHD and call it a day, which is fine, but it’d be nice if there was something in-between “barely any challenge at all” and “hero mode”. For all its pretense of being “edgy” and “dark”, TP is one of the easiest and least threatening games in the series, so a little more difficulty might at least be in keeping with what the game is going for. And for Nayru’s sake, please take out the hearts and fairies in the final battle’s arena; Skyward Sword got it right in this regard.

Other Assorted Changes

Some other assorted changes I wouldn’t mind seeing: acquire the Horse Call item earlier or make Horse Grass way more common; perhaps too much to ask, but some smoother animations on characters, especially facial animations and especially Link’s facial animations; make the Magic Armor worth a damn or replace it with a better secret item as a reward for what is essentially TP’s only substantial side-quest (that’s not a collectathon at least); and lastly don’t restrict Link’s movement and actions indoors. This last one is something that started in Twilight Princess and continued in Skyward Sword and it is one of my biggest pet peeves about “modern Zelda”. Please get rid of it; it is so awkward and jarring and hurts the sense of freedom that is part of what makes Zelda games special.

I’ll end with just one more hope I have for Twilight Princess HD, which is, largely unlike its original release, I hope it surprises me. Whether it’s a brand new feature or area added, or just some unexpected and clever changes or additions that I hadn’t thought of, I hope there’s something in here that catches me off guard, in a good way. I’ve played through the original Twilight Princess a lot (the GameCube version, particularly), and speaking as someone who doesn’t care too much about the integrity of the original experience, something to mix things up would definitely be appreciated on my part.

The Mysterious Nature of Link’s Awakening

I posted this piece to a Zelda forum a while back, but after recently playing through the original black and white Link’s Awakening (I’d previously only ever played the Game Boy Color “DX” version), I thought I’d revisit these thoughts and expand on them. Heavy spoilers for Link’s Awakening are in the latter half of this post, but I’ll warn you beforehand when we get there, as well as put a marker where the spoilers end.

The first Legend of Zelda game I ever played and completed was The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX for the Game Boy Color. I remember my older brother showed me the original black and white version of Link’s Awakening and simply said something like, “This is Zelda.” I recall looking over his shoulder and watching him fight Moblins in the Mysterious Woods (from that day on, I would never, ever forget that music). I was immediately intrigued. I picked up the newer, color version of the game and dived in. I spent so much time just being enthralled at how you could cut grass and practiced doing a spin-attack to cut as much grass as possible in Mabe Village, where this adventure begins.

Link’s Awakening has a mysterious nature that I still can’t quite accurately describe to this day. The special, surreal feeling that this game exudes has remained unique to it even all these years, and many other games, later. After about a year of being stuck on a puzzle in the game’s second dungeon, Bottle Grotto (the one where you must defeat three enemies in a certain order), I fully immersed myself in the game during a week of being home sick from school with strep throat. I’ll never forget that initial playthrough. The endless feeling of discovery and intrigue the game provided was something I’d never experienced in a game before. I realize today that this sense of discovery was one of the key factors that initially attracted me to Zelda, and adventure and exploration games in general.

Link's Awakening DX for Game Boy Color

The entire experience is layered with mystery in a way that no other Zelda game has quite captured for me, not even Majora’s Mask, the spiritual successor to Link’s Awakening (don’t get me wrong: Majora is magnificent and mysterious in its own right, and equally as special in its own unique way). The game is full of baffling discoveries whose true purposes only become clear when you find the right tool, character, plot device or when you unlock some other mystery. I remember the first time I entered the abandoned House by the Bay. The music was so lonely and I could only wonder what the significance of this dark, decrepit shack was. Who lived there? Where were they now? Then there are the numerous secret passages and caves that one can find that lie just out of reach and seem impossible to get to, as well as countless other puzzling circumstances present in the game (why is there a flamethrower blocking my path in this cave, and how do I get past it?). The feeling of finally figuring out how to reach one of those secrets or solve one of those puzzling scenarios is one of the most satisfying feelings in all of my gaming career. Of course, you could attribute these elements to many Zelda games, but this one feels especially puzzling and cryptic at times (in a good way), often dangling a tantalizing secret in front of the player but leaving it up to them to figure out how to solve it. And then of course there is the incredibly memorable cast of characters and enigmatic narrative.

Everything and everyone in the game gives off this surreal, almost suspicious vibe. Character dialogue ranges from comically puzzling: “Yep!  Those're  my boys! I'm Papahl, pleased ta meetcha! I'll be lost in the hills later, so keep a look out for me, hear?” to oddly suspicious: “HO HO HO! I'm your bad guy this time!! HO HO HO!” to just plain surreal: “I dreamed that I turned into a carrot last night… What an odd dream...” The central narrative that winds through Link’s adventure is also shrouded in mystery, and the odd (yet charming) cast of characters only builds on this enigma. What are the mysterious Owl’s motivations? Who or what is the Wind Fish? Just what exactly is going on? Nothing is ever quite clear, and as a young kid playing it for the first time, the entire experience felt something like a dream.

…and Spoiler Alert for those that haven’t experienced this handheld gem… (skip the next four paragraphs to avoid major spoilers)

Koholint Island, the setting of Link's Awakening

…that’s because it is a dream. But this isn’t your typical “it was all a dream” story that reveals the twist at the very end as the main character wakes up, and doesn’t explore the concept any further than that. In Link’s Awakening, the dream narrative is woven into every facet of the game’s world and character interactions. Hints are dropped everywhere about the true nature of Koholint Island, and roughly three quarters into the adventure, the truth is revealed to the player, leaving them to ponder it for the remainder of the game and question every step they take. But this isn’t Link’s dream; the entire world in the game along with all of its inhabitants and a visiting Link exist within the dream of a slumbering deity-like being known as the “Wind Fish”. I said earlier that I can’t quite accurately describe the atmosphere of Link’s Awakening, but the best and most obviously appropriate adjective to use is “dreamlike”. One of the interesting aspects of this story is that all of the main characters are driven by selfish motivations, including Link, who wants to wake the Wind Fish so he can leave the island; likewise, the Owl, as an agent of the Wind Fish’s subconscious, manipulates Link into waking up the being, the “villainous” Nightmares…well, we’re told that they want to take over the island, but it seems to me like they’re just trying to protect their own existence. You see, if the Wind Fish wakes up, the dream will end and Koholint Island and everything and everyone on it will disappear.

The friendly couple with the quadruplets in Mabe Village? Gone. The two pen-pals trading letters? Gone. A chef that wants to start a restaurant chain on the island? Gone. And then there’s Marin, a curious young girl fascinated with Link for one reason: he is from outside the island. Marin envies the seagulls and wonders where they come from, she wishes she could sprout wings as well and discover what lies beyond the sea. Her curiosity and actions seem to be those of a sentient, intelligent being. But when the Wind Fish wakes up? She never existed…or did she?

Marin opens up to Link about her dreams

That’s the question at the heart of Link’s Awakening, and it’s a harrowingly complex one for a humble little Game Boy game that first released in 1993, and in a larger context for video games as a whole at the time. In the end, Link destroys the last of the Nightmares (who had been keeping the Wind Fish asleep interminably so their world would never disappear…can’t say I blame them), wakes the Wind Fish, and we watch helplessly as the island and all of its inhabitants are wiped from existence. Link wakes up in the middle of the ocean, floating on the wreckage of his ship, and watches the Wind Fish fly overhead as the credits roll, before “The End” pops up on the screen. It’s a starkly simple but appropriate ending. Just as the Wind Fish tells Link at the end: “It be the nature of dreams to end”. Have you ever had a dream that felt so real, so tangible in the moment, only to suddenly awaken and feel a sense of sadness that all of it is gone forever? I have. Sometimes when I’ve first awoken, I’ve tried to fall back asleep, to go back to the adventure that I was having. But I can’t. It’s gone, existing only in my memory and soon that will likely be gone too.

Now, if the player manages to complete the entire quest without ever dying (something I’ve never managed to do as it’s very easy to die in Link’s Awakening), we are greeted with an extra scene that differs slightly between the original black and white version and the DX version, but both basically amount to the same meaning. Essentially, it is implied in this bonus ending that Marin gets her wish and becomes a seagull. This provides some touching closure for Marin’s character and it also raises even more questions about just how real the world of Koholint really was. I can’t think of another action/adventure video game where the world and all of its people is not only not saved at the end of the adventure, but is completely obliterated, and at the “hero’s” own hands no less. This one aspect is enough to make Link’s Awakening unforgettable for me.

Marin

Major Spoilers end here for those who skipped ahead.

Beyond the mysteries and the intriguing narrative though, Link’s Awakening was a trendsetter for the rest of the Zelda series, and it never seems to get any credit for it. Not only was this the first time we see Link venture away from Hyrule, Princess Zelda, Ganon, the Triforce and all that business into a completely new place with a completely new story, mythology and characters, but Link’s Awakening also pioneered several trends that would go on to define Zelda games in the future, and that had an especially large influence on the Zelda game that immediately followed, that being the most widely regarded game in the series (and one of the most widely regarded video games of all time), Ocarina of Time. A large cast of uniquely quirky NPCs, a large trading quest that stretches across a sizable portion of the game (a la the Biggoron’s Sword quest in Ocarina of Time), a large collectathon side-quest, fishing, dungeons with unique background music and more of their own personality, a talking owl that serves as the hero’s guide, an ocarina with a more expanded role that plays several different songs used for warping and solving puzzles, and even the Lens of Truth (known as the Magnifying Lens here, but it essentially serves the same function) all come from Link’s Awakening. I’m sure many people would be quick to credit Ocarina of Time for bringing all of these elements into Zelda, but nope, it was the first handheld title in the series; a humble, often underappreciated little masterwork that established all of this. Ocarina of Time only developed these elements even further, and later titles continued to develop them and add to them. I would argue that Link’s Awakening is just as important to what the Zelda series would ultimately become and be known for as A Link to the Past is. As for the influence that Link’s Awakening has had on me personally, that should be clear by now: it’s one of the most important works of art in my life and continues to inspire me all the time.

So basically what I’m saying is that if you’ve never played Link’s Awakening, I highly recommend you change that, dammit! It is one of the deepest and most unique games in the Zelda series and tied as my personal favorite, along with Majora’s Mask and The Wind Waker. You don’t have to know anything about the Zelda series to get something out of this game (it was my personal first after all), so even if you have no experience with the franchise, I’d still recommend checking Link’s Awakening out. You can still find the original Game Boy cartridge and the DX Game Boy Color version online, but if you own a 3DS, you can simply download the DX version from the eShop for a few bucks (that’s the version I recommend anyway). Hey, while you’re at it, you can also download two Zelda games that are even more overlooked than Link’s Awakening: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, both of which also come with a high recommendation from yours truly.

What are your thoughts on Link’s Awakening? Do you have a similar memory of your first Zelda experience? Or of your experience with the first game you played in one of your favorite series? What video games give you a sense of wonder and mystery similar to my experiences with Link’s Awakening? Let me know! I’d love to hear about it!

Thanks for reading!

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D (3DS) Review

Note: I’m not going to be worrying about avoiding spoilers in this review; I won’t be laying the whole game out in front of you, but I will be going into detail about things like boss fights and certain sidequests, so if you want to avoid that kind of thing, be warned.

                The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D is a misguided remake of a brilliant video game. While the core experience is still something truly special, this new “3D” version has gotten what some might call the “George Lucas” treatment. From Link’s first steps in the Lost Woods and onward throughout the entire experience until the game’s surreal and memorable conclusion, MM3D is riddled with changes, alterations, and adjustments from the original Nintendo 64 classic, some of which nicely streamline the experience, while most, unfortunately, bog down the experience. These changes include several head-scratching alterations to how the game plays, overhauls of every boss battle, and several new hand-holding elements that damage the subtle design of the original and often did a nice job of breaking my immersion throughout my playthrough. What resulted was a very mixed experience for me: the essential Majora’s Mask experience is still buried in this remake underneath all the “enhancements” (big sarcastic airquotes here) and this game still emotionally moved me just as the original Majora’s Mask always has, but for every ten steps of supreme immersion and enjoyment I had, there’d be another two or three that made me shake my head and wish I was just playing the original game.

                If I was going to sit here and lay out everything that makes Majora’s Mask such a triumph and address my extensive feelings on the many changes in this remake, this review would end up being twice as long as my Paper Mario: Sticker Star review, and no one wants that. Instead, I’ll save my extended thoughts on the heart of Majora’s Mask for another time or another several times (probably another several times). Thus, most of this review is going to focus on the changes and alterations from the original. But before getting into that, I do want to say a few words about the core experience here, as I’d be remiss if I did not. By and large, MM3D is still Majora’s Mask. It has a new coat of paint (with a lot of cracks) but this experience still thrilled me, moved me to near tears, and engrossed me just as it always has. Every time I play Majora’s Mask, I get something different out of the experience. This time, the loneliness of Link’s quest really sunk in…at least at first. Getting to know a bunch of interesting characters, helping them, helping the world at large, and then having to undo all of it so those people not only have no idea who I am anymore, but are also once again faced with the same hardships is heartbreaking. But as my adventure wore on, and more and more of the complete picture of the land of Termina and its troubled people became clear to me, it began to feel like home and its citizens inevitably began to feel like family, just as always. Even though they often didn’t know me very well, I knew them intimately. So, after so many cycles of the same three days, by the time I raced up those clock tower stairs to try to finally put an end to all the madness, I cared about saving this world like it was my own home, just like I always do. The world in Majora’s Mask, despite being built fifteen years ago in about a single year on primitive hardware, and despite having numerous nonsensical elements, feels more real than any other world in any other video game I’ve ever played. The genius of the three-day system, the falling moon scenario, and all the events that make up the adventure is astounding; it’s a wonder not only how the original developers were able to achieve what they did in such a short time so long ago, but also that no one has really done anything like it since. But beyond this, it’s all the details that make MM so incredible: an extra line of dialogue from a simple shopkeeper that addresses the state of the world, countless hidden reactions based on the many masks in the game, a random bird that drops rupees if you play music for it, countless mysteries and strange scenarios, and some of the most emotional moments in any video game I’ve ever played coming from completely optional, hidden conversations or even just from a single line of dialogue. All this makes Majora’s Mask not only a cut above most other Zelda games for me, but most other adventure games in general. Despite thoroughly playing through the original game multiple times over the years, I’m still discovering moments I don’t think I’ve ever seen or experienced before, and I know there are others still. Majora’s Mask is a game of many faces (pun fully intended) and many experiences, and no two people’s will be quite the same. MM might be one of the most tense, nerve-wracking games I’ve ever played, but it’s also one of the chillest: just hanging out and getting to know NPCs, watching the rain fall at Romani Ranch or a fireplace crackle in the Stock Pot Inn. It’s an experience that shifts and surprises from moment to moment and all of it is special. But that’s the core experience. All of that applies to the original as well as this remake. Majora’s Mask 3D, however, wears a new mask over all of that.

                Let’s get the most apparent change out of the way first: obviously the title has received a visual overhaul and for the most part, it looks quite nice. The most notable aspect of the cosmetic change is how many new little details were added to the world at large, not only in terms of textures and models, but in regards to physical architecture and new objects and other elements brought into Termina. New posters, flyers, and newspaper clippings posted around Clock Town add flavor to the world and make a lot more sense in a big town in the midst of carnival season than these elements did in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. Interesting new landmarks have been added everywhere: a miniature model of Clock Town in the Mayor’s office, an ostentatious painting of a young Mayor Dotour and Madame Aroma hanging above the front desk of said office, new statues and other artifacts in the dungeons, and just overall a world full of even more detail and small touches that make everything feel lived in and alive. My favorite of all of these new touches though has to be the interesting family pictographs that can be seen in Anju’s grandmother’s room and in the Romani Sisters’ bedroom. These pictures are an excellent and smart detail that fleshes out a world I already know so intimately even more, and I love seeing these new kinds of details in a remake like this.

New details like these pictures in the Stock Pot Inn are among MM3D's best new contributions

Obviously, the game looks better in a “technical sense”: better textures, smoother models and animations, higher framerate and so on (and as in OoT3D, the 3D effect is pretty great too), and some aspects really benefit from the new visuals, such as the sky (not sure how I feel about the new green-tinged purple sky on the third day though, which reminds me of an Easter egg or something), but that’s not the whole story. On such a small screen, often the experience can look a little fuzzy and jaggy, which is especially noticeable when talking to NPCs. Also there seems to be some truly unfortunate camera work sometimes, such as trying to talk to an NPC only to have the camera decide to take up position behind a giant plant, blocking the player’s view (this kind of thing is especially irritating with the 3D turned up). In addition, many of the character animations, while mostly smoother-looking, often just don’t feel as special as the original’s, either because they are too quick or not as emphasized as they originally were. These are nitpicks, but much more questionable are the artistic changes made in this remake. Everything is a little too bright and the lighting seems to be a lot flatter and less atmospheric than in the original. This is especially noticeable inside dungeons, during nighttime, and also anytime when Link is near torchlight, which flickers and dances about the environment in a more impactful way in the original. There are subtle artistic differences all over the place, but most notable of all is the change to perhaps the most important visual motif in the game: the moon. The moon’s expression in the remake is basically straight-up maniacal, as opposed to the more subtle, ambiguous expression of the original moon (which looks more sad and disturbed than particularly “evil” or “angry” to me, but it was open to interpretation really). This new face can be quite frightening, especially on the final day when it’s leering directly above Link, but it can also be seen as too comically over the top, depending on how you look at it. At least one scene that loses part of its value in the remake due to the moon’s revamped design is when the “Moon’s Tear” falls from its eye; in the original, the moon looked like it could indeed be crying or was in pain (which had interesting implications), while in the remake the scene doesn’t even make sense anymore really. I think that the moon’s expression being one of sadness, or perhaps of regret or remorse, suits the world and its events much better, but no matter how you interpreted the original moon’s expression, its demented ambiguity enhanced the subtle, strange narrative and surreal atmosphere of the game. It's worth noting that the art in the remake still overall looks very good, there are just a number of subtleties that make me mainly prefer the art in the original. As one final note about the retouched visuals and art, some very interesting visual details present in the original game were actually completely removed from this new version for some reason; I think all the Zelda theorists out there will know exactly what I’m referring to here.

MM3D mostly looks great, though the art has taken some hits

                It’s difficult to know where to start with the rest of the changes in the game, so I suppose I’ll start at the beginning, with the very first change I encountered, one that made me quite literally bury my face in my palm. Here I was, watching the beautiful and haunting opening scene of Link solemnly riding Epona through the Lost Woods, having a good time and thinking about how this remake was perhaps a good idea after all, and then, BAM! Big dumb tutorial sign. Right in the middle of the path. “You may already know this…”, the sign read, and then proceeded to tell me the basic controls of the game for the small price of shattering my immersion. This was not a good omen for the changes to come. This new trend of shoehorning out-of-place elements into the experience that sacrifice immersion for feeding the player information in an effort to hold their hand is something I encountered throughout my time with MM3D, and all of it was to the detriment of the experience. Another example is some new text added to the “bad ending” of the game if you let the moon fall. Effective, stark minimalism is a strength of the original MM that has been repeatedly stomped on in the remake. My 3D journey through Termina was repeatedly interrupted by too much extraneous information, and this is a perfect lead-in to the next big change I want to discuss: the new Bombers’ Notebook.

                In the original, the Bombers’ Notebook was simply a way of keeping track of the particular NPCs in the game that had detailed schedules across the three days. The notebook has been completely overhauled in the remake, however, to now be a record of just about every single sidequest and hidden event in the game, with mixed results. On the one hand, I like how the notebook acts as a comprehensive adventure log to refer to and a way to look back on and keep track of your progress in the game. It also feels really satisfying when an entry in the notebook is “stamped” after you fully complete a certain character’s quest-line. The notebook itself is set up nicely into two separate sections, one being an NPC schedule that is nearly identical to the original notebook (except it now removes a few NPCs that were there in the original and adds a handful of new ones), and the other being a list of quests that are separated into “ongoing”, “rumored”, and “completed” in an easy to follow manner. In a game with such a large amount of things to do and discover, where it all risks being overwhelming, it’s nice to be able to concisely keep track of everything. There’s also a clever new “alarm” feature, where you can have your fairy companion, Tatl, remind you that you have something important to do at a certain time.

On the other hand, the notebook is very intrusive on several levels. It’s annoying how the experience is interrupted so often for something to be added to the notebook and this process always seems to take way longer than it should. Instead of wrenching control away from the player to sluggishly record the information I just heard in the notebook, perhaps this remake could have taken a page from the smartly-designed mega-JRPG Xenoblade Chronicles (and hey even the original Majora’s Mask, why not?) and instead just had a subtle notification at the bottom of the screen and perhaps only given the full “notebook screen” treatment when first starting a quest and ending one. On that note, I’d also appreciate it if that ending notebook update came after I received the reward for a quest instead of before I get that piece of heart, mask, or whatever else. Oh, I got the “Stone Mask” as a reward? Well, gee whiz, magical notebook, thanks for spoiling the surprise. This immersion-hampering notebook is especially heinous after finally reuniting Anju and Kafei, when immediately after the big scene the game jarringly goes to the notebook screen to slowly update things with some unnecessary text before going back to the game, which really took me out of the experience; I was quite literally almost in tears before becoming incredibly annoyed. I like that satisfying stamp at the end of a quest, but it’s not worth this slow, intrusive process.

The Bombers' Notebook is an entirely different beast in the remake

The gang of Bomber kids around Clock Town are given a bit more usefulness as they now give the player hints for rumored quests, but these hints range from subtle enough to not bother me too much to giving away way too much information. Sometimes the kids themselves give a vague hint, and your seemingly magic, sentient notebook fills in the rest, telling you a specific location to go to. I hate this disconnect; it should be as though Link is writing the information in the notebook himself, or at least the notebook should only record information that Link actually encounters. Instead, the magic notebook (with its new wordy descriptions that sometimes seem out of tone with the rest of the game) just makes the experience feel more artificial. Sometimes the Bombers’ hints are just way too obvious and ruin the whole purpose of wearing certain masks (like Kafei’s Mask and the Mask of Truth) to discover hints on one’s own.

In a nutshell, instead of being a helpful supplemental tool, the notebook now pushes the quests and hidden things in the game down the player’s throat, which goes a long way in diminishing the magic. It’s more exciting and interesting when I feel like I’ve found something really neat on my own that other players may have never discovered, like say following the town Business Scrub down into an underground cavern, and being rewarded for my discovery, than witnessing the same event and having the game make a big deal out of it and making it seem like a major part of the game that every player will likely be directed to. Despite the positive elements of the new, more detailed notebook, its intrusive nature makes me much prefer the more subtle record-keeping of the original notebook combined with other subtle hints already present in the fabric of the original game. These original hints are still present in the remake; the difference is that the player has to work for these by exploring and talking to NPCs and observing their routines, and by finding the Mask of Truth and using it to gather information from gossip stones. It feels better to piece everything together and make discoveries this way, instead of being led by the nose and advised that ‘you’d better do all this extra stuff because the developers worked really hard on it’. Unfortunately, with the new Bombers’ Notebook’s intrusions being completely mandatory and with the way the Bombers annoyingly rush towards Link to feed him hints whenever the player happens to go near them, the remake makes it very difficult to play the game by solely relying on the older, subtler method of hinting. And this is all on top of the returning, hint-giving “Sheikah Stone” that was first introduced in Ocarina of Time 3D (which is luckily very easy to ignore in MM3D and tucked away in a place that many players will likely never visit more than once during their quest; hopefully most players will just forget about the stupid thing).

Not too much information, I hope

The new handholding elements are not that surprising to me given Nintendo’s modern game design credo; what is surprising to me though is how much of the core gameplay was messed around with. A huge part of the Majora’s Mask experience is obviously the masks, and more specifically the three transformation masks that allow Link to turn into a Deku Scrub, Goron, and Zora. Alterations have been made to the way all of these forms play, which range from “ok, that’s pretty cool” to “oh, Goddesses, what did they do to the amazing swimming mechanics???” Ahem. The new Deku Link is pretty much an even split in terms of bad and good: it controls a lot more sluggishly than in the original and oddly stutters when it starts to walk which really screwed me up when hopping across the water, and its spin attack seems to have less momentum and feels less fluid and fun to use. However, firing bubbles with the Deku is much easier thanks to a new crosshair and the game’s gyro controls (which overall work nice; I just wish they weren’t almost mandatory in some sections since aiming with the circle pad on its own is so dang sluggish, much slower than in the original). There is also a new option to look directly beneath Link when floating with the Deku, complete with a target that lets the player know exactly where they’ll land, which is a very helpful addition. Goron Link generally feels better to walk around with and his attacking prowess has been greatly improved, now with much faster and more effective punches. I’m not as much of a fan, however, of how rolling around with Goron Link now requires one tap of the ‘A’ button to get into ball form and another tap to get out. I presume this was changed so players don’t have to worry about holding down the ‘A’ button when rolling anymore, but personally it really tripped me up for a good while before I finally got used to it, and even then I still prefer the much quicker and more instant feeling the original control setup had. But the real topic of conversation here is the doozy they did on Zora Link.

If you’ve played the original Majora’s Mask, I’m guessing you probably had fun swimming around as Zora Link, speeding through the water, doing that dolphin jump, etc. I’m making an assumption here, I know, but in truth I’ve only ever heard praise for the swimming mechanics in the original; in fact, the original Majora’s Mask probably has my favorite swimming mechanics in any video game ever. So of course, the remake’s developers decided to “fix” this too (and by fix, I of course mean “break”). In the remake, the default swim speed for Zora Link is now much slower (and similar to the Zora Armor in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess) and the quicker speed of the original (or something close to it) has been quite negligently tied to the magic meter and combined with the magic shield attack which was present in the original (with both now being activated simultaneously by holding down the ‘R’ trigger). Once you very rapidly deplete your magic meter, no more having fun as Zora Link, I’m afraid. And if you don’t have the magic meter upgrade? You’re in for a very slow journey around the Great Bay. Now, before I get into what is so wrong with this change, I will say that I don’t mind having a new moderate swim speed in-between the really slow “doggy paddle” and the fast speed. It did come in handy when I wanted to navigate some tight underwater corridors in the game, and also when I just wanted to take things at a measured pace and look around, and didn’t feel like walking on the bottom. This moderate speed certainly isn’t worth sacrificing an unlimited fast speed, however, and if they were going to incorporate this new slower speed, there are definitely smarter ways they could have gone about it. How about simply requiring the player to hold down a separate button that is unused while swimming to swim more slowly? Or maybe players could tap ‘A’ once to go slow and hold it down to go fast (which might still be a little cumbersome, but would at least be better)? Or at the very least, still allow the player to swim fast when their magic is depleted (instead of just giving them a pathetic little momentary dash) and just take away the magic shield (which, by the way, would make a lot more sense). Besides souring one of the funnest aspects of the original MM gameplay-wise, what really grinds my gears about this change is how much it just doesn’t fit with the overall design of the game (this is another unfortunate trend in this remake that I’ll also talk more about when I get to the boss changes). The Great Bay region is full of huge, open underwater areas designed around the ability to swim fast as a Zora (with the ability to walk on the bottom being helpful for the few tighter underwater areas). The Pinnacle Rock area in particular is such a chore now because it involves navigating a massive underwater pit with this new clunky, stifled swimming mechanic. It is so annoying swimming fast in short spurts in order to conserve my magic shield, which comes in handy when defeating the gigantic sea snakes in this area. Also, might I remind you that conserving time is hugely important in Majora’s Mask? And how making a slow swimming speed the default and a fast swimming speed limited in this game makes absolutely zero sense and is incredibly frustrating? I really hate to rip off the “Angry Video Game Nerd” here (plenty have done that already), but seriously, what were they thinking? I should also mention that even when going fast, Zora Link just isn’t as fun or as easy to control with the 3DS’s circle pad as an analog stick, and rolling Goron Link can also be a pain in the ass in this regard as well (especially during the Goron moon dungeon at the end of the game).

What were they thinking?!

While on the subject of the aquatic portion of Majora’s Mask, I also need to bring up the way this remake ruins the fun of one of the neatest items in the game (I mean, besides the Zora Mask, of course): the ice arrows. The original Majora’s Mask took the ice arrows, a relatively useless (not to mention completely optional) item in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and put a clever spin on them that led to not only some neat little puzzles in the Great Bay Temple but just a fun new toy to play around with. Basically, in the original game, you can fire the ice arrows at almost any body of water to freeze it and create ice platforms to hop around on. As long as you have the arrows and the magic, you can do this as much as you want. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? Well, it was. Apparently, the developers of this remake just really didn’t seem to want the player to have too much freedom or fun because they decided to “fix” this element too. Now, instead of being able to freeze the water and make platforms anywhere, specific, nonsensical “sparkle spots” (I can’t think of any other way to describe them) in the water are the only places you can create ice platforms (although bizarrely enough, you can actually make platforms in the water anywhere in the Great Bay Temple boss, Gyorg’s chamber; but this one room is the only exception). Oh, and these spots only appear in a handful of rooms in the Great Bay Temple and nowhere else. In the original game, certain monsters could also be frozen to create stepping blocks of ice, and yup, those monsters now sparkle too, making everything just a bit too obvious (to understate it). When the players gets the ice arrows in MM3D, the game tells them that they can fire the arrows at sparkling things to freeze them. This makes the following puzzle, where one needs to freeze an octorok to reach a high platform, completely rote now. This makes all of the puzzles surrounding the ice arrows completely rote now. The ice arrows aren’t a fun item to play around with in the remake: they’re a banal key used to unlock progress. What was once a cool puzzle element in the original Great Bay Temple is now just mindless target-shooting. Suffice it to say, the fun of the ice arrows in the original game is all about freedom and experimentation. The remake’s developers completely missed the point here and it’s just another way this remake is overall less enjoyable to play. I think the worst thing about this change is that whereas I can maybe see some reasoning behind slower Zora swimming being “easier to control” (which, again, doesn’t excuse the poor implementation of that concept), I can’t think of any logical reasoning behind the ice arrow change, besides just over-simplifying things. But was the ability to create ice platforms anywhere really just too much overwhelming power for players? Did the people testing the remake really just get overwhelmed with confusion when they realized they had this kind of mind-blowing freedom? I mean, really? Was it really that complicated?

I’ve brought it up a few times already, but one of the bigger changes in this remake comes in the form of drastic alterations made to every boss fight (barring the final one, though even that one may have been altered a bit by way of having less attacks). All of the bosses look relatively the same and while Link’s battles with them share elements in common with the fights from the original game, each one has been greatly shaken up, some more drastically than others. I’ve already seen online that these new boss battles are polarizing, with some people loving the changes, others hating them, and many others liking some changes and disliking others. For me personally, the new bosses are almost entirely a step down (surprising, I know). Something I love about the boss fights in the original Majora’s Mask, and why they stand out from other 3D Zelda games, is that they are all very energetic and fast-paced. All of the bosses have multiple ways of going about defeating them (which is something the remake does retain at least) and the majority of them don’t have giant obvious weak-points. They also aren’t quite the basic “stun them with the item, go in for the attack” formula (most of the bosses still somewhat fall into this, yes, but I just mean to say they aren’t quite as formulaic as in most other 3D Zelda titles). Well, Majora’s Mask 3D has something to say about that! The majority of the bosses not only now do fall into a very stale and repetitive formula, but also every single one (again, barring the final one) now has a giant eyeball weak-point that you will frequently be pelting with arrows, over and over and over again. Many of the bosses have also been dumbed down in terms of their number of attacks and ferocity. The first boss, Odolwa, for example, doesn't mess around in the original: he is a force of nature, dancing and chanting around the arena, slicing his gigantic sword in every direction, summoning swarms of bugs and moths, and even conjuring up rings of fire to entrap Link. In the remake, Odolwa just kind of…stands around, before clearly telegraphing all of his attacks (which he has less of). The only good part about the new Odolwa is that Deku Link is actually useful in the fight this time around. My favorite regular boss fight in the original game, Goht, is now an awkward, tedious affair in the remake thanks to Goron Link having to slow down to punch its eyeball or, even worse, requiring the player to occasionally (and in my experience, more often) remove the Goron Mask to slowly lob arrows at the eyeball. In the original game, if you are good enough, you can do the entire Goht fight without ever having to stop rolling as Goron Link. It's a blast in the original; it’s a chore in the remake.

 Shooting arrows at a giant eyeball in a Zelda game: how novel

While the first two regular bosses were certainly changed up, the latter two are basically entirely new battles, Twinmold especially. Gyorg the giant fish now has two very different phases, the first of which is a dull, toned-down version of the original fight. Here, the remake’s brighter and flatter lighting really works to the detriment of the experience and goes a long way in dulling the tense and foreboding atmosphere of the original fight; Gyorg itself is responsible for most of this decrease in tension though, as in the first phase it’s basically just a giant, stupid moving target for Link’s arrows. The second phase of the fight takes things completely underwater, which isn’t nearly as terrifying as it should be. The second phase is fun, certainly more interesting than the first half of the battle, but ultimately it all boils down to a new twist on the very stale rinse and repeat “bomb in the mouth” gig we’ve seen in countless, countless Zelda titles before. The Twinmold fight does its best to make up for my misgivings with the other fights by starting out fantastically with a Shadow of the Colossus-esque first phase against the first sandworm, after which a chest containing the Giant’s Mask appears in the middle of the arena. Link can then transform into a gigantic luchador, ready to take down the second, more aggressive worm and its freaky babies. Instead of being just a bigger version of standard Link, the Giant’s Mask now really made me feel like a giant as I stalked around the arena, lobbing fiery punches at the giant worm and throwing massive boulders at it. This is all enormous fun (HA!) and the battle as a whole is an awesome concept; the way it progresses and the variety it brings to the table feels like an adventure in itself and is exactly the kind of interesting and surprising boss battle I want to see more of in new Zelda games. Unfortunately, the second phase of this battle is harmed by two big problems: it’s unclear how to effectively damage the second worm at first and more detrimentally (and also partly consequentially), the fight drags on for way too long, both of which can lead to severe amounts of frustration. There isn’t much to the original Twinmold fight; the spectacle of the battle is more its appeal than anything really, but like the other original bosses, it’s fast-paced and fun. The new Twinmold battle perfectly exemplifies my overarching central issue with all the new boss fights (with the exception of Odolwa): the bosses have way too much health and just drag on and on and on for far too long, especially Gyorg and Twinmold. This, like many other elements in this remake, just isn’t an aspect that is smartly designed around an experience running on a time limit. The original game’s fast-paced bosses and faster gameplay elements (like Zora Link) are elegant in their execution and allow players to focus on getting as much done in a three-day cycle as possible. Refighting bosses (which is often required to complete all of the sidequests) in the original is also a fun way to test how fast I can defeat each boss; in the remake, it’s more of a chore. I want to be clear: I don’t universally prefer “fast-paced” boss fights, and actually in regards to the more traditional games in the series, I’d say sometimes Zelda bosses go down too quickly, but the pacing of the bosses in the original MM is on point and smartly designed around the core three-day mechanic of the game, whereas in MM3D, the bosses are plodding and unwieldy (and even in a non-timed Zelda game, they would still be tediously paced).

Before discussing a few of the tweaks in the game that I actually do like, I want to briefly touch on the new saving system in the remake. While being able to permanently save at any owl statue now (as well as numerous new additional save statues) is certainly more convenient and can alleviate some frustrating situations like losing progress due to the power going out, the new saving system takes away some tension from the experience because it allows players to create a safety net. My main issue with the new, more traditional saving though is that it can be exploited to avoid having to deal with failures and some truly heartbreaking moments, which I feel are important to the MM experience. For example: during my playthrough of MM3D, I failed to retrieve the Sun’s Mask during the Anju and Kafei quest, and leaving Kafei trapped in Sakon’s Hideout and seeing Anju waiting resolutely in her bedroom for someone who will never come, while the moon was mere moments away from crashing down, was downright devastating and left a big impact on me. But in MM3D, if I or another player had saved right before doing the Sun’s Mask section, I could just reload my last save and try again. Not only does this drain all the tension out of what is supposed to be a very stressful section and lessen the impact of failure, but some players will likely immediately reload their last save and won’t even bother thinking of visiting Anju and having an experience like the one I had, or letting the weight of their failure sink in, which in the end made finally reuniting the two lovers on a separate cycle feel so much sweeter for me. This is yet again another change that affects the immersion factor of Majora’s Mask for the sake of convenience and makes everything feel more artificial; in short, it reminds the player that they are playing a video game and that failure is of little consequence. This same notion can be applied to other quests as well, such as failing to save Romani from the aliens. These are just a few examples, but the new save system can be exploited in other ways as well that just overall dulls the importance of the three day mechanic. Obviously, traditional save systems are not universally negative in video games, but Majora’s Mask is a special case, and such a system is harmful to the immersive nature of the experience. Personally, I played MM3D as I have always played the original and mainly only saved at the end of a play session, which for me was almost always equal to one three day cycle during this playthrough, and I also made it a personal rule that I’d never fall back on a previous save, even if I failed and had to redo something (I barely saved during the middle of a three day cycle anyway, only occasionally in case of unforeseen circumstances like the 3DS’s battery suddenly dying on me or something). So at least the player still has some options in how they choose to experience the game. I do, however, hate how the game doesn’t save after playing the Song of Time and returning to the Dawn of the First Day like in the original (which I’ve heard has unsurprisingly tripped up some veteran players and caused them to lose progress), which always felt relieving in the original and came with a sense of finality, and knowledge that one could never return to a previous three day cycle. With the way I played MM3D, it was annoying for me to have to immediately play the Inverted Song of Time and run or warp to the nearest save point after rewinding time (I would try to conserve as much time as possible in doing so); I wish at least the option to save after rewinding time was left in.

But, despite there being so much I take issue with in this remake, there are a handful of adjustments and tweaks that I found to be overall positive in MM3D, believe it or not. Little touches of convenience that don’t harm immersion and a few smart tweaks are sprinkled throughout the game in moderation. Most notably, the touchscreen interface and all the menus being on the bottom screen, which leaves the main screen uncluttered, as is having more buttons for items (though the two touchscreen buttons are a bit awkward; I used them for masks personally which works out nicely) is great, just as all this is in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. This feels especially great in MM3D though due to the high volume of items, bottles, and masks you carry around and need to utilize. Having quest-specific items be on their own separate screen and not needing to equip them is nice as well, and the process of giving an item to an NPC, a task done frequently in MM, has been streamlined wonderfully. The new world map looks pretty nice too, and I love how there’s a map for every area (from the insides of buildings to mini-dungeons and everything in between) on the bottom screen that can be zoomed in on. In addition, there are simply many other adjustments that cut out tedium, at no cost to the core experience: these include time-saving alterations in the Deku Palace as well as new hookshot targets around Great Bay and the entrance to the Pirates’ Fortress. I also like that the Woodfall Great Fairy upgrades Link’s magic meter now, and the much less useful improved spin attack upgrade has been relegated to the Snowhead Great Fairy. Magic is crucial in MM, and even more so in the remake thanks to the unfortunate change to Zora Link, and so having that big meter early on is very appreciated. Finally, one neat new difference is that Shiro, the invisible soldier, has been moved to the Pirates’ Fortress, which, as the new story goes, he hoped to infiltrate in order to prove his courage and get noticed. This change fits his character nicely, but also allows especially discerning players to conveniently get the Stone Mask in a location where they can get a lot of use out of it. While I certainly wish that this remake had been more faithful to the original overall, I don’t necessarily mind minor changes in remakes like the Shiro one that trip up veteran players like myself in a fun way, as long as they are clever and well-implemented (the superb Resident Evil remake for GameCube thrives on this kind of stuff; that game is such a drastically reimagined experience that I basically consider it an entirely new game from the original though).

Zelda games have time and again made the best use of Nintendo's dual screen idea

I’ve gone over all the major stuff, but there are countless other small changes throughout Majora’s Mask 3D that differentiate it from the original. This review has already gone on for way too long though, and in the interest of wrapping things up as quickly as possible, I’m going to skip talking about all of these other differences in detail. Most of these other minor changes I’m either mixed on, largely indifferent to, or like so many of the larger changes, simply don’t like for one reason or the other, in some cases for the reasons I’ve already talked about: they don’t jive well with the design of the original game and/or they harm immersion and the game’s sense of realism. There is one other change I probably should address though: the Song of Double Time now allows the player to skip ahead to any hour they like, instead of just to dawn or dusk. I know for many players, this change is enough to make them play the remake over the original; for me personally...eh. It fits in the game nice enough and doesn't really mess with the core design too much like many of the other changes, but there are only a few moments in the game at most that I might have used this new feature for (I actually never used it once and forgot it was even an option for most of my playthrough). Since I find that there is almost always something to do in Majora's Mask, I never found "wasting time" by skipping ahead to really be something I wanted to do. Also, for a few events, the anticipation of waiting for something to happen is part of the fun for me and immerses me in the experience more. During the few other rare occurrences when I did find myself simply having to wait around for an extended period of time, I just soaked in the game's atmosphere; watched that aforementioned rain fall or fireplace crackle. Besides things that were altered from the original, there are a few outright new additions to the remake as well. There’s a new, seventh empty bottle received from a new quest involving the three Gorman brothers. This new quest is decent, but its implementation is a bit awkward and ultimately it’s all just a bit unnecessary. There are also two fishing holes that were added to the game, one in the swamp and one at the ocean; I’m mostly apathetic to this addition, and think that Majora’s Mask was the last Zelda game that needed any new extra stuff to do, but at least the fishing gives veterans something new to check out and I will applaud the developers for putting a fair amount of effort into these sections. It’s clever and appropriate how they utilize Link’s arsenal of masks to catch a wide variety of fish. I do have one big gripe with the ocean fishing hole though: it hugely contradicts the narrative going on in the Great Bay, as the fisherman and the Zoras are having trouble catching fish in the murky sea, and indeed the fisherman states that there are no fish to catch. Several NPCs refer to this problem and it’s not exactly a minor detail: it’s a big part of one of the four main curses affecting the four worlds of Termina. Yet in the remake here’s a little section of the ocean teaming with fish at all times, right next to Zora Hall. I once again hate this kind of disconnect and it’s yet another immersion-ruining element thoughtlessly jammed into this remake. This could have been easily remedied as well by simply having the fishing hole be closed until after you defeat Gyorg.

A lot of effort was put into the new fishing holes

To some of you reading this, especially those of you that overall like this remake and the changes that it made to the original Majora’s Mask (which is fine, by the way, as we are all different people; I’m really glad that we don’t live in some dystopia where we all have the same thoughts and interesting discussion is never achieved), you might be thinking that this is all just “a bunch of nitpicks”. First of all, remember that details, even minor ones, are very important to me (especially in a game like Majora’s Mask), and all of these details impacted my experience with the remake. I’ve talked a lot about ‘immersion’ in this review, and while I think immersion and details that enhance it are important in just about every video game, this element is especially important in Majora’s Mask, and therefore the changes in the remake that harm immersion are a big deal. Secondly, remember that Majora’s Mask 3D is a remake; if it was a brand new, original Zelda title, we would not be having this discussion and I would be praising it for being a really, really, really good game. But Majora’s Mask 3D is not original; it is a remake that intended to improve on the original work, and thus stands to be compared to that work, and in this regard I have found it wanting. Therefore, I inevitably have to ask myself: does this remake justify its own existence for me? I would say ‘yes’ at first, if only for the enhanced technical side of the game and extra environmental details, as well as the novelty of being able to play a portable version of the game in 3D (although Majora’s Mask is not an experience that you should be playing on the bus with the sound turned off). Also, the idea that people who have never experienced the original game will get exposure to at least a version of the Majora’s Mask experience because of the remake is nice as well. I would say this very flawed remake’s existence is justified because of all this…except I recently went back and played the original for a little bit, and found after testing several different setups that the Wii Virtual Console release (being played on an SDTV with a GameCube controller) still holds up remarkably well and the game actually looks great with such a setup. When I like the original’s art better, and when the negative changes outweigh the few positive ones in the remake for me, than yes, I have to come to the inevitable conclusion that I’d much rather be playing the original and could have easily passed on this remake. And while new people being exposed to Majora’s Mask is nice, I’m very torn up about them playing a butchered version of it instead of the still brilliant original. If I view the remake as a separate entity, I can appreciate its few merits more and be more forgiving of its shortcomings, but what bothers me is that Nintendo and the remake’s developers believe this to be the definitive version and from now on will likely act like the original doesn’t exist. I want to say that the Wii Virtual Console release of the game (ideally, but not necessarily exclusively, played with a GameCube controller) is the current definitive version of Majora’s Mask, but in truth, I honestly think the true definitive version rests somewhere between that one and this remake, due to the improved technical aspects, added environmental details, and few positive adjustments the remake made with things like item management. Ultimately, however, I don’t see myself returning to MM3D that much, if at all. And you know what? As much as I didn’t particularly want this remake and respect the integrity of the original so much, I’m not happy about that. I wish MM3D was at least as good as the original, more in line with Ocarina of Time 3D and The Wind Waker HD, where I can appreciate both those versions and the originals in a somewhat equal manner. I’d like to appreciate MM3D’s new visuals, improved technical performance, and details and enjoy playing MM on a handheld in 3D, but thanks to so many misguided alterations, I’d just so much rather play the original instead. It really is a shame. Perhaps more troubling though is that in terms of its handholding and its stale boss mechanics (Twinmold excluded), MM3D feels like a regression for the Zelda series, which is such a shame after the smart A Link Between Worlds made such great strides in progressing the series past these conventions that have been weighing it down.

Obviously, the original Majora’s Mask is a work of art that is very close to my heart, but I hope I at least have gotten across the fact that I have very specific, detailed reasons for thinking its remake is largely a bust. I will, however, say that despite it being inferior to the original in many ways in my eyes, Majora’s Mask 3D does ultimately retain the core essence of the original Majora’s Mask, and underneath the coat of cracked paint that has been haphazardly dumped on it, the brilliance of that original classic shines through. In essence, most of the thematic, narrative, and atmospheric elements of MM that are so important remain intact in MM3D, but from a functional perspective, the game is lacking, and many of its alterations unfortunately do bleed into the atmospheric side of the game and harm immersion as well. Ultimately and essentially, Majora’s Mask 3D is a game that is a brilliant experience in spite of many of its very questionable changes, instead of because of them, which is just another way of me saying that the original Majora’s Mask is easily the greater experience and the one I would still recommend to people, in particular the Wii Virtual Console port of the game (which can also be accessed from the Wii Menu on a Wii U via the Wii Shop Channel…which I know isn’t confusing at all, right? Blame the way Nintendo handles these things, not me), which looks better than the N64 version and controls great with a GameCube controller. But if one simply cannot get a hold of the original in any format for whatever reason, or is unwilling to accept its dated technical aspects, then and only then would I recommend Majora’s Mask 3D to somebody.