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The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

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The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Developer(s)Flagship
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Platform(s)Game Boy Advance
Release


Genre(s)Action Adventure
Mode(s)Single player

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, released in Japan as Zelda no Densetsu Fushigi no Bōshi (ゼルダの伝説 ふしぎのぼうし, Zeruda no Densetsu Fushigi no Bōshi, lit. "The Legend of Zelda: The Mysterious Hat"), is the twelfth installment in The Legend of Zelda video game series for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance released in 2004 in Japan and Europe, and 2005 in North America. It was developed by Flagship, with Nintendo overseeing the development process. The Minish Cap is the first original single-player Zelda adventure to be released for a handheld platform since The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages in 2001 (although the original multiplayer game Four Swords was included with the 2002 Game Boy Advance release of A Link to the Past).

Minish Cap is the third Zelda game to be released that concerns the legend of the Four Sword, the other games being The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. The game is based around the idea of a magical 'cap' called Ezlo that Link can use to shrink to the size of the Picori (who call themselves the Minish), a race of thumb size people that live in Hyrule.

Plot

See also: List of characters in The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
The mystical creature Ezlo helps Link find his way through the most dangerous parts of Hyrule kingdom in The Minish Cap.

The plot of The Minish Cap focuses on the backstory of Vaati and the Four Sword, important elements of Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures.

"A long, long time ago, when Hyrule was about to be consumed by darkness, the tiny Picori descended from the sky, and bestowed upon a young boy dressed in green a sword and a shining golden light. With wisdom and courage, the young hero drove out the darkness. Now, every 100 years the Picori return to Hyrule, to provide humans with magical gifts."

The Picori's salvation of Hyrule is celebrated in Hyrule with the Picori Festival, a large fair and a sword fighting tournament. On one such festival, Princess Zelda and her childhood friend Link, grandson of the royal blacksmith Smith, decide to visit Hyrule Town to join the festivities. However, these are short-lived, as the winner of the tournament, the unknown stranger Vaati, is in fact a powerful sorcerer who breaks the Picori Blade and turns Zelda to stone.

In Hyrule Castle the king of Hyrule and his counselor Potho are desperate to bring Zelda back home. They place all their hopes in the tiny Picori who had been invaluable allies, and because it is believed that only children can see Picori, they send Link to seek the legendary beings' help.

On his way to Minish Woods, home of the Minish, Link rescues Ezlo, a strange being resembling a green cap with a avian head, who joins him in his quest and can make Link shrink to the size of the Minish themselves through a ritual he can perform on Minish altars. Link then meets the Forest Minish elder Gentari, who tells him that to restore power in the magic sword broken by Vaati, he must find four elemental artifacts and imbue the blade with their essence. He directs Link and Ezlo to Melari on Mt. Crenel, as Melari is the only one who can fix the broken sword. When Link meets Melari he gives the sword to him and goes on to a human mine for the second element. When he comes back Melari tells him about the elemental sanctuary found in Hyrule Castle. Only after he fuses the four elements can he face Vaati and defeat him.

It is later revealed that both Ezlo and Vaati were once Minish, Ezlo being a renowned sage and craftsman and Vaati his apprentice. Vaati eventually became corrupted by the madness and egotism of men and took a magic hat Ezlo had made for the humans in Hyrule. The hat granted the bearer any wishes, and Vaati chose to become a powerful sorcerer. He then turned his old master, who had tried to stop him, into a hat. Devoured by his desire for power, Vaati took a twisted, vile appearance and set out to search for the mystic Light Force of Hyrule, which would make him even stronger.

When Link completes the Picori blade (also known as the Four Sword), Vaati turns Hyrule Castle into Dark Hyrule Castle - the final dungeon in the game. Link gets to Vaati just before he drains Zelda of all the Light Force (this would kill her), but the Wind Sorcerer states that he already has enough power to defeat Link. Link then fights Vaati in two different forms, the first being a larger form of himself and the second being a large sphere with an eye, and prevails. He frees Zelda from her curse as the castle is collapsing, and then he and the Princess go to the elemental shrine to avoid being crushed. Vaati was waiting there for Link, and faces him one more time. His final form is like his previous form but with arms, and seeming to be indestructible at first. Link managed to defeat the evil Minish again. Vaati disappears, after saying that he is confused as to how Link beat him, claiming he has the power of a god. Ezlo floats off of Link's head and is returned to his original form. He finds the cap of wishes he created and gives it to Zelda, since she has a pure heart, saying "Let your wishes come true!" The cursed people are cured and the castle is turned back to normal. The doorway to the Minish world is closing and Ezlo states he must go. He says he enjoyed his time with Link, and in return provides him with a cap, saying, "I have never seen you with a cap until now, it fits you, little hero." He shrinks down and goes through the doorway, just as it vanishes.

Gameplay

Screenshot of gameplay

The Minish Cap features a number of enhancements that benefit from the more powerful Game Boy Advance platform and draws heavily on the gameplay of previous Zelda titles (namely the first three). The game's camera angle is much closer to the ground, allowing more detail. In the overworld and in dungeons, the game replaces the traditional item interface with pictures associating items or actions with buttons on the Game Boy handheld, similarly to the item interface in 3D titles like Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker. Enemies include familiar creatures from the Zelda universe, such as the Keatons. Link can also perform special actions, triggered by the L and R buttons. With the R button, Link can, for example, roll while running; a move also inspired by 3D Zelda games.

Kinstones

File:The Legend of Zelda The Minish Cap Kinstone Fusion.jpg
Link (right) digs in his Kinstone Bag for a piece that will match the one held by the Picori (left).

Kinstones are special artifacts which Link can find throughout his quest. Kinstone pieces are fragments of a complete medallion. In order to successfully form a complete Kinstone, two pieces of the same color and with complementary notches must be used.

After completing the first dungeon, Link receives a Kinstone Bag. This allows him to collect and store the pieces he finds or receives. The most common variety of Kinstone piece is green, with blue being slightly rarer and red considerably rare. There are also special gold pieces that are used to make fusions that advance the story. These gold fusions are the only required fusions; the others are completely optional and are not needed to finish the game.

Throughout the game world there are characters holding Kinstone pieces waiting for a matching piece to fuse with. They are identified by thought bubbles appearing above their heads when Link approaches; the symbol in the thought bubble gives an indication of what sort of special event the fusion will result in.

File:Kinstone.JPG
Different kinds of Kinstones

For example, fusing Kinstones can reveal a secret passageway in a different area, or make a treasure chest appear. Green Kinstones are, with few exceptions, minor things such as golden enemies and treasure chests due to this color's abundance, while the rarer red and blue Kinstones often produce unique results, such as beanstalks and Pieces of Heart, inspiring characters to perform a certain task or sell a certain item, and so forth.


Figurines

The Minish Cap also features a figurine-based sidequest, similar to that in The Wind Waker. The player can collect Mysterious Shells, which sometimes appear when defeating enemies and can also be found or bought in different locations throughout the world. These can then be used in a gashapon-like machine in Hyrule Town to obtain figurines of characters, enemies or locations that Link has encountered in the course of the main quest. New figurines only become available once Link has met or killed the subject of that figurine. Each figurine has a short description revealing information about the game, that particular enemy's weaknesses, or the series in general. The probability to win a previously uncollected figurine from the machine can be increased by spending more shells at once, with an increase of 1% per shell. There are a total of 136 unique figurines for Link to collect (130 at first, and 6 extra figurines appear once the player has beaten the game).

Development

The Minish Cap is artistically very reminiscent of its predecessors The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker as it features the same cartoon-inspired visuals. Link, as well as several other characters in the game, strongly resemble characters in The Wind Waker, although some characters' visuals take their cue from the Nintendo 64 titles The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

Release

Unique in the Zelda series, the game was released in European territories before North America and even the Japanese market. The main cited reason for this was the Nintendo DS; With the European DS Launch scheduled for Spring 2005, Nintendo Europe pushed to make Minish Cap its handheld Christmas killer app. Conversely, Nintendo America held back on its release so not to cannibalize the DS market.[1]

File:Zeldatmc triforcegbasp.jpg
Legend of Zelda Triforce Game Boy Advance SP

Legend of Zelda Triforce Game Boy Advance SP

In Europe, the game was available either as a standalone packaged game, or as part of a special pack, which included one of only 25,000 limited edition, Zelda-themed Game Boy Advance SP. The Triforce SP is matte gold in colour, with a Triforce logo stamped on the lid, and the Hyrule royal family crest printed on the lower right face.[2]

Aside from these Zelda Limited Edition Paks available in store, Nintendo created the Limited Edition Collector's Box, which contains The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, the golden Triforce SP, a longsleeve shirt and a hat. Only 300 boxes were made worldwide and each one is certificated. These Collector's Boxes were not for sale in stores anywhere, but could only be won or bought in the Nintendo Stars Catalogue for 15,000 stars.

As a launch promotion, Nintendo Europe also produced seven 24-carat gold plated Game Boy Advance SP consoles, with six given away to people who found a golden ticket inside their Triforce SP package, and a seventh as a magazine promotion.

Reception

Reviews
Publication Score
EGM 9.5 of 10[3]
GamePro 4.6 of 5[4]

In 2007, The Minish Cap was named 20th best Game Boy Advance game of all time in IGN's feature reflecting on the Game Boy Advance's long lifespan.[5]

  • 2005 GameSpot Best of 2005 - GBA Game of the Year
  • 2005 GameSpy Editor's Choice
  • 2005 Gamespy GBA Game of the Year
  • 2005 Gamespy GBA Adventure of the Year
  • Included on Game Informer's "Top 50 Games of 2005" list
  • 2005 Nintendo Power GBA Game of the Year (readers and writers)[6]
  • 2005 Nintendo Power Best Adventure Game (readers)
  • 5 Out of 5 X-Play
  • 8 out of 10 Edge
  • Named 24th best game ever to appear on a Nintendo console by Nintendo Power.[7]
  • Also named 2nd best GBA game ever by Nintendo Power (behind only Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow).
    • Ezlo was placed #5 on the "Top 10 Heroes of 2005" list
    • Ezlo won best New Character in Nintendo Power's 2005 awards (readers).
    • Ezlo was named one of the top five sidekicks in The Legend of Zelda series by Nintendo Power.
  • 88% Game Ratio

References

  1. ^ Chris Kohler (September 3, 2004). "Zelda: Minish Cap to hit Europe before US". GameSpot.
  2. ^ "Zelda Limited Edition Pak". Nintendo of Europe.
  3. ^ "Review: The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap". Retrieved 2007-05-09.
  4. ^ "Review: The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap". GamePro. Retrieved 2007-05-09.
  5. ^ Craig Harris (2007-03-16). "Top 25 Game Boy Advance Games of All Time". IGN.com. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
  6. ^ "2005 Nintendo Power Awards", Nintendo Power, vol. 203, pp. p. 53 {{citation}}: |pages= has extra text (help).
  7. ^ "NP Top 200", Nintendo Power, vol. 200, pp. p. 61 {{citation}}: |pages= has extra text (help).
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap instruction booklet. Japan: Nintendo. 2004. AGB-BZME-USA.
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