10 Things I Love About Wind Waker

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD is going to be released in just over a week. This is an HD remake of the original Wind Waker, which was released back in 2003 on the Game Cube.

I'll never forget when the original was released. It was such a departure from the rest of the series that I was actually almost choking it down for the first several hours I played. It was a great game and everything, but it just didn't feel like a Zelda. It wasn't until a few twists and turns after the first few dungeons that I began to really see it as a Zelda game, and what a fine Zelda game it wound up being. It's not my #1 game in the series, but it's easily in the top 5 in a series that I consider to be full of excellent games (and a LOT of them). Here are 10 reasons why I love this game.

1. TONS To Do - This game has so much to do throughout the game. There's a huge number of hidden caves, treasure buried all over, tons of things to collect, extra things you can get with other things like the Gameboy Advance, and so much more. In order to entirely finish the game, as in 100% it, it probably takes close to 40 hours.

2. Huge Overworld - While I often finding myself getting annoyed with the mode of transportation and with how long it takes to get from one place to the next, the feeling of having such a huge world to travel around in is just a cool feeling.

3. The Music - The Zelda series is full of great music, and Wind Waker is no exception. From the opening screen with the pleasant theme, you're treated to great music throughout. Variations on old favorites, and even a few songs that are straight up brought right back. My favorite in the game is probably the music for Dragon Roost island.

4. The First Two Dungeons - I absolutely love the dungeons on Dragon Roost Island an in the Forest Haven. Both dungeons are unique, well themed, and feature a great variety of things to do. Tower of the Gods wasn't a bad dungeon, but early on the water up/water down thing was annoying to me, and the rest wasn't especially memorable. The Earth Temple is a solid dungeon, but the whole escort part of it is somewhat annoying. However, the mirror puzzle at the end is one of my favorites in the entire series. The Wind Temple...well, I'm glad it's short, because I just plain don't like that dungeon at all. Forsaken Fortress is more like a couple of mini dungeons that you can combine to make a single dungeon, and is solid, but again, nothing I'm blown away by. Still, those first two are great. I almost feel like those two, the Forsaken Fortress, and Tower of the Gods were the only dungeons really completed in the game, as the last two just feel really uninspired and are not very well themed. Of course, that could just have a lot to do with how much I like those first 2 and with how much is put in to those other two.

5. Ganon's Dialogue - I'm not going to give this away, but near the end you get some of the best dialogue in the series shortly before the Ganon fight. It's hard to really describe without spoiling anything, but it brings things to a personal level and isn't too far off, in general, from some of what he says in Twilight Princess. It makes for a very awesome finish to the game.

6. Getting the Master Sword - There's a HUGE feeling of nostalgia in getting the Master Sword in this game. Not because I've been a fan of this game for over a decade now, I felt it the first time, but because of the references that are made to previous games in the series. Not only that, but the whole black and white thing, the bridge to Hyrule that you just can't cross, and of course the sages in the chamber. It's all so awesome.

7. Story - I haven't found a Zelda game that I haven't liked the story of. This is something that is entirely opinionated. However, the story in this game is very strong. There's a family side to it, but at the same time it winds up going into the same general idea that you get in most Zelda games.

8. It Changed Things Up - It's funny to hear people say that the Zelda series rehashes itself too much when one of the most popular game series out there right now is the Call of Duty series, and with how popular sports games are these days as well. It's even funnier when someone says that the Zelda series rehashes itself too much, and then they go on to praise the Call of Duty series. However, there did need to be something new, and they got very ambitious with this game in doing so.

9. Windfall Island - Windfall Island may be my second favorite town in the series, second only to Clock Town in Majora's Mask. Windfall isn't a huge place, but it is unbelievably compact with a ton of things to do as far as sidequests and minigames go. It's a very fun place in the game.

10. Hyrule - Spoilers are unavoidable here, so consider yourself warned. At the end of the game, on the way to Ganon's castle, you get to run through a modified version of Hyrule from Ocarina of Time. Of course the art style is Wind Waker art, and it's far from an exact replica, but it is very similar. It pretty much completes the nostalgia from earlier when drawing the Master Sword.


So there you have it, 10 things I love about Wind Waker. For anyone on the edge as far as getting a Wii U goes, this is something that, along with the price drop, may be enough to entice you to get the system, because this is one of the better games in a great series.