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Essays 18 October 2020, 11:02

author: Matt Buckley

The Wind Waker. 10 best Legend of Zelda games

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Full name: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Platforms: GameCube, WiiU

Release date: 2002

Metacritic: 96/100

The cartoonish graphics may have turned some people off at first, but The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker has held up quite well. Graphics are certainly important, but there are plenty of examples of games with simplified visuals that are championed by the gameplay, the story, or other features. Wind Waker is certainly one of those games.

Graphics shouldn’t be a quest for realism. They should be an expression of artistry and passion. They should fit the game they are a part of and complete the visual experience. Any graphics can do this, as long as they complement the right game.

Wind Waker’s bold colors and vast world rewards the curious, childlike wonder of its players, making the cartoonish style just what it needed. Not to mention that centering the game on the exploration of an ocean world and the cel-shaded graphics might have paved the way for one Zelda game that will certainly be near the top of the list. 

Link’s Awakening

Full name: The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Platforms: Game Boy Advance, Nintendo Switch (remake)

Release date: 1993

Metacritic: N/A

Something that unites every game in the Legend of Zelda series is passion and hard work from a dedicated team. There’s no better evidence of this in the series than The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.

There has been a remake for the Switch, but the original is where the story really comes from. The game was developed after hours by the Link to the Past development team. The original goal was to make a handheld version of Link to the Past, but that quickly changed. Once the team actually had something worthy of presentation, they finally brought it to Nintendo’s attention.

 

The result was the first game in The Legend of Zelda series on a handheld device, and one of the best. Link’s Awakening is not a game that sticks to the patterns or follows any rules, and that’s a large part of what makes it stand out in the franchise, and why it was worthy of a remake.

Matt Buckley

Matt Buckley

After studying creative writing at Emerson College in Boston, Matt published a travel blog based on a two-month solo journey around the world, wrote for SmarterTravel, and worked on an Antarctic documentary series for NOVA, Antarctic Extremes. Today, for Gamepressure, Matt covers Nintendo news and writes reviews for Switch and PC titles. Matt enjoys RPGs like Pokemon and Breath of the Wild, as well as fighting games like Super Smash Bros., and the occasional action game like Ghostwire Tokyo or Gods Will Fall. Outside of video games, Matt is also a huge Dungeons & Dragons nerd, a fan of board games like Wingspan, an avid hiker, and after recently moving to California, an amateur surfer.

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