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The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

 
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

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The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker



 
 
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, known in Japan as , is an action-adventure game
Action-adventure game

An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game computer and video game genres with various action game elements....
 and the tenth installment in The Legend of Zelda series. It was released for the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube

The , is Nintendo's fourth home video game console and is part of the History of video game consoles . It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 and predecessor to Nintendo's Wii....
 in Japan on December 13, 2002, in North America on March 24, 2003, in Europe on May 3, 2003, and in Australia on May 7, 2003. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

is the fourteenth game in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda and a direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS....
 for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS

The is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in video gaming in Canada, the United States, and Japan....
 is the direct sequel to The Wind Waker.

The game is set on a group of islands in a vast sea—a first for the series.






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Quotations


(After being dealt a death-blow by Link) The wind... it is blowing...

...Some creature is doing awful things to the great Valoo's tail!

As for our destination... The wind will guide us!

As my thanks to you, I shall play even harder than I normally do.

Expose this land to the rays of the sun once more! Let them burn forth!

Ganon cannot be defeated by human hands, let alone by what little strength you possess.






Encyclopedia


The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, known in Japan as , is an action-adventure game
Action-adventure game

An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game computer and video game genres with various action game elements....
 and the tenth installment in The Legend of Zelda series. It was released for the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube

The , is Nintendo's fourth home video game console and is part of the History of video game consoles . It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 and predecessor to Nintendo's Wii....
 in Japan on December 13, 2002, in North America on March 24, 2003, in Europe on May 3, 2003, and in Australia on May 7, 2003. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

is the fourteenth game in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda and a direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS....
 for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS

The is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in video gaming in Canada, the United States, and Japan....
 is the direct sequel to The Wind Waker.

The game is set on a group of islands in a vast sea—a first for the series. What lies beneath this sea are the ruins of the kingdom of Hyrule from Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

is an Action-adventure game video game developed by Nintendo's Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Nintendo 64 video game console....
. The player controls Link, the protagonist of the Zelda series. He struggles against his nemesis, Ganon
Ganon

, also known as in his human form, is a Character and the main antagonist of several games in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda . He is the most commonly recurring antagonist in the series, frequently appearing as the final Boss ....
dorf, for control of a sacred relic known as the Triforce. Link spends a significant portion of the game sailing
Sailing

Sailing is the art of controlling a boat with large pieces of canvas cloth called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and dagger or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to change the direction and speed of a boat....
, traveling between islands, and traversing through dungeons and temples to gain the power necessary to defeat Ganondorf. He also spends time trying to find his little sister.

The Wind Waker follows in the footsteps of Ocarina of Time, retaining the basic gameplay and control system from the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64

The , often abbreviated as N64, is Nintendo's third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released on June 23, 1996 in Japan, September 29, 1996 in North America, March 1, 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1, 1997 in France and December 10, 1997 in Brazil....
 title. A heavy emphasis is placed on using and controlling wind with a baton
Baton (conducting)

A baton is a stick that is used by Conducting primarily to exaggerate and enhance manual and bodily movements. They are generally made of a light wood, fiberglass or carbon fiber which is tapered to a grip shaped like a pear, drop, cylinder etc, usually of cork or wood....
 called the Wind Waker, which aids sailing and floating in air. The title is widely considered to be among the greatest games ever.

Gameplay

The control scheme of The Wind Waker is largely unchanged from Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

is an Action-adventure game video game developed by Nintendo's Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Nintendo 64 video game console....
 and Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan on April 27, 2000; in North America on October 26, 2000; and in Europe on November 17, 2000....
. Link's basic actions of walking, running, attacking, defending, and automatic jumping at ledges are retained. Link also uses the control system introduced in Ocarina of Time that allows him to "lock-on" to an enemy or other target. An addition to this basic control scheme is the ability to parry. When Link is locked-on to an opponent and not actively defending, certain attacks by the opponent will trigger a visual cue, a vibration of the controller, and a chime. Attacking at that point causes Link to dodge or parry then counter-attack from the rear or while leaping over the foe's head. This tactic becomes crucial for defeating armored enemies or bosses.

The new art style used in The Wind Waker gives Link eyes that are much larger and more expressive than in previous games. This allows Link to focus his gaze on approaching enemies or important items. For example, if Link needs to solve a puzzle by lighting a torch to set a distant object on fire, his eyes might turn to look at a nearby stick, giving a hint to an observant player on how to proceed.

As with all Zelda games, The Wind Waker features several dungeons—large, enclosed, and often underground areas. Link battles enemies, collects items, and solves puzzles to progress through a dungeon, fighting a boss
Boss (video games)

A boss is a computer-controlled opponent which is found in video games. Their purpose is to test the skills that the player has accumulated over the course of a game....
 at the end. To complete a dungeon, Link primarily uses a sword and shield. Other weapons commonly used by Link include a bow and arrow, a boomerang, bombs, and a grappling hook
Grappling hook

A grappling hook is a hook attached to a rope, designed to be thrown or projected a distance, where its hooks will engage with the target. Grappling hooks were originally used in naval warfare to catch the rigging of an enemy ship so that it could be drawn in and boarded....
. Certain enemy weapons can be picked up and used, a feature new to the Zelda series.

The Wind Waker, like most Zelda games, includes many sidequests
Quest (gaming)

A quest in role playing games?including massively multiplayer online role-playing games and their text based predecessors MUD?is a task that a player-controlled player character or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward....
, such as the Nintendo Gallery. When Link is in the Forest Haven, he can use a Deku Leaf to glide to a cylindrical island with a hatch containing the sculptor Carlov and his gallery. Once Link obtains a color camera called the Deluxe Picto Box, he can take pictures of non-player character
Non-player character

A non-player character, often shortened to NPC, is a fictional character that is controlled by the gamemaster in role-playing games. When this definition extends to video games, an NPC in a video game is usually part of the computer program, and not controlled by a human....
s and enemies, which Carlov uses to sculpt figurines. There are a total of 134 figurines to collect, but Link can only hold three pictures at a time.

After completing the game, the player can replay it with minor modifications: Link starts with the Deluxe Picto Box, making the Nintendo Gallery side-quest possible to complete; Aryll wears a maroon dress with skulls given to her by pirates; Link can understand the Hylian language; and Link wears his blue crayfish outfit, worn in the beginning, throughout the game, instead of the traditional green tunic and cap.

Another side-quest present in all Zelda games, collecting Pieces of Heart, returns. The Wind Waker also includes the addition of hunting for Treasure Charts, which are scattered throughout the Great Sea. The player must find, recover, and hunt for whatever is on the map. Treasures include Rupees, Pieces of Heart, and other various charts such as the "Big Octo Chart" and the "Island Hearts Chart".

Wind and travel

The Wind Waker is set on a sea consisting of 49 sections arranged on a seven by seven grid. Each section contains an island or small group of islands. Therefore, a significant portion of the game is spent sailing between islands, allowing the game to mask loading times by accessing data while the player is approaching an island.

To sail between areas quickly, Link uses the Wind Waker, a baton that manipulates wind direction with a series of songs. Additionally, wind is often needed to solve puzzles. The Deku Leaf allows Link to use wind to spin turbine
Turbine

A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow. Claude Burdin coined the term from the Latin turbo, or vortex, during an 1828 engineering competition....
s or to glide for short distances. By creating a tailwind
Tailwind

A tailwind is a wind that blows in the direction of travel of an object. A tailwind increases the object's speed and reduces the time required to reach its destination....
, Link can glide farther distances to reach remote areas. An on-screen weather vane
Weather vane

A weather vane, also known as a wind vane or weathercock, is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. Although partly functional, weather vanes are generally decorative, often featuring the traditional chicken design with letters indicating the points of the compass....
 displays the current wind direction.

Plot

Set 100 years after the events of Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

is an Action-adventure game video game developed by Nintendo's Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Nintendo 64 video game console....
, The Wind Waker places the hero Link in a sea scattered with several islands, which necessitates frequent sailing and naval combat. Link lives with his grandmother
Characters in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

This article is a list of fictional characters from the video game The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker....
 and younger sister Aryll
Characters in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

This article is a list of fictional characters from the video game The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker....
 on Outset Island, one of the few inhabited islands of the Great Sea. The people of the Great Sea pass down a legend of a prosperous kingdom with a hidden golden power. Ganon found and stole this power, using it to spread darkness until a boy dressed in green sealed the evil with the Blade of Evil's Bane. The boy became known as the Hero of Time, and passed into legend. One day, the sealed evil began to return, but the Hero of Time did not reappear. The inhabitants of the Great Sea are unsure of the kingdom's fate, but it is clear that this legend is the story of Ocarina of Time.

When boys of Outset Island come of age, they are customarily dressed in green like the Hero of Time. The elders hope to instill the courage of the Hero in the children. It is Link's birthday as The Wind Waker opens, and he receives the familiar green tunic and hat. Aryll's present to Link is permission to use her telescope; as he looks through it, he spots a large bird carrying a girl to a nearby forest. After retrieving a sword, Link sets out to investigate. Link rescues the girl, only to have Aryll kidnapped by the same bird as it returns. The girl rescued in the forest is Tetra
Characters in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

This article is a list of fictional characters from the video game The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker....
, captain of a pirate ship. At Link's request, they sail to the Forsaken Fortress, where a mysterious figure is holding Aryll and several other girls. Following an unsuccessful raid, Link is thrown from the fortress. A talking boat called the King of Red Lions rescues Link, and tells him that the master of the Forsaken Fortress is Ganon, the evil of legend.

The King of Red Lions gives Link the Wind Waker, a baton able to control the wind and move it in all directions, and instructs Link to sail the Great Sea in search of the three Goddesses' pearls. Link retrieves the pearls and takes them to the three Triangle Islands, causing the Tower of the Gods to rise from the sea. After battling Gohdan in the tower to prove his worth, Link sails into a ring of light and is taken beneath the waters to Hyrule Castle, overrun with enemies and frozen in time. Link descends a hidden staircase and finds the Master Sword, the evil-repelling blade used by the Hero of Time to seal Ganondorf. By removing the sword, Link awakens the castle and all enemies inside. He destroys the enemies and returns to the surface.

With the Master Sword in hand, Link returns to the Forsaken Fortress and joins Tetra and the pirates. He frees Aryll and the other captives and slays the Helmaroc King, the bird that captured Aryll, but is easily overpowered by Ganondorf. Ganondorf tells Link that taking the Master Sword has fully lifted the seal, unbinding his full power; furthermore, the Master Sword has lost its own power to repel evil. Ganondorf lifts Tetra by the neck, and notices that she is wearing a fragment of the Triforce of Wisdom as a necklace. As he calls her Princess Zelda
Princess Zelda

is a Character in The Legend of Zelda of video games. She is a member of Universe of The Legend of Zelda#Hyrule's royal family and plays an integral role in Hyrule's history....
, two Rito that Link helped while finding the Goddesses' Pearls rescue Link and Tetra, and the dragon Valoo
Characters in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

This article is a list of fictional characters from the video game The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker....
 sets the entire fortress ablaze.

Link and Tetra sail back to the castle at the bottom of the sea and descend the staircase, where they meet Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule
Characters in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

This article is a list of fictional characters from the video game The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker....
, the King of Hyrule and the voice of the King of Red Lions. He tells Link and Tetra that the prayers of the people in the legend were answered—the gods
Recurring characters in The Legend of Zelda series

This is a list of fictional recurring characters in The Legend of Zelda , a series of video games developed by Nintendo....
 sealed Ganondorf and all of Hyrule with him by flooding the kingdom with a torrential rainstorm, ordering those chosen to take refuge on the mountaintops, revealing that the islands of the Great Sea are the tallest points of the now-flooded Hyrule. The King combines a piece of the Triforce of Wisdom with the fragment in Tetra's necklace, causing her to transform into the traditional appearance of Princess Zelda. The King then discovers that the cause of the Master Sword's loss of power was the assassination of the Sages of Earth and Wind. Link plays the Earth God's Lyric to Medli and the Wind God's Aria to Makar, awakening in them the knowledge that they are new Sages of Earth and Wind. Their prayers restore the full power of the Master Sword.

Link goes on a variety of quests
Quest (gaming)

A quest in role playing games?including massively multiplayer online role-playing games and their text based predecessors MUD?is a task that a player-controlled player character or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward....
 to find and decode eight Triforce charts that mark the locations of the pieces of the Triforce of Courage. Link raises the pieces from the sea and restores the Triforce of Courage, which dwells inside Link, marking him as the Hero of Winds.

With the restored Master Sword and the Triforce of Courage, Link returns once more to Hyrule Castle, where Zelda disappears before him. Link breaks through the barrier beyond Hyrule Castle and enters Ganon's Tower. Ganondorf reveals himself to Link, claiming that Link is the reborn Hero of Time and that fate has allowed him to bring the Triforce together again, just as he had with the Hero of Time. The three Triforces are extracted from Ganondorf, Link, and Zelda and combine to form the complete Triforce. As who ever touches the complete Triforce gets their wish granted, Ganondorf demands that the gods expose Hyrule to the sun once more, under his control. Before he can reach the Triforce, however, King Daphnes suddenly appears and touches the Triforce. He asks the gods of the Triforce to give Link and Zelda a future and to wash away Hyrule and Ganondorf. The Triforce splits apart and the ocean above begins to pour down all around the tower.

Knowing that the King has just ensured his own destruction, Ganondorf laughs and begins battling Link. Zelda assists by using Link's bow and shooting Ganondorf with Light Arrows. Once Ganondorf is stunned, Link plunges the Master Sword into Ganondorf's head, turning him to stone. Link and Zelda float to the surface in a bubble, leaving Ganondorf and the king to be buried underwater with Hyrule. Link and Zelda, now in the form of Tetra, sail away on the pirate ship and the now-lifeless King of Red Lions in search of a new land with the wind as their guide. These events are immediately followed in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

is the fourteenth game in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda and a direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS....
.

Development

Feeling pressure from Sega
Sega

is a Multinational corporation video game software and hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer headquartered in Ota, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan....
's Dreamcast
Sega Dreamcast

The is a video game console made by Sega, and is the successor to the Sega Saturn. An attempt to recapture the console market with a next-generation system, it was designed to supersede the PlayStation and Nintendo 64....
 and Sony
Sony Computer Entertainment

__NOEDITSECTION__ is a video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a full subsidiary of Sony Corporation....
's impending PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a History of video game consoles video game console manufactured by Sony. The successor to the PlayStation, and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 forms part of the PlayStation of video game consoles....
, Nintendo announced on March 3, 1999 that a new video game system was under development. This system, the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube

The , is Nintendo's fourth home video game console and is part of the History of video game consoles . It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 and predecessor to Nintendo's Wii....
, was revealed on August 24, 2000, the day before Nintendo's Space World 2000 exposition. Along with the specifications and designs for the console, Nintendo had several software demonstrations on hand to showcase the power of the GameCube, one of which was a realistically-styled real-time duel between Ganon
Ganon

, also known as in his human form, is a Character and the main antagonist of several games in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda . He is the most commonly recurring antagonist in the series, frequently appearing as the final Boss ....
 and Link. Despite being a hastily assembled technical demonstration
Technology demo

A tech demo is a prototype, rough example or an otherwise incomplete version of a product, put together with the primary purpose of showcasing the idea, performance, method or the features of the product....
, fans and the media speculated that the battle might be from a game under development or at least an indication of the direction the next Zelda game would take. Staff at IGN
IGN

IGN is a multimedia news and reviews website that focuses heavily on video games. Its corporate parent is IGN Entertainment, which owns and controls separate sites such as GameSpy, GameStats, Rotten Tomatoes and AskMen....
 referred to the demo as an "unofficial sequel", calling it "absolutely everything we could have hoped for in a Gamecube Zelda title" and stating that "the future looks very bright for Nintendo loyalists".

in a 3D environment, making the game feel stylistically similar to a cartoon
Cartoon

The word cartoon has various meanings, based on several very different forms of visual art and illustration. The term has evolved over time.The original meaning was in fine art, and there cartoon meant a preparatory drawing for a piece of art such as a painting or tapestry....
.]]

Nintendo said nothing more about the possibility of a GameCube Zelda game until one year later at Space World 2001, where a completely new Zelda was shown. Replacing the dark, gritty demo of 2000 was a new cel-shaded
Cel-shaded animation

Cel-shaded animation is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make computer graphics appear to be hand-drawn. Cel-Shader is often used to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon....
 look, which resembled an interactive cartoon
Cartoon

The word cartoon has various meanings, based on several very different forms of visual art and illustration. The term has evolved over time.The original meaning was in fine art, and there cartoon meant a preparatory drawing for a piece of art such as a painting or tapestry....
. Shigeru Miyamoto
Shigeru Miyamoto

is a Japanese people video game designer. He created the Mario , Donkey Kong , The Legend of Zelda , F-Zero , Pikmin and Nintendogs franchises for Nintendo game consoles, and mostly works on games as a Game producer....
 said the new look was designed to "extend Zeldas reach to all ages". The cel-shaded approach was a radical shift and IGN staff wondered if two separate games might be in concurrent development.

While some at the event enjoyed the new look, there was a backlash from disappointed fans who had been expecting a realistic Zelda game. Many critics referred to the game as "Celda", a portmanteau of "Zelda" and "Cel-shading". Miyamoto was surprised at the reaction to the footage and the media's claim that Nintendo was shifting its focus to a younger audience, and he refused to reveal anything further until a playable demonstration became available. It was hoped that once critics played the game, they would focus on the all-important gameplay, rather than simply reacting to the new graphic style.

Miyamoto promised a playable version for E3
E3

The E3 Media and Business Summit, formerly known as Electronic Entertainment Expo and commonly known as E3, is an annual trade show for the video game industry presented by the Entertainment Software Association....
 2002 and a release later that year. When Nintendo did exhibit a playable demo at E3 2002 it was well-received, and picked up the 2002 Game Critics Awards
Game Critics Awards

The Game Critics Awards are a set of annual awards held after the E3 video game conference since 1998. The awards are given to products displayed at E3 with the title Best of E3 of their category....
 for Best Console Game at E3. An editor at IGN said the cartoon look "works very nicely" and that "it feels very much like Zelda". The whimsical style was compared to A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

, is an action-adventure game video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console, and the third installment in The Legend of Zelda ....
 and promotional artwork from previous Zelda games. E3 also introduced new features, such as the ability to connect to the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance

The is a 32-bit Handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo; resembling Sega's 8-bit Game Gear. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color....
 and receive help from Tingle
Tingle

Tingle, known as in Japan, is a fictional video game character of The Legend of Zelda , first appearing in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask in 2000....
.

On October 15, 2002, the Japanese subtitle Kaze no Takuto (Baton of Wind) was revealed, to emphasize the role of wind in the game. Nintendo announced the official translation, The Wind Waker, on December 2, 2002, and a North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
n release date of March 24, 2003 was set two days later.

Bundling and legacy

On November 22, 2002, an update to Nintendo's Japanese Kaze no Takuto website revealed that a special bonus disc was being offered to pre-order
Pre-order

A pre-order is an order placed for an item which has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came when people found it hard to get popular items in stores due to their popularity....
ing customers. This bonus GameCube disc, given at the time of the pre-order, contained an emulated version of Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

is an Action-adventure game video game developed by Nintendo's Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development division for the Nintendo 64 video game console....
 and Ura Zelda, an expansion for Ocarina of Time with modified dungeons and other small changes that had never been previously released due to the failure of the Nintendo 64DD
Nintendo 64DD

The Nintendo 64DD is an expansion system for the Nintendo 64. It was named the "Dynamic Drive" at the start of its development, and plugs into the N64 through the EXTension Port of the Nintendo 64's bottom side....
. On December 4, 2002 this offer was extended to North American consumers, with Ura Zelda translated to Ocarina of Time: Master Quest. Some retailers made the mistake of giving the bonus discs away then allowing consumers to cancel their pre-orders without returning the disc. As a result, the European bonus disc was included with The Wind Waker in a two-disc case.

On November 17, 2003, Nintendo released a new GameCube bundle that included The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition
The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition

is a compilation of four video games from Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda , a twenty-minute demo of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and two featurettes....
, a compilation disc containing versions of The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda

is a video game designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and developed and published by Nintendo. Set in the fantasy land of Universe of The Legend of Zelda#Hyrule, the plot centers on a boy named Link , the playable protagonist, who aims to rescue Princess Zelda from the primary antagonist, Ganon, by collecting eight fragments of the Universe of The Legend o...
, The Adventure of Link
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

is an action role-playing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and it is the second installment in The Legend of Zelda video game series....
, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan on April 27, 2000; in North America on October 26, 2000; and in Europe on November 17, 2000....
, a twenty-minute playable demo of The Wind Waker, and two short featurette
Featurette

Featurette is a term used in the American film industry to designate a film whose length is approximately three quarters of a reel, or about 20-44 minutes in running time - thus midway between a short subject and a feature film; thus it is a "small feature" ....
s. The disc was also given to consumers who registered a GameCube and two games at Nintendo's website or subscribed or renewed a subscription to Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power

Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US....
.

Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is an American Public company that runs a chain of large, discount department stores. It is the world's largest public corporation by revenue, according to the 2008 Fortune Global 500....
 customers could buy a special Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube

The , is Nintendo's fourth home video game console and is part of the History of video game consoles . It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 and predecessor to Nintendo's Wii....
 bundle, including The Wind Waker, the Ocarina of Time bonus disc (each in the same case), and a Nintendo GameCube Game Boy Advance Cable for a limited time. In Australia, Collector's Edition was available with the purchase of two GameCube games or a GameCube console; Australians could also purchase a bundle with the console, The Wind Waker and Collector's Edition for a limited time.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

is the fourteenth game in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda and a direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS....
, a direct sequel with a similar art style, was released for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS

The is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in video gaming in Canada, the United States, and Japan....
 in 2007. In it, Link sails the Great Sea with Tetra and the pirates, but is separated after an encounter with a ghost ship. Director Eiji Aonuma was inspired to create the sequel out of his desire to continue The Wind Wakers art style. A modified version of The Wind Wakers engine was used in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development, and published by Nintendo for the Wii and Nintendo GameCube video game consoles....
, released in 2006. Twilight Princess uses a realistic art style, but some cel-shaded elements remain.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl

, is the third installment in the Super Smash Bros. series of gaming crossover fighting games, developed by Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console....
 has a second playable Link character, called "Toon Link", based on the style of The Wind Waker. Other content based on The Wind Waker includes trophies, stickers, songs, and a partially cel-shaded pirate ship stage.

Audio

The music in The Wind Waker was composed by Kenta Nagata
Kenta Nagata

Kenta Nagata is a video game music composer working for Nintendo.Nagata has composed music for the following games:* Animal Crossing* Mario Kart 64...
, Hajime Wakai
Hajime Wakai

is a Japanese video game composer best known for his work with Nintendo on popular games such as Star Fox 64....
, Toru Minegishi
Toru Minegishi

is a Japanese composer best known for his work with Nintendo on The Legend of Zelda series....
, and Koji Kondo
Koji Kondo

is a Japanese composer and musician best known for his scores for various video games produced by Nintendo....
. The game's soundtrack, Zelda no Densetsu ~Kaze no Takuto~ Original Sound Tracks, was released on March 19, 2003, and comes in a two disc set featuring one hundred and thirty-three songs. The music has an Irish influence, and some songs feature uilleann pipes
Uilleann pipes

The uilleann pipes , originally known as the Union pipes, are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. The uilleann pipes bag is inflated by means of a small set of bellows strapped around the waist and the right arm....
. The theme for Dragon Roost Island is more influenced by Andean or Incan music, relying heavily on pan flute
Pan flute

The pan flute or pan pipe is an ancient musical instrument based on the principle of the Closed tube, consisting usually of five or more pipes of gradually increasing length ....
 and guitar. Several songs from The Wind Waker are featured in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl

, is the third installment in the Super Smash Bros. series of gaming crossover fighting games, developed by Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console....
.

Track listing





Reception


The Wind Waker is the fourth of nine games to receive a perfect score from Famitsu
Famitsu

is a Japanese video game magazine published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma Shoten. Currently, there are five console-only spin-off versions of Famitsu: Shukan Famitsu, Famitsu PS, Famitsu Xbox, Famitsu Wii+DS, and Famitsu Wave DVD....
 magazine, despite claims that it lacks the sense of newness that accompanied Ocarina of Time, the first 3D Zelda game. Reviewers favorably noted the gameplay similarities to Ocarina of Time and praised the cel-shaded art style that had initially met a cold reception. GamePro
GamePro

GamePro is an United States video game magazine published monthly. The magazine was first established in Redwood City, California in 1989 by Pat Ferrell, his sister-in-law Leeanne McDermott, and the husband-wife design team of Michael and Lynne Kavish....
 called the game "a combination of vivid artistry and timeless gameplay"; IGN
IGN

IGN is a multimedia news and reviews website that focuses heavily on video games. Its corporate parent is IGN Entertainment, which owns and controls separate sites such as GameSpy, GameStats, Rotten Tomatoes and AskMen....
 advised gamers to "forget that Wind Waker looks totally different from Ocarina of Time" since "these two games are very much alike". The 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards
Game Developers Choice Awards

The Game Developers Choice Awards are annually presented by the Game Developers Conference for outstanding video game development and video game....
 and the Seventh Annual Interactive Achievement Awards
Interactive Achievement Awards

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has been hosting the Interactive Achievement Awards for video game publication annually since 1998. The game award ceremony is presented at the annual D.I.C.E....
 gave The Wind Waker awards for Excellence in Visual Arts and Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, respectively. In 2007, it was named fourth best GameCube game of all time in IGN's feature reflecting on the GameCube's lifespan.

The game's most common criticism is the heavy emphasis on sailing. GameSpot
GameSpot

GameSpot is a video game website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1996 by Pete Deemer and Vince Broady....
 noted that the game "starts out in a very brisk manner", but that in the last third of the game, the "focus on sailing … is pretty tedious". IGN complained that viewing the animation of using the Wind Waker "hundreds of times" became "a tedious nuisance", and that the lack of an option to skip the animation "is more bothersome still". GameSpot thought that some players would be "a little put off" by the "easy puzzles and boss battles"; IGN called the boss battles "slightly simplistic" and noted that enemies "inflict little damage onto Link". GamePro, on the other hand, felt that the dungeons tended to be "huger and more challenging with new twists", with treasure hunts that would "tax even the most accomplished Zelda gamer".

Despite these negative comments, critics consistently gave The Wind Waker high reviews, with Nintendo Power calling the game the fourth best game to ever appear on a Nintendo console, while Official Nintendo Magazine placed it 12th. The game also met commercial success, propelling sales of the GameCube console, and becoming the most successful pre-order campaign in Nintendo history. As of July 2006, The Wind Waker is the thirteenth highest-selling game of the 21st century in the United States, with 2.2 million copies sold.

External links

Zelda Universes writeup about EGMs joke, including a scan of the bogus article.