The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is an underrated Zelda game | Vulkan

On the earth of The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, the individuals of Hyrule dwell aspect by aspect with a hidden race of miniature beings referred to as the Minish. Though some Hylians have heard tales of those tiny, gnome-like forest dwellers, few have seen them. When requested about his prior data of the Minish, Hyperlink admits he’s by no means heard of them. “That’s so unusual,” one Minish muses. “We Minish are in every single place!” Ignored and forgotten, these little guys replicate the bigger place of The Minish Cap itself within the Legend of Zelda pantheon. It’s an ignored Zelda recreation bursting with appeal, replete with intelligent puzzles, and a agency grip on wonderful pacing. It’s an underrated gem of the Legend of Zelda sequence.

In 2023, Polygon is embarking on a Zeldathon. Be a part of us on our journey by The Legend of Zelda sequence, from the unique 1986 recreation to the discharge of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and past.

Nintendo launched The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap on Sport Boy Advance stateside in 2005. I’ve been replaying it on Swap by the Nintendo Swap On-line + Growth Pack catalog. On this journey, Hyperlink meets the titular speaking hat, Ezlo, who grants him the ability to shrink all the way down to the dimensions of a pea. As you play, Hyperlink can use specifically designated objects, like a tree stump, to shrink or develop again to his common measurement. As an alternative of teleporting backwards and forwards between mild and darkish worlds, the parallel land of Minish Cap is one hidden in plain sight. The Minish group makes its houses among the many spines of books, spools of thread, and the diagrams of a shoemaker.

This Alice in Wonderland-esque dichotomy between huge and small allowed the builders to conjure up a sensorial and vivid world. The primary time Hyperlink shrinks all the way down to his miniature measurement, he walks by a tranquil clearing within the woods. As he takes his first steps as a small creature, he walks amid big acorns whereas beams of sunshine peek by the leaves above. You possibly can virtually really feel the heat of the solar in opposition to his pores and skin, as we take within the splendor of the forest ground. At one other level, Hyperlink shrinks down throughout a storm. The raindrops, which beat down furiously at Hyperlink at regular measurement, now pose a good better menace. Every plop of water lands with an virtually thunderous growth and damages Hyperlink if he will get too shut.

Picture: Capcom, Flagship/Nintendo through Polygon

Developer Capcom strikes a cartoony model with its environments and characters. This Hyperlink seems to take affect from the hero’s design in The Wind Waker, with a equally bumbling demeanor. You possibly can virtually see him grit his enamel as he cautiously glides by the air; his eyes bulge as he rides a minecart. When he sleeps in a mattress, you’re handled to a small animation the place he removes Ezlo and tucks the sentient hat into mattress subsequent to him. Different NPCs, just like the sword grasp Swiftblade, have the goofiest traces; he totally narrates the sounds of swinging your sword round and instructs Hyperlink to shout “Hiyaa!” to efficiently pull off an assault.

It additionally has probably the most particular and unusual objects I’ve seen in a Zelda recreation: the Cane of Pacci. In contrast to the basic rods that generally seem in Zelda video games, this rod-like merchandise permits gamers to easily flip objects over. It’s utilized in one among my favourite boss battles, the Gleerok within the Cave of Flames. Within the battle, you evade a rising laval tide along with a barrage of fireplace balls and beat it by merely flipping the monster over along with your new merchandise.

Not all the things has aged properly. The sport solely lets you assign objects to the A and B buttons. What’s extra, your sword and protect are assigned the identical designation because the magical objects you gather by your journey, so each weapons will take up house on the buttons when you’ve got them outfitted. Different options, just like the Picori Blade powers, which permit Hyperlink to duplicate himself, really feel like awkward iterations on related techniques from 2002’s 4 Swords. On prime of that, the sport additionally contains a system the place you gather objects referred to as Kinstones that you may fuse with different characters. Whereas the sport marks new discoveries in your map, really discovering the Kinstones and monitoring the characters who want them will get tedious, particularly if you happen to’re not utilizing a walkthrough.

Picture: Capcom, Flagship/Nintendo

Given its quality-of-life limitations (in addition to its improvement below Capcom, which did an unbelievable job with the Oracle pair of video games as properly, however may nonetheless be thought-about a “spinoff” Zelda developer), followers usually exclude Minish Cap from the checklist of actually nice Zelda video games. That is comprehensible: Ocarina of Time efficiently introduced Zelda to 3D seven years prior. A Hyperlink to the Previous additionally distinguished itself by presenting a sweeping journey that seamlessly weaved a number of worlds collectively — seven years earlier than that. But when video games like these learn as epics, whereby the grand prose feels all-encompassing and the brilliance despatched ripple results outward by the remainder of the video games trade, then Minish Cap unfolds like a set of poetry. Quick, sharp, however no much less enthralling, this recreation captured vivid, concise moments based mostly round a compelling puzzle conceit. It additionally vibrated with appeal and great dungeon design.

Not each Zelda recreation must do all the things, and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap will perpetually be a recreation that confirmed me treasure the tiny moments that stick in your thoughts like nice poetry.