The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

COLLECT ALL THE THINGZ!

So.

Much.

Collecting.

It wasn’t terrible.  It was just a little too tedious.  Why would I fuse Kinstones with you to open a path to fuse Kinstones with someone else to open a path to a chest that has - guess what?  Another Kinstone in it.  There’s a certain point in time that redundancy sets in and I just say “Screw it, no more collecting Kinstones – Ima go collect some shellz instead that don’t do anything either!”

Other than the monotonous collecting, The Minish Cap was actually a pretty excellent game.  Coming from someone whose only handheld Zelda experience was with Link’s Awakening, this was an excellent step forward for me.  The story and music were engaging, and the fighting was fun yet challenging.

Let’s start with the story:

The Minish Cap was supposed to be the “First” Zelda game (in chronological order), but Skyward Sword went and screwed that up.  That being said, there are a lot of plots explained.  For instance – Why does link wear that silly green cap, which is not part of normal tunic attire?  Well, I'm sure everyone would have guessed it’s because of a miniature magician man that was turned into a talking [nagging] green hat thing that Link just happened to “find” in the woods.  Also, true to Zelda games, Link is this punk kid that sleeps too late that just so happens to be best friends with princess.  Very convenient. 

ManBirdHat is not happy with Link.

This installment also does not feature Ganon as the antagonist, but Vaati, the Mini Magician's former pupil who stole the Minish Cap and used its power for evil.  Of course he used the power for evil.  What else do people use immense power for?  It’s not an incredibly complex story, but there is actual character development in the NPCs.  I personally enjoyed all of the Minish.  Their sole goal in life is to make humans happy.  Why?  Well, no one questions why.  They just do it. [I want a Minish.]  I give the story 8/10.

Music:

The music was good.  That’s all I can really say.  I wasn’t as immersed in the music of The Minish Cap as I was for most other Zelda games.  Frankly, I can’t remember most of it.  The overworld theme is recycled from a great many other Zelda games, and there is homage to other popular themes (I think I heard some Link’s Awakening in there).  I give the music 5/10.

Gameplay:

I absolutely love the gameplay of every Zelda game, and this one did not let me down.  All of the controls were fluid; the items were familiar, but unique (I loved the sucker/blower item); the bosses were fun but hard.  All-in-all, a great game in the gameplay aspect.  One of my goals in a Zelda game is to see how far I can get in the game before I have to use a guide.  It was somewhere around the 3^rd dungeon this time, which is, in my opinion, the perfect blend of complex, yet not overly complex.  Also, the complete time was short enough to not be boring, yet long enough to develop a plot.  Roughly 15-20 hours.

In every Zelda game, there is the aspect of "Collecting."  The Minish Cap takes it a little overboard.  When I first got a Kinstone I thought "What's this?" and disregarded it.  When I first got Mysterious Shells, I about flipped out!  Yes!  A carry over from Link's Awakening!  Sadness swept over when I realized the Mysterious Shells were completely pointless, and the Kinstones were important.  The collecting was fun at times, but mostly just tedious, as they typically didn't serve any purpose in the story or gameplay.

One thing I want to particularly focus on is the boss battle gameplay.  I absolutely LOVED the bosses in Minish Cap.  Most particularly, the final boss.  It took me a couple tries, but I finally defeated Vaati.  Obviously, the castle decides it should fall apart – okay, an “escape the castle with the princess” scene.  So I run out with 3 hearts left… 

...I’m so dense sometimes… 

There is, of course, a second form of Vaati.  After not knowing how to hurt him, I die immediately.  So I do it again!  Get to final boss form 2, and I finally figure out how to HURT the guy when I have 3 hearts left this time.  I obviously die.  The next time, I’m ready – he’s going down.  It’s such a great feeling beating the game for the first time with ½ heart left.  It’s some crazy sort of accomplishment to know that it came down to the final blow (I’m a sap for dramatic gameplay scenarios).

I give the gameplay a 9/10.

I’m not rating replayability in any guide, because frankly - I’m lazy.  Too much Zelda, too little time.

Average rating: 7.3/10.  Very good. Very FUN.  Some music shortcomings, which really bothered me.  I love Zelda music, and it just wasn't innovative enough.  The story was above average for a handheld game, and the gameplay was incredibly fun (almost perfect).