Game Review: ゼルダの伝説：ふしぎのぼうし
2017-Sep-07, Thursday 21:16![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dorchadas
This is the game with the hat.
There's a Capcom logo that comes up every time I loaded up Minish Cap, but without that, there would have been nothing to tell me that this wasn't developed internally by Nintendo. The internet tells me that it's the same Capcom team who handled both Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, so they had practice at squeezing Legend of Zelda down into a portable format. And that practice paid off, because they shaved off much of the weirdness and clunkiness from their earlier attempts and made a great Zelda game that's simple enough to not overstay its welcome but has plenty to do for people who want it. I mostly did not want it, and that's okay! I enjoyed what parts of the game I played a lot.
The Japanese title is straight and to the point: fushigi no bōshi, "the mysterious hat."
Yep, he's the hero alright.
I think whimsy is an underrated aspect of video games. Part of the reason I love the Kirby games so much, even though they're uniformly extremely easy, is because Kirby is so cute and the enemies are charming. The opening of Minish Cap leans heavily into whimsy, and it did a lot to grab me right away because of it.
In Minish Cap, Link begins the game oversleeping when his childhood friend, Princess Zelda, comes to collect him to take him to the fair to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the time the Pikkoru (Eng: Minish) saved Hyrule from a terrible threat. There's a tournament in town, so Link's grandfather Smith asks Link to take a sword into town to the king, but not before stopping at the fair with the princess, who runs around in delight to look at all the celebrations. It's very similar to the opening of Chrono Trigger, with Link able to follow the Princess around or move off to look at the games himself, just relaxing and having fun in the moments before tragedy strikes.
And it does, of course. The winning contestant is named Gufū (Eng: Vaati)--easily recognizable from Four Swords Adventures+--and when he's brought before the King of Hyrule, he releases the sealed evil and turns Princess Zelda to stone, so the King decides to seek help from the Pikkoru. But since only children can see them, none of his knights are fit for the task. But Link is. With his grandfather's blessing, Link goes to the Forest of the Pikkoru to the southeast of Hyrule Town to seek out the ancient saviors of the kingdom and finds a hat.
"Whew! Safe just in time! I was afraid that we wouldn't make it in time!"
Ezoro is the game's Navi, and it could easily have become incredibly annoying. Early on I worried that the whole game would bend around him, with Ezoro constantly telling me where to go and badgering me repeatedly until I did just like Navi did, but that didn't happen. Part of that is because Ezoro doesn't have any vocal cues--without the "Hey, Listen!" I don't think Navi would have been nearly as annoying either--but another part is the characterization. Navi is portrayed as all-knowing, with advice to offer for any situation, even when that advice is pointless or unnecessary. But beyond that, there's basically nothing to Navi. She's entirely a tool for the player so they can navigate through Ocarina of Time's 3D space and not get lost, and it doesn't take long to recognize that, and not much longer than that to resent it.
Ezoro is a character in his own right. Link is a silent protagonist as always, but Ezoro's constant companionship allows him to provide a window into Link's thoughts in a way that no other Zelda game has really allowed to this point. My favorite moment is probably right before getting the lantern, when after falling into a dark cave, Ezoro says, "It's really dark! Isn't it scary? Aren't you scared? Well, you can go by yourself, then!" before remembering that he's a hat and thus bound to follow Link wherever he goes.
That's not to say that there isn't a surfeit of advice that anyone but a toddler could have easily figured out in the course of playing the game, because there is. But it's matched with comments about the situations that Ezoro and Link find themselves in or the environs that are cute and fun. They're whimsical, and they make Ezoro a much less abrasive addition than Navi ever was.
A veritable galleon.
Ezoro is also the key to the main mechanic of Minish Cap: the world of the pikkoru. Relatively early on, Ezoro explains that some parts of the world, old tree stumps and long-abandoned objects, can become Entrances (Eng: Minish Portals), allowing Ezoro to reduce Link to tiny size and interact with the pikkoru and their world. Every area of the game with a portal is thus two areas at once, both the regular Link-sized world with its usual octoroks and boulders and pots, and a pikkoru-sized world where Link-sized enemies are overwhelming dangers, small puddles are uncrossable oceans, and details are hidden beneath Link's feet.
Both Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons tried to weave multiple worlds together, but I think Minish Cap exceeds both of them. Oracle of Ages had two separate worlds and often it wasn't that obvious when changes in one would affect the other, and Oracle of Seasons' changing seasons was a visual treat but mostly tedious. In contrast, I appreciated the pikkoru sections of Minish Cap because they were interwoven with the already-existing overworld. A small vine, unclimbable by Link normally, becomes a ladder. A fallen log is a tunnel to a new section of the map. Formerly-trivial enemies are now unstoppable foes. And pikkoru live in the nooks and crannies of society.
The people in Hyrule Town say the pikkoru haven't been seen in a hundred years, but once Link gains the ability to shrink down he finds that they're everywhere. In addition to the city in the Pikkoru Forest, there are isolated mushroom huts scattered throughout the wilds, a smith's forge in the mountains, and nearly every house in Hyrule Town has its pikkoru living in small holes or just under the people's feet. I was especially fond of the pikkoru in the library, who start a quest for Link to go find some overdue books because the elaborate system of ladders the pikkoru constructed to climb the shelves was thrown off by patrons checking out the books they were anchored to, but the pikkoru who live in the shoemaker's shop and sneak out to work on his shoes when he's sleeping was a great nod to European-style faeries.
It's the blending together of the two worlds that make them work to well. Ocarina of Time's two time periods never affected each other at all, and while Oracle of Ages allowed for changes to ripple through time, it wasn't always clear what you had to do to affect any change. By placing the two worlds on separate scales right next to each other, Minish Cap encourages the player to watch out for places where the pikkoru world intrudes on the larger world and make a point of investigating them. Sometimes there's nothing there but a partner for Minish Cap's trading game, or a trading piece, but often there's a bit of conversation or a clue on what to do next. It's always worth peeking into the crannies to see what's there to be found.
A Mario reference? There are bob-ombs elsewhere...
The itemization bears more of a resemblance to the Oracle games than to Ocarina of Time or A Link to the Past, though the reappearance of the lantern confused me because I kept seeing torches and sconces and assuming that I'd find the fire rod at some point. I read another review of Minish Cap that complained about the reoccurring items, and it confused me because sure, the boomerang and the bow and the pegasus boots make their return, but there are several items here that are in few or no Legend of Zelda games. The Cane of Pachi, used to flip enemies over, turn pots into Entrances, and turn holes in the ground into trampolines, is entirely new. So is the Magic Pot, which allows Link to pull in enemies or objects and launch them far away, or propel himself when he's pikkoru-sized and riding on a leaf over the water.
Fragments of Happiness (Eng: Kinstones) are also a new addition. Rather than a single long trading sequence like most of the previous Zelda games, Minish Cap has tiny bits of trading with a variety of people. Throughout the world are Fragments of Happiness, hidden in chests and caves and the grass and for sale from a single merchant, and people everywhere will combine their own fragment with one Link carries. This can create new chests, reveal the location of heart containers, open secret areas, or even spawn golden monsters like in Oracle of Seasons. It's probably my favorite trading game yet, because not only is it not required, there's no sequence that has to be followed. Link either has the relevant Fragment of Happiness or he doesn't, and there's no worry about having to go through four previous steps and then forgetting that a certain character was looking for anything.
And really, I just like the theming of it. "Fragments of Happiness"--who wouldn't want to travel around the world and spread happiness?
The two worlds together.
There are only a few games that are able to get by primarily on charm. Earthbound is one that I've played, but I'd put Minish Cap on the same list. The gameplay is pretty bog-Zelda standard, the music is remixes from A Link to the Past--a benefit for me, but not original--and most of the game except the final battle against Gufū is very easy. But the setting is so cute and fun that I don't care. It really came together at the end, when all is made well and the pikkoru are going back into obscurity, and one of them gives Link a present to replace the hat he wore throughout the game--a peaked green cap that flops down at the end. I doubt that's the "canon" reason Link always wears a green hat, but after I just saw why Link doesn't have his hat in Breath of the Wild, I really appreciated it. It's like going from Ocarina of Time to Wind Waker, where it seems like a regression if you're under the assumption that anything not serious is childish. But with the way things are these days, I think we could all use a bit more whimsy, and I appreciated Minish Cap all the more for it.
⏮ back to Legend of Zelda reviews index
There's a Capcom logo that comes up every time I loaded up Minish Cap, but without that, there would have been nothing to tell me that this wasn't developed internally by Nintendo. The internet tells me that it's the same Capcom team who handled both Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, so they had practice at squeezing Legend of Zelda down into a portable format. And that practice paid off, because they shaved off much of the weirdness and clunkiness from their earlier attempts and made a great Zelda game that's simple enough to not overstay its welcome but has plenty to do for people who want it. I mostly did not want it, and that's okay! I enjoyed what parts of the game I played a lot.
The Japanese title is straight and to the point: fushigi no bōshi, "the mysterious hat."
Yep, he's the hero alright.
I think whimsy is an underrated aspect of video games. Part of the reason I love the Kirby games so much, even though they're uniformly extremely easy, is because Kirby is so cute and the enemies are charming. The opening of Minish Cap leans heavily into whimsy, and it did a lot to grab me right away because of it.
In Minish Cap, Link begins the game oversleeping when his childhood friend, Princess Zelda, comes to collect him to take him to the fair to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the time the Pikkoru (Eng: Minish) saved Hyrule from a terrible threat. There's a tournament in town, so Link's grandfather Smith asks Link to take a sword into town to the king, but not before stopping at the fair with the princess, who runs around in delight to look at all the celebrations. It's very similar to the opening of Chrono Trigger, with Link able to follow the Princess around or move off to look at the games himself, just relaxing and having fun in the moments before tragedy strikes.
And it does, of course. The winning contestant is named Gufū (Eng: Vaati)--easily recognizable from Four Swords Adventures+--and when he's brought before the King of Hyrule, he releases the sealed evil and turns Princess Zelda to stone, so the King decides to seek help from the Pikkoru. But since only children can see them, none of his knights are fit for the task. But Link is. With his grandfather's blessing, Link goes to the Forest of the Pikkoru to the southeast of Hyrule Town to seek out the ancient saviors of the kingdom and finds a hat.
"Whew! Safe just in time! I was afraid that we wouldn't make it in time!"
Ezoro is the game's Navi, and it could easily have become incredibly annoying. Early on I worried that the whole game would bend around him, with Ezoro constantly telling me where to go and badgering me repeatedly until I did just like Navi did, but that didn't happen. Part of that is because Ezoro doesn't have any vocal cues--without the "Hey, Listen!" I don't think Navi would have been nearly as annoying either--but another part is the characterization. Navi is portrayed as all-knowing, with advice to offer for any situation, even when that advice is pointless or unnecessary. But beyond that, there's basically nothing to Navi. She's entirely a tool for the player so they can navigate through Ocarina of Time's 3D space and not get lost, and it doesn't take long to recognize that, and not much longer than that to resent it.
Ezoro is a character in his own right. Link is a silent protagonist as always, but Ezoro's constant companionship allows him to provide a window into Link's thoughts in a way that no other Zelda game has really allowed to this point. My favorite moment is probably right before getting the lantern, when after falling into a dark cave, Ezoro says, "It's really dark! Isn't it scary? Aren't you scared? Well, you can go by yourself, then!" before remembering that he's a hat and thus bound to follow Link wherever he goes.
That's not to say that there isn't a surfeit of advice that anyone but a toddler could have easily figured out in the course of playing the game, because there is. But it's matched with comments about the situations that Ezoro and Link find themselves in or the environs that are cute and fun. They're whimsical, and they make Ezoro a much less abrasive addition than Navi ever was.
A veritable galleon.
Ezoro is also the key to the main mechanic of Minish Cap: the world of the pikkoru. Relatively early on, Ezoro explains that some parts of the world, old tree stumps and long-abandoned objects, can become Entrances (Eng: Minish Portals), allowing Ezoro to reduce Link to tiny size and interact with the pikkoru and their world. Every area of the game with a portal is thus two areas at once, both the regular Link-sized world with its usual octoroks and boulders and pots, and a pikkoru-sized world where Link-sized enemies are overwhelming dangers, small puddles are uncrossable oceans, and details are hidden beneath Link's feet.
Both Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons tried to weave multiple worlds together, but I think Minish Cap exceeds both of them. Oracle of Ages had two separate worlds and often it wasn't that obvious when changes in one would affect the other, and Oracle of Seasons' changing seasons was a visual treat but mostly tedious. In contrast, I appreciated the pikkoru sections of Minish Cap because they were interwoven with the already-existing overworld. A small vine, unclimbable by Link normally, becomes a ladder. A fallen log is a tunnel to a new section of the map. Formerly-trivial enemies are now unstoppable foes. And pikkoru live in the nooks and crannies of society.
The people in Hyrule Town say the pikkoru haven't been seen in a hundred years, but once Link gains the ability to shrink down he finds that they're everywhere. In addition to the city in the Pikkoru Forest, there are isolated mushroom huts scattered throughout the wilds, a smith's forge in the mountains, and nearly every house in Hyrule Town has its pikkoru living in small holes or just under the people's feet. I was especially fond of the pikkoru in the library, who start a quest for Link to go find some overdue books because the elaborate system of ladders the pikkoru constructed to climb the shelves was thrown off by patrons checking out the books they were anchored to, but the pikkoru who live in the shoemaker's shop and sneak out to work on his shoes when he's sleeping was a great nod to European-style faeries.
It's the blending together of the two worlds that make them work to well. Ocarina of Time's two time periods never affected each other at all, and while Oracle of Ages allowed for changes to ripple through time, it wasn't always clear what you had to do to affect any change. By placing the two worlds on separate scales right next to each other, Minish Cap encourages the player to watch out for places where the pikkoru world intrudes on the larger world and make a point of investigating them. Sometimes there's nothing there but a partner for Minish Cap's trading game, or a trading piece, but often there's a bit of conversation or a clue on what to do next. It's always worth peeking into the crannies to see what's there to be found.
A Mario reference? There are bob-ombs elsewhere...
The itemization bears more of a resemblance to the Oracle games than to Ocarina of Time or A Link to the Past, though the reappearance of the lantern confused me because I kept seeing torches and sconces and assuming that I'd find the fire rod at some point. I read another review of Minish Cap that complained about the reoccurring items, and it confused me because sure, the boomerang and the bow and the pegasus boots make their return, but there are several items here that are in few or no Legend of Zelda games. The Cane of Pachi, used to flip enemies over, turn pots into Entrances, and turn holes in the ground into trampolines, is entirely new. So is the Magic Pot, which allows Link to pull in enemies or objects and launch them far away, or propel himself when he's pikkoru-sized and riding on a leaf over the water.
Fragments of Happiness (Eng: Kinstones) are also a new addition. Rather than a single long trading sequence like most of the previous Zelda games, Minish Cap has tiny bits of trading with a variety of people. Throughout the world are Fragments of Happiness, hidden in chests and caves and the grass and for sale from a single merchant, and people everywhere will combine their own fragment with one Link carries. This can create new chests, reveal the location of heart containers, open secret areas, or even spawn golden monsters like in Oracle of Seasons. It's probably my favorite trading game yet, because not only is it not required, there's no sequence that has to be followed. Link either has the relevant Fragment of Happiness or he doesn't, and there's no worry about having to go through four previous steps and then forgetting that a certain character was looking for anything.
And really, I just like the theming of it. "Fragments of Happiness"--who wouldn't want to travel around the world and spread happiness?
The two worlds together.
There are only a few games that are able to get by primarily on charm. Earthbound is one that I've played, but I'd put Minish Cap on the same list. The gameplay is pretty bog-Zelda standard, the music is remixes from A Link to the Past--a benefit for me, but not original--and most of the game except the final battle against Gufū is very easy. But the setting is so cute and fun that I don't care. It really came together at the end, when all is made well and the pikkoru are going back into obscurity, and one of them gives Link a present to replace the hat he wore throughout the game--a peaked green cap that flops down at the end. I doubt that's the "canon" reason Link always wears a green hat, but after I just saw why Link doesn't have his hat in Breath of the Wild, I really appreciated it. It's like going from Ocarina of Time to Wind Waker, where it seems like a regression if you're under the assumption that anything not serious is childish. But with the way things are these days, I think we could all use a bit more whimsy, and I appreciated Minish Cap all the more for it.
⏮ back to Legend of Zelda reviews index
