I haven’t beaten all of the Zelda games, but I’ve played most of them. What gamer our age doesn’t remember that original over world music playing as you walk into the cave. Those fateful words from the old man as he hands you that first sword Link wields. Those words change me in ways I can’t even begin to describe. It is dangerous to go alone. I need to take something with me…

Windwaker starts with you learning the old stories of Ganon being defeated by Link, though I don’t know which time this defeat is. Since Nintendo likes to beat dead horses, every Zelda game has the same plot, same grappling hook and boomerang and the same enemy that occasionally changes his name.

But screw it, we keep playing because it’s a god story and we like the familiarity, s lets talk about this specific one rather then bust on the little leprechaun looking guy.

Windwaker starts with you waking up on an island. This is a world gone wrong through environmental disaster. There are about two hundred people left in the world, and you have to get around using a boat that talks. There are no real land masses, just the islands and a set of pirates.

Your sister has been kidnapped and the pirates take you to the island. An ingeniously named place that goes by The Forsaken Fortress. At this point, you are flung to the island (The spotlights make it impossible for the ship to approach) and tour sword is knocked away. Now you get to do a little sneak around mission with barrels on your head. This is one of the annoying things video games will shoehorn into the games that aren’t sneak around games. If I were playing Metal Gear, I’d be fine with it, but I’m playing Zelda.

Luckily after that first one, there are no more sneaking bits, just hitting things with a metal stick. You run through different dungeons getting more hearts and stuff to hit other things with. There are orc things, dragons, all kinds of stuff. You don’t need me to go on about it.

The graphics have a cartoonish slant, kinda half way between two and three dimensional. Though some gamers may not have been too much into it because of this (and I’ve heard the complaints a few times) It’s just fun and campy. Anyone at this point complaining about Zelda not doing exactly what you expect, then you should stop playing them.

I, however, will keep going. Because I will always love that green tunic, my master sword and my tennis match with Ganon