Why Game? 1 - TextFiles.com

character is incidental to the above-mentioned
fetch quest; you deliver a letter to him that
has a photograph of Princess Peach enclosed
(here though, she is called “Christine”). Also,
the dungeons contain occasional sidescrolling
segments, where Mario Bros.’ Goombas make
frequent cameo appearances. You can kill the
goombas with your sword, but if you jump on
them with the roc’s feather, they squash with
that familiar poo-quah sound, as they ought to,
and you are rewarded for catching the reference
with a hit point restoring heart. Even HAL’s
Kirby appears as a one-time-only enemy in the
seventh dungeon [1].
Given what is eventually learned about
the nature of Koholint Island [2], this playful,
let’s-throw-in-whatever-we-can-for-the-heck-of-
it approach makes a little more sense. It also
contributes to what might be called a certain
levity of tone. Nothing within or without the
series is taken seriously. At times it’s tempting
to read the aforementioned “demon’s voice”
as a sort of parody of the what the series is all
about. It strikes me, in this light, as similar to
Final Fantasy X-2, or maybe Parodius, in that
it is a game that transcends the limitations and
stagnant problems of the franchise it comes
from by more or less pissing upon everything
the franchise has set up.
If Zelda games are guilty of assuming that
the player has nothing better to do than play
[1] This charming abandon is also seen in the basic
gameplay of Link's Awakening. Although the exploration
is more rigidly set out here than ever, the modular
combat equipment system is cleverly implemented.
Nearly all the various items can not only be used
individually, but in combination with each other. I’ve
played through the entire game twice without even
realizing that if you equip the bow and arrow and bombs
at the same time, and use them both at once you fire a
bomb-tipped arrow that is twice as powerful. Compare
this to Ocarina of Time, a game that features discreet
"targets" that had to be pasted into the levels to make
the hookshot useful.
videogames, Link's Awakening instead, before
assuming anything, recognizes that you are
playing a videogame, and a portable one at
that. This is the level of awareness that makes
the nagging demon voice seem like satire where
it just seems bone-headed elsewhere. From
this follows the understanding that you aren't
actually playing a "real" Zelda game anyway,
so why bother taking it seriously? Ironically,
it's easier to take the little diorama dramas,
silly narratives/fetch quests and what-have-you
more seriously in this context, without the game
urging you to “listen!”
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is set to
hit stores the first quarter of 2006. Stay tuned
to the Gamer's Quarter for further updates.
[2] This is a spoiler, if you've never played the game:
Koholint Island exists as an illusion in the dream of
a Wind Fish, one of the gods of the Zelda universe.
Apparently. In order to escape the island, you must
wake the fish up, thus causing the island to evaporate,
leaving Link stranded on the remains of his raft in the
middle of the ocean. It's a pretty great way to end
the game, come to think of it. In a great "it was all a
dream... or was it?!?" moments, the camera pans up
from Link drifting on his raft to a view of the Wind Fish
floating across the sky.
The Gamer's Quarter EXCLUSIVE Preview of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 101