It’s a ‘Zelda’-versary! ‘The Wind Waker’ Turns 22

Let’s get the obligatory mention of everyone’s shock over this game’s reveal out of the way. Yeah, it was wild, and coming off of that incredible SpaceWorld trailer, it hurt a little bit. But we can all look back at that moment and say, “Nintendo made the right call with this version of Zelda.” Because how else can you do great things without taking a bit of a risk?

Today, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker turns 22. And I used to struggle with its place among my favorites in the series. Because it is incredible, it just had one particular section that got a little tedious and would prevent me from replaying it. For a while, it was my least replayed Zelda game until the HD remaster on the Wii U. And then, Skyward Sword came along and took that spot. I promise I won’t take this time to dump on that game, I enjoyed it but there are some problems.

GET IN THE BOAT, LOSER. wE’RE GOING SAILING.

Shock over the art style aside, this game is beautiful. It’s the prime example of art direction mattering. Because it holds up even to this day. It’s bright, vibrant, expressive, and the story actually fits it pretty well. And that story turned out to be one of my favorites in the Zelda canon. I won’t get too crazy about it yet because a certain someone and I need to have a conversation about this timeline. But the Wind Waker story is actually the best example of why the timeline is so cool.

Gameplay-wise, it’s normal Zelda fare, which means it’s excellent. But it also has some of my favorite moments in the series, such as the climb up Dragon Roost Island and the Temple of Time reveal. The greatest of these moments, however, is when our toon-shaded friend decides to dispense justice straight through the forehead of Ganondorf. An all-time Zelda moment, in my opinion, especially given the art style. But then again, maybe that’s why it worked.

The sailing sections were mostly fun to me, but I get why some would say it dragged a bit toward the end as it is the main mode of travel. Doing that last quest did take a little out of me, but that was remedied by the HD version with a more streamlined process. But no matter what, I absolutely loved catching the wind and taking off. Staring off on either side of the boat and just admiring the graphics was a favorite pastime of mine.

Happy Anniversary, ‘zelda’!

Now, did I choose to do this piece just so I could sit here and beg Nintendo to drop the HD version on the Switch/Switch 2? Yes. Did I use this as a way to do a roundabout Retro Runback? Also, yes. I have no shame in either of these things. I enjoy the Runbacks, and I love all the Zelda (Not you, CD-I) games. So, Nintendo, you have this little Switch 2 event coming up. It’d be a great time to maybe let us know this and Twilight Princess HD exist. Or you know, if you just wanna shadow-drop them this week, that would be great. Let’s drum up some excitement and get crazy with it.