Jinn's Cosy Video Game Corner – Maiden Voyage with Wind Waker

    I might be starting off my first segment of Cosy Corner with not your typical cosy game feature, but it's certainly one that I hold a lot of precious summertime memories for and it seems like a fair few people experience the same feeling given the amount who responded in excitement to my pitch for this feature.    

     Image source: Nintendo GameCube; The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

    The Legend of Zelda (LoZ) Wind Waker built the foundations in my mind of what I would consider as my perfect summer video game, providing an escape to an exciting, vibrant, and whimsical world that seems to have embedded itself into my memories with picture perfect clarity.

Playing as Link, you start on a remote tropical island with a familial community (even just that brings warmth as juxtaposition from other LoZ games by providing a sense of identity and family) and are brought into the legends by way of tradition and family honour - quite different from being abruptly awoken by a high-pitched ball of light and told that you're adopted (essentially) and then immediately responsible to go save the world… That kind of feels heavy, whereas Wind Waker tackles the challenges of being a hero in a way that feels nurturing and positive, especially on young impressionable minds.

Image source: Nintendo GameCube Press Kit

    Of course, with it being a LoZ game there is combat and monsters, but I found that combat was relatively easy and uncommon outside of temples and fortresses so I spent a lot of the game running around cute tropical islands and (here comes the actual reason for this feature) sailing around beautiful blue seas and skies, treasure hunting and controlling the wind through various harmonious songs with the aid from a talking lion boat; kind of like an adventurous, puzzle-solving Animal Crossing, which given I played both on the GameCube around the same time, may have shaped my gaming preferences to be what they are now.

The cartoony animation on this game captures an essence of idyllic, simple island living, and I find myself peacefully reminiscing about the wind breeze lines, soaring seagulls, and lapping sea waves. I recall the release of Wind Waker caused a lot of stir amongst LoZ fans, some feeling that the style played too much into “childish” animation but in hindsight it was a clever decision by Nintendo to appeal to younger audiences and introduce them into the LoZ series, leading into the next generation of handheld consoles for sequels Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks on DS. 

        Image Source: IGDB Wind Waker HD Press Kit

    What may have seemed like an “uncool” direction taken by Nintendo turned into an evolution of style that has kept The Legend of Zelda series unique and easily identifiable for years to come, and personally, I have really enjoyed seeing the series evolve aesthetically over time, with each game title bringing a fresh variation to the design.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the darker and classic LoZ games like Ocarina of Time (OoT) and Majora’s Mask, with my first impressions of LoZ born from watching my older brothers play both titles, and myself playing Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages on Gameboy however, my initial attempt at OoT  left 7 year-old me traumatised over the Shadow Temple (those hands still freak me out) until my re-attempt a few years later, played in succession with Twilight Princess. 

Image source: Nintendo GameCube; The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

    Wind Waker gave me a cheerful and happy introduction to solo main title gaming, and blossomed my confidence in fighting monsters and big boss battles. The game focuses more on providing entertainment through enjoyable puzzles and hidden world interactions, akin to Majora’s Mask enigmatic play style but with a lot less creepy and world impending doom vibes. 

All in all, Wind Waker remains a unique blend of cosy puzzle gaming with a little bit of challenge to keep things interesting and a whole world of story that can envelope and embolden players into progressing through temples and dungeons. Plus, I can’t get over the experience of the Tingle Tuner, which essentially turned a Gameboy Advance into a companion device to help guide, locate and use special items (Tingle bombs, heck yeah), allowing for a little co-op experience, which could be a game pitch in itself to Nintendo for future titles?? If someone could put me in touch, that’d be great, hah.

Now to dust off the old GameCube and fire up that tiny disc to revisit a game that has captivated me for over 20 years and relive a bit of childhood wonder.

Image source: Nintendo GameCube; The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker