Product Description

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap GBA

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5375 in Video Games
• Brand: Nintendo
• Model: 45496734909
• Released on: 2005-01-11
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: Game Boy Advance
• Subtitled in: German, English, French, Italian, Spanish
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00" h x 5.00" w x 5.00" l, .16 pounds

Features

• Challenging puzzles and a new set of enemies to add to the classic Octorocks, Tektites and more
• Story-driven action as you explore the Minish world, with animated cutscenes and interactive dialogues for dozens of characters
• As you play you'll collect Kinstones to uncover secrets - match them by face and they'll open up new points of the map, new characters and more

Game Informer Review

There's always been a certain magic to Zelda games. The classic formula should have gotten old by now, but it hasn't. Perhaps it's because we all identify on some level with this shy, unlikely hero. Maybe the games remind us of our own childhood. Or perhaps these titles are consistently of such high quality that we can't help but love them. Regardless, The Minish Cap succeeds in all these ways – simultaneously embracing its links to the past while offering numerous innovations that keep gameplay fresh, exciting, and a true joy to play.

The greatest of these novel concepts is the ability to transform from normal size down to the diminutive form of the Minish, a race of tiny people living right under the noses of the humans. This opens up entirely new realms of gameplay, as puzzles and even combat must be accomplished in different ways. When miniaturized, the smallest puddle becomes a deep lake, and the most mundane creatures become monstrous foes.

There's a new item called the Gust Jar that allows you to suck up obstacles and enemies before blowing them back out in a burst of air. It's one of the cooler new power-up items I've encountered in any of the Zelda games, and adds yet another level of complexity to how you play. Another new ability allows Link to double himself, creating a ghostly after-image that mirrors his moves for a brief time. As you might imagine, this results in some clever and unique brainteasers that are a nod to the recent Four Swords games. In all these ways, the game challenges you to think in multiple dimensions and carefully remember details on your journey. A large cast of characters fleshes out the land of Hyrule, and monsters both large and small await your blade. To further connect you to the world's people, you will now collect items called Kinstones – broken halves of coin-like objects that can be fused with the Kinstones that other characters in the world have collected. By doing so, you'll open up portals, treasure chests, and secret doors all over the map. It's an addictive side quest that serves as a worthy compliment to the main adventure.

One of my few complaints is that while the puzzles in the game are uniformly challenging, some of the combat is easier than I might have liked, especially against the bosses, who were often one-trick ponies requiring minimal skill. Even so, the fights are satisfying in their simplicity, and you have access to all the familiar weapons and techniques, including the boomerang, spin attack, and bow. The old and new features combine to make a game that feels both true to the Zelda heritage while offering an entirely unique experience.

But more than any of this, the game charms you with its stalwart hero. This silent little boy with ruffled, messy hair is faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. Through him, the game establishes a hero whose pure heart and will are carrying him forward. All the elements of The Minish Cap (even its presence on the GBA) contribute to the idea of a tiny force for good that strives to triumph against a huge evil. It's a classic adventure that more than lives up to the legacy of a classic series.

Concept:
The time-honored Zelda tale retold in yet another new form

Graphics:
Mixing the familiar images of previous Zelda games with humorous and detailed new character designs results in an impressive success for the GBA

Sound:
Some of the most memorable and recognizable tunes in gaming sound great even on those little GBA speakers

Playability:
Responsive and flexible with a nearly perfect learning curve that moves from simple to challenging

Entertainment:
Like many of its predecessors – a true classic

Replay:
Moderate

Rated: 9.5 out of 10
Editor: Matt Miller
Issue: February 2005

2nd Opinion:
There's a bird sitting on my head, I'm no larger than a toenail clipping, and I've been stuck on the same puzzle for the last three hours. Long story short, I'm having the time of my life. For any of you who played the remarkable Super Nintendo title A Link to the Past, The Minish Cap will bring a tear to your eye. This is classic Zelda gameplay in all its glory. The journey is a tad easy for my liking (boss fights are a breeze), but I can't get enough of the creative puzzles and new gadgets. Shrinking in height to a two-pixel speck is not only hilarious, it's one of the most compelling concepts that the series has offered up in a long time. Minigames are also in great abundance, and you can collect over 130 different figurines that shed some light on the characters in the world (which also happens to be one of my favorite aspects of Wind Waker). From its stunning visuals to its gameplay finesse, The Minish Cap is another harrowing Hyrule adventure that you'll remember for a lifetime.

Rated: 9.5 out of 10
Editor: Andrew Reiner


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Customer Reviews

Another great Zelda game... doesn't deserve 3 stars...
I can't believe the scores/reviews this game is receiving in Amazon. Bad graphics? Hard gameplay? not.... fun??? This does not make sense at all and I have to say.. some people just don't know how to play Legend of Zelda.

I got a copy of this game the day it was released and have been playing since then. It took me roughly 15-20 hours beating the whole game, including fusing all the kinstones, collecting all the hearts, and collecting all the figurines. First of all, Minish cap is a short and easy game compared to the other Zelda series. It normally takes me at least 30-40 gameovers to beat previous Zelda games (oracle of times/ages, link to the past) but this game took me only 3 gameovers to complete it. (Where 2 of them shouldn't have happened) The dungeons are fairly simple and short, whereas the field puzzles are quite complicated and time consuming. Monster battles didn't get easier but the one thing that lowered the game's difficulty is the amount of damage Link takes per hit. Usually in the previous games, one light hit costs Link half a heart but in Minish cap, weak hits will cost Link 1/4 a heart!

The boss battles are the weakest part of the game. They are VERY simple, having limited techinques are moves, where the player can easily catch it's moves and defeat it. While I was playing this game, I sort of missed the old Zelda days where I had to challenge to boss again and again until I finally beat it and the happiness and pride you gain from that doesn't exist in the Minish cap.

Next one is graphics. People keep saying this game has BAD graphics compared to XBOX or ps2 games.. which doesn't make any sense at all.. You can't compare XBOX and GBA people.. Maybe comparing this game to another recent release, like Kingdom Hearts, may be a better choice.
Anyways, the Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap's in game graphics have the most vibrant, colorful, and closely detailed visual features compared to ANY GBA game. When comparing his well detailed and precisely dotted graphics to other GBA games, nothing stands a chance at Minish cap. The graphics made me just smile throughout the whole game. Wonderful graphics just make me happy.

At last I want to talk about the special features in this game.. which are VERY addictive. The most well-knowned system is the Kinstone fusing system, where you find pieces of different shaped or colored kinstones and find the right person in the world to fuse it with. If you are successful to find a person(or an animal/object) who have the matching kinstone pieces, you can fuse them together and unlock treasures, new rooms, secret monsters or doors throughout the whole map. There are a total of 100 kinstones you can fuse and each one unlocks a secret. This fusing thing is really fun, because not everybody want to fuse their stones all the time. Some fuses when they WANT to, some fuse only one stone where some can fuse two, and People are scattered all over the whole map big AND small, so you would never stop moving busily around the map. Fusing IS good, because it can give so certain upgrades to your weapons such as the Magic boomerang, remote bombs or even bigger wallets.

The next cool feature is the figurine collection. You can trade off your mysterious shells for figurines. This figurines are just plain AWESOME. They are much like the 'trophies' in Super Smash Bros. Melee, giving you decriptions of characters you got while presenting a magnificent representation of that certain character. (the graphics just SHINES here. SHINES) You can get a total of 130 figurines.. and this collecting business is VERY addictive since these figurines are so darn tempting.

This is all I got to say.. Minish cap is just another GREAT Zelda game with obviously awesome graphics and improved gameplay. I would absolutely definitely recommend this game to Zelda fans, but those who don't like the puzzle solving, secret unlocking, figurine collecting, real-time monster bashing type of games should reconsider before buying.

Classic Zelda, With A New Twist
If you've played any previous Legend Of Zelda games, particularly any of the ones found only on various incarnations of the GameBoy (Oracle Of Ages/Seasons, Link's Awakening), then you already know much of what you need to in order to grasp the dynamics of this game. I didn't even bother to read more of the manual then the story part. Because really, the gameplay is as simple as it is brilliant - use your sword and different combinations of weapons or items to solve the many puzzles, defeat the enemies, and save the world, as well as a beautiful princess. On the GameBoy, you'll know the controls if you've played the other games; and even if you haven't, they are not hard to learn.

However, this game comes with a new twist; very early on, you acquire a companion, one who enables you to shrink to miniscule size. While this doesn't sound like much at first, the way it affects you & your surroundings is fascinating. I haven't gotten far enough in the game to give a well-rounded opinion of this new ability, but so far it adds a new dimension to gameplay that is hard to even describe. The first time you shrink down and walk through a forest that dwarfs you, only to find yourself on a path where the nuts you previously hacked easily away with your sword are now hanging high over your head, is such a strange, weird experience. You'll find yourself staring around in awe, much as though you yourself were stuck in the suddenly huge world with Link.

As for the graphics that accompany this journey - flawless. The colors are vivid, everything is a cute kind of lovely, as stunning as anything the GameBoy is capable of. The looks of Link, Zelda, & even the King of Hyrule are extremely reminiscent of how they appeared in The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker (available on the Nintendo GameCube). If you enjoyed - or even just didn't mind - the graphics in that game, then this one may be as pretty to you as it is to me.

All in all, I'd say if you enjoy Legend of Zelda games, then you'll enjoy this one. (And if you've never played Zelda before, then this game is not a bad place to start; any adventure fan will probably love it, and as with all Zelda games, the difficulty increases slowly as you go along, so you aren't immediately overwhelmed and frustrated.) Though if you are as big a fan as I am of Link's quests, then you probably already went out and bought it.

this is great
Although I've played most of Zelda handheld games and 3-d ones, this one is very impressive. First off, I was really excited about this game since Christmas and when I anticipate something too much I'm usually disappointed with it in the end. Surprisingly, when I picked up this game, it was even better than I expected.

Some good:
-the graphics of the games were very crisp and colourful with sharply defined lines that makes it stand out.

-there were a lot of beautiful music geared to different settings.

-a lot of things to do: go on the main quest, which is enough to keep you busy with the shrinking and growing aspect that lets you see things from different views. Tired of going on the quest? Take a rest collecting cute figurines. If not, just talk to other people (there are amusing things that can happen) and try to fuse kinstones with them. This is one of the things I really enjoyed in the game, people seems to live their own lives and we can discover their stories.

-this may be good or bad, but I found that the bosses of the stage and dungeon were relatively easy compared to the other zelda games. This can save you some frustration but also makes the game shorter compared to the other.

-interesting way of learning new sword techniques.

-a variety of equipments to choose from

Some bad:
-as said before the bosses and monsters are easy compared to other zelda games (esp. because of less heart loss per hit), this can make the game smoother but perhaps subtract from the feel of victory at their defeat.

This game is reminiscent of past zelda games but oddly has a very new feel to it.

To the person who keeps entering 2/5 review, you're obviously an immature person with nothing else to do but creating three accounts a day to post a review, two times on Jan 17, two on Jan. 16 etc, the same type of language, and the user always have a history of no other review, come on. I'm not criticizing you because you don't like this game, everybody is entitled to their own opinions and their own likes and dislikes (that's what this review system for), but not when you try to force your opinions on other people and influencing the rating of this game by posting a gazillion of reviews that doesn't reflect what other people might think.