While waiting for the next sessions of Four Swords via Nintendo Switch Online to happen, I felt like playing the Zelda game once more that was made out of the same assets: The Minish Cap. Back when the Game Boy Advance was new and I had no one to play Four Swords with, The Minish Cap was a real treat, because it let me experience something in the same style all by myself. And I suppose this feeling never went away, even after twenty years...
There was an additional incentive, however, because with Nintendo Switch Online you get access to both the US and the European versions. Normally, this isn't all too interesting, since the differences between these two regions are usually minor. But The Minish Cap was one of the exceptions and a special one, because this game was released in Europe before North America, over two months even, very shortly after the Japanese release on November 4th 2004.
Today you have simultaneous worldwide releases for every new game, which is fantastic, but this wasn't always the case and 20 years ago Europe usually was the last in line, because the games had to be translated into multiple languages first, which took time. So, usually Nintendo games came out in Japan first, then in North America, and finally in Europe (I'm ignoring poor Australia here, sorry).
To get the game so soon was truly special, but it came at a price: the European version was based on an older build of the game. You can read all about it on TCRF, but the biggest issue was a bug that makes you unable to fuse Kinstones with Eenie, which ultimately prevents you from getting the last Empty Bottle, Biggoron and the Mirror Shield, as well as the Tingle Trophy. Imagine you reach the end of the game and then have all those missing...
In addition, there was a third Bomb Bag upgrade added to Stockwell's Shop, which wasn't available in the European version, so you could only have 50 bombs at max. It's not that you really need the 99, but it nevertheless felt like something was missing, because both your wallet and your quiver can be enhanced three times in total:
- once from Stockwell's Shop
- once from the Great Fairies
- once from fusing red Kinstones
There is a pattern here and with that there was clearly something absent in the European version, making this a bigger deal than you may think. (I still remember how some North American fans were disappointed that all they got was a bigger Bomb Bag, despite waiting two months.)
The most important part are a number of quality of life updates, however, where my favorite is that all the Kinstone markers on your map will go away once you've collected the corresponding treasures. In the European version opened doorways and similar remained forever, cluttering your map, where this also meant that you didn't have an overview of what you've already obtained.
So, overall you want to be playing the US version, unless you don't understand English (in which case you probably won't be reading this blog anyway). And thanks to Nintendo Switch Online, I can finally enjoy that version on official hardware, so this was also a big part of my motivation to play this over what I already have on Game Boy Advance and Wii U, other than the fact that using my Switch is the most convenient way of playing games for me right now.
Anyway, so much for the history lesson. While it was great to play the US version again, the rewind feature of the Nintendo Switch Online emulators also improved the experience quite a bit. I've already talked about how it helped tremendously with the figurine collecting, where for the first time all the shells that you obtain from treasure chests were more than enough for getting everything. You can read all about that here.
In addition, it also helped quite a bit with the annoying Cucco minigame, because you can quickly undo mistakes and try again, without the need to repeat the entire round. I've always hated this minigame, because it's a perversion of the fun Cucco search from Kakariko in Ocarina of Time and completely overstays its non-existent welcome. But at least the rewind made it somewhat bearable to do it all over again...
Though, its most potent usability comes with the last minigame in Hyrule Castle Town: the Chest Mini-Game Shop. Unlike in A Link to the Past, it's completely predetermined what chest contains what before you open it. So, all you have to do is rewind and pick the right chest. The "triple or nothing" variant let's you turn 10 Rupees into 999 Rupees in less than a minute, so money won't ever be an issue again. Even if I had to grind for Mysterious Shells, which I didn't, I could have simply bought them from the shop, and then "gamble" to refill my Rupees.
What the rewind won't help you with is Ezlo. He's still annoying me greatly, telling you the most obvious and mundane things, interrupting you in the middle of your actions. He even tells you the solution to puzzles while you're already solving them, which might even cancel what you've been doing, like creating clones. Ezlo comes straight out of handholding hell, where he's making babies with Fi. And this makes me actually worried about Tri... Maybe it's their offspring...?!!
Begone, talking hat! May the Minish Door never open again!
It also didn't help that I've been playing TUNIC recently, a game that does not spell things out for you (quite literally) and challenges your intelligence, instead of insulting it. More on that later, but it makes it so much more painful that there was this phase for Zelda, where Nintendo simply was too afraid that the players wouldn't understand things. And I'm glad that's history.
Another thing I ended up disliking is something that I've always been praising about this game in the past: the Kinstones. Well, I still enjoy this idea of making things appear all over Hyrule, adding to the environment, opening new ways, and so on. But the execution is quite flawed...
The main problem is with characters who refuse to fuse Kinstones until some arbitrary point in the game. So, you go and explore, find some Minish living in a small hole somewhere, but all you can do is talk to him. He may give you a hint that he is up to something, but you don't know when this is going to happen...
A prime example is the Minish who lives at the "lake" in the northeast corner of the Minish Village. He will open the way to the final Heart Container, but not until you've obtained the completed Four Sword. How are you supposed to know this? Well, apparently you aren't supposed to know. All you can do is revisit everything and everyone once you've reached the end of the game, just in case you're now allowed to fuse all of sudden.
I personally keep forgetting about the Deku in the Minish Woods, but at least it's easy enough to remember that you have to go back to the Deku in the Castor Wilds for this. And my last fusion this time was the second fusion with the Smith. It's stupid how a variety of characters have two fixed fusions, while others are part of the random pool and may get cut short, where then there is no reason to ever visit them (like the Cucco on Anju's house).
Another thing I will never understand is why the Mirror Shield is exclusive to the post-game only. It makes sense for the additional figurines, because otherwise they would spoil the final bosses for you, but there was no need to make Biggoron do absolutely nothing until after you've beaten the game. This is yet another character who you can visit, but where you can't do anything at first, except for taking a mental note to come back again later. And that's not fun.
Well, I've put some thoughts into how to improve the game for a potential remake, especially with the Kinstone system, but those will go into a follow-up post, coming in the next days!
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