Replaying Ocarina of Time via NSO

After the announcement of the Ocarina of Time remake for this year, I felt like I needed to refresh my memories of the original game. Well, it's not like I have forgotten everything, because I have played the N64 original so many times over the years that most of it is ingrained into my brain. But it has been over nine years since I had last played the game and some details got blurry...

The best example are probably the Gold Skulltulas. There was a time where I could have listed you all 100 of them of the top of my head. And while I still was able to do this for the most part, I was confused about what Skulltulas on the overworld only appear for young Link and for adult Link. If that's not a dire reason to replay the game immediately, then I don't know...

Last time I played the game on the Wii U. It was during the 30th Anniversary of Zelda, where I had made it my goal to play through absolutely all Zelda games on the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U, before Breath of the Wild came out. Unsurprisingly, my experience with the game on the Nintendo Switch (2) has been very similar, where a lot of my sentiments from the time still stand. And Nintendo has done some improvements to Nintendo 64 service since its lackluster launch back in 2021, so that it's not any worse than the Wii U version used to be.

Overall, the Nintendo 3DS remake is still the preferred way to play the game (next to the unofficial Ship of Harkanian PC port of the Nintendo 64 version), but for this blog I like to go with Nintendo's latest offerings to see what they can do for you. (That and playing on my Switch 2 is simply the most convenient for me right now.)

In late 2024, I even got the Nintendo 64 controller for the Nintendo Switch, but I probably should have saved that money, because the classic Nintendo 64 analogue stick is absolutely awful. Not sure how we ever managed to play games with that thing... Nintendo really should have modernized this into something that looks mostly like the N64 stick, but feels better.

Well, the main reason to buy the N64 controller was the default button mapping for the normal controllers, which wasn't exactly ideal either. You had to hold down ZR to turn the four face buttons into the C-buttons and it was utterly confusing. So, at the time it seemed like going with the dedicated Nintendo 64 controller was the best option, despite its stick. But shortly after I bought the peripheral, Nintendo introduced per-game button mapping for the service, which eliminates most problems.

It should have been like this from the beginning. And now it looks like Nintendo was making it shitty on purpose, just so that people would buy the additional hardware. It certainly had worked in my case...

Anyway, I went with a Pro Controller in the end and my button mapping for Ocarina of Time looks like the following:

• A: C down
• B: A
• X: C left
• Y: B
• R: C right
• ZR: R
• ZL: Z
• D-pad: C-buttons 

This felt like the most natural with how the buttons on the Nintendo 64 controller were arranged and how they are displayed on the HUD. The only problem was that I'm using the B-button to confirm things inside the game, while it's still the A-button within the menus, which kept confusing me. But this is a general problem, which you also have when coming from a PlayStation or Xbox controller back to Nintendo.

But before you set up your controls, you should pick the right version to play. I simply went with the PAL/European version at first, because that's the one I grew up with, but after Dodongo's Cavern I realized that I probably should have went with the NTSC/North American version instead, which is based on 60Hz instead of just 50. As a result, the PAL version doesn't actually run at 20FPS, but 16.66FPS, making it even more sluggish.

And the difference is quite noticeable. The North American version runs more smoothly and also slightly faster. In the early game you have to run around a lot, back and forth from Hyrule Castle Town to other places, and here the slight increase in speed made things already less dull. I also noticed the difference when killing Gold Skulltulas with the Fairy Slingshot. In the PAL version, I often miss the second shot, because the spider is still in its hurt animation from the first shot. In the NTSC version on the other hand, I can just fire at the spider twice in a row without missing.

The Shooting Gallery mini-game becomes even harder, though, especially since you still have the problem of the all-or-nothing stick sensitivity with these emulated versions. But luckily, there is now the rewind, so you can just quickly undo any mistake. It makes most mini-games easier, where it also helped with the fishing. I got a 20-pounder on my "first try", because I could just rewind whenever it broke from the line. I say "most" mini-games, however, because the Bombchu Bowling Alley is still a pain, even with rewind.

The rewind is generally nice to undo small mistakes with great effect, for example in lava rooms where you need to collect Silver Rupees. Or if you accidentally jump down somewhere where it would take some significant backtracking to return to where you were.

Whenever I replay Ocarina of Time, I try to mix up the dungeon order a bit and this run was no different. Though, for a moment I thought about just doing the vanilla order, but with the remake in mind it's interesting to think about how it could allow for a little more freedom, so I was testing my limits.

As adult Link I first tried to achieve as much as possible without going into the Forest Temple as I could. Free Epona, grab the Hookshot, clear the Ice Cavern, become a member of the Gerudo, and complete the Biggoron's Sword trading sequence, all without going into any of the temples.

Then I proceeded with the Water Temple to secure the Longshot and finished the Fire Temple, before finally doing the Forest Temple. The Fairy Bow is quite the gatekeeper in the game's second half: it unlocks two target shooting mini-games and the whole Big Poe hunt, while it's also required to finish the Water Temple. None of the other temple items in the game give you as much to do.

And of course, beating the Forest Temple is required to get Sheik out of the way, so I could proceed with the Bottom of the Well, the Spirit Temple, and the Gerudo Training Ground. And only then I went back to the Water Temple to clear it, which finally lets you learn the Nocturne of Shadow for the Shadow Temple.

It's a shame that Nintendo has never added the Master Quest version to their online service, because I'd like to give those goofy dungeons another run as well. But with the upcoming remake this will probably not happen anytime soon... Maybe I will also go and play the Nintendo 3DS remake one more time in the next months, but I didn't like how they mirrored everything for the Master Quest mode.

And for now I have achieved my goal of refreshing my memories, so I'm ready for the remake and prepared to talk more about Ocarina of Time in the upcoming weeks and months. It will be exciting to see how the game has evolved once more, and I do have collected a number of ideas for how to improve it. More on that later...

The Wind Waker on NSO: No Tingle Tuner

Source: ChaosValentine on reddit

With the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 also came the possibility to play GameCube titles as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. And after years of begging, fans finally get to play The Wind Waker again...

However, it's not the 100% experience that you might want it to be. You don't have access to the Tingle Tuner, which required a Game Boy Advance connection back in the day. To be fair, it wasn't exactly the greatest feature, but it's basically the equivalent to what we have with the Zelda Notes app today. And without it, you won't be able to unlock the five Tingle Statues, nor Knuckle, Tingle's lost brother. So, Tingle Island will stay quite empty and you will be missing a figurine in the Nintendo Gallery, though it can be "completed" without him.

This isn't the biggest loss, but if they are going to feature Four Swords Adventures in the future, they will need to come up with a solution for the Game Boy Advance connectivity. It might be easier to implement there, however, because you're going to stick to a "controller". Either you're playing with a normal controller in singleplayer or you're using the Game Boy Advance in multiplayer. In The Wind Waker you would need to be able to swap between the two at any given moment, or even allow couch coop for two players.

It may also be possible that Nintendo will patch in the support for the Tingle Tuner later on, but I wouldn't hold my breath. And everyone who's going to complete the game now will be screwed out of the Knuckle figurine.

Nintendo Switch Online on Nintendo Switch 2: Potential Systems

With Nintendo Switch Online we got access to a number of classic game libraries, as the successor to the Virtual Console. The emulated systems are currently the NES, Super NES, Game Boy, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, and also the SEGA Mega Drive. But the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 opens the door for more, because its hardware allows the emulation of consoles that previously weren't possible, one way or another, where the first new library is going to be the Nintendo GameCube. So, what else could be added down the line? And what Zelda games would make this playable?

Nintendo DS

Let's start with Nintendo's first dual screen handheld system (not counting the Game & Watch devices). It was already part of the Wii U Virtual Console, where the GamePad made it possible with its touchscreen and microphone. The Nintendo Switch 2 will have a built-in microphone, so that already covers that part, though ideally there will also be something like a "make noise" button. The noise cancellation in modern microphones made it quite difficult to properly play Spirit Tracks on later systems, including the Wii U, where there needs to be an alternative for blowing into the mic. And being able to play the Spirit Flute or shoot the Whirlwind with the press of a button would certainly be more comfortable for some.

The touchscreen isn't as trivial, however, even though the Nintendo Switch already has one. But you can only use it in handheld mode and it isn't very comfortable to hold the system with only one hand (especially now that the Switch 2 will be even larger). It may have worked for Brain Training on the Switch, but this isn't a general solution for all Nintendo DS games that utilize both button and touchscreen inputs.

This is where the new mouse functionality of the Joy-Cons comes in, because it could be used to control a cursor for a virtual touchscreen. As seen in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, it's also possible to seamlessly switch between the modes, which would perfectly emulate the behavior of taking your hand off the buttons to use the touchscreen. It would do absolute wonders on something like Metroid Prime Hunters.

However, some games have utilized the touchscreen to give you soft buttons for quick access to items or other features, where they would not be so easy to use anymore. In these cases you really might want to play in handheld mode and have the touchscreen contents displayed on the right half of the screen. Ultimately, there won't be an ideal solution that for works for all, where it's important to have options and to save these options on a per-game basis.

In any case, this should be part of the basic subscription, not the Expansion Pack. There needs to be something for the people who are not willing to spend double (or even more) for these online services. And the Nintendo DS is really the more basic version of what comes next...

 

Nintendo 3DS

If we can have GameCube and Nintendo DS games, then there won't be anything stopping Nintendo from adding the Nintendo 3DS as well... Except for maybe the eponymous 3D. Luckily, there are only very few games, like Super Mario 3D Land, that really required you to have the stereoscopic 3D activated in certain sections to make sense of things. Also, the Nintendo 2DS exists and has sold quite well without the 3D, where many of the later Nintendo 3DS titles didn't really put much emphasis on this gimmick. Some did not even support it at all. So, the lack of 3D shouldn't be much of a hindrance.

Another question is StreetPass, but this would be the perfect incentive to make even more out of the offline-to-online multiplayer environment. How many people had trouble actually finding others with a Nintendo 3DS in public outside of Japan and wished that this functionality would have been taken online? Quite a few, I would suspect... And that's now a selling point, because this could give you access to features that some people never got to experience.

If you add suspend points on top, then I will finally go for the true 100% in A Link Between Worlds and beat that dreaded Endless Cucco Rush. The Nintendo Switch 2 could make it possible to achieve, given that you're not one of the five people who have already beaten the challenge on original hardware.

 

 

Wii

Well, it was already possible to emulate both GameCube and Wii games on the old Tegra chip of the Nintendo Switch, where this was used for the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection. And with GameCube games ready for features like online play or restore points, the Wii will certainly follow at some point. You could use both the gyro or the mouse modes of your right Joy-Con to emulate the pointer. And Wii MotionPlus is already covered by the gyro. So, we're good to go for games like Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart Wii, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Skyward Sword, and even Link's Crossbow Training.

In case of Metroid Prime 3 you had the bumper stickers for your space ship, where it would be awesome if this behaved in a similar way. If you have played the games in question on the service, then you will be granted the sticker. The necessary Friend Credits should also be possible to obtain via the online service.

It will generally be interesting to see how they will handle multiplayer with systems that had both local and online multiplayer, which already starts with the Nintendo DS. So far the Nintendo Switch Online services allowed to play local multiplayer modes online together with friends only. This should stay the same, of course... But could this also bring back actual online lobbies with random players, like you had them in Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 7? That would certainly be a worthwhile addition if it came to it.

Wii U

Emulating Wii U games would probably be out of scope for the Nintendo Switch 2. Well, I'm no expert on the matter of emulation, so maybe it's technically possible, but it wouldn't be necessary in any case. 90% of Nintendo's own Wii U library already got ported over to the Nintendo Switch, where having these games as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service would be heavily redundant and also a slap in the face of all the people who have invested lots of money in their Nintendo Switch counterparts. Well, many of these ports got enhanced in various ways, like additional contents, but this makes having the Wii U versions even less desirable. Who wants to play the original Mario Kart 8 or Hyrule Warriors at this point?

Instead, it's more likely that Nintendo will eventually port over some of remaining Wii U titles, like Kirby and the Rainbow Course, Yoshi's Woolly World or Star Fox Zero. And yes, even the Zelda HD remasters, so we'd have all three versions of Twilight Princess on the Nintendo Switch 2 eventually...

 

All the Legends

If Nintendo really were to add Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and Wii, then this would be tremendous, because for the first time ever you would have access to (almost) all of Nintendo's history on a single system. It wouldn't cover curiosities like the BS-X, the Virtual Boy or the Game & Watch devices and it won't ever have all the games, but it would be quite the milestone nevertheless.

The Nintendo Switch 2 might even offer the entire Zelda series at some point (save for the BS-X games). So far this has only happened once and this was on the GameCube, thanks to the Game Boy Player peripheral. In detail, the following Zelda games and spin-offs could all make it onto the Nintendo Switch 2 via Nintendo Switch Online:

• Four Swords Adventures (GCN)
• Twilight Princess (GCN)
• Twilight Princess (Wii)
• Link's Crossbow Training (Wii)
• Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland (NDS)
  
• Phantom Hourglass (NDS)
• Spirit Tracks (NDS)
• Skyward Sword (Wii)
• Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS)
• Majora's Mask 3D (3DS)
  
• A Link Between Worlds (3DS)
• Tri Force Heroes (3DS)

Together with The Wind Waker, this would add the seven Zelda titles that you currently aren't able to play on a Nintendo Switch. And on top of that you would get some alternate variants of games (like how we currently have both versions of A Link to the Past), as well as some other spin-offs.

They could even give us access to some that were exclusive to Japan so far. Tingle's Balloon Fight, for example, doesn't really have much text, where you can understand it just fine without translations. And I'd love to finally give Navi Trackers a try.

 

3rd Parties

While it's the easiest and cheapest to go for their own gaming systems, Nintendo isn't limited to them. In fact, the SEGA Mega Drive is already part of the current offering. The Virtual Console in the past also featured the Neo Geo, Turbo Grafx or the SEGA Master System, but there is no reason not to have these on the Nintendo Switch already, should these ever return. The SEGA Dreamcast on the other hand is more on the line of something that could require the Nintendo Switch 2, though it's probably somewhere right in the middle. But even if it were possible to have it on the Switch, then Nintendo would probably make it exclusive to the successor nevertheless, since the Dreamcast is a bit of a fan favorite.

In other news, Phil Spencer has recently reassured that Microsoft will keep supporting Nintendo on their upcoming console with their games (see Variety). And while he probably means newer titles, like DOOM: The Dark Ages, there is a chance that they might extend their cooperation to the classic Xbox library, so that Nintendo can offer them as part of Nintendo Switch Online. This would be huge and I'd personally love to have this for one of my absolute favorite console shooters ever. No, not Halo...

I'm talking about Unreal Championship 2 - The Liandri Conflict. I'm still a big fan of the Unreal series and this mix of 3rd person melee combat with traditional Arena Shooter gunplay and unique characters was ahead of its time. This is the game I still keep my old Xbox around for, but it already has all started to deteriorate... Well, it's still in the list of backwards compatible games on Xbox Series X/S, so I could get that, but I'd love to have it on a Nintendo system instead. I doubt that this day will ever come, but it would make me very happy if it did.

Nintendo GameCube on Nintendo Switch Online

The Nintendo Switch 2 opens the doors to additional libraries of classic games, where the Nintendo GameCube will be the first. Technically, it was already possible to emulate GameCube and Wii games on the Nintendo Switch, as proven by the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection, but probably not within the online environment, which is a crucial part of this.

Anyway, only four games will be available at the start, but half of these are interesting for Zelda fans. There is The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker finally making it on the Switch, just not in the form everyone wanted. Maybe this is the reason why Nintendo has not yet released a port of The Wind Waker HD yet, but they also had released a Game Boy library with Link's Awakening DX after producing the remake of Link's Awakening, so this may not be a deciding factor. These online libraries simply offer a cheaper alternative, where now it doesn't look like we'll be getting back the two Zelda HD remasters from the Wii U anytime soon... or ever.

The other title is SoulCalibur II, starring Link. I loved this game on the GameCube and I might even play it again on the Switch 2 with this, but I was always hoping for its remaster on a Nintendo system with Link, which didn't happen. And I suppose this will be a common pattern with GameCube and Wii games. Luigi's Mansion? Nice to have, but I would prefer a remaster to complete the trilogy. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes or Metroid Prime 3: Corruption? Nice to have, but I would prefer a remaster (and complete the trilogy).

However, there is one game I would never expect to be remastered, because it's just such an odd creation. In fact, this GameCube online library is the only real chance I ever saw for a return of this title – The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. It requires such a unique setup, where each player has his or her own screen with a Game Boy Advance, that this made it difficult to return on new hardware. Maybe on a Nintendo 3DS it could have worked, but instead of going through the trouble of porting Four Swords Adventures over, it probably was the better – or at least the more interesting – choice to make a completely new multiplayer Zelda game instead, with Tri Force Heroes.

But this is it, this is where Four Swords Adventures can finally return. Playing this game in multiplayer will be easily possible with the online connectivity, just like it was with Four Swords last year. And the integrated voice chat of the Switch 2 will make things even more convenient. However, Im curious to see how they will handle the whole GBA connectivity. Will this be supported in The Wind Waker? If not, you won't be able to get Knuckle's figurine and the Tingle statues...

What's finally supported is button remapping and it even allows doing so per title. They will also add this functionality to the Nintendo 64 library, together with the rewind feature, but only on Nintendo Switch 2. This is something I wanted from the beginning and is very important to have, because the default button mapping is not always ideal. Hopefully they will also make this happen in the other libraries, no matter how arbitrary it may seem. The Select button, for example, can be quite important in some NES games, like The Adventure of Link or Metroid, but isn't very comfortable to use via the ⊖ button.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD x Tetris 99

Another Maximus Cup is taking place in Tetris 99 right now with a theme for Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. I've just beaten this remaster the other day, so the timing was very nice. And the theme is quite nice as well, I like the visuals a lot and how the Rambi blocks are used for the garbage.

The only complaint is that the music choices are a bit vanilla. It starts with "DK Island Swing", the track from the first levels, then goes into the title theme, and finally plays the "Lift-Off Launch" rocket barrel music. Those are good tracks and can make you hum along, but I would probably have swapped the title theme with something else, because it doesn't feel like the stakes are raised at that point.

Anyway, get this while you still can. The younger Maximus Cups are not up for purchase via tickets, so if you miss one of them, you probably won't have the opportunity to obtain them anytime soon.

Echoes of Wisdom x Tetris 99

The 44th Maximus Cup is currently a thing in Tetris 99 and finally you can unlock a new Zelda theme, based on the most recent game in the series – The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. That's only the third Zelda theme in the game and the second Maximus Cup for a new Zelda title. The other was Skyward Sword HD in 2021, over three years ago...

While I'm still salty that they haven't done anything for Tears of the Kingdom, where the Zonai stuff would have been fantastic as a theme, the new one for Echoes of Wisdom is certainly nice. It plays the lovely overworld music in the beginning, then it goes into the Swordfighter form, and for the last 10 you will hear the dungeon battle music, which is also used in the Slumber Dojo. The game even ends on the same jingle.

So, the Echoes of Wisdom theme is worth it for the music alone and it's also a neat detail how it targets other players with Tri, or how the incoming garbage blocks have little Moblin icons. The only complaint is that your blocks looks completely generic, but at least it's easy to read.

This might become one of my favorite themes to use, the others being Game Boy, Ring Fit Adventure (no kidding) and Fire Emblem Engage. If you also want it, then you should hurry, because today is the last day to get this. And it generally takes very long until you are able to purchase old Special Themes with tickets, some have never even returned.

Nintendo Music: Skyward Sword Added

Nintendo Music has received regular updates since its launch at the end of October, with a new soundtrack coming every Tuesday. This week we're finally getting a new Zelda title up in the lists with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

This is based on the official soundtrack that was released three years ago, which offered 187 tracks in total. You may notice that the Nintendo Music release is one track short – that's the Wii Channel jingle that came at the very end.

They've also added four games to the search lists, where it simply links to an existing soundtrack:

• Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch) → Metroid Prime (GCN)
• Skyward Sword HD (Switch) → Skyward Sword (Wii)
• Mario Kart 8 (Wii U) → Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)
• Breath of the Wild (Wii U) → Breath of the Wild (Switch)
  

That does make sense for the most part, since the music didn't really change between these releases. Only in case of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe they added a lot more, where they could offer a playlist that only has the Wii U music in it.

Got the NSO Nintendo 64 Controller

Since I became a subscriber to the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack thanks to Four Swords, I can also play Nintendo 64 games on my Nintendo Switch now. But using a Pro Controller isn't fully ideal here, because the button layout can be slightly confusing (it puts C-Left on the Y-button and C-Down on X) and you have to hold down ZR to get the proper C-button experience, or use the right stick like on previous systems.

Now, as part of Nintendo's Black Friday deals in Europe, they have offered a discount on the Nintendo 64 controller that you can get for your Nintendo Switch, so I thought that I should give this a try... Which I did today with some Ocarina of Time.

And it certainly gives you an authentic experience, maybe a little too authentic. The analog stick is the same old stiff twig as in the original, which will probably wear down if you do too many quick spins. And the motor for the built-in Rumble Pak is such a monster that you could use this thing for a drill hammer.

I never owned a Rumble Pak for my Nintendo 64, so I've only experienced this once or so before, but I don't feel like I missed anything back in the day... Well, finding all the secret holes without the Stone of Agony was certainly a challenge, but I had too much time to play this game as a kid anyway.

The backside of the controller also features the home and screenshot buttons, as well as a tiny ZR button, which is used for the cursor and applause during online sessions. And it can be charged via USB-C, where they provide with one of the same cables that also come with a Pro Controller.

As far as I know, the emulation does not support the Controller Pak as of now, which means that you have to rely on Suspend Points with games like Turok 2: Seeds of Evil that didn't have battery saves. But I'd rather have this than the monster rumble.

Nintendo Music Released

The next out-of-nowhere surprise is the launch of Nintendo's newest smartphone app: Nintendo Music. Not to be confused with Wii Music, this is effectively their own little Spotify, where members of Nintendo Switch Online get to listen to video game soundtracks without any additional costs.

I gave it a try right away this morning and this is quite neat. The interface is clean and the playlists are extensive for the given games. At first I thought that these are only a sound selection, but those are the "highlights" with only the most important songs and you can also listen the complete soundtrack with everything.

For example, the default playlist of Breath of the Wild contains 62 songs, where you have the opening, the shrine music, the villages, the Champion themes, and so on. But the app also has the complete soundtrack with all 211 tracks, which only was available in Japan so far, like most of the official soundtracks. This one contains every piece of music you might want to listen to, including the DLC stuff and the epic trailer themes. It's a blast, and you also get a unique screenshot or image for almost every track to spark your memories.

Well, I don't know why the Windmill Hut theme from Ocarina of Time isn't part of the highlights, but at least it's there... And there are also playlists based on characters, which may even span different titles. Like, there is the Great Deku Tree, where you get tracks from both Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild. That's good to have when you're building the corresponding LEGO set, I guess...

The only problem with this app is the same as with any of the NSO offerings: they are drip-fed. So far there are 22 soundtracks available and they will gradually expand this over time, because Nintendo wants to keep this thing in the news. I can think of a number of reasons why they don't release all their old games at once to the service, since they still need to be tested and potentially re-rated, and so on. But in this case it's only music...

The biggest effort at this point should be translating all the titles into English and adding screenshots for every song. That's still a good amount of work, don't get me wrong, but hopefully this will see additions on a more frequent and extensive basis than what they are doing with NES, SNES, and so on.

Here's what soundtracks are included in the app as part of the launch, with the gaming system and the number of tracks in parenthesis:

• Super Mario Bros. (NES, 16)
• Metroid (NES / Famicon, 12)
• Dr. Mario (GB, 8)
  
• Kirby's Dream Land (GB, 15)
• Donkey Kong Country (SNES, 26)
• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES, 26)
• Star Fox 64 / Lylat Wars (N64, 39)
  
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64, 82)
• Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (GBA, 100)
• Metroid Prime (GCN, 36)
• Nintendogs (NDS, 50)
  
• Tomodachi Collection (NDS, 62)
• Wii Channels (Wii, 62)
  
• Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, 81)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch, 211)
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch, 149)
• Super Mario Odyssey (Switch, 136)
• Kirby Star Allies (Switch, 213)
  
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch, 407)
• Splatoon 3 (Switch, 118)
• Pokémon Scarlet & Violet (Switch, 199)
• Pikmin 4 (Switch, 153)

The ones of bigger interest to this blog are highlighted, so Zelda fans will only get Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild for now, where they've started things with arguably the two most popular Zelda games. But we will certainly get more in the future, where The Wind Waker and Skyward Sword are already announced to come soon, among others.

However, let's hope that they will keep it simple and not bring the NSO Expansion Pack into this. It would be lame if you only could listen to the soundtrack of Tears of the Kingdom, for example, as long as you're paying for the advanced subscription.

But it would be compelling, because this is some very good value added to Nintendo Switch Online, where for me personally this is fantastic to have. I love listening to video game soundtracks, but I've gotten very lazy about managing MP3s on my phone, since there is Youtube and I rarely listen to music out in the wild. Right now I mainly have some indie game soundtracks on there, which I got from Steam: Hollow Knight, Death's Door, TUNIC, Dorfromantik, and some others. I also have some soundtracks from the Trine and Unreal series, where those are some great tunes.

As for Nintendo music, I have two MP3s from Spirit Tracks, the main themes, because that's the music you want to be listening to during a train ride, but that's really it. The other Nintendo-related albums on my phone are remixes, like Essence of Lime... So, having this app will fill a big gap for me and I love it.

In addition, you can create your own playlists, and shuffle things while hiding certain games as spoilers. You can also extend songs where applicable, so that they loop like they do ingame (which is very clever). They have thought of everything important and I highly recommend to check this out.

Replaying The Minish Cap on the Switch

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!

The Future of Four Swords Adventures

After finishing Four Swords in a group of four players via Nintendo Switch Online (see here), the question came up if we could continue this in Four Swords Adventures. Some of us had played the game together before, in 2018 on a Zelda gathering, but we were never able to finish it, because it's simply too inconvenient to make this happen again with all the required hardware. Of course, you could always use unofficial emulation, but that might not run so well and for the sake of comfort we probably will stick to Nintendo's offerings, like you now can with Four Swords.

However, it's unlikely that Nintendo will ever want to remake or remaster Four Swords Adventures. The multiplayer Zelda games are generally not as popular and they are better off putting such resources into remakes of the singleplayer titles, e.g The Minish Cap, or into making a new multiplayer game altogether. There is also the problem that Four Swords Adventures required an exotic setup, where each player gets their own screen in the form of a Game Boy Advance, in addition to the TV screen. That's not something that you will be able to replicate with the Nintendo Switch right now.

Still, the best chance of this game ever making a re-appearance is actually via Nintendo Switch Online... given that Nintendo offers a library of GameCube games one day. But that's probably not going to happen on the current Nintendo Switch, because it might be too weak for that. Well, the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection already runs both Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy on emulators, so it's technically possible to have GameCube and Wii games on the Switch. But this was without being embedded into the online environment...

screenshots by u/EruditeWho

In any case, you could display the main screen of the game (which is in 4:3 format) right next to your GBA screen, as shown in the above mockup. It's not ideal, but this would be good enough for such a re-release and perfectly emulate the original setup, where each player had a screen of their own next to the shared TV screen. You're not supposed to see what the other players have on their screens, though there could be an option to allow this as well.

Alternatively, they could also assign a button for turning the GBA screen on and off as a layer above the main screen. That would be similar to how it's done in the singleplayer mode of Four Swords Adventures, so it should work fine in theory. And this way you don't have to compromise with the screen sizes.

So, it's entirely possible that we will see a return of Four Swords Adventures one day, which is one of the few mainline Zelda games that never have been re-released in any form, the others being A Link Between Worlds and Tri Force Heroes from the Nintendo 3DS. And this would already be a lot more comfortable than playing the original, because all you need is a Nintendo Switch per player.

The downside here would be that only the host gets to make progress. This is unlike Four Swords on the Game Boy Advance, where each player makes their individual progress in the form of the different keys. That's because everyone has their own copy of the game and with it their own save data. But this difference was already true for the original versions, since you can only play this on one GameCube at a time.

And unlike Four Swords, you're also not dependent on other players, because this was built with a singleplayer mode in mind. So, you can play this with others online, but you don't have to. Only the Tingle Tower levels and the Shadow Battles mode are exclusive to multiplayer, but that's because they focus on competition.

The Navi Trackers mode was originally exclusive to the Japanese and Korean versions, where this will likely remain that way. But maybe Nintendo will make those versions easily accessible to the other regions as well, as long as you don't mind playing in some foreign language.

Four Swords Online, Round 5

Today was our final stream of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords via Nintendo Switch Online, where we had to get the last Hero's Key from Death Mountain and then finish Vaati's Palace in its 12 floor variant, which is big as all stages from the basic games combined. One last time of cooperating while screwing each other over.

This stream was already planned to happen a week ago, but the blue Link had no internet at the time (it should be no secret to the rest of the world by now that nothing is really working in Germany), so we had to reschedule. Today the timing wasn't the best for me, however, and I just wanted to be done with it, so if I sound more annoyed than usual, then that's why.

It also didn't help that blue Link's connection was lost in the middle of a stage and we had to start over. Normally, this wouldn't be much of a big deal, because the stages are rather short and replayable. But we were right in the middle of the Vaati's Palace marathon, the final stage, so this was a huge setback. Here it's not really the best how Nintendo just kicks you out of the game, instead of suspending it and giving the players a choice of what to do. The connection was only lost for a brief moment, where we could have waited...

What also annoyed me today is losing all your seed upgrades after a death. You already have the Rupee loss, but they also reset all your stats back to 0, which feels very punishing. Well, this gives you an extra incentive not to die, that's for sure. And if you die, then collecting the seeds will have value again. But depending on the level it might not be so easy to max out everything in the first place...

Anyway, first we had to conquer Death Mountain with 5000 Rupees, which is the most difficult of the Hero's Keys to obtain, because the fire levels can get very punishing. You really need to make good use of Rupee Fever, but if you're constantly hit by something, then that's not a given. We failed the first time, but we did it on our second try, so this went actually quite well nevertheless.

Since I already had 10 Medals of Courage and cooperation was key, I stepped back during Death Mountain, even let others have the treasure chests, but I still managed to snatch a medal after the second run for some reason. Maybe I subconsciously was still acting greedily... I mean, none of the other players were interested in the A Link to the Past connectivity, so the medals never mattered to them at any point. It was really only about getting more Rupees than others and scoring first place.

And the fight was on for the last stage! Here we didn't have to worry about Rupees any longer and you get more than you need anyway, so we were free to compete again. Still, we couldn't shake the mindset of "we need to maintain Rupee Fever" for some reason. I guess that it became a (good) habit after the Hero's Keys.

We also got sidetracked by the one floor of the sky palace where you have this platform that goes around the main room in a circle and you have to shoot eye switches to make chests appear. But there are a lot of blocks in the way, which can and will push you off, especially when there's lag to deal with.

I got stuck there for a moment, because there is a "safe zone" in the northeast corner of that parkour, a little past the halfway point. So, when you fall off, the game will put you there. Sounds nice in theory, but in practice there is no way of getting back to the beginning, unless you are able to beat the obstacle course, which took me a number of tries...

But ultimately we even got all treasure chests, because the blue Link ended up in the same situation and managed to shoot one last switch that I had missed. Teamwork! However, this was right before the connection loss, so this was all for nothing... And afterwards we've decided to rush things, because there was no need to go out of your way for Rupees.

We still finished with almost 25,000 Rupees, but collecting Rupees in this game is just so addicting. Well, I was torn a bit between "I don't really need them any longer" and "this is the finale, so I want to win this". And in the end the red Link (which was me) established his role in Hyrule's history as the one true Link:

I always liked the red tunic best, so this fits. And I would have gotten enough Medals of Courage for the Riddle Quest from this playthrough after all, but I really enjoyed having the Hurricane Spin Attack during this last round. It's just the best tool for annoying the other players and it was worth it for the "why do you have this?!!" reactions alone.

So, now I'm 100% done with Four Swords, for the very first time experiencing it as you should – by playing this game with three other people and in parallel to A Link to the Past, where one achievement leads to another. And I'm very happy about that.

Should you ever want to do the same, keep in mind that the Suspend Points store both the RAM of the game and the battery save data for some reason, unlike save states on conventional emulators. That's a huge pitfall here and the first thing I did after our session today was overwriting all existing Suspend Points, just to be safe.

In case of multiplayer you can't use Suspend Points, so you have to rely on the traditional battery save data. But now, if I were to load a Suspend Point from A Link to the Past, then all of my Four Swords progress today would have been lost... with no means to restore it (unless it's still there as your latest cloud save). So, keep that in mind!

Replaying A Link to the Past (GBA) on the Switch

Back on the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U, I was quite thorough with replaying all the Zelda games that I had on the Virtual Console, before Breath of the Wild came out. Now, eight years later, I haven't really made much use of the equivalent on the Switch – the Nintendo Switch Online classic game libraries. I've checked out some games that I've never played before, for which this service is great, but I was not really invested in beating or completing any of them.

The difference is that with the Virtual Console you've purchased single games on purpose, which then made me feel "obligated" to actually play it. Plus, these games were present right there on your home screen, waiting to be started. On the Switch, however, the emulated Zelda games are hidden amongst many games where I have no plans to ever play them. And it's also part of a service that will cease to exist eventually...

So, it wasn't until the recent re-release of A Link to the Past & Four Swords that I've finally come around to beat a game on the system's emulators. Well, I also had to pay extra for the Expansion Pack, so there was some obligation here to make better use of it, and I'm not sure that it will be worth it in the long run, because I really only got it for the Game Boy Advance library.

Anyway, this is the first time that Nintendo has re-released this version of A Link to the Past and this brings back memories, because this was also the version that I've first owned. Some people don't like it as much as the SNES counterpart, because you have a smaller screen and you get those Young Link screams with every sword strike, but for the most part this is the better version.

It incorporated the save system from Link's Awakening, where it puts you at the last exit / entrance and saving your game doesn't count as a "game over". The inventory menu was improved, because you get to keep the Shovel and the Bottles all have their own slot. There is an additional warp point at the equivalent to the Turtle Rock, which is a blessing in the later game. And the controls feel more intuitive, but that's out of necessity due to the lack of buttons.

In addition, there are a variety of smaller things that made the game more wholesome on the Game Boy Advance. For example, you get yellow counters when your Rupees, bombs, or arrows are maxed out. Or how you can break pots with your Golden Sword and with arrows. They even added Like Likes as a new enemy, which wasn't present in the SNES version. And Maple is in the game as the witch's apprentice:

There's more and I'm not going into every detail here, but there is only so much they were able to do with this on the Game Boy Advance. Some aspects of the game haven't aged so well in both versions, especially if you compare them to A Link Between Worlds and alike.

For example, I felt that it took too long to unlock the Flute / Ocarina for teleporting, where you need the Hammer for that and until then you had to rely on the whirlpool warp points. But that's also an issue in Ocarina of Time. And you get the Blue Mail for some much needed additional defense quite late, in the Ice Palace, where the increased damage in the Dark World is super annoying.

In A Link Between Worlds I will just go straight for the Blue Mail in the Swamp Palace to compensate this right away. But that's not an option here, because you will need at least the Hammer and the Titan's Mitt beforehand, ideally you also want the Hookshot, because it makes the Ice Palace much easier...

My biggest complaint, however, is how empty the world feels in comparison to its later iterations, which already starts with Ancient Stone Tablets. The Maiamais in A Link Between Worlds add so much, so that there is something to discover in every corner, not just the occasional Piece of Heart. Given that A Link to the Past is only the third Zelda game and its overworld was already so much more sophisticated and beautiful compared to the NES classics, it's not a major criticism of the game. But a remake with a new collectible could do wonders.

The Game Boy Advance version added some new content with the Riddle Quest and the Palace of the Four Sword, but you may have never experienced any of that, because it needed to be unlocked via Four Swords and this required at least a second player with the game. For me this took many years until I finally had that sorted out...

But of course this isn't as much of a problem on NSO, which is the main reason why I got the Expansion Pack and why I've replayed this version of A Link to the Past: I want to play Four Swords online with others after 21 years. And I did, where I was able to beat the game and obtain ten Medals of Courage, which are the requirements to get into the extra contents.

As for the Riddle Quest, that's a bit underwhelming, especially if you've already played it before and know all the solutions to the "riddles". But I also noticed how the Bug-Catching Net only really lets you capture things that are eligible as answers for those riddles.

So, for example, there are some enemies that you need, like the Sand Crab. And you won't be able to put any other enemies into the basket, only the ones in question. Or one riddle asks for a specific type of Rupee, where the net won't recognize any other colors or even other drops, like hearts or bombs. It's understandable that they've done it this way back on the GBA, but it makes this even simpler than it already is, because this excludes 90% of possible wrong answers.

I still like the idea and if A Link to the Past ever gets remade, they could improve this quite significantly by letting you capture everything and also by adding more questions. Oh, and there needs to be a warp point near the Lumberjack's house for this, because it always takes a while to walk back there. Luckily, many of the solutions can be found nearby, in the Lost Woods.

Off to the Palace of the Four Sword, I still remember how difficult this dungeon was for me when I first played it around 20 years ago. I used the "walk through walls" glitch going from Thieves' Town to enter the dungeon back then, since I was not able to unlock it with no one else around who had the game. And I had to do this several times over, because I needed refills for my Blue Potions after every boss...

Today it's significantly easier, both getting into the dungeon, where I'm now able to use the front door, and the bosses themselves, which are the toughest bosses in the game, but still not too tough. I suppose that after playing games like Death's Door and Hollow Knight I'm used to worse, but I already felt the same about this dungeon back in 2011, so that's not really it.

Though, this time I almost did the entire dungeon almost in one swoop, I only went for a refill before the final boss, which you can cheese with the Cane of Byrna quite easily. That item is so massively overpowered in this game that I don't know why it's there, especially since there is also the Magic Cape...

As for refilling your Rupees, that also never has been easier than on NSO with the rewind feature, because with it you can cheese the Treasure Chest Game at the Village of Outcasts very easily. Invest 30 Rupees and if you don't get at least 100 Rupees out of the chests, you rewind.

What I never knew before is that the contents of the treasure chests aren't fixed, like they are in A Link Between Worlds. What you get is chosen randomly whenever you open a chest. That's why you can always get two of the same. And if you rewind, you can simply open the same chests again for different results.

As for the rest of the NSO emulation, I still miss options to customize your controls, ideally for each game individually. In this case I had trouble with the inventory on the minus button, whenever I was playing in handheld mode. It's positioned in a way that I often accidentally hit the left stick when I wanted to close the inventory, which then caused the game to switch to the wrong item beforehand.

That was very annoying and I would have preferred to swap this with the L button. I know that you can change button mappings via the Nintendo Switch settings, but doing this for the whole system is also inconvenient, because then you need to constantly swap this for other games.

Anyway, this is it for A Link to the Past on the Nintendo Switch for now. I doubt that I will bother with the SNES version, since this was mainly about playing this alongside Four Swords. But it was good timing for this, where later this year we will return to this Hyrule in Echoes of Wisdom and I can't wait to find out how they've altered and expanded it.