Bad Uncle Rupee's Ashen Rupeeland

This is one great game. 10/10.

No, actually that's just what you get in Freshly Picked: Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland as a vision of how Rupeeland really looks like. It's a modification of the title screen and quite a hilarious scene. It's also quite a spoiler for anyone, who hasn't played this game, but I guess most people don't care about the Tingle games anyway. I do, however, I had quite some fun with the first game and I would like to see at least Color Changing: Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love to be released here in Europe as well. But I guess this game is just not worth the effort of putting up a team of translators to it. It was released two years ago in Japan and any chance that this will be released in Europe seems to be gone by now. Not that this is a great loss, there are far more interesting games, who never have been released outside of Japan...

Video Game Reunion: Season 1

Vide Game Reunion is an Atom parody webseries similar to Legend of Neil, where video game characters are actually video game actors, who all see each other in a reunion after 25 years. They just finished their first season and it's definitely worth a look. It's like a mix between a typical "reality" television high school reunion show and some reality television show focusing on some b-celebrities, just with video game characters instead of the celebs and tons of old video game references. But the problems are mostly your typical made up for reality television all-day real people's issues like split-ups, jealousy or coming out the closet. It could be a typical reality show, if not for all the (sometimes subtle) video game references, which adds the humor.

What I really liked was the portrayal of Link and Zelda. They are your "perfect" couple in this, they even have two kids called Tingle and Sparkle, big happy family. What was refreshing is that Link actually wasn't portrayed as gay. Because this joke is so old, I hardly can laugh about stuff like this for example. Hahahahaaa, Link is gay, hahaha, how funny, we never heard this before! But not in VGR, there he finally was just a typical guy. Link totally reminded me of Chuck from the TV show with the same name, one of my favorite shows on television (fifth and final season this fall!). Not only in his appearance, but also in his manner. But I liked that, a million times better than just another collection of gay jokes. However, the gay guy this time was actually Megaman, portrayed by the dude who played the old man in Legend of Neil. Megaman is a pop star and he turns out to be Zelda's BFF. So, Link gets totally jealous until he finally finds out the more than obvious fact, that Megaman actually is queer, which then leads to a hilarious scene.

Also, Samus portrayed by Amy Bloom was really lovely. Liked her character a lot. No blog post without an image, so I'll just show you her... :D



The show is quite entertaining, so you should definitely watch it. It seems that there also will be a 2nd season, though I totally didn't get the cliffhanger at all. I had no idea, who Carmen Sandiego was. :D

As seen on: Metroid Database

Australian Ocarina Edition

At EB Games in Australia you can buy this bundle that comes with the game, a plastic Ocarina of Time replica and a sheet with two songs, one being Zelda's Lullaby. THAT's something worth getting and not some thin-ass Nintendo 3DS bag and some stuffed in the box poster. Though of course this is more expansive than the single game.

Notice how the Australian cover is a darker, more bronze version of the US cover. Strange decision, but it looks nice next to the bundle.

The Magic of Link's Awakening

*plays title screen music*

On June 6th the 3DS Virtual Console launches and Link's Awakening DX will be one of its launch titles. I want to use this occasion to finally talk about Link's Awakening, which in my eyes is absolutely magical. It was my first Zelda game and it instantly made me into a Zelda fan. It's still part of my favorite Zelda games next to Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. I finished this game already a dozen of times, more than any other Zelda game, but I still can't get enough of it. But what is it exactly, what makes this game so magical?



It already starts with the story. And that's something to say, because I'm normally not too interested in the story (try to find a blog post of mine that extensively deals with the story or timeline stuff). But I think there is no other Zelda game where I could identify myself with Link as well as in this game. This story is not about some hero chosen by the gods, who is destined to save the princess and all the worlds of Hyrule. This story is about you, a stranger, who stranded on a mysterious island. All that's left of your past are a sword, a shield and a boomerang washed up on the shore and faded memories of a princess named Zelda. Your goal is getting off the island, returning home. But this is no ordinary island and getting off it is quite a task, a big adventure. Link's Awakening is pretty much the LOST of the Zelda universe, just without the disappointing finale.

But I can be really myself in this game, which is great. You don't feel like you're just some marionette of the overall story. It's your doing, where the game even constantly tells you that what you're doing is wrong and will have consequences. And the bitter sweet ending then will leave you thinking for a while.

But emotions aren't forced onto you, a pretty good example would be comparing Marin to Ilia. In the case of Ilia we got Link, who has feelings for her, while she is more interested in your horse or just ignores you completely. The player doesn't care about her character, but the game still tells you, that you have to. Which is why a lot of Zelda fans despise the character of Ilia. Marin, who was the base for Malon's character in Ocarina of Time, on the other hand was much more smartly written. She is the one, who is developing feelings for you. Whether you return them or not is up to you.

The game doesn't tell you to care for her character, it's completely your choice. There is even this one very clever scene, where you accidentally happen to rescue her on your way to Turtle Rock. No one tells you to do so and there's no big drama that she got captured by Moblins or whatever. This is unlike in Twilight Princess, where you have all this big drama about Ilia and her lost memory, where Link gets all sad and there is so much "blah blah blah". In case of Marin you just happen to run into her and you will be her hero, whether you want to be or not. For yourself you can pretend that you really are her hero or you can just say things like "no biggie, you just happened to be in my way, girl".



The game has also his own unique charme, which no other game managed to copy successfully. It's just so full with fun and crazy ideas. In no other Zelda game you will battle Mario enemies or evil Kirbies, use telephones to ask some weird old guy for advice, have bosses talking to you and even mocking you or play instruments before a giant egg on a mountain. It's full of unique and unusual ideas, which makes it so refreshing.

Link's Awakening established many things for the Zelda series and interestingly it still shows some of the best uses of its new concepts. For example, now there was a special quest before most of the dungeons. The goal was simply to get into the dungeon, but mostly they were locked and you needed a key for the dungeon. This was a really cool concept, which sadly only was copied by the Oracle games. The dungeons are places of evil and it's only natural that they are somehow locked from the outside world to protect the people living on the island. Later Zelda games would simply use the "cursed holy temple"-concept from Ocarina of Time, which is getting stale. But the quests to get in the dungeons are all fairly unique. From taking a Chain Chomp for walkies, over collecting golden leaves for a prince up to resurrecting a Flying Rooster. Link's Awakening is full of unique and charming ideas for quests.

The overworld is great and also full of unique environments like a Pothole Field, a Signpost Maze and a village full of animals. The island is opened bit by bit after each dungeon, but it doesn't feel like you're following a linear path. Because mostly you don't, for example the Power Bracelet opens the Tal Tal Heights and a part of the mountains, but also the Ukuku Prairie, Kanalet Castle, the bay and more. Lots of choices for you. And the game likes to tease you. For example you can enter the west part of the Ukuku Prairie right in the beginning of the game. I remember cleary that when I first played the game as kid I just wanted to go there (instead of facing the evil dungeon) and dreamed of the rest of the island. Or west to the swamp there is a spot that leads up to Tal Tal Mountains, one square next to the final dungeon. You can visit this spot right after the first dungeon, that's one hell of a teaser! And when you finally reach the spot from the other side it's one awesome feeling of accomplishment. The manual also teases you with artwork like this one:



Wonderful! It really stimulates your imagination and you dream of how the world will be. It's magical and something that wasn't done in later Zelda games. There they don't want to spoil you like that, but that's the wrong approach in my eyes. For Skyward Sword or following Zelda games they should always release a similar artwork for the overworld. If it doesn't scream "explore meeeee" like this one, then they failed in making a good overworld.



Now let's enter the dungeons. I just need to mention their names like "Tail Cave", "Key Cavern", "Face Shrine" or "Eagle Tower" and you will already notice that the dungeons are based on some quite unusual ideas as well. In later Zelda games all you get will be "[insert element or environment type here] Temple", which gets predictable and boring. And like in the first Zelda game on the NES, the dungeon rooms form interesting shapes. For example the Tail Cave looks like a worm and inside the dungeon you will fight lots of Moldorms. Key Cavern is shaped like two keys and this dungeons has tons of keys and locked rooms/blocks. All fairly unique in the series.

The dungeons also shine with really great level design, a high level of non-linearity and lots of optional parts are awaiting you. These dungeons are supposed to be mazes, even though they were created for the limited memory of the GameBoy. There are many different solutions for a single dungeon. You will explore and you will hit dead ends - two qualities absolutely missing in dungeons of modern Zelda games. You can also take short cuts and skip many parts, which is nice for speed running. I'm normally not interested in speed running, but this game is an exception. Because the dungeons are really interesting in this matter. Just check out the following map of the Turtle Rock dungeon. On there I drew a minimalistic course to solve the dungeon. The colored rooms are the ones, which I've visited. And the grey rooms are the ones, which I've never even entered.



As you can see, I skipped more than 50% of the entire dungeon, which is crazy. I had to use tricky short cuts with the help of Bomb Arrows, but it can be done. And I even avoided four recurring mini-bosses on my way. Try something like that in Spirit Tracks, it's simply not possible. If there are optional parts in a dungeon, they are usually pretty small and unimportant. And there's a reason for that, called "the developer". The guys at Nintendo put a lot of time and energy into making these dungeons, bosses and so on. So, it's only natural, that they want the player to experience every bit.

If you read these developer comments about Link's Awakening DX, you will notice that Yasuhisa Yamamura talks about the optional parts and even mentions that there was opposition to this in the team. But luckily they did it anyway, because the dungeons turned out great. It's fun to explore them and a good dungeon needs to have misleading parts, dungeons are supposed to be mazes. The linear room to room gameplay style of modern Zelda dungeons is just utterly boring and an insult to my intelligence.

But like with many other things Link's Awakening established some new concepts for dungeons as well. It's the first Zelda game, where you have a boss key, called the "Nightmare Key". It's also the first Zelda game to introduce mini-bosses. Also, it's the first time, that the item found in the dungeon has many uses inside the dungeon. A Link to the Past did this partially, but not as much as Link's Awakening.

However, while these concepts slowly became standard in the series, Link's Awakening already added tons of variety to it, for example the mini-bosses. In the Tail Cave the mini-boss defends the actual boss. In the Eagle's Tower the mini-boss can be fought at any point during the dungeon and he then starts a personal vendetta against you. In the Catfish's Maw one mini-boss steals the dungeon item and you have to hunt him down. And the other mini-boss can be skipped entirely. What other Zelda games offer ideas like that? Usually the mini-boss protects the dungeon item and that's it, always the same predictable formula. A formula that gets boring. So, why is it, that the fourth game in the series with 18 years on its shoulder is the one game, that already twists all those formulas? All members of the current Zelda team should be ordered to play this game and learn from it! This is how you do it!

You can actually go up or left! It's the magic of choices!

At this point I want mention the great Eagle's Tower dungeon, one of my favorite Zelda dungeons. The puzzle with the pillars and the iron ball is simply one of the smartest puzzles in the entire series. And the atmosphere is fairly great for GameBoy standards, primarily because of the music. The music tracks in Link's Awakening are fantastic, starting from the title music, over the Mysterious Woods theme to the dungeons. Great tracks. (Except for the annoying power-up music, when you pick up a Piece of Power or a Guardian Acorn. I always avoided those two power-ups, because I wanted to keep listening to the music. :D)

Well, am I finally done praising Link's Awakening yet? No, I will never be done praising this game, but I'll try to focus on one last point: items and side quests. Actually that's two points, but it's pretty much mixed up, because a lot of the main items are actually optional. The Bow is not a dungeon item like in most other Zelda games, but you buy it from the shop for insane 980 rupees. Or you steal it, but then everyone calls you "THIEF" and the shop owner will kill you with a lightning beam, when you enter the shop for the next time. Crazy stuff. The Bow is entirely optional (with the exception of one key, but you can skip that one), but helpful in some fights like against Armos Knights or the Gohma Twins. It can also be combined with Bombs to make Bomb Arrows, which is cool. Link's Awakening was the first Zelda game that let's you de-equip your sword and combine other items in cool fashion.

The Boomerang is hidden very well in this game and turns out to be a powerful weapon instead of just something that stuns enemies like in other games. The L-2 Sword is also entirely optional, which is a lost art. Sword upgrades used to be optional, you had to really search for them, and they were a huge help. But starting with The Wind Waker all sword upgrades became a part of the plot and therefore boring. But here you'll get the sword after collecting 20 or more Secret Seashells.

Yes, you get the L-2 Sword after a collecting quest! The Seashell hunting was pretty much the debut of alternative collectible items in the series and it's still one of my favorite collecting quests, because they can be found bloody everywhere. Beneath bushes and rocks, buried somewhere, inside treasure chests, everywhere. You can't keep a single stone left standing in order to find them all. The Pieces of Heart are also very well hidden in this game. Some are behind bombable walls in caves, where you don't see any cracks at the walls. Or they are sunk in the water and you have to dive for them (I originally only found those by accident). You might think that this is crazy, but optional hidden items are meant to be optional and hidden. You really have to look for them. All this predictable stuff in Spirit Tracks for example is just extremely boring and not very challenging. And Link's Awakening is also the first Zelda game to offer a trading sequence. It all starts with a Yoshi Doll and ends with the Magnifying Lens (some sort of Eye of Truth). Good times.

Link's Awakening is quite a short game, I can finish it easily in a couple of hours. But every single minute of the game is purely great, the replay value is immense thanks to great world and dungeon design and all the charming ideas. I don't know how many times I've already beaten this game, I simply forgot to count at some point, but probably more than 15 times. Save for Ocarina of Time, which I've also replayed many times, I've fully beaten all other Zelda games "only" between two and four times. So, Link's Awakening really, really stands out on its replay value.

As you probably know, the game has two versions, one originally made in 1993 for the GameBoy and an updated version for the GameBoy Color, made in 1998. The 3DS version is of course be the latter one. But for some reason I always prefered the monochrome version. It just adds so more to the charme of the game. The Color Dungeon definitely is a great plus, but the new photo sidequest is a mess with all the missable pictures. And one snapshot requires you to steal from the shop and you know the result of that... but maybe the 3DS version let's you switch between both versions. I really doubt it, but it would be possible.

However, if you've never played the game, you simply MUST get it for your Nintendo 3DS. No, everyone with a 3DS should download this game, even if he or she already played it. It's one of the better Zelda game, it has a great story, tons of charme, great world and level design, good side quests, lovely music, high replay value and offers a fairly unique experience in the series.

Ricky, Moosh and Dimitri

The Oracle games are celebrating their 10th Anniversary this year, so let's talk a little bit more about them. One interesting fact is that Link gets to ride three different animals in this game instead of Epona. They are Ricky, the boxing Kangaroo, Moosh, the flying bear, and Dimitri, the swimming Dodongo. Sounds great, but the problem is that you can ultimately only get one of them during a playthrough. You will meet them and get to try them all early in the game, but then you have to choose one. This little article is supposed to be a guide for you to make your choice easier.

"Wait, how can I actually choose between the three animals?" – That's a great question and it may appear random to you, what animal you've gotten during your first playthrough. It depends on the way how you aquire the flute before you first set foot on the landscape, where your buddy is required (the Natzu area in Oracle of Seasons and the Nuun Highlands in Oracle of Ages). You can either buy the flute in the shop, win it in a mini-game or don't get the flute beforehand. Depending on this choice, you'll get a specific one of the three animals. Here's an overview:

Oracle of Ages

• buy flute in Lynna Village shop (present): Dimitri
• win flute in Lynna Village Shooting Gallery (past): Ricky
• default: Moosh

Oracle of Seasons

• buy flute in Horon Village shop: Moosh
• win flute in Subrosian Dance Hall: Dimitri
• default: Ricky

I clearly remember, how I started with Ages on my first playthrough and I didn't do anything, so I got Moosh. I was pretty upset about this, because Moosh is my least favorite of the three. Remember that this choice only works in a new game or in a freshly started Hero's Quest. In a linked game (or a linked Hero's Quest) you will always get the animal, which you already had in the first game.

"What are their differences?" – Each animal got their own set of abilities.

Ricky can strike enemies with powerful boxing moves, additionally you can charge a punch and throw a tornado, which even destroys bushes (behind gaps). It's also the only animal with distance attacks. So, he's very powerful in fighting enemies, but on the other side his abilities to cross environments aren't too impressive. He can only jump over small gaps (like Link using the Roc's Feather) and he can jump up ledges.

Moosh on the other hand can fly for a while and that way you can cross even larger gaps. However, he can't attack enemies directly, instead he will just smash enemies with a ground pound by letting himself fall and leaving himself vulnerable to other attacks afterwards.

Dimitri is the only animal buddy, who can swim, which makes him a good choice in Oracle of Ages, where a large parts of the overworld is ocean. And he even can swim up waterfalls, which is quite crazy. He eats his enemies and you can also carry him around with the Power Bracelet. That way you can throw him over gaps, which might be necessary, since he is the only animal buddy, who can't jump or fly. He's also quite slow on land, slower than walking, so you wouldn't want to use him on land all that much.

However, it's not only about which animal you would prefer. Your choice directly alters one area in the game, which will be designed specifically for your pet's abilities. If you select Ricky, you will get a prairie. If you select Moosh, you will get a wasteland full of holes. And if you select Dimitri, the area will turn into a river. The following images show how the areas will look like.

Nuun Highlands in Oracle of Ages:

Natzu Area in Oracle of Seasons:

So, this is all the information you'll need, what's left is just my personal opinion. I overall prefer Ricky, he is fast and fun, but he's also the only one, who has good attacks. The attacks of Dimitri and Moosh always get you too close to your enemies and you might get hurt if you miss. That's especially a problem with Moosh, because the wastelands are usually full of Leevers, his natural enemy. You smash on the ground killing some Leevers, but then other ones appear right beneath you hurting you quite a bit.

Also, getting over the gaps with Moosh isn't always as easy as you think. I lost a lot of health trying to get to the Sunken City with Moosh. While I lost no health at all by riding Ricky through the nice Natzu Prairie. Dimitri might be my second choice, especially in Oracle of Ages, where a good part of the overworld is made of seas. But Moosh is the worst, hands down.

This ranking is the same for the environments. The prairie just looks nice, it reminds me of the wonderful Ukuku Prairie in Link's Awakening – I like it. The river world is okay, though we didn't exactly need any more water areas and it also looks a little bit empty (at least on the above pictures, which are lacking all the enemies). But the wasteland just looks awful. So, if I get to choose how one part of the overworld will look like, I vote for the grassy fields!

However, in order to experience all dungeons and scenes and to get all 64 rings, you have to play through both games at least twice. So, it's naturally a good idea to try out a different animal on your second playthrough. I even played through the games a third and final time to have one savegame for each animal.

(As a sidenote, this it not the only choice made in the games besides the obvious choice of what game to play first. But you can also influence the development of Bipin and Blossom's son, who can turn into four different personalities from Hero to Slacker. There's a FAQ at GameFAQs, which covers it all up, if you're interested in this as well.)

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With the 25th Anniversary of the Zelda franchise going on and the Oracle games celebrating their 10th birthday this year, there is a fair chance, that they will follow Link's Awakening onto the 3DS Virtual Console later this year. And if you pick them up again, I hope this post will be helpful for you.

All information taken from: Zelda Wiki

Phantom Hourglass vs. Spirit Tracks

Well, I was browsing through Zelda Universe forums the other day and saw this discussion about whether Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks is the better game. And the opinions in there are sometimes a little extreme, calling Phantom Hourglass "the worst Zelda game yet" while putting Spirit Tracks on a pedestal in the same sentence. I couldn't agree less, which is why I thought I could make a little comparison here on Hyrule Blog. Actually I compared both games a lot already when Spirit Tracks came out and also when I replayed the game a couple of months ago, so this will cover just some of the major points and most of it will be repetition.

Round 1: General Game & Presentation

Story, visuals, music, controls... This is where Spirit Tracks was much better developed, which is probably the main reason why most Zelda fans prefer the game over its older brother Phantom Hourglass. With Phantom Hourglass Nintendo primarily focused on establishing a Zelda game on the Nintendo DS with its basic visuals, gameplay and controls. Especially the touchscreen part was really important. But the rest of the game came short. With Spirit Tracks on the other hand they were able to use everything from Phantom Hourglass as a base, so they could focus on all the other things and even improve everything from the predecessor. So it's only natural that Spirit Tracks takes the upper hand in this department. The story is much more interesting, the game has a much fuller soundtrack and it tried to improve several aspects of Phantom Hourglass.

About the soundtrack, I always thought that Phantom Hourglass with its more minimalistic tracks created its own unique charme. Like the island theme, I totally dig that one, even though its like just three notes or so. I don't know, I still liked it. Of course the music tracks of Spirit Tracks are much better, but part of this charme was lost on its way. And Linebeck was one awesome character, still having princess Zelda as your ghostly companion still beats him. You never interacted with Zelda as much as in Spirit Tracks, not counting the not so official CD-i games.

The graphics are mostly better in Spirit Tracks, but the game also suffers from lag, for example if you get attacked by the pirate tanks the game usually slows down. I don't know if this is still the case on a Nintendo DSi or 3DS, both having more horse power, but it's a problem on my Nintendo DS Lite. They also tried to improve the touch screen controls, now rolling is done by double tapping. But while it's now easier to roll, I accidently rolled into enemies many times, when I tried to hit them with fast strikes. And at some parts of the game (like the battle on top of the Gannon-Train) my touchscreen just went crazy and nothing worked anymore. I only beat the final boss fight once so far because of this. This might have been a problem with my screen protector, but it's definitely not a problem in Phantom Hourglass, there the controls always worked fine. Still, Spirit Tracks wins this round.

Winner: Spirit Tracks

Round 2: Boat vs. Train

My vote goes definitely to the boat. It's faster, you can warp all around the map and the ocean visuals are more suitable for the Nintendo DS. The train might haven been an interesting idea, but the execution was just terrible. It's too slooooooow. You spend tons of time in this game just with going from A to B. Most other Zelda games including Phantom Hourglass established some kind of fast warp system, which saves you the pain from unnecessary travelling. But those warp gates don't really help and the train is just awefully slow. It should go as fast as in the sequence, where you play Pacman with Dark Trains in the Dark Realm, then I wouldn't complain. And while having worlds like Forest, Snow and Fire Realm might be more interesting than just a bunch of islands, it all looks just so ugly. Tons of 2D sprite objects and super low resolution textures. I'm not a graphic whore, but it's just that the ocean world of Phantom Hourglass was more suitable for the Nintendo DS's power and looked therefore much more harmonious. You really notice that in the Ocean Realm of Spirit Tracks, probably the best looking train part.

Winner: Phantom Hourglass

Round 3: Freedom & Exploration

The train idea also came with the disadvantage of making Spirit Tracks much more linear. It's literally Zelda on rails. And everyone, who has read some of my posts on this blogs, knows how much I despise linearity. Not counting the sidequests this game is absolutely linear from start to finish, from exploring most parts of the so called overworld, over the order of the dungeons to the path through the dungeons theirselves. It isn't as bad as Twilight Princess, but it certainly doesn't leave you many options. Phantom Hourglass on the other hand likes to give you some choices. First half of the game might be linear, but if you go for the third sea chart, you can also chose to get the fourth sea chart in the same run. It might be much more difficult with about five minutes less on the clock and withouth the Bombchus and the Grappling Hook, but it's possible. And if you manage to do so, the entire second half of the game is an open world. You can visit all except one island in any order and play the dungeons in any order. Playing Mutoh's Temple first, then go for the Ice Temple and visiting Goron Island and Temple at the very end? Sounds impossible, but I did exactly that just for fun! And yes, it really was fun, freely exploring open worlds and playing dungeons out of order is much more fun than following a predestined path all the time.

Okay, to cut Spirit Tracks some slack, discovering and exploring all the hidden stations was really fun, too. But Phantom Hourglass also has some optional islands, so it is still the winner in this category.

Winner: Phantom Hourglass

Round 4: Dungeons

Both in Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks all of the normal dungeons are quite short, not too challenging and mostly nothing special at all. The focus was clearly on the master dungeon, the infamous Temple of the Ocean King and the Tower of Spirits. Both dungeons require you to return to them many times, they unlock more areas on the overworld, where the next normal dungeons are hidden. By beating the normal dungeons you usually open another section in the master dungeon and the process repeats itself. They also serve as your first and your final dungeon in the game. This is quite a unique concept in the Zelda series and both games approached this differently. Invincible Phantom enemies are part of both dungeons, but one focuses on a time limit, while the other focuses on controlling a Phantom. One goes down, one goes up. And so on.

Most people tend to hate the Temple of the Ocean King, mainly because it is very repetitive. You have to return to the dungeon over and over again and you have play the same stuff over and over again. But actually this isn't really the case, there are many shortcuts and because of this no playthrough should be like the other. There is even a warp point, that let's you skip half of the dungeon. And like I already said, you can get the third and fourth sea chart in one run. It might be a little bit difficult to do this and the time might even run out while doing so. But people also complain, that the game is way too easy, so this little challenge should be welcomed. And with that you don't have to return to the dungeon until the END of the game, where you can already slay the Phantoms with your Phantom Sword. You can play three normal dungeons without having to return to the Ocean King Temple. In my eyes this should really add another perspective to all the complaints. If you know the dungeon, it's not a problem. It's little bit like in Majora's Mask. There people complain about the time limit. "Zelda with a time limit is not fun." But the game never really was about having a time limit, but about playing with time. If you know how the time system works, you should have never any trouble with beating a dungeon or a quest. It's the same with the Temple of the Ocean King. If you know the dungeon, you really learn to like it and appreciate its concepts. This dungeon is a science of its own, I never studied a dungeon of the Zelda series as much as this one. I've even written an entire FAQ about (speed)running through the dungeon with a full hourglass. I would never do such a thing for any other dungeon in the series, not even the Tower of the Spirits.

The latter tries to get rid of all the complaints about the Ocean King Temple. You don't have to repeat any sections, save for some sidequests, and there is no time limit. It focuses on the Phantom coop gameplay instead, which probably is much more enjoyable than running against a clock. But the dungeon is also less memorable in my opinion. What really makes it great are some very clever puzzles that kept me busy for quite some time. It definitely has some of the better puzzles in the series. Overall the dungeon wasn't as challenging or fascinating as the Ocean King Temple for me, but I can see why most people prefer it over the Ocean King Temple.

Additionally Spirit Tracks also has some mini dungeons in storage, one of them being a Mini Ocean King Temple, which is definitely great. Yeah, and Spirit Tracks has better dungeon music by simply not playing the cave music of A Link to the Past over and over again. So, overall I'd say Spirit Tracks wins this category, though the Temple of the Ocean King offers the most memorable experience.

Winner: Spirit Tracks

Round 5: Items

Well, this is pretty much old versus new items. Phantom Hourglass just used familiar items and modified them for touchscreen use. But you have to praise the Bombchus, drawing their path on a map was pretty fun and this was actually the first time that this item was useful. And the Hammer was extremely kick ass, even though it was really unbalanced. Spirit Tracks introduced more balanced and new items using the touch screen, but also the microphone. Blowing away stuff with the Whirlwind was surprisingly fun and the Whip has the potential of becoming a new established item in the series. Also, the Sand Staff was a pretty clever puzzle item. On the other hand having a shovel like in Link's Awakening was great and playing the Spirit Pipes in some occasions was really annoying. About the status items, I enjoyed that I could switch between fairies with different abilities in Phantom Hourglass, that was really cool. But Spirit Tracks on the other hand gave me the option of playing in a different outfit, which was also really cool as well. Mhhh, this is really close, so I'd say it's a draw.

Winner: -

Round 6: Sidequests

Spirit Tracks suffers here from really predictable patterns. Bunnies are caught while at riding at train, ten bunnies per area. You get one stamp per area, upgrades and heart containers are gotten in minigames or shops. Force Gems are gotten by transporting goods and people. The only thing that you can basically find everywhere are the random treasures. Because of this you don't really have to search through stations or dungeons, you basically can't miss anything important. Unlike in Phantom Hourglass, where Spirit Gems, Treasure Charts, random treasures and ship parts are all mixed up and distributed everywhere. I especially enjoyed collecting the Spirit Gems and the neat abilities, which you got for them.

Both games suffer from stupid random items. Actually Phantom Hourglass handles the random system much better, there are very rare ship parts and treasures, but also spots, where it's more likely to find the rare ones. However, due to the larger number of random items (64 ship parts), it gets very tedious and hard if you're down to the last few ones. Spirit Tracks only got 16 treasures and you buy the train cars from the treasures. Much, much better idea, but the totally screwed it up with making some treasures super rare despite their lower price. Prepare for a tedious, repetitive and boring task of playing the same minigames over and over again just to collect enough treasures for all train cars. It wouldn't be much of a problem if they didn't totally fuck up the probabilities. But they did and so Spirit Tracks might be even worse than collecting all the tons of ship parts in Phantom Hourglass.

However, in the end Spirit Tracks has much more to offer in the sidequest department. Especially all the optional mini dungeons like the cool Lost at Sea Station, which emulates some classic Ocean King Temple gameplay, are really awesome. Or the "Take 'Em All On!" challenge in Hyrule Castle Town, where you even can fight all the bosses in a row. Phantom Hourglass might have the better collectible quests, but it can't compete with that.

But I enjoyed the minigames in Phantom Hourglass more. Especially the target shooting, I spent hours with this game (collecting ship parts). Spirit Tracks copied most minigames from Phantom Hourglass, but made them less fun. The target shooting for example takes too long and there's quite some lack. So, i guess this is a draw.

Winner: -

Round 7: Multiplayer

Both tried and both failed in their own way. I already did a "Zelda and Multiplayer" special, so this is the short version. Phantom Hourglass can be played online, but overall the Phantom gameplay isn't much fun. Spirit Tracks has a great fun looking Deathmatch style gameplay, which I would prefer, but it can't be played online, which renders the whole thing useless for most people outside of Japan. If the multiplayer of Spirit Tracks could be played online, it would be perfect, I probably would even play this from time to time. But it can't be played online, so this is again a draw.

Winner: -

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The bottom line is that in my opinion both games are equally good or bad. What was done right in one game, was done wrong in the other, and vice versa. Overall both are mediocre Zelda games, lacking in difficulty and replay value and screwing up sidequests with randomness.

Ocarina of Time 3D Preorder Bonus for Europe

First prepare to jizz in your pants with this screenshot of the Gerudeo Valley. It came along with the press release:



Notice how they added dead trees in the background as new details.

Now the actual news is about preorder stuff. In the UK you will receive a poster and the game box will get a golden sleeve, if you preorder the game. In Germany there seems to be a preorder box for stores. You buy the box as a prepayment for the game (like 5 Euro) and the box will contain some extras. They did the same here with Spirit Tracks or Metroid: Other M for example. Well, the Ocarina of Time 3D preorder box will contain a Nintendo 3DS bag, but it's really thin (can't see that on the pictures below, but take a look here).




Well, this certainly doesn't get me too excited. I still don't want to buy a Nintendo 3DS right now. Because I'm pretty sure, as soon as I'm going to buy the 3DS, Nintendo will kick me in the face by announcing a special Zelda 25th Anniversay bundle including a golden 3DS, a copy of Ocarina of Time 3D and preinstalled copies of Link's Awakening DX and the 3D Classics version of The Legend of Zelda. Maybe I'll just buy the preorder box and not the game. With Metroid: Other M I was lucky, because no one preordered the game, so they sold the boxes for 50 Cent at the day of the release. I also thought about buying the game and renting a Nintendo 3DS to play it... But luckily there's still time.

Update: It seems with "golden sleeve" you'll just get the US cover instead of the European one, which is a bad trade. Also, the poster will be stuffed into the game box, so it will suffer badly from tons of foldings. Definitely not the best deal.

Source: Nintendo-Online.de, Zelda Informer