February 14/2023 The Legend of Zelda, The Minish Cap

So – Minish Cap was definitely a let down on the heels of Link to the Past and Ocarina. That said, most games probably would be, but the thing with those other Zelda games is that they oozed with personality. Everyone, from the most insignificant NPC to the heavy hitters in the story, felt very alive – not necessarily realistic, but alive, and interacting with them was half of the joy of those games.

In comparison, Minish Cap felt pretty flat, almost like a return to NES Zelda, where the entirety of the game was collecting stuff and beating dungeons. The music and visuals were good, but Capcom also had twenty years of previous Zelda games to crib those from, and for as good as it looked and sounded, there wasn’t much original here.

I liked the shrinking and duplication mechanics, and the last two dungeons in particular really scratched that itch of puzzle solving combined with sword play that I come to from these games, so that was a plus. Ezlo and Vaati were the exceptions to the rule here, as interesting, unique, and fairly fleshed out characters, and I really enjoyed the fact that the big bad was someone other then Ganon. That said, I really wish Zelda had been a character in this one, rather then just returning to the damsel in distress “the princess is in another castle” crap from the 80’s.

Not a terrible game, but I doubt I’ll be replaying it.