Overview:

Link is back in another adventure throughout Hyrule.  Only this time he has the ability to shrink down into the world of the Picori.  These beings inhabit random spaces throughout the world which allow you to see parts of the environment in pretty interesting ways.  The story kicks off with a nice little festival celebrating these beings only for it to turn dire when an evil sorcerer turns Zelda into stone.  It’s up to you to try to lift the curse and defeat Vaati to restore peace to Hyrule in this nice little handheld romp that plays like the old 2D Zelda’s of yore.

Visuals:

Minish Cap is a nice blend of the artstyle that was famously hated in Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for the Nintendo GameCube with the universally loved way that Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System looks.  The worlds are highly detailed with all the characters having that Wind Waker type charm to them.  I will admit Link looks a little weird as his sprite looks like he’s wearing a sleeveless shirt but that could just be my colorblindness.  I do love how everything looks in this world with it being a nice blend between the normal and macro levels of view.  You’ll see flowers the size of buildings and puddles being massive uncrossable lakes.  Nintendo did a real treat with Minish Cap.

Audio:

Minish Cap brings some of the best music the Zelda franchise can muster.  The happy go lucky tracks of the Picori festival and the Hyrule Overworld are some of the best of the game.  That’s not to say nothing else is memorable.  There’s just too many to list with all of the dungeons being amazing.  I love also hearing Link’s Wind Waker-esque grunts and yells.  Always brings a chuckle to me.  I just wish the Game Boy Advance’s audio was better because all the digitized samples are just low quality and scratchy.  Oh well!

Completion:

I FINISHED THIS GAME!  It had been one of the games I wish I finished, or even had, when the GBA was the system to have but I never got around to it.  I think at the time I was just done with 2D games but in hindsight I was just silly.  This game is truly a joy to play and see all the way through.  It’s not very short either so it totally brings a full experience to the handheld.  What a game!