The Minish Cap: Kinstone Fusions

So, now that I know how many Kinstone Fusions there are in this game and I’ve got a bag full of Kinstone halves, let’s start seeking out the people to fuse with. It seems random, sometimes, and some people can fuse multiple Kinstones. They’re all over the map, not just concentrated in the city and the Minish village; potentially any NPC, anywhere in the game, can fuse Kinstones with Link. Even animals can fuse with Link when he shrinks to Minish size. The rewards for Kinstone Fusion vary. The most common are for a chest or door to appear; common rewards for exploring these include rupees, Mysterious Shells, and Kinstone halves. Less common rewards are a wallet upgrade (up to 500 rupees), a piece of heart, and a third bottle. All in all, I got 39 Kinstone Fusions done before I couldn’t find anyone else to fuse with.

• There’s a Goron pounding at a rock wall near Lon Lon Ranch. Fusing with him causes a Goron merchant to enter town and set up shop in the merchants’ square. He sells Kinstone halves. (He’s immediately north of this game’s version of Beedle, who sells special potions that increase the drop rate of various items.) In the screen to the south, fusing with one of the farmers inspires the pounding Goron to go faster, allowing him to make it through the wall, where he finds another wall he can’t get through on his own.
• A portal opens up in South Hyrule Field near Link’s House. Going through the portal, Link arrives at a house where a man is being tormented by a ghost. Link can use the Gust Jar to exorcize the ghost, and the man gives him 100 Mysterious Shells as a reward.
• Golden enemies appear throughout the map. The Octorok and Rope aren’t so bad, just a little more advanced than usual and taking about a dozen hits to kill. (By the way, if the Two Sword is a damage upgrade over the Smith’s Sword, I haven’t noticed.) However, the Tektite is a bloody nightmare. It’s bouncier than a superball on a trampoline, so hitting it once is hard enough, and hitting it enough to kill it is incredibly frustrating.
• Fusing with the postman causes a woman (based on the Bombchu bowling operator from Ocarina, perhaps) to appear at the post office and sell issues of a newsletter with gameplay tips.
• Two of Tingle’s brothers can be found, and they, along with Tingle, open up three of a series of four trees in North Hyrule Field for exploration. Each tree-cave has a chest, and a button that lights a torch. Presumably, the fourth brother will open the fourth tree, and once the torches are lit, Link can claim his reward for this subsubquest.
• A giant vine (like in Super Mario Bros., or maybe “Jack and the Beanstalk”) grows on Mt. Crenel. Climbing it to the clouds lets Link get another heart piece.

There are a few other things Link can get before setting out to the next dungeon. He can visit Stockwell’s lake house to feed the dog and be able to put his own stuff in the bottle. Back in town, Stockwell’s selling a bomb bag upgrade (to 50). In Lon Lon Ranch, there’s a tree Link can charge into, revealing a Minish portal; there’s a small path nearby with a piece of heart. He can go a little ways into Veil Falls north of Lon Lon Ranch for another piece of heart. In the Minish Woods, there’s a great fairy who says she needs rupees and asks Link to give her all of his. It’s a test, of course, and she not only doesn’t take the offered rupees, but also rewards his generous spirit by giving him the last wallet upgrade (999).

Swiftblade’s not the only fencing instructor in Hyrule, and with some exploration, Link can find a couple other dojos. The first is in the mountains, and Link needs to split himself to step on the buttons to open the door. Inside, Link finds Grayblade, who teaches him the roll attack. I personally found this attack a bit awkward to execute, although I’m sure it’ll come in handy at some point. The second dojo is in southeast Hyrule Castle Garden, however, it’s too dark for any actual training to take place – there are torches, but Link doesn’t have a way to light them yet. However, the real reason to find both dojos is because there are heart pieces Link can nab in each.

Next: Okay, at some point this was going to be the earth dungeon, right?

The Minish Cap: Pegasus Boots

There’s a shoemaker, Rem, in the town, but when Link enters the shop, he falls asleep right across his counter. There’s a pot in the shop that Link can use to shrink to Minish size. When he climbs up to the counter, he finds some Minish who work on the shoes when Rem’s asleep, which seems to be a common condition. They’ve finished a set of Pegasus Boots, but need Rem to put the finishing touches on before they can give them to Link, so Link needs to find a way to wake Rem up. They suggest he talk to Syrup in the Minish Woods.

As Link passes by Lon Lon Ranch, Malon and Talon are outside. Talon’s fretting, walking back and forth, because he’s locked out and the only spare key is inside. There’s a Minish entrance and a portal nearby, so Link shrinks down, goes inside, de-shrinks, and finds the key under a pot. Even with the key, he can’t just unlock the door from inside and go out that way, for some reason, so he has to shrink down to use the Minish door again. Talon doesn’t know how Link got the key, but he’s grateful, and gives Link permission to cut through his home in the future. As Link passes through the farm, Ezlo stops to appreciate the setting, and in particular, the delicious-looking cows.

Getting to Syrup’s hut involves finding high ground and then using a series of cyclones to give the Ezlo-glider a lift over a large pond, then cutting through a corner of the Lake Hylia region. This puts Link in the northern part of the Minish Woods, where he couldn’t get before because of a pond in the way. There’s a heart piece here he can grab, then it’s to Syrup’s hut in the northeast corner. She sells health-restoring potions – now that the handheld games have proper bottles, potions are back to having to be actively used (but Link can also bottle fairies). She also sells a wake-up mushroom. Link buys it, goes back to town, and uses to wake up Rem, who gives him the Pegasus Boots.

At this point, Link’s ready to go back to the Castor Wilds to continue questing for the Wind Element, but there’s so much left to do. First, the Cucco Game. The Pegasus Shoes only make a small improvement here; Link can continuously run, but needs to stop to change directions, and still gets stuck on townspeople and dogs who don’t understand I’m under a bit of time crunch here would you PLEASE get out of my way thank you. Still, I was able to make good progress on the game, getting to a run where there were only two Cuccos, but they were far away from the pen, so it was tough getting to them and back in the allotted time. After that one, there was one with three, but the third is across the river, and there’s no way over to that area just yet, so back on hold this game goes.

Swiftblade has a couple new sword techniques to teach Link. With the Two Sword, he can now break pots and even rocks with sword slashes. And, of course, with the Pegasus Boots, Link can do a charge attack. There are a lot of pots in houses with portals – some need to be flipped over with the Cane of Pacci before Link can use them, but they’re there. This lets Link explore town at small size. Doing so, he can find a heart piece, enter Stockwell’s employees-only area and get a bottle (on the condition that he first deliver the contents to Stockwell’s dog), and cross a small bridge to the blocked-off area on the other side of the river and convince the dog blocking the staircase to move. This opens up that area, but getting there still takes too long to have a realistic chance of getting the Cucco there back to Anju in time.

In the southwest corner of the town, a man who looks a lot like Wind Waker’s Carlov has set up a shop selling Figurines. This is what the Mysterious Shells are for – Link trades them for a figurine, with the chance of getting one he doesn’t already have based on how many he trades. There are over a hundred of them, and I got about thirty before the odds of getting a new Figurine for a single shell dropped below 50%. At least, aside from gathering the Shells to trade, this is entirely isolated to this one room; there’s no need to futz about with taking monsters’ pictures.

On a raised area near Link’s house, Link can find Tingle. He’s just as Tingly as ever, wanting to fuse Kinstones because he’s convinced the good luck from doing so will make him a real fairy. After he and Link fuse, Tingle encourages Link to seek out his brothers, and says there will be a good reward if he finds them. If Link talks to him again, he’ll say how many Kinstone Fusions Link has left. At this point, Link’s done the first one with the man who gave him the bag and this one with Tingle, so there are 98 left. There are a hundred of these things. Oh, boy.

Next: Making a dent.

The Minish Cap: Elemental Infusion

As Link heads back to Hyrule Castle, there’s a heart piece he can get in Hyrule Field. That’s the only stop before the castle, where Ezlo wonders if he looks alright for entering the castle, but it’s not like we’re going to see anyone who cares so it doesn’t matter. Link wanders around the castle looking for the elemental sanctuary, and eventually comes to a glowing door that Ezlo notes with great interest. Apparently Link and Ezlo are the only ones who can see it, so it’s almost certainly the place they’re looking for. They pass through a long hallway, coming to the main room, which is reminiscent of the Four Sword Sanctuary; as they enter, the door slams shut behind them.

There’s a pedestal in the center of the sanctuary for a sword, and four pillars around it with labels matching the four elemental stones. Link places his sword on the pedestal, and the Earth and Fire Elements drift to their pillars and infuse the sword with their power. A stone table appears a little beyond the main shrine, telling Link to fill his sword with power and walk over the glowing tiles. Charging the sword now creates a magic bar, and once filled, if Link walks over two of the tiles, a duplicate Link appears and follows his movements until the magic bar finishes draining or they walk into something. Link needs to use this trick to step on both buttons to open the door to leave. At this point, there can be no doubt that the White Sword will eventually become the Four Sword, but it only has two elements and creates one extra Link, so for now, it’s just the Two Sword.

As Link leaves the castle, he’s confronted by Vaati, who was curious about who was interfering in his plans. He’s surprised at Link (I think, pronouns are tricky), but more interestingly, he calls Ezlo his old master. Vaati taunts Ezlo that he won’t be able to break the curse on him, and Ezlo expresses regret over creating a wish-granting cap that is at least a major part of Vaati’s power. Vaati leaves, and as Link tries to follow, he gets penned up in a group of trees to fight a couple Moblins Vaati summoned. Once the Moblins are defeated, Ezlo explains: He was a Minish sage and craftsman, with Vaati as his apprentice. Vaati took the wish-granting cap and transformed himself into his sorcerer form, and Ezlo into the bird-hat.

Ezlo goes on further, explaining that the Picori Blade was only one of the gifts the Minish gave the humans to stop the evils they were up against. The other, called light force, is another magical source, and that’s what Vaati had hoped to find inside the chest, and is now looking for. Ezlo came to the human world to stop Vaati, and had the chance encounter with Link in the woods that gave him the chance. Even if they can’t break the curse on Ezlo, he figures completing the elemental infusions will at least allow the sword to restore Zelda. With the explanations out of the way, it’s time to resume the quest and find the next element.

In the Trilby Highlands, back in the cave where Link bought his bottle from a Business Scrub, is a set of glowing tiles and a large block that can be pushed out of the way to open the way forward to the Western Woods. As Link walks in, Ezlo gets a sense of something bad happening at the castle, and we cut away to see Vaati do something to the king, who then gathers his guards in to command them to interrogate the citizens about the light force. I’m not sure if the king is dead, possessed, or just hidden away somewhere, but that’s not really important; what matters is, one way or another, Vaati’s calling the shots now. Cutting back to Link, Ezlo says that he hopes nothing bad has happened, but all they can do right now is continue the quest.

Near the exit to the Castor Wilds, a sign warns travelers not to forget their Pegasus Boots. Link doesn’t have Pegasus Boots, but he tries anyway. The first time he tries crossing the swamps in the Castor Wilds, he immediately sinks halfway in and retreats to a safe patch of dry land, where Ezlo says they need Link to be able to move faster to cross safely. So, it’s off to find the Pegasus Boots they go. And hey, once that’s done, maybe I’ll be better at the Cucco game.

Next: I realize the scope of a couple quests.

The Minish Cap: Cave of Flames

On the lowest level of Melari’s Mines, Link finds Melari, who’s happy to repair the broken Picori Blade. He says it’ll take some time, suggesting that Link could find one of the elements he needs in a nearby human mine. Link sets the broken sword on the block, and Melari and a couple apprentices start whacking it with their hammers while Ezlo encourages Link to be active while waiting and head for the mine. Another apprentice is blocking the way to the mine, but with Melari’s blessing, he moves aside to let Link go out. Outside, there’s a portal to return Link to human size, and another crumbling stone (Ezlo’s still shocked when it happens), and then Link heads up one last laddder to enter the Cave of Flames.

Upon entering, Ezlo complains about the heat. There are Spiked Beetles that need to be flipped over to be damaged, and I’m out of practice with this type of enemy because I forgot that Link could flip them by bouncing them off his shield. I was able to do it with bombs after the Gust Jar proved ineffective. There’s also a Rupee Like in the last room on the first floor, which I should have been more suspicious of because it was surrounded rupees that Link could suck in with the Gust Jar, but it stayed where it was, but no, I didn’t realize what was about to happen until the exact moment it was too late to stop it.

The second floor has a bunch of mine cart railways, so obviously Link needs to ride into them. Ezlo’s all for the idea, but after the first ride, decides he’s happier walking. In his defense, this isn’t the slow-paced carts of the Oracle games but rocket carts that zip along to their destination with Link screaming and Ezlo… you know, there have probably been lots of times when Link could have lost his hat over the course of the series, and I only think of it now that it’s a living being. Anyway, the increased cart speed probably means there won’t be any of the puzzles where Link has to adjust the track’s course mid-ride.

Also on the second floor are several Minish-sized doors. Those wouldn’t be there without a way to shrink down to use them, and sure enough, after defeating a bunch of Helmasaurs, a portal appears. Link shrinks down and follows the path now open to him, seeing a heart piece he can’t pick up while small along the way. After Link returns to human size, he finds the first of the dungeon’s puzzles involving traveling over lava using rocks that break apart when he walks on them. (They respawn pretty quickly.) When I wrote about Ezlo’s being a little too helpful, I considered reminiscing about a time Navi thought it was important to tell Link that if he falls in lava, he’s going to have a bad time, and say at least Ezlo hadn’t reached that level yet. Well… Ezlo also hadn’t seen lava yet.

Instead of a miniboss, Link has to fight eight silver ChuChus that grow spikes. This was where I became pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to have the boomerang already, because having it made the fight really easy. After they’re defeated, a chest spawns with the dungeon’s item, the Cane of Pacci, which can flip things upside-down. In addition to its dungeon-specific uses (flipping over a mine cart so it can be used, flipping a spiky rock to reveal a smooth underside Link can walk on), it has a bunch of simple utility like turning the shallow holes in the ground to platforms to reach ledges, blowing up pots, and flipping Spiked Beetles. Both of this game’s dungeon items have been original, and both have been quite clever and versatile.

After a long sequence of Ezlo-gliding, Link comes to the boss room, where he faces Gleerok. Despite the name being similar to Gleeok, Gleerok has more in common with Barba and Volvagia: It’s a dragon that pops out of a lava pool. It has a spiny shell on its back that, when hit with the Cane of Pacci, flips over and breaks apart, revealing the weak spot on Gleerok’s back as Gleerok lies, stunned, with his head and neck providing a convenient bridge. Gleerok comes to, dives back under the lava, floods the room except for the outermost ring, and once the lava pool subsides, it emerges with a new protective shell. After a few rounds, Gleerok dies and Link can claim the Fire Element.

Link returns to Melari to find the Picori Blade reforged into the White Sword (probably not the same one from the first NES game). Infusing the blade with the elements is up to Link, and requires him to go to an elemental sanctuary at Hyrule Castle. Melari also tells Link of a shortcut down the mountain; the path down is one jump off a ledge, then climbing down a couple walls, including the one that warned “No climbing!” that Link saw on his way up.

Next: The secret origin of Vaati and Ezlo.

The Minish Cap: Mt. Crenel Ascent

Before continuing on the quest, I want to take a minute to look at the controls for this game. The GBA has two extra buttons over the Game Boy/Game Boy Color, which allows for a dedicated action button, allowing Link to pick up pots and even rocks without equipping a particular item. That always bugged me, so this is a good change. Less good is folding the map screen into the rest of the Start button menus; it makes checking the map/switching items a hassle which is particularly troublesome in dungeons where I do both fairly regularly. The Select button has been given over to asking Ezlo for hints, which have never been useful in my limited experience. (Also, when he has something to say, he says it.) And the L button is entirely dedicated to Kinstone Fusion, which… okay, I guess? Seems like that could have easily been an item.

The music on Mt. Crenel has echoes of both the main overworld theme and the Dark World theme. There are two signs of note in the first area. The first, near a wall with lots of hand/foot grips, says climbing is prohibited; it’s not a concern with Link’s current equipment, but I would guess eventually he’ll gain the ability to climb that wall. The second sign warns that a nearby wall isn’t entirely stable and forbids blasting, which in the grand tradition of the series means Link needs to blow it up and explore the cave. The cave leads to a higher plateau, where Link can shrink to pass through a narrow passage to a pond of green Mt. Crenel Mineral Water, which seems to have a nice effect on nearby plants so Link grabs some in his bottle. (Also, I love the sequence of Link shrinking: Ezlo dances on his head while Link holds his temples and makes a face that plainly says he doesn’t enjoy what’s happening. It’s cute and funny.)

Link returns to human size and jumps off that plateau. Before going up further, there’s a business scrub in a cave offering to sell bombs. Link needs a lot of bombs to get through the area, his capacity’s really limited at the moment (10), and they don’t exactly seem to drop plentifully, so it’s useful to have this guy here. Another bomb opens a cave leading up, and at the edge of this plateau, there’s a whirlwind. Ezlo considers for a moment, then encourages Link to jump into the whirlwind. Link does, and Ezlo balloons out to allow Link to use him as a glider to reach another whirlwind, then the next plateau. There’s a heart piece Link can get in a hidden cave to the north.

Up a ladder, there’s a portal hidden under piles of dust. Link shrinks down to Minish size, and falling into a hole, discovers a Minish’s home. The Minish explains that water can grow the Crenel Beans, and the Mt. Crenel Mineral Water can grow green beans. However, when Link approaches a nearby bean at Minish size, all emptying the water bottle onto the bean does is empty the bottle. It took me three tries to realize even Minish Link could pick up the bean and move it to its final location. Then he waters the bean, growing it to a vine that leads up to the next area.

A Business Scrub on Mt. Crenel sells Link the Grip Ring, which, sure enough, will let him climb the gripped walls. Before he can start to climb the Crenel Wall, there’s another hidden cave with a heart piece and some fairies. The fairies are useful, because the wall has lots of boulders bouncing down. It’s hard to predict where they’re going to bounce next; it’s like while Link’s climbing, giants are standing at the top of the wall playing Plinko. Halfway up, there’s a landing with a sign saying “No bomb throwing!” and a hidden cave. Inside is a fairy pond, and if Link throws a bomb in, the fairy does the golden/silver/normal bomb thing (also seen in Oracle of Ages) that if Link answers honestly gets him a very welcome bomb bag upgrade.

Finally, Link reaches the top of Mt. Crenel. After using a mushroom catapult to cross a gap, it starts raining. Link needs to shrink to Minish size to progress, and though they’re normally not a problem, the raindrops become dangerous during a zoomed-in sequence where he passes through a narrow gap. On the other side of the gap, he can return to human size and start pushing rocks into small holes in the ground. Then Link needs to start working his way down this side of the mountain. There are some block puzzles and boulder-pushing puzzles to get through, and finally Link finds a portal that shrinks him back to Minish size so he can enter Melari’s Mines.

Next: The Minish mine. (And the human one too.)

The Minish Cap: Hyrule Castle Town

There isn’t much to do on the way back to town. There’s another one of the statues that crumbles when Link reads it near Link’s home, and Ezlo notes that the reaction is startling. Entering Town, a man in a top hat carrying a box crosses the entry path, followed by a bunch of children. The man is talking about Kinstones, medallions that are broken in two and can be joined by people who find two matching halves. He gives Link a Kinstone and a bag to hold them in. He then talks about joining the matching halves, called Kinstone Fusion, which is said to bring happieness. He and Link fuse Kinstones, and a cutscene shows the odd spiky barrier on a tree in South Hyrule Field blowing up to reveal a cave (complete with showing it on the map so the player knows where to go). Link goes to investigate and finds a heart piece in the tree cave.

Back in town, Link can find Swiftblade, a swordsman who offers to teach Link. He starts with the most basic of techniques, one that’s felt odd by its absence [1]: the spin attack. He first possesses Link to demonstrate the attack, then invites Link to show his mastery of the technique. Once that’s done, he gives Link a scroll reminding him how to do the spin attack, and there’s room on the screen for eight of them, so we’ll be learning more sword techniques eventually. Being a central hub for the game, of course there’s a shop in town. In addition to bombs, a shield, and Mysterious Shells, he sells the first wallet upgrade, from 100 to 300 rupees, for 80 rupees. After that’s done, he sells the boomerang for 300 rupees. There’s not a good farming location that I’ve found (yet), but there is a game in town…

That game is run by Anju, and I just now realized that Majora’s Mask Anju’s Ocarina of Time counterpart was the Cucco Lady. Anju’s Cuccos keep getting out, and she challenges Link to round them up within a time limit. Each time, the game gets a little harder. There’s no cost to play, which is good because this game is hard. After the first couple iterations, the base movement speed isn’t fast enough, so Link has to roll everywhere to get them. Only, once he’s got a Cucco, no more rolling. They’re not always easy to pick up. The NPCs in town can block Link’s rolling; two in particular stand out: the postman making his appointed rounds, and a fscking dog that always seems to be in Link’s way. And Link has a pretty good arm, but if he tries to throw a Cucco across one of the sections of fence that stick out (for the gateway where Anju stands), they bounce off the fence rather than go in. I’m guessing, with the constant increasing of rewards, there’s going to be more reward than rupees and Mysterious Shells, but once I had enough money for the boomerang, my thumb was introducing a motion to secede from my hand in protest. I’ll wait a few dungeons to see if Pegasus Boots are a thing in this game.

That’s mostly it for the town. There’s another one of the crumbly stone markers Link can read/destroy, with Ezlo giving the same reaction as to the last one. Guards to the north and northeast won’t let Link pass, but the one in the northwest will if Link demonstrates a Spin Attack. The next area is the Trilby Highlands, which is mostly unremarkable except for a Business Scrub in a cave. That Scrub offers to sell Link the first bottle for 20 rupees. Well, he just spent all his rupees on a boomerang, so back to South Hyrule Field he goes to search under every bush for rupees. Once he’s finally found enough, he comes back and buys the bottle and continues onward.

The next area is the Mt. Crenel base, where a number of vines climb the cliffs, but none where Link can get to them. In case the way forward isn’t clear, a Deku Scrub in a cave hints toward getting the bottle from the Scrub in the previous area to get started on his way up. Back outside, Link takes the bottle, fills it from the nearby pond/river, and pours it on a vine that hasn’t had the chance to grow yet. The vine grows, giving Link the way to start his ascent up Mt. Crenel.

Next: Climbing up a giant’s Plinko board.

[1] If for no other reason than before learning it, Link couldn’t even hold his sword out to tap walls or anything. So it’s really two techniques in one.

The Minish Cap: Deepwood Shrine

At first, Ezlo intends to sit out exploring the dungeon because of the monsters, but then he realizes Link might leave him behind so he decides to brave it. And… oh, boy. Sometimes his insights are useful, like convincing Link to stop trying to solve a puzzle when the solution’s not available yet. Sometimes he puts the cap in Captain Obvious, like when he tells Link – who’s already got a key – that the door’s locked and he should find a key to unlock it. I like the character, but after a dozen of these games I think I can get by without an advisor companion, and having the option to turn that aspect of him off – at least for the things that should be old hat (<vbg>) by now – would be an improvement. At least his alert sound’s not “Hey! Listen!” [1]

The dungeon mechanics are an interesting blend of familiar tricks (lighting four torches to cause some effect, switches, pushing statues/pots to hold down buttons, etc.) and remixed/new ideas. There are mushrooms that Link can pull and stretch to use as improvised catapults to fling himself across gaps (and this would be a perfect time for Ezlo to pipe up and help, but nooooo…). A room in a dungeon is dominated by a barrel, which can be freed from its anchor points so it can spin and change where the door-holes open out to. There are two heart pieces in the dungeon, which I’m pretty sure is a new development. (Ocarina had skulltulas in the dungeons, and as far back as A Link to the Past there were heart pieces in overworld sections between dungeon sections, but I don’t remember any heart pieces in an actual dungeon.) Also throughout the dungeon Link finds chests with Mysterious Shells. The description – probably Ezlo chiming in – says it’s not sure what they’re used for either, so they’re just a random collectible for now.

Throughout the dungeon, there are piles of dusts on the floor and spiderwebs across doorways. Link can’t do anything about these, nor the critters that sometimes create piles of dust, until he gets the dungeon item. First, he has to beat the miniboss, Madderpillar, a wormlike enemy whose attack pattern is like Wind Waker Puppet Ganon’s Moldorm form with approximately 95% less bullpancake. Link hits the head to cause it to turn gray, stop moving, and reveal the weak spot in its tail, then heads around and pounds on the tail until it turns red and zips around for a bit, before turning back to blue and starting the cycle over. The reward for beating it is the Gust Jar, which can stun enemies (or suck them in to shoot them like from a cannon), pull items from a distance, clean up the dust (revealing hidden things on the floor) and webs (opening doorways), have a lily pad move in the opposite direction he’s shooting, and probably a dozen other uses that haven’t come to mind yet. It’s a clever, versatile little item that I like more than puns, so no “it sucks” here.

The boss is a green ChuChu. It’s called Big Green ChuChu, but really, it’s just a normal ChuChu that seems big because Link’s tiny. And because Link’s tiny, the usual methods of dealing with it don’t work, so he has to get inventive. The Gust Jar can suck the jelly out of the ChuChu’s base, causing it to sway dramatically from side to side until it completely topples over, allowing Link to hit its head until it reorients itself [2]. After a few times, the ChuChu hops around a few times, and after being knocked over and hit in the head a few more times, explodes. Link claims the Earth Element, then a heart container (reverse order from most other games; for a second, I wondered if there was even going to be a heart container).

Link returns to the Minish village and speaks with the elder again. The elder tells link his next destination should be Mount Crenel, where he’ll find Melari, the smith the others talked about who is the best bet to reforge the Picori Blade. He offers to send word to Melari, and shows Link a shortcut out of the village. Just outside of town, Link finds one last Minish house. Its inhabitant, Belari, says the construction has moved toward the forest, and Link won’t be able to get back because of the debris. However, he has just the thing: bombs. To the south of Belari’s house is another stump portal that turns Link back to his normal size, and to the north he finds a stone that says it grants special powers before blowing up, much to Ezlo’s surprise. There’s a rune left behind, but Ezlo has no idea what it is. That’s all to do in the forest, aside from blowing up a wall on the way out and back to town.

Next: My most-hated dog in a game involving fowl since Duck Hunt.

[1] Says the guy who has that as his phone’s text alert.
[2] This reminds me so much of a boss from Hyrule Warriors (originally from Skyward Sword, I think). It’s not quite the same, but the “attack the feet to knock it over, pummel the head until it gets back up or dies” strategy is similar.

The Minish Cap: Ezlo

The road back to town is blocked by Mutoh and his carpenters, who are repairing the damage Vaati’s done. There are several other branches off the area between the castle and the town, but most of them are also blocked by obstacles Link doesn’t have the item to bypass yet. So, there’s only one way to go: in the southeast corner the only obstacle is a couple trees that can be cut down with the sword leading Link to Lon Lon Ranch. There’s nothing to do here, either, so Link passes through south to the Eastern Hills, and on into the Minish Woods.

As Link explores the Minish Woods, he hears a voice calling for help. Investigating, he finds a couple Octoroks bothering a creature that looks like what would happen if Link’s traditional hat (which he doesn’t yet have in this game) were partially transmogrified into a bird [1]. The bird-hat won’t stop complaining that Link’s not helping as he gets pelted by a couple of rocks, but of course his complaints keep Link from doing anything. Eventually, he shuts up long enough for Link to deal with the Octoroks, and he is ultimately grateful for the rescue. He gets Link’s story, and says that he also needs to break a curse of Vaati’s, so the two should team up. The only problem is he can’t keep up with Link (not that he tries), so he comes up with the improvised solution of nesting on his head. His name’s Ezlo, and he’s a combination of Link’s hat and advisor companion.

Link and Ezlo continue exploring, coming to a stump. Ezlo explains that the Minish – whom the Hyruleans call Picori – are very small, and Link needs to shrink to their size to meet them. The stump is actually a portal that can be used to change Link’s size between human and Minish. I didn’t go into items with Four Swords because most of them were familiar, but one new item was the Gnat Hat, which made the wearer tiny to let him pass through small holes and ride platforms much too small for a normal person. The shrinking mechanic here seems similar, except it can only be done at portals. Before Link uses the stump, he finishes exploring the area and finds the first heart piece. Once Link’s come back and used the stump portal to shrink, Ezlo warns that hazards that are easily dealt with at human size aren’t so easily ignored at Minish size.

After crossing a small puddle on floating lily pads, Link and Ezlo approach the nearby Minish Village. The camera zooms in so that we’re not dealing with teeny little graphics that make it impossible to see anything. When they enter, they’re greeted by a group of Minish, but a language barrier stops them from communicating. To humans, the Minish language sounds like it’s entirely made of the syllables in “Picori,” in infinite arrangements, hence their human name. Exploring the village, Link finds Festari, a sage who speaks human language. He tells Link he’ll need a Jabber Nut to be able to communicate with the rest of the Minish. Link finds the Jabber Nut, and it works as Festari said.

With the language barrier dealt with, Link seeks out the village elder. The elder says that to reforge the blade, they’ll need four mystical elemental crystals. (An alternate origin for the name “Four Sword”? Also, they look a lot like the jewels the Links had to round up in Four Swords Adventures.) The Earth Element (the purple stone) can be found in the shrine where Link was headed to anyway, and Festari can show Link the way to the shrine. Before leaving the village, Link looks around for a bit and talks to the Minish. There’s a piece of heart there, and the Minish talk about other villages Link can visit, as well as a blacksmith who lives in the mountains who’ll presumably be the one to reforge the Picori Blade. Once Link’s ready to hit the road, Festari doesn’t show Link the way so much as stop blocking the path from the village to the shrine. The shrine is a short way north of the village; the only visible entrance is Minish-sized, so it’s a good thing Link ran into Ezlo when he did, because it’s pretty clear he wouldn’t have been able to accomplish much if he couldn’t shrink.

Next: If the whole adventurer/chosen hero thing doesn't work out, Link has a promising career as a housekeeper.

[1] Yes, this description is retroactively informed by knowing what’s about to happen. That doesn’t make it wrong.

The Minish Cap: Introduction and Story

We’re coming to the end of the Dark Age here, with a game I heard of shortly after Twilight Princess came out and was surprised that two new Zelda games came out so close together. Now I know there were nearly two years between them (and Minish Cap was first), and five others in the four years between Majora’s Mask and Minish Cap, so… well, it seems less weird now. Anyway, what do I know about this game? It’s the last released and first chronologically of the Four Swords Trilogy, meaning I’m expecting origins for Vaati and the Four Sword. “Minish” is pronounced to rhyme with “finish,” although for a long time I said “mine-ish”; this is one case where I changed my pronunciation to match the official one after learning it.

“A long, long time ago…
when the world was on the verge of being swallowed by shadow…
The tiny Picori appeared from the sky, bringing the hero of men a sword and a golden light.
With wisdom and courage, the hero drove out the darkness.
When peace had been restored, the people enshrined that blade with care.”

The short story reel is illustrated by stained glass pictures, which is a nice touch. The hero is recognizable as an incarnation of Link, and one of the people enshrining the blade may be a Zelda. The monster seen in the “swallowed by shadow” picture is a pig demon, evocative of Ganon even though this is set before his rise in Ocarina of Time. (So the backstory could make a future Zelda game.) The manual goes into more details of what came after the previous hero saved the day, but it’s all stuff we’ll get to by time the game starts, so I’ll cover it as it comes up.

The game starts long after the backstory, on the day Hyrule celebrates the Picori’s help with an annual festival. Zelda visits a village near the castle to ask the Master Smith if his apprentice/grandson, Link, can accompany her to the festival. Link’s still asleep – of course he is, it’s the start of a game – so Master Smith calls for him to wake up. Link comes downstairs to find Zelda waiting for him. They catch him up to speed on Zelda’s request, and Master Smith asks Link to do him a favor and deliver the sword which is to be presented to the winner of the festival’s tournament. Master Smith also tells Link not to let anything bad happen to Zelda, which would be enough of a curse even if Zelda doesn’t immediately pipe in saying nothing bad is going to happen.

The festival turns out to be a special one; the Picori only appear in Hyrule every hundred years, and details like that only come up when the once a century event is about to happen. The Picori are said to only appear to good children, and so some kids express skepticism about whether they even exist or are just a fairy tale meant to encourage children to behave. When he’s not talking to people to learn what’s going on, Link’s following Zelda around as she darts between attractions at the festival. She eventually wins a contest, and instead of a “stone” (heart piece) or “gem” (red rupee), she chooses a “teeny-tiny” shield as her prize (despite the contest runner trying to talk her into one of the others), and gives it to Link.

As they go to the castle, they’re attacked by a Business Scrub, so Link has a chance to show off with the shield. Once Link reflects a nut off his shield to hit the Scrub, the Scrub decides he’s not getting any business done at the festival anyway and takes off. Link and Zelda continue on to the castle, and Link gives the sword to Minister Potho. Zelda leaves to get ready for the presentation, saying she had a good time. Potho invites Link to stay for the ceremony, and explains about the Picori Blade, which seals evil in a chest, and the tournament’s champion will be invited to touch.

The champion of this year’s tournament is a mysterious stranger dressed in black. If that’s not a giveaway that things are going to go bad, his name’s Vaati. He declares his intention to take the chest’s contents, and effortlessly swats the guards away when they try to stop him. He blasts the blade, breaking it and opening the chest, and monsters pour forth. Zelda asks him why he’s doing what he’s doing, and he blasts her, turning her to stone (but only knocking Link out of the way). To his disappointment, the chest is empty with the monsters gone, but he knows he can find what he’s looking for eventually, so he teleports off to begin his search.

When Link finally recovers, he’s in the castle. Master Smith, Minister Potho, and the king are in the throne room discussing what to do next. The King decides that the best course of action is to approach the Picori about repairing the broken blade, but the Picori only appear to children, so Link gets volunteered to act as the messenger. He’s given the broken Picori Blade, and since Vaati clearly wasn’t interested, he gets the Smith’s Sword, too. The soldiers are sent to search for Vaati, while Link is told the most likely place for him to find the Picori is Deepwood Shrine in the Minish Woods, where humans and Picori used to meet. Master Smith gives Link a map, with the Minish Woods marked on it. Link leaves to begin his quest.

Next: Link completes his outfit.

Four Swords Adventures: Palace of Winds

Despite the Palace of Winds being Vaati’s palace, the statues are all of Ganon. This game has not handled having two villains particularly well. It feels like Vaati and Ganon are both here because it’s a Zelda game so we need Ganon, but it’s also a Four Swords game so we need Vaati, too. And, sure, someone had to be the mastermind behind the plot to free Vaati, and Ganon’s motivation for doing so (as a distraction while he gains power) makes sense, but the whole thing is a mess. And that’s not getting into how, despite the desert level basically spelling it out, no one seems to understand that Ganon’s the real bad guy here; it’s like they’re either being willfully obtuse or there’s some supernatural force keeping them from realizing it [1].

The puzzles in the dungeon have the “final level, final exam” feel to them. The second floor’s first room requires the Links to use four items (bow, boomerang, Pegasus Boots, and hammer) to find four Moon Pearls to create gates to four Dark World areas, each with a button that needs to be stepped on to open the way forward. There are a few new tricks here. Part of the bow puzzle requires a Link in the Dark World carrying a Link in the Light World and setting him on a button otherwise inaccessible in the Light World. Wallmasters show up for the first and only time, but they only haunt specific spaces and are pretty easy to avoid. For players who didn’t take the “use the hammer to reveal the path through the hidden spikes” path in the previous stage, that shows up here, too.

Vaati doesn’t have anything to say when the Links reach his lair. His fight has two stages. The first is very similar to how it was in Four Swords: he sits at the top of a giant whirlwind, and the Links pick up bombs and toss them into the whirlwind, timing them to explode when they reach Vaati. After three bombs, he dismisses the whirlwind and changes tactics, alternating between floating above the fight platform or on the subscreen below. When he’s above, the Links need to shoot themselves out of a cannon and then use the slam attacks to hit Vaati; below, they can chase him on ladders and score hits that way.

After Vaati’s defeated, the Links leave the Palace to reunite with Zelda. The Palace begins crumbling as it was constructed by Vaati’s magic and now Vaati’s gone. Ganon says that even though he hasn’t stolen all the power he’d hoped to, he still has enough to beat the Links, and his spirit leaves the Palace once they’re out and finds its own way down from the clouds. The Links and Zelda go into the Tower of Winds, which is also beginning to collapse, and so the Links need to escort Zelda through to the bottom. This sequence is infuriating because of how Zelda’s programmed. Unlike the Links, she won’t just walk off a ledge, and so needs to use ladders – slowly. If there’s no ladder, she’ll wait while the Links find the button to create one. No, picking her up to carry her isn’t an option. And when she has something to say, she stops until the Links go to where she is so she can say it. The last two of these valuable insights worth stopping to impart – both within sight of the exit – are “The exit’s not much farther!” and “The exit’s nearby! Hu-hurry!” [2] Right after she says the last line, the floor underneath her and the Links crumbles.

While the Links recover from their fall, Zelda sees the dark energy that is Ganon, although she has no idea who or what it is. She tries to seal him with her magic, but he’s too strong and imprisons her instead. Ganon takes proper form to fight the Links, who chase him around the area while he teleports. After they’ve weakened Ganon enough, Zelda is able to overcome her imprisonment; once free, she starts creating a ball of light that will defeat Ganon. The Links need to protect her from Ganon’s attacks while she creates the ball, then shoot it into him with arrows once it’s completed.

The maidens and Links work together to seal Ganon in the Four Sword, then take the sword back to its sanctuary, where it’s restored to its pedestal, and the Links turn back into one. The maidens encase the pedestal and sword in a glass pyramid, and then depart to resume protecting their assigned areas of Hyrule, and Link and Zelda walk away from the shrine together. Over the credits, the maidens continue their travels, and we see how defeating Vaati and Ganon has changed Hyrule for the better: corrupted areas like the Lost Woods and Swamp are back to their normal semi-healthy appearance, Frozen Hyrule has thawed out, the Village of the Blue Maiden is clear of the Dark World and the sandstorms have abated in the desert. We also see Tingle finding a growing stash of Force Gems, the Knights (or their ghosts, at least) back at Hyrule Castle, and Malon and Talon riding their horses.

Overall, I think Four Swords Adventures is a fun game, and a great improvement/refinement of Four Swords. Most of the stages are very well crafted, the bosses are usually fun, and the puzzles are quite inventive. The story is pretty thin, but it works well enough as long as the whole “If you’re going to forget about Ganon, what was the point of going to the desert anyway?” [3] thing doesn’t bother you too much. It’s not among my favorite games in the series, but that’s because that’s a very high bar, and I really did enjoy it a lot.

[1] Yes, Buffy fans, that’s the thing I have in mind.
[2] The actual lines from the game.
[3] I mean, aside from rescuing the maiden there.

Four Swords Adventures: Realm of the Heavens

The Realm of the Heavens is set atop the clouds, with a bunch of places for a careless hero to fall off. Of course, this works both ways; it’s quite easy to knock enemies into gaps or off the edge, too. There are places in the cloud where a Link can fall through to a sub-level; this seems to be separate from the Dark World (which continues to be part of the stages, accessed via portals with Moon Pearls as usual). In a couple areas, high winds threaten to push the Links off the clouds; nearby switches give them a chance to turn off the wind rather than fight it.

Near the end of the level, bridges with colored tiles that change colors appear, where a Link can only step on the tiles when they match his color. Some bridges are four tiles wide and the Links need to form up and wait for the colors to be in the proper order before crossing. One of these is so long there’s barely enough time to Pegasus Boots dash across before the rows change color again. It’s tempting to start dashing before the colors change, but of course it’s entirely possible to start too soon and fall off. There’s also a stand-on-the-four-buttons puzzle with the buttons separated by changing-colored-tile bridges, and one of the buttons is guarded by a Force Like which I’d completely forgotten were in the game as they haven’t been seen since the second level or so.

After crossing the last changing-colored-tile bridge, a pedestal with bombs shows up. Of course, this means the boss fight is a pair of Dodongos, virtually unchanged from the encounter earlier. Once they’ve been blown up, the level’s true boss shows up: a Big Dodongo. There are four treasure chests that spawn at the same time, each holding level 2 bombs, so the Big Dodongo fight is basically the same as the little ones, only there’s only one and both it and the bombs are bigger. Three bombs still does the trick, and the Links are free to move on to the next stage.

The first part of the next stage, The Dark Cloud, is another primarily side-scrolling area. This is divided into two sections. First, the Links need to go horizontally between screens by catching clouds in the bottom right of each screen that take them to the next screen. Then they start climbing, using the cannons to go up because there’s no Roc’s Feathers in this part of the game. The final section involves getting past one last Shadow Link dropping Big Bombs on the screen to send them scurrying for cover, then they catch a portal to the second part of the stage.

The second, longer phase of the stage is more cloudtop platforming. Early on, there’s a huge group of Hardhat Beetles that can be blown up with bombs, which is good because pushing all of them into the gaps would get old really fast. The path branches near the end, with one path’s puzzles being more sky exploration with a fun puzzle of shooting switches to turn off electric barriers while riding on a platform that will run into said barriers if they’re not turned off. (This is the way I went. I'm glad for that choice.) The other way has a long sequence of hidden spikes that only pop out when a Link walks into them or they’re hit with a hammer shockwave.

The boss fight looks like the Big Dark Stalfos fights, only the large seal is gray, and in place of the sacred gem is the Dark Mirror. At first, one Shadow Link appears; once he’s defeated, four more come out. As they too are defeated, another set comes out, and Zelda senses the futility of the battle from afar and teleports in somehow to help. She uses her magic to block the power of the Mirror, and when all the remaining Shadow Links are defeated, she retrieves it. Finally, the Shadow Links are no more, and she creates a bridge across the clouds to the Palace of Winds where the Links will take the fight to Vaati and Ganon.

As the Links step onto the teleportation tiles to end the stage and the Force Gems turn into Force Fairies, I capped the number of Fairies at 99. I have to say that’s pretty well-designed: do well (not necessarily perfect, I know I could have gotten more Gems to turn into Fairies) rounding up Force Gems and don’t have to use too many fairy resurrections and you’ll hit the cap just before the final stage, so all you need to do there is get enough gems to power the Four Sword one last time.

Next: The Four Sword sleeps again… forever! [1]

[1] Until/unless Nintendo makes another Four Swords game.

Four Swords Adventures: Tower of Winds

The last stage before the Tower of Winds is the Temple of Ice. The floors are often slippery, a complication compounded by bumpers that appear in several rooms that further punish Links who can’t keep their momentum under control on the ice. An early puzzle has the Links challenged to free the souls of the dead trapped in the ice by throwing bombs across a gap, and since the bombs are landing on ice they tend to skid until they hit something or fall off the platform. It’s tricky to be sure to hit the target you want, and destroying extra tiles only makes it even harder. A later puzzle has a similar idea, only without the exploding ice tiles, so it simply becomes a matter of timing when to throw the bombs to hit the switches.

The stage has the game’s most annoying room so far. It’s covered in ice with bumpers sliding around the room, and Bombchus continually pour out of four holes in the floor. The Links need to stand on switches to close the holes and stop the Bombchus. The only good thing I can say about this room is it gets easier as you get closer to finishing it, because each switch stepped on means there are fewer Bombchus zipping around.

The Fire Rod continues to play an important role in this stage. There are numerous ice blobs throughout the stage, which can contain rewards like Force Gems or frozen Pengators that aren’t too happy about being unfrozen. Later in the stage, it gets upgraded at the Fairy Fountain, and it behaves very much like the Cane of Somaria: creates blocks that explode in fireballs in every direction, and can be set on buttons to hold them down or used to create floating platforms. The later rooms of the dungeon make use of all these functions.

While the puzzles can be frustrating, the combat in the Temple isn’t too bad, so naturally, it’s the first level where I found four heart containers, doubling the Links’ life bar. The miniboss is a Shadow Link quartet who trails ice as they walk, and the final boss a pair of flail troopers made easy by the game considerately giving the Links the Roc’s Feather right beforehand and allowing them to form up and smash the troopers with slam attacks. The Links then reunite with the barrier maidens in the Four Sword Sanctuary, and with the Links providing the four gems, the maidens bring the Tower of Winds back for the Links to enter.

The Tower of Winds is mostly a side-scrolling stage, with the Links trying to climb ever higher. There are lots of doors to top-down GBA areas, connected to the main part of the level by a bunch of doors. The main challenge of the level is to find ways between the doors on the main screen, or to get ladders to appear to help further the climb. Once again I’m impressed by how the series is able to remix familiar ideas to create new experiences. Once again, the level has four heart containers, and also two blue bracelets (I’m not sure if they stack are just there in case the player only explores enough to find one of them), so the Links get lots of extra health, on top of the dozens of resurrection fairies they’re sure to have stockpiled by now.

The boss of this stage is Frostare, which starts the stage attached to the ceiling and summons circling/swooping enemies called Frosteyes to surround it. Unlike other bosses of this type, killing the Frosteyes is strictly to make dealing with Frostare easier, not the all-important first stage. At first, neither the Links nor Frostare is able to actually harm the other – Frostare is immobile (and the Frosteyes not much of a threat), but the Link’s attacks bounce off of it. To start the fight proper, the Links need to get into a crawlspace in the ceiling and cut Frostare’s root, allowing it to move about the room. Then it’s a matter of using the Roc’s Feather to jump at it and hit it until it dies.

The music when rescuing Zelda is directly recycled from the crystal cutscenes in A Link to the Past (the other maidens used a different melody because this one’s been associated with Zelda since Ocarina of Time). She says the Links’ efforts are purging the darkness from Hyrule, but it can only last if they go to the Realm of the Heavens and defeat Vaati there. She and the other maidens will remain on the ground to use their powers to prevent the darkness from returning while he’s at it. The Links exit onto the Tower’s roof, and step onto the teleport tiles to go to the final level.

Next: The last shadows.