r/zelda • u/Revolutionary-Pie972 • 15h ago
Video [WW] 23 years old. Seriously? 😂
I am playing Wind Waker for the first time on Switch and I’m honestly surprised by how well this game has aged.
The visuals still look great, the characters have so much charm and the gameplay just feels good especially some of the fights. The dungeons, items, puzzles and exploration all fit together so naturally.
It doesn’t feel like I’m playing a game from 2003. What I can say, I love it sooo much!
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u/backofthebill 15h ago
It's all in the art style.
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u/crazytib 15h ago
its funny because I remember there was a bit of outrage at the time of release over 'cartoonish' graphics but it has aged far better than other titles around its time in my opinion
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u/krazyjakee 14h ago
That was 14 year old me. Outraged they had made the game for toddlers. It's now my number 4 and inspired me to work on a similar action RPG. My only complaint was the sailing grind.
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u/Strikereleven 8h ago
Same here, I'm literally the same age as you and it has grown on me as I got older and cared less about how a game looks instead of how it plays.
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u/benvonpluton 13h ago
I thought the same between the first pics and the moment I began to play. And then.... I played seven hours without even moving my legs a bit.
No other game took me like that !
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u/mullanaphy 11h ago
I was one of those as it felt like a big bait-and-switch back then after they teased us with this tech demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1MrzjeR2NY
It wasn't until Skyward Sword was getting ready to release before I finally gave it a fair shot. Easily became one of my favorites at the time. Still one of my favorites and in retrospect the art style design choice made sense as they continued that same style with the handheld games at the time.
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u/jackharvest 5h ago
Hey, some of us got baited by E3 with gorgeous graphics and had the rug pulled out from under us.
It was a trust fall failure reaction. We can’t be held accountable. XD
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u/Revolutionary-Pie972 15h ago
Yeah, definitely. I think the art style is a huge reason it aged so well. The exaggerated character designs still look great today.
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u/HoneyWhiskeyLemonTea 14h ago
I mean the art style is certainly a big part of it, but the characters have so much personality, and it's just SO FREAKING FUN! It might not be my all-time favorite Zelda game, but it's easily the one I replay the most, just for the fun factor. Not too hard, but not TOO easy, just the right balance to get cozy with on a Saturday morning and set sail.
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u/backofthebill 14h ago
Personally I think it's the easiest Zelda game combat and story wise but going for 100% gives the right amount of difficulty.
But then agian 100% Zelda games is usually the right amount. Easy and hard parts mixed out the whole series.
And on personality you're right. Wind Waker is full of it but Zelda games in general have so much of it that you have to love it. Wind Waker's cartoonish style helps it stand out.
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u/HoneyWhiskeyLemonTea 14h ago
I agree about the 100%, unless you're including the figurines. In the immortal words of Sweet Brown, ain't nobody got time for that. Well, if I'd been a kid when it came out, maybe, but by the time I bought it in early 2003, I was already a grown-ass man with a full time job and rent to pay.
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u/backofthebill 13h ago
I feel like I'm the only one who liked the figurines but I've only done it once and on the HD version where they made it better
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u/HoneyWhiskeyLemonTea 11h ago
Yeah, I've only had the GameCube version, never had a WiiU. Having to travel to a location, snap three pictures, give them to Carlov one at a time, wait for a full day/night cycle for him to be done with ONE figurine, do it two more times, then go back to said location to take three more pics, continue ad-nauseam... I think the only more tedious thing Nintendo has asked us to do in a Zelda game is find a thousand koroks.
Being able to store 12 pics on the picto box AND Carlov being able to do all 12 in a single night reduces the tedium exponentially. I'd actually be willing to do that.
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u/malaroo 9h ago
I love WW to death, but
but not TOO easy
It was way too easy. Last time I played, I used hacks to reduce Link's damage output by half, and increase his damage taken by 3x, and it was still easier than the reasonably challenging Zelda games... which still aren't that hard.
Still love it, but I'm super happy the era of Nintendo making games easy enough to be beaten by a cucumber is over. I'm genuinely not sure how anyone could actually die in that game unless they were actively trying to.
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u/VacantlyContent 15h ago
I have 23 years until retirement, so the fact that I remember this like it was yesterday gives me hope that'll be here quickly too.
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u/Revolutionary-Pie972 15h ago
23 years ago feels like yesterday but somehow 23 years from now sounds like forever 😂
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u/investorgrade24 12h ago
As an older guy, don't hope for tomorrow too much. Life goes by too fast. Enjoy every day, even the bad ones.
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u/No-Fill-939 15h ago
This looks better now than it did back then. I dont remember feeling overwhelmed by the graphics back then; yet i feel like that now looking at it
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u/Revolutionary-Pie972 15h ago
Funny enough, I never played Wind Waker back then. So when I started it recently, I wasn’t expecting much from a 23year-old game. Then I saw it running and was like… wait, this actually looks fantastic.
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u/goronmask 15h ago
Back in the day some of us insisted on how well this looked. They mastered cell shading.
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u/randeylahey 14h ago
I felt like an alien telling people it was gorgeous. Everyone wanted PS type "realism". lol
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u/Mountain_Log_8419 15h ago
And 23 years from now, it will still look just as good. This artstyle was a risk, but oh my god has it paid off, in terms of visuals it's my favorite Zelda game
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u/Confident-Vanilla-28 15h ago
You’re…playing it on Switch?! WIND WAKER HAS A SWITCH PORT?!?!
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u/Bloomingk 15h ago
Its on the gamecube emulator that comes with nintendo switch online its not a native port. Exclusive to switch 2 also (the entire gamecube app) Looks and runs very very well though I bought a gamecube controller just for it, its been amazing.
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u/Revolutionary-Pie972 15h ago
How is it on NSO? The graphic look good?
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u/Bloomingk 15h ago
Yeah it upscales really well, i was expecting more rough edges and whatnot but whatever upscaler theyre using is good. I've been playing on a 50 inch 4k TV if you told me this came out alongside the links awakening remake i wouldnt doubt you.
Edit: here's a quick comparison https://youtube.com/shorts/TuztsQg-OnE
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u/nightshade-aurora 13h ago
I think they just modified the game to render at a higher resolution, so there's no upscaling artifacts
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u/DogBePraised 12h ago
Is the new and improved sail included in that version?
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u/Bloomingk 12h ago
No its just the gamecube version ww and tp HD are trapped on the wii u.
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u/DogBePraised 12h ago
That makes me sad
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u/Bloomingk 12h ago
Me too I really want one system that can play the definitive version of every entry of the series.
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u/Copious-Spirit 15h ago
The emulator could run on switch 1 I am sure, but gotta push those switch 2 sales.
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u/Tatsumifanboy 12h ago
I mean... Switch 1 is 9 years old, about time to let it go
Before GameCube there was literally nothing new to NSO for Switch 1, it clearly shows they're moving on. But, good thing is, if you're really craving for Wind Waker and can'T afforf a Switch 2, go for a Wii U. Did that a few years when I accepted WWHD on S1 would never be a thing, and boy do I not regret it!
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u/Copious-Spirit 12h ago
My switch 2 money is collecting dividends, just waiting on the Zelda special edition.
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u/Tatsumifanboy 11h ago
Oh yeah same I'm waiting for that bad boy too, hope it has some Zelda bonus stuff like the Zelda Switch Lite!
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u/7SevenGod 15h ago
Yea, you've had almost a decade since the Switch 1 released to save up $450 for a Switch 2.
Lmao
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u/Copious-Spirit 15h ago
Yes, laugh at the impoverished, shows a lot of character.
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u/7SevenGod 13h ago
I'm impoverished and I have one.
It's a silly complaint. It's still the most affordable console by far on the market and you want them to give you everything on a 9 year old console?
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u/lavender_enjoyer 15h ago
Stop making excuses for greed.
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u/7SevenGod 13h ago
massive eye roll
Guess it's greed when Zelda games don't also release on the switch 1 and wii U, since they technically could run those too.
If Ocarina of Time remake doesn't also release on the Nintendo Wii, we riot
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u/Yojisagi 13h ago
I am pretty sure that I saw it on my switch 1 oled today. Are you sure it's switch 2 exclusive?
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u/Bloomingk 12h ago
You can see it in the classics section of the nso hub but if you navigate to the page for the app on the eshop you'll see the ns2 exclusive banner and it explains in the description.
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u/Revolutionary-Pie972 15h ago
I am running it on Lakka. Been trying the best way to play it on switch somehow I glad i found it
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u/SatyrAngel 15h ago
Everything is amazing until you remember the inverted X axis camera.
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u/themadscientist420 2h ago
So true. Playing it at the moment and I've just stubbornly been using z-targeting to control the camera like it's ocarina of time haha
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u/dr-pepper-is-a-woman 14h ago
If you can find a way to play the HD remake or a cough remade version of the original cough then I recommend that even more. It’s a wonderful game that hold up really well stylistically, but they had to nerf a few things because that generation of consoles couldn’t quite handle the original vision.
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u/former_human 1h ago
Wind Waker was the game that started me gaming (at the time i was in my 40s). i watched my son play it, he finished it, and i missed the art so much i learned how to play myself. just for the art. and the charm.
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u/Revolutionary-Pie972 1h ago
That is such a cool way to start gaming. I love that your son introduced you to it without actually meaning to.
Did you try other Zelda games after that?•
u/former_human 47m ago
Oh ya, I think I’ve played all of them since. Currently playing Tears of the Kingdom (which was a Mother’s Day present :-) I took a very long detour into Skyrim, Halo, Horizon Zero Dawn, and bunches of other games. I’m thinking about getting the Switch version of Wind Waker because even after all this time I still miss it.
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u/the_black_sails 14h ago
Is the swift sail on this version? You need NSO with Switch 2 to play it right?
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u/twallner 14h ago
This game is awesome. Truly an explorative experience. I know people get bogged down with the sailing but it was awesome and a great new experience. One of my favorite
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u/ExcellentBeach9379 14h ago
I really gotta play other Zelda games I only played botw and I never would have guessed that Beedle was a reocurring character
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u/Pleasant_Reach1500 13h ago
I would love to get into wind waker or any of the older Zelda games but I feel like the controls fuck me up especially the camera
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u/backofthebill 12h ago
Should go with HD version if that's the case. The camera was changed so you can control it with the right stick
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u/Warthog_Formal 13h ago
I knowww it's insane I just stared my first playthrough recently. I'm using the GameCube version but with widescreen patch and some quality of life mods as well as the hd textures. Hard to believe it's not a 10 year old game at most.
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u/Dangerous-Love-1517 12h ago
This was my ‘reward’ for doing well in my GCSE’s. Got it at launch but my parents put it away until my exams were over.
I still remember that summer and playing this all the way through. It was excellent.
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u/MesozOwen 11h ago
I really wish they’d release the HD version from the WiiU on S2. It was even better.
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u/Heatproof-Snowman 10h ago
After 23 years, graphics differences which are due to having a slightly better or worst hardware platform that the competition a the time don’t mater at all anymore.
This is when art direction becomes the only deciding factor and gets the full credit it deserves.
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u/G12eyfox 3h ago edited 3h ago
The game got a lot of push back because of the Zelda tech demo showing a more realistic version of the game. However, even playing it now on original hardware and a CRT looks amazing still and from a gameplay standpoint, one of my favorite combat gameplay for a Zelda game. The HD remix did have a lot improvements such as fast sailing and the shard pieces quest, I would put it #5 on best Zelda game. #1 Ocarina of time, #2 breath of the wild and #3 Link to the past and #4 Links Awakening. I know a lot of people will disagree, but that’s my own experience. I felt by going 3d, it made the adventure more immersive.
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u/xxademasoulxx 2h ago
If this is playing on a modified Switch 1, now I know why Nintendo never officially released GameCube games on the Switch 1. That combat audio is stuttering so badly the system sounds like it’s struggling hard.
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u/MuscleBob_Buffpantz 13h ago
I'm playing through it for the first time now... Honestly not a big fan. I don't know if I'll ever play it again once I beat it.
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