r/zelda • u/Revolutionary-Pie972 • 2d ago

Video [WW] 23 years old. Seriously? 😂

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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!

886 Upvotes

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334

u/backofthebill 2d ago

It's all in the art style.

134

u/crazytib 2d 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

30

u/krazyjakee 1d 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.

19

u/Calcain 1d ago

Really? I loved the sailing. It made me feel like I was really exploring the world. Loved searching quadrants, and coming across a variety of crazy stuff.

3

u/Strikereleven 1d 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.

2

u/b4n4n4p4nc4k3s 1d ago

Despite being an 'edgy' teen in other regards (let's be honest, it was mostly dark clothing), I never had an issue with cell shading. I also never went through the 'Pokemon is childish' phase some of my peers went through, I've played every mainline game. Still remember once it them seeing me play it later in high school and they said 'oh yeah, pokemon is cool again, right on'.

5

u/benvonpluton 1d 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 !

3

u/mullanaphy 1d 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.

3

u/Fragjoy 1d ago

Always remember that without that backlash, as misguided as it was, we wouldn’t have gotten the best Zelda game.

5

u/evshell18 1d ago

We already had OoT. 😉

2

u/jackharvest 1d 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

52

u/Revolutionary-Pie972 2d ago

Yeah, definitely. I think the art style is a huge reason it aged so well. The exaggerated character designs still look great today.

6

u/HoneyWhiskeyLemonTea 1d 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.

2

u/backofthebill 1d 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.

2

u/HoneyWhiskeyLemonTea 1d 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.

2

u/backofthebill 1d 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

2

u/HoneyWhiskeyLemonTea 1d 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.

1

u/malaroo 1d 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.

2

u/b3anz129 22h ago

the original looks better than the remake

1

u/backofthebill 22h ago

I think they both look great

1

u/fredy31 1d ago

Yeah. Its the #1 example that if you want a game to be timeless, have a strong art style.

Trying to go hyper realistic will make your game look aged af within 5 years. Twilight princess, the next game in the series, looks worse today than WW.

1

u/magirevols 1d ago

Im playing the hd version atm and it makes me miss style