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December 1, 2009 by RawmeatCowboy
Filed Under: Cube, Wii, Nintendo in general
I'll never forget the reveal trailer for Wind Waker. I was taken aback by the visual style, only because of the realistic looking Spaceworld Zelda teaser that was shown a few months prior. With that said, I did like the new style...but I knew that millions wouldn't. This reveal happened right at a time when Nintendo was really taking a beating over their kiddy image. It seems that some people still hate that Link to this very day.
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I'm like, ok we get it but we can still do with a classic 2D Link design.
As an animator I'll gladly say there's nothing wrong with cartoons, and certainly nothing wrong with Link looking like a cartoon or being referred to as one.
As you stated, after seeing that OMFG AWESOMEST!!!! sword clash between ganondorf and link, i was cursing to hell my father for not letting me get a gamecube, meaning i'd be measing a awesome Zelda!!!
when i saw wind waker and the new direction of the game art, i though "well, i wont be missing much, the art looks like crap" but then i came to like it, i though the art direction was ingenious and seeing videos though the game delivered
I still need to check out the game, its the only zelda, besides zelda 2 i hadn't beaten yet, well, and spirit tracks, but now i got a wii, i'll be getting this game the next time i see it in the used shelve
PS: toon link is one of my fav chars on smash brothers brawl
Someone didn't read the article. :\
What it's saying is the term "Toon Link" sounds silly since no other game where Link appears give him another title.
That said, I vastly prefer WW's art style over TP's, and really wish they would continue using it on console games. But nooooo... whiny Zelda fanboys and their insistence for Zelda to be SUPER SERIOUS ruins both the ability to use art style as well as having more wacky characters like Tingle. This is why I hate a certain amount of Zelda "fans" in a nutshell...
As for the character himself, he's easily my favorite incarnation of Link. I do think he'd look a bit better with the brown undershirt they planned for h im in early stages of Zelda.
I admit, the very first screens of WW Link were unflattering. It took some getting used to. But eventually I came to think he was the cutest video game character ever, although his "neautral" expression has his mouth drawn rather... oddly.
First time I saw Celda was the E3 2002 issue of Nintendo Power. That's also the first time I saw screens of Super Mario Sunshine and Metroid Prime. I distinctly remember thinking all of the games looked so awesome, not the least of which was Zelda. (I was so impressed with the graphics, I loved them.)
I remember thinking the GameCube must be the coolest console ever made.
Also, best Christmas ever.
Exactly.
at least 4 different Sprite Links,
a ToonSprite Link,
a Link 64 both young and normal
a Chainmail Link / Wolf Link
each with one, maybe two games.
The only reason why I can imagine they like it is that it irritated traditionalists and polarized Nintendo fanboys more than how they were before.
The fact remains that art style aside, Wind Waker was a poor Zelda game compared to Twilight Princess. Shorter, easier, more tedious and downright stupid at times.
When it comes down to the art style itself, I prefer Twilight Princess. Contrary to what people seem to argue, Twilight Princess isn't hyper realistic, rather, stylized quite a bit. The renders were more realistic, but in the end, Fyer, Midna and many other characters didn't look any more real than most anime characters do.
The difference lies in the mood of the art style. Twilight Princess makes you feel like a hero - the last hope of a dying land. The entire world - not just your sister - is at stake, and your journey at times seems endless.
Wind Waker, by contrast, is Zelda for kids. It has no sense of urgency. Ganondorf never even seemed remotely threatening. Perhaps if he had succeeded in reviving Hyrule, and gaining some sort of success, I'd feel differently. In Twilight Princess, the entire world, save for Ordon, had been shrouded in the power of the Twilight Realm and Ganondorf's evil magic.
Regardless, the art style of Wind Waker doesn't fit with Zelda to me. Zelda has always been about a quest to save the world from a terrible evil - that universe's king of darkness - and for that dire of a quest, a bright, happy art style just doesn't fit.
I realize that Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are probably good games. Great even. But I don't care for the look. Don't get me wrong, I didn't like Majora's Mask either. At all. To hell with that game.
But overall, the old school Zelda art, the art direction in Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess and the concept art for the Wii Zelda game, THAT'S how Link should look, to me. Not like Parappa.
Devil_Rising: finally! someone else who hates majora's mask, it sickens me to even know this is a zelda game.
Link as I got to know him (in A Link to the Past, my first and still my favorite Zelda) has always been a kid in a cartoony, colorful, lighthearted adventure, and though not perfectly, "Toon" Link embodies that.
Any so-called Links rendered in a more realistic, darker, and mature style will never be more than repulsive imposters to me, and the games they feature in never more than Zelda-in-name-only, travesties that I wouldn't be seen dead with.
Still, as much as I hate to admit it, the OoT/TP style's far too successful to go away, but I hope there can be some sort of compromise, so that both me and the fans of the 'other' Zeldas can find something to play that doesn't want us to gouge our eyes out.
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