I always found Minish Cap to have an atmosphere that feels... homey... It's not just the graphics but also the music in the different places, especially in Castle Town, that gives me some nostalgic vibes. It feels like being a kid exploring neighbourhood and the surrounding gardens and yards. Can't describe it any better but it has a very similar feeling to Animal Crossing in my oppinion. So I always play it again in harsh, stormy winter days.
The exact location that imbues this feeling in me is the entrance to Minish Woods, with the sun shining through the leaves. Even as a kid, walking through that place before finding Ezlo _always_ gave me chills.
GBA music and sound effects always do that for me. Everyone complains about GBA music but every time I listen to it I get taken back to being a kid playing Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town crushing hard on Popuri. Even with action-y tracks like those with Megaman Battle Network. The GBA just sounds like childhood comfort.
Do you agree or disagree with him though? If you disagree then on what points? If you agree with him then what is it that makes you love the game in spite of its faults? For myself, I agree with pretty much everything he says but at the same time I still really enjoy the game (I just wish replays weren't so tedious with the kinstone management).
@@SpecterVonBaren Its hard to explain WHY I disagree with him, partly because I found myself disagreeing with most of his points, but also because of something he said at the end. He said Minish Cap didn't speak to him, but for me, it defines what I think Zelda is. & this isn't meant to sound rude, I watched the whole video and found it delightful to watch as he explained his points looking back on the game.
Comments: "Minish Cap is my favorite because it was my first one ever" Me: "Wow that's such a dumb reason, the game is clearly flawed" Me: "I should play phantom hourglass for the 9th time"
I think minish cap is the portable zelda game that suffers most when you try to play it in a long sitting. It's designed with quick portability in mind, almost to a fault - for instance, kinstone rewards are meant to give you a quick goal to accomplish in a short play session. Dungeons are meant to be simple enough that you can pause whenever, come back, and keep progressing. Its main selling points are its polished aesthetic and immersive qualities. It really feels like zelda on the go. But it's only fun on the go. At least, that's how I felt. I enjoyed it a lot when I played it at lunch break in school. Less so when I played it in long sessions as an adult.
If I grew up with it I would probably love it for those same reasons. I'm not convinced kinstones are a perfect fit for handheld play, but the philosophy there is sound at least. In retrospect that was probably their goal all along.
Although I do enjoy long play sessions, I do agree it is better on the go. I have played it twice and the first time was years ago when I played it in a similar manor to how you describe. The second time was sitting at home playing it. I didn't like it nearly as much the second time around (which was just a few months ago) even though there was still alot I enjoyed. But maybe I still enjoyed it the second time around because I played a large portion of it on a 9 Hour Bus journey with a awful film playing and and about 20 College students singing at the back of the Bus. Anything that can drown out that seems like gold.
This game gave me something most zelda handheld games failed at: Pure magic. The forest minish live a relatively peaceful life, the mining minish have their own song for the joy of digging and how joyful it feels, and there are scholar minish where you'd least expect: plus, Vaati, who actually won the sword competition honorably.
Kuwi Messenger I thought it was fun and neat to shrink down and see normal things look very large and i was always excited and interested to progress through the game to see what other places I could shrink into just to see how it looked
I just wish the game didn't lock you out of shit because of story progression and had a better means of tracking Kinstone fusions. I just finished playing it for the first time and just found out I can't get the Light Arrows anymore because Gregal died (I don't remember if I got rid of the ghost or not) and I have one fusion left but no idea who or where to go to find it. Don't even get me started on the figurines, I'm glad I looked up a strategy before I screwed myself out of getting them all.
Yes, I remember the first time playing ALTP back in early 90s, that's exactly how I felt when entering lost woods and Kakariko. It has that strong "fairytale" atmosphere.
I think it needs a port/remaster, not a remake. This art style still looks good, and updating it can actually make it worse. But I don't think the game is underrated or overrated - it's just rated. It's somewhere in the middle of the pack for Zelda games imo. It doesn't crack the top 5 or anything. Even as far as 2D Games go, I'd probably put both Link to the Past and Link Between Worlds as better games than this one. Maybe it would be the 3rd best 2D Game, as I personally don't feel like playing NES or Gameboy games anymore - too ugly and clunky for my tastes. Some people might even want Spirit Tracks ahead of The Minish Cap - that one is debatable though but it goes to show that it's not pushing in the top 5 at all.
Well I did. I got Carlov’s medal yesterday, Tingle’s Trophy and Mirror Shield today, and the feeling of stupidity after Vaati’s first form took me 20 minutes the first time.
If I recall there is a potion or something that gives you a luck boost, and using that, a nearby field of grass, and the super spin attack basically took grinding for Kinstones from a 1 hour thing to a 2 minute thing.
Honest;y I never even used that, just use your boots with the running attack in front of the fortress of winds. there is 4 big lines of grass and I got 2-4 kin stones every time I did it (Takes about 15 seconds). Only annoying part is the random nature of what you actually get, it got so bad that I had 30+ for 2 of the 3 types of the greens and 0 of the last kind.
At around 30:00 you talk about the story for the Capcom games. Here's a developers note about Oracle of Ages from Zelda Encyclopedia: "First Comes the Story: The development team at Capcom started making the maps only after the story was nearly complete. After that came characters. They would adjust the levels as they went, with the world map changing almost daily."
"Imagine Majora's Mask without the Bomber Notebook. The player is simply supposed to cram all of this stuff into their brains." Raise your hand if you never used the bomber notebook in Majora's Mask and just memorized everything lol. I first played it on the N64 and played it a lot, I just talked to everyone and after a while it just all kind of sticks into your head.
Well obviously playing it time and time again will just ensure you have all the times memorized. But for a new player? The Bomber's Notebook is almost essential to getting all the masks. Hell, I've been playing the game at least once per year for the last 7 years and I still forget a couple things like what time exactly the Postman is available for his heart piece or when the Curiosity Shop owner appears to give you the Keaton Mask.
Never needed the Bomber's notebook, didn't need a guide for Minish Cap. You'll always find people complaining about too much or too little hand holding in Zelda games but none seem to agree.
I actually really like Vaati. Mainly because he’s the only Zelda villain other than Ganon to appear as the main antagonist in multiple games and I love an underdog. I just wish he got to appear in higher quality games. I wouldn’t mind if he took over as the main antagonist of the 2D games while Ganon became the main villain of the 3D ones. He’d certainly be more fun to see than forgettable characters like Malladus, Yuga and the Triforce Heroes villain.
Vaati's got a memorable design, but while he appears multiple times it's always in Four Swords games. I think this game was maybe meant to pull kids who started with those into more mainstream Zelda gameplay, so they went and expanded his character and story a bunch. Which is cool, but did feel a little out of place to me back in the day.
@Jake Moore Yuga is the main villain of A Link Between Worlds, in a similar fashion to Agahnim in A Link to the Past. Malladus is the antagonist of Spirit Tracks, and he's a very by the numbers forgettable villain.
I feel like a lot of the criticism you're giving the game come from an angle of the Minish Cap being a console game. To elaborate, I played the Minish Cap purely on the go, on trips and stays away from any console game. This meant that I could go a few weeks without playing the game, or maybe an hour. Also meaning that my sessions could be a couple of minutes to a few hours long. The linearity was great for "getting back on track" when I had the time to. In the shorter sessions the kin-stones/mystery shells were some nice small tasks I could do and still get my fix. I'm sure nostalgia is playing a touch of a trick, but I feel like these are needed features to make a GBA Zelda game work. Though, yea. Item/Task-trackers were a blessing to us all.
He has more a mentality of all or nothing. That the game should either be completely linear like Twilight Princess or Skyward sword or be completely open like Zelda1 or Breath of the wild.
@@MrMarinus18 I mean he pretty much spells it out in the video, underwritten and simplistic, yet convoluted and tedious. Kinstones and shells are intensely stupid, and you can’t track your progress on them or anything else. The story is really boring with underwritten characters, the puzzles aren’t puzzling at all instead choosing to be contrived slogs. The main villain is probably the most generic of any in the series. The only things the game actually has going for it are the polish with which you control Link and the amazing music. Oh and also just like he says in the video, this is the only Zelda game where you actually have to grind because of kinstones. I feel like it shouldn’t even need to be said but grinding does not belong in Zelda and in no other title has it felt so necessary, and it’s all in service to one of the worst features.
@@RS-ry4lp I know this reply was a year ago, but I feel the need to point out that, yes, his argument was basically "if you play the game in short bursts it's fine" but that's also the way the people making the game thought you'd play it. I feel it's fair enough when looking at a game to examine it the way the developers intended you to play it because a lot of things that might otherwise not make sense could suddenly make all the sense in the world given the way you were intended to play it. With emulators and things nowadays playing games for extended sessions is relatively common, but back then handheld games weren't played for quite as long. See lower battery lives and either constant or plentiful save spots. Play sessions are usually short, and games were designed around this, while also accommodating longer play sessions for those days you just had a lot of time. Stating that these problems are lessened or even outright gone while playing that way is both a fact and how the devs intended the game to be experienced based on how handheld consoles were designed to be used at the time. The man has a point.
I played both Oracle games as a kid (Seasons was my first Zelda in fact), playing this is a holy grail of sorts for me. I've been thinking about Zelda a lot lately since I found a copy of Ages in a retro game store this weekend, so I can finally play both games (I borrowed my friends copy of Ages as a kid).
Yeah I’m really looking forward to playing it! All the things he complained about I thought looked really fun :D Not to say that his opinion doesn’t matter, I just disagree
I love Minish Cap, not only for its outstanding cross-franchise presentation and reasonable dungeon design, but also because for *the first goddamn time in the series,* you are given an actual, tangible reason to interact with NPCs. It's not just "oh, MAYBE they'll have a side-quest for me or MAYBE will tell me where the hell I'm supposed to go," the Kinstone system adds a level of enjoyment to wandering around towns and villages that is so *rarely* seen in the series. Finding an NPC with a *?* and having juuuuust the right piece to complete their Kinstone provokes a more satisfying feeling than any other gameplay experience in the series. Maybe the system is taxing for completionists, I get that - but as someone who spends enough time in each game figuring out dungeons, the Kinstones add so much breadth to the pace.
Yes and I don’t know why he complained about the dungeon when they’re so good! The atmosphere in them is so amazing and they can sometimes be really complicated. Like, fortress of winds was one of the hardest dungeons for me, but it was fun the whole way through.
@@gdawgs101 I imagine he means gacha, referencing a type of arcade machine originating in Japan which has you insert currency of some sort to obtain a random item.
I feel like most of your issue stems from a compulsion for 100%? People feeling a need to go out of the way to get 100% in games and then complaining that the path to 100% isn't as smooth as the core path always frustrates me, because it's a mindset I just don't share. I never feel any need to collect every heart piece in Zelda or every item in Metroid, and those are some of my favorite franchises. The objective is to get through the game and experience whatever happens to happen along the way, in my mind. Also, a key facet is that the kinstone fusions and gacha silliness have an inherent satisfaction to simply doing them, at least for me. I like to realize I have a kinstone somebody else wants and fuse with them and get the little animation and see what happens, and I like to have the figurine collection and read their little descriptions and just look at how great the sprites are. Those things are kinda their own reward, and the mechanical stuff like heart pieces are just extra.
I'm sorry, but that's just an excuse for bad game design. It's still content that is part of the game and by that it still has to adhere to the same quality standards that the main content does. Side content is meant to give additional rewards for additional dedication (be it challenge or persistance), and yes, you don't HAVE to do it, but at the end of the game it still has to be FUN to do, even if it is optional. Especially in some games like the aforementioned Metroid where the game locks content behind 100% completion (alternate endings, sometimes even boss fights), the developers definitely WANT you to do the side content, even though they don't EXPECT you to. I mean, there's a reason they show you the completion percentage at the end of the credits in the first place. Luckily Metroid usually doesn't have this issue with grind to complete the game. When side content is a chore however (or even worse, attached to stupid RNG that the player has no influence on) and the only incentive is the reward at the end of the task (like the dangling carrot he mentioned in his video) instead doing the task in and of itself, then the task should have been cut altogether and the reward attached to something in the game that is actually appealing in the first place.
ngl even without the 100% goal the kinstones just felt bad. I find a cool secret area while exploring, g through the minidungeon and I get another kinstone. Great. It takes the place of whatever better reward you could have gotten.
@@desuordie4856 Really? In my experience with Zelda games (which I love), usually those fun side chests contain ammo or currency. Kinstones might just be glorified currency (when they eventually lead to a chest containing rupees), but they fill out the world of the game in a way that just finding the rupees right there didn't. I guess it all depends on whether you see it as a chore or as a fun way to add depth and density to the map, as well as provide interactions with the characters. Look at Korok seeds in BotW. Their main utility is filling out a world with a lot of depth. You aren't just running through a vast empty world, you're frequently derailed by little puzzles that aren't usually difficult or even that interesting, but really make the world feel stuffed to the brim and give you a reason to explore it. If we treated Korok seeds the way KingK treats Kinstones, we'd say they're a needless chore that barely give you a reward after the first few (why not just give equipment slots in chests you find instead of making us gather a bunch of Korok seeds then go all the way to the forest to cash in!?), and we'd be furious that the game FORCES you to get all 900 for a literal piece of shit. They're there to add density to the map and charm to the world, which money in chests just does not do.
Your argument is a strawman. KingK wasn't insisting that 100% completion should be smooth and easy. He said that in Minish Cap, it's so tedious as to be annoying and frustrating. If you aren't interested in 100% completion in the games you play, more power to you. But the fact remains that for someone who is, the Kinstones and Figurines are both ridiculously irritating.
I must say I disagree with you King K. I feel like most of your points come from a place of trying to achieve 100% completion when the game is very much enjoyable when played naturally without doing every single kinstone trade or finding every single collectible. If anything, to me, these elements make the world feel as if it's brimming with content in a way that feels almost mysterious to the player. You can go through the game casually and finding kinstones you can bring in later to NPCs you make mental notes of which can feel rewarding. I also feel like too much weight was placed on these negative elements and you overlooked the charm of the world of this game. Things like the animal NPCs and the minish living in every nook and cranny of this world, paired with details like that just adds so much charm and atmosphere to the game in a way I haven't found in other 2D zeldas.
^exactly this^ Minish Cap is my favourite Zelda game (and i didn't even play it as a kid) precisely b/c i enjoyed just existing within it so damn much. the way KingK brushes aside the endless charm of this world, the absolutely glorious visuals & animations, and all the little delightful details absolutely everywhere you look only to spend so much time ranting about collectables just baffles me. maybe it's just b/c he started the video with that, but the rest of his critiques feel like he's reaching for more problems after simply being put off by his problems with a couple relatively minor mechanics in the game. i feel like Hetsu's Gift in BotW is specifically a jab at players like this guy ..
THANK YOU. at least someone else out there see's the game for what its worth. this guy who is way too worried about 100% completion needs to chill out and enjoy the game instead of worried about statistics and completion.
HezakHQ why does he have to enjoy it that way though? If he wants to focus on 100% let him do that. That’s what makes this series great. These are just his thoughts. They don’t have to be “right” or “wrong”
Personally, Minish Cap is my third favourite Zelda game after Wind Waker and Majora but... he isn't obligated to do anything. Things like "charm" are nebulous concepts while the mysterious shell game is concretely bad. I still love this game but you can't tell someone to "just be positive" when they don't feel that way about the game. That's just not how opinions work.
KingK is a kid. He just wants to speedruns every game he plays. Watch his other Zelda videos. His biggest complaint is “it takes too long to do _______” or he complains that the games don’t hold your hand enough
In my opinion, Minish Cap is the most underrated Zelda game It uses Wind Waker art style, and just like Wind Waker, the art style of minish cap is one that aged the best It stays simple and follows the classical zelda game formula with a reduced difficulty. While it might make high difficulty supremacists complain, it makes it the best Zelda game to introduce a beginner to the series There are about 10 ways to attack with the sword, which makes it the 2D Zelda game with the best sword fighting mechanic The dungeons are really cool with good dungeons and most bosses, especially the giant octorock, have a very interresting fight and are intensely underrated And finally, the soundtrack. This is by far the most underrated soundtrack in the series. The overworld and boss themes are epic. And just listen to the dungeon themes, have you ever felt more like you were in a fire or ice dungeon in the cave of flames or temple of droplets?? The only big flaws of MC are the sidequests and story
Nah, the story is amazing too and the whole king stone system is fun. Also, the game’s final boss is insanely hard and it makes it even more satisfying when you’ve got everything in the game before hand.
One thing to note: Mark Brown changed his terminology for Zelda dungeons in his later video and categorized them as “Gauntlet”, “Lock and Key”, and “Puzzle Box”. Gauntlet are the old Follow the Path. Lock and Key are dungeons that use multiple branching using keys or profession gates. Puzzle Box are dungeons where the structure of the dungeon is the puzzle. This game appears to use a mix of Gauntlet and Lock and Key dungeon designs. I like the puzzle box dungeons like the Water Temple, the Majora dungeons, and some of the Skyward dungeons the most for their designs.
@@LordZoth6292 i disagree. He praised oracle of ages as being the "almost" perfect zelda, for it's focus on puzzles. His analysis will change depending on his own taste. That's not all bad, but it feels kind of too biased on personal taste sometimes.
Fr tho this is one of the first videos I watched of his and why is he bashing this game boy advance game like if he never played a Zelda game before.. coins bugs and hearts pieces are all in a way pointless to collect
I don't think I have ever agreed with your overall assessment of any of the Zelda games you have spotlighted, but I respect the effort that went into this video and I appreciate it as food for thought.
they were, the wonder of what will happen in the world with specific kingstones and seeing secret areas that might be unlocked if you get the right kingstone trade made hunting and trading for kingstones exciting. Never had a problem with them and it made getting those shiny things just that more rewarding
It's ridiculous how he got obsessed with it to an autistic extent to the point of it dragging the entire review (and his enjoyment when playing) down so much. It's just some neat side objective, I never really even thought much about it and just did the fusions as they came to me like it was probably intended to be used. Same goes for the figurine thing, it's just a capsule/gacha side mission tons of games had, why is he focusing so much on it?
Personally, I feel like a lot of the complaints put forward in this video (and a LOT of reviews of most games) is the reviewer expecting certain tropes or styles, but the game meant to give something different. You hear him mention a lot “missed potential”. Well, that’s because the developers didn’t want to delve deep into that certain area. A deep, thought-provoking story where we can see Ezlo change overtime and struggle with internal issues? Would be interesting, granted, but not where the developers saw the game going. They seem to be more interested in providing character and personality to each and every NPC, and highlighting that with the kinstone mechanic and gating progression until NPC’s told you about where to go. An in-depth and complicated dungeon, with several possibilities to allow each player to go through in a unique way? Again, not a bad idea, but the developers focused more on atmosphere, and having each dungeon look and feel unique, while giving interesting points of view using the shrinking mechanic. TLDR: I feel reviews/retrospectives would be better served by looking at what THE GAME focused on, instead of what THE PLAYER wanted. Check out Matthewmatosis for an example of how I think it’s best achieved. But that’s just my thought.
I can see your argument, but I think what people are saying when i game a has "missed potential" is that this game does something good, and they feel like they were only scratching the surface of the world, characters, level design, ect. I do see where you are coming from though. (also that love towards mattewmattosis is always appreciated)
Unfortunately, biases will always get in the way of any 'objective' review. People will always have expectations, and that will color their perspective of any game
You're entitled to your opinions. I personally didn't play the game until earlier this year, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. While I understand your complaints about the tedium of the kinstones and trophies, I found the trading to be fun. Trading kinstones gives you upgrades, I find the process of going to the item leads to a sense of anticipation about what it would be, I never noticed the symbol over the NPCs head referred to what the reward would be. Fusing kinstones also leads to getting the trophies more easily. Either the reward can be shells outright, or rupees which allow you to buy mysterious shells. In either case, 95% of fusions are optional and thus unnecessary. I respect your opinion, but I don't think the game is as bad as you say it is. It's designed to be a portable Zelda game. It's meant to be played in short burst with rewards coming often, and thus the repetitive things don't feel as such. The game really suffers when you play if for long periods of time. It wasn't my favorite game in the series, but I had a lot of fun playing it.
seashells are ok as I like encyclopedia figurine systems in games but they should always keep it optional like wind waker edit: seashells would've also been better without the extra inputs and just press one button to put in some shells and the figurine would just appear
I don't mind it very much not getting all the heart pieces, but yeah it sucks for completionists. The shells and kinstone fusions I see more of being accomodating for portable play. It's some time sink that's not quite as mindless as level grinding in an RPG, good for a commune, or bus travel, or waiting for your turn on the bank or doctor's office, etc. Especially with that white potion, it becomes a matter of finding the fusion and then going to the reward. Some play sessions I'd just do the kinstones and get some figurines until I got to my destination, play the main story when I was home, and neither felt like wasted time.
Probably my personal favorite Zelda game The best way to think about the Minish Cap is imagine you are playing an old Disney movie because this is probably the closest we will get to experiencing that kind of magic in a game and I believe that is why it is such a favorite for people like me and many other commentators it seems. I can get why someone who didn't get that feeling while playing it could come away as not getting the appeal by the game's fans
@@andre_af you only have to repeat half of that temple (with new shortcuts added) and its not even very easy to mess up, hopefully he doesnt get too mad about that part
@@EvGriff42 I've played it like 4 times. I'll argue it is a decent legend of zelda game, but it commits the holy sin of throwing no punches in its run time either story or gameplay wise. Spirit Tracks is superior, if only a bit.
It seems to me like your primary complaint is that the game is too linear, and honestly? I can't agree. It may just be personal preference, but a linear game with a tightly-focused path to progression is infinitely more engaging than a game that allows the player too much freedom. That's why I could never really get into Breath of the Wild, which just had me lost most of the time through sheer inability to decide what I want to be doing, a sort of situation where I just shut down and quit playing from all the options presented at once. It's _because_ Minish Cap is so linear in its progression that I actually consider it to be my favorite 2D Zelda. Oddly enough, metroidvanias don't really have this issue of "exploration paralysis" for me... though I think that's because most metroidvanias are actually far more linear than they pretend to be.
it's fair to not like BOTW/non-linear games; but if the problem is that you shut down from "exploration paralysis", maybe look at it as a way to challenge/improve yourself? The theme/story/gameplay of BOTW all try to stress the same message: set your own goals, find your own fun, take a leap of faith. It's by no means a perfect game, but I hear this criticism a lot, and it strikes me as kinda missing the point.
Thats a very good point. And attributes like replayability and interaction with both styles of games is still very high. But for HANDHELD SPECIFICALLY i think the more linear approach is the only way to make it REALLY great
@@lounowell4171 The story pretty strongly suggests that you set your goal to be defeating Ganon and rescuing Zelda so I don't 100% agree with that, which is my problem with open-world games. They kind of have to let the player take as much time as they want to complete the main story, but that undercuts the tension when at the center of the narrative is an imminent threat. I think this is particularly bad in BoW because it's repeated that Zelda's at the end of her rope and really needs your help, and then the Blood Moon is a constant reminder of Ganon. So, instead of setting my own goals and going on a road trip to recover Link's memories or explore ancient dungeons just to find cool stuff, I'm on a mission, and in my opinion exploration isn't fun when you're looking for the next arbitrary spot to stand in to continue the narrative. Zelda 1 didn't have this problem because they didn't even tell you about Ganon. They give you a sword and tell you it's dangerous; you defeat Ganon because you want to, not because the game tells you to. Don't get me wrong, I think BotW is great and that there's room in Zelda for both directed and open experiences, I just think the time/tension issue is a recurring problem in open world games and that it can really hurt a narrative experience.
Lou Nowell I'm not actually sure how that's helpful? OP doesn't like the requirement of making their own fun. Whenever someone suggests to someone else they could use a thing they can't get into to "challenge/improve themselves", it always strikes me as telling someone to learn to like a flavor of cake they're not into. You don't need to eat cake, you do it because you want to, and some people prefer red velvet over angel food cake...
@@Thutil Zelda 1 had all that stuff in the manual, also there's an opening text crawl if you leave the game on the title screen iirc. A loose story has always been expected since the genesis of arcade games, and gamers in the 80s had no difficulty ignoring it in favour of setting their own goals. If BOTW *only* expected you to beat Ganon, I doubt they would have spent so much time on the other 99% of the game. The "time/tension/real consequences problem" IS an issue that MANY open world games face, but it isn't an inherent problem with the formula: see Majora's Mask for a blatant fix.
I actually loved everything about this game! It was one of the best IMHO. Also, it wasn't just to get the heart piece for the shell quest: it also allowed you to work the record player in the room and play whatever music you want. Although these objectives are trivial, that is the best thing about them: you don't have to do it to beat the game. As for the kinstone quest, they were so hard to find, but finally getting to see what each fusion did was a reward in itself! I will never forget this amazing game, with its amazing music!
This is my FIRST Zelda game I've played!! I'm so happy you covered it!! I loved this game when I was younger and I still love it now! It has a special place in my heart! You also did the Oracles and Link's Awakening, so by this point you've done most of my FAVORITE games! Thank you SO MUCH for covering this game! You've earned a like from me!! And I also agree with most of the criticisms you had with it. :)
"Imagine Majora's Mark without the Bomber's Notebook. The player is simply expected to cram all of this into their brains." ... I mean, I used a sheet of paper and a pen back then with Majora's Mask on N64, and Minish Cap on GBA, a few years later. Edit: Heck! Playing on an emulator you can also just put the Notepad on the side and alt+tab back and forth! :D
I mean, that is *a* solution, but I can't help but feel that doesn't solve the problem? As in, the game should have accounted for this and fixed it itself. This is not a strong excuse for the game not having an in-game note system.
Minish cap is my favourite zelda game! Probably because it was my first, but there's just something about the wind waker visual style in 2d that gets me to this day. Imo it's highly underrated, I rarely see zelda fans talking about it. I definitely understand the criticism of the kinstone system, a guide would really help. It never bothered me that there was a heart piece behind the figurine collection, because what else would be worth it at that point? A failed trade gives you rupees, which means your wallet is basically overflowing, a kinstone would feel like a slap in the face after all the trades required, and shells are useless once you've got all the figurines. You could maybe have some new item locked behind the trades but I can't really think of much else the game needs.
Yeah as far ad Zelda games go this one is super different. I guess all the toon link/wind waker style was WAY different. But im such a great way of course
If anybody that wants to 100% this game, every time you reach 999 shells go get figurines. This should happen like 7 times through out the game and you can trade higher amounts of shells through out the game. If you already beat the game and the last thing you have is the figurines; at Links house walk outside, face left, dig. There is a red ruppee. You can farm this ruppee by going in and out of Links house. Takes approximately 4 minutes to get 999 ruppees. Go to the shop and buy 150 shells. Use 1 shell till the probability is 15%. You can stand at the handle and talk to the figurine keeper instead of walking to him. This is the fastest way to get shells and most optimal way to use them. There are 136 figurines. You have to beat the game and complete the Goron kinstone side quest for all figures to appear. Took me 4 hours and I watched anime while doing so.
Minish cap is one of my favorite Zelda games. Granted....it was my first Zelda game and i played it after getting home from school when i was a kid so im pretty sure i could overlook and be patient with all its flaws when its either that or homework!
Can't wait for your thoughts on Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. They were my first 2D Zeldas, so I'm curious to see how much of my experience translated.
@@jwoodsonmusic Absolutely. People will disagree with me on this, but I loved Spirit Tracks so much more - there just wasn't anything Phantom Hourglass did that I don't find Spirit Tracks doing better. And Realm Overworld remains my favorite Zelda overworld theme to this day.
So, a bit of cut content from Minish Cap is that the Kinstones were meant to be traded between other players IRL. It would've been one of the few games to use the GBA Wireless Adapter. Sadly it got relegated to just in-game trade sequences.
Wow you really tore my childhood favourite apart. I feel a little sadder after this video... Like many this was my first Zelda game. A friend had Ocarina of Time, which he brought to play on my N64 now and then but we did not speak English and didn't get very far. You are not the only one to reevaluate the game in this way. Jirard the completionist, who 100% completes games, also found it too easy and the collectibles frustrating. I have no rebuttal to that. The only thing I can say is that as a kid, I had little access to other games so I was thorough with the ones I had. This and Pokemon were the most substantial games I ever owned on the system and I got all but 1 kinstone fusion without ever reading a walkthrough and spending an unholy about of time with it. Likewise with Pokemon, I stopped at Diamond. I picked up Ultra Moon when it came out and not even nostalgia could do it; apart from a fundamental dislike of RPGs, I don't think I can get on with its long and somewhat repetitive nature, most obviously compounded by the random battles. I disagree with only one thing you said, positive and negative points included. The game has an impressive amount of history (not quite lore in the straightforward sense) and a fairly cohesive world. It is on the brink of chaos and underdeveloped and it is a sideshow, but Middle Earth is like this too when LOTR takes place and that is not a problem. I _loved_ just how much I kept stumbling into entirely natural (i.e. no markers or journals) sidequests in Hyrule specifically and uncovering more of the town and people who live there and what they do. Despite the lack of guidance I was able to resolve them. With that in mind I think this is a great game for kids to this day. It offers up surface-level variety like in the theming of different areas, but this works at that age. It is linear and mostly straightforward. Some puzzles are genuinely boring but at the time I found that more with the action puzzles, which I prefer in newer Zeldas (they were really good in Spirit Tracks, please look forward to it). But at a certain age not only do you let these things slide but they can serve to enhance the experience because a game that is too open is one _I would abandon_, which I did several times with Ocarina as I tried it on emulator over the years till finally finishing it on 3DS. I hope this helps illuminate the fondness for the title, but please be assured you are not contrarian from a retrospective point of view and other critics tend to place weight on the same points.
As a 100% completionist, even as an adult, this honestly never bothered me. I love the kinstone fusion concept and grinding in Zelda is not as hard as grinding in other games. One decade later, I'm still finding secrets tucked away in the game and the fact that it has no in game guide makes it more interesting :)
your retrospectives are the best!! i watch em all, even for games i haven’t played. you always give solid commentary and a lot of new ideas to consider, even if i disagree with what you pose it’s always worth thinking about. anyway, thank you for doing these!! the minish cap research stream was fun, i don’t know if you do those a lot but i’m always looking for new people to tune in to. thanks for being the legend of zelda !!
Ah.. The game that is argued about more often about the lore it brings to the series than its plot, mechanics, or gameplay. The Minish are supposed to be the reason we find rupees, hearts, arrows, bombs, etc in pots, jars, and grass. Yet they cannot be seen except by children, and only during certain days every century or so.. And then its to be the origin point of Link's cap, and it loses that relevance when Skyward Sword was made. I found it to be a very intriguing game my first play through, then after examining it multiple times with other games.. For some reason it feels like it should NOT work lore wise, yet somehow does.. Like you, one of my favorite game critics/reviewers, "I don't get it."
Its not the origin of link's cap and it doesn't say it is. Just that link doesn't always start out in his "hero's clothes" like in Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Spirit Tracks, Skyward Sword, and Breath of the Wild.
Chad Eldridge To be fair, Zelda lore tends to be kinda arbitrary. The Picori blade that the Minish made didn’t split into four, it gained that ability once it was broken, reforged, and then enhanced with the four elements. I’d assume the Four Sword splits into four to harness the four elements and defeat Vaati.
Lore and timeline should never be an argument, the timeline was only decided 20 years into franchise to sell books lol. Plus theyve amended it so much. Lawl
Minish Cap may not have the deepest story, the most ingenious dungeon design, or even the best characters, but for such a small game it sure packs a lot of heart and whimsy. I never expected it to be on the level of the mainline console games, it's not expansive, on the contrary it's very humble and modest. And that's what makes me love Minish Cap so much, it has such a warm, cozy feel, upbeat and light-hearted; and shrinking down and discovering the Minish underworld hidden away in the nooks and crannies of the town was a joy to experience. It's a game with a mechanic and lore that has a lot of unmet potential that future games unfortunately never expanded on. Simply put, it's not gourmet, it's like eating that crappy home made food that only you like.
This was somewhere between my 8th and 10th Zelda game. I hadn't played the GB/GBC games yet, but at the time, this was my favorite 2D Zelda. While in retrospect I agree that the Kinstones and Shells are a bit too much, I personally feel that the rest of the game is just fine. P.S. While you mentioned that the shells hid a heart piece, you neglected to mention that it also hides the sound test / soundtrack, which (pre-youtube illegally uploading every soundtrack ever) was a perfectly good reward for such a long and grindy side quest. I agree that the heart piece was a bit of a dick move though. P.P.S. The Minish Cap's power is to grant the user their deepest wish. Vaati wanted power, so he got it. Zelda wanted everything to go back to normal, so it did.
So when you add in Princess Zelda's “Light Force,” Minish Cap has not one but TWO equivalents to the Triforce... one which is golden while the other of which is triangular. :) (Yes, I'm aware the Light Force might very well be a euphemism for Zelda's Triforce of Wisdom... but they intentionally avoided specifying, so who knows?)
@@Radien I think the lightforce is specifically Hylia's power, it fits so well with how it is supposedly passed down the royal family but it only surfaces in Zelda. In fact I believe it is because of Vaati stealing most of it, which was never returned, that Zelda is so prone to being kidnapped, possessed, rendered out of commission, and forced to hold onto the triforce of wisdom just to make up the difference. The sealing power in Breath of the wild is pretty much what little remains of the lightforce. Interesting though that it has the symbol of the triforce, though this could be due to how Zelda and by extension Hylia are tied to and are constantly holding at least one peice of the triforce.
@@andresmarrero8666 got it right. The Light Force is Hylia's power, it's the same as Zelda's Life Force in Phantom Hourglass, except it's weaker there because it's later in the timeline and the line is weakening (not to mention Vaati still has part of it). It gives Zelda her magic (and, as it fades with the generations, takes it away, as seen in late-timeline games where Zelda's magic is either pitiful or non-existent).
@@JazzyWaffles I blame Vaati for it weakening throughout the ages. He stole 3/4 of it and it was never returned. So the dwindling amount is what little remains afterwards, still massively powerful looking at what it did to Calamity Ganon, but all that is left is basically fumes. It is no wonder that Zelda almost always hangs onto the triforce of wisdom, just to make up the difference.
First ever game completed from start to finished when i was a kid and oh man i loved it still do. The best zelda i ever started. You are a legend for making reviews on awesome old games that we all love. That’s probably why you are doing so way. Doing out of the box!
Pretty much agree with this video on almost all counts, and I totally get why this video took so long to get out. I've played Minish Cap 3 times, and I ultimately have no solid opinion of the game. It's one of the few Zelda games that can easily swing between interesting concepts, boring, and downright frustrating all within the span of 20 minutes and consistently do that throughout the game. There's a shell of a fantastic game here, but it's flaws ultimately leaving me wanting more and never wanting to pick it back up again at the same exact time.
Like most games, whether you'll enjoy/appreciate the minish cap or not comes down to a matter of personal preference. You were extremely bothered by the (admittedly awful) trophy collecting quest and the confusing kinstone mechanic, while I've never payed either of those things much attention. Whenever I play the minish cap, I just already know i don't want to waste my time with those and only partake in them if i feel like trying to find more heart pieces or treasures. I've always seen them as optional, and never chosen to devote much time to them, but if you're someone who feels compelled to get all heart pieces, find as much treasure as possible, etc. I can see how they would be a huge hurdle to get past. As far as the very linear progression goes, I generally prefer linear progression to open or semi-open worlds, so if I discovered something cool that wasn't leading me anywhere, then I could just accept that's not what the designers wanted me to be doing at the moment and I'd happily go off and find what it was I was supposed to be doing. Because of this, I love the minish cap overall and see it as just having a few minor problems, while others (like you) find those problems to be extremely intrusive and they affect their enjoyment of the game immensely. Neither opinion is right or wrong, of course, but I believe this game is so beloved simply because the majority of people who have played it are more like me in their preferences. I could be completely wrong on that, I'm just trying to offer a counter-argument to the game not being designed well. Imo it definitely has its hiccups, but nothing that distracts from the fun I have with the main quest and dungeons.
I know what you mean about the music in this game. The Zelda series is my favorite video game franchise, especially when it comes to music.. but there's something about the Minish Cap specifically where the music is just phenomenal.
It's scary how good the Minish Cap soundtrack sounds for a handheld that was barely better than 8-bit in the soundchip and required samples to really sound decent.
This game was pure magic to me as a kid, being small made me feel so secretive and sneaky! And when you think about it, critiquing games we loved as kids when we are now adults probably misses the point to an extent
Ah, see, this is where we differ. I accept that all the flaws highlighted in this video are very real. But Vaati, like Ghirahim, DOES scare and sexually intrigue me. So there. Admittedly, he didnt scare me until i saw him kill Zelda which was deeply upsetting. But you know what? Yeah, this angry little rat bastard turned eyeball monster gets an A in my book. And i hope we see him again in a bigger Zelda title.
For a long time, this was my favorite LoZ game. The GBA graphics are colorful and hold up really well after all these years. The shrinking mechanic was done well and very cool as it opened the world to you in a different point of view. The Kinstones were so much fun as I tried to find every NPC that I could fuse stones with to unlock something in the overworld. The music was great, especially the themes for Dark Hyrule Castle, Temple of Droplets, and Minish Woods. Vaati was a nice break in villains from Ganondorf who I hope we can see in another game. The Four Sword mechanic late rin the game was intelligent as well. The best part had to be the huge overworld as you could go back to many places in the game and find a lot of areas that were inaccessible prior and MC did this really well.
While I do admit there are quite a few issues with the kin stones and other gameplay aspects I will be honest here, I enjoyed the figurine collection. Sure it took some time to go through them all but I had that time and viewing their descriptions at the end helped build up the world. While not mentioned there is more to the reward of the figurines than just the heart piece, you also unlock the sound test a feature which I and others value a lot. There was no uploads of game music on youtube like there are today and it provided us a way to control and listen to the music we wanted as we wanted. The game also has a TON of references to the oracle games which I loved so much and I was happy to see them which added to the charm of the game despite it's flaws.
I remember playing this a long time ago, and I had 99/100 Kinstone fusions done. I simply didn't have the Kinstone needed for the last one, and I had forgotten how to grind for more. I never did get that 100th fusion. I don't see why they couldn't have hidden the Kinstones around the world, so there were exactly 100 of them, with the better reward ones hidden better.
"But... he became enchanted with the wickedness in the hearts of men." I took this as Vaati becoming like men, that being that human nature is often known to be evil or selfish (debatable). Come on, dude. You're telling me you couldn't derive to that conclusion?!
The best thing about this game is the aesthetic, the contrast between big and small, melancholic tones about stories you don't know but imagine. Who is Vaati? You never truly know, but you can feel his hate in the musics and words. That ending isn't "Woohoo you saved the day, everybody applause!" but has a bittersweet tone that leaves you with a tear and hard feeling! Ezlo can be annoying, but wanted to save the day, and at the end, he thanks you, thing that I never thought could happen! I've played "The Legend of Spyro: An Eternal Night" on GBA, recently, and the soundtracks gave me the same vibe! You are a small child, but you discovered big places. A Link To The Past was my very first video game, but Minish Cap is by far my favorite 2D Zelda game!
The one issue I had and still have with Kinstones is that certain kinstone fusions will be lost to time. You can lock yourself out of an award if you're too early or too late, and it's so difficult to find which ones dissapear that there are still lost fusions that haven't been found and documented.
I have to admit, I actually really liked the kinstone mechanic. It was exciting for me when I found a seemingly hidden person, I'd wonder if they had a special kinstone. As far as the grind for the stones, I really never had that problem, there is a bottled item that makes kinstones drop left and right. Honestly, imo, I wouldn't necessarily automatically count grinding as a negative anyways. Though I think that is opinion based. Some people, like me, enjoy grinding and watching their character get stronger or as in this case unlocking things. As far as there not being an in-game tracker, I think this is another case of opinion. The bomber's notebook was hand-holdy, especially on the 3D version. Hand holding isn't necessarily a problem, the N64/GameCube bomber's notebook was fine as it wasn't TOO specific. Personally, I'm fine either way as long as things don't get TOO hand-holdy. When there is an in-game tracker I can appreciate the execution of said system if it qualifies to me as not too hand-holdy, when there isn't one I appreciate the independence it enstills. It Incentivizes exploration and paying attention. That's something Zelda has been doing since creation. YOU remember what you saw and to come back or you can miss out, but it's great when you get some cool things for remembering. Minish cap gave me a feel of exploration, it was great realizing how to do things or returning to places I couldn't figure out when a kinstone made it possible. It's funny, because I'm watching this and responding in real time and can't help but disagree on some things. It's crazy seeing this game from another person's perspective because there're a lot of things that I genuinely enjoyed about the game that you don't, it's just really interesting. The figurines for example, I LOVED them in WW and enjoyed getting them in MC. The percentage thing DID end up getting annoying towards the lower percentages, admittedly. I just really like collecting things. I really liked learning more through the descriptions. I remember I even had a notebook that I'd draw the figurines from WW in as I got them. I'd take a picture, get the figurine, read the description, draw the figurine in the notebook and then write the description in the notebook under it. I'd spend so long making the drawings up to my standards, using rulers for straight lines. So, you'd stated the heart piece as a reason as to why you HAVE to get the figurines, but I'm thinking you might view it that way because you also like collecting stuff while as others are just like "nope". This feels like another case of opinion. For people like me, and I'm thinking you, we have to get all the good stuff, so the figurines could actually be a problem. RPGs and MMOs are my thing, I love to see my character get stronger and to collect things.
Minish cap was the first Zelda game I ever owned and beat. It might just be nostalgia, but it's definitely one of my favorite Zelda games. The soundtrack and story are great. I remember feeling so accomplished when I finally fused all the kinstones. Although trading in for all the figurines is the most tedious and annoying part I felt like it held an amazing reward with the music player so you can go listen to whatever song you want. The dungeons are great as well. I go back every so often to play through this game again and now that I'm older I'm glad it doesn't take a super long time to get through.
I wish Minish Cap had side scrolling sections. Those were my favorite parts of the Oracle games and Links Awakening. It could have added some more variety to dungeons and gameplay. Four Swords Adventures even managed to have side scrolling segments.
I love Minish Cap! I even love the kinstone system because it feels like a huge scavenger hunt, though I can absolutely understand why you wouldn't like it. Definitely not everyones cup-o-tea and that is fine. Edit: 100% with you with the shells though. F those things!
Let me preface this by saying that Minish Cap was one of my favorite games growing up and I still love your content. I was listening to your old zelda videos (and others in general) as I typically do when I drive or go to sleep (because your soothing voice is better than my own thoughts). And I feel as though the approach of your videos has changed to making them more subjective rather than objective. I can't say if this is bad or not as I don't know if you are considering these as critiques or rather just your 2 cents. But in your older videos you addressed each area of the game in a cohesive format as well as using the appropriate method for addressing topics objectively. That being you bring up the topic, say what you believe, say what occurs, and bring up points that support your point, and also counter argue against points that would conflict your own stance. In your newer videos this has gone towards just more subjective finger pointing. And personally I feel as if you may be just flying through these games to get the content out for us which may be limiting your ability to critically think more on the topics. But I can tell a difference in your energy, mood, and even sarcasm between your new and old videos. You seemed more excited for the older ones, and that could be for various reasons but could be due to the point I made. All in all that was way too long and I just wanted to say how I felt. But in the end, do as you feel necessary and keep making incredible videos. I love all your content and it really makes me rethink how I felt about these games. Stay strong and power through this set and leave time for yourself as that is the most important. All us here more than appreciate all you do for us and want you to be your best self. Here's to the next video King K
Literally yesterday I was looking for a Minish Cap Retrospective and I was sad I didn't find one. It's always been one of my favorite games, so glad you made this video!
I always found Minish Cap to have an atmosphere that feels... homey... It's not just the graphics but also the music in the different places, especially in Castle Town, that gives me some nostalgic vibes. It feels like being a kid exploring neighbourhood and the surrounding gardens and yards. Can't describe it any better but it has a very similar feeling to Animal Crossing in my oppinion. So I always play it again in harsh, stormy winter days.
😟
YES!!!!
@mamuburaa yeah i did
The exact location that imbues this feeling in me is the entrance to Minish Woods, with the sun shining through the leaves. Even as a kid, walking through that place before finding Ezlo _always_ gave me chills.
GBA music and sound effects always do that for me. Everyone complains about GBA music but every time I listen to it I get taken back to being a kid playing Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town crushing hard on Popuri. Even with action-y tracks like those with Megaman Battle Network. The GBA just sounds like childhood comfort.
"Minish Cap is my absolute fav-"
*hears intro*
o-oh, ok.
So true...
"Minish cap is one of my favorite-"
>beginning of the video
"I see."
Well, at least we're in the same sinking boat.
Yeah... yeah, same
I feel ya
"Ohoho, my favourite 2D Zelda, can't wait for this."
>Beginning happens.
"Hahaha.....this is gonna hurt"
Do you agree or disagree with him though? If you disagree then on what points? If you agree with him then what is it that makes you love the game in spite of its faults? For myself, I agree with pretty much everything he says but at the same time I still really enjoy the game (I just wish replays weren't so tedious with the kinstone management).
@@SpecterVonBaren Its hard to explain WHY I disagree with him, partly because I found myself disagreeing with most of his points, but also because of something he said at the end. He said Minish Cap didn't speak to him, but for me, it defines what I think Zelda is.
& this isn't meant to sound rude, I watched the whole video and found it delightful to watch as he explained his points looking back on the game.
Comments: "Minish Cap is my favorite because it was my first one ever"
Me: "Wow that's such a dumb reason, the game is clearly flawed"
Me: "I should play phantom hourglass for the 9th time"
Jonesy Cinc nobody:
You: being 11 months late
Jonesy Cinc ok
Litteraly the whole comment section : giving opinions
This man: opinion about opinions
Ernie: looks like you're going to the shadow realm
@@cyn1stre nobody:
You: saying hole instead of whole
@@browserii2048 nobody:
you & me: editing comments
"The Minish Cap is a smaller game-"
dude
No replies...
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and congrats on 420 likes
@@seliphsnom2596 you had to ruin it
I think minish cap is the portable zelda game that suffers most when you try to play it in a long sitting. It's designed with quick portability in mind, almost to a fault - for instance, kinstone rewards are meant to give you a quick goal to accomplish in a short play session. Dungeons are meant to be simple enough that you can pause whenever, come back, and keep progressing.
Its main selling points are its polished aesthetic and immersive qualities. It really feels like zelda on the go. But it's only fun on the go.
At least, that's how I felt. I enjoyed it a lot when I played it at lunch break in school. Less so when I played it in long sessions as an adult.
this guy knows
If I grew up with it I would probably love it for those same reasons. I'm not convinced kinstones are a perfect fit for handheld play, but the philosophy there is sound at least. In retrospect that was probably their goal all along.
better then mario odyssey in that respect imo
Although I do enjoy long play sessions, I do agree it is better on the go. I have played it twice and the first time was years ago when I played it in a similar manor to how you describe. The second time was sitting at home playing it. I didn't like it nearly as much the second time around (which was just a few months ago) even though there was still alot I enjoyed.
But maybe I still enjoyed it the second time around because I played a large portion of it on a 9 Hour Bus journey with a awful film playing and and about 20 College students singing at the back of the Bus. Anything that can drown out that seems like gold.
It’s the same reason there are Shrines in BoTW, Moons in Mario Odyssey, and Spirit Battles in Smash Ultimate. Smaller, bite-sized objectives.
This game gave me something most zelda handheld games failed at: Pure magic. The forest minish live a relatively peaceful life, the mining minish have their own song for the joy of digging and how joyful it feels, and there are scholar minish where you'd least expect: plus, Vaati, who actually won the sword competition honorably.
well, to be fair, he probably used the minish cap to make himself the best swordfighter evar or something
Kuwi Messenger I thought it was fun and neat to shrink down and see normal things look very large and i was always excited and interested to progress through the game to see what other places I could shrink into just to see how it looked
@@samuelhatlestad6676 same
I just wish the game didn't lock you out of shit because of story progression and had a better means of tracking Kinstone fusions. I just finished playing it for the first time and just found out I can't get the Light Arrows anymore because Gregal died (I don't remember if I got rid of the ghost or not) and I have one fusion left but no idea who or where to go to find it. Don't even get me started on the figurines, I'm glad I looked up a strategy before I screwed myself out of getting them all.
Yes, I remember the first time playing ALTP back in early 90s, that's exactly how I felt when entering lost woods and Kakariko. It has that strong "fairytale" atmosphere.
I really hope to one day see a fleshed out Minish Cap remake, it's a criminally underrated Zelda game as long as you're not going for 100% completion
A whole remaster, in a 3D world and utilize Ezlo’s ability in a really cool way
@@MrKevosmin wouldn't that be a remake?
I think it needs a port/remaster, not a remake. This art style still looks good, and updating it can actually make it worse. But I don't think the game is underrated or overrated - it's just rated. It's somewhere in the middle of the pack for Zelda games imo. It doesn't crack the top 5 or anything. Even as far as 2D Games go, I'd probably put both Link to the Past and Link Between Worlds as better games than this one. Maybe it would be the 3rd best 2D Game, as I personally don't feel like playing NES or Gameboy games anymore - too ugly and clunky for my tastes. Some people might even want Spirit Tracks ahead of The Minish Cap - that one is debatable though but it goes to show that it's not pushing in the top 5 at all.
Well I did. I got Carlov’s medal yesterday, Tingle’s Trophy and Mirror Shield today, and the feeling of stupidity after Vaati’s first form took me 20 minutes the first time.
So, if you go for 100%, then it is a fairly rated game?
If I recall there is a potion or something that gives you a luck boost, and using that, a nearby field of grass, and the super spin attack basically took grinding for Kinstones from a 1 hour thing to a 2 minute thing.
Yes, never had a problem with collecting kinstones because of that potion
I literally told KingK about that potion about 5 times during his stream...but he doesn't listen.
ahem...*HEY LISTEN!* How's the Navi impression?
Honest;y I never even used that, just use your boots with the running attack in front of the fortress of winds. there is 4 big lines of grass and I got 2-4 kin stones every time I did it (Takes about 15 seconds). Only annoying part is the random nature of what you actually get, it got so bad that I had 30+ for 2 of the 3 types of the greens and 0 of the last kind.
It's the white Picolyte you buy from Beedle and it SHOWERS you with kinstones.
don't expect a game critic to utilize the game's mechanics properly
I forgot how absolutely gorgeous Minish Cap is. The visuals are a huge part of the experience themselves, I think.
Yeah I think Zelda is the only game on the Nintendo consoles that tries to push itself
At around 30:00 you talk about the story for the Capcom games. Here's a developers note about Oracle of Ages from Zelda Encyclopedia:
"First Comes the Story: The development team at Capcom started making the maps only after the story was nearly complete. After that came characters. They would adjust the levels as they went, with the world map changing almost daily."
that explains some of the mechanical limitations and why nintendo home starts with pc movement. the kinstones especially strike me as "story first"
Love your channel mossbag
@@elijahbucklin7664 youre like one of his 83 subs?
this isnt hollow knight go back to your den, mossbag
Woah a fan of minis cap
"Imagine Majora's Mask without the Bomber Notebook. The player is simply supposed to cram all of this stuff into their brains."
Raise your hand if you never used the bomber notebook in Majora's Mask and just memorized everything lol. I first played it on the N64 and played it a lot, I just talked to everyone and after a while it just all kind of sticks into your head.
Quil D that’s nice
🙌 i did that, and also played minish cap and had no problem
Well obviously playing it time and time again will just ensure you have all the times memorized. But for a new player? The Bomber's Notebook is almost essential to getting all the masks. Hell, I've been playing the game at least once per year for the last 7 years and I still forget a couple things like what time exactly the Postman is available for his heart piece or when the Curiosity Shop owner appears to give you the Keaton Mask.
Actually, by only paying attention to what the NPC says, instead of mashing out of text, you could beat MM easily
Never needed the Bomber's notebook, didn't need a guide for Minish Cap.
You'll always find people complaining about too much or too little hand holding in Zelda games but none seem to agree.
I actually really like Vaati. Mainly because he’s the only Zelda villain other than Ganon to appear as the main antagonist in multiple games and I love an underdog. I just wish he got to appear in higher quality games. I wouldn’t mind if he took over as the main antagonist of the 2D games while Ganon became the main villain of the 3D ones. He’d certainly be more fun to see than forgettable characters like Malladus, Yuga and the Triforce Heroes villain.
Vaati's whole concept of design is just so good, I love him to bits
Vaati's got a memorable design, but while he appears multiple times it's always in Four Swords games. I think this game was maybe meant to pull kids who started with those into more mainstream Zelda gameplay, so they went and expanded his character and story a bunch. Which is cool, but did feel a little out of place to me back in the day.
Who the hell are Malladus and Yuga? I for the life of me can't remember
@@JakenTheGreat nobody really just wannabe Ganons.
@Jake Moore
Yuga is the main villain of A Link Between Worlds, in a similar fashion to Agahnim in A Link to the Past. Malladus is the antagonist of Spirit Tracks, and he's a very by the numbers forgettable villain.
I feel like a lot of the criticism you're giving the game come from an angle of the Minish Cap being a console game. To elaborate, I played the Minish Cap purely on the go, on trips and stays away from any console game. This meant that I could go a few weeks without playing the game, or maybe an hour. Also meaning that my sessions could be a couple of minutes to a few hours long. The linearity was great for "getting back on track" when I had the time to. In the shorter sessions the kin-stones/mystery shells were some nice small tasks I could do and still get my fix. I'm sure nostalgia is playing a touch of a trick, but I feel like these are needed features to make a GBA Zelda game work.
Though, yea. Item/Task-trackers were a blessing to us all.
He has more a mentality of all or nothing. That the game should either be completely linear like Twilight Princess or Skyward sword or be completely open like Zelda1 or Breath of the wild.
“This game is bad but you’re only supposed to engage with it for a few minutes at a time so you don’t notice.” Is basically what you just said
@@RS-ry4lp That kind of brings up what is the definition of "bad"?
@@MrMarinus18 I mean he pretty much spells it out in the video, underwritten and simplistic, yet convoluted and tedious. Kinstones and shells are intensely stupid, and you can’t track your progress on them or anything else. The story is really boring with underwritten characters, the puzzles aren’t puzzling at all instead choosing to be contrived slogs. The main villain is probably the most generic of any in the series. The only things the game actually has going for it are the polish with which you control Link and the amazing music. Oh and also just like he says in the video, this is the only Zelda game where you actually have to grind because of kinstones. I feel like it shouldn’t even need to be said but grinding does not belong in Zelda and in no other title has it felt so necessary, and it’s all in service to one of the worst features.
@@RS-ry4lp I know this reply was a year ago, but I feel the need to point out that, yes, his argument was basically "if you play the game in short bursts it's fine" but that's also the way the people making the game thought you'd play it. I feel it's fair enough when looking at a game to examine it the way the developers intended you to play it because a lot of things that might otherwise not make sense could suddenly make all the sense in the world given the way you were intended to play it. With emulators and things nowadays playing games for extended sessions is relatively common, but back then handheld games weren't played for quite as long. See lower battery lives and either constant or plentiful save spots. Play sessions are usually short, and games were designed around this, while also accommodating longer play sessions for those days you just had a lot of time. Stating that these problems are lessened or even outright gone while playing that way is both a fact and how the devs intended the game to be experienced based on how handheld consoles were designed to be used at the time. The man has a point.
That zoom in on the buzz blob made me quite anxious 5:13
>Tfw you didn't capture the footage for the script
He is a Chuchu >:(
“LOOK BEHIND YOU, JAMIE!!”
@@6uzm4n that is true, my mistake
If he press A, he gets punished by chuchu
Great video man, I always look forward to these and could honestly sit here and listen to you talk about games I've never played for hours.
I played both Oracle games as a kid (Seasons was my first Zelda in fact), playing this is a holy grail of sorts for me.
I've been thinking about Zelda a lot lately since I found a copy of Ages in a retro game store this weekend, so I can finally play both games (I borrowed my friends copy of Ages as a kid).
hey you're that runescape guy
Minish Cap is my favorite 2D Zelda game. I love the atmosphere graphics and music. Thought the dungeons were fun too.
Honestly, I hated the atmosphere. Just not the game for me, I guess. XD
Yeah I’m really looking forward to playing it!
All the things he complained about I thought looked really fun :D
Not to say that his opinion doesn’t matter, I just disagree
@@jackstoutamore8541His opinion doesn’t matter.
I love Minish Cap, not only for its outstanding cross-franchise presentation and reasonable dungeon design, but also because for *the first goddamn time in the series,* you are given an actual, tangible reason to interact with NPCs. It's not just "oh, MAYBE they'll have a side-quest for me or MAYBE will tell me where the hell I'm supposed to go," the Kinstone system adds a level of enjoyment to wandering around towns and villages that is so *rarely* seen in the series. Finding an NPC with a *?* and having juuuuust the right piece to complete their Kinstone provokes a more satisfying feeling than any other gameplay experience in the series. Maybe the system is taxing for completionists, I get that - but as someone who spends enough time in each game figuring out dungeons, the Kinstones add so much breadth to the pace.
is breadth a real word
@@yourehereforthatarentyou Yes, it's the same thing as saying width, only it's usually used to describe the scope of something.
@@yourehereforthatarentyou You're username is so fitting to your comment.
Yes and I don’t know why he complained about the dungeon when they’re so good! The atmosphere in them is so amazing and they can sometimes be really complicated. Like, fortress of winds was one of the hardest dungeons for me, but it was fun the whole way through.
Don't worry the Heart piece locked by the gache thing is the worst they've ever done. Only Zelda where I've never gotten full hearts
What is Gache? I'm pretty sure I got full hearts on my first playthrough
@@gdawgs101 I imagine he means gacha, referencing a type of arcade machine originating in Japan which has you insert currency of some sort to obtain a random item.
like the capsule machines or Smart phone games where you have to pay and hope you get something new. I was talking about the Shell thing
@@mizu-0025 they have those outside grocery stores in the US with stickers and stuff
Those figurines are the only reason I never got full hearts.
I feel like most of your issue stems from a compulsion for 100%? People feeling a need to go out of the way to get 100% in games and then complaining that the path to 100% isn't as smooth as the core path always frustrates me, because it's a mindset I just don't share. I never feel any need to collect every heart piece in Zelda or every item in Metroid, and those are some of my favorite franchises. The objective is to get through the game and experience whatever happens to happen along the way, in my mind.
Also, a key facet is that the kinstone fusions and gacha silliness have an inherent satisfaction to simply doing them, at least for me. I like to realize I have a kinstone somebody else wants and fuse with them and get the little animation and see what happens, and I like to have the figurine collection and read their little descriptions and just look at how great the sprites are. Those things are kinda their own reward, and the mechanical stuff like heart pieces are just extra.
Here here.
I'm sorry, but that's just an excuse for bad game design. It's still content that is part of the game and by that it still has to adhere to the same quality standards that the main content does. Side content is meant to give additional rewards for additional dedication (be it challenge or persistance), and yes, you don't HAVE to do it, but at the end of the game it still has to be FUN to do, even if it is optional.
Especially in some games like the aforementioned Metroid where the game locks content behind 100% completion (alternate endings, sometimes even boss fights), the developers definitely WANT you to do the side content, even though they don't EXPECT you to. I mean, there's a reason they show you the completion percentage at the end of the credits in the first place. Luckily Metroid usually doesn't have this issue with grind to complete the game.
When side content is a chore however (or even worse, attached to stupid RNG that the player has no influence on) and the only incentive is the reward at the end of the task (like the dangling carrot he mentioned in his video) instead doing the task in and of itself, then the task should have been cut altogether and the reward attached to something in the game that is actually appealing in the first place.
ngl even without the 100% goal the kinstones just felt bad. I find a cool secret area while exploring, g through the minidungeon and I get another kinstone. Great. It takes the place of whatever better reward you could have gotten.
@@desuordie4856 Really? In my experience with Zelda games (which I love), usually those fun side chests contain ammo or currency. Kinstones might just be glorified currency (when they eventually lead to a chest containing rupees), but they fill out the world of the game in a way that just finding the rupees right there didn't. I guess it all depends on whether you see it as a chore or as a fun way to add depth and density to the map, as well as provide interactions with the characters.
Look at Korok seeds in BotW. Their main utility is filling out a world with a lot of depth. You aren't just running through a vast empty world, you're frequently derailed by little puzzles that aren't usually difficult or even that interesting, but really make the world feel stuffed to the brim and give you a reason to explore it. If we treated Korok seeds the way KingK treats Kinstones, we'd say they're a needless chore that barely give you a reward after the first few (why not just give equipment slots in chests you find instead of making us gather a bunch of Korok seeds then go all the way to the forest to cash in!?), and we'd be furious that the game FORCES you to get all 900 for a literal piece of shit.
They're there to add density to the map and charm to the world, which money in chests just does not do.
Your argument is a strawman. KingK wasn't insisting that 100% completion should be smooth and easy. He said that in Minish Cap, it's so tedious as to be annoying and frustrating. If you aren't interested in 100% completion in the games you play, more power to you. But the fact remains that for someone who is, the Kinstones and Figurines are both ridiculously irritating.
Immediately after you sighed about the gatcha minigame, a commercial plays for antidepressants
OOF
I must say I disagree with you King K. I feel like most of your points come from a place of trying to achieve 100% completion when the game is very much enjoyable when played naturally without doing every single kinstone trade or finding every single collectible. If anything, to me, these elements make the world feel as if it's brimming with content in a way that feels almost mysterious to the player. You can go through the game casually and finding kinstones you can bring in later to NPCs you make mental notes of which can feel rewarding.
I also feel like too much weight was placed on these negative elements and you overlooked the charm of the world of this game. Things like the animal NPCs and the minish living in every nook and cranny of this world, paired with details like that just adds so much charm and atmosphere to the game in a way I haven't found in other 2D zeldas.
^exactly this^ Minish Cap is my favourite Zelda game (and i didn't even play it as a kid) precisely b/c i enjoyed just existing within it so damn much. the way KingK brushes aside the endless charm of this world, the absolutely glorious visuals & animations, and all the little delightful details absolutely everywhere you look only to spend so much time ranting about collectables just baffles me. maybe it's just b/c he started the video with that, but the rest of his critiques feel like he's reaching for more problems after simply being put off by his problems with a couple relatively minor mechanics in the game. i feel like Hetsu's Gift in BotW is specifically a jab at players like this guy ..
THANK YOU. at least someone else out there see's the game for what its worth. this guy who is way too worried about 100% completion needs to chill out and enjoy the game instead of worried about statistics and completion.
HezakHQ why does he have to enjoy it that way though? If he wants to focus on 100% let him do that.
That’s what makes this series great. These are just his thoughts. They don’t have to be “right” or “wrong”
Personally, Minish Cap is my third favourite Zelda game after Wind Waker and Majora but... he isn't obligated to do anything. Things like "charm" are nebulous concepts while the mysterious shell game is concretely bad. I still love this game but you can't tell someone to "just be positive" when they don't feel that way about the game. That's just not how opinions work.
KingK is a kid. He just wants to speedruns every game he plays. Watch his other Zelda videos. His biggest complaint is “it takes too long to do _______” or he complains that the games don’t hold your hand enough
The spritework in this game still impresses me today. May not be the best game but damn does it look gorgeous
In my opinion, Minish Cap is the most underrated Zelda game
It uses Wind Waker art style, and just like Wind Waker, the art style of minish cap is one that aged the best
It stays simple and follows the classical zelda game formula with a reduced difficulty. While it might make high difficulty supremacists complain, it makes it the best Zelda game to introduce a beginner to the series
There are about 10 ways to attack with the sword, which makes it the 2D Zelda game with the best sword fighting mechanic
The dungeons are really cool with good dungeons and most bosses, especially the giant octorock, have a very interresting fight and are intensely underrated
And finally, the soundtrack. This is by far the most underrated soundtrack in the series. The overworld and boss themes are epic. And just listen to the dungeon themes, have you ever felt more like you were in a fire or ice dungeon in the cave of flames or temple of droplets??
The only big flaws of MC are the sidequests and story
fully agree, minish cap was my first LOZ game and i loved it!!!
@@PurpleColonel wrong reply
Nah, the story is amazing too and the whole king stone system is fun. Also, the game’s final boss is insanely hard and it makes it even more satisfying when you’ve got everything in the game before hand.
One thing to note: Mark Brown changed his terminology for Zelda dungeons in his later video and categorized them as “Gauntlet”, “Lock and Key”, and “Puzzle Box”. Gauntlet are the old Follow the Path. Lock and Key are dungeons that use multiple branching using keys or profession gates. Puzzle Box are dungeons where the structure of the dungeon is the puzzle. This game appears to use a mix of Gauntlet and Lock and Key dungeon designs.
I like the puzzle box dungeons like the Water Temple, the Majora dungeons, and some of the Skyward dungeons the most for their designs.
Forgot he did that
+Tesla Volta Games
Majora’s Mask, without a doubt, had the best set of dungeons
It better have for only having 4.
SS has some god tier ones but MM had the most consistent design
so are all the divine beasts puzzle boxes?
because I don't know if I want them lumped up with stone tower
This is less of a retrospective and more of a critical teardown of the game's weak points.
I think that's all of his Zelda retrospect videos lol
@@LordZoth6292 i disagree. He praised oracle of ages as being the "almost" perfect zelda, for it's focus on puzzles. His analysis will change depending on his own taste. That's not all bad, but it feels kind of too biased on personal taste sometimes.
Fr tho this is one of the first videos I watched of his and why is he bashing this game boy advance game like if he never played a Zelda game before.. coins bugs and hearts pieces are all in a way pointless to collect
I had to tune out of the figurines rant halfway through. Why focus so much on such a minor aspect?
Yeah he cummed all over ages but most games he just bitches and bitches. I can take any game and tear it down too.
I love this game. It's just so whimsical and fun.
lol I hated it *because* it was so whimsical. XD
I hate PH because it's so bland and boring.
I don't think I have ever agreed with your overall assessment of any of the Zelda games you have spotlighted, but I respect the effort that went into this video and I appreciate it as food for thought.
I thought the kinstones were fun xD
Me too, I never had that problem with the kinstones.
they were, the wonder of what will happen in the world with specific kingstones and seeing secret areas that might be unlocked if you get the right kingstone trade made hunting and trading for kingstones exciting. Never had a problem with them and it made getting those shiny things just that more rewarding
I pronounced kinstones for all these years as "kine stone" not kin stone
ben s. me too! So cute :)
It's ridiculous how he got obsessed with it to an autistic extent to the point of it dragging the entire review (and his enjoyment when playing) down so much.
It's just some neat side objective, I never really even thought much about it and just did the fusions as they came to me like it was probably intended to be used.
Same goes for the figurine thing, it's just a capsule/gacha side mission tons of games had, why is he focusing so much on it?
When he said "the repetition hit harder than the morning after New Years eve", I felt that.
"Wickedness in the hearts of men" is what motivated the search for the Triforce in older Zelda games. It's Ganondorf's motivation.
My favorite portable Zelda to this day. Every time I see this game I feel incredibly nostalgic :'-(
0:23 best video ever 10/10
Personally, I feel like a lot of the complaints put forward in this video (and a LOT of reviews of most games) is the reviewer expecting certain tropes or styles, but the game meant to give something different. You hear him mention a lot “missed potential”. Well, that’s because the developers didn’t want to delve deep into that certain area. A deep, thought-provoking story where we can see Ezlo change overtime and struggle with internal issues? Would be interesting, granted, but not where the developers saw the game going. They seem to be more interested in providing character and personality to each and every NPC, and highlighting that with the kinstone mechanic and gating progression until NPC’s told you about where to go. An in-depth and complicated dungeon, with several possibilities to allow each player to go through in a unique way? Again, not a bad idea, but the developers focused more on atmosphere, and having each dungeon look and feel unique, while giving interesting points of view using the shrinking mechanic.
TLDR: I feel reviews/retrospectives would be better served by looking at what THE GAME focused on, instead of what THE PLAYER wanted.
Check out Matthewmatosis for an example of how I think it’s best achieved. But that’s just my thought.
I can see your argument, but I think what people are saying when i game a has "missed potential" is that this game does something good, and they feel like they were only scratching the surface of the world, characters, level design, ect. I do see where you are coming from though. (also that love towards mattewmattosis is always appreciated)
Unfortunately, biases will always get in the way of any 'objective' review. People will always have expectations, and that will color their perspective of any game
"Not as sexually intriguing as Ghirahim" ...well, I don't disagree with that.
There two types of Zelda fan: those sexually intrigued by Ghirahim, and motherfucking liars.
You're entitled to your opinions. I personally didn't play the game until earlier this year, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. While I understand your complaints about the tedium of the kinstones and trophies, I found the trading to be fun. Trading kinstones gives you upgrades, I find the process of going to the item leads to a sense of anticipation about what it would be, I never noticed the symbol over the NPCs head referred to what the reward would be. Fusing kinstones also leads to getting the trophies more easily. Either the reward can be shells outright, or rupees which allow you to buy mysterious shells. In either case, 95% of fusions are optional and thus unnecessary.
I respect your opinion, but I don't think the game is as bad as you say it is. It's designed to be a portable Zelda game. It's meant to be played in short burst with rewards coming often, and thus the repetitive things don't feel as such. The game really suffers when you play if for long periods of time. It wasn't my favorite game in the series, but I had a lot of fun playing it.
He never said the game was bad. He proved all his points sincerely and kindly, and sure he did emphasize all the good aspects of the game.
@ivangibaja4070 you can't prove something that's subjective. It can be supplemented, but not irrefutable proof.
seashells are ok as I like encyclopedia figurine systems in games but they should always keep it optional like wind waker
edit: seashells would've also been better without the extra inputs and just press one button to put in some shells and the figurine would just appear
I don't mind it very much not getting all the heart pieces, but yeah it sucks for completionists. The shells and kinstone fusions I see more of being accomodating for portable play. It's some time sink that's not quite as mindless as level grinding in an RPG, good for a commune, or bus travel, or waiting for your turn on the bank or doctor's office, etc. Especially with that white potion, it becomes a matter of finding the fusion and then going to the reward. Some play sessions I'd just do the kinstones and get some figurines until I got to my destination, play the main story when I was home, and neither felt like wasted time.
Me: "I love Minish Cap!!! I wonder what he will think?"
Me, 10 seconds into the video: "Oh..."
Probably my personal favorite Zelda game
The best way to think about the Minish Cap is imagine you are playing an old Disney movie because this is probably the closest we will get to experiencing that kind of magic in a game and I believe that is why it is such a favorite for people like me and many other commentators it seems. I can get why someone who didn't get that feeling while playing it could come away as not getting the appeal by the game's fans
I loved this game. It was exactly what I wanted at the time. Still one of my favorites
"Phantom Hourglass at ending"
O no
I can see where this is going
10-15 minutes of complaining about the Ocean King Temple
@@andre_af you only have to repeat half of that temple (with new shortcuts added) and its not even very easy to mess up, hopefully he doesnt get too mad about that part
I"M STOKED. FREAKING LOVED THAT GAME!!!
yo thats what i thought. Only zelda game Ive ever actively disliked. God bless your soul KingK
@@EvGriff42 I've played it like 4 times. I'll argue it is a decent legend of zelda game, but it commits the holy sin of throwing no punches in its run time either story or gameplay wise. Spirit Tracks is superior, if only a bit.
Bro is foaming at the mouth over these optional collectibles.
It seems to me like your primary complaint is that the game is too linear, and honestly? I can't agree.
It may just be personal preference, but a linear game with a tightly-focused path to progression is infinitely more engaging than a game that allows the player too much freedom. That's why I could never really get into Breath of the Wild, which just had me lost most of the time through sheer inability to decide what I want to be doing, a sort of situation where I just shut down and quit playing from all the options presented at once. It's _because_ Minish Cap is so linear in its progression that I actually consider it to be my favorite 2D Zelda.
Oddly enough, metroidvanias don't really have this issue of "exploration paralysis" for me... though I think that's because most metroidvanias are actually far more linear than they pretend to be.
it's fair to not like BOTW/non-linear games; but if the problem is that you shut down from "exploration paralysis", maybe look at it as a way to challenge/improve yourself? The theme/story/gameplay of BOTW all try to stress the same message: set your own goals, find your own fun, take a leap of faith.
It's by no means a perfect game, but I hear this criticism a lot, and it strikes me as kinda missing the point.
Thats a very good point. And attributes like replayability and interaction with both styles of games is still very high. But for HANDHELD SPECIFICALLY i think the more linear approach is the only way to make it REALLY great
@@lounowell4171 The story pretty strongly suggests that you set your goal to be defeating Ganon and rescuing Zelda so I don't 100% agree with that, which is my problem with open-world games. They kind of have to let the player take as much time as they want to complete the main story, but that undercuts the tension when at the center of the narrative is an imminent threat. I think this is particularly bad in BoW because it's repeated that Zelda's at the end of her rope and really needs your help, and then the Blood Moon is a constant reminder of Ganon.
So, instead of setting my own goals and going on a road trip to recover Link's memories or explore ancient dungeons just to find cool stuff, I'm on a mission, and in my opinion exploration isn't fun when you're looking for the next arbitrary spot to stand in to continue the narrative. Zelda 1 didn't have this problem because they didn't even tell you about Ganon. They give you a sword and tell you it's dangerous; you defeat Ganon because you want to, not because the game tells you to.
Don't get me wrong, I think BotW is great and that there's room in Zelda for both directed and open experiences, I just think the time/tension issue is a recurring problem in open world games and that it can really hurt a narrative experience.
Lou Nowell I'm not actually sure how that's helpful? OP doesn't like the requirement of making their own fun. Whenever someone suggests to someone else they could use a thing they can't get into to "challenge/improve themselves", it always strikes me as telling someone to learn to like a flavor of cake they're not into. You don't need to eat cake, you do it because you want to, and some people prefer red velvet over angel food cake...
@@Thutil Zelda 1 had all that stuff in the manual, also there's an opening text crawl if you leave the game on the title screen iirc. A loose story has always been expected since the genesis of arcade games, and gamers in the 80s had no difficulty ignoring it in favour of setting their own goals. If BOTW *only* expected you to beat Ganon, I doubt they would have spent so much time on the other 99% of the game.
The "time/tension/real consequences problem" IS an issue that MANY open world games face, but it isn't an inherent problem with the formula: see Majora's Mask for a blatant fix.
You've never been enchanted by the wickedness in the hearts of men? Feel sorry for you...
Thankfully never, but I very much understood Elzo's comment completely.
I have...a few times...sadly.
@@thelegendofthem6120 i sometimes get taken over by it. Like today, i wanted all humans to die because of an ending in Undertale
@@theg-man4840 oh my love. I meant i have let men lust over and in me... not anything more wicked...
@@thelegendofthem6120 oh
Minish Cap is one of my favorite zelda games to any%, but one of my least favorite to 100%
I do hate those shells. He got that part absolutely correct.
Seems real.
Sums up the game for me. Loved it. Main story wise. 100% was a battle especially nearing the end
I actually loved everything about this game! It was one of the best IMHO. Also, it wasn't just to get the heart piece for the shell quest: it also allowed you to work the record player in the room and play whatever music you want. Although these objectives are trivial, that is the best thing about them: you don't have to do it to beat the game.
As for the kinstone quest, they were so hard to find, but finally getting to see what each fusion did was a reward in itself!
I will never forget this amazing game, with its amazing music!
This is my FIRST Zelda game I've played!! I'm so happy you covered it!! I loved this game when I was younger and I still love it now! It has a special place in my heart! You also did the Oracles and Link's Awakening, so by this point you've done most of my FAVORITE games! Thank you SO MUCH for covering this game! You've earned a like from me!! And I also agree with most of the criticisms you had with it. :)
"Imagine Majora's Mark without the Bomber's Notebook. The player is simply expected to cram all of this into their brains." ... I mean, I used a sheet of paper and a pen back then with Majora's Mask on N64, and Minish Cap on GBA, a few years later.
Edit: Heck! Playing on an emulator you can also just put the Notepad on the side and alt+tab back and forth! :D
Lol thank God i waited for The 3D version.
I mean, that is *a* solution, but I can't help but feel that doesn't solve the problem? As in, the game should have accounted for this and fixed it itself. This is not a strong excuse for the game not having an in-game note system.
@@vernaiko9536 bruh, Minish Cap is a GBA game with a pretty short development time, don't except too much
Minish cap is my favourite zelda game! Probably because it was my first, but there's just something about the wind waker visual style in 2d that gets me to this day. Imo it's highly underrated, I rarely see zelda fans talking about it. I definitely understand the criticism of the kinstone system, a guide would really help. It never bothered me that there was a heart piece behind the figurine collection, because what else would be worth it at that point? A failed trade gives you rupees, which means your wallet is basically overflowing, a kinstone would feel like a slap in the face after all the trades required, and shells are useless once you've got all the figurines. You could maybe have some new item locked behind the trades but I can't really think of much else the game needs.
Yeah as far ad Zelda games go this one is super different. I guess all the toon link/wind waker style was WAY different. But im such a great way of course
If anybody that wants to 100% this game, every time you reach 999 shells go get figurines. This should happen like 7 times through out the game and you can trade higher amounts of shells through out the game. If you already beat the game and the last thing you have is the figurines; at Links house walk outside, face left, dig. There is a red ruppee. You can farm this ruppee by going in and out of Links house. Takes approximately 4 minutes to get 999 ruppees. Go to the shop and buy 150 shells. Use 1 shell till the probability is 15%. You can stand at the handle and talk to the figurine keeper instead of walking to him. This is the fastest way to get shells and most optimal way to use them. There are 136 figurines. You have to beat the game and complete the Goron kinstone side quest for all figures to appear. Took me 4 hours and I watched anime while doing so.
Minish cap is one of my favorite Zelda games. Granted....it was my first Zelda game and i played it after getting home from school when i was a kid so im pretty sure i could overlook and be patient with all its flaws when its either that or homework!
I still adore the Minish Cap. I dunno why, it just has this charm to it that makes me keep coming back to it again and again.
Can't wait for your thoughts on Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. They were my first 2D Zeldas, so I'm curious to see how much of my experience translated.
2D?
Yeah. I replayed them recently. IMO, Phantom Hourglass didn’t really hold up for me, but Spirit Tracks continues to be on of my favorite Zelda games
@@jwoodsonmusic Absolutely. People will disagree with me on this, but I loved Spirit Tracks so much more - there just wasn't anything Phantom Hourglass did that I don't find Spirit Tracks doing better. And Realm Overworld remains my favorite Zelda overworld theme to this day.
2D?
@@cristianrodriguez6982 Probably meant 2D in gameplay style, not 2D graphically.
"Vaati doesn't scare me or sexually intrigue me the same way Girahim could" Is a phrase that i never expected to hear but couldn't agree more with
So, a bit of cut content from Minish Cap is that the Kinstones were meant to be traded between other players IRL. It would've been one of the few games to use the GBA Wireless Adapter. Sadly it got relegated to just in-game trade sequences.
Now see, THAT system would have been an actual nightmare. I already hated Pokemon back then just for the few ones you had to trade...
umbaupause well in the case of Zelda there wouldn’t be 2 versions you could theoretically get 100% with a single cartridge
This has always been one of my favorites and I was always suprised by how underrated it has been.
Wow you really tore my childhood favourite apart. I feel a little sadder after this video...
Like many this was my first Zelda game. A friend had Ocarina of Time, which he brought to play on my N64 now and then but we did not speak English and didn't get very far.
You are not the only one to reevaluate the game in this way. Jirard the completionist, who 100% completes games, also found it too easy and the collectibles frustrating.
I have no rebuttal to that. The only thing I can say is that as a kid, I had little access to other games so I was thorough with the ones I had. This and Pokemon were the most substantial games I ever owned on the system and I got all but 1 kinstone fusion without ever reading a walkthrough and spending an unholy about of time with it. Likewise with Pokemon, I stopped at Diamond. I picked up Ultra Moon when it came out and not even nostalgia could do it; apart from a fundamental dislike of RPGs, I don't think I can get on with its long and somewhat repetitive nature, most obviously compounded by the random battles.
I disagree with only one thing you said, positive and negative points included. The game has an impressive amount of history (not quite lore in the straightforward sense) and a fairly cohesive world. It is on the brink of chaos and underdeveloped and it is a sideshow, but Middle Earth is like this too when LOTR takes place and that is not a problem. I _loved_ just how much I kept stumbling into entirely natural (i.e. no markers or journals) sidequests in Hyrule specifically and uncovering more of the town and people who live there and what they do. Despite the lack of guidance I was able to resolve them.
With that in mind I think this is a great game for kids to this day. It offers up surface-level variety like in the theming of different areas, but this works at that age. It is linear and mostly straightforward. Some puzzles are genuinely boring but at the time I found that more with the action puzzles, which I prefer in newer Zeldas (they were really good in Spirit Tracks, please look forward to it).
But at a certain age not only do you let these things slide but they can serve to enhance the experience because a game that is too open is one _I would abandon_, which I did several times with Ocarina as I tried it on emulator over the years till finally finishing it on 3DS. I hope this helps illuminate the fondness for the title, but please be assured you are not contrarian from a retrospective point of view and other critics tend to place weight on the same points.
Hello I like your assessment here
You got an a+
As a 100% completionist, even as an adult, this honestly never bothered me. I love the kinstone fusion concept and grinding in Zelda is not as hard as grinding in other games. One decade later, I'm still finding secrets tucked away in the game and the fact that it has no in game guide makes it more interesting :)
best part of the video is 5:15.
God that Zoom in gets me laughing every time
your retrospectives are the best!! i watch em all, even for games i haven’t played. you always give solid commentary and a lot of new ideas to consider, even if i disagree with what you pose it’s always worth thinking about. anyway, thank you for doing these!! the minish cap research stream was fun, i don’t know if you do those a lot but i’m always looking for new people to tune in to. thanks for being the legend of zelda !!
"Vaati doesn't scare me, or sexually intrigue me." -King K.
Hell yeah, I’ve been waiting for this!
Can’t wait for your 100% completion stream- figurine farming for life
5:15 that continual zoom on the Chu Chu had me laughing pretty hard
Game had some solid soundtracks though, Minish VIllage and Temple of Droplets have been on my VG music playlist for a decade
This is why Minish Cap needs a Link's Awakening style remake. Take everything good about the game and fix up the bad stuff.
But not look like LA’s
@@MrKevosmin LA is fine looking I think it fits for a modern remake.
Minish cap however needs a different style to make the shrinking work.
Ah.. The game that is argued about more often about the lore it brings to the series than its plot, mechanics, or gameplay.
The Minish are supposed to be the reason we find rupees, hearts, arrows, bombs, etc in pots, jars, and grass. Yet they cannot be seen except by children, and only during certain days every century or so.. And then its to be the origin point of Link's cap, and it loses that relevance when Skyward Sword was made. I found it to be a very intriguing game my first play through, then after examining it multiple times with other games.. For some reason it feels like it should NOT work lore wise, yet somehow does.. Like you, one of my favorite game critics/reviewers, "I don't get it."
Its a super strange zelda game but it can never be forgotten
Its not the origin of link's cap and it doesn't say it is. Just that link doesn't always start out in his "hero's clothes" like in Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Spirit Tracks, Skyward Sword, and Breath of the Wild.
Chad Eldridge To be fair, Zelda lore tends to be kinda arbitrary. The Picori blade that the Minish made didn’t split into four, it gained that ability once it was broken, reforged, and then enhanced with the four elements. I’d assume the Four Sword splits into four to harness the four elements and defeat Vaati.
Lore and timeline should never be an argument, the timeline was only decided 20 years into franchise to sell books lol. Plus theyve amended it so much. Lawl
5:17
Chuchu: “Why are we still here? Just to suffer?”
Ah, more Zelda, today is a good day
Minish Cap may not have the deepest story, the most ingenious dungeon design, or even the best characters, but for such a small game it sure packs a lot of heart and whimsy. I never expected it to be on the level of the mainline console games, it's not expansive, on the contrary it's very humble and modest. And that's what makes me love Minish Cap so much, it has such a warm, cozy feel, upbeat and light-hearted; and shrinking down and discovering the Minish underworld hidden away in the nooks and crannies of the town was a joy to experience. It's a game with a mechanic and lore that has a lot of unmet potential that future games unfortunately never expanded on. Simply put, it's not gourmet, it's like eating that crappy home made food that only you like.
This was somewhere between my 8th and 10th Zelda game. I hadn't played the GB/GBC games yet, but at the time, this was my favorite 2D Zelda. While in retrospect I agree that the Kinstones and Shells are a bit too much, I personally feel that the rest of the game is just fine.
P.S. While you mentioned that the shells hid a heart piece, you neglected to mention that it also hides the sound test / soundtrack, which (pre-youtube illegally uploading every soundtrack ever) was a perfectly good reward for such a long and grindy side quest. I agree that the heart piece was a bit of a dick move though.
P.P.S. The Minish Cap's power is to grant the user their deepest wish. Vaati wanted power, so he got it. Zelda wanted everything to go back to normal, so it did.
So when you add in Princess Zelda's “Light Force,” Minish Cap has not one but TWO equivalents to the Triforce... one which is golden while the other of which is triangular. :)
(Yes, I'm aware the Light Force might very well be a euphemism for Zelda's Triforce of Wisdom... but they intentionally avoided specifying, so who knows?)
@@Radien I think the lightforce is specifically Hylia's power, it fits so well with how it is supposedly passed down the royal family but it only surfaces in Zelda. In fact I believe it is because of Vaati stealing most of it, which was never returned, that Zelda is so prone to being kidnapped, possessed, rendered out of commission, and forced to hold onto the triforce of wisdom just to make up the difference. The sealing power in Breath of the wild is pretty much what little remains of the lightforce. Interesting though that it has the symbol of the triforce, though this could be due to how Zelda and by extension Hylia are tied to and are constantly holding at least one peice of the triforce.
@@andresmarrero8666 got it right. The Light Force is Hylia's power, it's the same as Zelda's Life Force in Phantom Hourglass, except it's weaker there because it's later in the timeline and the line is weakening (not to mention Vaati still has part of it). It gives Zelda her magic (and, as it fades with the generations, takes it away, as seen in late-timeline games where Zelda's magic is either pitiful or non-existent).
@@JazzyWaffles I blame Vaati for it weakening throughout the ages. He stole 3/4 of it and it was never returned. So the dwindling amount is what little remains afterwards, still massively powerful looking at what it did to Calamity Ganon, but all that is left is basically fumes. It is no wonder that Zelda almost always hangs onto the triforce of wisdom, just to make up the difference.
First ever game completed from start to finished when i was a kid and oh man i loved it still do. The best zelda i ever started. You are a legend for making reviews on awesome old games that we all love. That’s probably why you are doing so way. Doing out of the box!
Just going to bed. Perfect timing!
Zoë De Cloë go sleep loser
MegaDeathRay10 why the hate?
This isnt a game you overthink about it's more just casual play and really enjoyable
Pretty much agree with this video on almost all counts, and I totally get why this video took so long to get out.
I've played Minish Cap 3 times, and I ultimately have no solid opinion of the game. It's one of the few Zelda games that can easily swing between interesting concepts, boring, and downright frustrating all within the span of 20 minutes and consistently do that throughout the game. There's a shell of a fantastic game here, but it's flaws ultimately leaving me wanting more and never wanting to pick it back up again at the same exact time.
Like most games, whether you'll enjoy/appreciate the minish cap or not comes down to a matter of personal preference. You were extremely bothered by the (admittedly awful) trophy collecting quest and the confusing kinstone mechanic, while I've never payed either of those things much attention. Whenever I play the minish cap, I just already know i don't want to waste my time with those and only partake in them if i feel like trying to find more heart pieces or treasures. I've always seen them as optional, and never chosen to devote much time to them, but if you're someone who feels compelled to get all heart pieces, find as much treasure as possible, etc. I can see how they would be a huge hurdle to get past. As far as the very linear progression goes, I generally prefer linear progression to open or semi-open worlds, so if I discovered something cool that wasn't leading me anywhere, then I could just accept that's not what the designers wanted me to be doing at the moment and I'd happily go off and find what it was I was supposed to be doing. Because of this, I love the minish cap overall and see it as just having a few minor problems, while others (like you) find those problems to be extremely intrusive and they affect their enjoyment of the game immensely. Neither opinion is right or wrong, of course, but I believe this game is so beloved simply because the majority of people who have played it are more like me in their preferences. I could be completely wrong on that, I'm just trying to offer a counter-argument to the game not being designed well. Imo it definitely has its hiccups, but nothing that distracts from the fun I have with the main quest and dungeons.
Ah yes, the BEST Zelda game
You're high
no u
For me, even though I know it's not the best, it still is my favorite BY FAR.
Oh, you mean wand of gamelon?
"Listen to the temple of droplets it's so calm so soothing..." 21:54 *BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM!!!* Lol 😆
I know what you mean about the music in this game. The Zelda series is my favorite video game franchise, especially when it comes to music.. but there's something about the Minish Cap specifically where the music is just phenomenal.
It's scary how good the Minish Cap soundtrack sounds for a handheld that was barely better than 8-bit in the soundchip and required samples to really sound decent.
This game was pure magic to me as a kid, being small made me feel so secretive and sneaky! And when you think about it, critiquing games we loved as kids when we are now adults probably misses the point to an extent
That secretive feeling was so cozy and fun to play
Ah, see, this is where we differ. I accept that all the flaws highlighted in this video are very real.
But Vaati, like Ghirahim, DOES scare and sexually intrigue me. So there.
Admittedly, he didnt scare me until i saw him kill Zelda which was deeply upsetting. But you know what? Yeah, this angry little rat bastard turned eyeball monster gets an A in my book. And i hope we see him again in a bigger Zelda title.
For a long time, this was my favorite LoZ game. The GBA graphics are colorful and hold up really well after all these years. The shrinking mechanic was done well and very cool as it opened the world to you in a different point of view. The Kinstones were so much fun as I tried to find every NPC that I could fuse stones with to unlock something in the overworld. The music was great, especially the themes for Dark Hyrule Castle, Temple of Droplets, and Minish Woods. Vaati was a nice break in villains from Ganondorf who I hope we can see in another game. The Four Sword mechanic late rin the game was intelligent as well. The best part had to be the huge overworld as you could go back to many places in the game and find a lot of areas that were inaccessible prior and MC did this really well.
While I do admit there are quite a few issues with the kin stones and other gameplay aspects I will be honest here, I enjoyed the figurine collection. Sure it took some time to go through them all but I had that time and viewing their descriptions at the end helped build up the world. While not mentioned there is more to the reward of the figurines than just the heart piece, you also unlock the sound test a feature which I and others value a lot. There was no uploads of game music on youtube like there are today and it provided us a way to control and listen to the music we wanted as we wanted. The game also has a TON of references to the oracle games which I loved so much and I was happy to see them which added to the charm of the game despite it's flaws.
I remember playing this a long time ago, and I had 99/100 Kinstone fusions done. I simply didn't have the Kinstone needed for the last one, and I had forgotten how to grind for more. I never did get that 100th fusion. I don't see why they couldn't have hidden the Kinstones around the world, so there were exactly 100 of them, with the better reward ones hidden better.
I absolutely LOVE your channel
I think you're being a little hard on this game. I LOVED it so much!
"But... he became enchanted with the wickedness in the hearts of men."
I took this as Vaati becoming like men, that being that human nature is often known to be evil or selfish (debatable). Come on, dude. You're telling me you couldn't derive to that conclusion?!
The best thing about this game is the aesthetic, the contrast between big and small, melancholic tones about stories you don't know but imagine. Who is Vaati? You never truly know, but you can feel his hate in the musics and words. That ending isn't "Woohoo you saved the day, everybody applause!" but has a bittersweet tone that leaves you with a tear and hard feeling! Ezlo can be annoying, but wanted to save the day, and at the end, he thanks you, thing that I never thought could happen!
I've played "The Legend of Spyro: An Eternal Night" on GBA, recently, and the soundtracks gave me the same vibe!
You are a small child, but you discovered big places.
A Link To The Past was my very first video game, but Minish Cap is by far my favorite 2D Zelda game!
"Vaati doesn't scare me or sexually intrigue me the same way Ghirahim could" I don't know why that line got such a laugh of of me-
The narrator's voice is so deep and silky smooth. It really brings up the intrigue factor by like 10.
The one issue I had and still have with Kinstones is that certain kinstone fusions will be lost to time. You can lock yourself out of an award if you're too early or too late, and it's so difficult to find which ones dissapear that there are still lost fusions that haven't been found and documented.
This was fixed in the American version i believe
@@primaldialga4764 I had the American version. They still missed a few to fix.
"...or sexually intrigue me the same way Ghirahim could."
Ah, I see you're a man of culture as well.
"L"
"N"
@@shutup5555 "I"
@@legochickenguy4938 "N"
DONKEY!
This is the exact reason Tri-Force Heroes is broken.
I really like how the smoke and clouds look in this game. I don’t know why but it’s always pleased my eyes.
I have to admit, I actually really liked the kinstone mechanic. It was exciting for me when I found a seemingly hidden person, I'd wonder if they had a special kinstone. As far as the grind for the stones, I really never had that problem, there is a bottled item that makes kinstones drop left and right. Honestly, imo, I wouldn't necessarily automatically count grinding as a negative anyways. Though I think that is opinion based. Some people, like me, enjoy grinding and watching their character get stronger or as in this case unlocking things. As far as there not being an in-game tracker, I think this is another case of opinion. The bomber's notebook was hand-holdy, especially on the 3D version. Hand holding isn't necessarily a problem, the N64/GameCube bomber's notebook was fine as it wasn't TOO specific. Personally, I'm fine either way as long as things don't get TOO hand-holdy. When there is an in-game tracker I can appreciate the execution of said system if it qualifies to me as not too hand-holdy, when there isn't one I appreciate the independence it enstills. It Incentivizes exploration and paying attention. That's something Zelda has been doing since creation. YOU remember what you saw and to come back or you can miss out, but it's great when you get some cool things for remembering. Minish cap gave me a feel of exploration, it was great realizing how to do things or returning to places I couldn't figure out when a kinstone made it possible. It's funny, because I'm watching this and responding in real time and can't help but disagree on some things. It's crazy seeing this game from another person's perspective because there're a lot of things that I genuinely enjoyed about the game that you don't, it's just really interesting. The figurines for example, I LOVED them in WW and enjoyed getting them in MC. The percentage thing DID end up getting annoying towards the lower percentages, admittedly. I just really like collecting things. I really liked learning more through the descriptions. I remember I even had a notebook that I'd draw the figurines from WW in as I got them. I'd take a picture, get the figurine, read the description, draw the figurine in the notebook and then write the description in the notebook under it. I'd spend so long making the drawings up to my standards, using rulers for straight lines. So, you'd stated the heart piece as a reason as to why you HAVE to get the figurines, but I'm thinking you might view it that way because you also like collecting stuff while as others are just like "nope". This feels like another case of opinion. For people like me, and I'm thinking you, we have to get all the good stuff, so the figurines could actually be a problem. RPGs and MMOs are my thing, I love to see my character get stronger and to collect things.
Minish cap was the first Zelda game I ever owned and beat. It might just be nostalgia, but it's definitely one of my favorite Zelda games. The soundtrack and story are great. I remember feeling so accomplished when I finally fused all the kinstones. Although trading in for all the figurines is the most tedious and annoying part I felt like it held an amazing reward with the music player so you can go listen to whatever song you want. The dungeons are great as well. I go back every so often to play through this game again and now that I'm older I'm glad it doesn't take a super long time to get through.
I wish Minish Cap had side scrolling sections. Those were my favorite parts of the Oracle games and Links Awakening. It could have added some more variety to dungeons and gameplay. Four Swords Adventures even managed to have side scrolling segments.
I was literally just wondering if this was out yet! I'm pumped!
I love Minish Cap! I even love the kinstone system because it feels like a huge scavenger hunt, though I can absolutely understand why you wouldn't like it. Definitely not everyones cup-o-tea and that is fine.
Edit: 100% with you with the shells though. F those things!
Not only did I love the Kinstones, but I've never used the Bomber's Notebook lol
Let me preface this by saying that Minish Cap was one of my favorite games growing up and I still love your content.
I was listening to your old zelda videos (and others in general) as I typically do when I drive or go to sleep (because your soothing voice is better than my own thoughts). And I feel as though the approach of your videos has changed to making them more subjective rather than objective. I can't say if this is bad or not as I don't know if you are considering these as critiques or rather just your 2 cents. But in your older videos you addressed each area of the game in a cohesive format as well as using the appropriate method for addressing topics objectively. That being you bring up the topic, say what you believe, say what occurs, and bring up points that support your point, and also counter argue against points that would conflict your own stance. In your newer videos this has gone towards just more subjective finger pointing. And personally I feel as if you may be just flying through these games to get the content out for us which may be limiting your ability to critically think more on the topics. But I can tell a difference in your energy, mood, and even sarcasm between your new and old videos. You seemed more excited for the older ones, and that could be for various reasons but could be due to the point I made.
All in all that was way too long and I just wanted to say how I felt. But in the end, do as you feel necessary and keep making incredible videos. I love all your content and it really makes me rethink how I felt about these games. Stay strong and power through this set and leave time for yourself as that is the most important. All us here more than appreciate all you do for us and want you to be your best self. Here's to the next video King K
Literally yesterday I was looking for a Minish Cap Retrospective and I was sad I didn't find one. It's always been one of my favorite games, so glad you made this video!