It’s the Christmas that the Nintendo Wii released, and my family and I are getting to grips with the surprisingly intense Wii Sports. The motion controls are causing mayhem and, like many others, we’re trying not to hit each other playing tennis. Once this dies down though, the real adventure begins - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It’s 2006 so I’m a child without much patience and I just can’t wait to get my hands on it. We loaded the disc and the music blared, I was hooked. Over the next few months my Mum and I make our way through Hyrule, crushing Ganon’s forces and saving its people. I don’t remember if we ever finished it or not, but that’s not that important. At some point when I was a little older I probably did finish it but I can’t remember when, so replaying it this year, for the first time in a very long time, was a really nostalgic experience for me.
The set-up for Twilight Princess is, at its core, very familiar. You play as Link (or whatever namesake you give him), a farm boy who, on his way to Hyrule Castle, finds the world thrust into a neverending twilight by a dark, evil force. The princess is trapped and the kingdom is in peril, so alongside your new companion, Midna, you must travel to the far corners of the world to save it. We’re in classic Zelda territory here. Each instalment has its thing though; the little piece that separates it from the others. Wind Waker has you sailing the seas, Skyward Sword has you fly around the sky and Minish Cap gives you the ability to become “Minish size” (tiny). Twilight Princess goes a similar route to the latter - giving Link a wild transformation. Here, he turns into a wolf whenever he enters the realm of twilight. It’s a nice idea, and feels very at home in this version of Hyrule.
Twilight Princess’s 3D predecessor is the brightly coloured, cel shaded Wind Waker. Where Wind Waker’s world was sunny and inviting, Twilight Princess opts for a more realistic art style and tone, evoking the vibes of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask instead. That’s the intended goal of the Wii and game cube versions anyway. The version of the game I played this year was the HD remake for the Wii U, and unfortunately lots of the lighting is overblown, leading to some washed out images when compared to the original. While some of the colours might be inaccurate, I did feel that the strength of Twilight Princess’ art direction and world design helped a lot and I eventually got used to it.
The game does such a good job of tying big game events to interesting locations that they all become memorable. I remember jousting the pig on the Bridge of Eldin, for example, and I remember that bridge incredibly well as a result. There are a lot of these moments where the world, while not really alive like some more modern instalments, feels a little more lived in.
This land is in peril but unlike Wind Waker, where you’re one of the few people aware, the many people of Hyrule are really suffering, and some are even fighting back. It's nice to see a Zelda game where everyone feels in it together; where it feels like something could actually be at stake.
I have this really distinct memory of the game from when I was a kid and it’s fighting the Darknut in the Temple of Time. It was a tough fight that made use of all the fighting techniques you’d learnt along the way, leading to a really satisfying victory. Playing it this time around, I had far less difficulty fighting them, but I still felt the satisfaction of the win because of how great the combat can feel in this game. It doesn’t always allow itself to be great, weighing the encounters down with enemies who lack the complexity to keep up with Link, but this fight stuck with me then and it still sticks with me now. The reward for this fight is the Dominion Rod, a magic staff that allows you to control statues to solve puzzles within the temple. It’s reminiscent of the Command Melody from Wind Waker and it’s great to be given some great Zelda puzzles as a reward for a tough fight. The 3 most recent mainline Zelda titles, (Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom and Echoes of Wisdom) aim to put player freedom at the core of the experience. This is in opposition to, and an expansion of, the formula that Zelda came to rely on over the years - temples, items and linearity. Twilight Princess is a strong example of this formula working well, with the Temple of Time a great showcase for it.
While I don’t remember them all as well from my childhood adventure, the other temples were, for the most part, just as fun. Other than the Temple of Time, I had the most fun with Snowpeak Ruins. You have to collect soup ingredients for a Yeti who’s trying to help his beloved that’s fallen ill. She’s been corrupted by a shard of the Mirror of Twilight and after making your way through the lodge’s various rooms you have to fight and free her yourself. Within the temple you find the ball and chain weapon, and while it doesn’t drastically change the puzzle experience, it does make the final boss fight super enjoyable. The surrounding area also elevated my time at Snowpeak, as the trek up to the ruins helps to emphasise the warmth you meet at the end. It’s cold, windy and unfriendly out there but there’s still time for some snowboarding and some fishing because Link, of course, loves a minigame.
It’s nice to know that the great adventure I remember having as a kid is still present playing it as an adult. The story might be a standard Zelda tale of saving the world, but the temples, music and great set of characters really help build upon that well-worn foundation.
My favourite of the new cast is probably Zant. He gets this really intimidating introduction, staging a coup at Hyrule castle by threatening Zelda’s people, to the backdrop of his haunting theme music. It was quite a lot for a kid who, up to this point, had mostly been playing Super Mario Sunshine and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. I was pleasantly surprised to find, all these years later, that he still carries that power for me as an adult. In every scene you see of him, and conversation with Midna, he’s positioned as a real threat - it’s really great stuff.
However, he’s not the villain here. Not the real one anyway. Once Zant is revealed as the raving lunatic he really is and brushed aside by Link and Midna, Ganondorf is finally revealed as the Gerudo behind the curtain. I don’t know how I feel about this reveal. On the one hand it’s a great use of Ganondorf; portraying him as a deity to Zant is a fun take. On the other, it makes all the build-up they gave Zant fall a little flat. It works, but for a series that relies heavily on familiar characters, I was excited to see a new villain get a turn. Either way, the boss fight with Ganondorf absolutely rocks. It may take pieces from previous games (puppets, Beast Ganon) but like with the temples, it highlights what can be achieved by Zelda’s enduring formula.
I had a brilliant time revisiting Twilight Princess this year, and it was lovely to see that a lot of my childhood memories still endure. It has wonderful dungeons, an endearing cast of characters and a classic Zelda story so effective that it reminded me how great this formula can be used, even if we’re likely to not see it again anytime soon. I highly recommend it if you've never played it, and even if you have, because there’s still a lot to love all these years later. If you can play the Gamecube or Wii version then that’s probably the way to go, but you’re not losing too much in the HD remake that it would be a deal breaker. Nintendo may have taken The Legend of Zelda to new and exciting places in recent years, but there’s comfort in the familiar, and Twilight Princess still feels at the top of its game, even after almost 20 years.
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