Tingle

Tingle (チンクル) is a recurring character in the Legend of Zelda series. He is a thirty-five year old man who is obsessed with "forest fairies". Above all, Tingle's dream is to become a forest fairy himself, and dresses up in green costumes resembling the Hero's Clothes worn by the main character, Link, as he believes that these green clothes are the same as those worn by the "forest fairies" he seeks to emulate.

Tingle has often appeared in many newer installments in the series, both as an ally to Link and somewhat of an antagonist. Tingle specializes in maps and is a skilled cartographer, a skill which proves helpful to Link during his adventures. The backpack he wears contains a special balloon that allows him to float through the air. In addition to his main series appearances, Tingle also appears in several spin-off titles.

Interestingly, Tingle bears a mild resemblance to Nintendo composer Kōji Kondō, who contributes to most of the music in the Legend of Zelda series.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Tingle sells self-made maps to Link, whom he befriends, to help him navigate Termina. The locations where Tingle may be found are North Clock Town, Milk Road, Southern Swamp, Goron Village, Great Bay Coast, and Ikana Canyon. The maps available for purchase are for the region wherein Link encounters Tingle, as well as for the next region Link is to travel to in order to continue his quest (for example, in North Clock Town, Tingle offers the maps of Clock Town and Woodfall). Maps come at a much cheaper cost if purchased in the locations they depict.

After Link receives the ability to use Bubble Blast, Tingle begins deploying the balloon stowed away in his backpack to suspend himself in mid-air, presumably to get a better view of his surroundings for the purposes of cartography. In order to catch his attention, Link must burst his balloon with the aforementioned bubbles, or projectile weapons such as the Hero's Bow or Hookshot.

Tingle's father is the Pictograph Contest Manager from the Swamp Tourist Center in the Southern Swamp; Link will receive a Piece of Heart or a Silver Rupee if he shows him a pictograph of his son. In the end credits, Tingle can be seen attending Anju and Kafei's wedding. He is drifting overhead with his balloon, tearing up his maps to make confetti fall on the bride and groom.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
Tingle can be found floating above a stump in a hard-to-reach area southeast of Lynna City. Link manages to access the area with the help of Ricky; here, Tingle gives Link a chart that helps him navigate the Crescent Strait. Using his magic words, Tingle also expands Link's Seed Satchel if he returns later in the game.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Tingle is first encountered imprisoned in the Town Jail on Windfall Island. After he is freed, Tingle befriends Link and gives him the Tingle Tuner, a special item that can be used in certain situations to call upon the aid of Tingle, by connecting a Game Boy Advance to the Nintendo GameCube via a special link cable. This allows a second player to control Tingle to help the first. Tingle also gives Link a poorly drawn map to Tingle Island before he leaves the jail. After Tingle leaves, Link can then enter Tingle's cell and proceed through a small maze where at the end lies the Picto Box.

Later in the game, Tingle plays a vital role in the storyline: At some point, Tingle sends Link the IN-credible Chart, a special Sea Chart, in the mail. This chart reveals the locations of eight Triforce Charts, charts that reveal the location of the eight shards of the Triforce of Courage. Once Link arrives on Tingle Island with a Triforce Charts, Tingle will decipher them for the price of 398 Rupees per chart, using his special "magic words": "Tingle, Tingle, Kooloo-Limpah! Become... READABLE!" After a chart has been deciphered, Link can retrieve one of the eight shards from the ocean floor and reassemble the Triforce of Courage.

Also appearing together with Tingle are three characters that resemble him, only distinguishable by the different color of their clothing. The one dressed in pink is Tingle's younger brother Ankle. The one garbed in white is an "ordinary" human, David Jr., whom Tingle rescued from a shipwreck and made work in the Tingle Tower. Ankle also has a twin brother named Knuckle dressed in blue, who can be located on Tingle Island after completing a Tingle Tuner side-quest on Outset Island.

Tingle often displays selfish and negative sides of himself in this game: inside the maze in the Town Jail, stones inscribed with details of the theft of the Picto Box and his reluctance to return it are found. David Jr. tries to explain to Tingle that he isn't a fairy, but he tends to ignore David Jr. Tingle also shows signs of selfish slothfulness &mdash; he forces Ankle and David Jr. to continually make Tingle Tower spin while he does nothing else but lie down. The prices of Tingle's services often requires Link to obtain one of the Wallet upgrades beforehand, charging Link 201 rupees to have the IN-credible Chart, which requires that Link upgrades his wallet just to purchase the chart that costs 1 rupee more than he could carry. Each of the Triforce Chart deciphering jobs costs 398 Rupees, totaling 3,184 Rupees.

The Legend of the Fairy, a secret story found in the Tower of the Gods, explains the origin of Tingle.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
Tingle takes on the role of a friendly antagonist. If Link leaves too many Force Gems lying around for too long without taking them, Tingle will eventually appear on his balloon and try to steal them. Link must try to grab them before he does. When playing Hyrulean Adventure, this function can be disabled. His balloon can be popped through the use of projectile weapons or thrown rocks.

A newsletter made by Tingle called the Tingle Times can be found on Signs throughout Hyrule.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Tingle and his brothers, Ankle, Knuckle and David Jr. will fuse Kinstones with Link. When all four have fused Kinstones with Link once, a passage opens at the north end of Hyrule Field, which leads to a Treasure Chest containing the Magical Boomerang. Tingle and his brothers also tell Link how many Kinstone fusions remain. Once Link has fused every Kinstone with another character, Tingle gives him the Tingle Trophy as a reward.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Tingle appears on a wanted poster behind the counter of the Milk Bar. This gives off the impression that Tingle's infamy has spread all the way to the World of the Ocean King.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
A statue of Tingle appears in the Castle Town Shop and Linebeck Trading. Interestingly, they pose the same way as the Tingle artwork from The Wind Waker. A picture of Tingle can also be seen hanging on the wall in Ferrus' home in Wellspring Station.

Super Smash Bros. series
Tingle also makes appearances in the Super Smash Bros. series. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Tingle (with his Majora's Mask design) makes a cameo appearance in the Termina: Great Bay stage. His balloon acts as a temporary platform to players, but when a player strikes his balloon or stands on it for too long, it will pop and Tingle falls down and the platform is temporarily inaccessible. However, Tingle is so small and elevated that his balloon is not much of a factor.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Tingle appears as an Assist Trophy (with his design from The Wind Waker). He uses his usual magic words, causing random effects. His effects are summoning balloons to fly away with (which has no effect on players), summoning flowers (which zooms the screen in on the one who summoned him), producing many hammers, both regular and golden, as well as summoning banana peels, which temporarily causes the ground to become extremely slippery. Additionally, one of the names suggested by the computer on the name input screen is "TINGL". Tingle also appears on two stickers. One of these depicts his artwork from Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rose-Colored Rupeeland. It provides a +12 bonus to arm attacks and can be applied to any character. The other depicts his artwork from The Wind Waker. This one provides a +24 bonus to flame resistance and can only be applied to Link, Toon Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf.

Tingle's Balloon Fight DS
In this remake of Balloon Fight, Tingle challenges the "Balloon Fight Spirit" of Bosom Wood. The game is officially available only to Japanese Club Nintendo Platinum members.

Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
A mysterious character known as Uncle Rupee promises Tingle a life in Rupeeland, a utopian paradise, if he collects enough Rupees. Tingle accepts the offer and Uncle Rupee morphs Tingle from an ordinary 35-year-old man into the fairy-loving character he is known as today. With his new persona, Tingle sets off on his quest to collect enough Rupees to reach Rupeeland. Along the way, he makes many allies including Barkle and Pinkle. Once Tingle reaches the Fairy Garden, however, he also meets the Grand Fairy who informs the protagonist that Uncle Rupee is manipulating and using him. Uncle Rupee truly wishes to further his own personal being, and has created many Tingle-like characters in the past to increase his wealth. Realizing he must destroy Uncle Rupee, Tingle sets off to defeat his former mentor. After freeing Pinkle from her prison in Auros Ruins and collecting enough Rupees to climb the Tower, Tingle finally meets with Uncle Rupee face to face. In the climax of the adventure, Tingle defeats Uncle Rupee, thus saving the world from ultimate destruction.

Too Much Tingle Pack
Tingle is the focal point of the DSiWare game. Many of the mini-games center around the theme of Tingle himself.

Color Changing Tingle's Love Balloon Trip
Color Changing Tingle's Love Balloon Trip features Tingle and women. A direct sequel to Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, it is based on L. Frank Baum's classic story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In the game, Tingle meets three companions, Kakashi, Buriki and Lion, who accompany him on his quest to find the right woman.

Theory
A character named Purlo appears in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Purlo is possibly a reference to what Tingle would look like if he was a more realistic character. Purlo is the manager of the STAR Game in Hyrule Castle Town, and he wears a similar costume to Tingle. He is also obsessed with Rupees, much like Tingle.

Reception
Tingle is easily one of the most recognizable characters in the Zelda series, but he is also considered one of the strangest. His dress, strange habits, and flamboyant personality are often perceived as annoying traits by gamers, and the character has been highly criticized in the west by critics, mostly by the gaming websites ScrewAttack, IGN and GameTrailers. In stark contrast, Tingle is one of the most popular Zelda characters in Japan, which is presumably what led to his many appearances in the series, as well as the spin-off titles in which he has the starring role. Tingle is the only character other than Link to have received this honor.