Walkthrough:The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap/J-man Zelda Fan/Part One

J-man Zelda Fan's walkthrough of The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Part One "Of Minish and Men" (Introduction, Minish Woods, Deepwood Shrine)

Introduction
Let's jump right in, shall we? Princess Zelda comes to Link's home and talks to Master Smith. You then go with Zelda to the Picori Festival in Hyrule Town. Before you leave, though, be sure to pick up the 20 Rupees from the chest in Smith's room. Once you get to the Festival, feel free to chat around with the various villagers, who will tell you about the Picori.

Your main objective, however, is to get the Small Shield. So seek out Zelda and talk to her. Each time you talk to her, she will say something random and then move on the another locatio. Keep chasing and talking to her until she comes upon the game where she wins the shield (that she chooses, to the proprietors dismay) and gives it to you as a present. After getting the shield, continue on towards Hyrule Castle. In North Hyrule Field between the town and the castle, you will come across a Business Scrub that shoots a seed at Zelda.

Walk in front of the Scrub and block his next seed with your shield. You will then be able to continue on to the castle to present the sword. Talk to Potho in the courtyard, and the ceremony will begin. Vaati will enter to touch the Picori Blade, and of course, he turns out to be the villain. He destroys the blade, opens the chest, and turns Zelda to stone. What a jerk. Oh, and you get knocked out. Great.

You'll wake up in the castle and have an audience with the King and his subjects. After some talk, he instructs you to go to the Minish Woods to seek out the Minish. Your adventure begins!

Minish Woods
Exit the castle and go to North Hyrule Field. Mutoh's Carpenters block your way back into the village, so the only way to go is right. Go south through Lon Lon Ranch and into the Eastern Hills. Go south to the bridge and turn right into the Minish Woods. Go east through the Minish Woods, then south at the first intersection you come to. Go south all the way down, then turn left, north, and then left. At this point, a cutscene should be triggered showing Ezlo being attacked by two Octoroks. Before going to the rescue, however, walk to the left to pick up your first Piece of Heart! Continue back the way you came until you find him. Kill the octoroks, and after a lot of talk, Ezlo wants to come with you. Start walking, and Ezlo will stop you three times. On the third time, he will decide that he is now your hat for the remainder of the game.

With Ezlo as your new head gear, go south. When you get to the tree stump in the southeasternmost corner, Ezlo will explain its importance as a Minish Portal. Do as he instructs and shrink to Minish size. Continue on to the left. Travel through the tunnel in the stump and continue until you come to the puddle. Step onto the a leaf as it comes around, and get off at the northern stop. Continue on to enter the Minish Village.

In the Minish Village you will find that the Minish speak a language that you cannot understand. Travel north until you come to a large building with hexagonal shapes on the roof. Inside, speak with Festari, who will tell you where to find the Jabber Nut. Continue to the barrel house, which is in the eastern edge of the village. Enter the house through the ladder on top. Go inside and up to encounter your first block puzzle! Actually, it's hardly a puzzle at all. Just push the block in the way to the left or right. Continue on to get the Jabber Nut!

Now that you understand the language, speak with the Minish elder in the northwestern corner of the village. (his house is all mushroomy. You can't miss it). The elder will instruct you about and mark the locations of the four elements needed to restore the Four Sword. Your first destination is the Deepwood Shrine, the location where you spoke with Festari earlier. Go there, and enter your first dungeon!

Deepwood Shrine Part 1
Alrighty, time to charge through the Deepwood Shrine! A good dungeon, considering it's the first (and it has great music). Jumping right in, walk forward to find three statues. Simply push the front one to left to get past to the next room. This next room is pretty dark, and you'll notice there are four torches with buttons next to them. Walk around and press all four buttons (kill any Sluggulas in your way) and light all the torches. A Treasure Chest will appear. Open it to get a Small Key! Continue forward and open the locked door into the next room.

In the next room, you'll find that water blocks a straight path. Avoid the Sluggulas that fall from the ceiling and proceed to a lever-like switch device on the far side of the room (Ezlo will point this out to you). Press R to grab it and pull it back all the way. This triggers the creation of a bridge across the hazardous water! But wait! You're still blocked to the other side. Not to worry. Grab the Mushroom on the left and pull it back in the direction of the bridge. When you reach the bridge, stop pulling (but keep holding down R) and the mushroom will launch Link across the water to the other side. In the next room is a giant barrel! Giant to Minish, that is. In reality it's a regular human-sized barrel. Anyway, walk to the right and past the Puffstool. Don't worry, we'll be able to deal with these dusty guys who would give your mother a heart attack later. Walk up the stairs directly above the Puffstool's dusty area. Up on top is another switch that lights a torch. Step on the switch, and the torch will light and burn the vines holding the large barrel. The right side of the barrel is now free on its axis.

Now for the left side. Go back to the entrance of the room. An opening in the barrel can be found on the right side. Walk in, and inside the barrel, another opening is on the far left (the barrel can't turn freely yet, so just walk over there). On the outside, walk left, past the area of two Puffstools, and go down. Another flight of stairs is over here on the left side. Up here, there are two switches. Walk past the switch closest to you and continue on past the statue on its left side. Circle around so you are facing the statue on the its right side. Now, simply push the statue left onto the switch and walk and stand on the other switch. The same chain reaction with sever the left side of the barrel from the vines.

The barrel is now free to turn! Go back to the entrance on the left side of the barrel. Since the barrel now turns when you walk, it will reveal new entrances. Once inside, walk directly down. Keeping walking until the new entrance right where you are walking (on the bottom left of the barrel) is revealed. Walk through it. On the outside, continue left into the next room. Go to the left side of the room and up to discover another mushroom. Grab it and pull it all the way back as far as it will go. Launch over to the far side and travel up the steps and open the large blue treasure chest to receive the Dungeon Map! To view the map, go to the start screen and scroll with R or L until you see it labeled "Map."

After getting the map, walk down to the end of the ledge and jump off to the left (the side with the mushroom). This time, we only want to pull the mushroom about a thrid of the way back so we only jump over the first little water pool. On the other side, walk through the door. In this room, first kill the Pesto so it's not a nuisance to you. You'll find that the switch that creates the bridge must be held down by something. On the left is a Pot. Walk over to it, and push it all the way over to cover the switch. Walk across the newly created bridge.

In the next room, you will find two statues next to two switches. Of course pushing them onto the switches makes a treasure chest appear. But you can't get to it! Or can you? Push the left statue onto the switch. Then, however, pull the right statue out to the right one unit. Walk to the left side of it, then pull it with you and onto the switch. Now, you are on the inside and can access the treasure chest to get...another small key! Push the statue out of your way and exit the room.

Head all the way back to the barrel (make sure you push the block down one unit to exit the room with the dungeon map treasure chest). Enter the barrel and immediately walk to the right side. Then, simply walk forward to turn the barrel until you exit out of the top right side. On the outside, walk all the way to the right and open the locked door. Walk to the mushroom and launch to the other side. Then, on the left, hit the switch to create a bridge. Grab the mushroom on the top and walk upscreen across the bridge to lauch to the bottom half of the room. In this room, there are two statues. Push the statue on the left up against the right statue. Then, walk to the other side of the room and pull the right statue all the back to the right side of the door switch. Then, return to the left side of the other statue and push it on to the switch to open the door. In the next room, defeat the Mulldozers to get another small key! Exit the door to your left.

Back in this room, walk up the stairs and up to the next screen. Jump down and travel through the opening. Travel through the door on the left side of the room. In this room, carefully avoid the Puffstools and make your way to the left side of the room. Step on the visible switch on you way there. Go through the locked door, and enter the room of...the miniboss!

Mini-boss: Madderpillar
To defeat this guy, you have to first slash his nose when he is walking toward you. Once slashed, Madderpillar's tail end will turn into a heart. Go around and slash that repeatedly. After so many hits, Madderpillar turns red and angrily crawls around. If he hits you, you'll take damage. Once he turns back to normal, rinse and repeat about two more times to defeat him. Open the treasure chest to get...the Gust Jar!