The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, (released in Japan as Zelda no Densetsu Fushigi no Bōshi (ゼルダの伝説 ふしぎのぼうし, lit. "The Legend of Zelda: The Mysterious Hat"), is a game in the Legend of Zelda series for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance released in 2004 in Japan and Europe, and 2005 in North America. It was not developed by Nintendo, but instead by Flagship, with Nintendo overseeing the development process. The Minish Cap is the first original single-player Zelda adventure to be released for a handheld platform since The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons in 2001 (though the original multiplayer game The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords was included with the 2002 Game Boy Advance release of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past).

The Minish Cap is the third Zelda game to be released that concerns the legend of the Four Sword, the other games being Four Swords and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. The game is considered a prequel to the rest of the Four Swords games and reveals some background information about their stories. The game is based around the idea of a magical 'cap' called Ezlo that Link can use to shrink to the size of the Picori (who call themselves the Minish), a race of thumb size people that live in Hyrule.

Story
A long, long time ago, when Hyrule was about to be consumed by darkness, the tiny Picori descended from the sky, and bestowed upon a young boy dressed in green the Picori Sword and a shining golden light. With wisdom and courage, the young hero drove out the darkness. Now, every 100 years the Picori return to Hyrule, to provide humans with magical gifts.

The coming of the Picori is celebrated in Hyrule with a large fair and a sword fighting tournament called the Picori Festival. On one such day, Princess Zelda and her childhood friend Link, grandson of Smith the royal blacksmith, decide to visit Hyrule Town to join the festivities. These are short-lived however, as the winner of the tournament, the unknown stranger Vaati, is in fact a powerful sorcerer who breaks the Picori Blade and turns Zelda to stone.

In Hyrule Castle the King of Hyrule and his counselor Potho are desperate to bring Zelda back home. They place all their hopes in the tiny Picori who had been invaluable allies, and send Link to seek the legendary beings' help. It is an old belief in Hyrule that the Picori show themselves only to children.

On his way to Minish Woods, home of the Minish, Link rescues Ezlo, a strange being resembling a green cap with a bird head, who joins him in his quest and can make Link shrink to the size of the Minish themselves through a ritual he can perform on Minish altars. Link then meets the Forest Minish elder Gentari, who tells him that to restore power in the magic sword broken by Vaati, he must find four elemental artifacts and imbue the blade with their essence. He directs Link and Ezlo to Melari on Mt. Crenel, as Melari is the only one who can fix the broken sword. When Link meets Melari he gives the sword to him and goes on to a human mine for the second element. When he comes back Melari tells him about the Elemental Sanctuary found in Hyrule Castle. Only after he fuses the four elements can he face Vaati and defeat him.

It is later revealed that both Ezlo and Vaati were once Minish, Ezlo being a renowned sage and craftsman and Vaati his apprentice. Vaati eventually became corrupted by the madness and egotism of men and took a magic hat Ezlo had made for the humans in Hyrule. The hat granted the bearer any wishes, and Vaati chose to become a powerful sorcerer. He then turned his old master, who had tried to stop him, into a hat. Devoured by his desire for power, Vaati took a twisted, vile appearance and set out to search for the mystic Light Force of Hyrule, which would make him even stronger.

When Link completes the Picori Blade (which was then re-named the Four Sword), Vaati turns Hyrule Castle into Dark Hyrule Castle. Link gets to Vaati just before he drains Zelda of all the Light Force (thus killing her), but the Wind Sorcerer states that he already has enough power to defeat Link. Link then fights Vaati in two different forms, the first being a larger form of himself and the second being a large sphere with an eye, and prevails. He frees Zelda from her curse as the castle is collapsing, and then he and the Princess go to the elemental shrine to avoid being crushed. Vaati is waiting there for Link, and faces him one more time. His final form is like his previous form but with arms, and seeming to be indestructible at first. Link manages to defeat the evil Minish again. Vaati disappears, after saying that he is confused as to how Link beat him, claiming he has the power of a god. Ezlo floats off of Link's head and is returned to his original form. He finds the cap of wishes he created and gives it to Zelda, since she has a pure heart, saying "Let your wishes come true!" The cursed people are cured and the castle is turned back to normal. The doorway to the Minish world is closing and Ezlo states he must go. He says he enjoyed his time with Link, and in return provides him with a cap, saying, "I have never seen you with a cap until now, it fits you, little hero." He shrinks down and goes through the doorway, just as it vanishes.

Gameplay
The Minish Cap features a number of enhancements that benefit from the more powerful Game Boy Advance platform and draws heavily on the gameplay of previous Zelda titles (namely the first three). The game's camera angle is much closer to the ground, allowing more detail. In the overworld and in dungeons, the game replaces the traditional item interface with pictures associating items or actions with buttons on the Game Boy handheld, similarly to the item interface in 3D titles like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Enemies include familiar creatures from the Zelda universe, such as the Keatons. Link can also perform special actions, triggered by the L and R buttons. With the R button, Link can, for example, roll while running; a move also inspired by 3D Zelda games.

Development
The Minish Cap is artistically very reminiscent of its predecessors The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, as it features the same cartoon-inspired visuals. Link, as well as several other characters in the game, strongly resemble characters in The Wind Waker, although some characters' visuals take their cue from the Nintendo 64 titles The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Some enthusiasts believe that idea for the Picori (Minish) came from a character in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. In that game, Link encounters a young flute player standing on a stump in the forest; the flute player disappears after playing a song (he is found later in the Dark World). Some players believe this bears similarity to how Link shrinks using tree trunks in The Minish Cap.

Release
Unique in the Zelda series, the game was released in European territories before North American market. The main cited reason for this was the Nintendo DS; With the European DS Launch scheduled for Spring 2005, Nintendo Europe pushed to make The Minish Cap its handheld Christmas killer app. Conversely, Nintendo America held back on its release so not to cannibalize the DS market.

Trivia

 * It is commonly thought that the name of the game is referencing Ezlo, though in actuality, it is a reference to the the Cap of Wishes created by Ezlo.
 * The sword that is seen in the logo at the top of this page is, in fact, the Master Sword as it appeared in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It is unknown why it is there, as it never appeared in the game.
 * This game was not the first to have the idea of a hat that could shrink Link. In Four Swords, the Gnat Hat had the same effect, but could be used anywhere.