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Top 10 Best Wind Waker moments (MASSIVE SPOILERS) [top ten]
 
Obviously this post will contain MASSIVE SPOILERS if you haven't played The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for the GameCube yet.

I thought I would create this just for fun. What is instantly apparent to me about the game and reviewing these moments is how lush the imagery is and how it can leave an impact on the player, creating moments that will linger on the gamer's mind long after the game is over. For Zelda fans who enjoyed Ocarina of Time, all direct references to the specific events from that game surely made the experience much more memorable.

Here are some of my favorite moments.
01/20/11, 22:53    Edited: 10/31/13, 22:35
 
   
 
Smashing enemies with the Skull Hammer
There is something to be said about wielding a massive weapon that is as big as your body, and the pleasure of that WHAM on an enemy. Sure, the hammer is more of a requirement for the puzzles and less so for combat, but it's nice.
 
Using the cannon on the ship
This is really the first time you feel empowered when going out at sea. Sure, later on you get the mighty bow and arrow as well, which is wonderful, but obtaining the bombs is when you actually have a fighting chance.
 
Revealing of the Tower of the Gods
Watching the grandiose tower rise from the sea, the player comes to realize that the scope of the game has just expanded beyond their expectations. It is especially cool since it rises out of the Triforce image that appeared after placing all three Pearls of the Goddesses in far-off islands.
 
Defeating Helmaroc King
Yeah, the giant bird and loyal servant of Ganondorf. He kidnaps your sister. You sneak and fight your way through Forsaken Fortress to save her, but this bastard grabs you and easily flings you across the great sea. You are nothing to this beast. Maybe he was simply a tool used by Ganondorf and had lost his free will, but regardless, the player definitely has a grudge against him. Cracking his armored mask off and making him pay for his actions... Again, it's the feeling of being able to overcome something that at one time truly felt beyond your ability.
 
The Sages portrayed in stained glass window




Yeah, this is actually another part of finding Hyrule underwater, since they're the same location, but I think it's just another nice touch to the fans of Ocarina of Time to see Rauru, Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa, and Nabooru forever remembered for generations to come in such a vivid display of honor.
 
Link's goodbye when he first leaves Outset Island
A simple yet effective scene in the game. It really demonstrates how much of an emotional impact Link can have on the player even as a silent protagonist.
 
The woodcut prologue
What a great way to start the game off, by revealing the legend as it is known so far, and tying the game directly to the events of Ocarina of Time. The woodcut style, accompanied by the fictional Hylian language characters, gives the legend a more authentic feel that the events that happened were important in civilization's history.
 
Revealing Tetra's true identity
Unlike previous Zelda games, there is no glimpse or mention of a Princess Zelda until later on in the game, when an unlikely character is revealed to be of the Hylian bloodline. I found this to be be quite a nice surprise and can be compared to the Sheik reveal from Ocarina of Time.
 
Ganondorf's demise
After a magnificent sword battle with a very acrobatic Ganondorf, Link plunges the Master Sword into the villain's head. What more could you want?
 
Exploring Hyrule for the first time
Did anyone expect this in the game? You go underwater and see a massive kingdom in black-and-white, frozen in time. Enter the castle and somehow everything seems familiar. You can walk freely around the many enemy soldiers caught in an intense battle. A giant statue of a hero (who greatly resembles Link) looms in the center. You wonder, what happened here? This location becomes a central part of the story.
 
I love Ocarina of Time, but I can't help thinking how much I would have preferred to have Wind Waker on the 3DS instead! We have plenty of OoT re-releases already, but no Wind Waker ones.
Anyway... great Zelda game! And yeah, there are definitely some great moments that I missed.

A Negative World article by
Eric Lopez


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01/20/11, 22:53   Edited: 10/31/13, 22:35 
 
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I must have miss all of those due to the sailing-enduced coma I kept falling in to.
01/21/11, 13:54   
Here are my top 10 Wind Waker moments:

1. Going to the sunken Hyrule Castle.
2. Monsters revived when the Master Sword is pulled out.
3. Exploring sunken Hyrule outside Hyrule Castle.
4. Getting inside the Ghost Ship.
5. Discovering the cyclone warps.
6. Gliding on a Deku leaf.
7. Fighting the giant octopuses.
8. Fighting the Helmaroc King.
9. Seeing the Tower of Gods raised up.
10. Playing the Tower of Gods dungeon.
01/26/11, 18:45   
Edited: 01/26/11, 18:46
@gencid

i completely forgot about the ghost ship!!!! awesome
01/26/11, 21:18   
I'm playing through WW again right now. I always forget a lot of the things that I can't stand about the game. For every amazing moment, there's a bunch that just irritate me to no end.

I always seem to forget about them before I start though, haha.

When this game is firing on all cylinders, it is freakin' FUN.
01/26/11, 21:57   
Edited: 01/26/11, 21:59
I found every piece of Treasure I could, just sailing around.

And THEN I found a Treasure map.
And THEN I found a Map of Hearts.

Not good. There were a few things I don't think I figured out though..
(I did get 19 hearts [19, right?] on my own without the aid of the internet at all. That felt great.)

I made a ton of statues. I got frustrated though when some didn't work. Like, those statue heads that spit fire at you? I took three or four pictures of those and they never worked. This happened before though with something else..and it did finally work. So theres that.
01/26/11, 21:59   
I started Wind Waker last week and I've quickly become obsessed with it. It's grabbed me in a way that Mask, Twilight, and S. Sword didn't. I can't exactly explain why Waker got me and the others didn't hold my interest. I love the world, I love the characters, and I love wandering around the ocean semi-aimlessly and finding the stupid jumping fish and giving him bait so he can fill in my map.

I'm only about half-way through (I think), so I barely skimmed the rest of this thread for fear of spoilers. So maybe this has already been mentioned. But the most striking thing to me is how the ocean and sky start as a nearly featureless blue masses of slightly different shades - I recall being pretty dissapointed at the very beginning, thinking to myself, "Well, graphics from a couple generations ago, what do you expect?" - and then as you get aboard your boat and start sailing around the sea and sky gain details that are simply shocking in their vividness given the cartoony aspect of the rest of the animation. The first time you're sailing with a clear sky at night and the moon rises over your head... just great.
10/12/12, 02:42   
@chrisguy

I agree! They really nailed the art style with WW. I hope you have lots of fun!
10/12/12, 04:36   
8, 5, 4 ,1 and of course, 2 are definitely memorable.

#2 easily trumps them all of course, and honestly 8, 6 and 1 can all kind of be lumped into one category since they all happen basically at the same time. More or less.

#2 is definitely the most striking (no pun intended) simply because there was no way I was expecting that. That was brutal, Link!

...... nice work.
10/12/12, 06:16   
Edited: 10/12/12, 06:16
I completely 100%ed this game--every heart, chart, item, and figurine. I love Wind Waker!!
10/12/12, 06:26   
My favorite moment in Wind Waker is the whole speech that the King of Hyrule gives at the end of the game, when he asks Link and Zelda for forgiveness for passing down such a broken world, and encourages them to build one of their own. When they invite him to come with them, he smiles and says something that I find pretty profound: "Ah, but child... that land will not be Hyrule. It will be your land."

There's something there about how older generations have to surrender their claim on the world and how a person is inextricably connected to the time and place they come from. And how new generations have to make their own way in their own time and place.

And then, of course, he drowns with his old world, while Link reaches out to him, hoping to bring him to the new one. It's a brave moment on the part of the King. Now there's a character who knows exactly who he is and exactly who he isn't.

It's probably my favorite moment in any video game's story. And I find it similar to what Rosalina tells Mario at the end of Galaxy.
10/12/12, 08:56   
Not realizing this was an old list, I was going to quote the first reply because I agree with it so much. Then I realized that this list is almost two years old, and the first reply was me.

Everything about this game is amazing. The characters (particularly Ganondorf) actually have some depth to them, the story is classic Zelda and yet unique at the same time, and of course the visuals are just stunning.

And don't even get me started on the music. The music is the best the series has ever seen, and some of my favorite tunes of all time. I absolutely adore "The Legendary Hero", the Dragon Roost Island theme, Molgera's boss music, the title screen, the ocean theme, and of course, the credits music.

And screw it, I'll quote my old reply anyway.

rebonack said:
Yes yes yes! TWW is my favorite Zelda game, and this is a great list. Finding Hyrule under the sea for the first time is fucking amazing.
10/12/12, 16:49   
Edited: 10/12/12, 16:53
@TriforceBun

Wow, EVERY figurine!?! That must have taken you FOREVER!
10/12/12, 18:24   
GameDadGrant said:
@TriforceBun

Wow, EVERY figurine!?! That must have taken you FOREVER!

Yeah, lots of playing the day-to-night song, for sure. But I enjoyed the characters in the game enough to do it all. If you ask me, every game should have a SSB trophy-type feature!
10/12/12, 18:30   
Wow, I think I got close, but I'm not sure I got every figurine. Way to go, TriforceBun!

I think a lot of my favorite parts of this game happen on Dragon's Roost Island. I love the song. I couldn't help smiling during the boss fight there (poor Valoo). I thought Medli was just adorable. And when you pick her up later in the game, for some reason, it broke my lil' heart. Given that Dragon's Roost is so big, I could see it from far away, and always had to resist the urge to sail back to hear the song again.

But, really, such a great list! I personally only disagree with #4, and I'd replace #10 with picking up the enemies' weapons and hurling them back at them. Preferably a burning Boko stick, just because.
10/12/12, 22:06   
Edited: 10/12/12, 22:06
I was surprised to see this list on the first page again. Thanks for the comments!

@kriswright, now that I have your interpretation of that moment in the game where the king bids farewell, I am even more amazed by how wonderfully crafted that scene was, and I wouldn't have thought about the similarity to SM Galaxy!

@rebonack
10/13/12, 02:05   
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