Released in the US on January 10th, 2005, The Minish Cap represents another shining example of what can be achieved when two brilliant studios put their collective and imaginative heads together. After the successful release of The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages for Game Boy Color, Capcom and Nintendo began work on another new Zelda entry together, this time for the GBA. The game follows the exploits of our traditionally sleepy hero, Link, as he seeks the help of the Picori, a race of magical tiny creatures, to stop the evil wizard, Vaati. On his adventure, he befriends Ezlo, a cursed green bird, who joins Link's adventure and fills in as his timeless green cap and trusted adviser. Together, Link can now shrink down to the size of the Minish (aka Picori) and explore the many complex small worlds that hide in plain sight to restore power to the once fabled Four Sword and once again save the kingdom of Hyrule.
The shrinking mechanic of this game really adds a fun degree of exploration and variety to the dungeon themes that make The Minish Cap a particularly memorable experience in the Zelda series. The way little puddles can become intimidating lakes upon shrinking, or how normal over-world enemies become threatening behemoths, all cleverly surprise and immerse the player in this imaginative fairy tale-like world. The dungeons also stand as being particularly well designed for this entry, with interesting new items like the Gust Jar and Mole Mitts, and superb visual atmospheric aesthetics, aided by the likes of the game's impressive soundtrack and overall art direction. While the game may be a bit on the brief and easier side than that of most Zelda games, the over-world is large and complex enough to explore with plenty of fun secrets to find, thanks to the game's inclusion of Kinstones. It may seem like a more convoluted means of obtaining treasure having to first find matching Kinstones to then unlock treasure somewhere else in the wide, vast world to then later be found, but it encourages exploration and deepens one's familiarity and affinity for the world as you scour every bit of it for continuously spawning treasure.
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| Concept Art of Link (and Ezlo) using the new Gust Jar item. |
From start to finish, The Minish Cap captures your heart through its immense charm and polish for a handheld Zelda game. Since the Minish Cap, the Zelda series has remained a game series solely developed by Nintendo. And while Nintendo has more recently been willing to shake the series up and play with its gameplay conventions, one can't help but wonder what another collaborative effort could produce, be it Capcom or some other studio. Whatever the future of this series may hold, let's hope compelling collaborations such as these may find a place somewhere so as more creative and charming gems like this game can be produced.
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