The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Description official descriptions
Twilight Princess is the first Legend of Zelda game for the Wii and also the last for GameCube. At first, Link is a simple farm boy, whose tasks consist of herding goats to watching children in Ordon village, Link's hometown. One day, Link is asked by the mayor to run an errand in Castle Town, but things suddenly go wrong…
The land becomes dark, and strange creatures appear from another world called the Twilight Realm, which turns most into ghosts. Link, however, becomes a wolf. After becoming a wolf, Link is aided by Midna, a resident of the Twilight Realm. Midna helps Link find a way to turn human again along with other tasks.
The wolf cannot use a sword or other items. Instead, as a wolf Link must use his senses to solve puzzles and get past obstacles. The beast can also dig holes to find hearts and rupees and to get in places. It can push blocks with its head to climb higher or reveal hidden passageways. Additionally, it can attack enemies by biting or pouncing on them.
As a human, Link can move around quickly, aim his bow, swing his sword, and even fish. Link also collects many different items, which allow him to perform varied attacks and reach places he couldn't before. Link performs many attacks with his sword and can even learn other sword moves.
The game's art is similar to the naturalistic style of Ocarina of Time, rather than the cel-shaded look of The Wind Waker. Chronologically, the game takes place between the two aforementioned titles, and quite a few locations from Ocarina of Time can be visited. The main adventure takes place in several provinces with dungeons and temples. With the help of Midna, you can easily travel around quickly later in the game.
The Wii U remaster of the game includes:
- Enhanced graphics
- Wii U GamePad support (allowing for a mini-map to be displayed on the touchscreen, or items to be changed using the touchscreen)
- Miiverse support
- Some areas of gameplay have had minor adjustments
- A new difficulty mode
- A new dungeon, the Cave of Shadows, which is accessed using the Wolf Link amiibo
- Additional amiibo support for health refills or arrow refills
Spellings
- ゼルダの伝説 トワイライトプリンセス HD - Japanese Wii U spelling
- ゼルダの伝説 トワイライトプリンセス - Japanese spelling
- 젤다의 전설 황혼의 공주 - Korean spelling
Groups +
- Console Generation Exclusives: GameCube
- Console Generation Exclusives: Wii
- Gameplay feature: Arena fighting
- Gameplay feature: Auto-mapping
- Gameplay feature: Beast riding & beast attacking
- Gameplay feature: Day / night cycle
- Gameplay feature: Drowning
- Gameplay feature: Fishing
- Gameplay feature: Herding
- Gameplay feature: Horse riding
- Gameplay feature: Pettable animals
- Gameplay feature: Transformation
- Launch title: Wii (North America)
- Legend of Zelda series
- Nintendo Selects releases
- Protagonist: Elf
- Theme: Werewolves
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Credits (Wii version)
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[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 94% (based on 173 ratings)
Players
Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 229 ratings with 15 reviews)
Very epic, dark atmosphere and over all a good experience.
The Good
The games has some amazing soundtrack, quite good graphics, amazing storyline and really good characters. It keeps the interest of the player.
The Bad
The difficulty variates too much. And it's not always clear where you're supposed to be.
The Bottom Line
An amazing puzzle fantasy adventure action roleplaying game. With very dark atmosphere, very epic soundtrack.
Wii · by Johanna London (3) · 2014
A good Zelda game, but with some weird problems
The Good
This Zelda game starts of very well by featuring a complete new characters cast with barely any characters from previous installments. I like that a lot because using characters from previous games often causes me to lose interest because I already saw them before and know how they act (like the Mask Salesman from Ocarina of Time that also appeared in Majora's Mask).
Using the Wii remote also feels better than in most other games on this system because using it actually feels natural. You swing your sword, aim with your bow or throw objects and never did it feel forced or unnecessary. Combat also works perfectly fine although it is a bit easy at times.
The graphics look great and I especially like it when you go to the Twilight Palace which looks just as creepy as it sounds. You can't expect much from the Wii, but this game can beat most Xbox 360 titles in terms of graphics.
Playing as Wolf Link is a lot of fun and although the combat is a lot slower due to the absence of a finishing move, it is still a fun game mechanic that can be used for both puzzle solving and fighting.
The story is well told and most characters you get to meet actually play a role in it rather then just standing around waiting for you to do it. Something I have always missed in the Zelda franchise is the feeling that Hyrule is actually at war, but in this installment you can see that the country is caught in a conflict. The story is also a lot darker than most other Zelda games with characters actually fighting back and dying.
The Bad
The world is rather big and while that sounds like a good thing, in order to make a big world have impact on the player that world also has to be interesting. Hyrule Field is a good example: There is literally nothing to see there and travelling all the way through it takes the same amount of time as it took to get from one place to another in Oblivion.
Most characters try to be funny way too much and feel out of place considering the darker story. The goofy major, the weird bomb vendor and the "wise" (read demented) Goron elders all fail to endear themselves to you. And please Nintendo, get rid of all the cowardly soldiers!
Some dungeons and most of the music is copied straight from previous Zelda games. Especially the music takes the piss because the only song I enjoyed that wasn't ported from another Zelda was the Hidden Village song. Music is to the Zelda games what cheese is to macaroni, you can still go without, but it just cries out for something more. The dungeons are a bit cheap, but not to apparent. The Water temple and the Arbiter Grounds took the piss because those were copies from the most annoying dungeons from Ocarina of Time.
The Bottom Line
This game is a good sign because it shows that the Zelda franchise is far from over. The game looks and plays great and the new story filled with fresh, new characters is really enjoyable. The game made me laugh at times as well and that is always a good sign.
It does fail big time in the music department and some characters try to be funny way too much, but I was able too look past that while playing the game. If your a fan of Zelda game then you'll love this game and for newcomers this isn't a bad start either.
Wii · by Asinine (957) · 2011
A return to the past for the Zelda series...
The Good
Zelda: Twilight Princess was a great game in the Zelda series, bringing the series back to its natural feel that emanated during the Nintendo 64 games, with much improvements made to the graphics from that platform. The storyline of the game, until the end is one the most well-developed in the series. This game takes several of my favorite gameplay elements from Wind Waker and fits them within the world of Twilight Princess. This game continues the innovations of the previous Zelda games.
The Bad
The title of my review also presages certain elements of the game, a return to the past includes no musical instrument for Link, and Magic disappears from Link Arsenal for the first time in a long time. Other problems with this game, minor in retrospect but annoying include, the sheer uselessness of some items after they're required to advance the plot. The wolf mode, touted as a new element for the Zelda series, disappointed me, it was cool when you first played it, but after a couple of sessions playing as a wolf, I became disillusioned, combat with the wolf is frustrating, the howling mechanism is very hard to distinguish, among other things, I hope the next incarnation of Zelda does not replicate this part of the game
The Bottom Line
This game, despite the negatives described above, remains a wonderful game in the Zelda series, and if it wasn't for the problems I had with Wolf Link, might have topped Ocarina as a game for me.I sincerely recommend playing this game if you've ever enjoyed a Zelda game...
GameCube · by Chris Lesinky (294) · 2007
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
Android version? | Deleted (13945) | May 18, 2019 |
Genre Correction | Mark Picard (1) | Jul 9, 2013 |
Mirrored? | beetle120 (2415) | Nov 25, 2007 |
Trivia
1001 Video Games
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Delay
The game was originally announced for release for the GameCube in November 2005. This was delayed to November 2006 so that the developers could add more content to the game and release it on the Wii as well as the GameCube.
Development
- During development, Midna's hair was red and green, while in the final version it's red but ends in blonde-yellow.
- Although Sheik, Zelda's ninja-like alter-ego from
Ocarina of Time , does not appear in Twilight Princess, an updated design of the character was drafted up in its development. He is however available as a playable character in the Wii gameSuper Smash Bros.: Brawl .
Characters
Throughout the game you'll encounter the strange Shadow Beasts (the dark blue/black coloured humanoids with the bizarrely shaped disc-heads and tentacle hair). However, in two cut-scenes, you can see two big Shadow Beasts with differently designed disc-heads flanking Zant like bodyguards.They don't appear in-game as enemies.
Glitch
There is a bug in a room with a big cannon Link can use to warp. If you save in that room, an invisible character won't let you leave, but he can't be spoken too. Link can't transform into a wolf either. Customers could return the disc to Nintendo to have it replaced. A video of the glitch is available in the related links section.
Inside Zelda
Nintendo of America's official magazine, Nintendo Power, published a monthly series of articles called Inside Zelda, which revealed how the game was developed. The series can be read in its entirety here.
Inspiration
- The Oocca race appears to be inspired by M.C. Escher's painting Another World.
- The masks worn by the Ancient Sages resemble those worn by chorus members in Ancient Greek dramas.
Midna
The character Midna, who speaks gibberish, is actually speaking English that has been scrambled beyond comprehension. Some of her unscrambled voice lines are related to the game's story whilst others are related to key gameplay elements (such as "I'll take you there with my power", which is used when warping to other areas. This is especially interesting as Midna's voice actress, Akiko Kōmoto is Japanese.
References
- if you look around the fishing hut, the owner, you'll see an old black and white photograph of the Fishing Guy from the Lake Hylia fishing pond from Ocarina of Time. The hut's owner and operator Hena refers to him as the "legendary fisherman" and comments that she may be a descendant of his.
- In Hyrule Castle Town you meet a character named Thelma, who owns a bar in the city and is a fairly important NPC to the storyline. She also owns a cat named Louise, who helps you as well. The two characters are a reference to the movie Thelma & Louise.
- The characters Malo and Talo, children living in Link's hometown Ordon Village, are named references to Malon and Talon from
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time , who are references to Marin and Tarin fromThe Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening . - The symbols that represent each Sage are the Six Medallions from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Version differences
Unlike every other Legend of Zelda game, Link is right handed in Twilight Princess. This is so most people (right handers make up 85% of the population) can make use of the Wii controls in the same hand as Link. Sword in the right, shield in the left. The GameCube version has Link using his left hand as usual. To make the game work for the right handed Link of the Wii, the Wii and GameCube versions of this game have the world map and everything in it mirrored So everything stays the same relative to him.
Awards
- GamePro (Germany)
- February 01, 2007 - Best Console Game in 2006 (Wii version) (Readers' Vote)
- February 01, 2007 - Best Console Action-Adventure in 2006 (Wii version) (Readers' Vote)
- GameSpy
- 2006 – Game of the Year
- 2006 – Console Game of the Year
- 2006 – GameCube Game of the Year
- 2006 – Wii Game of the Year
- 2006 – GameCube Game of the Year (Gamers' Vote)
- 2006 – Wii Game of the Year (Gamers' Vote)
- 2006 – Wii Adventure Game of the Year
- 2006 – Wii RPG of the Year
Information also contributed by Keeper Garrett, Mark Ennis, Sciere and Thomas Dowding
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Related Sites +
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Iwata Asks - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
NCL president Satoru Iwata interviews Yoshiyuki Oyama, Keisuke Nishimori, Koji Kitagawa, Atsushi Miyagi, Kentaro Tominaga & Aya Kyogoku of Nintendo EAD's Software Development Department. -
Official Website
website -
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Official game website -
Twilight Princess Cannon Room glitch
A video demonstration of the glitch in the cannon room, see the trivia item for more information -
Wikipedia
The article on The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess at Wikipedia
Identifiers +
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Keeper Garrett.
Wii U added by Kam1Kaz3NL77. Android added by firefang9212. GameCube added by Kabushi.
Additional contributors: Sciere, Freeman, gamewarrior, samsam12, —-, Patrick Bregger, Grandy02, Rik Hideto, Kam1Kaz3NL77, FatherJack, Deleted.
Game added November 20, 2006. Last modified February 11, 2024.