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
Screenshots
Promos
Videos
Add Trailer or Gameplay Video +1 point
See any errors or missing info for this game?
You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.
Credits (Wii version)
227 People (188 developers, 39 thanks) · View all
Director | |
Sub-Directors | |
Script | |
Level Planning | |
Boss Battle Planning | |
Data Management | |
Program Directors | |
Main Programming | |
Player Programming | |
UI System Programming | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 93% (based on 175 ratings)
Players
Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 232 ratings with 15 reviews)
The Good
A fairly clean adventure game that reminds me of games made back in the 80's. The player is handed multiple puzzles to work through in a linear manner. For the most part this game is very good for the younger crowd. It would be a great introduction to a genre rarely seen today.
The Bad
Well, this game doesn't bring anything new to the table. If you have played adventure games before this one is just the same formula with new graphics (albeit done very well). It's also kind of annoying that while this game is a rail game, players are forced to repeat, or back track, sections of the map in order to emulate an open form game.
The Bottom Line
This game hearkens back to the age of adventure games where players were shoved down a rail by the developers and were forced to solve puzzles. In this game the puzzles can be logical, but sometimes they make no sense at all. And then players are forced to back track in order to complete the quests they are given, which can be quite annoying at times.
But this is also a very clean game that is done very well for what it is. For new players this would be a great first adventure game.
Wii · by Sean Johanson (13) · 2010
The Good
This is by far the best Zelda game I have ever played.
Being one who has lived through all the Zelda games to the current date, I can without doubt call this game a masterpiece. I bought this game on Friday, was finished on Sunday evening. I didn't leave the freaking chair, it took me a whole 37 hours to play it through. It is by far the most adrenaline-filled Zelda game that has been launched.
Twilight Princess has beautiful artistic perspective, and one of the best looking Game Cube games to date. There is nothing more fun than shooting an arrow all the way across Hyrule field, then riding your horse trying to find it again. With award winning sound and gameplay, the most in depth plot, great graphics, great artistic perspective, over 60 hours of gameplay, and a character that never talks, The legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is sure to bring enjoyment to any gamer who appreciates games for what they are, an art.
Twilight Princess amazingly follows through on all of its promises. Nintendo has done what one might consider the unthinkable -- achieved perfection.
The Bad
For some people that have played several Zelda games in the past. This is not a very hard game to finish.
The Bottom Line
There is not a single point where the game is not at an outstanding level. I would like to tell you more about it, and tell you in detail about every feature in the whole game, but...why should I tell you, when you can experience it yourself?
Why should I spoil the greatest adventure of all? The best way to experience all this is to play it yourself. And I do recommend that you do just that, so go buy one, for your own sake, and get the game. You will not be disappointed. Nintendo has created a true masterpiece.
GameCube · by SiriusCrane (8) · 2007
The Good
When I bought my Wii, I purchased TP with it, because every critic just raved about it. Wii is my first console, I was a strict PC gamer before, and just wanted something fresh, something I could plug and play, not another FPS.
TP is, for me, absolutely stunning, the only games on PC that touched me that way were games like Deus Ex, Outcast or classic graphic adventures. The very fascinating about TP is you can't play 20 minutes without having had quite a few encounters, events or items. Something is always happening, the world around you lives, and looks fabulous, too. It's such a fluent and immersive gameplay, it's hardly believable.
You advance through the story without effort, discover Hyrule and its places, deserts, dungeons, monsters, villages. You catch fish, You dive fro treasure, walk along walls and on ceilings, use the boomerang, the swords, the bow... The Wiimote controls are just fine for everything, from fishing to shooting to riding your horse Epona (and what a proud and beautiful horse it is), the soundtrack is heroic, and the difficulty not too harsh. A game you can easily get lost in, and one good reason to get Wii.
The Bad
The old console problem that when you save your game, you're not back where you saved when you reload, but at a spawn point on a level map. Textures could use a higher resolution.
The Bottom Line
One of the most amazing action adventures ever made. Likable characters, dense story and game flow, lovely visuals with huge landscapes, scary monsters, tricky, clever fights and enough reward to keep you playing for hours. And once you played it through, you have passed a time that you will definitely remember.
Wii · by Emmanuel Henne (23) · 2007
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
Android version? | Deleted (13944) | 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
Analytics
Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!
Related Sites +
-
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 +
Contribute
Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.
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 July 17, 2024.