When I was a kid, there was a game series  that EVERYONE played, or else they were stupid.  Even the local Sega fans begrudgingly picked up a SNES, or borrowed one from a friend, for just one game.  If you’re in the know, and read the title of this article, you’ve probably guessed that the series in question is The Legend of Zelda.  If you didn’t guess that, you probably owned (Or still own) an XBox.

Now, I bring this up because I’ve been playing The Wind Waker again, because I just got my GameCube back, and unfortunately, my favourite games, Metroid Prime 1&2, were destroyed.  So I pulled out my next favourite, and it’s definitely worthwhile to play through.

I won’t recap the story or something, this isn’t a review of the game.  This is me stating the reasons why I love Toon Link, and why you’re a jerk if you don’t.

1. Toon Link is much more similar in style to the Links of olde than the Heroes of Time and Twilight.  Think about it:  Zelda has been very cartoony ever since I can remember.  It was a game for kids!  There were even childrens’ books based on the series.  Admittedly, it’s a step past the oldschool level of cartoony-ness, but it feels like a much more natural progression than the GRIMDARK of Majora’s Mask and Twilight Princess.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Zelda fangirl through and through, and I love those games as well.  Hell, I’d even call Majora’s Mask one of my favourite games ever.  But compare the imagery for a moment.  The middle, A Link to the Past, has a brightly coloured, cartoony character, comically disproportionate characters, and PINK HAIR.  I chose that screenshot because that’s as GRIMDARK as the game gets:  A dark tunnel with an old man asking for directions.  There wasn’t a ‘new style’ in The Windwaker, only a progression of the old style.
2. Link’s face (And to a lesser extent, the other characters) have incredibly expressive faces and body language.  The big heads allowed for a very clear view of what the characters were thinking and feeling.  When Link yelped in terror, his eyes went wide and he gritted his teeth.  When he was sad, his mouth curled down into a frown and his entire body slumped over.  When he was happy, his mouth dropped open into the goofiest grin imaginable and he jumped for effing joy.  Exaggerated, yes, silly, yes, but the series is about a young boy saving a sad princess from an evil middle-eastern dude who turns into a gigantic anthropomorphic pig when he gets angry.
3. ZELDA ISN’T A PUSSY.  Usually, anyway.  She’s a badass smacktalking pirate who calls Link on his shit whenever he does something retarded.  The only time she wimps out is when she’s in shock from finding out that she’s the princess of a dead nation, and then she comes back and SHOOTS GANON IN THE FACE, because he’s such a skilled swordsman that he’s invincible in a duel.  Let me say that again, SHE SHOOTS AN INVINCIBLE PSYCHOPATH IN THE FACE TO MAKE SURE LINK CAN BEAT HIM.
4. With the introduction of counterattacks, and improvement to swordplay in general, it allows for a final boss who is not only fun to fight (Something that most Zelda games don’t have) but for a death scene which will forever live on in memory as one of the most painful, awesome things to watch in the history of Nintendo, right up there with the blood-soaked, spinning, disembodied eyeball at the end of Kirby’s Deam Land 3.
5. Yes, it’s a kiddy, cartoony, even childish looking style of animation.  Half of you watch anime, with its idealized 2 dimensional love stories and people yelling out the names of their ’special attacks’ anyways, so why does that bother you?  If you’re willing to pass up because it looks childish, even though it’s part of a series you had up-to-then enjoyed, I got some bad news for you, it’s not the game that’s being childish.

Yes, there are low-points to the game.  It’s very clearly not finished, and I hope for a Director’s Cut version one day.  It is artificially extended by necessary fetch-quests.  I’m glad I didn’t pay full price for it at release for those reasons (I got it as a gift, in fact, and my mother got it for free).  But  now I see it up at used game stores for $10-$15.  Hell, there’s a copy on ebay right at this time for $6.00.  If you passed it up, and you love Zelda, you’ll be doing yourself a favour.  The comic imagery at times is priceless, and the story, standard Zelda fare, leaves nothing to be desired for a fan of the series.

Peace.