The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Year: 2005
Rating: E
Time Played: ~16 hours
The almost forgotten title in the Zelda franchise, Minish Cap has a subtle nod to its portable system in the way that Link can shrink down to engage with the world on a smaller scale. It’s a shame we didn’t see more unique titles in the Zelda series for the Game Boy Advance, as Minish Cap was a charming adventure that added to the developing lore of the franchise. While the visuals and controls were quite good considering the Game Boy Advance’s limitations, the length of this game left me wanting more by the time I completed it.
As a unique entry in the portable Zelda games, Minish Cap has a surprising amount of depth regarding the characters, plot, and overall game mechanics. Each step in restoring the Minish sword revealed a little more about the lore, which caused me to keep playing to find out what would happen next. I also found it amusing how weaker enemies that I had become used to blasting through in other entries in the series were different beasts on a smaller scale. Just like Oracle of Ages used the time travel mechanic to its greatest effect, the size change mechanic in Minish Cap felt fully fleshed out.
In terms of challenge, I never found myself banging my head against a wall to defeat a boss or solve a dungeon. The ease of this game could be part of what contributed to its shorter length, but at least I never became frustrated enough to look up exactly what to do or where to go next. For a portable title, there was always a little something I could do to progress through the game, even if I had to conquer the dungeons in single sittings to ensure I wouldn’t have to retrace my steps to arrive back at the place where I stopped.
The gem of portable Zelda titles, I give The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap 4.0 stars out of 5.
