The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD

Blew me away...again.

Upon hearing Nintendo was giving a facelift to a previously released AAA title, I suppose the two main feelings I had were confusion and skepticism.

Pictured here.

Confusion because rehashing something from ten years ago in HD is not something the Big N does, no matter how good it originally was. To me, it's a money-grubbing tactic that companies use when they've got nothing else. They're all out of ideas and have to attempt to capitalize on what's worked in the past.

Skepticism because it's Nintendo. I mean, come on, really? I know the Zelda series is a big deal, but really? I didn't know if I fully believed it. But then they revealed it in a Nintendo Direct, so I had to accept it was true.

After playing through it, I have come to partially accept it, but still have some trepidation in giving it heaps of praise. Yes, it was good, but it was always good. If I only sing praises, does that mean I'm okay with them re-releasing other past titles with a new skin? My initial feelings of worry are still there, no matter how good the game turned out to be. Seeing as how it is Nintendo, I'm not too worried, especially with the current and future Wii U/3DS lineup. If they did it again, though, I'd start to get scared. I will accept them doing it as an (extremely effective) experiment, and leave it at that for now.

But on to the game itself. Damn, it was good. The tiny changes/improvements make all the difference in presenting a much smoother, flowing game experience. Doubtless you can find reviews of the game itself in over a decade of internet activity, so there's really not any point in me talking about the story, characters, and the like. Instead, I want to talk about some of the changes between the original GameCube release and the current Wii U one. This assumes you have played the original release sometime between 2002 and 2013.

Quick List of Changes

• Items can now be equipped via the GamePad in real time. No more pausing to set items to buttons. Just drag and drop. If you're in a hectic spot, it is still possible to pause while setting items

• Your Sail is not an item in the sub-screen. You just push "A" in your boat to pop it up. The same applies for the Cannon, Grappling Hook, and Wind Waker itself

• The GamePad displays the dungeon maps (once you find them) and you can easily switch between floors and see treasures, bosses, etc. You also have a little Link head that displays both your current location and the direction you're facing, so you don't have to try and figure out where the heck in the room you are. If that's still not helpful enough, the map has a zoom function as well

• After gaining information from a Fishman, you can access it right from your map, without having to call him over again

• You have a cursor on the GamePad of where your boat is on the Great Sea, moving in real time

• The GamePad's gyroscope can be used to aim the Bow, Boomerang, etc. I played this way until I got to a boss where it became too awkward to try and run/roll around while trying to aim/throw my Grappling Hook. Thankfully, there is an option to turn this feature off and play the old-fashioned, right-stick way

• The HUD can be completely eliminated from the TV screen. It was cool to see it that way for a while, but it became tedious very quickly to have to look down at my lap every ten seconds to check things

• In addition to the already-agreeable camera, you can now move around in first-person mode. You can also move while aiming with certain items (e.g. Boomerang, etc.) in this camera view

• You can change direction while swinging on your Grappling Hook. You don't have to stop, rotate and start swinging again. It's very nice

• Obviously, everything looks absolutely gorgeous in 1080p widescreen. The colors are vibrant, the visuals eye-catching, and the cartoon-esque style (originally controversial) really feels at home at this resolution. I think Wind Waker might be the most expressive Zelda game, partly due to things like Link's personality and facial expressions

• You can obtain a Swift Sail, which lets you move across the sea much faster. For people that have played the original version, you will scream with glee. I vividly remember having to sail from one island to a distant other, and having time to leave the room, make a sandwich, eat half of it, then returning to find I had almost arrived at my destination. The Swift Sail also changes the wind to be at your back no matter which way you're turned

• Getting hit while in your boat won't knock you out of your boat (unless it's a hard, hard hit)

• Hero Mode (in which you take double damage and no recovery hearts can be found) is available right from the start

• The Tingle Tuner, in which you needed a connected GBA to implement, has been replaced by the Tingle Bottle. You can use it to upload Pictographs to Miiverse for all to see and share. It's a nice feature

• The Pictograph Box can now hold 12 Pictos as opposed to the original 3

• You can download Pictographs via Miiverse. That means that if you're trying to complete the Nintendo Gallery and have passed a certain point where you can no longer get a character's photo, you can turn to Miiverse for help

• The Deku Leaf has a cursor on the ground where you will land

• The Cannon has a projection line as to where your bombs will go

• Five Triforce charts have been replaced with the Triforce Shards themselves, meaning you don't have to spend a fortune in Rupees and time in getting them deciphered

There are more changes I missed, I'm sure. Attention to detail is really what sets Nintendo apart in this case. There have been other HD re-releases for games (e.g. Okami, Metal Gear series, Devil May Cry, etc.), but for most of them, the things that initially annoyed people are still there. An HD upscale is only that. Obvious flaws and irritations noticed the first time around aren't seen as worth changing. This is why I enjoyed Wind Waker HD so much more than those other re-releases. The gameplay itself has been fine-tuned to an insane degree. And the fact that Nintendo decided to pretty much do it themselves instead of letting an outside company really shows how much they care.

Is it worth $50? I say yes, especially to those that haven't had the joy of playing it before. It really stands out as one of the best games in the series, and with these new tweaks, the argument is even stronger. It's a major reason to pick up a Wii U if you've been on the fence so far.

Nintendo took their old technology and seamlessly integrated it into the new. Just talking about using the Wii U GamePad for a game released in 2003, and having it work better than the original controller speaks volumes. Having the two work together is what really made the difference. Instead of saying, "Oh, yeah, you can use the GamePad. The buttons are the same as the GameCube controller, so it's nothing new, just looks different," they instead choose to say, "Hey, we're going to actually use the functionality and features of this thing to really incorporate it as a huge part of the game." The number of changes really make the game feel like it could have been released today for the first time, and it would be just as successful. But the changes don't affect the main gameplay or story. It's still the same game at its core. Nintendo has managed to make a decade-old adventure feel new and fresh, even to those that have already experienced the journey countless times. I cannot applaud them enough for that. But I also shake my finger to warn them not to expect to be able to do it again any time soon.