Developer: Nintendo EAD
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo Gamecube, Wii U (HD rerelease)
Release Date: December 13, 2002
The eighth entry of the critically-acclaimed Legend of Zelda franchise, Wind Waker is most famous for it's unique 'toon' cel-shaded style. With its use of vibrant colours, hard shading and stylised effects, the game often appears more like an interactive cartoon than a video-game. It also makes use of fully real-time lighting and effects like depth of field blur to further this effect.
Naturally, the characters that inhabit this vibrant world are all suitably cartoonish, and this extends to the game's protagonist, Link; the appearance of Wind Waker's hero is far removed from that of previous installments, with his enlarged head and stumpy legs. And yet, despite his drastically different physiology, he still retains the same general look of his predecessors, including the green clothes, the floppy hat and the signature sword and shield. Furthermore, the toonish style allows Link to be far more expressive than ever before; as players explore, Link will glance around the room, and his expression will noticibly change depending on the situation.
Wind Waker has recently been rereleased on the Wii U, with smoother textures and bloom lighting
How did the Fans react?
From it's initial announcement to release, Wind Waker recieved a great deal of hatred from fans of the series. The cause of this hate was that most fans had been hoping for a more mature, realistic styled game (a desire fuelled largely by the 2000 Spaceworld Zelda demo that hinted at such a game), and viewed Wind Waker's cel-shaded aesthetic as 'childish', leading to many of them dismissing the game out of hand.
In the decade that has passed since them, however, opinions of Wind Waker's style have become much more favourable, especially with the release of Wind Waker HD. Part of this may be because of a rise of stylised games, such as Team Fortress 2, which has cause many to abandon the mistake belief that realistic graphics are inherently better and more 'mature'. People who dislike it still remain, but they are far fewer in number than they were before and most of them have turned their attentions to newer iterations
Personal Verdict
Wind Waker stands as one of my favourite games of all time, and the cel-shaded aesthetic is one of the reasons why. The fact is, it's a a charmingly beautiful game full of vibrant characters and it is a joy simply to watch. The highlight, of course, is Link himself, who is different yet so familiar at the same time. Truth be told, the game is more of a stylistic change than a full redesign, but with results like this it doesn't really matter.
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