this game may not please just you, but if you have some friends with gba's this game will be a blast.
User Rating: 10 | Zelda no Densetsu: 4tsu no Tsurugi+ GC
At the end of 2002, Nintendo ported one of the greatest Zelda games of all to the Gameboy Advance: A Link To The Past. To keep the game fresh, they also included a new Multiplayer adventure with it called Four Swords. You could play this game with friends, to cooperate & compete. It was a blast, so Nintendo decided to take the next step. Four Swords Adventures, while staying faithful to the first, explores new game mechanics which make it one of the most innovative games I've ever seen. The storyline is pretty simple; A dark shadow who resembles Link has captured the Six Maidens & Princess Zelda. To get them back, Link pulls the Four Sword, a powerful blade which splits the holder into four, from it's pedestal. Unfortunately, the Four Sword was like a key, which kept an evil Wind Sage named Vaati prisoner. Now with Vaati free, chaos has erupted all over Hyrule. Link must rescue the Maidens, and defeat the Wind Mage. If you haven't noticed by now, this game is completely 2D. But for some people, it will bring a feeling of nostalgia to them. And hopefully the others can appreciate this style of graphics. Also, the game has some cool lighting & particle effects, such as the way Fire shoots out of the Fire Rod. Now, the first Four Swords was Multiplayer only, but Nintendo has included a Single Player Mode with Adventures. In Single Player, you can use either a regular Gamecube Controller, OR hook up a Gameboy Advance to the Gamecube via a Nintendo Gamecube-Gameboy Advance Cable (one cable comes free with the game). Why use a GBA, you ask? Well... The GBA is mostly for Multiplayer. If you're playing with other people, and you enter a cave or house (without everyone else), how would you see what you were doing? It would be exceedingly annoying for a window on the T.V to pop up, and what if you didn't want the others to know what you were up to? In steps the Gameboy Advance. When you enter a cave, house, or any other sort of level that isn't visible on the main screen, the action switches to your GBA. It's very useful in more ways then one. Anyways, back to Single Player. You control all four Links at once. There are different formations you can choose for them, such as a Box, a Horizontal Line, a Vertical Line, or a Diamond. As a default formation, you control the Green Link only, and the rest follow you as "dummies". You can also control each Link on their own, while the others sit out of harm's way. When controlling a Link on their own, you can pick up one of the other Links, and throw them across a pit (if needed to reach a switch, or something else). The use of items is not the same as a traditional Zelda game. You can only carry one item at a time (with the obvious exception of your Sword). When you pick up another item, you drop your current one. Strangely enough, this doesn't hurt the gameplay at all. In some cases, it makes things more interesting. Another thing to mention; There isn't an Overworld. The game is divided up into Worlds & Stages. There are Eight Worlds, and Three Stages per World. During each stage, you'll be finding little Triangle things. Those are called "Force Gems", and at the end of the stage, you'll need 2000 to proceed to the next stage. There are different value Force Gems, which range from 1 to 300. If you don't have enough Force Gems at the end of the stage, you can "go back in time". When you do this, you start back at the beginning of the level with the same amount of Force Gems. Once you get the remaining amount of Force Gems you require, you'll be warped back to the end of the stage. Now, for Multiplayer, each player MUST use a Gameboy Advance. You cannot use a regular Controller. The game mechanics of Multiplayer are pretty much the same. If there are Two Players, each one will control Two Links. If there are Three Players, each one will control One Link, but there's an extra Link that anyone can use (and steal, too!). And obviously, if there are Four Players, each one will control One Link. So all in all, there are always Four Links in the game. Aside from the main quest ("Hyrulean Adventure"), there is another mode of play: "Shadow Battle". It's pretty much a Zelda Deathmatch. Unfortunately, it's Multiplayer Only. So, even if you don't have friends with GBAs (and Cables), Four Swords Adventures is still a must buy. And if you DO have one, two, or three friend(s) who meet