The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap's solid gameplay, great puzzles, and enjoyable side-quests make it a GBA must have.
The plot is simple to a certain degree, but it also has a touch of depth to it. At the beginning of the game, you know very little. A mysterious, cloaked sorcerer named Vaati has done two diabolical deeds. Firstly, he has destroyed a magical, ancient sword, said to crafted by little people called "Minish." Second, he has turned Princess Zelda into stone. In order to restore her, Link must travel across the land of Hyrule and find a way to repair the sword. Then he must fuse it with four elements scattered across the land. Along the way, you will discover a bit more about "Ezlo," a humorous, talking hat you find at the beginning of the game.
If you've ever played a 2D Zelda game, you'll find that the core gameplay of Minish Cap isn't much different. You'll move about in a 2D, overhead viewpoint and use your sword for combat. In Minish Cap, after learning the spin attack, there are many other moves to learn, but they are all optional, and frankly, not very useful. It's fun to find the different "masters" that teach you these moves, but aside from the standard swing and spin attack, you probably won't be using much else. Also, a new feature in Minish Cap is the ability to become very small. Your hat, Ezlo, has the ability to make you Minish-sized, as long as your standing on a "portal," which can come in various forms. The game makes very good use of this, and I will explain those uses in further depth as I come to them.
As in every Zelda game, the main goal is to reach each dungeon and conquer it, moving on to the next. To put it bluntly, dungeons are well-crafted, and a joy to play. The puzzles are entertaining, and never get frustratingly hard. Some puzzles require you to switch back and forth between your Minish and normal sizes. Instead of being an annoying gimmick, these parts of the game are fun to play, and are in no way boring. Another thing to look forward to in dungeons is the items. Somewhere along the line, while in a dungeon, you'll need to find a new item to progress. The items are all very different, and fun to use. You'll always be anticipating the new item, because not only can you use it to defeat the dungeon, but it can also be used to access secrets on the main overworld. At the end of a dungeon, you'll encounter a boss. While these bosses aren't particularly hard (I don't think I died once on one), they're a blast to fight. You'll always have to use that new item in some way, and some bosses even make use of "portals," which, once again, makes things even more fun.
So is that all? Is it just find a dungeon, beat it, repeat? The answer is no. For one, in order to get to dungeons in the first place, you'll have to traverse a new area of Hyrule. The areas are different, lengthy, and can prove a challenge themselves. Aside, from the main quest however, Minish Cap offers much to do. Much to do. Throughout the game, you'll find droves of little halves of stones called, "kinstones." These stones come in different colors and shapes and basically shape most every side-quest in the game. When you approach someone to talk to them, you might notice a little thought bubble over their head. If you do, it means they want to "fuse kinstones." By pressing L, you can access a screen in which the "fusee" shows you their stone. You can scroll through your collection, and see if you have one that matches their color and edge. If you do, you can push the stones together. They will fuse, and a short cutscene will take place, showing you something that changed on the over world. The spot will also be marked on your map. A new chest at Trilby Highlands. A new path opened at Lon Lon Ranch. The game shop guy just had an new idea. The list goes on and on. I fused many, many kinstones while playing, and apparently, I still had many more to fuse. Fusing kinstones, and exploring their effects is a blast. It's great fun to just go out and fuse as many kinstones as you can, and explore their effects between dungeons. If your one for playing games even after your done with them, you most likely would enjoy going back and seeing if you can fuse all the kinstones in the game. I have no idea if you get rewarded for it, but it does provide much replay value. There are also portals scattered all over the over world. There are items, and secret areas to be found by exploring the miniscule world of the Minish. As your abilities get more advanced, more of that world will be open to you. And then, of course, is the game's currency, rupees. By breaking jars, opening chests, and chopping away grass, you can gain the little crystals and use them to buy many things.
The visuals of Minish Cap are very nice, and definitely above par for the GBA. The sprites are bright, well-animated, and not very pixely at all, and the different areas provide a nice change for the eyes. The visuals are excellent, and leave nothing to complain about.
The music and sound in Minish Cap is also very well done. Certain characters make sounds when you talk to them, and none of them are annoying. The grunts and sighs of Ezlo, the squeals and laughs of the Minish, and evil laughter of Vaati are all nice touches. Link also makes battle yells and grunts while attacking and rolling. This suprisingly doesn't get very annoying either. The game's score isn't phenomenal, but it can definitely stand on it's own. While some tracks are remixed Zelda tunes, some are totally new. There was nothing bad, but not much was particularly catchy either. The traditional Zelda theme, of course, is an exception. Two tracks that really did stand out to me were the fusing sanctuary and the final boss. All in all, the soundtrack is pretty much up there with all the other Zelda titles.
When it comes to difficulty, the game is a bit on the easy side. I don't think I died once, except for one time during the final boss. As said before, the puzzles are fun, but not-mind boggling, and when it comes to knowing where to go, that's pretty straight-forward too. I believe I only became really stuck about twice, and I was on my way with some thorough searching. Still the easy difficulty of the game does really nothing to hurt its quality. Infact, I don't think it would have been as fun if it were harder. Perhaps the bosses could have put up a tad more of a fight, but that's a small complaint.
The game didn't keep track of my time, but I can safely say that it's a long one. I'm bad at estimating, so I'm not going to try to pin a certain amount of hours on it, but it's lengthy indeed--especially with kinstone fusing. So don't worry, it'll last you a while.
All in all, Minish Cap has once again held the "Zelda" name high. Capcom has created a game that's a blast to play, has good replay value, and has very little to complain about. If you're looking for an excellent GBA game to pick up, and don't have this title yet, you'll definitely want to go with The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.