Capcom's last Zelda title truly lives up to the name of the franchise.

User Rating: 9.5 | The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap GBA
The Good: Graphics are unique and fun; the new items are awesome; music is true blue Zelda; shrinking and growing is executed better than you'd expect; new control elements work with the old ones; parts of the game are truly challenging.

The Bad: The game is too short for a Zelda game, though sidequests help the matter; Kinstones are a bit of a nuisance.

Zelda's come a long way. Since 2000, there's been a Zelda game every year. This is Capcom's last Zelda though, so we're all hoping for a fond farewell.

We got it. This Zelda is actually the first Zelda on GBA that's not a port, and it's therefore probably the best 2-D Zelda ever made except A Link to the Past. It combines the classic 2-D Zelda control scheme with a few tweaks of its own, and brings so many new elements to the table that it's hard to be disappointed.

Despite that the game arrived after the DS, the graphics are truly beautiful. They're charming and unique, and seem like Four Swords, except better. Link moves more like a real human, and Hyrule is as big as it's ever been.

The music is almost all new, but the classic Hyrule Field Theme is back. And that's definitely positive, not negative. It'll remind you how massive a quest you're on, and that it's time to be Link again.

I enjoy that even more than usual mainly because Four Swords Adventures is probably my least favorite Zelda. I've played them all except Adventure of Link and the CD-I games. It's not a bad game, but 2004 didn't feel like it had a Zelda game. So this stuff brings back the goods on a handheld, which we haven't seen since 2002.

The quest incorporates Vaati and is basically a prequel to the Four Swords games, which shakes things up a little bit from the Ganondorf stories. You'll be saving Zelda, of course, but shaking things up a little bit all over the place is what Minish Cap does. And that's truly wonderful.

The control scheme still uses A and B as equip slots, a control pad for moving around the hero in green, and Start to pause, but it's included more buttons to utilize everything the GBA can do.

Select lets you talk to your helper for the game, Ezlo, Link's first talking hat. L lets you fuse Kinstones with others, which causes tons of different possible effects. You could be getting Rupees, Heart Pieces, getting a completely new item, or making Gorons come and help break down a wall- you never know. And R adds the roll ability to the game, a very useful addition.

The Minish are a great idea, and just as brilliant in execution. Some entire levels have you as tiny as they are, and other levels have you shrinking and growing throughout. When you're small, it's very cool to see tons of details proving that you are. Grass is taller than you, an acorn is massive, and normal enemies become bosses. This is the best addition to the game, hands down.

And while you'll be getting upgrades for your sword (until you at last create the Four Sword), the bow and arrow, a boomerang and running boots, plenty of new items are here too. The Gust Jar, the Mole Mitts and the Cane of Pacci, to name a few, are equally fun to use, exclusive to this game, and commonly have more than one ability. These too bring freshness to a formula that's been used since 1987.

The biggest complaint with the game is that it's too short. A collection quest (that actually turns out fun, unlike almost every other) and six levels isn't quite large enough for a Zelda game, on average. Still, it'll take you fifteen to maybe twenty hours to beat, which is reasonable for a handheld game.

The Kinstones are a great idea, but going and searching for the right people and having the right Kinstone to fuse with them is a bit of a nuisance. That's just a minor little quibble of mine though. On the upside, it does add some length to the game.

I was planning to give the game a 9.0, but as I wrote the review, I realized that this game is hard to find fault with. It may be two dimensional, but this Zelda isn't one you should miss. The game is spectacular, and Capcom's best Zelda.

Even today, 2009 as of this writing, it's worth a purchase. Especially if you love Zelda, Minish Cap is a spectacular achievement, and one of the best titles on the GBA.