The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

The Minish Cap features gameplay similar to previous Zelda installments. Link must explore an overworld and complete multiple dungeons, acquiring new items and abilities throughout the game. The titular "Minish cap" refers to a new ability that allows Link to transform into "Minish size" using portals throughout the world. Link's smaller size changes his ability to traverse his environments. For instance, a small portal inaccessible to Link in his normal size can be used by Minish-sized Link. A puddle that Link can normally walk over will be too deep for Minish-sized Link to traverse. Along with items common to Zelda games (such as bombs and arrows), The Minish Cap introduces three new items: the Mole Mitts (allowing Link to dig through earthen walls), the Gust Jar (which sucks up enemies and other objects), and the Cane of Pacci (which flips objects upside-down). In certain areas, the player can create multiple copies of Link; although The Minish Cap is a single-player game, this ability is inspired by the multiplayer-focused Four Swords games. The player can also collect "Kinstones", artifacts that are broken into two fragments. Finding matching Kinstone pieces can progress the game or award other prizes. ==Story==

Setting Within the Zelda chronology, The Minish Cap takes place between Skyward Sword and Four Swords, making it the second story in that timeline. As a prequel to Four Swords, The Minish Cap tells the backstory of Vaati and the creation of the Four Sword, which both feature in Four Swords and its sequel Four Swords Adventures. Plot Centuries ago, Hyrule was ravaged by evil forces until the Picori, a race of tiny creatures, bestowed a young hero with the Picori Blade and the Light Force, using both to trap the world's evils in a chest. The grateful people of Hyrule would hold an annual Picori Festival, with legends stating that a door between their worlds would open every 100 years, allowing the Picori to return. In the present, Link accompanies Princess Zelda to the Picori Festival. The festival's sword fighting champion, Vaati, destroys the Picori Blade and opens the chest, releasing monsters across Hyrule. Not finding the Light Force he seeks, Vaati turns Zelda to stone and leaves. As only children can see the Picori, King Daltus orders Link to find them so that the sword can be reforged to stop Vaati and restore Zelda. Traveling to Minish Woods, Link encounters Ezlo, a magical hat, who decides to accompany Link and grants him the ability to shrink to Picori size. The Picori, who call themselves Minish, then task Link with retrieving the Four Elements, magic stones needed to restore the Picori Blade. Ezlo eventually explains that he was once a Minish sage who created the Mage's Cap, a hat capable of granting wishes, but his apprentice Vaati stole the hat and became a powerful sorcerer. Fascinated by evil and seeking the Light Force's power, Vaati used his new abilities to trap Ezlo in his current form. Meanwhile, Vaati brainwashes King Daltus and takes control of Hyrule Castle. After Link retrieves the Four Elements and infuses them into the reforged blade, turning it into the Four Sword, Link and Ezlo learn that the Light Force is passed down within Hyrule's princesses. Vaati, who had been spying on them, overhears this and begins siphoning the Light Force from Zelda. Link returns to the castle and confronts Vaati, who uses the extracted Light Force to become all-powerful, but Link overcomes Vaati and restores Zelda to normal. Vaati transforms into a demonic form, only to be vanquished by Link, restoring Ezlo to normal. After Zelda uses the Mage's Cap to undo all the damage done by Vaati, destroying the cap in the process, Ezlo thanks Link for his help, giving him a new hat as a parting gift, and departs through the door to the Minish Realm before it seals itself for another century. ==Development and promotion==

speaking at Game Developers Conference, 2007 After Capcom and its scenario writing subsidiary Flagship had finished developing Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages for the Game Boy Color, they began work on a new Zelda game for the Game Boy Advance. Work on the title was suspended to allow the teams to focus on Four Swords, but in February 2003 Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma revealed that development of what would later be called The Minish Cap was "well underway". The game had a cartoonish art style similar to The Wind Waker, as it has a fairy tale setting similar to said game, within "the world of tiny fairies, a universal fairytale story". A first in the Zelda series, the game was released in European territories before North America. The main cited reason for this was the Nintendo DS: with the European DS Launch scheduled for Spring 2005, Nintendo of Europe pushed to make The Minish Cap its handheld Christmas "killer app". Conversely, Nintendo of America held back on its release so not to "cannibalize" the DS market. The game is included in the list of Game Boy Advance games that is now available for download for the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console by Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors. In Europe, the game was available either as a standalone packaged game, or as part of a special pack, which included one of only 25,000 limited edition, Zelda-themed Game Boy Advance SP. The Triforce SP is matte gold in color, with a Triforce logo stamped on the lid, and the Hyrule royal family crest printed on the lower right face. As a launch promotion, Nintendo Europe also produced seven 24-carat gold plated Game Boy Advance SP consoles, with six given away to people who found a golden ticket inside their Triforce SP package, and a seventh as a magazine promotion. Thirty were autographed by Miyamoto himself at the opening of the Nintendo World Store in New York. ==Reception and awards==

The Minish Cap was the best-selling game in its debut week in Japan, selling 97,000 copies. It became the 62nd best-selling game of 2004 with 196,477 copies, and had a total of 350,000 copies overall in the country. In North America, The Minish Cap sold 217,000 copies in its debut month of January 2005, being the fourth best-selling game of the month. It remained among the five best-selling games in February and March. The Minish Cap closed the year as the seventh best-selling game of 2005. By March 2005, the game already had sold 1 million units worldwide. In the United States alone, The Minish Cap sold 680,000 copies and earned $21 million by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 37th highest-selling game launched for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable in that country. The game ended up selling 1.76 million copies worldwide. The game received critical acclaim. IGN praised the game for continuing the legacy of the successful series, while GameSpot also praised the game for this aspect, saying that "classic Zelda gameplay and flavor will please fans". Despite the criticism of the dungeon lengths, 1UP.com praised the dungeon design, proclaiming it as superior to that of other Zelda games. The main criticism of the game among reviewers is the length of the game. Eurogamer says that "it's too short", while RPGamer state that "the typical player can fly through the game's six relatively short dungeons in about ten hours". There are also various other complaints from reviewers: IGN claims that the kinstone system is overly repetitive; and RPGamer details the game's low difficulty level as a disadvantage. The Minish Cap received an average score of 90 percent from GameRankings, a site that compiles media ratings from several publishers to give an average score. == Notes ==