Zelda Runthrough: Four Swords (GBA, 2002)

After taking a long break from Zelda games, I'm almost finished with Wind Waker, and I'll have plenty to say about that game soon.  But first I have to take care of some unfinished business.

Four Swords is not a stand-alone game.  Instead it's a multiplayer mode attached to the Game Boy Advance re-release of A Link to the Past.  It requires two to four players to connect their GBAs (each with its own copy of the game) with link cables.  For this reason, it's easy to see why the original release is not widely talked about.  (A remake for the DSi was released online a few years ago, and then again earlier this year, to celebrate Zelda's 25th anniversary.)

It does have its own very simple story, told in two separate cutscenes at the beginning and end of the game, but it's terribly generic stuff about saving Zelda from a black bat-thing called Vaati.  Link takes an artifact called the "Four Sword", which splits him to four differently-colored Links.  The game has no overworld.  Instead there are just three stages, each with a number of floors and a boss, and then a final stage where you fight Vaati himself.

The gameplay is pretty simple, but still quite a bit of fun.  To obviate the need for an inventory screen, you can only hold one item at a time.  Most of the puzzles require you to work together in some fashion - for example, the Links can toss each other over gaps when there's only one jump feather available.  In an interesting twist, the levels are randomly generated, although this just means that pre-designed puzzles will appear scattered around in arbitrary order.  After each level, a Great Fairy will appear, and judge you based on - get this - how many rupees you collected.  (My wife and I consistently got the rating of "little eggs".)  Rupees are quite important in this game, not only to please the capitalist deities, but because you spend them to regenerate your Links when they die.

Clare and I definitely enjoyed playing Four Swords, but I certainly wouldn't call this a hidden classic, because it's extremely short and not very difficult.  Clare and I finished it in about three hours, beating Vaati quite easily our first time.  I read online that one needs to play the game three times and get a ton of rupees in order to get the best ending, but I don't think there's enough content to warrant that kind of effort.  If you have three GBA-owning friends, then this game might provide you with a fun and memorable afternoon, but otherwise, it's certainly no reason to go out and buy a second GBA (ahem).

If there's one thing to take away from Four Swords, it's that Capcom was more innovative with their approach to the Zelda series than the Oracle games would lead us to believe.  Four Swords is a really good idea, one that they would make better use of later on.

Plus I love the way all of the Links have long bangs.  Seriously, they're like a 90's boy band.