The Legend of Zelda - Four Swords Adventures is another Zelda game in the series released for The Nintendo Gamecube in Japan on March 18th 2004, North America on June 7th 2004 and The Uk January 7th 2005. The unique feature to this quest was being able to use The Gameboy Advance as a controller if used with The Gameboy Advance Cable that connects to The Gamecube. I don't think most people consider this to be a main game as part of the series but it's a great game nonetheless and definately deserves to have a mention unlike some far inferior creations for The Phillips CD-I, what were they thinking using the Zelda name making terrible games like they did? The Four Swords Adventures took the original concept bundled in with A link to the Past and adapted the gameplay so that it was possible to play the game singularly aided with the other trio of Links being controlled by the CPU. The game received a mix view of reactions yet I would suggest you get your hands on a copy if you still can and if you have mates then the more the merrier.

The Story of The Four Sword

Hyrule is living in fear of strange events occurring recently. The Princess Zelda along with The Shrine Maidens request the help of Link while they open the seal to The Four Sword Sanctuary. Appearing from the portal appears to be a doppelganger of Link only in a shadow form. Shadow Link captures The Shrine Maidens and seals them in crystals. Link has to face the choice of retrieving The Four Swords from it's podium which he knows will unleash the Evil Vaati and cause mayhem. Once Link pulls The Four Sword from it's resting place he is split into four, the fate of Hyrule depicts on Link working together with himself to overcome the Evil cast upon the land.

The Development

During the E3 show of 2003 Nintendo paraded two brand new Legend of Zelda games which would make use of the connectivity with The Gameboy Advance. It was later announced that year that the games would come bundled on the same disk Four Swords and Shadow Battle. In Japan Four Swords Adventures was released with The Hyrulean Adventure, Shadow Battle and Navi's Trackers. An announcement was made for North America that Hyrulean Adventures and Navi's Trackers would be sold individually but no word of Shadow Battle. The final decision came as Hyrulean Adventure and Shadow Battle to be released yet without Navi's Trackers which was the same for The UK release.

The UK PAL release was set back to early 2005 quite possibly because The Minish Cap was released around the same time as the translation had been finished and that just wouldn't be good for marketing. Navi's Trackers featured speech navigation and advise and used the players name yet this game was not released across the sea.

The Hyrulean Adventure

The Hyrulean Adventure is the main mode of play in The Legend of Zelda - The Four Swords Adventures for playing singularly although you still take control over the other Links. There are eight worlds seperate into three stages to each with a main boss at the end. The graphics are similar to those of The Four Swords on The Gameboy Advance with additions of some borrowed form The Wind Waker like the particle effects for smoke.

The multiplayer version allows each user to use The Gameboy Advance as a controller and the action transfers from the big screen to The Gameboy Advance for once Link has entered a cave. It is a necessity for each player to use a Gameboy Advance to play the multiplayer mode. Link comes in four different colours depicting on his tunic which are green, red, blue and purple. Players are required to work together to solve puzzles such as stepping on allocated switches in sequence with the key being teamwork even in the single player mode.

This is quite possible the first and only game to feature Force Gems to be collected which is a change from gathering Rupees which has been used in one form or another since the very first Legend of Zelda. Collecting The Force Gems does add an element of competitiveness to the game even thought to progress a degree of teamwork is required making for a fun adventure while getting closer to the goal.

Shadow Battle

A feature for multiplayers adventures is The Shadow Battle in which players must compete and battle each other until only one Link is left standing. There are five different stages to choose amongst from although bonus maps can be unlocked once The Hyrulean Adventure has been completed. Items appear randomly on screen which each Link can use to attack the other players and claim victory. To add an element of urgency to the fun game a time limit counts down to denote a winner with the most points.

Navi's Trackers

This was originally planned to be released as a game by it's own rights however it finally was used within The Four Swords Adventures. Furthermore this game was only present in The Japanese version of The Four Swords Adventures which features a multiplayer mode once again returning with a use of the big screen and a Gameboy Advance each. There was a single player mode where you have the chance to compete against Tingle. In this multiplayer game you can choose your own name and gender regardless you still play as a coloured Link.

The Breakdown

This is a fun game and even if you don't have friends that all had Gamecubes and Gameboy Advance and copies of the game you could still enjoy the individual play while linking up with the other heroes as a formidable team. I think they could have done a lot better with this game in regards of releasing all the games on one disk missing out on Navi's Trackers was awful and it's annoying when things like that happen, Im just glad we got Tingle's Rosie Rupeeland. Four Swords Adventures is a great game although it's really not strictly a true new game you should definitely track it down and play it if you haven't already it can be quite fun.

Sounds - They didn't really push the boundaries here doesn't seem like anything new.

Graphics - Bit of a rehash of Gameboy Advance with some effects from Wind Waker.

Replayability - Yeah if you got friends that own a Gameboy Advance each and a Gamecube along with a copy of the game.

I Award The Four Swords Adventures: 6/10

Facts & Secrets To get The Tingle Towers mini games complete the second stage of each level to unlock different games. To attain the final 5 Shadow Battle Arenas complete the Hyrulean Adventure.

Zelda is copyrighted to Nintendo

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