The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GameCube)

Twilight Princess is a game that has been a gap in my Zelda experience for a long time. It's also a game that asks for your patience. The early hours are a frustrating tease of something better. Once the game opens up, it stands as one of the most cinematic and satisfying entries in the Zelda series. 

It Only Gets Better

The tutorial village is charming and does its job well, but the wolf sections that follow are a drag. Combat actions in wolf form whips the camera around violently, and most of the wolf gameplay amounts to running across large areas collecting things. I also found myself longing to switch back to Link so that I could explore. For example, Castle Town is right there, lively and full of people, but in wolf form you can only pass through in darkness, unable to enter shops, grab quests, or interact with the world you can see waiting for you.

The wallet situation compounds the frustration. Your money is capped at 300 rupees for an uncomfortably long stretch (later 600), and the game keeps offering chests full of currency that simply can not be collected. There is something demoralizing about finding a dozen treasure chests and walking away from all of them, unable to check them off your mental list.

But then the Master Sword arrives, the wolf-and-human toggle opens up, and everything changes. Twilight Princess transforms. The world expands, the combat deepens, the dungeons grow more inventive, and the pacing that felt so punishing early on fades into the background.

Dungeons and Towns

The dungeon design in the back half of Twilight Princess is exceptional. The Gerudo desert temple builds to a boss encounter where Link looks completely badass: slowly spinning as the structure shifts around him, the camera pulling back to frame a looming monster. It is one of the most cinematic boss moments in the series. The dragon boss battle, similarly, frames Link as a small figure standing against something enormous in a massive vertical space, another moment where scale is used to enhance the dramatic climax of a dungeon.

The strange mansion is a highlight for different reasons. It is structurally unlike any other dungeon in the game, and full of inventive setpieces, including cannons, a ball-and-chain weapon, and an eerie boss encounter that resolves on a heartwarming note.

The one-on-one sword duel with Ganon at the end of the game, with its swelling score and forced cinematic camera, is a fittingly dramatic conclusion to the combat arc. 

On the other end of the spectrum, the water sections are exactly as unpleasant as they sound, for all the familiar reasons: cramped 3D space, reduced mobility compared to Link's fluid overworld movement, constant camera friction, and a swim mechanic that punishes. Can we just stop with the water temples?

Castle Town is the most alive and most interesting town in any Zelda game. Fangirls surround Link and drop hearts. A kid shines your boots and sparkles appear. An expensive shop with overpriced armor and a snobby salesman is good for a laugh. The density of life and detail in that space is something the series has not matched since. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are extraordinary games, but neither has a single location that bustles the way Castle Town does here. The next Zelda should learn from this.

Combat

Combat as human Link is where Twilight Princess shines. It starts off feeling good and becomes genuinely great. The hidden skills system introduces techniques gradually throughout the game, allowing you to progressively build and apply your knowledge.

Much of the wolf combat, unfortunately, is the inverse of all this. It feels like a repetitive minigame you are forced to participate in, with none of the tactical depth or satisfying feedback of Link's human moveset. 

A note for Nintendo: the side-rolling sword technique in Twilight Princess is among the most enjoyable mechanics in the entire franchise. It needs to make a comeback. Oh, and make Link left-handed again…

Music

The soundtrack of Twilight Princess is especially enjoyable through headphones. In the open fields, a bass line drops in a way that lands with real delight. Castle Town layers music in and out as Link travels through different parts of the streets, dropping tracks when transitioning screens and switching tracks when approaching a band, giving the area a sense of organic musical life rather than a single looping track.

Weapons & Items

Zelda games tend to be known for their combination of classic weapons and items intermixed with new concepts and iterations on prior mechanics. The old favorites are all here in Twilight: the master sword, arrows, bottles, pieces of heart, and much more. Twilight Princess also introduces new items such as the spinner, dominion wand, and ball and chain. With these three examples, the items double as puzzle solve and an alternative to combat. 

Quests & Activities

There are a handful of quests sprinkled throughout the game with what felt like a similar amount as compared to Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. The difference between Twilight and those games, however, is that I found the N64 professors to have quests of greater interest and variety.

Twilight also has a collection quest that has Link searching all over Hyrule of poe souls. But here’s the catch: You can only see the poe carrying ghosts at night, and there is no way to advance time beyond waiting. If the developers had, for example, included an inn or personal space in Castle Town and Kakariko Village as a means to quickly transition time then poe hunting would have been less taxing. Now, to be fair, it's very easy for me to say “why didn't they” to a bunch of stuff. I think I'm pushing particularly hard on this one because the prior 3D games did have an easy way to transition and a reason for it. This game has the reason but lacks the tool.

The fishing area is a sight to behold, full of tranquil beauty. I don’t personally get much out of these types of features, but appreciate that they exist. 

Story

The story of Twilight Princess has a high-fantasy, slightly gritty quality to it that suits the game's darker visual tone. Its cinematic beats, the warthog riding mercenary, and the sudden appearances of Ganon all carry weight and an 80s fantasy film energy that feels fairly distinctive in the series. The world-building is strong, and the strange, memorable characters, the bug-collecting girl, the gem-encrusted NPC, and the unusual couple in the mansion give it a unique personality.

The ending, however, lands short of what it promises. Watching a companion transform and shatter the mirror before departing is a fine moment, but seems to be a few story moments missing throughout the game that would have built this ending up to be something more than what was delivered. In other words, the emotional conclusion feels somewhat flat. 

Conclusion

Looking back, pushing through was absolutely worth it, despite its imperfections. The latter half of Twilight Princess is something special, and any lingering complaints feel small against what it achieves. Its dungeons and combat satisfy. And Castle Town alone is worth the price of admission.