The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

"My only complaint so far is that Tingle caressed my thigh while going for a Force Gem."

Let me just start off by saying I'm sick of reviews whining about how 'you have to buy a GBA to play this game'. Well watch out, you also have to buy a TV, a GCN and get the electricity in your house turned on just to play this one little game! ITS OUTRAGEOUS!

First of all, games like Four Swords Adventures and Crystal Chronicles do not expect you to pay over a 100 dollars to play, they allow you to get new use out of things you already own. No one is going to buy a GBA just to use for a controller. If you don't have the means of GBA/GCN connectivity in the first place (the game includes a cord btw), why are you purchasing a game that has the "GET CONNECTED" seal on the box cover? Frankly, the reviewers whining about how they don't want to pay for a GBA should have known that a GBA is (an optional) part of the game in the first place just by looking at the box. I mean, no one buys Halo and then writes an angry review on how they aren't going to 'shell out' hundreds of dollars to buy an Xbox to play Halo. Don't buy the friggin game if knowing you won't be able to get the most out of it is going to bother you.

And secondly, this is a damn good game without the connectivity. I played the first 16 stages in single-player mode and it was a blast. Four Swords Adventures is by no means a multi-player only game with a frustrating single-player mode cheaply tacked on (like Crystal Chronicles) It is more like Smash Brother's Melee; it's a wonderful game built for both multi and single player use from the ground up.

The story revolves around four Links (controlled by 1-4 players) and starts out simple, but grows more complex with time. By the time its all said in done, you should understand what the heck is going on between Wind Waker and Link to the Past. Its placement in the timeline is pegged immediately before LttP, and explains lots of things that LttP just touched on. Basically Link is tricked into pulling a sword that splits him into four shards of his former self. Upon doing so he releases the evil Wind Mage Vaati who kidnaps the 7 maidens (Zelda included) and then goes around Hyrule planting about a 100 dark crystal balls that drains all that is good from the world. Jerk. These dark orbs are scattered around different parts of Hyrule in sets of four. Link(s) must collect enough Force Gems to enchant the Four Sword with the power to repel evil, and then work their way towards each set of orbs and destroy them. Each set of orbs is a 20-40 minute long episode. There are well over 20 episodes, each of which can be replayed with any number of players, unlockable minigames and melee-battle stages. Yeah, it's a big game.

So, how do you control 1-4 links? Well, its simple really. If you are one player you control all 4 Links. 2 players control 2 Links each (or 3 if you steal a Link from your friend's party). 3 players control 1 Link each, with a third one getting stolen back and forth (by picking him up just like a pot or a rock). And in 4 player mode everyone gets 1 Link each.

You'll normally only control one Link, and the others will follow you around in a line like baby ducks (or you can have all your NPC Links sit still while you move any one of them individually). But, the real fun of it comes from formations. Pressing the L-button allows your Links to all join in a horizontal or vertical line where they all move (and attack and use items and push and take damage) as one. In single player mode you'll have all 4 links and get 2 more formations: Box (the Links stand in a square) and Cross (Links stand back to back, and their Spin Attack becomes a wheel of rainbow death)

Other than formations Link controls much like he did in Link to the Past, but with a few new moves:
Roll: Press the 'throw/lift' button when not near/holding an object and link does an evasive tumble. Pressing B at the end of the tumble results in a cool spinning slash.
Down Thrust: When in the air (after jumping or being shot into the air from a cannon or monster) link can use his Sword to slam downwards (just like in Smash Bros Melee)
Hurricane Spin Attack: Adapted from Wind Waker, this attack lets Link move while doing a longer version of his classic Spin Attack, but leaves link dizzy and immobile for a few seconds after it is done.

So what's the deal with the GBA screens you say? (Rhetorical questions are a wonderful substitute for good writing) Well, its kind of complicated to understand without playing it. But basically, as everyone knows 2d Zelda games are made up of 'screens'. In previous Zelda games you would work to complete a task or a puzzle in one screen and then a path to the next screen(s) opens up. That hasn't changed here. All 4 Links will be on the same screen at the same time and all have to exit together. Seems kind of limiting, doesn't it? Well, that's where the GBA comes in. While all the 'screens' are the same size (which is pretty big, normally the camera zooms in to accommodate all 4 players, but can be manually expanded to its full size) each one has its own nooks and crannies that players can venture in on their own.

Say you are in a town, and one Link enters a house. The Link walks inside the door on the TV screen and disappears, but at the same time, that player can control his Link inside the house on the GBA screen. This sounds pointless at first but in later levels where there interconnected caves and gauntlets on the GBA screen, you'll understand how important this is. One of the cool things about the GBA caves is that you sometimes drop down into side-scrolling caves which work much like Zelda 2. In fact, many stages have Moon Pearls that will open gates to Dark World, where players can actually go into a parallel universe onto their GBA screen and still see their shadow interact (and by interact I mean hurt) with things on the TV screen, while their character is actually in a completely different environment on the GBA screen. And, what if you are playing single player without a GBA? One is emulated on the screen for you! Since there is only one player in single player mode, the TV screen can be obscured by the GBA emulator screen because you are always going to be in one or the other, but never both (like in multi mode).

The GBA/GCN connectivity is a work of genius, and is really the first game that would have been impossible to do without the GBA. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles was fun, but the GBA screen could probably have been avoided with a clever interface. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and Animal Crossing were really just to let you "take a little portable piece of the game with you" and Metroid's interaction was just to unlock stuff.

Another innovative idea in the Four Swords/Four Swords Adventures series is its unique fusion of working together and working against each other. Or as I like to call it, working togenst eagether. Basically, you are all fighting to save Hyrule, but at the same time, you are all competing to get the most Force Gems (which are more or less rupees that come in different sizes and are put in more clever locations). While you need the help of all 4 Links (but, not 4 players, all puzzles can be solved with any number of players, as there are always 4 links, because you don't have control over all 4 links in multi-mode, you wont be able to complete certain tasks without the help of your friends Link(s)) to solve puzzles, you'll also have to be aware that your so called friends are back-stabbing jerks. My 'friend' would throw me into holes just for fun, or attack me just for a handful of Force Gems

While there are a number of ways you are rated at the end (who got the most 'points' who got the most force gems, who is voted (3-4 players only) as the MVP, ect) it all means pretty much nothing except bragging rights. Unfortunately, unlike Four Swords for GBA, you don't gain anything for winning. Other than bragging rights.

In fact, nothing (other than 1-up fairies) is kept between levels. No hearts, no items, no nothing. You can only carry 1 item at a time. This sounds incontinent but it works. Since you only ever USE one item at a time in Zelda anyway, why clutter up a fast multiplayer game with a huge item inventory? See, items sit on pedestals, when you need an item to solve a puzzle, you take it off the pedestal. You can also use the pedestals to trade items with a friend. Although, its not always the item you need, sometimes there might be four (or even eight) different items and you have to figure out which on you want. Or sometimes there might just be one really good item (like, one Fire Rod) and you and your friends will be fighting to get to it. You can even upgrade your items if you can find the rare Great Fairies hidden in certain levels. Hearts go away at the end of a level, so you can really expand your heart container pretty far in a few minutes, and then it resets at the end of that level.

The only thing that continues between levels are force fairies and the player who 'won' the last level gets a little marker over that stage on the map. Although, its marked as 'Red Link' not 'John Doe' so as soon as your friends go their separate ways for that session these markings mean nothing, as someone else might be 'Red Link' next time. And believe me, once your friends come to play it once, there will be a next time.

Overall it's a great game, other than Tingle's questionable advances the only real problems I've noticed were petty jaggies or graphical inconsistencies or the sharp (but well received) difficulty curve at the Dark Palace.

And now a small, traditional rating system:
Sound: 10/10 - Beautiful music and sound taken from various games in the Zelda series and dynamically remixed music (like the disturbing twist in the BG music when you enter dark world) and the subtle difference in the Links' voices.
Story: 9/10 - Classic Zelda story-telling. The story, like the gameplay, is very very linear, but everything is well explained and it contributes much to the series-wide Zelda story as a whole.
Graphics: 9/10 - Aside from a few out of place pixels, the graphics are fantastic. It takes the old SNES map templates but then layers them with a texture to make them look more natural (kind of like how they add paper-grain to Link's otherwise cel-shaded box-art)
Fun factor: 11/10 - Its unbelievably fun, everyone should try it at least once. It's almost a genre in and of itself. As a gamer you owe it to your self to experience this at least once.
Single: 8/10 - You'll want to play every level in single player mode at least once. But probably not more than once. It's a GREAT game alone, and everything you can do with 4 players you can do with 1, but it takes a little longer making it feel slightly drab, but you quickly forget about this when the wall blows open and an awesome boss comes swinging a wrecking ball out and you've got to fight him by your self. With all the different formations and ways to control Link(s), the single player battles almost feel like a more action-based real time strategy.
Multi: 10/10 - Multiplayer doesn't get much better than this. Co-op/competition dungeons, melee-type battles, 8 multiplayer minigames ... The hardest part will be sending your friends home.
Replay: 8/10 - Every level can be played over and over with any number of players even though you won't want to play the same one over and over, there is enough variety to spend many hours playing before you get bored (if ever). You probably won't have nearly as much fun replaying a level in single-player mode though, as it is hard to trash talk your self.
Overall: 9/10 - A wonderful addition to the Zelda family, and great game for anyone with a GCN and a must have for anyone who already has a GCN, GBA and friends with their own GBAs.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/10/04