After the revolutionary A Link To The Past on the dear old SNES and the peerless Ocarina Of Time on the 64, Nintendo’s new — and much troubled — console is finally graced by their marquee name: Zelda.
In The Wind Waker (those titles!), the now-established format of non-linear adventuring — wherein the tense dungeon adventures are perfectly balanced with the light relief of exploring charming towns — is closely adhered to, and there is little here that could be marked down as a major advance. Certainly, only the Japanese could think the controversial cartoon-style graphics look ‘cool’. But who cares? The most vividly-realised world and the most varied game-play of any title on any console, Zelda is a solid bet for the best game series ever, and The Wind Waker — although marginally easier than Ocarina Of Time — is a worthy successor.
Reason enough to buy a Gamecube, even if you already have a PS2.
See how The Wind Waker did on our list of the 100 greatest games.