The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is a 2004 action-adventure game created by Capcom and Flagship and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is the twelfth game in The Legend of Zelda series. The game was released in Japan and Europe in 2004 and in North America and Australia in 2005.
The Minish Cap tells the story before Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures, explaining the origins of the Four Sword and the villain Vaati. The game includes many features from earlier Zelda games, such as A Link to the Past, and adds new elements. One key feature is that the main character, Link, receives a magical talking cap named Ezlo, which can shrink Link to the size of a Minish.
Critics praised the game. It was listed as the 20th best Game Boy Advance game by IGN and was chosen as the 2005 Game Boy Advance Game of the Year by GameSpot. The game was released again on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2014 and on the Nintendo Classics service in February 2023.
Gameplay
The Minish Cap has gameplay that is similar to earlier Zelda games. Players control Link as he explores a large world and completes several dungeons. Throughout the game, he gains new tools and abilities to help him progress.
The name "Minish Cap" comes from a special power that lets Link shrink to a smaller size using special portals found in the game world. When Link is small, he can move through places he couldn’t reach in his normal size. For example, a portal that is too small for regular-sized Link can be used by Minish-sized Link. A puddle that Link can normally walk across becomes too deep for him to cross when he is small.
In addition to common Zelda items like bombs and arrows, The Minish Cap adds three new tools: the Mole Mitts (which let Link dig through dirt walls), the Gust Jar (which pulls enemies and objects into it), and the Cane of Pacci (which turns objects upside down). In some areas, players can create multiple copies of Link. Even though The Minish Cap is a single-player game, this feature is inspired by the multiplayer-focused Four Swords series. Players can also collect "Kinstones," which are broken into two pieces. Finding matching Kinstone fragments helps advance the game or gives rewards.
Story
In the Zelda timeline, The Minish Cap occurs between Skyward Sword and Four Swords, making it the second story in that sequence. As a prequel to Four Swords, The Minish Cap explains the origin of Vaati and the creation of the Four Sword, both of which appear in Four Swords and its sequel, Four Swords Adventures.
Centuries ago, Hyrule was attacked by evil forces until the Picori, a group of small creatures, gave a young hero the Picori Blade and the Light Force. These items were used to trap the world’s evils in a chest. The people of Hyrule celebrated this with an annual Picori Festival, and legends said a door between their worlds would open every 100 years, allowing the Picori to return. In the present, Link travels with Princess Zelda to the Picori Festival. The festival’s sword fighting champion, Vaati, destroys the Picori Blade and opens the chest, releasing monsters across Hyrule. Unable to find the Light Force, Vaati turns Zelda to stone and leaves. Since only children can see the Picori, King Daltus orders Link to find them so the sword can be reforged to stop Vaati and save Zelda.
Traveling to Minish Woods, Link meets Ezlo, a magical hat, who joins him and gives him the ability to shrink to the size of the Picori. The Picori, who call themselves Minish, assign Link the task of retrieving the Four Elements, magical stones needed to restore the Picori Blade.
Ezlo later reveals he was once a Minish sage who created the Mage’s Cap, a hat that could grant wishes. However, his apprentice, Vaati, stole the hat and became a powerful sorcerer. Vaati used his new powers to trap Ezlo in his current form. At the same time, Vaati brainwashed King Daltus and took control of Hyrule Castle. After Link collects the Four Elements and uses them to reforged the blade into the Four Sword, Link and Ezlo learn that the Light Force is passed down through Hyrule’s princesses. Vaati, who has been watching them, overhears this and begins taking the Light Force from Zelda.
Link returns to the castle and fights Vaati, who uses the stolen Light Force to become all-powerful. However, Link defeats Vaati and restores Zelda to normal. Vaati transforms into a demonic form but is defeated by Link, returning Ezlo to his original state. After Zelda uses the Mage’s Cap to undo the damage caused by Vaati, she destroys the cap. Ezlo thanks Link for his help, gives him a new hat as a gift, and leaves through the door to the Minish Realm before it closes for another century.
Development and promotion
After Capcom and its story-writing company, Flagship, completed the games Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages for the Game Boy Color, they started creating a new Zelda game for the Game Boy Advance. Work on the game was paused to let the team focus on Four Swords, but in February 2003, Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma announced that development of what would later be called The Minish Cap was "well underway." Nintendo created a website for The Minish Cap in September 2004, showing early ideas for Link’s ability to shrink in size. The game had a colorful, cartoon-like art style similar to The Wind Waker, as both games take place in a fairy-tale world filled with tiny fairies and magical creatures. Developers worked hard to make Hyrule Town, the main city in the game world, feel like a real, lively place with people going about their daily lives. This, combined with Link’s shrinking ability, allowed players to explore the town from new, unusual perspectives, turning it into a kind of dungeon. Aonuma praised the team’s work on Hyrule Town, noting that it was impressive even for a 2D game and better than Clock Town in Majora’s Mask. The game’s gust jar was inspired by a gourd from the novel Journey to the West, which can suck up anything. Other parts of the game were influenced by Four Swords and Four Swords Adventure, which The Minish Cap serves as a prequel to. For example, the idea of shrinking to Minish size in The Minish Cap expands on the Gnat Hat from Four Swords, which let Link shrink to the size of a gnat.
The Minish Cap was the first Zelda game released in Europe before North America. The main reason was the Nintendo DS: Nintendo of Europe wanted to make The Minish Cap a popular game to promote the DS during its 2005 launch. Nintendo of America delayed the game’s release in North America to avoid competing with the DS’s sales. The game is now available for download on the Nintendo 3DS’s Virtual Console through the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador program.
In Europe, the game was sold as a standalone game or as part of a special package that included one of only 25,000 limited-edition, Zelda-themed Game Boy Advance SP consoles. These consoles, called the Triforce SP, had a matte gold color, a Triforce logo printed on the lid, and the Hyrule royal family crest on the lower right side. As a promotion, Nintendo Europe made seven 24-carat gold-plated Game Boy Advance SP consoles. Six were given to people who found a golden ticket inside their Triforce SP package, and a seventh was given through a magazine promotion. Thirty of these consoles were signed by Miyamoto at the opening of the Nintendo World Store in New York.
Reception and awards
The Minish Cap sold the most copies in its first week in Japan, with 97,000 units sold. It became the 62nd most popular game in Japan for 2004, with 196,477 copies sold that year, and reached a total of 350,000 copies in the country. In North America, The Minish Cap sold 217,000 copies in its first month, January 2005, and was the fourth best-selling game of that month. It remained among the top five best-selling games in February and March. By the end of 2005, it was the seventh best-selling game of that year. By March 2005, the game had sold 1 million copies worldwide. In the United States alone, The Minish Cap sold 680,000 copies and earned $21 million by August 2006. Between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 37th best-selling game launched for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, or PlayStation Portable in that country. The game sold 1.76 million copies worldwide in total.
The game received praise from critics. IGN said the game continued the success of the series, while GameSpot also noted that the game kept the classic Zelda gameplay that fans enjoy. The game’s artistic style, which is similar to the playful look of Wind Waker, was widely appreciated. The music was also praised, with GameSpy saying the music was excellent and included some of the best tunes ever made for the Game Boy Advance. Although some reviewers criticized the length of the dungeons, 1UP.com praised the dungeon design, saying it was better than in other Zelda games.
Some critics said the game was too short. Eurogamer said the game was "too short," and RPGamer noted that players could complete the six dungeons in about ten hours. Other complaints included IGN saying the kinstone system was too repetitive, Nintendo World Report criticizing the game’s visuals on the Game Boy Player, and RPGamer pointing out the game was too easy. Despite these issues, IGN’s Craig Harris praised the game’s ability to let players shrink and grow, which created new puzzles in the Zelda series. He said the idea was well-designed and wished to see it used in future 3D Zelda games.
The Minish Cap was named the best Game Boy Advance game of 2005 by GameSpot, beating finalists like Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones and WarioWare: Twisted! GameSpot said it was the Game Boy Advance game people remembered most. In March 2007, IGN ranked it as the 20th best Game Boy Advance game. IGN said the ability to shrink and grow was used in creative ways. The game was ranked 47th in Official Nintendo Magazine’s list of the "100 Greatest Nintendo Games." The Minish Cap had an average score of 90 percent from GameRankings, a site that collects scores from multiple sources. At the 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated The Minish Cap for "Handheld Game of the Year," which was won by Nintendogs.