Ever since it was revealed that Zelda would be playing an essential role in the recently released Spirit Tracks game for the Nintendo DS, fans of the series began to wonder just how integral her part in the story would be. Would she help out and be part of the action? Or would she resort to a Navi like character from The Ocarina of Time?
Many fans saw this as the answers to their prayers. “Finally,” they said, “Zelda will actually be part of the game. After all, the series name is The Legend of Zelda yet she had yet to play more then a basic role in any of the games and in many cases is absent from the games with hardly no mention at all. However, when The Spirit Tracks was released last Monday what we saw was not what many were hoping for. Yes Zelda played a much larger role then ever before, but it was still lacking in many ways. She was not a Navi-character, but she was also not the Zelda that many fans were hoping for.
In most of the game, Zelda is not actually a playable character. Control of Zelda is limited to the Tower of Spirits and nowhere else. That means that throughout the rest of the game, she merely hides in your pocket and will make random appearances in spirit form when she has something to say. Sadly, this did not happen enough which still left her as a fairly useless character.
Now, for those who are not familiar with The Spirit Tracks yet. In The Spirit Tracks Zelda’s spirit is ripped from her body so her ghostly form is what actually follows you around. And at no time do you get serious control of Zelda in her body form. Therefore you must make Zelda possess the armor of Phantoms. I personally found this worthless. In The Phantom Hourglass multi-player you already got to control Phantoms so this felt like a rip off. This was nothing new. All Nintendo did was take an already existing idea and say, “oh wait Zelda is in the Phantom this time.” How lame is that?As a longtime Legend of Zelda fan I want Zelda to finally be involved in one of the games. And I mean really involved, not this junk that was thrown together to keep us happy until Zelda Wii.
In The Ocarina of Time we all saw that Zelda was quite capable of performing some magic and spells. She spent a good majority of the game under the guise of Sheik and demonstrated some of her magical prowess in the final battles of the game. But from there on after we never get to see what Zelda can do. In Twilight Princess we once again see some subtle signs of her magical capabilities but for some reason Nintendo chooses to limit her in every way possible.
This probably is due to the fact that the Zelda series originated as a “save the princess” kind of game that was popular back in the 1980’s, but times have changed and we want to see Zelda. And more importantly we would like to see Zelda with an attitude. No more of this Damsel in Distress I’m so weak save me crap. Zelda has the Triforce of Wisdom for christ sake. Why doesn’t she use it already? Is it really wise to put yourself in situations where you get caught all the time? Or is it wise to sit back and let your magical powers go to waste? I think not.
For all you fans of the Super Smash series you guys know that Zelda can sure pack a punch in the Melee and Brawl releases of the games. In fact I would dare to say that she could be one of the best fighters in the game. Just look at some of these pictures. She is kicking some major butt and guess what? She is doing it with her wide array of magic and powers.
So Nintendo, if you want to make us happy, please let Zelda play a bigger role in the upcoming Legend of Zelda game. Do not let her sit on the side-lines the entire time. Yes the game revolves around Link but there is no reason not to let Zelda get involved in more ways. Let her in on more of the action and give us some Zelda who has manned up and grown a pair.