Why we still need Zelda: The Wind Waker HD on Nintendo Switch 2

For a game that isn’t officially playable on the standard Nintendo Switch in any way, there’s a lot to say about Zelda: The Wind Waker. For years, almost every time a fake Nintendo Direct leak popped up, you’d see The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD as shoo-in titles. They were both long rumored to come to Nintendo Switch to fill the gap between new Zelda games, but in the end, that didn’t happen. Interestingly enough, though, Nintendo opted to bring the original version of the game to Switch Online exclusively on Switch 2. Even more interesting is that according to a Nintendo representative, this supposedly does not prevent The Wind Waker HD from coming to Switch 2 someday.

With that in mind, I recently played through and 100 percent completed the GameCube version of The Wind Waker recently. Though many of its mechanics are frustrating to work with, the game as a whole has aged remarkably well considering it’s over twenty years old at this point. If you haven’t played either version of the game, it’s not a bad idea to play through the GameCube version. The Nintendo Switch Online port even has save states, which makes it much easier to pick up and play however you like.

One thing that hasn’t aged about The Wind Waker at all is its art style. When the game first released in 2003, some fans of the Zelda series were upset about how cartoony and supposedly childish it looked. They wanted something more gritty and realistic, which they eventually did get with Twilight Princess. And although The Wind Waker’s art direction was heavily criticized on launch, these days I feel like it’s its greatest asset. Just from looking at the game, you wouldn’t be able to tell that it’s over twenty years old. The cel-shaded visuals hold up incredibly well, even when you consider that the graphics were improved in the HD remake. The Wind Waker is also home to plenty of silly and expressive animations – it was really ahead of its time in that sense. There’s a certain wacky charm and whimsy here that wasn’t fully captured by previous titles. 

Another one of Wind Waker’s strengths is its combat, which is much more in-depth than previous titles as well. This time around, almost all of the items Link obtains from dungeons have their own special purposes in battle. Sure, you can mash the B button to attack with your sword over and over, but that doesn’t work on every enemy. Some opponents, like Stalfos, actually require two or more weapons to be used. In the case of a Stalfos, you have to blow up its body with a bomb, which causes its head to pop off and start jumping around. From there, you have to hit the head with the boomerang to stop it from moving, and then you need to move in and crush it with the Skull Hammer. This kind of mix-and-matching works really well in the game, and it makes especially the later enemies both challenging and satisfying to take on. This trait extends to bosses as well, with some fun ones like Jalhalla and Molgera thrown in.

Not everything about The Wind Waker has aged well, but the fact that its presentation has aged as well as it did is remarkable. If you do go back to the GameCube version you’re bound to notice some issues that pop up after a while. For one, playing the original game after playing The Wind Waker HD is rough. Not everyone is a fan of The Wind Waker HD – some don’t like the updated graphical style, which is fair – but it added so many quality-of-life changes that are very sorely missed in the GameCube version. For one, the GameCube version makes sailing across the Great Sea much more difficult, repetitive, and time-consuming. The Wii U version of the game added a Swift Sail that doubles your boat’s speed and, most importantly, forces the wind to always be in your favor. The GameCube having no Swift Sail is a big deal. As you might expect, you have to sail between islands very often in this game, and it takes a very long time. You can change the wind’s direction with the Wind’s Requiem song, but you have to play it every time you want to change directions. That means you have to stop the boat, play the song, watch the little cutscene that goes along with it, and then change direction several times per trip depending on where you’re going. It can’t be overstated how much time the Swift Sail saves you in the Wii U version – even if you do like the GameCube version, you’ll definitely be wishing this item was in the game.

This becomes especially evident if you decide to 100 percent complete the game, but The Wind Waker is also full of filler content. It’s said that development was rushed so that the Japanese version could release just in time for the holidays, and it honestly makes sense. For example, you’re given Din’s Pearl after the Dragon Roost Cavern dungeon and Farore’s Pearl after the Forbidden Woods dungeon. You’d expect to receive Nayru’s Pearl after an associated water dungeon, but there is none – you’re essentially given the item for free. Add that to the infamous Triforce Quest and you can start to see why this game being rushed could make sense – for this part of the game, you use a chart to find eight charts to find eight Triforce shards hidden under the Great Sea. It requires a huge amount of Rupees, too, which really cements this part of the game as filler. It’s also important to note that many of the islands on the Great Sea are tiny or don’t have much associated with them, which also helps reinforce this notion.

Whereas I think The Wind Waker’s biggest strength is its presentation, I think its biggest weakness is its side content. It’s often plain to see that even the side content was made as filler, too. Whereas games like Majora’s Mask have meaningful side quests with great rewards and character exposition, many of The Wind Waker’s side quests are simple fetch quests – or worse. Most egregious is the Nintendo Gallery, a figurine showcase where you have to use the Deluxe Picto Box to take pictures of every character in the game. Of course, you can only hold three pictures at a time, and not every picture is good enough to make a figurine out of. This means you’ll have to warp over to the gallery almost 50 times to get all the figurines – the Wii U version changed this so that the Picto Box can take 12 pictures at a time instead. There’s a Piece of Heart obtained from a huge trading sequence, and to get that Piece of Heart, you sometimes have to give an item back to the person who gave it to you. There’s also a Piece of Heart obtained from striking a character 500 times, which serves no purpose other than to waste your time.

After fully 100 percent completing the game, I can’t stress enough how many small improvements The Wind Waker HD makes. It isn’t just the Swift Sail – it’s much more than that. Many of the Triforce Charts have been removed, which streamlines the infamous Triforce Quest by quite a bit. Repeat cutscenes like playing songs and salvaging items have been shortened, which saves on time as well. You won’t be knocked out of your boat if you take damage while riding it, and you can even alter the direction you swing with your Grappling Hook without stopping. This is the definitive version of The Wind Waker, and it’d be great to see it come to Nintendo Switch 2 with even more graphical improvements. 

Despite its problems, there’s still a lot to like about The Wind Waker. Graphics and combat aside, its story is another high point – as a follow-up to Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker features many neat little references to it. Ganondorf also returns with a little bit more character depth than usual. Overall, I’d say the GameCube version of the game is still fun to play through casually. The slow sailing remains an issue, but that way you’ll be able to focus on the game’s strengths. 100 percent completion definitely isn’t fun (or recommended) here – especially the figurine gallery, which includes multiple missable pictographs that you can’t get after a certain point. 

What are your thoughts on the original version of The Wind Waker? Do you like it better than the HD remake, or does that one remain your go-to? Feel free to let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.