The Wind Waker

Did You Know?

• The Wind Waker popularized the "Toon Link" character.
• A high-definition remaster, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, was released for the Wii U in September 2013.
• The original version of the game was re-released as a launch title for Nintendo Switch 2 as part of the Nintendo Classics service on June 5, 2025.

Synopsis

The Wind Waker takes place in the "New World" timeline, one of several parallel timelines following Ocarina of Time. It follows the "Adult Link" timeline, where after the Hero of Time defeats Ganon and returns to his childhood, Ganon later returns but Link does not. Centuries afterward, people live on islands in the Great Sea, preserving Link's story as a legend. The protagonist, a young boy also named Link, lives on Outset Island, where boys dress in green like the Hero of Time upon coming of age.

During his coming-of-age celebration, a giant bird drops pirate captain Tetra into the forest. Link rescues Tetra from monsters, but the bird carries off his sister Aryll. Tetra helps Link sail to the Forsaken Fortress, where the Helmaroc King has been taking girls with long ears. Link finds Aryll and other kidnapped girls, but the Helmaroc King captures him and takes him to a man in black, who orders Link thrown into the sea.

Link is rescued by the King of Red Lions, a sentient sailboat, who explains that the bird's master is a returned Ganon. To defeat him, Link must find the three Pearls of the Goddesses. He obtains Din's Pearl on Dragon Roost Island, Farore's Pearl in Forest Haven, and Nayru's Pearl from the water spirit Jabun. The King of Red Lions then takes Link to the Tower of the Gods, where he faces trials before descending beneath the ocean to a castle suspended in time, where he finds the Master Sword.

Development

Nintendo's Zelda team began planning a new game early in GameCube development, before Majora's Mask was completed in 2000. Eiji Aonuma, director of Majora's Mask, returned to direct, with Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka as producers. Early concepts followed Ocarina of Time's designs with enhanced graphics. A brief clip of Link fighting Ganondorf was created for the 2000 Space World exposition, where Nintendo announced the GameCube.

The clip resonated with fans, but the team had exhausted ideas for that style. Aonuma hated the demo, finding it derivative. Designer Yoshiki Haruhana created a cartoonish drawing of a young Link that caught their eye, and design manager Satoru Takizawa drew an enemy Moblin in a similar style. The team seized on the new possibilities afforded by the stylized cartoon aesthetic, using cel shading on 3D models to achieve an interactive cartoon look.

The game was built with Alias/Wavefront's Maya 3D tool and a custom engine. Aonuma initially kept the development quiet, worried Miyamoto would object. The setting of islands in an ocean was quickly decided, inspiring the central sailing feature. Some features drew skepticism from Miyamoto and Tezuka; they requested an explanation for the characters' exaggeratedly large eyes.

Aonuma's team jokingly suggested having Link shoot beams from his eyes before deciding to have him focus his gaze on significant objects. Miyamoto remained dubious but relented due to the team's enthusiasm and the fact that a more realistic Zelda could have taken a decade with their resources.

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The Wind Waker hit store shelves in Japan on December 13, 2002, followed by North America on March 24, 2003, and Europe on May 2, 2003. To drum up pre-orders, Nintendo threw in a bonus disc that packed a GameCube version of Ocarina of Time along with its long-lost expansion, Ura Zelda. Originally built for the Nintendo 64's failed 64DD add-on, Ura Zelda was mostly a reworked Ocarina of Time with fresh dungeon puzzles, and it was rebranded as Ocarina of Time Master Quest outside Japan.

In North America, the Ocarina of Time/Master Quest discs became so sought-after that folks would place pre-orders just to snag one, then cancel them. To stop that trick in Europe, Nintendo only offered the disc as part of a two-pack with The Wind Waker. Come May 2003, the game was also bundled with limited-edition GameCube consoles in North America and Europe. Later that year, on November 17, Nintendo launched another promotion: The Legend of Zelda Collector's Edition.

This compilation disc featured playable versions of the original Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask, plus a Wind Waker demo and two short featurettes. It was never sold separately, instead appearing in a GameCube bundle or given to owners who registered their system or subscribed to Nintendo Power. Fans went wild for it; in the UK and Ireland, the 1,000 copies set aside vanished in minutes. To calm the uproar, Nintendo handed out more copies to anyone buying select GameCube games.

Reception

The Wind Waker was met with strong praise from critics. On Metacritic, it earned a 96 out of 100 from 80 reviews, a score that means "universal acclaim." It became the fourth game ever to get a perfect score from Famitsu in Japan, and it also received perfect marks from Computer and Video Games, Game Informer, Game Pro, Nintendo Power, and Planet GameCube. Many other reviewers gave it high scores too, though it did not quite match the level of praise that Ocarina of Time had received.

Critics often noted that some fans were unsure about the cel-shaded art style, but they still admired the visuals. They described the game as a playable cartoon, with several comparing its animation to the work of Disney and Hayao Miyazaki. Reviewers especially liked how expressive the characters were and felt that the detailed environments made the world feel richer. Famitsu's writers said the design tied everything together smoothly.

Electronic Gaming Monthly called the animation unmatched in gaming. IGN's Matt Casamassina stated that despite some fans disliking the graphics, Nintendo's work showed the best of the GameCube and cel shading. GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann said doubts about the visuals were "unfounded" and that the character design gave the story "emotional weight." Nintendo Power's Steve Thomason admitted he was initially skeptical but found the visuals worked "brilliantly," calling it the most fun he had since Ocarina of Time.