Hyrule Warriors [2014]
This is Zelda, though, which is no stranger to alternate timelines and changing timelines, so it's not like it's anything new for the franchise. I wanted to do a 'reviewing monsters' segment for that game, but honestly every single enemy in Age of Calamity is basically just taken wholesale from Breath of the Wild, maybe with a couple of extra humanoid bosses and a couple of elemental variants thrown in. So I decided to go back to 2014 and talk about the monsters from Hyrule Warriors! Which is basically a typical Link-and-Zelda-fight-Ganondorf game, but also features the arrival of a bunch of characters from other timelines (mostly Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword; although other characters got added afterwards). A lot of the monsters in that game are also taken from the then-most-current game, Skyward Sword, but I've never (and likely never will, unless it gets ported to the Switch) played that game before. So that leaves a pretty perfect bit for me to talk about!
I personally played the 3DS version of the game, but as I understand it, most of the assets and enemies are more or less the same, just scaled down. Also, this game features a lot of enemy variants, and I won't be discussing any of those.
Bulblin
Taken almost wholesale from Twilight Princess are these orc-goblin dudes, the Bulblins! And here's a small example of how the enemies can vary in these 'Warriors' games, because of the sepcific mechanics of each stage where sometimes you get elite troops, archer troops, shield troops, summoner troops, some that are encased with shadow/twilight energy/what-have-you, elite 'messenger' enemies you have to take out... stuff like that. Not going to really talk about mechanics either, because this is a Musou game. You hack and slash hundreds of these guys to the death. I do really like the Twilight Princess Bulblins, the combination of the sideways horns and beady eyes does make them look a lot more sinister and intelligent while also looking relatively weak.
King Bulblin
A recurring miniboss in Twilight Princess, in Hyrule Warriors the 'King Bulblin' is just the 'boss' version of all these Bulblins, either holding out bases or leading small skirmish troops around. Again, it fits the orcs-in-all-but-name vibe of the Bulblin race, making this a bigger, fatter, meaner-looking Bulblin but also one that looks like it could take you in a scrap.
Bokoblins
These guys, meanwhile, take their appearance from Skyward Sword, where they're basically the weak, short goblin-esque enemies. From Wind Waker to Twilight Princess to Skyward Sword to Breath of the Wild, the Bokoblins have probably the most inconsistent look and behvaiour, huh? They're always the more dumb, wild and disposable of the 'blins', though, I feel. Again, a small smattering of the different variations of the Bokoblins that exist in Hyrule Warriors. Like the Bulblins, I feel like the Bokoblins simply just lend themselves well to having many variations, being, well, a humanoid enemy that you can just dress up in different weapons and accessories. Not a whole ton to say, I do like the vaguely oni-esque vibe that the basic SS Bokoblin has, with those fangs, those teeny-tiny horns and the earrings.
Moblin
At some point in Zelda's history, 'Moblin' basically went from weak cannon fodder pig-men/bulldog-men into giant, towering elite 'blin' enemies that are superior to the Bokoblins, Bulblins and Miniblins. It's mostly the 3D games, too, that do this. Again borrowing its appearance from Skyward Sword, the Moblin is basically a large, obese and super-huge version of the Bokoblins. I'm... I'm not sure how to feel about those very, very prominent nipple piercings. The Moblins are to the Bokoblins what the Bulblin Boss is to the Bulblins. Sometimes they walk around with huge shields and those are a pain in the ass to break. I like the Skyward Sword Moblin's expression. He just looks so baffled!
At some point in Zelda's history, 'Moblin' basically went from weak cannon fodder pig-men/bulldog-men into giant, towering elite 'blin' enemies that are superior to the Bokoblins, Bulblins and Miniblins. It's mostly the 3D games, too, that do this. Again borrowing its appearance from Skyward Sword, the Moblin is basically a large, obese and super-huge version of the Bokoblins. I'm... I'm not sure how to feel about those very, very prominent nipple piercings. The Moblins are to the Bokoblins what the Bulblin Boss is to the Bulblins. Sometimes they walk around with huge shields and those are a pain in the ass to break. I like the Skyward Sword Moblin's expression. He just looks so baffled!
Stalchild & Stalfos
Basically HD versions of the Stalchild and the Stalfos from Ocarina of Time, these are the third most common generic enemy troops. I really don't have a whole ton to say about them that I haven't said elsewhere, they are already enemies that swarm you en masse in Ocarina of Time anyway. The summoner-type Stalchild does have a particularly fancy robe. Is that the Poe Collector's robe?
A Majora's Mask DLC has Captain Keeta from that game show up as an elite Stalchild in some maps. Neat!
Stalmaster
The Stalfos are the 'common' captains of most Stal armies, but elite captains are the Stalmasters, which are these golden-armoured, four-armed lunatics that is a miniboss in Skyward Sword. One of the more impressive looking minibosses, I think, even if his short-shorts are admittedly kinda funny. There's just something about the image of a four-armed skeletal knight that makes it look pretty damn cool, y'know? Has very strong General Grievous vibes, for sure.
Lizalfos
I keep thinking that the Lizalfos are like, common enemies, but they're actually elite captains of the -blin forces. Okay, then! The Lizalfos are a lot more dinosaurian here, being essentially a fusion of Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword's Lizalfosi. The general look of a more saurian creature is from TP (albeit this one scales down the dinosaur vibe a bit) but the giant chunky rock arm is from Skyward Sword. I've really grown to appreciate just how much that chunky prosthetic arm does add to the Lizalfos design to make it look more threatening.
Dinolfos
This is actually an original design to Hyrule Warriors, based on an extrapolation of the Skyward Sword Lizalfos design! Dinolfosi have only appeared before in OoT, MM and TP, and this version, with a nice, angry monitor lizard grin and a huge giant metal cyborg arm, looks pretty mean and scrappy while also unmistakably a derivation of the Skyward Sword Lizalfos. You can kind of tell that they actually tried to make a HD version of the Ocarina of Time design for the face, which is something that I highly appreciate.
Another enemy from Twilight Princess, the Aeralfos are another possible 'elite' captain-type enemy, and... I'm going to talk about Twilight Princess monsters eventually, but I did find it pretty fun to have a relatively more traditional 'winged lizard/dragon-man' enemy in Zelda. Not a whole ton to say about this one since; it's a lizard-man with wings! I do like it, for what it is. An elite 'Fiery Aeralfos' version also shows up in some maps.
Gibdo / ReDead Knight
Twilight Princess mis-translated "Gibdo" into "ReDead", but Hyrule Warriors basically did the best of both worlds and just included two versions of the Gibdo model and called the second one a "ReDead Knight". TP's Gibdo is always a lot more impressive-looking than a standard Gibdo in other Zelda games anyway, lugging around huge swords and having a powerful sonic scream attack. Both of them are also potential elite troops for the bad guys, usually associated with the Stalchildren.
Darknut
I still respect the Darknuts of Twilight Princess a lot, but here they're honestly just reduced to more or less strong captain enemies. Still able to kill you, but not the most interesting enemy that the game has to offer.
Big Poe
It's interesting how much more sinister just giving Ocarina of Time's Poe model ganglier arms and a sharper 'hat', huh? Big Poes are some of the possible monsters that can spawn as 'captains', and their whole deal is that they can teleport around and become invisible. I am a huge, huge fan of this Big Poe model, actually, keeping a lot of the goofy charm of the original Poe design intact while also makingit look significantly more threatening without going the Twilight Princess way and reinventing it into a horror game enemy.
Since I copied the pictures already, here's an example of how much mileage they can get out of a single model. Behold, the Icy Big Poe (he uses ice magic!) and Dark Icy Big Poe (he uses ice magic, and is spooooky!)
Hylians, Gorons & Ghosts
Because, of course, this is a Musou game so you need soldiers by your side! I don't really have a whole ton to say about the humans and Gorons. All the 'forces' have a basic melee unit, a basic ranged character, a summoner, and a 'captain' model. The soldiers' armours are, I believe, derived from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask? Except with actual pants? Again, it's really cool to actually see Hyrule's soldiers go out and actually fight, and it's also cool to actually fight them as Ganon or Ghirahim or Zant.
In some story missions, the regular Hylian models become 'ghosts'. Not much to say there, they sure are ghosts.
Beamos
My favourite Beamos! Unlike most of the other enemies in this game, the Beamos of Hyrule Warriors aren't just copy-pasted from a different Zelda game. Sure, the fact that its main 'body' has a weird nose and mouth is taken from Ocarina of Time, but the spiky eyeball top is original to Hyrule Warriors. It looks different from any other 2D or 3D Beamos that has existed in the franchise, but it's still recognizably a Beamos, you know? These guys only ever show up in 'keeps' and you can only kill them with bombs.
Deku Baba
Interestingly, the Deku Baba is a lot more badass in this one. In a fashion, anyway. They're not actually enemies but more obstacles, and some Deku Babas will block entire corridors by sprouting up and unleashing a small cloud of impenetrable miasma. In the game's (admittedly miniscule) story this is the impetus for your character to hunt down the Bow and shoot the Baba at the stalk, and the Deku Baba becomes more of an annoyance later on.
Cuccoo
Later even added as a playable character, the Cuccoos return in all their glory, being neutral units that can and will summon an entire army to harass you if you attack them enough. This is a Musou game, though, so you can actually wipe out the Cuccoo revenge squad if you have to. Some maps will even spawn a special 'Golden Cuccoo' that's a boss. These Cuccoos are sort of the genesis of a bunch of 'random events', among them an army of Cuccoos that will suddenly show up as a 'third party' in the battlefield, going around invading keeps, or an escort mission to get a Cuccoo Chick to reunite with its mother.
Chuchu
The 3DS port of the game coincides with the release of Wind Waker HD, I believe, so there's a dedicated Wind Waker themed DLC series of quests, with a bunch of enemies that are basically imported from that game. And the Wind Waker maps includes the best iteration of the Chuchus ever, these guys! With cute, bulging eyes that look almost manic, and a wide grin that teeters between being cute and unsettling. As usual, they're only there to be weak and drop hearts and other resources.
Miniblin
The actual weakest 'blin' enemy are these imp-like Miniblins from Wind Waker, who look so much like little imp-gremlins. Particularly with those red horns and little tridents! The Miniblins show up as the most common troop in most of the Wind Waker maps, and I do like how much these guys look goofy and kooky. In most modern games their role has basically been taken over by the Bokoblins, which is kind of a shame, I would totally love for a more mischievous-looking -blin to run around the more serious enemies.
Big Blin & Stone Blin
The captains of the Wind Waker Miniblin forces are these guys, who are giant bulldog muscle-men. The regular Big Blin is honestly kind of whatever, it's not the sort of monster that I get excited about although it's a neat presence on the battlefield. Stone Blins look pretty cool, even if all they get are a new set of armour. He really reminds me of the Rhino from Marvel comics, huh?
The captains of the Wind Waker Miniblin forces are these guys, who are giant bulldog muscle-men. The regular Big Blin is honestly kind of whatever, it's not the sort of monster that I get excited about although it's a neat presence on the battlefield. Stone Blins look pretty cool, even if all they get are a new set of armour. He really reminds me of the Rhino from Marvel comics, huh?
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PLAYABLE MONSTER CHARACTERS:
Technically all the characters in the game will be an enemy at some point as you play through the hero and enemy side of the various campaigns, and that's not to say that you won't fight enemies like "Dark Link" and "Dark Zelda". And I really don't feel like talking about every single humanoid villain (we've got Ganondorf, of course; plus game-original Cia; Twilight Princess' Zant; Skyward Sword's Ghirahim; and through DLC, Phantom Ganon from Wind Waker, Skull Kid from Majora's Mask and Yuga from A Link Between Worlds) and character (we've got -deep breath- Link, Zelda, Impa, Sheik, Lana, Ruto, Darunia, Midna, Fi, Agitha, Tingle, Linkle, Twili Midna, Toon Link, Young Link, Tetra, King Daphnes, Medli, Marin, Toon Zelda, Ravio and a Cuccoo).
Wizzro & Volga
Wizzro is a fun adaptation of the very common Wizzrobe enemies in all of the other Zelda games, and essentially takes up a role as the evil, shifty sorcerer among the band of villains. Instead of the charming two eyes-in-a-dark-hood of the Wizzrobes, though, Wizzro is much more sinister! Having a simple eye that sometimes changes to a mouth and having a far more intricate set of robes really makes him look so much creepier, huh? As a commenter mentioned below, Wizzro is also very much a far creepier and scarier version of a Poe, in no small part from his general colour scheme homaging OOT's Poes and the Poe Collector. He's like the sum mixture of all the spooky magic robed enemies in Zelda, I like him.
Volga looks like a pretty generic knight-man with a dragon motif, but he's actually Volga the dragon, because this is an incarnation of the recurring Volvagia dragon enemy, most famous for being that one lava dragon from Ocarina of Time. He's got a more standard dragon form compared to Volvagia from Ocarina of Time, and he's basically a typical "honourable blood knight" warrior that's the token 'not-so-evil' member of Team Evil.
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BIG BOSSES
King Dodongo
The best part of this game, by far, are the giant bosses, something that certainly took me by surprise when I first played through this game blind. Instead of just fighting enemy captains and beating them up, sometimes the bad guys will unleash giant bosses -- and isn't that what the Legend of Zelda is most well-beloved for? King Dodongo is the first of these giant bosses you fight, and what a glorious adaptation of the very original triceratops-esque Dodongo this is. With its frill and horns still paying homage to the original design, the rest of the King Dodongo's design is basically all original to really make a distinctive look that seems to combine not only the original Dodongo, but also King Dodongo from Ocarina of Time and the Helmasaurus King from A Link to the Past. It can roll around like a ball just like its OoT counterpart, breathe fire, or unleash fire bombs. And, as usual, you need to feed it bombs to kill it!
In a specific stage where you go to the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, a reskinned version of the King Dodongo that resembles Ocarina's King Dodongo shows up. They didn't have to do that. They didn't have to put in the effort to give it a more OoT-accurate head or those crystals that poke out of its shoulders. They could've just repainted the triceratops model brown and called it a day, but I appreciate so much that they went through the effort.
Gohma
Speaking of putting in the effort, good ol' Gohma shows up, and it's not even an adaptation of the parasitic cancer-bug Gohma from Ocarina of Time, but rather the more commonly-reoccurring crab-spider Gohma from the 2D games! It's literally just a giant spider with a giant laser-shooting eyeball, mandibles, and two massive front claws tipped with metal. Except... except this Gohma has gotten a bit wise, and has two shields that it slams to form a giant metal 'mask' to block arrows that you try to shoot into that vulnerable eyeball. The way that those shields are animated makes me think like they are some sort of pedipalps or something, which makes it extra cool. I'm not going to lie, probably one of my favourite interpretations of Gohma ever.
Manhandla
Making its 3D debut is one of the forgotten original bosses from the original game, the Manhandla, and... and, well, they went through the rather obvious way of making this guy an elite version of the Deku Baba, but I approve! The general design of the Manhandla is pretty simple, a huge central bulb with vines that all terminate in giant fanged Piranha Plant / Deku Baba heads. And they're coloured like watermelons, a cute nice touch.
But the actual way that a Manhandla enters battle, on the other hand, is far more different. It sends out its stalks and heads -- often covered with a metallic hide (probably a reference to its original TLOZ sprite, which was blue despite being a plant monster) to rampage and wreak havoc to your allied bases, and you just have to reach there and pray you can beat them all up before their seed and poison gas attack wipes out your allied soldiers. You need to wait until the heads turn green to harm them, and once you do, the 'true' Manhandla, as shown here, shows off. Very cool.
The Imprisoned
From Skyward Sword comes this guy, and... I've never played Skyward Sword, but I know from my friends that have that this is a boss you fight like three or four times and he's pretty annoying there. He's pretty annoying here, too, but I can appreciate what a bizarre-looking motherfucker this is. He's like, an imprisoned dark demon or something (and you can see the sword that's supposed to seal him on his nose) and he's just this massive whale-shaped mass of rippling scales and teeth with... with two giant stubby feet with sausage toes which turn out to be his weakness. Part of me wants to groan at how ridiculously out-of-place the wiggly-toes are, but on the other hand I also feel like that's part of what makes this guy actually feel like it belongs as a Zelda boss. In Hyrule Warriors he can actually go briefly into his more 'empowered' forms from his third boss fight in Skyward Sword, which he uses to one-shot destroy bases and keeps like a giant kaiju.
Argorok
This boss is from Twilight Princess! Sometimes you just need a giant metal-covered dragon to rampage around and breathe fire on everything. I like Argorok a lot, but I don't have a whole ton to say about him. He sure is a cool metal dragon! The fight against Argorok in the story mode is surprisingly convoluted, where you need to bring multiple spellcasting characters to try and chain Argorok down with magical chains, a nod to how in Twilight Princess you use a hookshot on his very convenient tail. And then because Hyrule Warriors doesn't give a fuck, this all culminates in a ritual to create a giant hookshot which pulls down the god-damn moon -- yes, the very same world-ending moon with the memetic face from Majora's Mask -- to bash the poor dragon and bring him onto the ground.
This boss is from Twilight Princess! Sometimes you just need a giant metal-covered dragon to rampage around and breathe fire on everything. I like Argorok a lot, but I don't have a whole ton to say about him. He sure is a cool metal dragon! The fight against Argorok in the story mode is surprisingly convoluted, where you need to bring multiple spellcasting characters to try and chain Argorok down with magical chains, a nod to how in Twilight Princess you use a hookshot on his very convenient tail. And then because Hyrule Warriors doesn't give a fuck, this all culminates in a ritual to create a giant hookshot which pulls down the god-damn moon -- yes, the very same world-ending moon with the memetic face from Majora's Mask -- to bash the poor dragon and bring him onto the ground.
Helmaroc King
This giant bird is a boss from Wind Waker, and part of the Wind Waker campaign in Hyrule Warriors. I don't have a whole ton to say about it, it sure is a pretty impressive giant bird with a fun set of colours. I like its four tails! I don't have a whole ton to say about it, but it does look pretty impressive and different compared to the other bosses. I have never played Wind Waker, but I know enough about the game to know that Helmaroc King is one of the instigators of the game's plot. S'neat that we've got guys like Argorok, Helmaroc and Imprisoned One showing up from their respective games, but on the other hand I wished that it had been a more broader re-invention like the first three 'giant bosses' here.
Phantom Ganon
Our final entry is this gloriously stylized Phantom Ganon, who is also from Wind Waker. Not a whole ton to say here, he sure is a dual-wielding dark ghost warrior specter guy, but I really do like the stylization going on here from the runes to the swords to the tattered cape.
Ganon
Actually hands-down my favourite 3D 'beast Ganon' form. Ocarina of Time's Ganon form felt a bit too humanoid and gangly; Twilight Princess's Ganon felt a bit too beastly, and Breath of the Wild wasn't even trying to do a 'pig-man' anymore. Hyrule Warriors, on the other hand, I think hit the sweet spot where this is still a monstrous pig-man with similar ogre-like proportions as his original 2D concept, but adds so much red mane, tusks and a general quadruped stance that truly makes him feel like a beast. The gauntlets on his arms and the geenral proportions still marks him as sort of a humanoid stance... I dunno. I just really like this Ganon, yeah? It most resembles Twilight Princess Ganon, perhaps, but I feel like it took that design and improved it. As you fight him, you have to basically keep blowing off pieces from his body, namely his gauntlet, shoulder-tusks and tail, to slowly whittle him down.
I was reading the Big Blin in this game and Spirit Tracks suffers a bit from inconsistent translation. In Japan, the Big Blin is called "OyaBlin" or "Patriarch Blin."
ReplyDeleteThis name is also given to the Club Moblin in OOT and the moblin chief in Link's Awakening. So those guys are actually Moblin leader/father figures. The Stone Blin is just "Stone armored Oyablin" BTW, its original to HW.
I felt Wizzro was also kinda of a poe given he leads them, they share a similar moveset and his single eye reminds me of the Poe Collector.
I love that they went with Classic Zelda 1 Gohma as well and its my favorite giant monster too. Manhandla was also cool to see.
HW Ganon was neat, but I prefer the anthropomorphism of his OOT counterpart.
Oyablin is first used for the Boss Moblin from LA, yeah. It's a pun on 'oyabun', which is a honorary term used for yakuza bosses whose closest English equivalent would be 'godfather'.
DeleteBlins are kinda weirdly inconsistent, and that's before they introduced Miniblins, Bokoblins and Bulblins! And not to mention, y'know, translation inconsistencies that sometimes just slap 'Moblin' on everything to save themselves a headache.
And let's not get into "Stalfos" vs. "Stalfon" vs. "Shrouded Stalfos" vs. "Stalfos Knight"...
Good call! I've always thought Wizzro reminded me of another NPC but I can't believe I never made the connection with the Poe Collector!
That's honestly the best part of Hyrule Warriors to me. They could've been lazy and just copy-pasted the bosses from the most-recent games, Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess. And honestly? I don't think anyone would complain too much if it was Armagohma and Moldarach tearing up the Hyrule Warriors fields. But the fact that they went out of their way to introduce brand-new, modernized versions of the classic Gohma, Manhandla and even Original-flavour Dodongo is certainly a huge 'whoa, this is cool' moment for me. It's honestly a thing I am pretty disappointed about in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity... I would've loved to see some other clsasic Zelda monsters done in BOTW style. Imagine how cool something like the Peahat or Deku Baba or Kargarok or Aeralfos would look in the BOTW art style? Insetad all we got was "insert [existing monster here] but on fire".
Honestly I keep flip-flopping between HW and OOT on my personal favourite incarnation of Ganon. TP's Beast Ganon is also a personal runner-up, but I'm not sure if it's just "my first Ganon" influencing my opinion.
Or the Dogfather...ok it was a terrible joke.
DeleteOh that reminds of Goriyas, who are implied to be related to Moblins. Goriyas are dogs like the Bulldog Moblins, act as the moblin underground counterpart including speaking in TLOZ1, use moblin sprites in Oracle of Seasons, & official sources describe as "companions to the moblins."
To make it matters more bizarre with Goriyas, the english versions rename an unrelated enemy, a rodent that copies all of Link's movement, known as "COPPIE" to Goriya. In Japan, Goriyas and Coppies(from the english word, Copy) have no relation, hence why they're so drastically different even by Zelda enemy standards.
I believe Stalfon is Stalfos Knight in Japan and Zelda 2's Japanese manual says they're the King's Knights? Shrouded Stalfos was apparently Skull Knight in Japanese?
I love that too and good point about Age of Calamity, I hope there weren't any Nintendo mandates holding them back from introducing new enemies? Personally I wanna see Pol's voice in a big 3D game.
TP Beast Ganon is neat.
Honestly, 90% of the time I spent when I looked up the ALTTP and LA bestiaries is "were these guys really supposed to be something else, or did they mix things up during translation?"
DeleteYeah, Goriyas and Copy is kind of a weird one. I guess they wanted to have some continuity between the first two Zelda games' monsters? Except Copy has absolutely nothing in common with the Goriyas of the past games, so it's utterly bizarre.
Shrouded Stalfos has absolutely no 'Stal' anything in its name, yeah, though I could sort-of forgive the translators for wanting to simplify all the skeletons in the game into a single type of enemy.
I think most of the 2D games had "just a skeleton" into Stalfos, and "skeleton with weapons" as Stalfon? But when OOT came around, the "just a skeleton" enemy became Stalchildren (or "Stalbaby" in Japanese) and the "skeleton with weapon" became Stalfos.
Water Tektite ("Hover" in Japanese, with nothing to do with Tektites) and the inconsistent translations for Hiploop (whether they become "Helmasaur" or retain their Japanese name) is another one that often crops up.
I honestly think that there might be some mandate to keep Breath of the Wild basically contain as little new elements so that it wouldn't contradict the sequel, but since Age of Calamity takes place so far off in the psat and Zelda's no stranger to alternate timelines, it's very, very disappointing that all we got was like "Electric Hinox" and "Malice Talus" and stuff like that. I recognize the sheer impact BOTW had on jumpstarting the Zelda franchise back up on the board, but considering still, they could've done something. Even if they're saving every single 'classic' Zelda enemy for BOTW2 or whatever, maybe make something up?I dunno.
There are a lot of things that I definitely would love to see in a 3D game. I thought we've ran the gamut of 2D Zelda monsters becoming cool in 3D, but I really did like what BOTW did with the Lynels and Hinoxes.
It feels like the localizers felt it was weird Goriyas were absent given how important they were to the past two games, which is admittedly a glaring absence, but went too far by trying to connect Goriyas to an enemy it had zero in common with.
DeleteThat seems apt for how the Stalfos were organized in the 2D games.
I wouldn't be surprised, Nintendo has some weird mandates like keeping the spinoff characters like Waluigi in the spinoff Mario games. I would've liked to see enemy variants and such to have normal outfits and appearances at least, like how in HW1, Stone OyaBlins looked different from Oyablins and Captain Monsters had special armor.
Gleok and Aquamentus are other monsters that'd be neat to see again.
I've never played Adventure of Link, but yeah, Goriyas and I think Vires are probably the only enemies from the original TLOZ that never recurred as much as every other non-boss enemy in that game, huh?
DeleteOn top of my head, I think Gleeok appeared in one of the DS games? I've never completed them before, but I think Gleeok shows up in one of them. It would be pretty great, although honestly, Zelda in general seem to shy away from dragons with the notable exception of Volvagia (who's more unconventional) and Argarok. Even when they show up in BOTW and SS, it's not as bosses but more as NPC's. It's a decision that actually helps to set Zelda as a franchise a bit away from the other fantasy RPG games out there, and I wonder if there's actually a conscious decision to not feature giant dragons as much.
Goriyas appeared in Adventure of Link, again in a major role, but then after that they basically disappeared. The only other appearances of Goriyas were an NPC in Link's Awakening and a mini boss in Oracle Of Seasons.
DeleteVires weren't In Adventure of Link, but a similar enemy, the Acheman was in that game. They were also in Link's Awakening and an individual one was in both Oracle games.
Gleok was in Oracle of Seasons and Phantom Hourglass, though the latter lacked Gleok's ability to have its severed head orbit its body.
I haven't played the Oracle games, which is why I don't actually know a lot of the monsters there. It's Adventure of Link, the two Oracle games and the two DS games that I have the least experience with. I haven't fully played Skyward Sword and Wind Waker either, but I've played through part of them.
DeleteI completely forgot that Vires were in LA, actually! My mind just blanked. Granted, it doesn't help that LA's localized guides changed the names of a lot of the monsters, too...
Oracle of Seasons has all the bosses from TLOZ1 in it and many of the Dungeons take heavy inspiration from the same game. Allegedly it started off as a remake.
DeleteNot super familiar with the 2 DS games either. Do you plan to cover any of those games.
That reminds me, Adventure of Link has an interesting manga, want me to link you to a english translation of it?
I honestly would believe that the Oracle games were originally intended to be a remake before the decision to make it tie into ALTTP/LA happened -- ultimately, I think, even BOTW is basically a much larger-scope 'remake' of TLOZ1, albeit with a bunch of non-human races from OOT and WW tossed in. Considering a lot of Zelda's games (like ALBW) do seem to be a remake-but-not-really-just-expand-it...
DeleteI plan to go through the games that I've played through first -- so Majora's Mask (which is going to be up soon), ALTTP and LA (probably early next year), Minish Cap, and then we'll go on from there. A while back I would say that it's impossible for me to review monsters for games that I haven't played, but I guess reviewing the seven Resident Evil games means that I guess I can actually do it?
I've never read the Adventure of Link manga! I'd certainly love to check it out.
Just Oracle of Seasons was intended to be a TLOZ 1 remake/remaster, not Oracle of Ages which has all new dungeons and bosses.
DeleteThat is definitely true Zelda games often visit old ideas in new ways.
Adventure Of Link is a hard game, so maybe you could play with cheats or just watch a Let's play or read a guide? The villains of that game definitely suffer from being in a NES game.
Oh minor comment, the Lizalfos are a fusion of the Ocarina of Time artwork Lizalfos and the Skyward Sword Lizalfos (the gauntlet). The Dinolfos are similar with an entirely new gauntlet as there weren't any Dinolfos in Skyward Sword.
The Stalmaster in HW is sadly a clone of the Darknut, so it only uses one sword except for one attack where its lower arms attack and its idle. Speaking of the Darknut, the armor on it is specifically the armor of the Temple of Time Miniboss Darknut in Twilight Princess.
Here's the Link to the manga.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFJ_I5OBh1Y
Let's Plays is how I ended up experiencing at least the base story for Wind Waker and Skyward Sword -- regrettably when my Wii died I really had no way to play either of those games, and never had the chance to buy them. I would drop very good money to see them remastered (or honestly just re-released) on the Switch.
DeleteIt is kind of a shame, but at the same time the Stalmaster isn't really meant to be a boss in the same vein of the Dodongo or Manhandla, so I can kind of see why these 'army general' guys are given very simple swordsman movesets. It's kind of a shame, but I can kind of see why they chose to go in that direction.
...wait, Twilight Princess has two different Darknut models? Huuh, so it does. I've played through the game a couple of times and I honestly never noticed it!
I'll check out the manga later tonight!
Wind Waker is for Gamecube, not wii, though there is a Wii U re-release.
DeleteThat reminds me the Miniblins actually debuted with the Bokoblins in Wind Waker. The Bokoblins were above Miniblins in power, but the latter could spawn infinitely in some rooms and walk on walls. Miniblins were very prominent in the DS Zelda games serving as the main Blin forces and attacked more intelligently.
Its not a big deal, but it'd be nice if there is a HW sequel for Stalmasters to get a separate moveset from Darknuts.
https://www.deviantart.com/ajd-262/art/Darknuts-TP-for-XNALara-749197475
Here's a good comparison screen. The Temple of Time Darknut has a unique sword too, whilst the other Darknuts can come in different colors and have a sword or Mace, though both function the same. All types switch to the same short sword when disarmed, though.
Its another manga thats interesting in light of the future, BTW have you read the Adventure of Link Manual? Reading it will make the manga make more sense.
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/clv/manuals/en/pdf/CLV-P-NAASE.pdf
Some Wiis can play Gamecube games, right? If it had a port? Regardless, I never owned the Wii-U, and I had really wanted one back then to play Skyward Sword and Wind Waker HD, but the Wii-U simply never quite sold as well as its predecessor and successor, so I never really had the option to buy one for a decent price.
DeleteI love how the Miniblins look, they look so imp-like! I really need to take a closer look on Wind Waker. Out of all the Zelda games out there, I kind of feel like this is one that I would definitely love to see re-released on the Switch.
Yeah, I've always just thought that it's a different helmet and colours (the weapons, I've always noticed from the many different Darknuts), but I've never really realized just how different the colours and the armour are, particularly around the chest area. I guess the Temple of Time Darknut does kind of count as a mini-boss? Sort of? And it's a 'past' armour design?
I've read a summarized version of the story of Adventure of Link, and I do know that a lot of it came from the manual, so I'm sort of familiar with the story told in the manual although not the specifics. It's very nice of you to share, though, it's going to be very convenient to have somewhere convenient to look up whenever I decide to get around to doing AoL.
Wiis can all play GC discs.
DeleteCan you use emulators.
Miniblins look alot like satyrs/traditional devils and their noises are interesting. It was fun learning they drink wine in the DS games.
The Temple of Time Darknut is definitely a miniboss. I just remembered his shield is also different
Adventure of Link is the only time a Zelda has had a brother. Did you read the manga by the way?
I could use emulators, that was how I originally played Majora's Mask before it got remastered for the 3DS, and some of the GBC games... but emulators are a bit of a headache to play, especially when it's emulating a newer machine. And I tend to never have the patience to troubleshoot emulators and make sure I get all the settings right.
DeleteMiniblins always look more like D&D/WoW imps to me, but they are also basically just tiny devil-men, so yeah!
I haven't had the time to finish the manga yet, but I've watched that first video. Is this an adaptation of the story of AoL, or is it a prequel to the game's story?
Ok, its probably easy if you're on windows.
DeleteIts an expanded manga adaptation of the story of Adventure of Link, though there was a prior manga covering the first game.
I'm on Windows, but I'm not the most technology adept. So sometimes I play an emulator and I tend to screw up halfway through due to a setting problem and whatnot.
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