Four Swords Adventures
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''The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures'' is a 2004
action-adventure game An action-adventure game is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Definition An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements from an action ...
developed and published by
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
for the
GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...
. It is the eleventh installment in ''
The Legend of Zelda is a media franchise, video game series created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo; some portable installments and re-releases have been outsourced to Flags ...
'' series. It was released in 2004 in Japan on March 18, and in North America on June 7. In 2005, the game was released in Europe on January 7, and in Australia on April 7. The
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
handheld game console A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the con ...
can be used as a controller when using the
GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable The GameCube Game Boy Advance cable is a video game accessory manufactured by Nintendo which is used to connect the Game Boy Advance (GBA) handheld console to the GameCube (GCN) home console. Depending on the games it is used with, the cable may f ...
bundled with the game in North America and Europe. Similar to its predecessor '' Four Swords'' in terms of gameplay and presentation, the game takes Link and his three clones created by the magic "Four Sword" on an adventure to restore peace to
Hyrule ''The Legend of Zelda'' is a video game franchise created by video game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka and mainly developed and published by Nintendo. The universe of the ''Legend of Zelda'' series consists of various lands, th ...
after learning that an evil counterpart of himself, Shadow Link, has been created. ''Four Swords Adventures'' was considered the 48th-best game made for a Nintendo system by ''
Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninte ...
'', and received an aggregated 86 out of 100 from
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. It was the third best-selling game of June 2004 in North America, with 155,000 units, and has since sold 250,000 copies; it has sold 127,000 units in Japan.


Gameplay

The main mode of ''Four Swords Adventures'' is "Hyrulean Adventure", an episodic cooperative multiplayer adaptation of conventional ''
The Legend of Zelda is a media franchise, video game series created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo; some portable installments and re-releases have been outsourced to Flags ...
'' gameplay. "Shadow Battle" is a competitive multiplayer battle mode. "Navi Trackers", present only in the Japanese version of the game, is a multiplayer
stamp rally A is an event or course dedicated to collecting stamps that follow a certain theme at sites such as train stations, rest areas, tourist attractions, museums, zoos, Onsen, onsen towns, shopping malls, and other locations. The popularity of stamp ...
race.


Hyrulean Adventure

Hyrulean Adventure is the main campaign of ''Four Swords Adventures'', and can be played by one to four players. It consists of eight worlds, each with three stages and a
boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...
battle. The graphics are similar to that of the previously released '' Four Swords'' for the
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
(GBA), but the maps are static rather than randomly generated, the top-down view is taken from ''
A Link to the Past is a 1991 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the third game in ''The Legend of Zelda'' series and was released in 1991 in Japan and 1992 in North America and Europe. The ...
'', and gameplay includes effects from ''
The Wind Waker is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. An installment in ''The Legend of Zelda'' series, it was released in Japan on December 13, 2002, in North America on March 24, 2003, and in Europe on May 2, 2003 ...
''. The graphics include enhanced atmospheric effects such as cloud shadows that slowly move across the ground, heat shimmer, dust storms, and fog. Music is based on that of ''
A Link to the Past is a 1991 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the third game in ''The Legend of Zelda'' series and was released in 1991 in Japan and 1992 in North America and Europe. The ...
'', but is rearranged in places. In Hyrulean Adventure, most of the same mechanics as ''Four Swords'' are used. The multiplayer version requires each player to have a GBA, which is used as a controller and to which the action transfers when that player's character goes off the main screen, but the single-player game may be played with either a GameCube controller or a GBA. There are always four Link characters (differentiated by colors: green, red, blue and purple) in play, regardless of the number of people playing; "extra" Links are attached to those directly controlled and positioned around the controlling character. Normally, the extra Links follow the player, but players can separate an individual Link and control him independently, or put the four Links into formations. These techniques are required to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. Players are encouraged to work together to gather enough Force Gems to empower the Four Sword, and failing to do so by the time the boss is defeated or the dark barrier is reached results in having to go back to the beginning of the stage to collect more. However, once the requisite gems are collected, players are automatically transported to the dark barrier and therefore do not have to repeat the entire stage. Players can play
minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements and is often smaller or more simplistic than th ...
s in multiplayer mode at Tingle's Tower, which appears in every world, to gain extra multiplayer lives. These eight games are earned by playing though certain stages in multiplayer mode. The minigames include horse racing, hammer tag, monster hunting and five others.


Shadow Battle

In Shadow Battle, two or more players battle each other until only one is left standing. Each player uses a different-colored Link character and wields various tools to attack the other Links. Initially, there are five stages which players can choose as the battle's arena. Five bonus maps are unlocked upon completion of Hyrulean Adventure (these "dark stages" are almost the same as the first five maps, but portals to the dark world appear and the player has limited vision). In each stage, items randomly appear, and are usually similar to the items in Hyrulean Adventure. There are many special objects in each stage, which can be used to the player's advantage. There is a time limit; when it reaches zero, the game is tied.


Navi Trackers

Navi Trackers (formerly planned as a stand-alone game titled ''Tetra's Trackers'') is a game only present in the Japanese version of ''Four Swords Adventures'' (''Four Swords +''). Multiple players use a combination of the
television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
screen and Game Boy Advances to search for members of
Tetra Tetra is the common name of many small freshwater characiform fishes. Tetras come from Africa, Central America, and South America, belonging to the biological families Characidae, Alestidae (the "African tetras"), Lepidarchidae, Lebiasi ...
's pirate crew to gain as many stamps as possible within a given time limit. Action takes place on the
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
used by each player, with the television screen showing a basic map and Tetra narrating the action. A single-player mode is available, which allows players to either collect alone or compete against Tingle.


Plot


Setting

The game takes place centuries after ''
Majora's Mask is a 2000 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was the second ''The Legend of Zelda'' game to use 3D computer graphics, 3D graphics, following ''The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Ocarina of Time' ...
'' and ''
Twilight Princess is a 2006 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube and Wii. Originally planned for release exclusively on the GameCube in November 2005, Nintendo delayed the release to refine the game, add more content and po ...
'', within the events of the "Child Timeline", and chronologically is the final game in this timeline prior to ''
Breath of the Wild is a 2017 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo. Set at the end of the Zelda timeline, ''Zelda'' timeline, the player controls an amnesiac Link (The Legend of Zelda), Link as he sets out to save Princess Zelda and prevent ...
''. The game features a separate incarnation of the Dark Lord Ganondorf/The Dark Beast Ganon to the one whose backstory is shown in ''
Ocarina of Time is a 1998 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. The game was the first in the '' Legend of Zelda'' series with 3D graphics. It was released in Japan and North America in November 1998 and in PAL regi ...
'', something which is unique to ''Four Swords Adventures''.


Story

Fearing that Vaati's seal is weakening, which has caused strange happenings through Hyrule, Zelda summons Link as a guard while she and the Shrine Maidens open the portal to the Four Sword Sanctuary. Shadow Link suddenly appears and kidnap the Maidens. Link wields the Four Sword, creating three clones of himself, and inadvertely releases Vaati, wreaking havoc on Hyrule. The four Links then depart to restore peace to Hyrule. The Links discover that Vaati's release is only a small part in a larger plot to conquer Hyrule, and that the dimension of the Dark World suddenly appears and abducts people, including the four knights of Hyrule, and the castle is taken over. The Links discover that Ganon is the cataclyst of the events, after stealing a powerful trident containing dar energy; in a hope to succeed into his plan, Ganon created Shadow Link with the Dark Mirror, who tricked Link into releasing Vaati. With the Dark Mirror, Ganon has abducted people to turn them into his minions. The Links rescue the Maidens, retrieves the Dark Mirror, and defeat Shadow Link. In the Palace of Wind, the Links defeat both Vaati and Ganon, which they use the Shrine Maidens' power to seal the latter. Peace returns into Hyrule as all trace of evil is vanquished. Link returns the Four Sword, and the Links become one again. The Maindens then create a barrier around the sword.


Development

At E3 2003, Nintendo showcased two Zelda games which would make use of the Game Boy Advance connectivity, ''Four Swords'' and ''Tetra's Trackers''. In December of the same year, both games were expected to be together in a single disc, ''Four Swords +'', along with a third, ''Shadow Battle''. ''Four Swords Adventures'' was released in Japan with "Hyrule Adventure", "Shadow Battle", and "Navi's Trackers" as three individual games bundled together. In June 2004, however, "Hyrule Adventures" and "Navi's Trackers" were scheduled to be sold as two separate titles in the United States, while the retail status of "Shadow Battle" was still unknown. This decision was later changed to bundle "Hyrule Adventure" with "Shadow Battle", and to not release "Navi's Trackers" in the United States. Despite the fact that translations for the PAL version were finished in October, the game was not released in Europe until early January 2005. A possible reason for this is so that the game did not compete with '' The Minish Cap'' for sales, which in turn was released pre-Christmas in Europe because, unlike North America, it would not cannibalize
Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...
sales. Early on the development of ''Navi Trackers'', it was decided that it would include a speech navigation system that talks and advises the player during mini-games. Players type in their name and the system calls players by their name during the game in order to notify them of their turn.


Reception

In 2006, ''
Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninte ...
'' rated ''Four Swords Adventures'' the 48th best game made on a Nintendo system. It received a score of 86 out of 100 based on 55 aggregated reviews from
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, and an average score of 85% based on 67 reviews from
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. ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' praised the game's connectivity feature with the
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
, claiming that this is "a truly compelling reason to invest in a GameCube-to-GBA link cable" and that "using the Game Boy Advance as a controller has an appreciable impact on the experience". They praised the story and said, noting that the differences between the original ''Four Swords'' and ''Adventures'' is a more persistent narrative. The game was applauded, with critic remarking that ''Adventures'' improved on the original ''Four Swords'' visuals, making the ''Wind Waker''-derived visual style more reminiscent of the cel-shaded adventure of Link. The audio was noted, with a review remarking that the sound design for ''Four Swords Adventures'' is familiar to anyone who has played any ''The Legend of Zelda'' game, including ''The Wind Waker''. ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' later named it the best GameCube game of June 2004. ''Four Swords Adventures'' also received criticism. ''
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s review about the game was particularly critical of the graphics, calling it an odd mix of cheap 2D SNES sprites and nice GameCube particle effects, believing that it created an inconsistent feel. They also criticized the requirement of the link cable, saying that the required use of the GBA for multiplayer limits the play potential. ''Four Swords Adventures'' was the third best-selling game of June 2004 in North America with 155,000 units, and has since sold 250,000 copies, becoming a part of the
Player's Choice ''Nintendo Selects'' (and its predecessor; ''Player's Choice'') was a marketing label previously used by Nintendo to promote best-selling video games on Nintendo game consoles. ''Nintendo Selects'' titles were sold at a lower price point (usually ...
line. The game also sold 127,000 units in Japan. Producer
Eiji Aonuma is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer at Nintendo. He is a senior officer within their Nintendo EPD division and serves as the producer of the ''The Legend of Zelda, Legend of Zelda'' franchise. Career Aonuma was born as on ...
felt the game's sales were disappointing due to each player needing a Game Boy Advance and a Link Cable, which made it difficult to convince consumers that they needed to play the game.


See also

* Characters in ''The Legend of Zelda'' series * '' The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords'' * '' The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes''


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, The 2004 video games Video games about cloning Cooperative video games GameCube games GameCube-only games Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development games
Four Swords Adventures ''The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures'' is a 2004 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the eleventh installment in ''The Legend of Zelda'' series. It was released in 2004 in Japan on March 18, ...
Top-down video games Video games developed in Japan Video games produced by Shigeru Miyamoto Video games scored by Koji Kondo Games with GameCube-GBA connectivity Multiplayer and single-player video games