The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is a game for the Game Boy Advance that stars Link as he uses new powers that weren't available in past games. One such ability, is to shrink to very small sizes once he enters a special portal. Ezlo, the bird like cap that Link wears will give you multiple hints and will help you throughout the game, as well as give you that ability to shrink.

Gameplay
The game is seen through a bird's eye perspective, similar to the original Zelda installments. Link is the playable character, and his primary ability in the game is to transform into the size of a Minish, a small species who'll help you out throughout the game. As always, Link is capable of swinging his sword, firing arrows, using his shield and so fourth, though multiple new abilities and weapons have also been included that you'll`be able to master.

Another ability that Link is capable of performing is splitting himself and generating copies. By the end of the game, you're able to control four Links at once, though you'll have to come in possession of the different elementals in order to do this.

The world of Hyrule has once again been altered. Landscape has been mutated and new areas have appeared that haven't been seen in any previous game installment. Some have argued that it looks dramatically similar to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

One new item in the video game is Kinstones, which aren't weapons but rather momentos that you're able to fuse together with other Kinstones to cause special events to occur. You're only able to connect Kinstones with other characters in the game. You'll know when someone wishes to fuse Kinstones with a thought bubble emerges from their head, which indicates that you should probably do so. There are multiple different Kinstone designs, and similarly other characters may have the right peice to fuse with you.

Plot
The game focuses on the background of two important themes from the GameCube video game Four Swords Adventure, including Vaati and the Four Swords. Another important figure in the game is the Picori and a previous member of the species Ezlo, who was cursed by Vaati and turned into a hat that resembled a bird long ago.

Link's goal in the game is to revive a perified Zelda after being encased in stone by Vaati. To do so, he'll need to fuse the blade that the Picori constructed years ago, but to do so he'd need to find the four elementals that are based off of fire, wind, earth, and water. This formula is common in the series; Usually the main goal is to find a magical sword that can ultimately defeat the prominent antagonist, which is usually Ganon (though this time it happens to be Vaati).

In the climax of the game, Link defeats Vaati and saves Princess Zelda. The two escape from the castle and in the end Link must engage with Vaati one last time. In the end, Ezlo returns back to normal and cures all of the cursed people, and returns back to the Minish World right before the door closes.

Development
The Minish Cap is the first game in the series to first be released in European countries, which Nintendo of Europe pushed for so that the game would be the paramount Christmas hanheld present. Nintendo of America went the opposite route and released it after December so that the Nintendo DS would be the dominant force during the holiday rush.

To celebrate the release, Nintendo released a golden Game Boy Advance SP that featured a Triforce on the front.