Now, I wanted to talk about a different Link in The Legend of Zelda series. Since I already talked about regular Link, I thought I would talk about Toon Link because the new Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword incorporates elements from both of those series.
Before:
To talk about how Toon Link came to be, we must venture a long time ago to the year of 1999. Nintendo sales were starting to decline and under pressure from Sony's PlayStation 2 and Sega's Dreamcast, Nintendo announced that they were working on a new home console. The system, the Nintendo GameCube was revealed in August of 2000 at Nintendo's Space World 2000 exposition. Along with the GameCube was many software presentations and one of them being a real-time battle between Link and Ganondorf.
"Dissapointment was soon to come."
Although it was hastily prepared, fans were expecting the next Zelda game to be just like the demo. So, the GameCube was released in America on November 18, 2001 and GameCube owners couldn't wait for the next Zelda game, until The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker was released.
"Wind Waker didn't help the fact that the GameCube was purple."
After:
In The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker you start out as Link on Outset Island, one of the few inhabited islands in the Great Sea. Link has finally come of age to wear the costume of the Hero of Time. A young girl, Aryll, gives Link a present which his to look through her telescope. He sees a girl being carried into a forest by a bird. Link goes to save the girl, Tetra who is a captain of a pirate ship, and succeeds only to have Aryll be kidnapped by the same bird. Link goes to where the bird to Aryll, the Forsaken Fortress, with the help of Tetra and raids the fortress until he finds Aryll. When Aryll is found, Link is thrown into the Great Sea by a "dark figure". Link is rescued by a talking boat, the King of Red Lions, who tells Link that the master of the Forsaken Fortress is Ganon, the Evil of Legend, and gives link the Wind Waker, a baton able to control the wind and all of its directions. Now Link is to find the three Goddesses' Pearls and take them to the Triangle Islands causing the Tower of the Gods to rise from the sea. After battling Godhan to prove his worth, Link sails into a ring of light and is taken beneath the waters to Hyrule Castle where it is filled with enemies frozen in time. After descending a hidden staircase, Link finds the Master Sword, an evil-repelling sword used by the Hero of Time to seal Ganondorf. Link takes the sword, breaking the seal and fights all the monsters then returns to the surface. Now link returns to the fortress to save everyone with the help of Tetra and Ganondorf explains that his true power is unleashed, Tetra is Princess Zelda, and the Master Sword no longer repels evil. Then Tetra and Link travel to Hyrule Castle where we also find out that the King of Red Lions is the King of Hyrule and Ganondorf rebuilds the Triforce of Wisdom restoring Tetra to the traditional Princess Zelda appearance. Now, Link restores the Triforce of Courage and awakens the new Gods of Earth and Wind who bless the Master Sword giving it its sealing abilities and Link seals Ganon with the help of Tetra and the kingdom is flooded again restoring Hyrule to its former state.
"He's sad because he has to be with a pervert in Phantom Hourglass."
The next game features Toon Link, but doesn't follow The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap for the Game Boy Advanced explains how Link got his uniform and is said to be the first game in the Zelda timeline. The game begins as Link is chosen by the king of Hyrule to seek the help of the Picori, or Minish, after Vaati (not Ganon) had petrified Princess Zelda. Along the voyage, he rescues Ezlo, a being that resembles a green cap. Although not revealed until later in the game, Ezlo and Vaati were both Minish and Ezlo was a renowned craftsman and sage and Vaati was his apprentice. Vaati became corrupted by madness and hatred of men and took a magic cap Ezlo made that grants any wish and Vaati wished he was a powerful sorcerer and he turned his master into a hat. With Ezlo's help, Link restores the four elemental artifacts and uses them to restore the Picori Blade to the Four Sword. Then, Hyrule Castle turns into Dark Hyrule Castle and Link must fight Vaati and save Zelda. After Vaati is defeated Ezlo is turned back to normal and he gives Link a new cap and he leaves as the Minish world closes.
"If you want Pac-Man go to another game."
The next game is to follow the events immediately after The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was released for the Nintendo DS in October of 2007 and starts as Tetra has boarded a ghost ship and is taken and as Link tries to rescue her he falls into the ocean. He is awoken by the fairy Ciela and discovers the Phantom Hourglass filled with the Sand of Hours. Also, Link runs into an old man, Oshus, who wishes to help Link on his journey. Link enlists the help of Caiptain Linebeck of the S.S. Linebeck which Link uses to visit islands. With the help of the Phantom Hourglass, Link finds the Spirits of Wisdom and Power and finds out that Ceila is the Spirit of Courage and Oshus is the Ocean King and that they changed their appearances to hide from Bellum, a life-eating monster who is the captain of the ghost ship. Also, they mention that Bellum has Tetra in a statue on his ghost ship deep inside the Temple. To defeat Bellum, Link must forge the Phantom Sword from three "pure" metals found on nearby islands. Once the sword is forged and Bellum is defeated, Oshus and Ceila turn into their original forms and the Phantom Hourglass empties its sands into the ocean.Link and Tetra awaken on Tetra's pirate ship with the crew insisting its only been ten minutes, but Link still possesses the now empty hourglass.
"Don't put that where I think you're going to put that."
The most recent Zelda game is to occur 100 years after the events of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks was released for the Nintendo DS in December of 2009. The game starts as Link is about to receive his engineering certificate from Princess Zelda, but chancellor Cole thinks the ceremony is a waste because the Spirit Tracks are disappearing. Zelda asks Link to smuggle her out of the castle because she wants to investigate the disappearance of the Spirit Tracks. Link is given the traditional recruit uniform, the tunic and hat, and Link and Zelda travel to Tower of Spirits. On the way their, the Spirit Tracks dissappear from under Link's train and the Tower of Spirits turns into hovering pieces. They're ambushed by Cole, a demon pretending to be a human, and a mercenary named Byrne. Cole forces Zelda's spirit out of her body taking her body with him. Link awakens in Hyrule Castle and sees Zelda's floating spirit who is unable to talk to the guards. Zelda gives Link the Spirit Flute and she asks him to accompany her to the Tower of Spirits. There they meet Anjean who explains that the spirit tracks carry the energy from the four towers to the Tower of Spirits and are used to imprison the Demon King Malladus. Cole wants to resurrect Malladus and needs Zelda's body because only a body of royal lineage can house the spirit of Malladus. Link and Zelda must recover the ancient stone rail maps from inside the tower to restore the tracks and Anjean's people, the lokomos, can restore the Spirit Tracks' energy. Sections of the Tower of Spirits are restored as the power of the Spirit Tracks is restored and new sections of the map are recovered. Then, Byrne approaches Link to kill him after obtaining the fourth map, but is stopped by Anjean and reveals that Byrne was Anjean's failed apprentice. Upset that he did not receive the power he wanted, Byrne turned to Malladus believing that he's the only thing more powerful than the spirits. Anjean teleports Link and Zelda to the tower lobby to restore the last part of the Spirit Tracks. Byrne blocks the way from Link retrieving Zelda's body and says that Malladus is nearly resurrected. The two overpower Byrne where he escapes to the top of the tower where Malladus has been resurrected. Byrne asks Malladus for the power he wanted, but attacks Byrne instead, since he was a servant to the spirits. Then, Malladus leaves with Cole on a demon train. Link and Zelda then receive the Bow of Light and the Compass of Light and travel to the Dark Realm. They battle the Demon Train and Cole there, removing Malladus from Zelda's body. Malladus attemps to repossess Zelda's body, but Byrne interferes allowing Zelda to possess her body again. Angered, Malladus kills Byrne and takes over Cole's body. Link and Zelda defeat Malladus and Cole with the Bow of Light and Zelda's Magic. Anjean says Byrne will appear in a new form years from now with no memory of what happened and their duty to protect the Kingdom from Malladus is complete and Anjean and the other Lokomos ascend into the sky.
"I think Link would rather be on a boat mother fucker."
In the next Zelda game for the Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, it doesn't feature Toon Link, but does feature a lot of elements from The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. What the next Toon Link game is going to be like, I don't know. We'll just have wait for Nintendo to pull another Zelda game out their asses.
"Yes creepy bird thing, just come to papa Link so I can KILL YOU."
