The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is celebrating its 20-year anniversary in the present day, January 10, 2025. Under, we glance again at how the group got here up with a playful sense of scale as its central hook.The Legend of Zelda sequence is full of dynamics that stretch and alter the world of Hyrule. Whether or not or not it’s going again in time or right into a realm of darkness, these add a brand new ingredient of exploration that you just would not see in a peaceable Hyrule. The aim with many of those design selections was to encourage wonder–to give gamers a cause to discover acquainted areas they’ve seen a number of instances earlier than. The Minish Cap’s shrinking function is likely one of the finest examples of The Legend of Zelda designers reaching that aim.Latest video games like Tinykin, It Takes Two, and Grounded have explored what it is prefer to discover the world whereas tiny, however few have created the dichotomy that The Minish Cap had with its shrinking function. It inspired fascination with the mundane–anything and all the pieces could possibly be hiding Hyperlink’s subsequent discovery.”Once we began fascinated with what that gimmick could possibly be for Minish Cap, first, we knew it could not be that far-removed or out-there from the world of Zelda,” stated The Minish Cap director Hidemaro Fujibayashi in a 2004 interview in Nintendo Dream journal. “I began considering, what function[s] of those sport worlds might we presumably increase on, what dimension might we discover? “Entrance and Reverse, Previous and Future, Gentle and Darkness… we would finished all these earlier than, however might another pairing stay? I racked my mind till I spotted–ah hah, if we make Hyperlink small, that will be like getting into a complete ‘nother world inside his personal.”The Minish Cap’s hallmark shrinking function led to an overworld that was completely filled with puzzles to resolve. Its intelligent use all through the sport make it the most effective examples of The Legend of Zelda designers inspiring surprise, and it is a side of the sport that also stands out 20 years later.Whereas particular person dungeons and the overworld are filled with fascinating content material to discover, the mere concept that a whole village could possibly be hidden inside a tree or rock conjures up a Breath of the Wild-like sense of surprise that was by some means achieved with 2004 expertise. In Capcom’s The Legend of Zelda journey, the world of Hyrule has tiny beings referred to as the Minish packed into stumps, beneath rocks, and in dozens of different locations throughout the dominion. These Minish are in all places, even beneath the snoozing nostril of a shoemaker. Hyperlink and the remainder of Hyrule have by no means heard of those creatures, making additional discovery of how they reside an exquisite story thread to tug on.The Minish Cap allows you to yank on that thread early on in your journey, shortly after peril involves Hyrule. Quickly after the villain of the entry, Vaati, unleashes a horde of monsters throughout Hyrule, Hyperlink travels to The Minish Woods to seek out the Minish, retrieve 4 elemental stones, restore the sword of legend, and restore Hyrule and a Zelda, the latter of whom has been turned to stone.A lot of that is commonplace Zelda flare, though the leadup to discovering the Minish for the primary time establishes the larger-than-life degree design that may fill the remainder of the sport.Hyperlink’s new sidekick, Ezlo, shrinks him down utilizing a portal present in The Minish Woods, finally main him by way of logs, over drifting pondweed, and round life-size sticks and acorns to seek out the miniature race of people that would kick off the remainder of his journey.Wanting again, this second does not appear extremely spectacular by itself, however its ingenuity is present in the way it units up the remainder of the sport. Navigating the small platforming part and conserving an eye fixed out for areas that may solely be explored whereas small is what, as Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma stated, turns your complete overworld into one thing simply as difficult because the sequence’ trademark dungeons.”Dungeons have a sure restricted format to them, proper? Discover keys, advance additional, defeat the boss,” Aonuma stated. “In distinction, the skin world, the sphere map, can provide extra multifaceted gameplay.”Kinstone fragments scattered throughout the overworld really feel like commonplace collectibles at first, however they quantity to extra by unlocking different areas of the map. Discover two of the identical sort, fuse them, and the basic Zelda discovery jingle will play–meaning a brand new path opens up, a chest is revealed, or one thing related occurs.Many of those Kinstones are discovered inside puzzles that require you to shrink down and climb a bookcase, run throughout bakery cabinets, and even dodge gigantic raindrops: easy acts that provide you with a completely unique approach by way of which to view Hyrule.”Amassing the fragments opens up areas far out of your present location,” Aonuma stated. “In a way, this makes the overworld map itself act like one massive dungeon.”This sense of surprise got here from Capcom’s aim to shift away from their design method on Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, and 4 Swords. Whereas they ended up constructing off of the Gnat Hat–an merchandise that shrunk Hyperlink down in 4 Swords–they wished to duplicate Nintendo’s method to Zelda by specializing in worldbuilding. In doing so, they only occurred to create a tremendous world that got here from posing a easy query: What’s hidden beneath and inside all of the acquainted workings of Lake Hylia and Lon Lon Ranch?”We wished to make a ‘mainline’ conventional 2D Zelda sport. Traversing overworld maps, exploring dungeons. The essence of Zelda,” Fujibayashi stated. “I see it as following within the steps of the Famicom Zelda and A Hyperlink to the Previous, however a extra powered-up model for in the present day’s {hardware}.”Exploring cracks in rocks and tiny holes within the facet of cottages in 2004 is the equal of scaling the facet of the mountain in Breath of the Wild in 2017. The most important distinction is the expertise, as Capcom labored throughout the parameters of Sport Boy Advance {hardware} so as to instill a magic that could possibly be felt by way of a 2.9-inch display. That tiny, mystical world hidden amongst unbelievable fight and puzzles makes The Minish Cap probably the most memorable Zelda video games in the present day,
