In a massive departure from the series formula, Four Swords Adventures plays out over a bunch of isolated levels. The familiar tunes, the old enemies reimagined in a cartoony style, the classic items this all feels like a title lovingly crafted to allow you and your buddies to share in something you love together instead of something cynically made to sell a stupid accessory. When played with a bunch of Zelda loving freaks, everything about Four Swords Adventures feels like fan service. While not the most original setup, it does at least give you a reason to pal around with your friends through familiar lands. This has the side effect of unsealing Vaati, thus spurring an adventure to save Hyrule once again. With no choice but to rescue them, Link grabs hold of the Four Sword (a mystical artifact that later gets explained in The Minish Cap) to save them. Just as they are about to do so, Dark Link steps out from the shadows and captures the maidens. Fearing the return of the dark sorcerer Vaati (a villain introduced in the previous Four Swords game), she and the six maidens set to reseal Vaati and prevent his return. Starting off in a gloomy storm, Link meets with Zelda and she sets up the goal for this adventure.
While the sprites are borrowed from the original Four Swords, the locations and music come from the seminal A Link to the Past, widely regarded as one of the best entries in the franchise. Right from the beginning, you can see Nintendo is borrowing from the best when it comes to backbone of this title. From both a cooperative and competitive aspect, Four Swords Adventures hits every beat you’d want from a multiplayer take on Zelda with a dash of charm that will make any diehard fan blush. Despite Nintendo tinkering a few more times with the idea of a multiplayer Zelda game (most recently with 2015’s Tri Force Heroes), they’ve never done a better job than this. It was a highly unique idea and something way too ahead of its time. Controlled entirely with the GBA, certain segments of the game would force players to look at their handhelds to explore separate areas at the same time. Four players with four Game Boy Advance systems could connect to the lunchbox and explore a new version of Hyrule together. An expanded take on a bonus mode offered in its GBA port of A Link to the Past, Adventures made liberal use of Nintendo’s GBA Link Cable for GameCube. In the Four Swords manga by Akira Himekawa, Link is split into four when he draws the Four Sword in an effort to save Princess Zelda from Shadow Link.15 years ago today, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures in North America. It's a rare experience because of all the annoying hardware that is needed, but it is certainly worth it. Tossing in a single player experience might make the game more accessible… but it's just not fun at all.
Obviously, there's no co-op in the real game, so this is being done by fans on a PC Wii U emulator called CEMU.įour Swords is a multiplayer Zelda game and is designed to be played as a multiplayer game. Modders have made The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild into a two-player, co-op game. How long does it take to beat Four Swords?Ĭan you play Four Swords GBA with 2 people? Four Swords Adventures' multiplayer requires everyone to own their own Game Boy Advance along with a Game Boy Advance to GameCube link cable. Rather, its larger problems stemmed from the fact that it didn't feature a single player mode, locking the game out from less fortunate players. The story is canon, and it happened in the zelda universe for sure. Regarding Four Swords for the GBA, and/or the single player anniversary edition for 3DS. As another user said, all canon Zelda games are mainline entries. There is a common misconception that 2D Zelda games, or specifically the Four Swords games and Tri Force Heroes, are not mainline games. Is Four Swords Adventures single player fun?įour Swords is a multiplayer Zelda game and is designed to be played as a multiplayer game. If you want to play the game with just one player, you just need the game, a GameCube, and a GameCube controller.
You can play Four Swords Adventures with 1, 2, 3, or 4 players.