Link's Crossbow Training

Link's Crossbow Training is a spin-off of the Zelda series for the Wii. It ships with the Wii Zapper and most likely takes place at different times during The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Link must pass a series of tests to perfect his marksmanship with the crossbow. Link's Crossbow Training supports a four player turn-based multiplayer mode, where the Wii Zapper is passed along the players, who play individually and compete for the highest score. There are three modes in Link's Crossbow Training.

Controls
With the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk inside the Wii Zapper casing, simply aim the Zapper as you would the Wii Remote. Pull the trigger to fire the crossbow (this effectively presses the Wii Remote's B button). Holding down the trigger will cause the crossbow to charge a shot which will fire a bomb arrow (unless you have the automatic crossbow power-up, in which case it will rapid-fire arrows). The Z button will zoom in, much like Twilight Princess's Hawkeye. The control stick will change function depending on the game mode: in defender-type stages, the stick will rotate your view. In ranger-type stages, it will move Link. In target shooting-type stages, the stick serves no purpose.

Scoring
The scores for various targets will change with the stage, from 10 to 100 points. Hitting a target will add 1 to a multiplier, so the next successful shot will earn you that target's points times the multiplier. However, a miss will cause the multiplier to reset to 1, and the multiplier will only rise when shooting a stage's designated target (i.e. the Bokoblins in a ranger-type stage); shooting certain other things will earn you points, but will not increase your multiplier.

Target Shooting
In target shooting your goal is to shoot down targets. During earlier stages, the targets are stationary, but overtime the difficulty increases and the targets begin to move. Hitting the bull's-eye will earn more points than hitting the outer rings of a target.

Defender
In this game mode the player remains in a fixed position, but may move the camera freely in 360 degress. Each one of these stages has a green enemy which can be shot to gain 100 automatic crossbow shots. Familiar enemies will appear on-screen such as Bokoblins.

 

Ranger
In ranger mode players have free control and may move across the environment freely by using the nunchuk attachment's analog stick. In this mode Link travels through enemy camps and forests to find his enemies.

Boss Fights
There are two boss fights in later stages, both based on battles from Twilight Princess. In stage 8-3, Link fights a Darknut, while in stage Final-3 he fights a newly-resurrected Stallord. The Darknut fight plays like a Ranger level in that Link can freely move to dodge the Darknut's attacks, but the Stallord fight plays like a Defender round, in that Link is immobile and must shoot oncoming enemies to prevent them from attacking him.

Stage 1
Ordon Target Practice This is a stationary target practice in Ordon Village, with the location switching every twenty seconds. Gerudo Stalfos: Defender In the Gerudo Mesa you will fight Stalfos, which are large, slow targets that are easy to hit. Some Stalfos, however, have shields, and must be shot several times to destroy their shield. Arbiter's Grounds: Ranger This level is a re-creation of the very Bulbin-laden area of the Arbiter's Grounds, right before entering the temple.

Stage 2
Goron Target Practice This level is much like Ordon Target Practice. However, Gorons are holding the targets, and if you wait too long, they will replace the target with another target, which could cause you to miss a gold target. Zora River: Defender This stage takes place on a boat travelling down Zora River. You cannot steer the boat itself. The enemies are Toadpolis, and they can fire projectiles at you (which can be shot as well). Skull Shooting (Target Practice) This is much like clay-bird shooting, only the targets are skulls. Skulls are worth 50 points, whereas rarer red skulls are worth 100.

Stage 3
Kakariko Target Practice This is more or less exactly like Ordon Target Practice, only taking place in Kakariko Village. Fruit Balloons (Target Practice) The fruit balloons from Plumm's Fruit Balloon Popping game in Twilight Princess are the targets here. The points given increase from watermelon (10 points), to orange (20 points), to strawberry (50 points). Occasionally, shooting a big fruit will cause four of the next fruit to appear. Shooting falling meteors will give you 300 points. The Great Bridge: Defender On the Great Bridge, you must defend yourself from swarms of Kargaroks.

Stage 4
Zora River Target Practice Another target practice, though this time most of the targets are moving, quite often down a waterfall. Hyrule Castle: Defender Taking place in the Hyrule Castle's courtyard, colonies of Keese are swarming around trying to attack you. Skulltula Woods: Ranger As no "Skulltula Woods" exists, you will be searching for and killing Skulltula in the southern part of Faron Woods. They may be on the ground or climbing on trees. They require two hits to kill.

Stage 5
Oocca Target Practice In the City in the Sky, many Oocca will fly around carrying targets. As such, the targets will bob up and down as they fly, making the targets difficult to hit. If an Oocca is hit, it will drop its target, making the target worth many more points. Gerudo Moldorm: Defender Once again in the Gerudo Mesa, you must now defend yourself from many Moldorm that sink into the ground and then pop back up. The Shootout (Ranger) A re-creation of Twilight Princess's Hidden Village's Bulbin hunt.

Stage 6
Ordon Target Practice 2 Again taking place in Ordon Village, however this time the screen is constantly scrolling and so targets must be shot before exiting the screen. The Bridge of Eldin: Defender In a scene similar to the escort mission in Twilight Princess, you must shoot oncoming Bokoblins. Some Bokoblins will be carrying bows and arrows. Snowpeak Ruins: Ranger In the Snowpeak Ruins, you must hunt down all 25 Chilfos in the area. They cannot be killed while holding a staff; however, without it, one hit is all that is neccessary. The staff can be destroyed with 4 hits.

Stage 7
Underground Target Practice Taking place in the beginning areas of the Arbiter's Grounds, you must shoot regular targets for the first 40 seconds, then in the last 20 seconds fight many ReDeads. They require many hits to kill, and if you're not quick, they can overwhelm you easily. City In the Sky: Defender This is a vastly more difficult defender stage. It takes place in the same area as the Argorok battle in Twilight Princess, only instead of fighting Argorok, you must fight many Aeralfos, sheilds and all. You must wait until they drop their guard before you fire. Charging your shot works well here. Temple of Time: Ranger This ranger level takes place in certain parts near the beginning of the Temple of Time, and the enemies you will fight are Lizalfos, with the occasional Keese, and two Beamos. The Lizalfos take two hits: the first knocks them down, and the second kills.

Stage 8
Horseback Target Practice This level takes place while riding Epona, and is like stage 6-1 in that you're moving the entire time. The first two 20 second segments are side-scrolling, and the final 20 seconds is head-on, much like a rail shooter. Snowpeak: Defender Taking place on the mountain itself, you must defend yourself from many White Wolfos. They will circle around you, stop, circle again, then run at you to attack. Darknut Battle (Ranger) A battle against the black Darknut from the Temple of Time. It will swing its sword, releasing a wave black Keese-like creatures. Occasionally these will persue you. After you've hit the Darknut enough times to shake its armor off, it will move faster and become much harder to hit.

Stage Final
Ranch Target Practice Unlike most other target practice stages, the targets this time are Bokoblins, many of them riding goats from the Ordon Ranch. Red Bokoblins are worth 100 points. Sacred Grove: Defender In the area of the Sacred Grove where you fight the Skull Kid in Twilight Princess, you must defend yourself from oncoming Puppets. Skull Kid also appears and can be shot for automatic crossbow shots. Stallord Battle (Defender) This is a difficult battle against Twilit Fossil Stallord. He has two weak points (the palms of his hands) which must be shot when Stallord raises his arms to pull himself toward you. When his hands are destroyed, he will fall over revealing a weak point on his head which must be shot. After several times of this, he will continue the strategy, while shooting rocks at you and releasing many Fire Bubbles, which must be shot before they come in contact with Link.