The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords

Four Swords is a relatively short game alongside A Link to the Past for the GBA. It was the first multi-player Zelda game to be released, and the first in the Four Swords lineup. The game introduced Vaati as a new main boss for the franchise. To play it, one must link up two to four GBA systems each with its own game.

After an evil wind falls upon Hyrule, maidens near and far begin to disappear. Zelda, a prominent sage, fears the worst. With the companionship of a close friend, Link, she journeys to the Altar of the Four Sword. The trouble starts there after Link pulls upon the blade, shattering himself into four parts and releasing Vaati, an evil wind sorcerer who immediately kidnaps Zelda, leaving Link to go on a quest to locate her.

In his journeys, Link must outwit his nemesis and find his way to the rumored Palace of Winds, for it is there, and there alone, that he can save his lost companion. . . Where there was once one Link, there is now four!

Story
"Long ago, in the kingdom of Hyrule, there appeared a Wind Sorcerer named Vaati. Vaati could bend the wind to his will and used this awful power to terrorize many villages of Hyrule. In his assaults on the villages, Vaati would kidnap any beautiful girls who caught his fancy.

''Many knights from the castle and other brave men set out to subdue the sorcerer and rescue the girls, but each one fell in turn to Vaati's awsome power. Just as the people had begun to lose hope, a lone young boy traveling with little but a sword at his side appeared.''

''When this boy heard what was happening, he said only, "I will defeat this sorcerer." He boldly entered Vaati's palace, mystically trapped the evil sorcerer inside the blade of his sword, and returned the young girls to their villages. The boy then went deep into the forest and disappeared.''

''The villagers asked the girls how a boy so young could have saved them all and defeated the sorcerer when no one else could. The young girls told a story of how with just a wave of his sword, the boy's body shattered into four pieces, each of which then formed a complete copy of the boy. These four young boys then worked together to defeat the sorcerer. The people did not believe the story, but they called it the Four Sword nonetheless. As rumors of the blade's power to divide a person into four entities spread, the people built a shrine to protect it.''

''Princess Zelda of the land of Hyrule was a beautiful young girl born with mysterious power to sense approaching forces of evil. For this reason, whe was assigned with the sacred duty of protecting the shrine of the Four Sword and the blade itself. One day, Zelda was in Hyrule Castle when she sensed that something unusual was occuring at the Four Sword Shrine. She asked a boy named Link, whom she trusted above anyone else, to accompany her to investigate the happenings at the shrine...''"

Gameplay Mechanics
Four Swords is one of the most unique game among the Zelda series. It is the only game that requires at least two people to play, Four Swords, along with its sequel Four Swords Adventures, does not feature an overworld, and Four Swords uses random dungeons, similar to those of mystery dungeon games.

Floors of stages are made of two part. These two parts are randomly interchanged to prduce random floors. To move onto the next floor of a stage, all the players must reach the warp zone to get to the the next. The faster you reach the Warp Zone the bigger the Rupee bonus. After clearing two floors, or nine floors if clearing Vaati's Palace with the Hero Keys, the Links will be warped to a boss room. After defeating a boss, with the exception of Vaati, a Great Fairy will appear. Depending on the number of Rupees collected will give you either silver key, a gold key, a hero key, or in some cases no key at all. The player who did the best in a stage will recieve a Medal of Courage. These medals are needed to acquire certain items and a technique in A Link to the Past.

When you lose all your hearts, you will be downed. When downed you are incapable of moving, until you pay a penalty of Rupees to be revived. The more times your downed the greater the penalties become. If you do not have enough Rupees to be revived the game ends. If all players have filled all their heart containers, any Rupees a player finds will be worth twice its normal value.

Stages

 * Chambers of Insight
 * Sea of Trees
 * Talus Cave
 * Death Mountain
 * Vaati's Palace

Items
Pedestals with items on them are scattered around the levels. You can only hold one item at a time. The items are:


 * Bombs
 * Boomerang
 * Bow
 * Bow-Wow
 * Gnat Hat
 * Magnetic Glove
 * Pegasus Boots
 * Roc's Cape
 * Shield

You can also obtain three types of seeds. These seeds are:


 * Razor Seeds
 * Armor Seeds
 * Pegasus Seed

Trivia

 * Four swords is the first time a dungeon has been set entirely in the clouds.