The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was released in early Spring, 2003 for the Gamecube, and it featured its notorious toon-shaded style of graphics. To many, this new style was refreshing, though others felt they were too childish. Overall, the game received good reviews, and was happily accepted into the Zelda game family.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker stars our hero, Link, who lives with his grandmother and sister, Aryll, on the peaceful Outset Island in the Great Sea. On his birthday, the age he became considered a man, his sister was kidnapped by a gigantic bird, and thus Link's adventure to save his sister began. However, he became involved in something much greater...

It is noteworthy that the Wind Waker, more than any other game in the series, attempts to establish a sense of temporal continuity. The Wind Waker directly references places and events from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and gives some indication of what happened between the two games. Until the Wind Waker, games in the series have traditionally existed temporally independent of the others.