The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

Unite four Links & bring light to Hyrule’s darkest hour.

JP release: 18th March 2004
NA release: 7th June 2004
EU release: 7th January 2005
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
NGC Magazine: 89%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

A multiplayer-focused 2D Zelda game that, like Crystal Chronicles, requires four Game Boy Advance consoles to enjoy. Four Swords Adventures uses the GBA in a neat way, as when one player enters a house, cave or hidden area, their character moves onto the GBA screen to explore those areas without disrupting the main screen. It’s pretty cool but, at the same time, never feels all that necessary. I feel like this could have still worked with a smaller picture-in-picture screen to allow for four players without the GBAs, with the GBA being more of an extra.

Part of this is because Four Swords Adventures is also designed to be properly playable in singleplayer, so the two or three times that different characters need to be on different screens just requires a player to stand on a button while another does something. When you do play on your own, you use a regular controller. The other three Links follow green Link and can’t be damaged in this mode. The game initially tells you to hold the Y button to change formation, but this is best ignored – the C-stick lets you pick formation easily, while the D-pad can be used to select specific Links to move them to different positions. While in formation, all four Links will attack and use items in tandem.

Playing on your own offers some advantages and disadvantages. Sometimes there’s a lot more backtracking due to not being able to carry multiple items that easily, but regrouping is easily done by tapping the Y button to warp all Links to the current one. All four Links also have the same item equipped in singleplayer while they can have different items in multiplayer, so you’ll have a bit more backtracking to change items on your own. On top of this, Four Swords Adventures is a game where messing up your opponents is a lot of fun, and it encourages friendly competition by showing how well each player does, so you won’t have four friends messing you up when you’re on your own.

Four Swords Adventures also doesn’t use the typical open world structure of a Zelda game, opting for a level-based structure. However, it isn’t just all out action like many multiplayer games as there are plenty of proper dungeons alongside villages where you need to talk to the residents and complete quests for them to progress. The levels are all really well designed and manage to feel surprisingly different. Some will focus on one or two items, while others have unique hazards. One thing that really surprised me was how puzzle-focused the game was, with some quite challenging stuff to figure out. It doesn’t hold back that aspect of Zelda at all.

Dotted across each level are hundreds of Force Gems. You need to collect 2000 between you all to break the end-of-level barrier. If you reach the end without all the gems you need, the game will warp you to a previous section (with everything reset) until you have enough, then warp you back. Even when you have enough (which also activates the sword beam ability), you’ll still find yourself scrambling for every last one and solving the little puzzles to find hidden ones. They’re surprisingly satisfying, more so than rupees. You’re always on the look out for more, which makes the game an absolute blast.

The biggest weakness of the game is that it does feel a bit like a hodgepodge of other Zelda games. Its style and movement is heavily based on Minish Cap (despite coming out before Minish Cap everywhere but Europe, it’s actually a sequel to it), with the GBA portions using A Link to the Past style graphics. It has some fancy effects to make use of the extra GameCube power – such as puffs of smoke when enemies die – which are straight out of Wind Waker. It still looks lovely, it just lacks its own identity.

On top of the campaign, Four Swords Adventures offers some additional modes.

Shadow Battle

A simple fighting game with all four Links. There’s a main stage on the TV and some extra areas you can move to, which come up on the GBA. There’s some power-ups, hazards and a lot of craziness.

Tetra’s Trackers

The final mode in Four Swords Adventures was exclusive to Asia, also called as Navi Trackers (short for Navigation, nothing to do with the fairy). It has Tetra testing Link against pirates disguised as him following on from Wind Waker. Each player has to use their GBA to run around each course to find the next medal to collect – as they all need collecting in order. Clues are given on the TV and Tetra (and a couple of other characters) call out what is happening and give other clues – all entirely voice acted.

Each game starts off with a minigame that allows you to gain rupees and items ready for the main event, with everyone playing simultaneously on their GBA screens. These items will help you get around and smash stuff (the pegasus boots are very useful), as you’ll need to pay for the medals and beat your opponents to them. On your own, you can play a score attack mode to compete for the high score or face off against Tingle, with a slider for his difficulty. It’s a lot of fun and it’s a shame we missed out.

The main reason for this mode not making its way out of Japan (and Korea) was the voice acting. One unique aspect is that you inputted your name with two Japanese characters and the voices characters would use those names. I feel like they could have just done initials or even just stick to the colour of each Link – then the most complicated aspect of the voice acting would no longer be a problem. It’s a really enjoyable mode and it’s a shame we missed out.

Fave

In terms of the fundamentals of the game’s design, it’s one of the most well-crafted experiences we’ve played since Super Mario World, with Nintendo really showing off their skill at creating fun, amusing and unforgettable experiences. In our book it’s worth splashing out for just those moments.
Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #102

Remake or remaster?

A remaster for this would be great. Higher resolution, larger screens and widescreen mean that it can support more picture-in-picture screens for local multiplayer without additional devices, plus have online with each player only seeing their own overlay like in singleplayer. They could also translate Tetra’s Trackers. Or perhaps go all out with a “Four Swords Saga” with Minsh Cap, Four Swords Anniversary and Four Swords Adventures.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get Four Swords Adventures.