Review by: Jeff Burke
Published: Jan 10, 2005

But our princess is in another castle! Wait, that’s the wrong franchise. The same formula as found in the topic of this game, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. In the newest pocket sized adventure from the folks at Nintendo and Capcom, we find our legendary hero of Hyrule in search of all the right tools to rescue his Princess Zelda.

As the shrink wrap falls to the ground, the game is meticulously removed from its box and feverishly inserted into my Artic Blue Gameboy Advance. Ding. I’ve always loved the startup noise of this thing. Nintendo. A smirk crosses my face; it has been quite a while since I have used this device to play an RPG, and an even longer time since I have loaded a game from one of the greatest franchises around. That is when it hits me, Capcom. What is this? Legend of Breath of Fire Zelda? I had no time to google and find out that Capcom had already worked on several Zelda titles for the Gameboy and was responsible for the port of A Link to the Past.

All artistic flare aside, it was time to get down to business. Right off the bat, it was Zelda. The interface, the Sword, and now the Princess. We find our hero being summoned to the castle to deliver a sword. Escorting Zelda (or is it dragged?) to the castle, all the classic parts of a single plot driven linear RPG reveal themselves. Blocked roads and guarded doors. Making our way into the town square, I am reminded of the Millennium Fair from Chrono Trigger. Enter cinematic scripted plot. We find our princess is now entombed in stone by an evil sorcerer Vaati.

With the help of a newly acquired item and friend, your cap, you discover that the only way we are going to save our princess is by gathering up the four elements: earth, wind, water, and fire and infusing them into the broken blade. Each of these are located in dungeons marked on your map which follow the basic Zelda style of dungeon: Puzzles, compasses, and good old multi-floored shenanigans. On top of those dungeons, you will also find dungeons with out elementals, but containing the items needed to find your way to victory.