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The fact that the Picori are the ones hiding items in the tall grass for you to find implies that they've always been helping Link from the shadows, since the very first game. It warms my heart.

babe wake up, new liam triforce essay

The Minish Cap is incredibly underrated. A very great 2D Zelda that deserves its own remake.

Minish cap is easily my favorite portable zelda, so much charmed packed into that little cartridge. Definitely underrated

You can't beat a retrospective by Liam Triforce.

While I've always seen Skyward Sword as the most underrated Zelda game, Minish Cap has always been the most underappreciated in my opinion. The Minish Cap manga was actually the first I ever purchased, and is still the best, if only for the Vaati and Ezlo bonus panels.

Thanks for giving me the chance to draw the thumbnail for this video! It was super fun trying to draw in the Minish Cap style! 💚

Man, speaking of subtext. I love this game and kind of rehearing that the Picori are the ones who actually hide rupees in the grass is just another dash of quick pain in Breath of the Wild. There's no rupees in the grass. We can only hope that they're hiding and not just gone. Thanks for making these wonderful reviews Liam, they never fail to bring a real and tangible feeling behind why I've spent my whole life loving video games in general, but Zelda being that touchstone and grounding of childhood wonder being turned into a future.

The Minish Cap is my favorite Zelda game and it’s great to see so much love for the game, it truly deserves it. One of the things I think that makes Minish Cap so fun is the way the Overworld is built almost like a Metroidvannia. Areas are sectioned off in chunks and as you discover the necessary items, they slowly being available, unlocking new pathways. It’s a very satisfyingly designed world

As the first (and as of now only) Zelda game I finished, I have a deep appreciation for Minish cap, the visuals are so charming, and I love Ezlo, the side quests, the exploration when you're small, and Vaati being a breath of fresh air of a villain.

Something really cool I found out about the roll attack is that if you time and space it well and press the sword button a second time after hitting an enemy Link will do a follow-up spin attack without needing to charge it for a stupid amount of damage. Landing the thing isn't always easy but learning this secret move is really fun and satisfying!

God I love the minish cap it’s one of my favorite Zelda games hell games ever made That final dungeon and ending hit me so hard about how much I loved this story

To touch on the kinstones, some of the fusions are linked to a random npc, and this can change if the npc is blocked off through the story. So you can play the game twice and fuse kinstones with a different set of npcs.

Minish Cap is the most underrated game in the series by a quarter mile. I really love how its a smaller experience but so dense and full of charm

The most underrated zelda game, I loved it so much I went through the pain of 100%ing it. I’d love kinstones to be in botw 2. A console version of this would have been so cool

The Minish Cap was among my first games ever, and was the one that really stuck with me throughout my entire childhood. I must have replayed it over a hundred times, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it shaped a lot of my creative and emotional views today, even if sometimes subconsciously. I'm really glad to hear you had a great time with the game and love it, despite its length, simplicity, and gacha. The music of the game is a big thing for me, too. It's difficult comparing it to the soundtracks of other Zelda games, but I still absolutely love how it can create simple, yet palpably emotional pieces. And its graphics are among my favorite in gaming to date, with some of the most gorgeous pixel art ever. Even if, nowadays, I can't be confident saying it's my favorite Zelda game, I can be very confident in saying I absolutely love it and what it's done for me

Man, this game still looks SO GOOD! One of the most charming Zelda titles out there.

That swell of the Minish Village music at about 39 minutes really hit me with the nostalgia. I think Minish Cap is the Zelda game I've replayed the most out of all of them partly because the gba sp is so easy to carry around and partly because I always found its spritework, music, and compact yet simple game design so charming. It's kind of a bummer to hear it had the least amount of sales. On the other hand, hearing that the Minish are likely based on koropokkuru is fascinating! I've heard of them through Final Fantasy, but I never knew they were originally an Ainu creation. This video was a lovely surprise telling the strengths and weaknesses of MC, and even had some interesting facts to boot. Thank you so much for sharing!

Man I love Minish cap! I recently revisited the game again after many years and it still holds true. Great video as always Liam!

I just finished the first dungeon and I was BLOWN AWAY lol but seriously, the music, the puzzle design, the fact that I got stumped by the first dungeon for the PERFECT amount of time before I remembered that middle door in that incredibly cool spinning barrel. I’m really impressed so far

Being so late in the GBA library, I felt it opened up the possibility to use sprite art and the sound font as great as it did. To me, the charming chibi of familiar faces, the reuse of familiar iconic tunes and noteworthy new ones, and its willingness to create its own mythos than shoehorn Ganon make it the ultimate love letter to all the Zeldas that came before it

I first experienced Legend of Zelda after borrowing Minish Cap from a friend. By the time I gave it back, I had nearly 100%ed it. Makes me wish I could go back to that copy and play it all over again…

This is the lastest zelda game I played. I love how vast and full of secrets its little overworld is and I think is an underrated game. It's a game where backtracking and exploration are rewarded unlike most zelda games.

so glad you made a beautiful essay about this game!! its my truest favorite zelda game and while others would either ask “why this one?” or “that existed?” the magic of the minish cap truly still stuck to me after all these years. this dive into what makes the game great really warms my heart, and im so glad more people get to share these feelings about this severely underrated game ^^

Minish Cap is such a timeless classic with so much charm. And the artstyle is GORGEOUS.

I love that Nintendo (or Capcom I guess?) had the idea of connecting Minish Cap to the 4 Swords games by essentially making the Minish Sword the Predecessor to the Four Sword, by having the "split into 4" mechanic be a part of Minish Cap itself, which later on would evolve into a constant split... It's a nice detail that connects the timeline nicely (Also, details like the Room where you charge the sword again looking close to the one in 4 swords shows the thought put behind these games).

The director of Hyrule Warriors saying that he felt like he done everything possible in the first game while Vaati is just absent of the game was a crime

This was a very great video. This game deserves more love. I tend to replay this game whenever I'm in the mood to revisit the GBA, alongside Metorid Fusion. I always hated how short this game felt, but I never played it on the go, so I never played it as intended. The kinstones were my favorite mechanic from the game. It reinforced the importance of talking to every NPC, it truly made the world feel alive.

David Jr. is terrifying. It's like the PacMan ghosts, Inky Blinky Pinky and Clyde. One of these is not like the other, one of these is a serial killer.

Going into this video, I was a bit saddened that it didn’t have as long of a discussion as previous retrospectives. I always enjoy your personal spin on viewing these games and I end up taking a heartfelt message from each of your works you produce. As I was watching this video, I was doing just that the entire time, but once I had reached your closing thoughts on the game and how that reflects the progress of content on your channel, I realized that was not how I should approach this. Whether it’s big or small, a two hour video or one just under an hour, your work should be appreciated for what it is and what it achieves through looking at this series. You are making phenomenal content that has influenced mine- and I’m sure many more people’s lives through everything you make. This has also helped me to realize that not everything I make needs to be a masterpiece, and I can find enjoyment and fulfillment through the small, simple works as well. Thank you once again for providing a new perspective to me through your retrospective.

I beat this game for the first time two years ago and i must say that this game surprised me with how fun it is and how smooth it plays all these years later! This game really held up, but im also hoping for a remake one day :)

I really loved Minish Cap growing up, it was the second Zelda game I ever tried after Ocarina. Such a beautiful looking game with whimsical characters and story. Capcom did an excellent job in my opinion

You continue to be one of the best writers on the platform. You touch on elements and themes I've felt playing these games but have never been able to adequately put into words. Thank you, and keep up the good work, sir.

Minish Cap, along with the GBA Link to the past, was the first ever game I ever played with my late Grandmother, and is one of my most nostalgic games. It holds a special place in my heart, and also contains my favorite song in the series, the Elemental Sanctuary.

The minish cap was the first Zelda game I played. I fell in love with it and the whole series. 10 years later memories of this game still warm my heart

My guy, you released this at the PERFECT TIME. I just finished up with all of your Zelda videos last night, and then you drop Minish Cap on me! Thanks man

A little surprised the item upgrades weren’t touched upon some more. The remote bombs were first introduced in this game and I absolutely adore how useful and broken they are! They’re the perfect weapon for dark nut eradication! And while more an aesthetic choice than a practical one, I love the mirror shield implementation that reflects back a laser at your assailants!

The most painful thing about 100%ing this game isn't the random/obscure fusions. It's that some fusions can be permanently missed and locked away if you don't perform them at a certain time. Then there's the figurine collection, which is just as painful due to how many shells you'll need to farm just to have a hope of grtting every figurine.

I have a soft spot for Minish Cap because it's one of the first zelda games I completed, and was the catylyst for my absolute love of "Tiny person in Big Person world" aesthetic that's nowhere near used enough, games like Bug Fables and Grounded, shows like The Borrowers, just tiny creatures jury rigging tools and weapons out of stuff like thimbles, thumbtacks and sewing needles,

It's also the most animated gba game out there, the way link's hair move when running, the cartoon like stretch when he's in a cart and its going really fast.

just wanna give props to the artist of the thumbnail here, the style is identical and if the shaping was slightly more rounded on Link I'd not even be able to tell this wasn't official)

This Zelda passed me by as a kid, which is funny because I adore the WW art style and I had a GBA that I played religiously. I'd love to try it sometime soon.

The Minish Cap has, and will always be, my absolute favorite handheld Zelda. I adore the art, concept, puzzles, and unique items. What a wonderful game.

The game boy advance was my favorite handheld ever. I loved the Windwaker artstyle from the jump. I was SO happy this game got made, and I adore it. Four Swords was SO awesome for my friend group!

Best part of this video is that when he references the release of the Nintendo DS, he goes out of his way to show a clip of Luigi dropping that baby penguin off a cliff. For me, that's how I know deep thought was put into this ❤️

I'm intrigued by your methods of dealing with Darknuts in this game. My method was to just block their attacks with the shield, which causes most of them to stagger and leaves them open to attack. A few are immune to this method, but can instead be staggered with bombs if I recall.

It's still surprising to me how well Capcom did with such a fiercely defended series. Oracles and Minish cap all feel like genuine main line Zelda titles from Nintendo.

Minish Cap was the first Zelda game I played, so it'll always have a piece of my heart.

The Minish Cap is definitely one of my most favorite games. I get some of the music stuck in my head from time to time, and it’s always some nice nostalgia.

this was the first and only game i 100% without using a single walkthrough or guide. i died a lot during my first playthrough, i didn't know about the silver arrows, so missed that side quest, and it took me forever to work out how to beat big octorok. (regular sized octorok, but you fight it as a minish sized person in the temple of droplets). just like it was mentioned in this video, i played this game in small bursts during secondary school, and as such, i think i got a lot more enjoyment out of playing it, than i would trying to beat the entire game in one session. the end game side quests like the figurines and kin stones, where what i spent most of my school lunch times on. the figurines, i would be constantly soft resetting for the right rng, but the reward of getting the last piece of heart and the sound test was sooooooo worth it!

I've never played this game and I'm excited to learn about it.

This game has my favorite atmosphere and vibe of all of the top-down Legend of Zelda games. Games, movies, and books that include the ability to see their world through a different lens specifically by shrinking down have always fascinated me.

I found Minish Cap to be incredibly fun for the most part. I was on a great streak of fun fusions for several hours two night ago, but it was a hellish grind toward the end. I was sick of the figurines and looking for the last few kinstone pieces, so I just went ahead into the castle without them.

Minish Cap was an exceptional addition to the LOZ series that I was lucky enough to play in my youth.

As someone who is just not very good at actually playing Zelda games, this one charmed me over again and again as I worked out how to shrink down and return to normal size on the world map and dungeons. Something about having to take care while small and seeing things in a new light is just magical (and the scenes themselves were artistically inspiring). Its just a shame more people do not give this a chance.

I admire that you find things that highly frustrate me and explain them so positively.

I just really like the engine. It is really solid and feels clean. Behavior is consistent. Hitboxes and mechanics are tight. The pixel art is really well done too. Sound design too.

I've played this game for over 15 years and I never knew you could use the pegasus boots to go through the darknuts... Wow.

I can't believe I've never made the connection between the Minish and Koropokkuru despite this being my favorite 2D Zelda and having a little familiarity with the legend from playing some Megami Tensei games. That segment of the video was fascinating

The first Zelda game I played was ALTTP. I fell in love with the saga with OOT, it was also the first entry I managed to finish on my own. That said, the Minish Cap holds a special place on my heart. It touched all the right buttons for me... The simple aesthetic, the approachable gameplay, the casual "pick up and leave" vibe of everything in it. And Vaati is in my eyes the most compelling and interesting antagonist the series has presented us. It always warms my heart when picking up the Master Sword in other games that my mind wanders to the Minish people and their gifting of the Picori Blade.

You said that Minish Cap borrowed concepts and tools from Four Swords. But it's a bit more complicated than that, as development on both began around the same time; with Minish Cap's development starting slightly before Four Swords but releasing several months ago.

The Minish cap was the very first LoZ game I ever played and made me fall in love with this series. To this day it still holds its place in my top 3 favorite LoZ games

The Tingle brothers will tell you how many Kinstone fusion are left in the game when you talk to them.

This game was the beginning for me playing other zelda games and it was also the beginning of falling in love with the whole series. Despite the hype of the other 2D Zelda Games like OoA, OoS, Link to the past or even older games and so on or even the 3D Zelda games. It's got a special place in my heart because it was my first video game which I ever had played. It took me month to play it through (bacause back than I didn't know that walkthrough exist). My friends also played the game and it loved that so much sharing the solutions if I or one of my friends stuck in a riddle. It reminds me how close and simple friendships were back then (or in childhood in general). Back then I couldn't afford a game cube, so playing video games on a Gameboy with such graphic at that time feel very special to me. I know that games like Botw or TotK are so wonderful with their setting and game play, but no Zelda game (or even other games) have this kind of emotional impact on me like Minishcap. Besides all the bad things which I unfortunately experienced in my childhood playing this game still one of the best parts of my childhood memory.

Minish Cap has been my first Zelda Game and until this day, i take my Gameboy from time to time and just play it for a couple days. It's a bit like a comfort zone where you can just dive in and have a nice time exploring and enjoying the beautiful music.

Found this channel like 3 days ago, my man you are great at this, instantly fell in love with this channel entirely

Awesome video. Minish Cap and the Oracle games are underappreciated, but they are sincerely some of the most intricately designed and clever games in the series. I'm really hoping they get remastered on the Switch at some point.

Minish Cap was actually my very first Zelda game. I remember being stuck for YEARS on trying to get the Mole Mits in that 3rd dungeon. *Literally had to BOMB EVERY WALL* to find them was they were so well hidden 😂. Good times

The Minish Cap was one of my very first - if not the first - video games, and I must say I spent countless hours finishing the main story and trying to get that damned heart from the figurines. I always loved that game, but I could'nt remember why. Thanks for reminding me of it, and putting the words that brought back my memories of such a great game. You made me miss this time, when life was simple enough to believe tiny creatures from a video game could live in my backyard. Thank you!

"A lot of people were still Sauron" "It's either you or the Darknut", what an ultimatum.

I wished you had talked about the buildup to the final battle in your video. The stakes of the world at hand, as well as the looming threat of Zelda's demise at the hands of Vaati while ascending Dark Hyrule Castle is one of the most intense experiences I have ever had in Zelda history. The atmosphere is so palpable and rich, especially as you fight the three Darknuts before the final bell rings.

As tideous as it might seem, there is a spot outside your house where you can dig for a red rupee and you can just enter your house and leave again and the rupee will respawn in that digging spot.

26:47 the Magic Bommerang is literally my favorite item in the game. It hits and stuns almost every enemy and is so useful. I always had my sword on B and my boomerang on A

44:21 its so cute that link sleeps with him. Its too wholesome 😭😭😭

Holding B to charge your sword and then clinking it against the wall--I believe it makes a different sound if it hits a bombable wall. Correct me if I'm wrong.

This game is by far my favourite in the Zelda franchise, with it's vibrant colours and creative items. Randomizer lets some of the item uses open even more and find creative ways to use them in you current situation. For example, in mountains you can blow up the dust with bombs, if you don't have gust jar yet.

It's great to see Minish Cap get love. It's an underrated gem, and my favorite 2D Zelda.

Minish Cap was and is my all time favourite (2d) Zelda game When I played it as a kid, it made me feel SO SMART to figure everything out bit by bit

This was the first game I ever 100% completed. I have so much love for this game it’s unreal, it’s such an underappreciated game.

I have played through this game 3 times and this video taught me so much. I really need to do some more exploring I knew like 3 of these secrets

I have been at 2:25 replaying it over and over and laughing. "Sometimes the littlest things can leave a big impact" while link is set on fire and falls in a pit

Does anyone else have this as their favourite zelda game

This is one of the most nostalgic Zelda games for me, next to Ocarina of Time, and Wind Waker. I remember after Scouts, my parents picked me up and surprised me with a copy, since then it's my most beloved title on the GBA. After recently replaying it as a randomizer, I realized its compact world makes it a blast when going through it, especially since you have the option to turn off Kinstones if you want to.

Ah yes, my first Zelda game. I remember being stuck for a week on the last dungeon because there was a bombable wall after a miniboss. I had no internet then. What a love story this little cartridge started.

I'm so happy to see you cover the minish cap!! This was the first zelda game I played as a kid and it made me want to play my mom's copies of ocarina, majora, and my favorite game twilight princess. If it weren't for this little title I never would've fallen in love with a series that means so much to me and I'm really happy to see such a good coverage of it. Your closing message was really impactful too, and I'm going to be carrying it with me as I continue to create in the future. Thanks man :^)

Oh yeah the Manga is also fantastic. What’s really awesome is that the manga writers also felt that Minish Cap reflected this fairy tale feeling, as it says in the back of the Majoras Mask/Minish Cap Legendary Edition.

The gachapon heart piece is what put an end to my minish cap playthrough. I tended toward 100%ing my zelda playthroughs and I was never gonna finish this task so it kinda took the wind out of my sails and I just stopped there, right before the final dungeon. All in all, I think Minish cap's style is wonderfully charming and the exploration in it is solid, but having played through all the capcom games in retrospect via the virtual console, I find that I just like the Oracle games a lot more. The thing that makes those games unique left me with a greater sense of wonder, and honestly even though I don't like Season's focus on combat all that much, finishing my joint playthrough with the much stronger (imo) oracle of ages meant the whole experience had a lasting positive impact on me.

I can’t comprehend what just happened. I just BEAT the Minish cap 2 days ago. TODAY you post a video on that game. My mind is blown. THANK YOU LIAM

To this day, I think it's a shame that the Capcom developed games don't have more of a legacy or get callbacks in later Zelda entries. Vaati would have been an amazing playable character in Hyrule Warriors, and seeing races like the Minish or the Subrosians return would be special treats for fans of those games.

ill be real, you genuinely hit the spot on that. left me reflecting on myself and my life with hope. this game meant so much to me growing up. glad you brought back the memories

Minish Cap is so easily overlooked. Fantastic game

The kinstone system encourages players to not disregard every NPC

Wonderful video! I was so happy to see that others also remember The Minish Cap just as fondly as I do. It's a small adventure with big heart and full of charm. I remember playing this game as a kid and being so enchanted by the Minish that I drew them for a middle school art project and my teacher gave me glowing praise for the illustrations of the different regional Minish. Also, I love this version of Vaati the most and desperately want him to return in a modern Zelda game. Thank you for another great video!

I remember HATING minish cap as a kid, to this day it’s the only Zelda I’ve started but never finished

For me personally, i realy enjoyed the minish cap. Yes the game is shorter than the others but that doesn't really matter to me. What i love most about the game is how realised the world is, how good the combat is, how amazing the artstyle translates even from the small gba screen to the most recent version on switch on a 52" oled tv. The music is also fantastic and so fitting for every generic and specific area it is used. The world is super detailed with lots of bonus textures everywhere so even the most boring path has character to it while a bunch of those textures even serve as a wall for your minish form you cant cross, which makes sense in so many ways and even changes the way you view the gameworld while exploring. The minish cap OOZES charm out of every crack, especially when a lot of bossfights are "just" generic enemies to normal sized link, but behemoths for minish sized link. I agree with the kinstone frustration a lot of people have, but i found it only to be true if you want to unlock specific things, rather than playing the game blind the first couple of times, where every new unlock brings a tiny bit of excitement. The bossfight was and continues to be THE hardest bossfight in any 2d zelda game - especially when you are just playing the game normally without using guides to maximise your link. But on the same note it is as of yet my favourite out of all of them - the foursword and minish mechanics are so well implemented it is so enjoyable when it works out, and immensely frustrating when you get hit and mess up a pattern - especially when you have to cycle an entire stage again. Plus the whole last section of the thing (before the last phase) being on a timelimit gets the heart pumping.

As a brazilian child that never really had acess to nintendo games and consoles, my experience with Zelda games is mainly emulated 2d games(can't emulate 3d games in a pleasing way): A link to the past, Minish cap, and now Oracle of Seasons and Ages. Out of all of them, Minish Cap was the one that got me fascinated the most, I found myself pressing select button all of the time just to see if Ezlo had something new to say, going to the minish village multiple times just because of the song, trying to enter that store with the music box every 10 minutes and using every item i had, but it never worked, and actually being upset that there wasnt post-game, even though i didnt finish all of the sidequests.

With this being my first Zelda game I owned after Wind Waker, I wasn't used to finding bombable wall hints. Once I got to the Fortress of Winds, I completely forgot about looking for them, and so I got stuck for over a week trying to progress. It was infuriating finding out how the wall was "marked", and then bombing it gave me the dungeon's item in the very next room, allowing me to progress. That frustration alone is keeping me from a second playthrough.

The final bosses in this game were so memorable. Some of the best of the series IMO!

Minish cap was one of my all time favorite Zelda games and one of the few as a kid that I had the patience to actually complete