Category: The Minish Cap

It’s no surprise that we here at Zelda Dungeon love our Zelda spin-off games. While there are plenty of games adjacent to our beloved franchise that we can currently enjoy, the opportunity for more games with a Zelda skin on them feels endless. With The Minish Cap celebrating its 20th birthday last year, I have been thinking about the kinds of ways we could see our friendly, little elf-like folks in a new game, and maybe in a new light. Then,…

The Legend of Zelda has its fair share of strong characters. Thanks in part to sharp dialogue, believable motivations, and satisfying arcs, the likes of Midna from Twilight Princess, Groose from Skyward Sword, Tatl from Majora’s Mask, and Linebeck from Phantom Hourglass represent the larger abundance of effective characterization found throughout the Zelda series, as each game hosts its own significant cast of relatable and endearing personalities. However, for all that Zelda accomplishes in terms of characterization, development of its…

The Kinstone mechanic is one of the most singular gimmicks in the Zelda franchise, melding the quiet frustrations of randomness with a desire to treasure-hunt. The first time I played The Minish Cap, I remember feeling so enthralled by the novelty that it made me eager to talk to every NPC (more than I am already inclined to). As you can see in our deep-dive about the Kinstone function, it succeeded in encouraging players to interact with  NPCs. Unlike other some other…

An objectively unique component of The Minish Cap is the Kinstone mechanic. The Kinstones are creations of the Picori, who are determined to bring joy and good fortune to the people of Hyrule by hiding these symbols of happiness throughout the land. Players traverse Hyrule to find one-half of a Kinstone shard, discovering them by slashing tall grass, digging through dirt, and opening chests. To find one is a good omen, and to engage in Fusion with another being should…

Mastermind is a long-running British quiz show that has become a national institution over its 50-year history. Contestants sit in an iconic black chair under a spotlight and have to correctly answer as many questions as possible in two minutes. For their first round, each contestant chooses their specialist subject, and Project Manager Lewis Jones recently selected the Legend of Zelda video game series! This semi-final episode aired on BBC2 on March 31st, 2025. The occasion had a diverse range of…

The Minish Cap’s Wind Tribe’s existence didn’t begin in the sky. Its people lived on the land before turning their sights skyward to protect the Wind Element. Those same folks then left Hyrule to live in the clouds high above the kingdom.  The Wind Tribe isn’t Zelda’s only sky-dwelling group, nor is it the first in the series’ timeline. It was, however, the first one to make an appearance in a Zelda game. I was awestruck when I played The…

I’ve mentioned before in past articles that I am an avid reader. And having just come down off an eight-book-series high-note, I needed something to bridge the gap between hobbies, because I was not ready to start reading something new. With reading off the table for a bit, I knew that I wanted to dive into a Zelda game that had been in my backlog for quite some time. It just so happened that, a while back, our writing team…

Remakes are all the rage these days when it comes to popular video games, and Zelda has already seen its fair share. We have had rereleases of major titles like The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess in high definition (complete with some extra perks). And Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask were given a fresh coat of paint and released again for the Nintendo 3DS. The most shocking remake to me, though, was the complete remake of Link’s Awakening, which…

How goes it, Zelda fans? How about we kick off a special Minish Cap-inspired Caption Contest? As announced yesterday, in honor of the game’s 20th birthday, Zelda Dungeon will be celebrating Minish Cap Week for the next seven days. Despite the fact that so many of you apparently think the game is overrated, we’ve got plenty of Minish Cap‘s editorials, Daily Debates, and live streams lined up this week. We hope you can all find at least something to enjoy!…

Great things can come from small places. And there’s no better proof of that than The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. This beloved classic first released on the Game Boy Advance in Japan on November 4th, 2004, before coming to Europe on November 12th, 2004 and North America on January 10th, 2005. That’s right — The Minish Cap is now 20 years old. Do you feel old yet? The Minish Cap is in many ways the perfect Zelda game. The art style is gorgeous, the…