After the wind's been woken

Ganon's Tower was way longer than I remembered. The maze and finding the Light Arrows and then your final ascent to where Ganondorf and Zelda wait had been entirely forgotten. And that's pretty surprising.

The maze is easy enough, and the final ascent is uneventful. But, the major reason for those final stairs and the enemies along the landings being so quickly dismissed is the Light Arrows. A single one of the shining projectiles instantly destroys any enemy - from Bokoblins to Darknuts. With magic jars on almost every landing, shooting down the final lines of enemies is entirely painless. Though the fight with Puppet Ganon makes up for that.

The first two forms are easily dispatched. Bring the glowing blue orb into view, and hit it with a light arrow. Bang, done. But, this boss' third form, the Moldorm form, is just plain terrible. Fighting the Moldorm in A Link to the Past is bad because it takes patience and timing to land enough hits - but at least in that game you've got the 3/4 view in your favour.

Once you find yourself in the middle of Puppet Ganon's Moldorm form all you can do is slash and hope to hit the head to buy yourself some escape time. Though that gives you hardly enough time to get out and to shoot at the flailing worm's tail. That's definitely what makes this section of the final boss so difficult, though. In its appearances in previous games, you could just slash at Moldorm's tail. But, instead you need to use the Light Arrows on said tail. Needless to say, striking Puppet Ganon's Moldorm tail requires a little more accuracy.

The final fight in this boss sequence is shockingly easy after dealing with the thrashing body and rapidly moving target that is Puppet Ganon's Moldorm form. The fight with Ganondorf just sees you slash away at the villain until you need to let Zelda hit you with a light arrow to stun the Great King of Evil. That last downward blow to the head always looks like it should do more than just turn the man to stone, but so it goes.

Having recently finished Skyward Sword, there are actually a few strange similarities between these boss fights. The formation of the swords that Ganondorf uses to block Link's attacks changes with each strike, similar to Demise's constant blocking of Link's first attack. Both enemies are also downed by a downward strike, something that could allude to the Downward Stab from The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Of course, what I'm left wondering is was there a point in The Wind Waker's development at which players had more control over the angle of Link's attacks, or is Ganondorf's changing his swords' arrangement each time he blocks merely aesthetic?

In the end, The Wind Waker is a worthy entry in the Zelda franchise, despite the hate piled on it when it released in the West. The game's cartoony style brings back the whimsy found in A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening - a quality that helps any good game shine brighter.