Game

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

2004 · Nintendo GameCube · Puzzle · Adventure

78IGDB player score
77 ratings

Previously Take

A respectable 78 average that never found its audience. An adventure game, from Nintendo leaning hard into fantasy — more about the journey than the destination. Worth it for the campaign alone — the multiplayer stuck around and became its own thing. From 2004, back when games shipped finished.

About this game

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures is the only console Zelda title to date to incorporate multiplayer elements into its main campaign. Because of its single-player elements, Four Swords Adventures is also the first game in the series to allow a single player to control more than one Link at once, and it utilizes various methods to allow the player to make use of the four Links, such as formations. Also it is the only title to break locations and temples up into succinct, separate stages and levels which can be replayed even after beating them once. The game itself, though an innovation in Zelda gameplay, is heavily inspired by the music, graphics, and locations of A Link to the Past.

Long ago in the kingdom of Hyrule, an evil sorcerer began kidnapping young maidens. This sorcerer was known as Vaati, and it seemed that no one could stop him. Eventually an adventurer appeared who was able to defeat Vaati, this adventurer carried with him the four sword which caused him to be split into four beings, and by working together the four beings were able to seal Vaati deep within the earth. But now Vaati has escaped, and the task of defeating him again has fallen to Link!