Introduction

The Zelda franchise's first foray into the dual-screened, touch-screened DS is a spotty affair. Developed much like a tech demo for the DS as every early game for the system was, Phantom Hourglass is controlled almost entirely with the touch screen and makes sure to take advantage of every gimmick the DS allows. People inherently disliked this, despite it working perfectly fine. It's not a particularly good-looking game, having the graphical strength and detail of a low-tier PlayStation 1 game. And its story is a bit thin, especially after Wind Waker, feeling like an arbitrarily tacked-on detour that doesn't even try to recapture the magic of similar sequels Link's Awakening or Majora's Mask.
However, the strengths of most Zelda games are in full effect here: the control scheme is plenty easy to get used to, with most of the weapons being perfectly tooled for a touch screen. The dungeons and puzzles are all fun and cleverly designed, and for a visually unimpressive game, it does translate the expressiveness of Wind Waker's art style to a portable system well. It's not a great game, but it's an undeservedly overlooked one.


PizzaJoe returns! Fresh off his adventure in Wind Waker, he and Tetra's band of pirates sail right into the sights of the Ghost Ship. Tetra jumps aboard like a brazen idiot, PizzaJoe falls and drowns, and he wakes up on an island in an unknown part of the ocean. A chipper fairy named Ciela, a mysterious old man named Oshus, and a twat with a boat named Lineback help him on his journey to find the Ghost Ship and rescue Tetra.


This will be an essentially-100% run. I.E.: I will be getting all of the major collectibles including Heart Containers and Spirit upgrades, and yes that includes the fishing, but I won't be wasting my time on ship parts.
I am joined this time by Mugiwara Yoshi and Skippy Granola, though due to our various erratic schedules, Skippy had to drop out after part 6.
I am also playing this game's much better sequel, Spirit Tracks, at the same time, but it's going up entirely for my Patreon patrons first before it starts going public.

Fabulous post-video art by Lore Cox/Mischievousart!


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(By Brenna Okazaki)