The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development division and published for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002 in Japan and North America, with European release following in 2003. It is the tenth mainline Zelda game and follows The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, but presents its world through a distinctive cel-shaded visual style called "Toon Link" by some fans.

Instead of Hyrule's familiar fields, the game places players across the Great Sea, an ocean dotted with islands and sea routes. Link lives on Outset Island with his grandmother and younger sister Aryll. On his birthday, he receives the traditional green clothes, but the celebration ends when a giant Helmaroc King carries Aryll away. Link pursues the bird, is thrown into the sea, and is rescued by the pirate captain Tetra. Her crew is searching for the same bird, which serves the villain Ganondorf.

The adventure soon introduces the King of Red Lions, a talking red sailboat who guides Link between islands. The king is secretly Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, the last king of Hyrule. He explains that Ganondorf has returned and that the old kingdom lies beneath the sea, frozen in time by the gods after they flooded it to stop his conquest. Link must recover the three Pearls of the Goddesses, awaken the Tower of the Gods, and enter the submerged Hyrule Castle. There, he obtains the Master Sword, though its power has diminished because the sages who sustained it were killed.

Wind Waker expands Zelda's item and puzzle traditions with the titular baton, the Wind Waker, which lets Link conduct musical patterns to change the wind direction, control statues, and command allies. The game features two important sages: Medli, a Rito attendant at Dragon Roost Island, and Makar, a Korok from the Forbidden Woods. Each represents a temple melody and helps restore the Master Sword. Link eventually confronts Ganondorf in a flooded Hyrule, where the king makes a final wish that the sea wash away the ancient kingdom.

Afterward, Link and Tetra sail beyond the Great Sea to seek a new land, leaving the ending open to Phantom Hourglass's later continuation on a separate but connected adventure.