The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

 Game Boy Advance
User Score
8.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 481 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 437 out of 481
  2. Mixed: 33 out of 481
  3. Negative: 11 out of 481
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  1. JustinForgueims
    Jun 7, 2023
    6
    It seems a great Zelda game for the first hours but then slowly gets bad.
    It's super colour-ish, good soundtrack, not so bad story, quite creative with the gear and tools, even for a Zelda game.
    A bit more casual than most of the Zeldas. The use of the map for indicating important places is so well made. The difficulty curve is not too well balanced. With super easy parts and some    It seems a great Zelda game for the first hours but then slowly gets bad.
    It's super colour-ish, good soundtrack, not so bad story, quite creative with the gear and tools, even for a Zelda game.
    A bit more casual than most of the Zeldas. The use of the map for indicating important places is so well made.
    The difficulty curve is not too well balanced. With super easy parts and some enemies that you can barely hit.

    The main drawback maybe is the repetition.
    The minimizing feature is overused. It has a super long animation and the need to change from big to small several times in a row to complete the puzzles makes it boring.
    The game needs some extra features to avoid using the minimize that much.

    Then the figurines and kinstone fusions are super tedious. Figurines because there are so many and it's completely useless.
    There are also too many fusions and you need to backtrack a lot. Searching people that will only fuse at a certain moment of the game that you don't know. Then most of the fusion rewards is also useless so it will be better to have less and more worth of this.
    This two topics add a lot of grinding to a Zelda franchise that never relied on grinding.

    Finally adding post-end game content seems a good idea first, until you realize that you get useless trophies and gear that you'll not need anymore.    … Expand
  2. KDog
    Nov 26, 2004
    3
    I have the retail version of the game from Japan. I'm sorry, but this game is very disappointing. It's short, uncomplicated, and overall not what people expect from the Zelda series. Here's my rating breakdown: Music - 10/10 - amazing Animation - 8/10 - very good Gameplay - 4/10 - nothing new, not difficult Challenge - 1/10 - very easy, no real puzzles Replayablility - 2/10 I have the retail version of the game from Japan. I'm sorry, but this game is very disappointing. It's short, uncomplicated, and overall not what people expect from the Zelda series. Here's my rating breakdown: Music - 10/10 - amazing Animation - 8/10 - very good Gameplay - 4/10 - nothing new, not difficult Challenge - 1/10 - very easy, no real puzzles Replayablility - 2/10 - Not much to replay Secrets - 3/10 - Secrets do nothing useful! Just an aside from the game. Overall: 3/10 - too short, no challenge, worthless secrets. I beat the game in under FOUR HOURS! I was horribly disappointed. Stick to Oracle of Ages or Oracle of Seasons for GBC.… Expand
  3. GreenMenace
    May 5, 2023
    3
    Full disclosure, my first time playing this game was on NSO.

    In my book as a long time Zelda fan, Minish Cap beats out Oracle of Ages as the worst Zelda I've played. I can enjoy A Link to the Past or Oracle of Seasons even today. I think what made me dislike it so much were the graphics. I was frustrated because I had a hard time with the puzzle logic--sometimes you'd do supernatural    Full disclosure, my first time playing this game was on NSO.

    In my book as a long time Zelda fan, Minish Cap beats out Oracle of Ages as the worst Zelda I've played. I can enjoy A Link to the Past or Oracle of Seasons even today. I think what made me dislike it so much were the graphics. I was frustrated because I had a hard time with the puzzle logic--sometimes you'd do supernatural (albeit cool) things you'd never think of, and other times it was nigh impossible to tell height differences.

    The dungeons were a disappointment, but the bosses were fun. I liked the hat and shrinking to a different world was definitely cool. The Kinstones were an interesting addition that I may have been more interested in had I not felt the need to end the game as soon as possible. I do think there were too many--Kinstones as a whole limited exploration. I can see how my favorite entry of the franchise, Skyward Sword, was influenced by this game. In the end, lots of cool, creative ideas were put into this game. But it just wasn't fun for me.    … Expand
  4. horcrux2007
    Sep 25, 2014
    2
    I didn't enjoy this game one bit. The story is very forgettable which makes the game as a whole rather forgettable. The dungeons and overworld feel very constricted, and the sidequests were pretty terrible as well. This is such a disappointment for the Legend of Zelda franchise.
  5. Nachocagna
    Aug 25, 2021
    0
    es imposible pasarse este juego sin una guía, hay partes en la que es imposible saber a dónde ir en partes porque el juego no da indicios, ademas es inentendible porque el juego es fácil en su desarrollo pero al final se vuelve imposible de pasar. Curva de dificultad mala, imposible saber que hacer en partes y nada innovador. Muy mal juego.
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best Game Boy Advance Game of 2005
2
#2 Most Discussed Game Boy Advance Game of 2005
2
#2 Most Shared Game Boy Advance Game of 2005

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 56 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 53 out of 56
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 56
  3. Negative: 0 out of 56
  1. GBA Central
    100
    The game may be short by the franchise's standards, but every minute of it is breathtaking.
    Read full review
  2. NTSC-uk
    90
    Thankfully, longevity hasn't been sacrificed for the sake of beauty: the main quest alone will take the average gamer a minimum of fifteen hours and that's without spending a single moment delving into the fabulous subquests, which will double, even triple that time...A stunning and wondrous game.
    Read full review
  3. GMR Magazine
    90
    Outside of a slightly boring midgame stretch in which you're tracking down overdue library books (no, really) and an overly tough final boss, this is a flawless portable adventure. [Feb 2005, p.91]
See all critic reviews »