The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, known in Japan as The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords +, is a game in The Legend of Zelda series for the GameCube, released in Japan on March 18, 2004, North America on June 7, 2004 and Europe on January 7, 2005. It utilizes the GBA-to-GameCube cable. As with any game that uses this cable, it is incompatible with the Nintendo DS.

Gameplay

Four Swords Adventures is actually a collection of games. Hyrulean Adventure is an episodic, cooperative multiplayer adaptation of the conventional Legend of Zelda gameplay. Shadow Battle is a competitive multiplayer battle mode. Tetra's Trackers, present only in the Japanese version of the game (and displayed briefly at E3 before the US release), is a multiplayer stamp rally race.

Hyrulean Adventure

Hyrulean Adventure (previously known as "Hyrule Adventure" and "Four Swords") uses most of the same mechanics as the previously-released Four Swords for the GBA, but unlike its predecessor has a single-player mode available. The multiplayer version requires each player to have a GBA, which is used as a controller and to which the action transfers when that player's character goes off the main screen, but the single player game may be played with either a GameCube controller or a GBA. There are always four Link characters (differentiated by tunic color) in play, regardless of the number of people playing; "extra" Links are attached to those directly controlled and positioned around the controlling character. The graphics are similar to that of the Game Boy Advance version, but the maps are static rather than randomly generated. Music is based on that of A Link to the Past but is rearranged in places.

Shadow Battle

In Shadow Battle, two or more players battle each other until only one is left standing. As in Hyrulean Adventure, each player uses a different-colored Link character and wields various tools to attack the other Links. Five bonus maps for Shadow Battle are unlocked upon completion of Hyrulean Adventure (these maps are the same as the first five, but the player has limited vision).

Tetra's Trackers

Tetra's Trackers (the Japanese name is "Navi Trackers") is only on the Japanese version of Four Swords Adventures (Four Swords +). In this game, multiple players, using a combination of the television screen and Game Boy Advances, search for members of Tetra's pirate gang (Tetra is the leader of the pirates from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker) to gain stamps from them, as many as possible within a given time limit. All action takes place on the Game Boy Advance used by each player, with the television screen showing a basic map and Tetra narrating the action.

Unique in the Zelda series (except, to an extent, BS Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban), Tetra and her pirate crew speak in full voice, with Tetra also synthesizing the two-syllable (Japanese) name that each player inputs at the beginning of the session -- possibly why this game is not being localized for US release. However, in one version showed to game review sites she apparently spoke English--reportedly, one line was something like "Let's hear it for Mrs. A!"--and was able to pronounce at least some synthesised phonetic letters, A, B, C, and D. This is proven by the screenshots, which show those letters for the players' names.

However, while the Japanese two-syllable rule works fine, English is a phonetic language, not a syllabic language! For example, say your name was Sarah. That's two syllables, so if you entered that name in Japanese, Tetra could easily pronounce "Sar-ahh" to be a fairly realistic representation of your name. But this would not work with the already added support for English characters. Each of the two permissible letters being pronounced, your name could only be "Sa". Since the English voice had already been added, this is the likeliest reason for its omission.

A single-player mode is also available, either collecting alone or in competition with Tingle, the aspiring fairy found also in Majora's Mask, Oracle of Seasons, The Wind Waker and The Minish Cap.

See also

• The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords subseries characters
• The Legend of Zelda series

External links

• Official web site of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
• Official product information page of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
• GameFAQs entry for The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures