Four Swords Adventures

“Hoo hoot! At last, you're awake, Link. I am Kaepora Gaebora. Mine is the voice you've been hearing since you left the Four Sword Sanctuary. I know you're worried about finding Vaati, but you must not act rashly. Find the six shrine maidens and Princess Zelda, and you will also find Vaati”

— Kaepora Gaebora in the beginning

Four Swords Adventures
Developer	Nintendo
Publisher	Nintendo
Genre	Action, Adventure, Multiplayer
Platform	Game Cube Nintendo
Release dates	March 18, 2004 June 7, 2004
Chronological Order
Previous	"The Wind Waker"
Next	"The Minish Cap"
Map

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures is the eleventh installment in the The Legend of Zelda series, released in 2004 for the Nintendo Game Cube. It is preceded by The Wind Waker and succeeded by The Minish Cap. The Hero of Light is the main protagonist and Vaati is the main antagonist. Vaati's minions are the villainous faction.

It is the eleventh game in the series, and the third and final game in the Child Timeline, set a great amount of time after the events of Twilight Princess. It follows Link, split into four by the Four Sword, on his quest to defeat Vaati and attempt to prevent the resurrection of the second incarnation of Ganondorf. At the end of this game, Ganon and Vaati are sealed in the Four Sword, seemingly for the rest of time.

Chronologically this game takes place between Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild.

Synopsis

Hundreds and hundreds of years after the events of Four Swords, a new Link journeys to the Four Sword Sanctuary, and similarly to the Hero of the Four Sword, discovers that something is awry. Vaati has been released by the Four Sword and steals the Dark Mirror. Link draws the Four Sword and is split in four. The four Links journey across the land to free the Seven Maidens, which Vaati also captured, and finds Vaati in his palace. The Links defeat him, but it's revealed that all along he was trying to resurrect Ganon. This Ganon is not the same as his previous incarnation, as this one was born in the Gerudo Desert a hundred years ago and sealed in the Dark Mirror. The Links defeat Ganon as well, and seal Vaati and Ganon in the Four Sword for good.

Summary

One night, an ominous cloud covers Hyrule, throwing fear into the people. Princess Zelda calls upon her most trusted childhood friend, Link. She wants to check up on the Four Sword, fearing that the seal that imprisoned the evil wind sorcerer Vaati inside of it at the end of Four Swords might have weakened. Inside the castle they meet up with the gathered six Maidens, whose purpose is to protect Hyrule as well as the Four Sword Sanctuary. With the help of the maidens Zelda summons a portal to the sanctuary.

However, before they get a chance to enter, a dark figure that looks like Link appears. The Dark Link seals away the six maidens and Zelda in a dark crystal, before he retreats into the portal leading to the sanctuary. Link is left with no choice but to follow. Arriving at the sanctuary, the dark Link taunts Link into pulling the Four Sword, resulting in Link splitting into four copies of himself. Likewise, the seal on Vaati is broken, and he slowly creeps forward with a maniacal laugh. The four Links do not get a chance to follow the Dark Link before being thrown away from the scene by Vaati’s magic.

The four Links are awoken by Kaepora Gaebora, who calmly informs them of the situation and what they must do, which is to first rescue the six maidens. Shadow Link, as he calls him, has spread chaos in Hyrule, scorching villages and throwing them into the dark world. Traveling across Hyrule they witness the chaos brought about by Vaati and Shadow Link, and in order to release the dark seals placed by Vaati, the four Links must collect force gems in order to properly power up the Four Swords and grant it the power to repel evil.

After rescuing the Green Maiden, she tells the four Links about the four Royal Jewels which is needed to reach the in Realm of the Heavens, where Zelda is being held. They were divided among four Knights of Hyrule, known to have valiantly defended Hyrule, but they have mysteriously disappeared. The four Links eventually find them, who reveal they have been cursed and thrown in the Dark World.

It is revealed that the one who is ultimately behind everything is a mighty foe who is not Vaati, but rather, someone using him. Once the four Links reach the part of Hyrule which has been transformed into the Dark World, they discover from the White Maiden that there was once a Dark Mirror in which an ancient tribe was sealed. The mirror was being kept away from the world in a "forest temple". They believe the mirror to be the source of the Shadow Links. Rumors also reach them of a King of Darkness named Ganon.

Upon reaching the temple where the mirror is being held, their suspicion is confirmed, as the Mirror has indeed been stolen. The Red maiden who is rescued there, reveals that she knows of a man named Ganondorf of the Gerudo tribe, but finds it unlikely that he is the cause of the recent events.Traveling to the desert, they find out from the peaceful Gerudo tribe that Ganondorf recently flouted their laws and left for the sacred pyramids. Following his footsteps, it is revealed that Ganondorf had obtained a powerful ancient weapon which would make him a King of Darkness.

After rescuing all six maidens, Link heads towards the Tower's location which has been cursed by the power of darkness, making it Frozen Hyrule. Pushing through the snow storm, they liberate the final Knight, who tells them to rescue Zelda and save Hyrule from the darkness, after giving them the last of the Royal Jewels. The Tower of Winds is called forth using the power of the jewels, giving the party entry to the Realm of the Heavens. Once the party has climbed the Tower, Princess Zelda is finally rescued. In the Realms of the Heavens, the four Links makes their final battle with their dark doppelganger Shadow Link as they secure the Dark Mirror. Princess Zelda uses her power to create a rainbow bridge, allowing them to enter the Palace of Winds.

Inside, they encounter Vaati, and after a great battle, they defeat him. With Vaati gone, the Palace of Winds starts to collapse, as it relied on his magic to keep itself in the sky. The party retreats back to the Tower of Winds. Once there, they hear the voice of the culprit behind everything, Ganondorf, who mocks Vaati attempting to stop them. The party escapes the palace and down through the Tower of Winds, which at this point has also started to collapse. Just before reaching the exit, the floor beneath them collapses, and they fall into a dark room. Ganondorf then appears as a patch of darkness. Zelda tries to seal him away but fails, and once again Zelda is taken captive. Assuming the shape of a pig and the final battle between the four Links and Ganon commences. Midway through the battle, Zelda is freed, and together they defeat Ganon. With the combined power of the six maidens, Ganon is ultimately sealed away in the Four Sword.

In the aftermath of the journey, the Four Sword is laid to rest again in the Four Sword Sanctuary, and the four Links join back into one single Link. The six maidens and Zelda form a pyramid-like barrier around the Sword so that no one might touch it again. Outside the castle, celebration is at hand, signaling peace, and Link seems to be greeted by the crowd as a true hero.

Characters

Hero of Light

Princess Zelda

Shadow Link

Vaati

Bosses

Image	Enemy	Description	Dungeon
	Phantom Ganon	In Four Swords Adventures, Phantom Ganon first appears as the boss of Hyrule Castle. In order to defeat it, the Links must hit its energy balls back and forth with the Sword. Once stunned, it is vulnerable to slashes from the Sword. Phantom Ganon appears once again as the boss of the Temple of Darkness; however, it now summons clones to its aid. The real Phantom Ganon will throw green orbs that can be hit back, while the clones throw white balls that break when hit with the Sword.	Hyrule Castle
	Stone Arrghus	Stone Arrghus appears covered by small Rocks. In order to attack it with the Sword, the Links must use the Boomerang to pull the Rocks off. Once all of them have been destroyed, Stone Arrghus will start attacking the Links. When defeated, it disintegrates and releases the yellow Maiden.	Eastern Temple
	Helmaroc King	In Four Swords Adventures, the Helmaroc King is a boss Link must face on The Mountain Path on Death Mountain. The Helmaroc King is designated to stop the Links from entering the Tower of Flames. This monstrous bird starts the battle by swooping down upon them two times, then attacking by dropping rocks upon the heroes. After that, the King repeats the process. In order to defeat him, the Links are required to daze the bird with their Bombs and then destroy the bird's mask. After the mask is destroyed, the Links can defeat him by using their Swords.	Mountain Path
	Big Poe	Big Poe makes his first appearance as the boss of The Swamp, appearing in the Graveyard just south of Hyrule Castle. When the four Links reach an pitch black area of the graveyard with four torches, they must all step on one of the star-shaped Floor Switches to awaken the ghost. Big Poe will first appear as a mask bearing a resemblance to that of Jalhalla. The mask will float around and occasionally stop and spin while spewing fire to attack.	The Swamp
		Big Poe is seen once again at the end of the Infiltration of Hyrule Castle, now in a large Poe-like body with the typical lantern of their kind. Like before, the four Links must light the four torches using their Lamp to cause the monster to reveal itself. Like before, Big Poe cannot be harmed at first, and will instead float around trying to catch one of the four Links in the light of his torch. When he does so, he will attempt to blow the Links into the spiked traps around the area. The Links must again light the four torches around the area, but Big Poe will attempt to blow them out if they are caught while doing so. When the Big Poe blows out a torch, a Ghini will appear from the flame.	Infiltration of Hyrule Castle
	Phantom Ganon	In Four Swords Adventures, Phantom Ganon first appears as the boss of Hyrule Castle. In order to defeat it, the Links must hit its energy balls back and forth with the Sword. Once stunned, it is vulnerable to slashes from the Sword. Phantom Ganon appears once again as the boss of the Temple of Darkness; however, it now summons clones to its aid. The real Phantom Ganon will throw green orbs that can be hit back, while the clones throw white balls that break when hit with the Sword.	Temple of Darkness
	Big Moldorm	Big Moldorm appears as the boss of the Pyramid, barring the way to the Trident. While behaving similarly to other Moldorms, its tail changes color when struck to one of the respective colors of the four Links, and only the Link carrying the color of Big Moldorm's tail in his tunic will be able to damage it. As the battle progresses, Big Moldorm will split in two. The four Links must then work together to defeat the two Big Moldorms.	Pyramid
	Frostare	Frostare appears as a frozen eye that is attached to the ceiling by a root. It releases miniature flying versions of itself, Frosteyes. To defeat it, Link must reach the upper part of the room and defeat the creature inside to detach Frostare from the ceiling. After this, Frostare will fly around the room throwing objects.[which?] Link must then jump from platform to platform and attack the creature's eye with his sword. When it falls to the ground, Link must use a down thrust attack to finish it off.	Tower of Winds
	Vaati	Vaati appears in Four Swords Adventures, resurrected after Ganondorf tricks Link into drawing the Four Sword and releasing him. After cursing the Royal Jewel, Ganondorf used the darkness that Vaati spread to steal the Force Gems from Hyrule, empowering himself.	Palace of Winds
	Ganon	Hundreds of years later, in Four Swords Adventures, Ganon is reincarnated following his death in Twilight Princess. In this game, Ganondorf is referred to as a desert nomad, recently expelled from the Gerudo Tribe by breaking their taboo and exploring the Desert Pyramid as part of his plan to usurp the powers of others and coat Hyrule in darkness. He steals the Trident from the Pyramid and the Dark Mirror (which he uses to summon Shadow Link and his kin) from the forest. He uses him to trick Link into releasing Vaati from the Four Sword to serve as a distraction. Ganondorf then utilized the power of the Trident to hunt down and defeat the knights of Hyrule and transform them into demons, turning the Royal Jewels into gateways to the Dark World. Ganon also absorbs the power of the imprisoned Shrine Maidens.

Title Screen

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

Media

Japanese

USA

Trivia

• Four Swords Adventures, like the original Four Swords, has no option of choosing a name for Link.
• This is the only two-dimensional Zelda game to feature members of the Gerudo tribe besides Twinrova and Ganondorf.
• This is the first two-dimensional console Zelda title since A Link to the Past.
• Unlike traditional Zelda games, acquired Items cannot be kept.
  • The four Links can only have one secondary Item at a time and must sacrifice one secondary Item for another (e.g. dropping the Boomerang to acquire the Slingshot).
  • Power Bracelets and Heart Containers are only used for one Stage.
• Hidden in the game's files is a streaming audio file named "smw.ast". Playing it with the appropriate Winamp plugins (vgmstream) will reveal that the file is actually the Super Mario Bros. theme, specifically the secret theme found in Super Mario World.
• Contrary to popular belief, the Navi Trackers mode was, in fact, released outside of Japan, but only in South Korea. This is because the Korean version was a repackaging of the Japanese version, with only the region coding changed and the outer boxart and a card explaining controls translated.
• The game, originally titled Four Swords for Nintendo GameCube, was first shown at E3 2003 alongside Tetra's Trackers (later renamed Navi Trackers) as separate games. It was announced later that year that both games, plus a new one called Shadow Battle, would be included in the same disc. However, only the Hyrulean Adventure and Shadow Battle modes were included in non-Japanese versions of the game.
• The game was originally going to tell the story of the Imprisoning War set between A Link to the Past, but along the ways in development, Shigeru Miyamoto decided that the game's story should not be complex, and it should be cut down.

Continuity

• The prologue of Four Swords Adventures recounts events described in Four Swords and the Four Swords manual, which led to Vaati being sealed within the Four Sword Sanctuary, establishing a period of peace until the events of Four Swords Adventures. Eiji Aonuma, the series producer, revealed upon the release of Four Swords Adventures, that Four Swords Adventures was a sequel to Four Swords, taking place sometime after it.
  • However, the timeline revealed in Hyrule Historia, despite what is stated in the game's prologue, places Four Swords Adventures after the events of Twilight Princess in the Child Timeline. Hyrule Historia describes Ganondorf to be different in Four Swords Adventures from his appearance in Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess, having been reincarnated after his defeat in Twilight Princess.
• This is the first game to release to feature a different incarnation of Ganondorf, who otherwise is resurrected, rather than reincarnated.
• Somehow, the Four Sword Sanctuary survived the hundreds of thousands of years between Four Swords and this game.