The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

:This article is about the game. For other uses, see The Minish Cap (Disambiguation).
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is the twelfth main installment of . It was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2004.
Like most other titles in the series, features the fully explorable land of , although it can be viewed from the eyes of a human or the eyes of a , a race of tiny people and an alternate form that can transform into. The game is the first in the story surrounding the and features as the game's main villain. However, unlike the multiplayer focus of the other games in the series, retains the original form of exploration and dungeons as seen in , , and , as well as returning characters and game mechanics such as and the . New features include fusing and shrinking to the size of a .
==Backstory==
Evil spirits appeared in the land of , and just when it seemed that the world was to be cast into the darkest of shadows, the tiny descended from the skies and bestowed on a courageous human the golden and the . This used his wisdom and courage, the golden light, and his sword to fight off the demons and restore peace to the world.
The people were so grateful to the that they held an annual celebration in their honor. Whoever won the sword competition held at the festival would earn the honor of touching the sacred blade. The tradition of the continued, but over the generations, the themselves passed into legend. The legend of the tells of a mystic doorway that opens just once every hundred years. When the door is open, the can cross from their world into .
==Plot==
One year, in celebration of when the last came to 100 years ago to the day, the festival was unusually grand. was hosting a tournament of sword-fighting skill that calls to mind the heroes of legend. That year’s champion was a mysterious man by the name of . He won the tournament with an almost magical ease, and all of was abuzz with rumors about this shadowy figure. The young , who attends the festival that year with his childhood friend, , is charged by his grandfather, , with delivering the sword that will be presented to the champion.
During the ceremony following the sword competition, shatters the sacred and opens the , which, for an age, had been sealed by the , trapping evil monsters within. is after the , the golden light that was once wielded by the mentioned in the legends of the . He subdues the castle guards and turns to stone before departing. was once a , an apprentice of the sage . had made a magical with the power to grant wishes, but had stolen it and used it to become a powerful sorcerer. He had transformed into a hat himself, then proceeded to hunt down the . is asked by to seek out the and ask them to reforge the sacred blade, and he travels to the with the help of his .
There he meets , a curious creature whom he rescues from a group of . hops onto his head and offers to help him find the . He also helps shrink down to a minuscule size — the size of the people, who call themselves the . meets with , the elder of the , who tells him that in order to reforge the sacred , he will need the , the embodiment of the sacred powers of earth, fire, water, and wind. had learned from the legend of the that when the were collected, the path to the will open. Knowing that is collecting them, decides to wait until the task is complete.
Once has gathered the , he brings the — renamed the by , a sword-smith — to the hidden within the courtyard of . There he infuses the with the , fully restoring the sacred — a legendary blade with the power to split one warrior into four. then gains access to a chamber with stained glass, where the location of the is revealed to be within .
Meanwhile, has brainwashed and shrouded in darkness. He discovers from the stained glass of the chamber inside the that the sacred had actually been passed down through ’s princesses, and so he prepares to extract it from . rushes to her rescue, and, after vanquishing , uses the ’s evil-banishing power to restore .
With defeated, the could be used to restore . puts on the cap and wishes with all her heart that ’s cruelty might be undone. With her righteous wish and the power of the that still dwelt within her, many miracles happen as a result.
Now that the land of the humans had been saved, ventures back into the world of the through the , not to return until perhaps the next time, one hundred years later, when the doorway to their world would open once more.
==Game Information==
===Timeline Placement===
Telling the origin of and the , takes place many years before , making it the first story in the trilogy.
The official timeline released in places and between and . , which concludes the trilogy, is an indirect sequel to and currently the third member (along with and ) of the "Child Timeline".
===Ports and Remakes===
 was one of the ten Game Boy Advance games available on the 3DS Virtual Console as part of the Ambassador Program. It was later released on the Wii U's Virtual Console on June 5th, 2014 in North America.
===Limited Editions===
A special limited edition Zelda-themed Game Boy Advance SP bundle was also released. Limited to 25,000 copies, it featured a golden console with the Triforce outside and the Royal Crest inside, it also included a copy of (without box). It was available for sale only in Europe and Australia.
A limited edition adventure set was also released. Limited to 300 copies, it included the limited edition Game Boy Advance SP, a copy of (without box), a shirt, a knit cap and a certificate of authenticity.
===Speedrun Records===
==Listings==
===Characters===
===Bosses===
===Enemies===
===Locations===
===Dungeons===
===Items and Equipment===
===Translations===
===Credits===
===Glitches===
==Reception==
By 2005, had sold more than 1 million copies worldwide.
==Trivia==
* is the only Game Boy Advance game with two different "Not For Resale" cartridges which were used in store kiosks. One says "Not For Resale" and contains the full version of the game. The other says "Not For Resale Demo," where there are three playable areas to explore. Subsequent Zelda games like and also had demo carts with selectable stages.
*The logo for the game featured in pre-release material and some commercials featured the rather than the . The does not appear in the final version of the game.
*There have been three existing official logos for the game. These include one with next to the name, and one with the next to the name. Some commercials incorporate some of these alternate logos.
*There are several references in . These include enemies such as , , and . In the , chain-link platforms with spinning gates such as those found in and appear. In , small beanstalks use the same sound effect from when growing.
*The game over music is an excerpt from the opening demo music in .
* is the only main Zelda game to feature a sound test mode.
==Nomenclature==
==Gallery==
==External links==
*Official North American Website (archived)
*European Flash demo (archived)
*Official Japanese Website
Category:Games
Category:2D Games
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