Like other Zelda games before it, The Minish Cap gives you access to special items as you make your way through the quest. In addition to old favorites such as bombs and boomerangs, The Minish Cap introduces new items such as Mole Mitts that let you dig through dirt and the Gust Jar which acts as a vacuum. Finding game secrets and hidden dungeons more often than not requires the use of these items, so you’ll have to remember where you encountered an obstacle before because the way may now be opened to you. For example, a cobweb covered doorway can be cleared with a quick blast from the Gust Jar. Not all of these secret areas must be found to complete the game, but they will lead you to bonus items and help extend your time with the game.

Everything is big to a shrunken Link.

New to the Zelda series this time is something known as Kinstones. These are magic disks that have been broken in half and scattered around the land. You can find halves of Kinstones protected by enemies, hidden in secret areas, or in chests in dungeons. When you find a half, you then must find the person who owns the other matching half. When you do, the Kinstone is made whole again and a secret area is opened up somewhere on the map. The Kinstones are not really required for completing the game, but they do make for a nice bonus quest that lets you spend more time in Hyrule.

The Minish Cap is a puzzle-heavy game, but the designers got the puzzle challenge just right. Most puzzles require a little thought, but once you figure them out you are always struck by how intuitive the puzzles really are. You’ll put a little thought into it and then be hit with a “eureka!” moment in which the solution becomes perfectly clear. This is master puzzle design at its finest and makes for a thoroughly satisfying game experience.

If there is a knock against the game it is that the main quest is a on the short side. There are only four main dungeons and two extra dungeons, and the over world map is surprisingly small. Even though the map does double duty when you are large and small sized, it still feels cramped when compared to the expansive worlds of prior Zelda games. Gameplay can be extended by searching for all of the Kinstones and trying to find all the hidden items and rooms, but the game is such a joy to play that you wish it would last longer than it does.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 96%.  The Minish Cap is a masterpiece of adventure gaming and should be experienced by every GameBoy Advance player.

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