12. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

Four Swords Adventures is a weird game. 2002’s Game Boy Advance port of A Link to the Past had a multiplayer mode called Four Swords, which would later be spun out into the full-fledged cooperative Zelda game Four Swords Adventures on the GameCube. The hook of this game is that you and three friends can play as four different Links at once, solving puzzles and battling in unison.

Its aesthetic is a marriage between the sprites of A Link to the Past with the special effects and design of 2002’s The Wind Waker. It made for a fun opportunity to see the hero’s Toon Link design and other iconic characters like Gorons, Gerudos, and even Epona translated into this aesthetic for the first time. The font and special effects are also inspired by The Wind Waker, creating a unique 2D-3D hybrid look. Fire creates a wobbling distortion on the ground and enemies burst into dazzling light when defeated.

Unfortunately the game just isn’t very memorable. Link feels like even less of a character than usual and visually the game feels more like a Frankenstein Link to the Past rather than its own distinct experience. The game has no “moments,” no visually striking locales, no atmosphere, no unique character design.

This Legend of Zelda multiplayer experiment had a lot of interesting ideas, but its overall design didn’t quite hit the same highs as the sum of its parts.