ReDeads in Zelda: The Nintendo Take on Zombies

Zombies, zombies everywhere!  At least that's what it seems like when it comes to videogames (and more recently, television shows).  The Legend of Zelda games are no exception due to their own form of zombie: the ReDead.  Today let's observe this undead (does being re-dead technically count as undead? hmm...) monstrosity that Link must face.

ReDeads made their first appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and what a first appearance it is.  Link finds himself in an underground tomb of the royal family of Hyrule (located in Kakariko Village's graveyard), and comes across a large room filled with zombie ReDeads.  In fact, the majority of ReDeads are found in tombs, as well as Hyrule Castle Town after Ganondorf sacks it.  It wouldn't be appropriate to have this super-disturbing enemy hanging out on the sunny beach of Lake Hylia, now would it?

Before you even catch sight of a ReDead, you'll know it's nearby due to the distinctive moaning sounds it makes (maybe it's saying "braaaiiinss" in the Hylian language?).  They walk extremely slow, and with a hunchbacked posture, fitting for a zombie.  You might think that this would make them easy to avoid, but the game developers were one step ahead of you.  ReDeads will let out a high-pitched scream when Link is nearby, which paralyzes him in fear.  When this happens, you helplessly watch as one or more of these monsters shambles towards the frozen Link.  Once they are close enough, they will jump on Link's back and proceed to bite him.

Just like the Dead Hand in Ocarina of Time, this creature was clearly designed to give kids nightmares.  It's definitely one of the most-feared enemies in the game.

Like most enemies in Ocarina of Time, the ReDead makes an appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.  This game also contains an enemy called the Gibdo, which is basically a ReDead dressed up in mummy wrappings.  While wearing the Gibdo mask, Link can converse with some of these zombie mummies, while you try to decide if you're horrified or amused.

ReDeads even pull in a guest appearance in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.  Here they abandon their previous looks for something we are more accustomed to seeing with zombies.  They have greenish dead-looking skin, as well as a mouthful of teeth, definitely nailing the undead corpse look.  They have very long arms which almost drag on the ground, and a gigantic head (oddly enough, they even have earrings), making for an altogether disturbing visual appearance.  Like their previous incarnations, they have a paralyzing scream that incapacitates Link.

That about wraps up our quick look at the zombie creatures in the Legend of Zelda games.  ReDeads are definitely a frightening enemy, due to their appearance and their ability to freeze Link on the spot.  They are proof that Nintendo does display a bit of a dark side every once in a while, and that's fine with me!

What did you guys think of the ReDeads?  Did they give you a fright when you first encountered them?

The Evil Moon in Majora's Mask

Usually when you think of a full moon, what comes to mind are werewolves, or people going crazy and doing stupid things.  But what happens when the scary thing isn't caused by the moon, but is actually the moon itself?  What we get is the ever-present threat from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, the moon.

First of all, any moon with a face on it is bound to look creepy, but the monstrous face on the Majora's Mask moon looks like it was custom made to enter your nightmares.

Anyway, for the uninitiated, the moon in this game started off as a harmless lunar body orbiting at a safe distance above Termina (the alternate reality version of Hyrule field).  Things were changed when a skull kid (yes that's what he's called) wielding the powerful and mysterious Majora's Mask makes the decision to bring down the moon and destroy Termina.

You can all thank this guy for trying to pass off mass destruction as a prank.

Presumably at this point, the moon somehow grew a screwed up face as it prepared to descend towards the planet.  Either that or the moon already was orbiting the planet with its face of horror; possibly it's the former explanation since the moon is being possessed by Majora's Mask.

The slowly falling moon takes center stage in Majora's Mask, where Link has three days to reverse the wickedness of the skull kid before the moon smashes into Termina.  A nice touch is that the moon is actually falling in real-time, and as the hours go by you'll notice it getting ever larger as it descends upon Clock Town (the central town in the game).  If you happen to use up all three days without saving the world, you'll be presented with a cutscene of the moon causing Armageddon.

The future isn't looking too bright.

Towards the end of the game, when Link has his final showdown with the evil powers contained in Majora's Mask, he will actually enter the moon.  Somehow the inside of the moon contains an endless grassy field with a single tree at the center of it all.  It makes no sense whatsoever, but then again all the logic in the game has pretty much fallen apart at this point, so we just have to accept it.

Apparently the moon even has its own sun orbiting around inside it.

And that wraps up pretty much everything about the evil possessed moon in Majora's Mask.  It's huge, it's scary-looking, and it wants to consume an entire planet.  Compared to this, our moon seems rather dull in comparison, don't you think?

The Possible Recurring Cast of Skyward Sword (Massive Speculation)

After all this time, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is almost upon us! The first and last Wii-exclusive Zelda title (remember, Twilight Princess was also a Gamecube title) looks to send the Wii out with a bang. It is much too early to speculate what the Zelda games will be like once the franchise inevitably moves to the Wii U, seeing as we don't know much about it other than the controller looks like a giant white high-definition Sega Game Gear. However, with Skyward Sword's release just around the corner, now is the perfect time to add to the excitement by guessing what will be in this game.

In this article I wanted to speculate about which recurring characters we will see in Skyward Sword. Recurring characters are no stranger to the Zelda franchise, which of course features the same protagonist in every game. After the series' jump to 3D with Ocarina of Time, more and more characters in the Zelda universe have made an appearance in some form. Majora's Mask is an extreme case due to being set in an alternate universe to Ocarina of Time, with alternate versions of most of the Hyrule population. With that said, let's take a look at a few characters from past Zelda games, and make a wild guess if they will appear in Skyward Sword.

The Postman

We all know this guy, he was called the Running Man during his first Zelda appearance in Ocarina of Time, and since then has taken up a career in postal delivery for later Zelda games. I'd almost be willing to bet money he will show up in Skyward Sword, mainly because of how many times this guy has put in a cameo lately. Imagine the possibilities! The Postal Man with winged boots, running/flying through the clouds to deliver mostly pointless mail to Link.  Not too exciting, but maybe I just want to see the Postman run on air.

The Happy Mask Salesman

Ok I know this would probably be a stretch. We haven't seen the quick-tempered mask salesman on a non-handheld console since Majora's Mask. Presumably this is because he's the first person you see when you respawn in the clock tower, during the period when you are dangerously enraged by yet another repeated failure to save Clock Town from the evil of Miyamoto's three-day time limit. Still, we've all had over ten years to cool off and (mostly) get over our grudge against the mask salesman for making us repeat the same three days over and over in a style that Dark Tower fans will appreciate.  It would be fun to see this guy in Skyward Sword, if only for the nostalgia.

Tingle

You didn't think I'd leave Tingle off this list did you?

Admit it, before reading a single word in the opening paragraph of this article, you made a quick scroll-through to see if I was going to mention this character.  I know, I'm always getting on Tingle's case.  Why the Nintendo devs chose to include the flamboyant map-maker/creepy man-elf in so many Zelda games, we may never know. Tingle hasn't put in an appearance outside of handheld consoles since the horror known as Tingle Island in the Wind Waker, but I wouldn't be surprised if he made a triumphant return to our nightmares through Skyward Sword. I grudgingly admit that he would probably be a good fit for this game, due to the balloon he uses to float around. Can't you just picture him flying hundreds of feet above Hyrule field, slowly drifting towards Link with his balloon, blood dripping down his chin while he sings Tingle Tingle Kooloo-Limpah? Maybe he'll even make an appearance as an optional boss battle:

This concludes my quick speculation as to what Zelda characters could make a cameo appearance in Skyward Sword. What recurring characters would you guys like to see in this latest Zelda release?

Tingle: The Man-Elf From Your Worst Nightmares

When you stop to think about it, the Legend of Zelda games have some genuinely creepy characters.  People have plenty to fear from these games, be it Ooccoo from Twilight Princess, the Redeads from Ocarina of Time, and probably the most feared character of them all: Tingle.

Tingle first appeared to haunt our nightmares in Majora's Mask for the N64,  where he desperately wants to be a fairy.  He has become so delusional that he thinks wearing green full-body spandex, acting extremely flamboyant, and flying around with the help of a balloon tied to his waist has magically transformed him.  Sadly the only way to receive maps for certain areas of the game are by buying them through Tingle, so for most of us, this creature was unavoidable.

And then, for reasons unknown, Nintendo decided that Tingle was a huge hit, and to the horror of gamers everywhere they made the choice to include him in many Zelda games following Majora's Mask.  I still remember thinking that after Majora's Mask I was done with that man-elf once and for all, only to cry in anguish upon finding him in The Oracle of Ages, floating around and staring at me with that creepy smile that would strike fear into the heart of Ganon.

As if that wasn't enough, Nintendo chose to torture us even more by upping the ante in the Wind Waker.  We not only get Tingle, but we get a location called Tingle Island that is entirely populated by Tingle clones!

Why did Nintendo do this to us?  Is it because Wind Waker is a game about sailing the open seas, so Nintendo wanted to include their version of the Bermuda Triangle?

Thankfully, Miyamoto decided to give us a break by not including the man-elf-satan in Twilight Princess, probably knowing that a game with both Tingle and Ooccoo would probably scare away most gamers from future Zelda games.  But it still doesn't excuse them from all the Tingle appearances in the past.  Until next time, Tingle, Tingle, Kooloo-Limpah!