I did it. I finished Spirit Tracks. I don’t know why it took me so long, but I’m glad I finally did it. Despite this game’s flaws, it’s pretty fucking awesome and well worth playing.
Spirit Tracks is an improvement over Phantom Hourglass in most aspects. The dungeons are far more challenging, the graphics have been bumped up, and the music is WAY more unique (Phantom Hourglass had the exact same, highly-compressed cave theme for every dungeon). The biggest improvement, however, is in the game’s central dungeon: the Tower of Spirits, which you’ll have to return to after every main dungeon to progress. Whereas Phantom Hourglass made you trek through the same 20+ rooms and solve the same puzzles over and over again each time just to get to like 3 new floors to explore, the Tower of Spirits simply has you start at a new portion of the dungeon each time, and the puzzles are more devious and complex than anything the Tellle of the Ocean King offered. I do kinda miss the time limit because i enjoyed the extra challenge, but the improvements that the Tower of Spirits offers completely outweighs that little nitpick.
Unfortunately, Spirit Tracks’ overworld suffers due to its namesake: the Spirit attacks themselves. While having Link ride a train and go choo-choo as “Full Steam Ahead!”— one of the best pieces of music in the franchise’s history— blares in the background is undeniably cool, in practice, it feels ridiculously restrictive. One of the strongest aspects of both The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass was how much freedom the game gave to the player through sailing. You can go in whatever direction you want and explore whatever island catches your eye. The Spirit Train, on the other hand is a train— meaning that you are literally railroaded to set locations with no way to chart your own path. On top of that, the train moves pretty damn slowly compared to the Swift Sail boat in The Wind Waker HD and the S.S. Linebeck in Phantom Hourglass, and when combined with the empty, on-rails overworld, the resulting gameplay loop leads to long stretches where you’ll be doing a whole lotta nothing as you head from one destination to the next.
Luckily, Spirit Tracks has one more ace up its sleeve, and it’s definitely the game’s trump card: the story. It plays out like an affectionate parody of your typical Zelda storyline: Princess Zelda is taken by an evil sorcerer who seeks to revive the Demon King, and Link has to awaken a bunch of ancient sages to defeat him. However, the finer details are what set it apart and lead to fun bits of comedy:
— Zelda’s body is taken, but not her spirit; her ghost quite literally haunts Link throughout the game and acts as his companion, all while complaining about how gross it is that a Demon King is trying to possess her.
— The Demon King’s servant isn’t some ominous, threatening, and cool-looking sorcerer like Agahnim, Zant, or Ghirahim. Instead, it’s a goofy little guy named Cole who is a complete and utter coward that’s in WAY over his head.
— The Demon King himself isn’t even Ganon; it’s some… thing named Malladus, or as I like to call him, Ganon-from-Temu. He looks like Ganon and serves the same role (hell, Skyward Sword implies that he might be Ganon’s replacement, continuing Demise’s curse), but he’s utterly powerless for the most of the game and has to rely on his dainty little servants to revive him.
— The “sages” are a bunch of wheelchair-bound cyborgs called the Lokomos. That’s a really funny name, and they’re all chill as fuck in contrast to how serious the Seven Sages typically are.
— Even Link’s post-boss celebrations are deconstructed. After beating one of the game’s main villains, Link and Zelda proceed to celebrate and declare that they won through the power of friendship while hi-fiving and dancing… only to then look up and realize that the villain just got away.
— Despite taking place in “New Hyrule”, neither the Triforce nor Ganon are ever even mentioned, having disappeared and faded into legend after The Wind Waker. In other words, despite carrying on some traditions, Link and Tetra ultimately carried out the King of Red Lions’ final wish to establish a land for themselves. And the cherry on top? New Hyrule Castle has a stained glass window of Tetra. Not Princess Zelda, the chosen maiden and wielder of the Triforce of Wisdom, but Tetra, the fearless pirate captain who explored the Great Sea. It’s beautiful.
On top of its subversive plot, the characters are just… 🤌🏽mwah💋! Princess Zelda herself works alongside Link, and you can even PLAY AS HER in the Tower of Spirits and the final boss. It’s wonderful to see her go from a sheltered, slightly bratty, and insecure princess to a courageous, confident, and selfless warrior that would make Tetra proud. She also has great comedic, platonic, and possibly even romantic chemistry with Link, who is just as expressive as he is in the previous Toon games. Probably the game’s most memorable moment is the culmination of Link and Zelda’s teamwork: as Link struggles to push his sword into Malladus’ forehead, Zelda runs over, places her hands on the hilt, and together, they plunge the Lokomo Sword into the Demon King and save the land. It’s so awesome.
Aside from Link and Zelda, we also have Anjean and— more significantly— Byrne. Anjean is a likable mentor who’s just as chill as the rest of the Lokomos, but her connection to Byrne (no spoilers) is what really elevates her character. Byrne, the aforementioned villain that got away while Link and Zelda were celebrating, is a badass-looking cyborg with a mechanical arm, a samurai ponytail, a ninja mask, and powerful sorcery. Aside from just being awesome, he also has a surprisingly compelling backstory, understandable— if still despicable— motives, and a character arc reminiscent of Tai Lung from Kung Fu Panda (I know that sounds random, but if you play the game, you’ll understand) that ends in a bittersweet fashion. Much like Linebeck in the previous game and Groose from Skyward Sword, the developers didn’t really need to make Byrne such a layered villain, as the story wouldn’t change much if he was removed, but they did anyway because he enhances the story and because they care.
One last note: the bosses and items are on par with Phantom Hourglass, which is to say, they’re still really good. The Sand Wand and the Whip are both great new additions, with the latter being brought back in Skyward Sword. The back-to-back final bosses against the Demon Train, Chancellor Cole, and Malladus are all ridiculously awesome. The Spirit Flute and the Whirlwind both suck because my 3DS mic is unreliable and I have asthma, but… I don’t know, they’re creative, I guess.
Overall, despite its many flaws, Spirit Tracks is definitely one of the franchise’s more underrated entries that deserves more love. I’d highly recommend it.
Spirit Tracks is an improvement over Phantom Hourglass in most aspects. The dungeons are far more challenging, the graphics have been bumped up, and the music is WAY more unique (Phantom Hourglass had the exact same, highly-compressed cave theme for every dungeon). The biggest improvement, however, is in the game’s central dungeon: the Tower of Spirits, which you’ll have to return to after every main dungeon to progress. Whereas Phantom Hourglass made you trek through the same 20+ rooms and solve the same puzzles over and over again each time just to get to like 3 new floors to explore, the Tower of Spirits simply has you start at a new portion of the dungeon each time, and the puzzles are more devious and complex than anything the Tellle of the Ocean King offered. I do kinda miss the time limit because i enjoyed the extra challenge, but the improvements that the Tower of Spirits offers completely outweighs that little nitpick.
Unfortunately, Spirit Tracks’ overworld suffers due to its namesake: the Spirit attacks themselves. While having Link ride a train and go choo-choo as “Full Steam Ahead!”— one of the best pieces of music in the franchise’s history— blares in the background is undeniably cool, in practice, it feels ridiculously restrictive. One of the strongest aspects of both The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass was how much freedom the game gave to the player through sailing. You can go in whatever direction you want and explore whatever island catches your eye. The Spirit Train, on the other hand is a train— meaning that you are literally railroaded to set locations with no way to chart your own path. On top of that, the train moves pretty damn slowly compared to the Swift Sail boat in The Wind Waker HD and the S.S. Linebeck in Phantom Hourglass, and when combined with the empty, on-rails overworld, the resulting gameplay loop leads to long stretches where you’ll be doing a whole lotta nothing as you head from one destination to the next.
Luckily, Spirit Tracks has one more ace up its sleeve, and it’s definitely the game’s trump card: the story. It plays out like an affectionate parody of your typical Zelda storyline: Princess Zelda is taken by an evil sorcerer who seeks to revive the Demon King, and Link has to awaken a bunch of ancient sages to defeat him. However, the finer details are what set it apart and lead to fun bits of comedy:
— Zelda’s body is taken, but not her spirit; her ghost quite literally haunts Link throughout the game and acts as his companion, all while complaining about how gross it is that a Demon King is trying to possess her.
— The Demon King’s servant isn’t some ominous, threatening, and cool-looking sorcerer like Agahnim, Zant, or Ghirahim. Instead, it’s a goofy little guy named Cole who is a complete and utter coward that’s in WAY over his head.
— The Demon King himself isn’t even Ganon; it’s some… thing named Malladus, or as I like to call him, Ganon-from-Temu. He looks like Ganon and serves the same role (hell, Skyward Sword implies that he might be Ganon’s replacement, continuing Demise’s curse), but he’s utterly powerless for the most of the game and has to rely on his dainty little servants to revive him.
— The “sages” are a bunch of wheelchair-bound cyborgs called the Lokomos. That’s a really funny name, and they’re all chill as fuck in contrast to how serious the Seven Sages typically are.
— Even Link’s post-boss celebrations are deconstructed. After beating one of the game’s main villains, Link and Zelda proceed to celebrate and declare that they won through the power of friendship while hi-fiving and dancing… only to then look up and realize that the villain just got away.
— Despite taking place in “New Hyrule”, neither the Triforce nor Ganon are ever even mentioned, having disappeared and faded into legend after The Wind Waker. In other words, despite carrying on some traditions, Link and Tetra ultimately carried out the King of Red Lions’ final wish to establish a land for themselves. And the cherry on top? New Hyrule Castle has a stained glass window of Tetra. Not Princess Zelda, the chosen maiden and wielder of the Triforce of Wisdom, but Tetra, the fearless pirate captain who explored the Great Sea. It’s beautiful.
On top of its subversive plot, the characters are just… 🤌🏽mwah💋! Princess Zelda herself works alongside Link, and you can even PLAY AS HER in the Tower of Spirits and the final boss. It’s wonderful to see her go from a sheltered, slightly bratty, and insecure princess to a courageous, confident, and selfless warrior that would make Tetra proud. She also has great comedic, platonic, and possibly even romantic chemistry with Link, who is just as expressive as he is in the previous Toon games. Probably the game’s most memorable moment is the culmination of Link and Zelda’s teamwork: as Link struggles to push his sword into Malladus’ forehead, Zelda runs over, places her hands on the hilt, and together, they plunge the Lokomo Sword into the Demon King and save the land. It’s so awesome.
Aside from Link and Zelda, we also have Anjean and— more significantly— Byrne. Anjean is a likable mentor who’s just as chill as the rest of the Lokomos, but her connection to Byrne (no spoilers) is what really elevates her character. Byrne, the aforementioned villain that got away while Link and Zelda were celebrating, is a badass-looking cyborg with a mechanical arm, a samurai ponytail, a ninja mask, and powerful sorcery. Aside from just being awesome, he also has a surprisingly compelling backstory, understandable— if still despicable— motives, and a character arc reminiscent of Tai Lung from Kung Fu Panda (I know that sounds random, but if you play the game, you’ll understand) that ends in a bittersweet fashion. Much like Linebeck in the previous game and Groose from Skyward Sword, the developers didn’t really need to make Byrne such a layered villain, as the story wouldn’t change much if he was removed, but they did anyway because he enhances the story and because they care.
One last note: the bosses and items are on par with Phantom Hourglass, which is to say, they’re still really good. The Sand Wand and the Whip are both great new additions, with the latter being brought back in Skyward Sword. The back-to-back final bosses against the Demon Train, Chancellor Cole, and Malladus are all ridiculously awesome. The Spirit Flute and the Whirlwind both suck because my 3DS mic is unreliable and I have asthma, but… I don’t know, they’re creative, I guess.
Overall, despite its many flaws, Spirit Tracks is definitely one of the franchise’s more underrated entries that deserves more love. I’d highly recommend it.