Abstraction in The Wind Waker

by Joseph Witham

It was the annual Space World show back in September 2000, and Nintendo was showcasing its newest game console, the “Dolphin,” as we knew it back then. The show’s audience was privileged to see a sneak peek of the system’s power, and what better way to show it off than with a demo of The Legend of Zelda? Needless to say, the audience was awed as Link battled the malicious Ganondorf, all in super-realistic graphics. One year later, again at the annual Space World show, Nintendo decides to shock of Zelda fans worldwide: the next title will feature a cel-shaded Link in an entirely cartoon-style world. All this after the incredible feature shown only a year earlier.

We all know the story from here; it seemed no one would ever learn to appreciate this new graphical style. Everyone had his or her qualms with the new “Celda,” as it came to be popularly known. While I personally never stooped to the level of saying, “I won’t buy this Zelda because of its graphics,” I’ll admit that I didn’t know what to expect. It wasn’t until last March, when the game was finally out in English, that I realized the true message behind the cel-shading.

I now realize that the graphics were intentionally unrealistic to lend themselves to the overall abstract theme of the Legend of Zelda series as whole. The stories of each and every previous Zelda title have always had some level of abstract quality to them, inducing a sense of mystery, but at the same time intellectual freedom of interpretation. With The Wind Waker, the entire game is presented in a non-imposing abstract artistic style. Never were the developers bound by realism, every emotion could be displayed in Link’s huge, five inch diameter eyes. Essentially, no object was required to act as it would in the real world. This is the real benefit of abstraction over realism; there is no limit, and freedom is key, a theme that fits so perfectly with the entire Legend of Zelda series.

I’d like to reflect again on the Space World 2000 demo. Back then, I was enthralled by the amazing display of graphical prowess I saw in that preview. I thought for a moment, “It doesn’t need to get any better than this.” It’s the year 2003, now, and already, we have seen games surpass that quality. And if I may say so, that demo looks outdated to me, the same person who thought we were near the pinnacle of graphical evolution. If we can go back even further, I remember in 1998 being captivated by Ocarina of Time’s realistic graphics, but I’ll admit, when I got the GameCube re-release a couple months ago, I could not help but notice how outdated the blocky polygons looked compared to modern top-notch graphics. The Wind Waker, however, will never become outdated graphically. The abstract artistic quality of the cel-shading will preserve the game down through the ages because the graphics are what they are, and there’s little Nintendo could do to improve upon them.

The question we have to ask now: do we want the entire series to take on cel-shading as its only graphical style? The problem with realism is that it can always be improved upon, so while a Zelda title with super-realistic graphics will look incredible when it’s initially released, there will no doubt be several improvements that could be made upon it in the future, and one day it will look outdated. Do we want an eternally fulfilling game which uses abstract graphical style, or one that looks good for a while? It’s a tough decision that all companies, not just Nintendo, will eventually need to make.