The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Box art
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Eiji Aonuma
Producer(s)	Shigeru Miyamoto
Artist(s)	Yusuke Nakano Satoru Takizawa
Writer(s)	Aya Kyogoku Takayuki Ikkaku Mitsuhiro Takano Eiji Aonuma
Composer(s)	Toru Minegishi Asuka Ota
Series	The Legend of Zelda
Platform(s)	Wii GameCube Nvidia Shield TV
Release date(s)	Wii November 19, 2006 JP GameCube December 2, 2006 NA Nvidia Shield TV CHN December 5, 2017
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is an exciting action-adventure video game made by Nintendo. It came out in 2006 for the GameCube and Wii consoles. The game was first planned for the GameCube in 2005. But Nintendo decided to wait. This allowed them to make the game even better and bring it to the Wii too.

The Wii version was a special "launch game" in North America in November 2006. This means it was one of the first games available for the new Wii console. The GameCube version came out a month later. It was the very last game Nintendo made for the GameCube.

In Twilight Princess, you play as Link. He is the main hero of the Zelda series. Link must save the land of Hyrule from a dark, corrupted place called the Twilight Realm. To do this, Link can change between his human form and a wolf. A mysterious imp named Midna helps him on his journey. The story happens many years after another famous Zelda game, Ocarina of Time.

When it was released, Twilight Princess got amazing reviews. Many people called it one of the best games ever made. It won many "Game of the Year" awards. By 2015, it had sold over 8.85 million copies worldwide. This made it the best-selling Zelda game until Breath of the Wild came out. In 2011, the Wii version was re-released as part of "Nintendo Selects". A new, improved version for the Wii U, called The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, was released in 2016.

Exploring and Fighting in Hyrule

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is an action-adventure game. It focuses on fighting enemies, exploring huge areas, and solving tricky puzzles. The game uses a control style first seen in Ocarina of Time. This includes special buttons that change what they do based on the situation. There is also "L-targeting" (or "Z-targeting" on the Wii). This system helps Link stay focused on an enemy or important object while he moves and attacks.

An arrow points at an enemy whom Link is targeting as he prepares to swing his sword (GameCube version).

Link can walk, run, and attack. He will automatically jump when running off a ledge. In combat, Link uses a sword and shield. He also has other weapons like a bow and arrows, a boomerang, and bombs. When you are targeting an enemy, you can fire projectile weapons without needing to aim them yourself.

The special "context-sensitive" button can do many things. For example, it lets you talk to people, open doors, or push and pull objects. The game screen shows you what the button will do. If Link is holding a rock, the button might make him throw it if he is moving. If he is standing still, it might make him place the rock on the ground.

How Controls Differ on Wii and GameCube

The GameCube and Wii versions of the game have some small differences in how you control Link. The Wii version uses the Wii Remote's motion sensors and built-in speaker. The speaker makes sounds like a bowstring when you shoot an arrow. You might also hear Midna's laugh when she gives Link advice. The famous Zelda "chime" plays when you find secrets. You control Link's sword by swinging the Wii Remote. Other attacks use similar movements with the Nunchuk.

In the GameCube version, you can move the camera freely. The Wii version requires you to enter a special "lookaround" mode. However, the Wii version lets Link equip four secondary weapons at once. The GameCube version only allows two.

Exploring Dungeons and the Overworld

The game has nine large dungeons. These are enclosed areas where Link fights enemies, collects items, and solves puzzles. At the end of each dungeon, Link battles a powerful boss. Defeating the boss helps Link get new items or move the story forward.

These dungeons are connected by a huge overworld. Link can travel across this world on foot. He can also ride his horse, Epona. Or, he can teleport quickly with Midna's help.

Link as a Wolf

When Link enters the Twilight Realm, he changes into a wolf. This dark void corrupts parts of Hyrule. Eventually, Link learns to change between his human and wolf forms whenever he wants.

As a wolf, Link cannot use his sword, shield, or other items. He attacks by biting and defends by dodging. But Wolf Link gains many advantages:

• He moves faster than human Link (though Epona is still faster).
• He can dig holes to find new paths or buried items.
• He has improved senses, like being able to follow scent trails.
• Midna rides on his back. She gives hints, attacks enemies with energy, helps him jump far, and lets him "warp" to different places.
• Wolf Link's senses let you see and hear the spirits of people affected by the Twilight. You can also hunt for enemy ghosts called Poes.

Enemies in Twilight Princess are smarter than in previous Zelda games. They react when their friends are defeated. They also notice arrows or slingshot pellets that fly by. They can spot Link from farther away than before.

The Story of Twilight Princess

The game starts with a teenage boy named Link. He works on a ranch in Ordon Village. One day, bad creatures called Bulblins kidnap the village children. Link chases them and finds a wall of Twilight. A monster from the Twilight pulls him into the dark forest. There, Link turns into a wolf and is trapped.

A creature named Midna frees Link. She offers to help him if he does what she says. She guides him to Princess Zelda. Zelda explains that Zant, the Sorcerer King of the Twili, took over Hyrule Castle. He forced Zelda to give up. The kingdom became covered in Twilight. Everyone in Hyrule, except Link and Zelda, turned into invisible spirits.

To save Hyrule, Link and Midna must bring back the Light Spirits. They do this by going into the Twilight-covered areas. They recover the Spirits' light from the Twilight creatures who stole it. Once a Spirit is revived, it turns Link back into his human form. The Spirits also tell Link and Midna where to find pieces of a powerful item called the Fused Shadow. This item is needed to defeat Zant. During this time, the ghost of a swordsman appears. He teaches Link special sword skills and tells him about his destiny.

Link also finds the kidnapped children from Ordon Village. He helps the monkeys of Faron, the Gorons of Eldin, and the Zoras of Lanayru. After Link restores the Light Spirits and gets the Fused Shadows, Zant attacks him and Midna. Zant takes the Fused Shadows. Midna tells Zant he is misusing his tribe's magic. But Zant says his power comes from someone else. He then uses his power to keep Link in his wolf form. Zant tries to destroy Midna by exposing her to light.

Link brings a dying Midna to Zelda. Zelda tells Link he needs the Master Sword to break Zant's curse. Zelda then sacrifices herself to heal Midna and mysteriously vanishes. Midna is touched by Zelda's kindness. She starts to care more about Link and Hyrule.

After Link gets the Master Sword, the curse that kept him as a wolf is broken. Link and Midna go to the Gerudo Desert to find the Mirror of Twilight. This mirror is the only way between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm. But they find it is broken. The Sages there explain that Zant tried to destroy it. He only managed to break it into pieces. Only the true ruler of the Twili can completely destroy the mirror. The Sages also say they once used the mirror to banish Ganondorf. Ganondorf was a Gerudo leader who tried to steal the Triforce.

Link and Midna collect the missing pieces of the mirror. Once it is fixed, the Sages reveal that Midna is the true ruler of the Twili. Zant had taken her place and cursed her into her imp form. Link and Midna confront Zant. They learn that he made a deal with Ganondorf. Ganondorf asked Zant to help him take over Hyrule. After Link defeats Zant, Midna gets the Fused Shadows back. She then destroys Zant. She learns that only defeating Ganondorf can break her curse.

Link and Midna return to Hyrule. They find Ganondorf in Hyrule Castle. A lifeless Zelda is floating above him. Ganondorf fights Link by taking over Zelda's body. Then he turns into a giant boar-like beast. Link defeats him, and Midna uses the power she got from Zelda to bring Zelda back to life.

Ganondorf revives again. Midna teleports Link and Zelda outside the castle. She tries to hold off Ganondorf with the Fused Shadows. But Hyrule Castle collapses. Ganondorf comes out victorious, crushing the Fused Shadow piece Midna wore. He chases Link on horseback. With help from Zelda and the Light Spirits, Link knocks Ganondorf off his horse. Link then fights him on foot and defeats him with the Master Sword.

With Ganondorf gone, the Light Spirits revive Midna and restore her to her true form. Midna says goodbye to Link and Zelda. She returns home and destroys the Mirror of Twilight. This permanently cuts off the link between Hyrule and the Twilight Realm. As Hyrule Castle is rebuilt, Link leaves Ordon Village to explore new places.

How the Game Was Made

Starting as a GameCube Idea

In 2003, Nintendo announced a new The Legend of Zelda game for the GameCube. The same team that made The Wind Waker was working on it. At a conference in 2004, director Eiji Aonuma accidentally said they were making The Wind Waker 2. It was going to look similar to the first Wind Waker.

However, Nintendo of America felt that The Wind Waker's cartoon style made it seem like a game for very young kids. This hurt its sales. Aonuma wanted to make a more realistic Zelda game. He wanted it to appeal to more players. Producer Shigeru Miyamoto suggested they focus on new ways to play. He wanted Aonuma to try things that were not possible in Ocarina of Time, like fighting while riding a horse.

Early work on Twilight Princess began. They worked hard to make the horse riding feel real. The lead character designer even rode a horse himself to understand it better. The game's look was inspired by The Lord of the Rings movies. These movies were very popular at the time. The team wanted to create a huge, believable world, like the fantasy worlds people saw in those films.

After four months, Aonuma's team showed off realistic horseback riding. Nintendo revealed this in a trailer at E3 2004. People loved it! The game was set to come out the next year. It was no longer a sequel to The Wind Waker. A true sequel to The Wind Waker came out later for the Nintendo DS. Miyamoto said the realistic style was chosen because fans wanted it. It also fit the idea of an older Link. The game uses a changed version of The Wind Waker's game engine.

Past Zelda games often had two separate but connected worlds. For example, in A Link to the Past, Link travels between a "Light World" and a "Dark World". The Zelda team wanted to use this idea again. They thought Link could turn into a wolf, like he turned into a rabbit in A Link to the Last. The idea for Link to become a wolf came from a dream Aonuma had. He dreamt he was a wolf trapped in a cage. The story of the game was created by Aonuma. It was later changed by writers Mitsuhiro Takano and Aya Kyogoku.

At first, Link was going to be a wolf from the very beginning of the game. This was to be very different from Ocarina of Time. But this was changed. New players could then get used to the traditional Zelda gameplay. The story about the children of Ordon village being kidnapped was an example of the game having darker parts than earlier games.

From a gameplay point of view, the "twilight world" parts of the game were inspired by how past Zelda games kept dungeons separate from the main world. They wondered what would happen if a dungeon was put inside the open world. This led to the hunt for "tears of light" in the twilight-covered world. The goal was to make players feel a little uncomfortable in the Twilight areas. But they made sure it was not so uncomfortable that players would not want to keep playing.

Aonuma left his team to work on The Minish Cap for the Game Boy Advance. When he came back, the Twilight Princess team was having trouble. The wolf transformation made Link's character seem less believable. Aonuma also felt the gameplay was not as new as Phantom Hourglass, which used touch controls on the Nintendo DS. At the same time, the Wii console was being developed. Miyamoto thought the Wii Remote's pointing device would be great for aiming arrows in Zelda. He suggested Aonuma try using it.

Moving to the Wii Console

Aonuma had thought about making a Zelda game for the Wii later. But he thought he needed to finish Twilight Princess first. His team started making controls for the bow and arrow using pointing. Aonuma found that aiming directly at the screen made the game feel new. He was sure this was the right way to go. But he worried about fans who expected a GameCube release. Making two versions would mean delaying the game, which would disappoint players. Satoru Iwata felt that having both versions would make players happy in the end, even if they had to wait. So, Aonuma started working on both versions at the same time.

It was easy to move the GameCube game to the Wii. This is because the Wii was made to work with GameCube games. At E3 2005, Nintendo showed a preview trailer for Twilight Princess. They also said Zelda would be on the Wii. But it was not clear if it was Twilight Princess or a different game.

The team worked on the Wii controls. They changed the camera and fighting to fit the new system. They tried a prototype where you swung the Wii Remote to control the sword from Link's view. But it did not show Link's movements well. When they went back to the third-person view, Aonuma thought it felt strange to swing the Wii Remote with the right hand to control Link's left-handed sword. So, they mirrored the entire Wii version map. Link was now right-handed, and directions like "east" and "west" were swapped. The GameCube version kept the original orientation.

At E3 2006, Nintendo confirmed both versions would be available when the Wii launched. They had a playable Wii version of Twilight Princess. Later, the GameCube release was moved to a month after the Wii launch.

Nintendo staff said that people trying the demo found the controls difficult. Aonuma realized his team had made the Wii controls in a way that forced players to adapt. He wanted them to be easy and natural to use. He and Miyamoto reworked the controls. They focused on comfort and ease. Camera movement was changed. Item controls were changed to avoid accidental button presses. The new item system needed a button that was used for the sword. To fix this, sword controls went back to gestures. This brought back the problem of a right-handed swing controlling a left-handed sword. The team did not have time to change Link's character model. So, they just flipped the entire game. Everything was a mirror image. The player's guide for Twilight Princess focuses on the Wii version. It has a section with mirror-image maps for GameCube players.

Music and Sounds in the Game

The music for Twilight Princess was made by Toru Minegishi and Asuka Ohta. Koji Kondo, who often works on Zelda games, was the sound supervisor. Minegishi created most of the music for the fields and dungeons. For the game's trailers, three pieces of music were written by different composers. Michiru Ōshima arranged these pieces for an orchestra. Kondo's music was chosen for the E3 2005 trailer.

Midna has the most voice acting in the game. Her on-screen talking often has a babbling sound. This was made by mixing up English phrases spoken by Japanese voice actress Akiko Kōmoto. Kondo thought about using orchestral music for all the game's tracks. He liked the idea of live instruments. He imagined a 50-person orchestra for action scenes. But the final game used sequenced music instead. Kondo later said that orchestral music would not be as interactive. Two versions of the game's soundtrack were released in November 2006. They were part of a Nintendo Power promotion. They came with replicas of the Master Sword and Hylian Shield.

The Wii U Remaster

A new, improved version of the game, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, was made for the Wii U. It was developed by Tantalus Media. This version has better graphics and works with Amiibo figures. It was released in March 2016.

The idea for an HD version of Twilight Princess came up while making The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Nintendo tried running an HD version of Twilight Princess on Wii U development kits. This helped them decide on the graphical style for the new game. This led to making The Wind Waker HD. Its success encouraged the Zelda team to make other HD remasters. Since most of the Zelda team was busy with Breath of the Wild, Nintendo worked with an outside studio, Tantalus Media, for Twilight Princess HD.

Eiji Aonuma, who directed the original game, said they focused on using the Wii U GamePad. The controls from the GameCube version were used for the remaster. This was because the controllers were similar. Aonuma felt that playing underwater was much better in the remaster. Other improvements include speeding up some cutscenes that felt too long. They also reduced repetitive tasks, like collecting Tears of Light. The goal was to "preserve the feel of the original". This meant keeping the frame rate at 30 frames per second. Tomomi Sano, the assistant director, said they had to be careful with how much to improve the graphics. If they made everything too clear, the game lost its soft, delicate atmosphere.

Some versions of the game came with a Wolf Link Amiibo figure. This figure unlocks a special Wii U dungeon called the "Cave of Shadows". It can also carry data over to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In the Cave of Shadows, Link fights waves of enemies only in his wolf form. It is like the "Cave of Ordeals" from the original game. It is hard to get health back during this challenge. Other Zelda Amiibo figures have different uses. Link and Toon Link Amiibos give you arrows. Zelda and Sheik Amiibos restore Link's health. Ganondorf Amiibos make Link take twice as much damage. A CD with music from the game was a bonus for pre-ordering in North America. A three-disc soundtrack with 108 songs was released in Japan in July 2016.

Legacy and Other Appearances

An 11-volume manga series based on Twilight Princess was created by Akira Himekawa. It was first released in Japan in 2016 and finished in 2022. The series is available on a mobile app. Even though the game came out much earlier, the manga started just before the HD remake was released. Viz Media started releasing an English version of the manga in 2017.

To celebrate the launch of the My Nintendo loyalty program in 2016, Nintendo released My Nintendo Picross: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. This is a Picross puzzle game made by Jupiter for the Nintendo 3DS.

Characters from Twilight Princess have appeared in other games. Midna (in both her imp and Twili forms), Zant, and a character named Agitha, all appeared as playable fighters in the Zelda crossover game Hyrule Warriors. Since then, Agitha has been seen as a "main character" of Twilight Princess.

See also

• Link's Crossbow Training, a 2007 shooting video game created for the Wii Zapper, using the world and assets of Twilight Princess