Do any of you remember the Dragon Ball Z Abridged series on YouTube? How about the Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged series? Now imagine this: what if people did that for video games? Enter Wind Waker Rewritten.
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker is easily my favorite Zelda game. Perhaps it comes from nostalgia, considering it was the first Zelda game I ever finished, but there’s very little I don’t love about that darn game. It’s hard to think about what could be added to improve the overall experience. My thoughts and feelings about Wind Waker align perfectly with Patrick Marlborough’s stellar piece about it.
And yet, a hero comes along. Not Link. An artist and modder known as approx.
Aproxm has created a romhack for Wind Waker that keeps the vast majority of the game intact. However, what it adds gives the game a whole new tone in the best way. Approxm’s Wind Waker Rewritten romhack adds over 10,000 new lines of dialogue, reimagined cutscenes and characterizations of many, many NPCs, new video files, and a handful of texture edits. Check out the trailer below.
Wind Waker already had its own special kind of humor, but this romhack adds a jam-packed level of personality to everybody you meet, from main NPCs to the odd extra. It’s hilarious and a whole lot of fun.
What if the King of Red Lions was a rootin’, tooting’ cowboy? What if your grandma berated you instead of being soft and kind? What if Beedle was desperate for human connection after spending his life on a shop boat?
As described by Approx, Wind Waker Rewritten is ‘the perfect way’ for veterans and newcomers to play Wind Waker, and I’d have to agree. As someone who has played and loved the original, this take was a breath of fresh and funny air.
On top of that, the thought of someone playing Wind Waker for the first time and coming face to face with NPCs that happily disrespect them and a talking boat that greats them with a ‘Howdy’ is a beautiful thought.
If you’d like to try Wind Waker Rewritten out for yourself, you can check it out here.
If I haven’t convinced you, maybe this set of screenshots will:
