Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is a 2006 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube and Wii. Originally planned for release exclusively on the GameCube in November 2005, Nintendo delayed the release to refine the game, add more content, and port it to the Wii. The Wii version was a launch game in North America in November 2006, and in Japan, Europe, and Australia the following month. The GameCube version was released in December 2006 as the final first-party game for the console.
The game takes place over a century after Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, in an alternate timeline from The Wind Waker. Players control Link, who tries to prevent Hyrule from being engulfed by a corrupted parallel dimension, the Twilight Realm. He takes the form of both a Hylian and a wolf, and he is assisted by a mysterious imp named Midna.
“Thank you…Well, the princess spoke truly: as long as that mirror’s around, we could meet again…”
– Midna
Twilight Princess received critical acclaim, with praise for its art direction, combat, level design, and story. It received numerous game of the year awards, and has been called one of the greatest video games ever made. By 2015, it had sold 8.85 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling Zelda game until Breath of the Wild (2017). In 2011, the Wii version was rereleased under the Nintendo Selects label. A high-definition remaster based on the GameCube version, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, developed by Tantalus Media and Nintendo EPD, was released for the Wii U in March 2016. An eleven-volume manga series based on Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa was published between 2016 and 2022.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is an action-adventure game focused on combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving. It uses the basic control scheme introduced in Ocarina of Time, including context-sensitive action buttons and L-targeting (Z-targeting on the Wii), a system that allows the player to keep Link’s view focused on an enemy or important object while moving and attacking. Link can walk, run, and attack, and he will automatically jump when running off of or reaching for a ledge. Link uses a sword and shield in combat, complemented with secondary weapons and items, including a bow and arrows, a boomerang, and bombs. While L-targeting, projectile-based weapons can be fired at a target without the need for manual aiming.
