It’s so Nintendo to put something weird in their games. One could argue that Zelda is a weird series anyway, strange and convoluted, with funky monsters and gimmicks.
The Wind Waker has plenty of quirks to offer. The sailing mechanic, the cutesy art style, the Tingle Tuner, take your pick. It’s a funny little game. The funniest little corner of it has to be the Nintendo Gallery.
If you can even find the little Island next to the Forest Haven, you’re greeted with an intriguing submarine hatch. Get that open and you’ll find the curios little secret shop below.
The Nintendo Gallery transforms The Wind Waker into Zelda Pokémon Snap. Take a photo of a boss or character, and they’re made into cute little figurines, all displayed in their respective rooms.
The Palace of Figurines, as it’s called on the Members Only sign above, is a funny little building. Inside, it’s designed to look like a ship or submarine, with metal rivets and steel frames around the doors and boarded up portholes. The doors also have red airlock wheels on them, keeping with the underwater theme.
The main desk is cluttered with familiar items from across the series. There are Majora’s Mask masks on the wall, a Lon Lon Ranch cow poster, bottles, jars, and a Windfall Island windmill in miniature. Carlov, the owner, has a little work station covered in brushes and jars of, presumably, paint.
I could wax lyrical about all the tiny details of the place, but what I really love is the overall aesthetic. While it maintains the design of a ship throughout, each gallery room is painted to look like the island or areas that the figurines belong to.
These rooms are very simple-a wallpapered box with portholes for skylights, and plinths for the statuettes. But this is one of the few places in the game where we see the same art style as some of the promotional materials, similar to the opening cutscene. This gives the rooms a hand-painted look and a certain charm that additional furniture wouldn’t add in the same way.
These two aesthetics shouldn’t work as well together as they do, but I think the use of bold colors and structures allows them to sit together nicely. Plus, there’s the cute factor, which keeps them comfortably side-by-side.
I can’t think of another instance of set-dressing in a Zelda game that matches two artstyles in quite the same way. The high-definition, 3D sculptures alongside a hand-drawn background is just so charming to me. I love finding little gems in this game, particularly the design contrasts. The Wind Waker is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
