The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker Official Strategy Guide for GameCube

This strategy guide is excellent. The Legend of Zelda series has a tradition of complex puzzles and hidden items that are enough to drive even the most ardent fan batty while trying to play the game to the end. I long ago decided that I would rather be able to enjoy the game I spent my hard-earned money on than to curse it and its designers for my lack of insight. This guide is especially helpful with the side quests, although I might have asked for dungeon maps that weren't quite as confusing. As a bonus, you also get a complete walkthrough of the bonus Ocarina of Time: Master Quest disc. All in all, a great guide for a superb game. Well done!

I don't use a lot of strategy guides, so my opinion might reflect my limited experience. But when we (my son and I) couldn't figure out what to do next or remember what we had already done in the WindWaker game, I decided to get the strategy guide. This guide is very well laid out and gives you needed information without spoiling the game for you. Half the fun of a Zelda game is the storyline, and this guide does not give away important plot development. Though I was able to find important items located on each island without having to return to the location over and over again. (And it does take a while to sail around the world in that little boat!) I found the guide well thought-out and an invaluable aid in my 'virtual' quest.

Another person commented about the lack of info on the Nintendo Gallery. I must agree about that. Though I have found (in my 4th play-through) that trying to get all those photos is a huge and fun challenge. This is just an added feature to give the...Read more

I can't imaging being able to complete this or other Zelda games (Ocarina, Majora's Mask) without some sort of reference guide like this. The nuances and sidequests would just be wayyyy too much for the average Joe to figure out without some help.

That said, while there are more "hints" built in to Windwaker, the guidebook is a great reference in finding hard-to-find items such as heart pieces, treasure, etc. It also has a pull-out map of the great sea with all of the islands and what can or cannot be found on all of them. This, in addition to the standard walk-through make the guide a great value. Throw in the walk-through for Ocarina of Time (for those who bought the Windwaker/Ocarina Master Quest set) and it's amazing it didn't cost more.

Well worth the investment if you just HAVE to have every single item in the game. :)