The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks/YMMV

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  • Accidental Innuendo: "Hey, Link! Tap me! Tap meeeeeee!"
  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: The trailer and plot summary released in November of 2009, which caused one article writer at Zelda Informer, who had dismissed the game as a tired retread of Phantom Hourglass almost as soon as it was announced, to issue a public apology to Nintendo for ever doubting them.
    • Not to mention that the fact Zelda is an actual playable character and she helps Link throughout the entire game made lots of fans go nuts. Specially shippers.
    • Linebeck is in the game. Sort of.
  • Anticlimax Boss: The second phase of the final boss almost never attacks you and does piddling damage when he does. It doesn't help that the Chancellor Cole fight immediately before was both harder and much scarier.
  • Demonic Spiders: Bomb Trains. They're invincible, and mercilessly track you down. Heaven help you if you're sandwiched between two of them on the rails. And they kill in one hit. You can slow them down temporarily with five cannon strikes (useful if you're reduced to reverse-running from one), but if you attempt to do so, watch out for the other one circling behind you...!

    Then there's the armored versions of them. Same one-hit-kill if you strike them, but they'll actively pursue you, going so far as to turn around on the track to continue to pursue should you manage to fake them out, and unlike their blue cousins, can only be slowed down very slightly with each hit. You finally get to kill those bastards in The Very Definitely Final Dungeon. It's sweet to see them destroyed by you running through them.
  • Ear Worm: The Overworld theme a.k.a the theme that usually plays while riding on the train.
  • Fan Dumb: Possibly the largest backlash since The Wind Waker. Some of the objections were petty, of course, and included:
    1. The train itself caused some ire from its mere existence in a Medieval Stasis series (never mind the Steampunk and Ocean Punk direction of The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass and the major Anachronism Stew in Links Awakening and Majoras Mask).
    2. The return to a Phantom Hourglass-style control scheme, which was polarizing on its own.
    3. The fact that it meant that Zelda Wii would come out later than 2009. Some viewed this as a mere stop-gap game to keep the fans from complaining.
  • Freud Was Right: Anyone else feel something with the very end? Namely that Link drives his sword (an ever popular symbol for this trope) into the Big Bad's head, and then you must rub the screen. Zelda then comes along to help, er, rub Link's sword. Then when the sword actually pierces the boss' skull they give out a rather... ecstatic cry.
  • Generic Doomsday Villain: Malladus widely competes with the previous DS game's villain for the title of most boring villain in the series, lacking personality, backstory and an intimidating look.
  • Memetic Mutation: While at first, several topics used the pre-existing "This topic sucks and is now about trains" meme to discuss the game, it soon became known as "Soul Train" over several boards.
    • Ever since the last trailer, the new meme seems to be "The Phantom wears a dress."
    • The Demon Train was also known at one point as the "Ganon-train" due to how similar it looked to cel-shaded Ganon. Of course, Ganon never appears in this game, but the name has still stuck.
  • Moe: Played for Laughs whenever Zelda possesses a Phantom. For the rest of the dungeon, you're followed around by half a ton of loudly clanking armor that recoils at mice, acknowledges your orders with adorable squeaking noises, and makes girly poses whenever you talk to her. Even the other Phantoms notice that she's "CUTER THAN USUAL".

  Random Phantom Guardian (to Zelda): SOMETHING'S DIFFERENT ABOUT YOU TODAY.

  • Scrappy Mechanic: The Lokomo songs can be annoyingly touchy, both in requirements and in controls (the mic seems to make a lot of double notes from a single blow, and it's a real pain in the ass to hit two notes not next to each other without hitting any of the ones in between).
    • Some people have noted that Phantom Zelda's AI has certain weaknesses that can make controlling her and Link in tandem a rather annoying task, especially in midboss and boss fights.
  • That One Boss: Fraaz. He's surprisingly hard for being only the second boss in the game, and he's the most Dangerously Genre Savvy enemy in the game to boot; his main form will aim where the game "thinks" you'll be when his shots reach you - he's the only non-overworld boss in this game to do this accurately - and after the first form cycle, he'll destroy the torches you were using against him. (Phytops will also try to "lead its target" with its goo shots in some parts of its fight but, unlike Fraaz, if you keep moving in the same direction Phytops will usually miss.)
    • The three-part final boss requires some crazy nimble reflexes with your stylus, likely enough to induce arthritis. This applies to the Chancellor Cole fight, guiding Zelda up to Malladus while destroying Cole's magic mice, and batting away Malladus' fireballs while Zelda charges her magic. Thankfully, the final scrap with Malladus proper is pathetically easy.
  • That One Sidequest: The Dark Ore sidequest. You have to carry some ore that melts in sunlight halfway across the world map, and the only way to keep your cargo intact long enough is to go through a tunnel - inhabited by a Rocktite. Made tougher by the fact that you're also harassed by smaller ones. And getting hit causes you to lose some precious ore, so the bottom line is that you have to fight one of the tougher bosses in the game and take no more than one hit. There is a bit of a Guide Dang It cheat, though... The boss appears as soon as you enter it after unlocking the track, but only in the direction you need to take with the ore. You can beat it, then go pick up some ore and deliver it at your leisure, since the Rocktite won't ever respawn (the smaller enemies do, but they aren't as bothersome without the big one to focus on).
  • Toy Ship: Even some fans who are diametrically opposed to Shipping Link/Zelda will acknowledge the adorability of their bond in this game.