The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks: Difference between revisions

* [[Badass Mustache]]: {{spoiler|Malladus' final form.}}

* [[Balloon Belly]]: During his boss fight, Fraaz will slowly inflate his belly until it's completely spherical. Ideally, you want to hit him with the element he's currently weak to before he finishes inflating, because if he does, he'll unleash powerful and tough-to-avoid blasts of elemental energy.

* [[Better Than a Bare Bulb]]: This has got to be the most tongue-in-cheek ''Zelda'' so far.

* [[Big Bad]]: Chancellor Cole, who {{spoiler|ends up [[The Unfought]]}}.

* [[Clothes Make the Legend]]: Link's tunic and cap yet again, this time justified by being the uniform for the royal guards, and Link has to dress up as one to sneak Zelda out. Interestingly, US-version dialogue indicates that no one seems to find the outfit very flattering; one guard calls it "goofy-looking," and when Link puts it on Zelda comments that "It works...I suppose."

* [[Color-Coded Multiplayer]]: Battle Mode lets you control one of four Links with differently colored tunics, ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures|Four Swords]]'' style.

* [[Continuity Nod]]: Tetra appears in a stained-glass window; Niko mentions how Link reminds him of someone he used to know when he was younger; you can obtain the shield from ''[[Phantom Hourglass]]'' at one point, and so on...

** Anjean is ''made'' of these.

{{quote|''Zelda:'' "Please get changed so we can leave. ...Oh! I-I'm sorry. I'll look the other way." }}

* [[Cursed with Awesome]]: Princess Zelda. She is cursed into being a ghost. This gives her, among others, the ability to hover (which she openly enjoys in the trailer), turn into a [[Exposition Fairy|fairy-like orb of light]] and, most importantly, possess the deadly Phantom-soldiers.

* [[Damage Sponge Boss]]: Big Blins take a lot of hits before going down. And by a lot, we ''mean'' a lot. Though it's justified since during most of their appearances, they aren't supposed to be dangerous to Link. They're trying to kidnap the passengers Link ferries across Hyrule on his train, meaning that the challenge comes from trying to fight and kill this ridiculously tanky monster before it can stroll through the passenger car and swipe the poor sap hiding at the very end of it.

* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]: Chancellor Cole, who decides to skip the elaborate plots and just separate Zelda's soul and steal her body himself. Also Fraaz, boss of {{spoiler|the Snow Temple, who at one point of the fight will simply destroy the summoning torches you were using to break his defenses}}.

** The Heatoise in the Fire Temple. After you get the Bow and Arrow from the first one, two more show up, and your new weapon can be used to eliminate them in short order.

* [[Demonic Possession]]: Remember what happened [[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|the last time]] Zelda's soul was removed by the [[Big Bad]]?

* [[Disc One Final Dungeon]]: {{spoiler|Floors 18-24 of the Tower of Spirits. Link and Zelda make it to the top of the tower, only to have the villains escape on the Demon Train. It wasn't helped by the fact that they averted [[Interface Spoiler]] (in the menu screen and, to a lesser extent, the maps), so the existence of a fifth dungeon was a major surprise.}}

* [[Dishing Out Dirt]]: The Sand Wand has this power. With it, Link is able to raise sand so he can rise to higher spots, move or stop heavy objects, walk over quicksand, attack sand-based enemies, etc. It's very versatile.

* [[Dungeon Bypass]]: The mechanic of "main dungeon you keep returning to" makes a return from ''Phantom Hourglass'', but this one has bypasses built into it and isn't timed.

* [[Eek! A Mouse!]]: Zelda is frightened by a mouse shooting out from its hole, even though she's a spirit possessing an invincible [[Golem]], not to mention the granddaughter of the pirate Tetra. {{spoiler|[[Dangerously Genre Savvy|Cole actually summons magical rats to incapacitate her during his boss fight.]]}}

* [[Escort Mission]]:

** The Force Gem sidequests which don't involve transporting ''items'' from one place to another instead require you to transport ''people'' from one place to another without taking too much damage during the ride.

** For that matter, Malladus is {{spoiler|a giant blue pig-thing who possesses Zelda}}. If that doesn't sound at least a little Ganon-ish, you either don't know much about Zelda or {{spoiler|haven't reached the end of ''[[Twilight Princess]]''}}.

*** While his movement and basic design hearken back mostly to {{spoiler|[[Twilight Princess]]}}, {{spoiler|[[The Legend of Zelda (video game)|Ganon's]][[A Link to The Past|like]] [[Ocarina of Time|this]] [[The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures|most]] [[Oracle of Ages|of the]] [[Oracle of Seasons|time]].}} Malladus's backstory, being an evil king who tried to conquer the world and was sealed away by an ancient hero, also point to his status as a cut-and-paste villain. Interestingly, {{spoiler|there's a good chance he and Ganon could be different forms of the same being depending on how one interprets Demise's dying curse[[Ambiguous Situation|(?)]] at the end of ''Skyward Sword''}}.

* [[Feed It a Bomb]]: The carnivorous Fire Baba plants will readily swallow Bombs, blowing themselves up in the process.

* [[Final Boss, New Dimension]]: {{spoiler|Attempted with the Dark World, but the final part of the battle is back in Hyrule.}}

* [[Identical Grandson]]: Linebeck III, who is essentially Linebeck with a [[Nice Hat]].

** Applies to Zelda as well; her appearance is that of a tan-less Tetra. She even wears Tetra's royal garb (which Tetra herself, however, didn't wear that often).

** Also Alfonzo to Gonzo, in looks if not personality.

* [[Implied Love Interest]]: Of course, Link and Zelda. Actually, in the entire series, only ''[[Skyward Sword]]'' can compete with this game in how clear it is.

** In a sense, Hyrule itself is a Legacy '''Country'''. This game takes place on a new continent discovered by Link and Tetra and named after the country that was destroyed in ''[[The Wind Waker]].'' It seems different enough, however, what with the trains and all.

** Averted with Niko. While some characters like Alfonzo seem to be [[Expy|Expies]] or descendants of ''Wind Waker''-era characters, Niko appears as an old man in Link's village, with a pictograph of himself circa ''Phantom Hourglass'' on the wall.

* [[MacGuffin Escort Mission]]: Most of the Force Gem sidequests involve transporting fish/ice/lumber/iron/cuccos/a highly breakable vase from one location to another.

* [[Magic Music]]: The Spirit Flute.

* [[The Maze]]: Disorientation Station.

* [[Mechanical Abomination]]: The Demon Train, a hellish locomotive with an arsenal of deadly weaponry and an expressive face that bears an uncomfortable resemblance to Ganondorf. It's Chancellor Cole's vehicle of choice and can seamlessly travel between dimensions.

* [[Minecart Madness]]: There are a few minecart puzzles in the game, including a full minigame centered around it. Most of Cragma's boss fight even takes place on a minecart!

* [[Money for Nothing]]: Once you find Linebeck, you can sell the many pieces of treasure you've picked up to him. Earlier in the game, this doesn't quite result in a [[Money for Nothing]] situation, since good treasure is rare, and there's still plenty of nice items to spend cash on. Later on, however, once you've bought the major necessities and have accessed the multiple minigames that hand out rare treasure like candy, the game clearly reaches this point.

* [[Nice Hat]]: Cole wears two so he can hide his devil horns. Linebeck III also has one.

** Link's engineer cap. If you liked it better than his standard outfit, rejoice: you can unlock it during Niko's stamp-collecting sidequest!

* [[No Indoor Voice]]: The Phantoms talk in ALL CAPS.

{{quote|"YOU SEEM CUTER THAN USUAL. WHY."

** [[Cute Ghost Girl]]

* [[Ocarina Playlist|Pan Flute Playlist]]: First game since ''[[The Wind Waker]]'' to implement this trope.

* [[Power Fist]]: Byrne's single oversized gauntlet.

* [[Princesses Prefer Pink]]: When Zelda possesses a Phantom, it turns pink. The cutscene of the first time this happens even shows Phantom Zelda with glowing pink eyes.

** Also, Chancellor Cole's theme.

** And when the Roktite gets closer... and closer... AND CLOSER...

{{quote|"BOB QUIT YESTERDAY. TOO HOT FOR HIM."

"THE BREAK ROOM IS A BROOM CLOSET. NO FUN."

* [[Stealth-Based Mission]]: A variation in which Link's iconic green outfit is also that worn by castle guards, so Link can run around in plain sight of patrols; it's Princess Zelda (whom he's [[Escort Mission|escorting]]) who must remain hidden.

** The inverse logically occurs (in a downplayed manner) during the Tower of Spirit dungeons -- Link generally needs to avoid patrolling Phantom soldiers, but Zelda (possessing Phantom armor) can walk around freely.

* [[Sword Beam]]: Your reward for [[Gotta Catch Em All|getting all 50 rabbits]].

* [[Tagalong Kid]]: You can saddle Beedle with one, the same kid from Link's home village who conned him into rolling into a bee-infested tree. It's necessary to get a Force Gem from the kid, but even more so, it's hilarious to see Beedle's reaction when you bring him into the store.

* [[Variable Mix]]: The overworld theme varies in instrumentation and volume depending on the speed your train is going.

** Also, the theme inside the Tower of Spirits changes as you progress (e.g. drums are added on the 2nd set of stairs, [[Ominous Chanting]] on the next set...).

** You can shoot Ferrus with the cannon when he's by the tracks, and blowing the train whistle while next to him makes him jump.

** You can also shoot Beedle's hot air balloon, but all it does is make him take off again.

* [[Where It All Began]]: The entrance to {{spoiler|the Dark Realm}} isn't in Aboda Village itself, but it's practically right next door as shown by its location on the map.

* [[Whip It Good]]: One of Link's new items is a whip that looks like a [http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/156823-headerropesnake.jpg snake].