Tingle Island Revisited: The Horror Returns

A few years ago, around the time Strange Moments in Gaming was created, we talked about Tingle the man-elf.  Tingle is easily one of the creepiest, if not the creepiest character in the Legend of Zelda series, so it was fitting that he made an appearance in this blog.  However, looking back on the article I feel like I had not done justice to Tingle Island in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker due to my somewhat brief mention of the place.

Because of this grievous mistake, and because this current entry marks the 100th post in Strange Moments in Gaming, I have decided to once again face the terror-who-wears-green-spandex by giving a more in-depth look at Tingle Island.  Join me on my adventure to the land that makes Lost's island seem like Disneyland.

Upon arriving in the vicinity of Tingle Island, I find that the land itself is somewhat small and barren.  Dominating the landscape is the massive and threatening Tingle Tower.  This tower is composed of a single column carved with various designs which we'll see in a bit.  As a warning to all passing sailors, the top of the tower is capped with a gigantic rotating Tingle head, making this a lighthouse from hell.  Let's take a closer look shall we?

After making landfall, it immediately begins to rain on the island.  I think we can all take this as a bad omen; something is warning me to turn back while I can.  Instead I gather my courage and continue on a little closer to the tower, to observe the various carvings on its column.  It doesn't take long for me to notice that one of the carvings is the giant pig head of Ganon himself (or one of his minions).

Something is definitely not right here.  For someone who claims to be a fairy, why would Tingle create a monument to the world's biggest threat?

Wanting to get to the bottom of this, I begin to scale the single ladder that leads to the top of Tingle Tower.  At the top I make first contact with the island's natives, which consist of not just one, but three Tingles!  The horror is tripled and Link and I are both fighting the urge to power off the game, but we stand our ground and begin to make some observations.

First, there appears to be some slave labor occurring here.  Two Tingles in light-colored spandex struggle to rotate the giant Tingle head we saw earlier, while the green spandex-wearing Tingle we all know and fear watches over them like an overseer.  He doesn't lift a finger to help despite the grunts of agony from the two laborers.

I decide it's finally time to speak to the "man" himself, the green Tingle.  I'm sure he'll provide some insight into this whole operation, right?

Tingle is as creepy as ever.

Nope, not only does he provide no explanation about the purpose of this tower, but he refuses to acknowledge the back-breaking work of the other two Tingles.  Instead he insists the tower runs on "fairy magic."  I figured this would be a good time to back away from the delusional man-elf and take to the seas, but I felt obligated to do one last thing: experience Tingle Island at night.

What better way to maximize the creepiness than this?  Seeing the carved Ganon head during the dark of night serves to make the tower appear even more imposing, and to top it off the rotation of the giant Tingle head now sounds like the moaning of tortured spirits.

I then proceeded one last time to scale Tingle Tower, where I was greeted with...oh no.......no........

How I survived this ordeal I'll never know.  I appear to have woken up in my office chair, where I have been hastily writing this article to warn you all of the dangers of Tingle Island in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

On a more serious note, I hope you've all enjoyed this 100th post in Strange Moments in Gaming!  Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting on my posts, I enjoy hearing from all of you.  Here's to another hundred posts!

A few years ago, around the time Strange Moments in Gaming was created, we talked about Tingle the man-elf.  Tingle is easily one of the creepiest, if not the creepiest character in the Legend of Zelda series, so it was fitting that he made an appearance in this blog.  However, looking back on the article I feel like I had not done justice to Tingle Island in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker due to my somewhat brief mention of the place.

Because of this grievous mistake, and because this current entry marks the 100th post in Strange Moments in Gaming, I have decided to once again face the terror-who-wears-green-spandex by giving a more in-depth look at Tingle Island.  Join me on my adventure to the land that makes Lost's island seem like Disneyland.

Upon arriving in the vicinity of Tingle Island, I find that the land itself is somewhat small and barren.  Dominating the landscape is the massive and threatening Tingle Tower.  This tower is composed of a single column carved with various designs which we'll see in a bit.  As a warning to all passing sailors, the top of the tower is capped with a gigantic rotating Tingle head, making this a lighthouse from hell.  Let's take a closer look shall we?

After making landfall, it immediately begins to rain on the island.  I think we can all take this as a bad omen; something is warning me to turn back while I can.  Instead I gather my courage and continue on a little closer to the tower, to observe the various carvings on its column.  It doesn't take long for me to notice that one of the carvings is the giant pig head of Ganon himself (or one of his minions).

Something is definitely not right here.  For someone who claims to be a fairy, why would Tingle create a monument to the world's biggest threat?

Wanting to get to the bottom of this, I begin to scale the single ladder that leads to the top of Tingle Tower.  At the top I make first contact with the island's natives, which consist of not just one, but three Tingles!  The horror is tripled and Link and I are both fighting the urge to power off the game, but we stand our ground and begin to make some observations.

First, there appears to be some slave labor occurring here.  Two Tingles in light-colored spandex struggle to rotate the giant Tingle head we saw earlier, while the green spandex-wearing Tingle we all know and fear watches over them like an overseer.  He doesn't lift a finger to help despite the grunts of agony from the two laborers.

I decide it's finally time to speak to the "man" himself, the green Tingle.  I'm sure he'll provide some insight into this whole operation, right?

Tingle is as creepy as ever.

Nope, not only does he provide no explanation about the purpose of this tower, but he refuses to acknowledge the back-breaking work of the other two Tingles.  Instead he insists the tower runs on "fairy magic."  I figured this would be a good time to back away from the delusional man-elf and take to the seas, but I felt obligated to do one last thing: experience Tingle Island at night.

What better way to maximize the creepiness than this?  Seeing the carved Ganon head during the dark of night serves to make the tower appear even more imposing, and to top it off the rotation of the giant Tingle head now sounds like the moaning of tortured spirits.

I then proceeded one last time to scale Tingle Tower, where I was greeted with...oh no.......no........

How I survived this ordeal I'll never know.  I appear to have woken up in my office chair, where I have been hastily writing this article to warn you all of the dangers of Tingle Island in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

On a more serious note, I hope you've all enjoyed this 100th post in Strange Moments in Gaming!  Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting on my posts, I enjoy hearing from all of you.  Here's to another hundred posts!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

The Possible Recurring Cast of Skyward Sword (Massive Speculation)

After all this time, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is almost upon us! The first and last Wii-exclusive Zelda title (remember, Twilight Princess was also a Gamecube title) looks to send the Wii out with a bang. It is much too early to speculate what the Zelda games will be like once the franchise inevitably moves to the Wii U, seeing as we don't know much about it other than the controller looks like a giant white high-definition Sega Game Gear. However, with Skyward Sword's release just around the corner, now is the perfect time to add to the excitement by guessing what will be in this game.

In this article I wanted to speculate about which recurring characters we will see in Skyward Sword. Recurring characters are no stranger to the Zelda franchise, which of course features the same protagonist in every game. After the series' jump to 3D with Ocarina of Time, more and more characters in the Zelda universe have made an appearance in some form. Majora's Mask is an extreme case due to being set in an alternate universe to Ocarina of Time, with alternate versions of most of the Hyrule population. With that said, let's take a look at a few characters from past Zelda games, and make a wild guess if they will appear in Skyward Sword.

The Postman

We all know this guy, he was called the Running Man during his first Zelda appearance in Ocarina of Time, and since then has taken up a career in postal delivery for later Zelda games. I'd almost be willing to bet money he will show up in Skyward Sword, mainly because of how many times this guy has put in a cameo lately. Imagine the possibilities! The Postal Man with winged boots, running/flying through the clouds to deliver mostly pointless mail to Link.  Not too exciting, but maybe I just want to see the Postman run on air.

The Happy Mask Salesman

Ok I know this would probably be a stretch. We haven't seen the quick-tempered mask salesman on a non-handheld console since Majora's Mask. Presumably this is because he's the first person you see when you respawn in the clock tower, during the period when you are dangerously enraged by yet another repeated failure to save Clock Town from the evil of Miyamoto's three-day time limit. Still, we've all had over ten years to cool off and (mostly) get over our grudge against the mask salesman for making us repeat the same three days over and over in a style that Dark Tower fans will appreciate.  It would be fun to see this guy in Skyward Sword, if only for the nostalgia.

Tingle

You didn't think I'd leave Tingle off this list did you?

Admit it, before reading a single word in the opening paragraph of this article, you made a quick scroll-through to see if I was going to mention this character.  I know, I'm always getting on Tingle's case.  Why the Nintendo devs chose to include the flamboyant map-maker/creepy man-elf in so many Zelda games, we may never know. Tingle hasn't put in an appearance outside of handheld consoles since the horror known as Tingle Island in the Wind Waker, but I wouldn't be surprised if he made a triumphant return to our nightmares through Skyward Sword. I grudgingly admit that he would probably be a good fit for this game, due to the balloon he uses to float around. Can't you just picture him flying hundreds of feet above Hyrule field, slowly drifting towards Link with his balloon, blood dripping down his chin while he sings Tingle Tingle Kooloo-Limpah? Maybe he'll even make an appearance as an optional boss battle:

This concludes my quick speculation as to what Zelda characters could make a cameo appearance in Skyward Sword. What recurring characters would you guys like to see in this latest Zelda release?

After all this time, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is almost upon us! The first and last Wii-exclusive Zelda title (remember, Twilight Princess was also a Gamecube title) looks to send the Wii out with a bang. It is much too early to speculate what the Zelda games will be like once the franchise inevitably moves to the Wii U, seeing as we don't know much about it other than the controller looks like a giant white high-definition Sega Game Gear. However, with Skyward Sword's release just around the corner, now is the perfect time to add to the excitement by guessing what will be in this game.

In this article I wanted to speculate about which recurring characters we will see in Skyward Sword. Recurring characters are no stranger to the Zelda franchise, which of course features the same protagonist in every game. After the series' jump to 3D with Ocarina of Time, more and more characters in the Zelda universe have made an appearance in some form. Majora's Mask is an extreme case due to being set in an alternate universe to Ocarina of Time, with alternate versions of most of the Hyrule population. With that said, let's take a look at a few characters from past Zelda games, and make a wild guess if they will appear in Skyward Sword.

The Postman

We all know this guy, he was called the Running Man during his first Zelda appearance in Ocarina of Time, and since then has taken up a career in postal delivery for later Zelda games. I'd almost be willing to bet money he will show up in Skyward Sword, mainly because of how many times this guy has put in a cameo lately. Imagine the possibilities! The Postal Man with winged boots, running/flying through the clouds to deliver mostly pointless mail to Link.  Not too exciting, but maybe I just want to see the Postman run on air.

The Happy Mask Salesman

Ok I know this would probably be a stretch. We haven't seen the quick-tempered mask salesman on a non-handheld console since Majora's Mask. Presumably this is because he's the first person you see when you respawn in the clock tower, during the period when you are dangerously enraged by yet another repeated failure to save Clock Town from the evil of Miyamoto's three-day time limit. Still, we've all had over ten years to cool off and (mostly) get over our grudge against the mask salesman for making us repeat the same three days over and over in a style that Dark Tower fans will appreciate.  It would be fun to see this guy in Skyward Sword, if only for the nostalgia.

Tingle

You didn't think I'd leave Tingle off this list did you?

Admit it, before reading a single word in the opening paragraph of this article, you made a quick scroll-through to see if I was going to mention this character.  I know, I'm always getting on Tingle's case.  Why the Nintendo devs chose to include the flamboyant map-maker/creepy man-elf in so many Zelda games, we may never know. Tingle hasn't put in an appearance outside of handheld consoles since the horror known as Tingle Island in the Wind Waker, but I wouldn't be surprised if he made a triumphant return to our nightmares through Skyward Sword. I grudgingly admit that he would probably be a good fit for this game, due to the balloon he uses to float around. Can't you just picture him flying hundreds of feet above Hyrule field, slowly drifting towards Link with his balloon, blood dripping down his chin while he sings Tingle Tingle Kooloo-Limpah? Maybe he'll even make an appearance as an optional boss battle:

This concludes my quick speculation as to what Zelda characters could make a cameo appearance in Skyward Sword. What recurring characters would you guys like to see in this latest Zelda release?

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Tingle: The Man-Elf From Your Worst Nightmares

When you stop to think about it, the Legend of Zelda games have some genuinely creepy characters.  People have plenty to fear from these games, be it Ooccoo from Twilight Princess, the Redeads from Ocarina of Time, and probably the most feared character of them all: Tingle.

Tingle first appeared to haunt our nightmares in Majora's Mask for the N64,  where he desperately wants to be a fairy.  He has become so delusional that he thinks wearing green full-body spandex, acting extremely flamboyant, and flying around with the help of a balloon tied to his waist has magically transformed him.  Sadly the only way to receive maps for certain areas of the game are by buying them through Tingle, so for most of us, this creature was unavoidable.

And then, for reasons unknown, Nintendo decided that Tingle was a huge hit, and to the horror of gamers everywhere they made the choice to include him in many Zelda games following Majora's Mask.  I still remember thinking that after Majora's Mask I was done with that man-elf once and for all, only to cry in anguish upon finding him in The Oracle of Ages, floating around and staring at me with that creepy smile that would strike fear into the heart of Ganon.

As if that wasn't enough, Nintendo chose to torture us even more by upping the ante in the Wind Waker.  We not only get Tingle, but we get a location called Tingle Island that is entirely populated by Tingle clones!

Why did Nintendo do this to us?  Is it because Wind Waker is a game about sailing the open seas, so Nintendo wanted to include their version of the Bermuda Triangle?

Thankfully, Miyamoto decided to give us a break by not including the man-elf-satan in Twilight Princess, probably knowing that a game with both Tingle and Ooccoo would probably scare away most gamers from future Zelda games.  But it still doesn't excuse them from all the Tingle appearances in the past.  Until next time, Tingle, Tingle, Kooloo-Limpah!

When you stop to think about it, the Legend of Zelda games have some genuinely creepy characters.  People have plenty to fear from these games, be it Ooccoo from Twilight Princess, the Redeads from Ocarina of Time, and probably the most feared character of them all: Tingle.

Tingle first appeared to haunt our nightmares in Majora's Mask for the N64,  where he desperately wants to be a fairy.  He has become so delusional that he thinks wearing green full-body spandex, acting extremely flamboyant, and flying around with the help of a balloon tied to his waist has magically transformed him.  Sadly the only way to receive maps for certain areas of the game are by buying them through Tingle, so for most of us, this creature was unavoidable.

And then, for reasons unknown, Nintendo decided that Tingle was a huge hit, and to the horror of gamers everywhere they made the choice to include him in many Zelda games following Majora's Mask.  I still remember thinking that after Majora's Mask I was done with that man-elf once and for all, only to cry in anguish upon finding him in The Oracle of Ages, floating around and staring at me with that creepy smile that would strike fear into the heart of Ganon.

As if that wasn't enough, Nintendo chose to torture us even more by upping the ante in the Wind Waker.  We not only get Tingle, but we get a location called Tingle Island that is entirely populated by Tingle clones!

Why did Nintendo do this to us?  Is it because Wind Waker is a game about sailing the open seas, so Nintendo wanted to include their version of the Bermuda Triangle?

Thankfully, Miyamoto decided to give us a break by not including the man-elf-satan in Twilight Princess, probably knowing that a game with both Tingle and Ooccoo would probably scare away most gamers from future Zelda games.  But it still doesn't excuse them from all the Tingle appearances in the past.  Until next time, Tingle, Tingle, Kooloo-Limpah!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad