The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

The Legend of Zelda: Legendary Edition #5

by Akira Himekawa

¡VIVE LAS AVENTURAS DE LOS CUATRO LINKS EN VERSIÓN KANZENBAN!

Este volumen recopila la historia completa de Four Sword Adventures, una trepidante aventura donde la personalidad de Link se divide en cuatro para poder enfrentarse mejor al enemigo. Una edición llena de extras que incluye una interesantísima entrevista con las autoras, Akira Himekawa, Eiji Aonuma y Yusuke Nakano.

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Adventure, Video Games, Fiction, Comics

352 pages, Hardcover

First published July 11, 2017

About the author

Akira Himekawa is the collaboration of two women, A. Honda and S. Nagano. Together they have created nine manga adventures featuring Link and the popular video game world of The Legend of Zelda, including Ocarina of Time, Oracle of Seasons and Four Swords. Their most recent work, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, was serialized in Shogaku Rokunensei.

Reviews

[Avery (ThePagemaster) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 out of 5 Stars.

Other than trying to figure out which Link was the "real" (green)Link, this was very entertaining installment--almost as entertaining as Ocarina of Time. Out of the five legendary volumes, here is my order(Most to Least Favorite):

1. Ocarina of Time
2. Four Swords
3. Ages/Seasons
4. Majora's Mask/Link to the Past
5. Minish Cap/Phantom Hourglass

But ALL are great reads for any Zelda fan, honestly; It's fucking Legend of Zelda!

[Issa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was great manga. I totally ship Link with Link. Great couple. I also like Link with other Link. Beautiful.

5 out of 5

[Jesus Flores · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zelda 5

Este es todo el volumen una sola historia donde hay una espada de 4, que hace que Link se vuelva 4 Links cuando tiene que de nuevo ir a conseguir cosas para salvar a Zelda, y pues como en este era individualista, pues se va a llevar mal con sus clones, esta divertido, si pero sencillo

3 stars

en cuanto a la serie completa, esta entretenido ver las distintas aventuras de Link, la mitología de cada versión. Lo que si como sigue una misma formula, se siente ya para los últimos cuando se lee mas de corrido.

3.5

[Ricardo Marín]

4 / 5

Un par de giros inesperados, mucha aventura y diversión. Una excelente historia sobre el valor y el trabajo en equipo.

[Zachary White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never played the game before reading the manga. The game is considered on the weaker side of the Zelda games; however, this was magnificent. It follows the typical Zelda story of good versus evil. The main difference is the four sword splits Link into four different people. It would be east to copy and paste Link, but each Link shows a different personality. You have: regular, aggressive, sensitive, and calm. Each has to overcome their weakness and need to work together. For a short read they handle the character development really well and stands out. Out of the 5 legendary editions of Zelda mang, this was my favorite.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one I think is my favorite, second only to Twilight Princess

[Lily]

1 Link splits into 4 Links (all versions of himself) to save the city and princess zelda from darkness! He learns to work as a team and appreciate what makes them different

[Ida Raffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally here, at the end of the Legendary Editions collection of The Legend of Zelda books!
My ranking:
-Ocarina of Time (5/5)
-A Link to the Past (5/5)
-The Minish Cap (5/5) (maybe 4.75)
-Four Swords (5/5)
-Majora's Mask (3.75/5)
-Phantom Hourglass (3.25)
-Oracles of Seasons/Oracle of Ages (3.25)

Four Swords-
*Loved the different sides of Link quarrelling & learning to unite.
*The knights of Hyrule, including Link's dad, had so many cool moments.
*Zelda's power in battle, resilience in the face of trouble & bravery to stand up to the Shadow was pure badass! Also found it funny how nonchalant & happy-go-lucky she was when she encountered Link in a confusing state.
*Link & Zelda reminiscing about their childhood together gives me life. SO CUTE.
*Loved the ending. Perfect.

The only reason it's not my favourite is just because I love the passion/yearning Link & Zelda have in 'Ocarina of Time' and 'A Link to the Past' more. + the picori side-cast carry more than the side-cast of characters in this story (I mean, what the hell was that lame & pointless Tingle twat).
Nevertheless, a great story entry in the series!

I can't wait to start Twilight Princess now that this legendary book chest set is done!

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because my son loves anything LoZ and finished this book multiple times since he received it for Christmas. He started reading it to me and got distracted by something else, but I had to finish it. As he would say, the Sassy Linkness is definitely carried throughout and even though additional information is added to the manga outside of the video game story, I really enjoyed reading this. It brought me back to playing the game and gives me something else to talk about with my son.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[toori · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[Haley Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the customers at my job gave me this one to read after I told him I’ve never read manga before. & of course I liked it!! I didn’t realize there were more so I’ll be looking into that :-)

[Stephanie Fachiol · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Note: I read this is in the Japanese edition, which isn’t listed on GR for some reason)

A very cutesy installment.

The humor and story may be simplistic, but it works very well in this format. Zelda has been kidnapped yet again, but Link finds himself split in four- and avatar, with his own personality, doesn’t want to cooperate.

This Hyrule also introduces Link’s father, and a childhood backstory spent running around with Zelda. The themes of teamwork and bravery are standard shonen fare, but they’re not egregious, and fit into the overall story quite well.

The real plus here is the art. It’s crisp, clean, and adorable. The color pages are truly phenomenal, but even in the black and white portions, Himekawa uses screen tones and subtle differences in eye shape, hair, etc. to differentiate the Links, as well as superb background detail.

(The Japanese level here is aimed at elementary-middle school students, so most, if not all, kanji is written with its furigana. The vocab is typically simple, excepting for some typically-fantasy usages; the hardest thing here is the aggressive slang Blue Link and some villains may use to sound “tough.”)

[Luke Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must reads, I have read all of these Zelda mangas several times now

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Young Link is a hero despite his age and size, and in the Kingdom of Hyrule, he’s won the eye of Princess Zelda. When the seal of the Four Swords is broken, a Shadow Link appears, and the land is plunged into danger. Link must summon the legendary Four Swords and finds himself split into four versions of himself. Stopping the Shadow Link is dangerous, and the Links must find a way to work together to do it…but there might be a force bigger and more dangerous than the Shadow Link behind the evil.

Written and illustrated by Akira Himekawa, The Legend of Zelda: Legendary Edition Volume 5—Four Swords is video game manga series. Following The Legend of Zelda: Legendary Edition Volume 4—The Minish Cap/Phantom Hourglass, the manga collection was released by Viz Media and based on The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure released in 2004 for the GameCube.

I grew up with The Legend of Zelda and Nintendo. It was a “game-changing” game. It spawned sequel after sequel…and most were rather strong. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure, however, was not a game I played.

Capturing a video game on paper is sometimes difficult…especially considering that games aren’t always heavy in plot. Each game (especially Zelda) have aspects of a plot and an overarching plot, but the rest of the story has to be fleshed out. The collection does a decent job building up a mythos. What is interesting about the Legendary Edition series is that you see that each time the mythos has to be built again since the games are technically separate though they share a complete timeline (which has been mapped out online to some extent).

The way the collection goes about trying to present the energy and kinetic feel of a video game is through the manga art. It is a good entry level manga with the classic formatting (which might throw a gamer that just decides to visit their favorite game in story form). It does bounce back and forth between “serious” art or more playful art which sometimes feels odd tonally. What is difficult about this collection is that the four Links are all different colors, and the black-and-white art does not help you in distinguishing them (but Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles also did that for the early volumes when all the Turtles looked alike even in their all-red bandanas for the color artwork…but at least they had different weapons)

The Legend of Zelda mangas have been a bit hit or miss in their nature. I like what they attempt, but they don’t always land. I don’t know if it is because I haven’t played this game and I had no expectations, but I felt that this was one of the more interesting adaptations. With game after game continuing to come out, I hope the adaptations continue…and this format is a great way to go. The Legend of Zelda: Legendary Edition Volume 5—Four Swords was followed by The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess.

[Blaine Bentley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This legendary edition combines part 1 and part 2 of the Four Swords Manga. As both volumes combined in this edition makes a whole cohesive story, I won’t talk about each book separately in my review and instead talk about both together.

To start off, my only complaint is that this book wasn’t in full color. With Link separating into four different Links and the only differentiation is the color of their clothes, it would have been nice to have it in color to visually see who was who. The manga did a great job of giving each Link a different personality, so it was easier to differentiate in the dialogue and facial expressions of the Links. However, it still would have been really beneficial to have more of a visual indicator of color.

I really liked this one when you look at it from an adaptation perspective. In past ones it was fun to have them incorporate the dungeons/bosses into the story. However, these felt very rushed in general. Other stories had tried to cut out the dungeons from the story, but they suffered from not having Link grow/progress. Link was just stronger at the end with no show of his progression. In this story, I feel they did a great job of leaving out the dungeons, which kept the pacing perfect for the story. At the same time, they added in their own elements that allowed Link to grow and progress and we could see that progression/growth. I think having the Links separate, although not in the game, so beneficial for the story and it really made a better story in my opinion. I also loved the idea that shadow Link would try to convince one of the Links to go evil. Overall this made for a really compelling story and it didn’t feel like I was reading a video game, as the others have.

[Connor Robbins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful story that constantly makes you wonder what the other character’s are going to do next. That’s what I thought after reading The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords by Akira Himekawa. The book throws you into the adventure shortly after basic introductions. Link and the princess of Hyrule, Zelda, travel to the chapel because Zelda had a vision of a great evil, Vaati taking over Hyrule. At the chapel, the maidens trying to seal the Four Sword disappear, and Zelda is kidnapped by Shadow Link. Link then gets teleported to the Four Sword, and pulls it, and so the story begins, with the now Four Links traveling across Hyrule, to save Zelda, restore the Four Sword’s power, and ultimately defeat Vaati.
I really adored the way the story throws the reader into this grand goal of defeating Vaati, and that the Links have to gradually make their way to that goal, not knowing if they will succeed or not. The four Links have different traits of the main Link that they all make as a whole. This style is really great for developing the theme and plot, as they may lose a battle or two due to arguments or simply one of them not cooperating. This idea of working together to succeed is a great way to start off a theme, being “Teamwork makes the dream work.” There are many other themes you can discover from other characters' problems, but this one was the most apparent to me. The buildup to the climax is exhilarating, as it keeps jumping around from each Link’s point of view, wondering what happened or will happen to the previous Link. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick and exciting adventure.

[Mikey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of the different legend of Zelda manga adaptations, this one is easily my favorite. I think it's well paced. Outside of the last chapter, I feel like this story takes its time and in doing so, I remember more of the individual set pieces and character moments that occur here. Speaking of the characters, they feel much more fleshed out than in other manga adaptations. We actually get a direct parent to our version of Link, for once, in his father. While Zelda herself is mostly absent from this story, getting to explore four (Five?) different versions of Link definitely makes up for it. Although, due to the nature of the manga being in black and white, sometimes it was hard to tell which link was which. Each individual link gets several moments to shine throughout, from Green's bravery to Vio's betrayal. I have not played the four swords game that this is based on, as without a lot of old tech that's very hard to come by these days, it's almost impossible to play. With that, I can't speak for its quality as an adaptation, but at no point did I feel like I was missing a plot detail or if something was rushed through as I felt was a major issue in the other adaptations. Looking up the story though, it's about on the same level as Link to the Past. Effective but simple. I think the main reason I like this one above the others is that it feels the most like its own thing. It hits all the beats of an awesome Legend of Zelda story while not being too trapped by its source material

[S · Rating 5 out of 5]

This took me forever to read and not because it wasn't exciting or it dragged on but honestly because I didn't want to finish the series... and now that I have, I'm not sure what I want to do with my life haha!
I loved this story and seeing all the different personalities of Link was very interesting and entertaining (not to mention hilarious in some parts). The inclusion of some really iconic characters was awesome too.
I will say trying to decipher between the four Links without any super iconic differences was very hard and confusing at first but about halfway through the book they became a lot easier for me to decipher; That would probably be the only downfall for me personally. Also, although this particular game/story had an entire book to itself, I did find that it went extremely quickly.
As I've said in pretty much all my reviews for this series, if you love Zelda (or even just Nintendo and video games in general) and want to know more and delve deeper into the world than this series is a must. It's fun, light and very entertaining and definitely worth giving a try :)

[Shadow Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't played Four Swords on GBA as a multiplayer mode for a A Link To The Past GBA ported game coz I haven't got my own copy & I haven't played Four Swords Adventures coz I haven't got a GameCube but I used to play Four Swords 25th anniversary edition as a DSi ware game on my old 3DS but unfortunately my old 3DS isn't working anymore 😭😭😭

I just hope it gets to be part of Nintendo Switch Online

I used to read volume 5 containing Four Swords parts 1 & 2 (or volumes 1 & 2) back in between - you guessed it... or not - 2018 & 2019 so it's a reread

While it's loosely based on a it sets after the events of The Minish Cap manga where Link has been split into 4 versions of Link with the power of the Four Sword to rescue Princess Zelda & defeat Shadow Link from awakening the evil Vaati

It's got good humour the action sequences are alright but I like the different personalities from each Link. The only unfortunate thing about the manga is that it takes a while to find out what happens next

It's worth a read but if you're unhappy with stick to the game

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not played this game, so I won't be drawing any comparisons.
It was hard to tell the Links apart in the first few chapters. It's in black and white, so there aren't a lot of obvious indicators. I figured it out around chapter 4. The tones on their tunics are slightly different. Purple, or Violet, as they called him, has an obviously different tunic than the others. Green has black sleeves, so he's easy to pick out. Blue and Red are very similar, so it's mostly easy to tell them apart by their personalities, but in instances where that's not an option, I think you can tell by their facial expressions, and maybe their eyebrows. Blue seems to have darker eyebrows than the others.
I don't know how accurate the story was, but I definitely liked it. The ending was a little bit of a let down, though. Ganon seemed too easily defeated. I think the strong point of the story was the journey.
The bonus comics at the end were great, too. I loved those.

[Josh Preputnik · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I've never played the game this adaptation is based on, I feel like they did a decent job. It must have been a challenge creating a story for a game with characters that had no individual personality or didn't have much of a plot save for Princess Zelda needs to be rescued but with friends. I appreciate that each of the Links have a distinctive personality and the main antagonist of the story also has a motivation but it was just ok. I feel like there were a lot of limitations for what they could do and the writers and artists involved did the best they could with it. I'd love to see what originated from the game, but for a short read, it was a good time. I would only recommend this to Zelda fans though. I feel like anyone else might rate this even lower.

[Hsu Jui-Ting · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truthfully I have no idea how to “rate” these, they’re pure indulgence on my part.

These (and the other instalments) are drawn well - it would have been nice, albeit inconvenient, to have this comic in full colour, but each Link has different aspects that make them (for the most part) recognizable. Pacing is a bit fast, but that’s been the norm for each volume thus far; anyways, I tend to treat these as supplemental to the games, enriching but not supplanting the games in material wealth.

This is probably good fodder for fan fiction, honestly. Otherwise, a little generic - but a good adventure.

[River · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐ rounded up.

I loved the art style of this manga and I liked how it wasn't a copy and paste of the game, it was made its own and added a lot more character depth and development that the game didn't really do ( at least to me). I also loved that we got such individual personalities of each Link and that each character was able to learn and grow from their experiences. I had a soft spot for shadow Link and I may of got teary eyed when he poofed away, back into Links shadow and the characters all merging back into each other again. A super fun read, excited to read the other manga in this series. Also loved the bonuses as well.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was Awesome! The adventure through the book is pretty hilarious especially with Red breaking the fourth wall in way, saying something along the lines of "i'm sure the readers would've wanted me to get him back at least a little bit!" And props to Vio who went behind enemy lines to gain Shadow Links trust to break the dark mirror and seal away Vaati again! But, all Shadow Link wanted was to be friends with the four other links, because he caused destruction, just trouble, but also, the fact that Ganon was the one controlling Vaati this entire time was also a bit surprising! Definite recommend for anyone who likes Manga and The Legend of Zelda!

[Ravenous Raven of Mordor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can not fault this manga, it had everything, an epic quest to save the kingdom from utter ruin, enemies that were mean both physically as well as mentally and a whole lot of personality in each and every link.
I have not played nor read this before and it has quickly become one of my favourites. The meaning and morals behind the story were incredible.
Red link (although it was in black and white it was still quite simple to tell with little thought.) is easily my favourite though vio is a very close call second.
5 stars.

[Live · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this may have been my favourite of the Zelda mangas to read thus far.

This story has a fun set up, with Link preferring to work alone, only having to learn how to work with himself when he's split in four by the Four Sword. Each Link feels very distinct and it's fun to see them interact with each other as well as Shadow Link. It's very character driven, and it does so well. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Also the interview at the end of the Legendary Edition with the creators is a joy to read. I always enjoy getting insight into the creators minds.

[Philmore Olazo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This comic adapts concepts from the GameCube game The Legend of Zelda Four Sword Adventures.

Now I cannot tell you much about the original game, since at the time of release was a bit out of my pay grade. However, I can tell that this story works enough.

We meet Link, a headstrong boy that tends to runnknto danger alone, since he's pretty self-reliable. This however changes when he takes the Four Sword in order to save princess Zelda and he becomes four different warriors; Green, Red, Blue and Violet, or Vio.

Each of the links has a quick of his personality and through the, pretty much, self experience, he learns to value team work and a bit of restraint.

It's not an epic fantasy nor it is a deep story, it only tells a simple story using the gameplay elements from the game. And it doesn't need to be anything else than that.

[Eric Snell · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far my favorite Zelda: Legendary Edition book. Artwork, writing, and most importantly the pacing of the plot is perfect.

Now...if only I could consistently tell which Link was which when they're all on the page together. The small changes in their outfits that are supposed to indicate which Link is which gets lost during battles and any panel with explosions, flying debris, and things like that.

[Pedro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outra leitura maravilhosa! Sou obrigado a concordar com as outras resenhas: este livro é ainda melhor do que The Minish Cap e Phantom Hourglass. O fato de ser apenas uma história realmente permitiu que houvesse mais desenvolvimento e aprofundamento das tramas. As personalidades dos Links foram muito bem exploradas, de forma que sejam personagens bastante críveis. Terminei a leitura com gosto por mais.