Why it caused such a stink

Coming off the back of two fairly dark 3D adventures in Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker’s whimsical cartoon looks were a thematic and tonal sea change from what had come before. Nintendo also had fans clamouring for a realistic Zelda a year prior to Link's cel-shaded adventure being revealed, with the footage they showed at the 2000 Space World event depicting a Twilight Princess-esque Link squaring off against Ganondorf.

Above: Making fanboys mess their pants since TGS 2005

Journalists and gamers alike worried the new art direction was a sign that Nintendo were trying to dumb down Zelda by making it more accessible to all ages – talk about a dark omen of things to come. Miyamoto even had to defend the game before its release, saying people shouldn’t judge it on graphics until they’d played it at 2002’s E3.

Why it really wasn’t a big deal

Despite wags dubbing the game ‘Celda’, the disarming art style merely gave an already timeless series an image that was even more durable. Wind Waker was classic Zelda at its heart and fears the game had been dumbed-down were wide of the mark. Granted, the sailing was a bit boring. But the charming characters and setting, combined with Zelda’s trademark ingenious dungeon design, ensured the Gamecube’s first foray into the world of form-fitting elf tunics would be remembered as one of the best entries in the series.

Above: Begrudgingly gaining fanboys’ respect since 2003

Why it caused such a stink

Skewering Hitler’s finest with a bayonet. Fine. But killing some little alien bug things in the house of God? Now that really is crossing a line. Enter Resistance: Fall of Man’s brief fight through Manchester Cathedral and one spectacularly brassed off Church of England.

Not only did they take issue with all the alien blasting, but they weren’t too pleased Sony had recreated a near photo realistic depiction of the interior of the building without their permission. The Dean of the Cathedral branded it "virtual desecration" and called the Japanese giant irresponsible for basing a section of the game in a city that has struggled with gun violence over recent years.

Above: The Cathedral’s newest parishioners didn’t take too kindly to the holy water

The British press then jumped on the misinformed bandwagon, with the Times Online proclaiming: 'The new PlayStation 3 game, which has sold more than one million copies, sees a virtual shoot-out between rival gunmen with hundreds killed during a battle inside the cathedral.' Officials from the Cathedral consulted their holy lawyers and urged Sony to pledge some of the profits from the game to charities concerned with gun crime.

Why it really wasn’t a big deal

Can you say ‘mountain out of a mole hill’? As you can see from the movie below this was ust a classic example of the media getting hold of something and blowing it out of proportion. The offending, completely fictional, section is fairly inoffensive compared to most other shooters on the market and Sony made a full page apology to the Church in the Manchester Evening News to save a bit of PR face. That and to avoid getting sued back to biblical times over IP issues. The apology was then accepted and the matter ended. Best steer away from using the Vatican in Resistance 3, though, Insomniac, eh?

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/how-the-hell-was-this-ever-controversial/a-20090113141626406024

I never had a problem with the Wind Waker's artstyle. The atmosphere of the game was the best thing going for it, imo.

I do like it a bit less than the other 3D Zeldas, but only because the sailing became tedious after awhile, the dungeons were few and far between, and the Quest for the Triforce Shards felt like filler to make up for the lack of dungeons (and was also one of the prime reasons the sailing got old).

The Resistance thing was just plain stupid.

I loved WindWakers artstyle.

I can't say much about the Zelda thing, but I totally agree that the Resistance thing was blown way out of proportion. I mean you're really doing the place a favor by killing all the nasty Chimera in there. Besides, they were using it for a field hospital before it was overrun.
That and the level was pretty fun. ^_^

i remember hearing about the R1 thing, i laughed at it

Resident Evil 5 being racist should be up there, but good list.

RE 5 being racist shows the degeneration of our society. People make victims out of themselves for greed and attention.

It was a big deal because of the 2001 Space World demo, which had everybody looking forward to OoT in next gen graphics, then they went all cartoony on the fans.

Wind Waker is my favorite Zelda (from a guy who has been playing Zelda for 13 years); the art style has a good bit to do with that.

i think twilight princess was a better game though, i didn't even knew about that resistance thing, DMC4 are system pusher either, and can't care less about avatars.