The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo for the GameCube. It introduces cel-shading, giving it a distinctive cartoon-like visual style. Players control Link as he navigates the expansive Great Sea aboard a ship called the King of Red Lions, engaging in exploration, puzzle-solving, and combat, while building on gameplay mechanics from earlier installments.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is the first Zelda game for the Nintendo GameCube and also the first in the series to employ cel-shading, a lighting and texturing technique that results in the game having a cartoon-like appearance. Like its predecessors, The Wind Waker is an action game with puzzle-solving and light role-playing elements. Basic gameplay mechanics are similar to those found in Ocarina of Time, but it differentiates itself with its massive Great Sea which must be explored using a boat named King of Red Lions.