Zelda Fan Finally Solves Wind Waker Puzzle After 16 Years

A fan of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker has finally solved a puzzle that took them 16 years to complete. Even if other Zelda games have bigger maps, Wind Waker is one of the most densely packed with side activities. With just under 50 islands, countless hidden treasures, and optional sidequests galore, even if you’ve played through it multiple times, you’ve almost certainly missed something in Wind Waker.

There are also those challenges that some players intentionally avoid, whether because they’re too time-consuming, too complicated, or just too unrewarding. One player spent 16 years either unable or unwilling to solve what is lowkey one of Wind Waker‘s most difficult puzzles, and but finally surprised themselves by figuring it out.

Wind Waker’s Sliding Puzzle Can Trip Fans Up

What Makes It So Hard

A Reddit post by silly-strawberry06 consists of a screenshot of a successful completion of the slide puzzle in Wind Waker, with the title, “never in my 16 years of playing this have I solved it.” This is a classic 15-piece slide puzzle located in the Cabana on the Private Oasis island, and it’s notoriously difficult; it’s one puzzle that most of the commenters say they skip whenever they replay Wind Waker.

Slide puzzles have a simple premise: a recognizable image is divided into multiple parts, which are then scrambled into a random order. You have to rearrange them, but you can only slide them in cardinal directions along a single plane. Commenter Longjumping_Deer_721 claims the physical versions are easier, perhaps due to their tactility: “They’re more mind-boggling when they’re on a TV screen.”

To make matters worse, note the single bulb lit up on the side of the puzzle here. In order to get the full spate of rewards here (which is really just a whole bunch of rupees), you have to solve this puzzle 16 times.

This has led many players to leave the slide puzzle alone during their Wind Waker playthroughs: it’s frustrating, it’s not particularly interesting, and the rewards are basically useless. Still, if you keep shuffling the pieces around, you’ll eventually get the right answer, as this post proves.

Once you figure out how to solve them, slide puzzles like this aren’t too hard. There are lots of relatively simple algorithms you can learn to figure them out every time, kind of like solving a Rubik’s cube. Still, these puzzles have been stumping players for decades, enough that this simple solution was worthy of celebrating for the original poster.

Zelda Games Have So Many Secrets

Wind Waker Is One Of The Biggest

Zelda games are beloved for their secrets, and with all its islands, Wind Waker pours them on thick. Little puzzles like this exist everywhere, and many of them don’t serve as much more than a fun little distraction. Some players may skip these challenges when they replay The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, but they’re part of what makes the game’s open world so much fun to explore.

Released

March 24, 2003

ESRB

E For Everyone

Developer(s)

Nintendo EAD

Publisher(s)

Nintendo

Engine

Havok

Multiplayer

Local Multiplayer, Local Co-Op