Box Art from 2004
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo GameCube
Release Date: March 24, 2003
TTLs Wind Waker contains a special item similar to the Tingle Bottle from OTL’s Wind Waker HD.
Letter Paper - This item is used to write a short letter to other players via Nintendo Netcast. You can obtain Letter Paper by purchasing it from a special store on Dragon Roost Island for 5 Rupees.
Types of Letter Paper
Standard Style
Ordinary white paper with a simple box design.
Windfall Style
Light blue paper featuring Windfall Island’s Windmill.
Dragon Roost Style
Sepia tone paper featuring a silhouette of Dragoon Roost Island with Lord Valoo perched atop it.
Skull Style
Light gray paper featuring the skull found on a Moblin’s Skull Necklace.
Night Sky Style
Dark blue paper in the style of the night sky. The text for this paper is white as opposed to the usual black.
Tingle Style
Light green paper with a dark green tingle head silhouette.
Letter Paper is stored in your Delivery Bag. If your Delivery Bag is full then you will be asked to throw something away. Link cannot throw away crucial items like The Cabana Deed, Maggie’s Letter, Moblin’s Letter, and the Note to Mom but in an odd programming quirk Link can throw away Father’s Letter. This is because Letter Paper cannot be bought until after Dragon Roost Cavern is completed and Link has already delivered Father’s Letter.
Once a letter is written you can attach a picture from the Picto Box. After confirming you are done the message is put inside a bottle and thrown into the ocean or where ever Link happens to be at the time. It will be sent to other users through Nintendo Netcast where it can be found in the overworld and picked up by them. Alternatively you can send and receive letters to/from your Nintendo Netcast friends through the in-game post boxes. Up to 15 Letters are stored at a time and can be freely read at any time by accessing the Quest Status Screen.
The messaging system itself was similar to Animal Crossings, with English, Japanese, Symbols and Hylian Characters available in both Japan and North America. While there was no moderation on sent letters there was a huge list of banned words that players were not allowed to send. Despite the attempt many players found ways to subvert the banned word list such as writing @SS in place of ass.