It borrows from the Wind Waker concept of a world with a big ocean; with islands dotting the landscape. Well since ZC is on a screen by screen basis, screens of just simply water would be boring as hell to travel through. So except in certain cases, there will be land in almost every screen on the massive 16x16 overworld. So its like Wind Waker, but the island are more jam-packed together. This prevents long sailing times on the raft and later, long swim times with the flippers. So I hope this speeds things up a bit.
Anyway, there will be some story in the form of Aryll, your sister and townspeople in your home town, Goron City and Zora Cave. After levels 1, 7 and 8, you can return to these towns and get new information out of them and get a new item from Aryll.
Now the game starts off on your home island and you MUST complete level 1 and then visit Aryll to get the raft so you can get off your island and explore the ocean. Now from here on in, you have FREE exploration through almost ALL the islands and areas of the huge overworld. You can tackle levels 2-7 in ANY order you choose. With the small exception of gaining flippers from level 5 to access level 6. Other than that, you are free to go and do what you want and where you want. Just note that the further dungeons you skip to, the harder it will be on you since you may have fewer hearts early in the game.
Now as for secrets, here is a list:
- 2 HC Pieces on each major island
- 4 HC Pieces in 4 separate mini-dungeons found underwater in the vast ocean
- 6 Magic upgrades on 6 minor islands
- 8 Bomb upgrades on 8 major islands
- 3 Extra required dungeons including the new optional Master Dome
- Tons and Tons of rupees found on land, underwater, or found by defeating all enemies on certain overworld screens.
Enjoy!

Please Use beta 183 to play this!!!!!!!!!!!

Ver. 1.3 - Added more raft paths to make the overworld a bit more accessible. Added some more free super bombs due to complaints of players. Decreased the price on super bombs and magic shields in shops around the overworld. Should play smoother now.
Ver. 1.4 - Added a new mini-dungeon and added another raft path. Fixed some more bugs and finished up with the suggestions made from the forums.
Ver. 1.5 - Fixed a potion shop in the 'dead town' so those player with no potions leftover from level 8 can have some relief.
Latest Update: 6/12/2006 - Tried to squash as many Level A, B, C continue bugs as possible, even to the point that you can no longer start in those dungeons anymore. I hope the problem is fixed now. Also made general detail touch ups across the board.
Update: Replaced the missing readme file mentioned in this description!

Find out for yourself and play the quest! Although it isn't much different than gathering 8 triforce pieces and going after Ganon!

Read the .doc file that comes with it for semi-spoilers.

Video Walkthrough of Isle of the Winds

Testers: Paul_doo, Synbios and Hero Link.
Special thanks to BH4 for giving me the new Link tiles.