The hub town is a staple in Zelda games. It’s the place for you to venture to after each dungeon to restock on items, complete sidequests, or just relax. With a few notable exceptions, though, these towns aren’t good for much else. They’re quite small with a few shops and a house or two rounding everything out. They don’t even feel like real places where people would live.
There are a few towns, however, that stick out in my mind that actually have that “town” feel. Clock Town in Majora’s Mask seems like a place you could live (despite the existential dread and threat of death). Windfall Island is a great place to raise a family (it even has an auction house!). However, there is only one hub town in the series that feels like a real town with all the amenities it provides: Hyrule Town in The Minish Cap.
When coming from the south, the first things we see are Mama’s Cafe and the Hyrule Town Shop. Mama’s Cafe is a place for townsfolk to gather and chat or combine Kinstones. Most hub towns have a café or a bar of some sort, but none of them feel alive like this one. There are people milling around and each person has a distinct personality. Another great detail is the small table outside of the café for people to enjoy their drink in the crisp morning air. Across from the café is Stockwell’s Shop, the shop which is the most generic part of the town. It’s the same thing you find in all 2D Zelda games, so I won’t waste my time on it.
Just past those buildings is the main square. It’s home to an open-air market, a staple in any small town. It’s a little farmers market-style place with veggies, fruits, and weirdos selling trinkets and some sort of medicine of their own concoction (most likely not approved by the Hyrule Food and Drug Administration). The market is a great introduction to the feel of the town. It’s quaint and wholesome, but it also grows throughout your adventure. The Goron Salesman comes to town to sell you Kinstones and Beedle’s stall will add more Picolyte as you complete sidequests.
Within that main square, there are shops that are (mostly) integral to the main quest. Starting from the bottom right and going counter-clockwise is Borlov’s Treasure Chest Shop. This is that really lame, random-chance treasure chest game that is in every game that no one likes, although The Minish Cap at least pokes fun at it by making Borlov a very over-the-top character. When you go up to play, he heaves a big sigh and asks if you really want to, like he’s almost (but not quite) admitting that it’s a scam. When you say you want to play, he falls back on the ground in astonishment. He recognizes how dumb you are being by playing this game. It’s a fun, self-aware joke that lands just right.
Above that is Wheaton and Pita’s Bakery. There isn’t much to this little shop, but you can buy different kinds of baked goods. Each item restores one heart but you can also get a Kinstone piece if you are lucky (honestly, I don’t think that would be HFDA approved either). Jokes aside, this is one of my favorite parts of the town square. It’s something you would see in any small town, really lending itself to that comfy cozy feeling. You can almost smell the bread being baked.
On the top-left side of the market is Rem’s Shoe Shop, one of the few shops in town that is actually necessary to the main quest. Rem is the only one who can make Pegasus Boots. This could have been done the easy way like in Link’s Awakening, where you walk up to what you want, press A, and buy it. Instead, you meet Rem, the sleepy owner of the store. He’s currently asleep at his counter with a pair of shoes in front of him. Rem seems to be a little clueless as the shoes he makes somehow get finished in his sleep, even though he is sure he never works on them. We will talk about Rem a bit more in a future article; it’s such a charming little quest that could have been a simple grab-and-go but ended up being much more.
The building next to Rem’s is Simon’s Simulations. When you enter, you are greeted to a room with a bed. Simon invites you to take part in his battle simulations by entering a dream-like state, similar to how you get the Ocarina in Link’s Awakening. This was always a neat little game. The enemies that spawn are usually themed around what is going on in Link’s adventure and it’s a good way to earn extra cash.
The last building is an empty building called the Music House. You can enter the house from the back and see that there is a phonograph, a Piece of Heart, and some treasure. I legitimately had no clue how to get in this house from the front until I wrote this article. It was such a mystery to me that I made up stories about how it was an abandoned house and you need to make a special Kinstone fusion in the Graveyard to open it up. That’s not the case; you just have to collect a bunch of figurines from Nintendo and it will open up. Also, apparently, it is owned by the guy who hangs out in front of the cafe. Who knew, right?
That’s it for the main square. That’s a lot for just the business aspects of the town and I am nowhere near done talking about this place. For a Game Boy Advance game, this town is truly bigger than what meets the eye.
