To celebrate the impending release of Mogitate Tingle no Barairo Rupee Land, an action role playing game for the Nintendo DS, I decided to make an article, listing all of the things that Tingle has done for us. And there’s a lot! You may bring up that he burns a hole in your wallet with his overpriced map translations in The Wind Waker, or that he steals your Force Gems in Four Swords Adventures, but all of you Tingle haters conveniently ignore the great things that he does for you. Now, why don’t we begin with his first appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask for the Nintendo 64?

When most gamers witnessed Tingle for the first time, their initial reaction was confusion. Tingle was a flamboyant, 35-year-old tight-wearing wanna-be fairy, who hung from a floating balloon, drawing maps and throwing confetti. Tingle had desires to be a fairy, assuming that Link was one. While he did provide a great service by showing you a map of all overworld locations, his popularity wasn’t anywhere near as high in North America or Europe as it was in Japan. In fact, some developed contempt towards him, but no explosion of hatred. Later in 2001, Tingle made an appearance in Oracle of Ages as a key step towards completing the game (and will appear in Oracle of Seasons if you play a linked game). Not only that, but he gave you the 99 Seed Shooter, an extremely useful piece of equipment. Despite this, he didn’t hit off outside of Japan. His popularity stayed pretty even until 2003 came along.

2003 introduced us to The Wind Waker, a highly cartoony Legend of Zelda game compared to the previous two 3D Legend of Zeldas. There were many complaints about the game - that it was cel-shaded, that the character designs sucked and that it was too easy. But one of the biggest complaints was one that involved Tingle - the Triforce Quest. In the Triforce Quest, Link had to gather nine Triforce Charts, and Tingle was the only one who was capable of translating them. But there’s a catch - you must pay him for his services. Once all of the translating was complete, Link was out more than 2,000 Rupees, and the quest is regarded as one of the worst portions of the game. This is an understandable complaint; Tingle was an obstacle between Link and the ending. However, Tingle haters have what is commonly called “tunnel vision”. Instead of analyzing everything that Tingle did, they bring up the things that they find annoying about him exclusively.

There is one thing that Tingle helps you with - surviving in battle. I thoroughly enjoyed the multiplayer of the game, which can be accessed through the Tingle Tuner, which is usable only by a Game Boy Advance or Game Boy Advance SP connected to the GameCube. With it, the second player can act as Tingle, allowing Tingle to aide Link in battle by dropping bombs, selling Link potions, selling a protective shield for him, describing the area for him and selling Link a balloon to make him float in the air.

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