deKay's Gaming Diary

I wasn’t going to buy this just yet, as I have a mountain of games to work through as it is, but it’s £21 at Asda, and being a first party Nintendo game is unlikely to ever be much cheaper than that.

So I bought it, but then I didn’t intend on playing it, as I have a mountain of games to work through as it is, but somehow it ended up in my DS.

And it is lovely. As everyone on the planet is probably aware, it’s a sequel, of sorts, to The Wind Waker on the Gamecube, and shares the same graphical style. However, you control it all using pretty much only the stylus (which takes some getting used to – especially rolling). So far, I’ve only obtained a sword, been “trained” on it, and made my way through a cave to the local port. Now I need to find some bloke who owns a ship.

Hurrah! I found a place that had some component cables in stock, so I decided to test them with Twilight Princess. And it looks amazing. Yeah, so it isn’t up there with Oblivion, but it waaaay ahead of anything the Xbox or GC have ever done.

So the game then. It was alarmingly easy to get used to the controls, and soon I’d found my horse, rounded up some goats, found a bird, smacked some bees up with it, took a cradle from a monkey, caught a fish, fed a cat, bought a slingshot, shot some stuff, got a sword, sworded some stuff, then chased another monkey, got lost, and found a lantern. ACE!

I spoke too soon, it seems, since Dungeon 8 is hard. Very hard. No Wizzrobes (yet), but loads of recycled previous dungeon bosses (although it hasn’t gone all SuckySuck(TM) quite yet), and blue Dark Nuts. And not just Blue Dark Nuts either – but gargoyles that shoot fireballs at me at the same time, so I can’t even use the same Dark Nut killing tactics I had previously as that requires standing still (and therefore, getting shot).

And! To make it even worse, there’s a door I need to get through which won’t open until I’ve killed them. And when I do kill them, they all come back when I need to go through that room again! RUBBISH.

I do have the Magic Book (or whatever it is called) now though. It lets my Rod shoot magic bolts which burn stuff. Shame it doesn’t work on the Dark Nuts. Nor on the (almost as irritating) mouse/rabbit things.

Dungeon 6 has to be the hardest thing ever. The Wizzrobes were making me cry real actual tears. I died about 984759823745 more times, and progress was hampered somewhat by the fact that all of the baddies (aside from the three-headed dragon mid-boss) had come back to life overnight. Imagine my joy.

Thankfully, I had a bit of luck, and made it to the dungeon boss – a crab spider thing with a giant eye. Guess what I had to do, children? Exactly like every other Zelda game ever, you have to fire an arrow into it. OK, so it is excused since it’s the first game, but then, it isn’t since it only takes one arrow. ALL THEM BLOODY WIZZROBES, and then you throw in a feeble target like that? WHY?

Anyway. Dungeon 7 next, and after wandering round for a while I realised it was going to be much easier than Dungeon 6. The hardest baddie in there (aside from clones of previous simple bosses) was a boomerang-throwing thingy, which was easy to kill and 9 times out of 10 dropped a heart or a fairy upon death. I did have to leave the dungeon and come back though, as I needed some food for someone in there who wouldn’t let me past.

The penultimate room contained Wall Masters, although I didn’t realise in time, and was dragged back to the beginning again by one. Luckily, it wasn’t difficult returning to the end. And the dungeon boss? The same one from Dungeon 1, only easier now as three hits from my magic rod thing (from a distance) and he was dead.

Two hearts and two pieces of triforce in one sitting! Gosh!

Well, I’ve managed to wipe out many of the rooms full of Wizzrobes now, in Dungeon 6. They don’t seem to reappear if I don’t exit the dungeon, which is helpful. I did leave for a short while, however, and tried pushing things all over the place now I have my Power Bracelet. This resulted in finding a better sword – the Master Sword, I suspect – in the Graveyard. That helped rather a lot in the dungeon…

Also in the dungeon, there was a mid boss (the three headed dragon from earlier in the game), and I’ve now found the map, and also the Rod weapon too. It lets me shoot out magic bolts like the Wizzrobes do. Sadly, it doesn’t hurt the Wizzrobes, which is a pain since it’s a decent ranged weapon otherwise.

I may have made a mistake in saving and quitting, however, as I have a feeling all the killed baddies will come back to life if I reload the game. If not, I have an almost-clear path to the boss. I hope…

WARP WHISTLE GET!

With the added powaz of the Blue Ring, I managed to defeat all the Blue Dark Nuts, and get the Warp Whistle. This allowed me to kill the dungeon boss, and so I gained another heart and the fifth piece of Triforce.

Then it was off to Dungeon 6, after playing with the Warp Whistle for a bit and finding it entirely random. And Dungeon 6 is too hard. There’s a screen with two orange Wizzrobes, two blue Wizzrobes, a spinny thing, some bats and three LikeLikes. And it’s too hard. I did kill all bar the indestructable spinny thing, and one blue Wizzrobe, but it killed me. Pah.

Seems I haven’t played this in a while, and, with Spider-Man 2, Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Pac ‘n Roll, and Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan all out of the way, I thought I’d best return to it.

And it is still too hard. I managed, after several attempts, to get past the first lot of Blue Dark Nuts, only to find a second lot almost immediately afterwards. More, in fact. Spent ages regaining bombs and health, only to die again. And again.

Decided to have a wander instead, and found the Power Bracelet, and a shop selling a Blue Ring. I think the blue ring reduces my damage taken, but I’m currently 10 rupees short of the 250 rupee asking price, so I couldn’t buy it.

Hmm. Dungeon 5 is too hard. There’s one screen with a billion blue Darknuts in, and I just can’t kill them all. I can’t swipe my sword at one without another walking into me. Found the dungeon boss too, but none of my weapons hurt him. I think I need something past the Darknuts…

Gave up in there and went wandering, finding The Lost Woods on the way. Ended up at Dungeon 6, and had a quick go inside. Lots of Wizzrobes. Who killed me far too quickly. Lots of times.

Why did no-one tell me that you could kill the four-shell-claw-thing boss with just one bomb? I ran out of rupees again, and had a go in desperation with a bomb. And lo, it died in one hit. What a great big giant pair of sweaty pants.

Well, after that, Dungeon 4 was easy. Actually, it wasn’t, but I had a wander round outside, found three more heart containers, a stack of rupees, the White Sword (more powerful than my current one), and then, on my way back to the boss of Dungeon 4, I found a short cut. Since I had full energy by the time I got to him – a two headed dragon – I could “fire” my sword from a distance, killing him without losing any energy. Hurrah!

Off to Dungeon 5, and had a wander round inside (going though a “secret” entrance I found under a statue by accident). Haven’t found the map or compass yet, nor have I found the item squirrelled away in there somewhere. But I did get through quite a lot of rooms before coming across about 839427 Blue Darknuts, who swiftly killed me.

Kill0riZ0rEd! Hurrah! Had a quick jaunt across the sea to an island, where Dungeon 4 lay. Got the Compass, and also the Ladder Thing That Isn’t A Ladder As You Use It To Span Gaps Not Climb Stuff. With the power of the latter, I got the map, and then…

…came across the boss from Dungeon 3 again. GAH! And died. And died again on my second attempt. And then on my third. AND THEN, I was out of rupees (and so arrowless). Rubbish.

TOO DAMN HARD! Either that, or I have underestimated my (now lost) 1337 64/\/\1n6 5|<1||z of yesteryear. I'm sticking with the theory that the Japanese version is actually much harder. Yes, that must be it.

Anyway, I can’t defeat the Dungeon 3 boss. I did figure out that killing him with the arrows was a good idea, except forgot that you need one rupee per arrow. And, er, run out. Add to that the fact that Darknuts are bloody hard to kill without bombs (and sometimes bombs just don’t seem to hurt them) and I didn’t have any, and you’ll see that I always seemed to end up at the boss with just one heart remaining. So I went off rupee-and-bomb collecting.

I AM TEH SUXX0R.

Or Legend of Zelda, to its friends. Yes, the Japanese version of the first Zelda game. In Japanese. For the GBA. And it’s hard! Not only because it is in Japanese (that I can mostly handle – you don’t need to be able to read much of what is going on, especially if you played the English version like I have), but it is actually harder than the Western version I’ve played before. I’m sure of it.

The first thing I noticed, after dying a few times, is that when you continue you don’t restart at the entrance to the dungeon you died in. Oh no, you start right back at the beginning of the game. OK, so you have all your items and stuff, but still – there’s the long trapse back to the dungeon to contend with (and, if you’re like me, you’ll die en route).

But it is Zelda, and therefore SUPARBEST. So far, I’ve done two-and-a-half dungeons. The first one had the dragon that spews fire at you (killed on my second go) as boss, and the second had the Dodongo that, just like all the other Zeldas, needed a few bombs in the face to defeat. Items collected so far include a bow (I bought some arrows too), a red boomerang which was swiftly upgraded to a blue one, a blue candle, some bombs, and a raft. Obviously. I have 6 Heart Containers too, after finding one in a Sekret Heeeden Cave. I am BEST.

It seems I was pretty close to the end of Ganon’s Tower when I died previously. I hadn’t explored all of it, but seems I didn’t need to in the end. A little further than I reached last time, there was another giant snake thing like at the end of another dungeon (as well as the three not-so-giant snakes from the Desert Palace), so it had started to become a bit SuckySuck(TM). Even more so when I reached the end boss of the dungeon – Agahnim again. OK, so he split into three this time, but was actually much easier to kill. And then –

End of game boss time. Before that, I nipped over to the witches to get some potions, and then it was into the hole in the top of the pyramid. Ganon was waiting!

I died once on him, mainly because I wasn’t actually watching my health and didn’t realise it was about to run out. He was pretty simple to kill, though, taking only a few hits and being easy to avoid when he attacked. The only hard bit was not being knocked “out of the arena”, and out of the pyramid – meaning I had to start again once too.

And then he was dead. The Tri-Force was mine to command, the Maidens were all saved, and peace and happiness yadda yadda yadda. WIN!

Taking a detour via the bomb shop (for a Super Bomb) and then the hole I made in the Pyramid wall (to get to the fairy inside, who gave me upgraded arrows and the Golden Sword), it was off to Ganon’s Tower.

And it’s HUGE. And, although not especially difficult (yet), you need one hell of a lot of magic for it. Which I didn’t have. So, about half way through the tower, I was stuck. I couldn’t go forwards (as I needed magic to open a door) and couldn’t go backwards (as there was nowhere else for me to go, and no magic to collect). So I saved and quit instead. Tch.

Before going back into Dungeon 6, I had a wander round outside, and found some more pieces of heart. Then it was back inside…

It was a shame that I’d only had one heart left at the end of Misery Mire last go, since the end boss was actually very easy. He threw eyeballs at me, which I had to kill, and then a giant eyeball bounced around the screen. It took loads of hits, but wasn’t difficult.

Then it was off to Dungeon 7 – Turtle Rock, via no end of caves and caverns in both the Dark and Light worlds. Entry to the dungeon required use of a Medallion and some World swapping. Once inside, it was pretty straightforward, although two rooms of pipes you could go through did seem really confusing. So I ignored the layout and it turned out that there was only one route. Plenty of moving platforms (using the Cane of Somaria I’d picked up in Dungeon 6) and a few puzzles, as well as a dip into the Light World to get more fairies, and it was boss time. He was fairly simple, although I needed several of the fairies in the process. It was a dragon with three heads – the first two of which were Fire and Ice heads, so naturally needed Ice and Fire to kill. My magic meter was drained several times, but luckily it dropped more magic energy vials occasionally. Once the first two heads were dead, the third head turned into a giant snake thing with a sword-slash-able belly. And then it died.

If I remember rightly, there’s only Ganon’s Tower and then the end of game boss left now…

I quickly zapped over to the Witch’s hut to stock up on potions before attempting to kill Blind again. I don’t know why I bothered though, as he was really easy this time. I didn’t even need one potion, let alone the three I picked up.

Anyway, with Dungeon 4 finished off, I did some more exploring. I came across a strange frog person, who it turned out was a blacksmith in the Light World. I took him back to his house, and him and his partner tempered my sword for me, making it more powerful. That should help me in the Dark World, certainly, as some of the baddies there take loads of hits. After that, I went back to the fairy in the waterfall, to see if any of my other items I’d since gained could be upgraded by her. I must have missed out with my shield previously, as that was upgraded this time. I also found a wishing well-type cave which I threw rupees into. After 100 rupees, a fairy appeared and offered to upgrade the number of bombs and arrows I could carry. I did that a few more times until I ran out of rupees.

Then it was off to Dungeon 5, which although being in the Dark World, could only be reached from an island in the Light World. It was all ice and snow and stuff in there, so the Fire Rod I’d found the other day was more than useful. The dungeon did loop round and round a lot, and there seemed to be a hell of a lot of backtracking and stuff. I found the “Blue Mail”, more powerful armour, in there too. The boss at the end was really easy. He starts off as a block of ice (gosh, I wonder what you’d need to kill him there?) before turning into three cloud things that drifted round waiting to be smacked with my sword.

And then, Dungeon 6 – Misery Mire. Although the game had hinted it was “impossible to get into”, it was in fact blatantly obvious to find. The dungeon itself was pretty hard though – mainly due to the number of things that shot fire at me which couldn’t be killed. I spent ages working my way around it, but finally found the end boss. Sadly, I had only one heart left by that point, and no potions or fairies to help me regain any energy. So I died.

Did some more wandering round, finding more items. I picked up the Magic Cape, which makes me invisible, and two more heart pieces. I also found the Quake Medallion and the Magic Powder. Not only that, but I’ve now had my magic meter effectively doubled too – just as well, since the Magic Cape drains it somewhat quickly.

Then it was on to Dungeon 4. This dungeon was pretty small, and fairly straightforward. The “weapon” was the Titan Mitt, which will lot me lift really heavy stuff, apparently. I then found a woman locked up in a jail inside the dungeon. But no! It was really Blind the Thief, the boss! Smacked him about a fair bit, but failed to kill him and died instead. Rubbish.

It seems I was right near the end of Dungeon 3 after all. There were just a few more rooms to go through, and then the boss – a giant moth thing. The main difficulty with him, was the fact that the floor moved constantly, and there were a load of moving spikes on the floor too. I hit him a lot with the Fire Rod, although I soon ran out of magic power so had to resort to my sword. He’s dead now though. Onward!

Well, Dungeon 1 is more like the sort of Zelda dungeon I’ve become used to up until now. There was no mid-boss, but the end boss was as predictable as I’d anticipated – I’d picked up a Hammer in the dungeon, and this was required to kill him. By smashing his face in, obviously.

After a brief chat with the first rescued-maiden-in-a-crystal, who marked on my map where the others all are, it was off to Dungeon 2. I had to nip back to the Light World to flip a switch that affected the Dark World’s water level in the dungeon, and then most of the dungeon involved flooding and unflooding bits to get around. Picked up the Hook Shot in there too, and guess what? I needed it for the end boss! Hooray!

With the Hook Shot and Hammer, I was able to get around much more of the Dark World, so I went exploring. For my troubles, I picked up more pieces of heart (I have 11 full hearts now), did a sub-quest to get a flute which warps me around the place, found another medallion (Bombos) to go with the Ether one from earlier, and maxed out my Rupees. Oh yes, and I have the all important Spade too.

Then it was off to Dungeon 3, which is a bit confusing. Parts of it are in different places in some woods, and there are several entrances and exits. Annoyingly, most of the rooms contain Wall Masters, which grab you and take you back to the last place you entered the dungeon. I have got the Map and Big Key so far, and have also picked up the Fire Rod. Haven’t finished the dungeon yet though.

It was obvious where I needed to go once I actually looked properly rather than guess wildly. The quick jaunt into the Dark World (as a bunny) and back and I could get into the Tower of Hera, the third dungeon.

It was pretty easy in there too. Although there were lots of barrier switches and floor-hole toggle pressure pads, for the most part I didn’t need to bother with them. The item in this dungeon was the Moon Pearl, which, so it said, allows me to remain as Link rather than turn into a bunny when I enter the Dark World. Just as well, really. The boss at the end was a giant snake, although he was pretty easy. And then I had all three Pendants, and it was off to find the Master Sword in the Lost Woods.

I’m sure it was bloody hard to find when I played it all those years ago, but no. The Lost Woods were not the maze I remembered, and I soon had the Master Sword. So I can shoot out beamy light things now. Also, since I had the Master Sword, I could now get another weapon from a stone tablet near the Tower of Hera – so it was back up the mountain to get it. It’s some Ether thing that acts as a kind of smart bomb.

Then I’m told that Zelda has been kidnapped again, and I have to scuttle off to the castle (again) and rescue her (again). There was a short sort-of-dungeon, actually the castle tower, to contend with before I got to Agahnim. When I arrived, he was about to sacrifice Zelda, and with that done (I bet she isn’t dead really), it was Round One: FIGHT! But he was easy. Very, very easy. Soon he was defeated, and he dragged me off into the Dark World.

Here I was told about the seven maidens being trapped and needing rescuing, yadda yadda. Wandered around for a bit, and, eventually made it to the first dungeon “proper” – those first three were obviously just a warm-up or something. Saved and quit for now.

Didn’t play this for very long, mainly as the 15 minute intro used up a fair amount of game time. Played in two player mode to start with. It’s pretty good, although you have to get used to looking at the GBA screen every time you go into a cave or shop or something, and then looking back at the TV when you come out again. And you only seem able to hold one weapon (besides your sword) at once – so no Fire Rod and Boomerang at the same time, unless you have one each of course.

I was going to go up the mountain and get to the third pendant, but as is often the way with Zelda games, I went exploring instead. It is just as well I did too, as for my troubles I found two pieces of heart, stacks of rupees, the Ice Staff, Zora’s Flippers, and another bottle. Excellent.

Then I finally decided to head up the mountain, and helped an old man on the way. He have me a mirror, and then I stepped into a portal to the Dark World and became a bunny. Now, I remember that I have to stand somewhere and use the mirror from last time I completed it, but I can’t for the life of me figure out exactly where. Bah.

My trip to the second Pendant was cut short on my first attempt, due to the battery on my GBA SP running out. However, a swift charge later, and I was back on my way.

I remembered most of this dungeon from last time I played the game, so found a couple of pieces of heart on the way in and around it. The “weapon” here was the Power Glove, which I needed to get to the boss, although not to actually kill him. In fact, all I needed to do to kill the three snakes that made up the boss, was hit them with my sword.

Now, don’t get me wrong – Link to the Past is a great game. It’s just, well, not as great as I recall, and Ages and Seasons, despite being technically less impressive, certainly seem the better games. Maybe it’ll improve once it opens up a little more.

Finally figured out just which person in the village I needed to speak to, and it was off to the west of the map to find some old codger. He sent me off into a dungeon to find a pendant, so off I went.

Pretty standard Zelda stuff in there, although there was no mid-boss. I’m becoming slightly frustrated at the sword mechanics in this version too. Your sword reach is pretty limited, and you can’t change direction as easily as other Zelda games, meaning it is harder to both hit and avoid. I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

The weapon in the dungeon was the Bow, and along with some arrows (obviously), I make short work of the end boss. Not that I think I needed them, for a change, it just seemed easier that way. I picked up an extra heart too, as well as the pendant, so at least that part of Zelda Lore is intact.

Back to the old man, and he gives me Pegasus Boots (which let me run, not fly) and sends me off to the other two pendants. I stop at the village on the way to the first, and bomb a few walls and find a few rupees. I also found a house with a mini-game in the garden – get to the end of a maze in under 15 seconds. I managed it in 12, and won a piece of heart.

No sooner has one Zelda game been completed, another begins. I did complete LttP when it originally came out for the SNES, but that was more than ten years ago. I remember I even got every single piece of heart too. Obviously a time when I had more game patience than I do now!

Anyway. I’ve got up, after hearing Zelda cry for help, and wander off to the castle. A nasty wizard has taken over the place, and is doing nefarious things to young maidens – Zelda being the last in line. After a short dungeon, I find Zelda and we escape to a sanctuary. Along the way, I picked up a sword, shield, and boomerang. I had a torch to begin with too. I also got an extra heart.

It was off then to the village, to find the elder. Who has gone missing. None of the villagers are much help, and some actually call guards to come and kill me. How nice of them. I did find a big stack of rupees, some bombs, and two empty bottles, however. And an insect net.