Throughout all the various games in the storied history of The Legend of Zelda, there are some that stick out because of their difficulty. Others stand with us because of the boss battle or just the environment being so unique. These are my top five favorite dungeons.
#5 – The Water Temple – Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64/3DS)
Famously known for being one of the hardest and most puzzling temples from the entire franchise, The Water Temple from Ocarina of Time holds a special place in my mind. Sure, the water rising puzzle is a little annoying, and the battle with Dark Link is actually more difficult than the main boss, but The Water Temple makes known to the player that the future of the game is only going to get a little more challenging. I actually liked The Water Temple, sue me.
#4 – Eagle Dungeon – The Legend of Zelda (NES)
This makes my list because it is iconic to me. The Eagle Dungeon is the first dungeon I ever soloed in a Zelda game, and that was at age 5. I can still hear the eerie 8-bit dungeon theme that unfortunately isn’t used that much anymore in the modern games, and feeling a great sense of victory defeating “the dragon” – Aquamentus. The dungeon isn’t hard, actually quite easy in the grand scheme of Zelda dungeons, but this list would be sorely forgotten without mentioning this icon level.
#3 – Palace of Twilight – Twilight Princess (Nintendo GameCube/Wii)
Twilight Princess is a hard game for me to just choose my favorite dungeons from, mostly because Twilight Princess is my favorite game in the franchise. I chose the Palace of Twilight for this list because it’s the penultimate dungeon of the game and encompasses many of the skills previously learned in the game required to make it through. The dungeon’s mysterious tune is a beautiful blend of the current game’s style of music mixed with synth sound that is reminiscent of A Link to the Past. The boss fight with Zant revisits the fights from previous dungeons and warps Link into different battle rooms until the final fight outside of Hyrule Castle. I thought this was a clever way to revisit each dungeon fight again.
#2 – Lanayru Mining Facility – Skyward Sword (Nintendo Wii)
Sort of like Twilight Princess, I had a hard time choosing just one temple that stood out as a favorite from Skyward Sword.. Lanayru Mining Facility is an interesting dungeon in the fact that there is use of robotic technology. This game is, as of now, the first game in the timeline, so it begs the question, what happened to the technology? Anyway, the temple plays out with heavy use of the Gust Bellows to clear your way through, as well as the Beetle, which is one of my favorite items in the series. It’s really the cut-scene after the dungeon which makes this level so special, as you’ve now finally found Zelda again only to have another cinematic battle with Girahim. It’s quite possibly one of my favorite cut-scenes from a dungeon scenario.
#1 – Hyrule Castle – Twilight Princess (Nintendo GameCube/Wii)
The top three dungeons for me have all had to deal with a prominent cinematic effect either pre-boss, during boss fight, or after the boss fight. Hyrule Castle in Twilight Princess is no different. You barely get into the Castle gates before you’re confronted with the game’s third on-going antagonist, King Bulblin. Prior to this fight, you have met up with him several times, the most memorable of which being the joust event on the bridge. After the fight with him, the dungeon progresses like any last dungeon in Zelda game, a lot of puzzles to solve while fighting off tons of enemies. But something happens in this dungeon that like the fight with King Bulblin, has been building up the entire game.
Throughout Twilight Princess, Link has overheard meetings at Telma’s Bar regarding a resistance movement, and that your friend Russl is in fact a member of this resistance. Anyway, you make your way through the castle to get the Big Key and a cut scene starts where it’s starting to look like Link is outnumbered. However that is not really the case, as the resistance shows up to save the day. After you get the boss key, you set the stage for four intense battles to come for a very fantastic finale to a game.
Twilight Princess is one of the most intriguing storytelling games in the series based on the amount of side stories that all culminate in the climax of the game: Zant is finally defeated, King Bulblin meets the unpleasant end of The Master Sword, and Link saves Zelda to have her team up in a horseback battle against Ganondorf.
A top 5 list to any true Zelda fan is not easy to do – I didn’t even touch on The Wind Waker’s dungeons and there are some really fun dungeons in that game! Overall, these are just 5 of my favorite dungeons throughout the entire series. Some because they’re easy, some because they’re puzzling, and some because they include some really unique features or scenes. So tell me fans of The Hidden Triforce, what would be your top 5 dungeons?
