As Link battles a knight miniboss, I can't get over that one heart by itself on the second row. I need to get a couple more hearts before the final boss. Unfortunately, the final boss happens TODAY.
Ball and Chain Troopers are a lot worse in this game than they are in A Link to the Past, because now they block your arrows.
Most Zelda games have Wizzrobes, but only this one has Wizzrobes with FLAMING HEADS.
...no, it isn't, because all of these rupees are still disappearing into a void. There needed to be more goodies to buy in this game. Maybe some Heart Pieces? A couple of those for 500 each would have been a great money well.
In this room you can't bump into any of the bombs, because the chain reaction will set off the switch and close the door.
The final part of the Palace of Wind has you riding flying stingrays en route to...
...the boss stingray. This is yet another inventive battle, where you need to split into multiple images and wail on the poor bastard.
After a fun fight, I get the last element.
The swordmaster has one final move to teach our hero. One last, apocalyptic, game-changing move...
...or so you'd expect, but nope, it's just the down-stab from Zelda 2. In this game, it's borderline useless.
NOTE: I only found four of the seven Tiger Scrolls, so there are actually still more sword techniques out there. Hopefully they're more useful...
NOTE: I only found four of the seven Tiger Scrolls, so there are actually still more sword techniques out there. Hopefully they're more useful...
FINALLY get around to snagging that third bottle. I'm a broken record at this point, but I should have gotten this done a while ago.
I visit Syrup and buy 3 blue potions. These are gonna get me through the final battle. Faeries have been nerfed a bit since the older games, and only restore four hearts in this game. These potions restore TEN.
"TEN."
Tingle is turning whiter. What is he, Michael Jackson?
...R.I.P. to the King of Pop, he'll be missed. In any case, all four elements are gathered, which means...
...the sword is now fully powered-up. Interesting way to upgrade the sword in this game. Link can also now split into four images.
Yep, the sword has become the Four Sword. So this pre-dates the Four Swords games in the timeline...
The king appears, and he's all evil. Of course, it turns out he's really...
...Vaati, who now owns Hyrule Castle. And that'll be the final dungeon. Whoa. This castle needs to stop getting conquered by evil.
Suddenly...everything gets more menacing. Dark Hyrule is just like regular Hyrule, except they torture people and launch pre-emptive war. Also, the goatees.
Mario-style fire-chains? My God, Vaati is borrowing technology from that damn Bowser!
The real king is in the basement jail, and he's petrified. Luckily, the Four Sword has the same properties as the tears of Pikachu, and can in-petrify people. Seriously.
"Is this a voting booth?" he says. "I'M OLD!"
The throne room is home to another heavy knight miniboss. These guys are WAY too evasive and hard-to-hit for their size.
Vaati! Show yourself, you rat bastard!
...no, of course he doesn't show up. Instead, Link has to fight THREE GIANT ARMORED KNIGHTS AT ONCE. It's like the developers of the game just threw their hands up in the air and decided to end the game right here, because this (technically miniboss) battle is more difficult than any boss fight up to this point.
After barely winning that fight, I continue onto Vaati (with petrified Zelda). Why is everybody so petrified?
This guy is Agahnim 2.0. I half-expect Ganon to pop up and be the real villain at any moment.
"True power" means...
...having a big eyeball for a crotch! My God!
He attacks with pods that fire beams...in one direction only. This fight is seriously underwhelming.
He isn't done yet, though. Oh no. That was just his first form.
He undergoes a metamorphosis into the final enemy of Link's Awakening. The plot thickens.
In this form you have to shoot the spheres with arrows to turn them red or blue, then when they're exposed, split into four images and strike them all at once.
With that, Vaati is defeated and Zelda is healed. Let's get out of here before the castle starts collapsing or something.
...dammit, too late.
The castle is sealed...will it become their tomb?
What? Who said that?
...Vaati lives, and he's got a third form.
Now he's REALLY the final boss of Link's Awakening.
While the shadows at the end of Link's Awakening took the form of various enemies Link had fought in the past, the final shadow was unidentifiable... until now. Nice bit of continuity here. It was assuming the form Vaati took in the distant past.
Now I'm really interested to know what these shadow things were.
Now I'm really interested to know what these shadow things were.
The objective here is to take down his arms, then shrink and attack them from within. Luckily there's a shrink pedestal in the room. You'd think he would have gotten that thing taken out of here before the fight.
After that he summons four eye-bits to fire lasers, and you have to split into four to bounce the lasers back at him all-at-once.
This shuts him down so that Link can run up and wail on him, and that's all she wrote. Much more complex fight than the one in Link's Awakening, which was a simple Bow-sniping battle. Or you could one-shot him with the Boomerang for the most anti-climactic fight in history.
Our heroes escape, and all is well in the world. Except...
...apparently we lost people. I guess whoever was in the castle when it crumbled. And on that dark note...
...Link's hat officially identifies himself. HIS NAME... is EZLO... AMORE!
AND HE IS... a CERTIFIED G and a BONAFIED STUD.
We get some Hat Ex Machina business where they use Vaati's Minish Cap to restore the Castle to an un-crumbled state and revive everyone and un-petrify people. Everything is okay in the end! Disney's Doug!
Well, that took away whatever impact the battle had...whatever. I dislike Everyone Is Revived Ex Machina endings. They're too convenient.
Well, that took away whatever impact the battle had...whatever. I dislike Everyone Is Revived Ex Machina endings. They're too convenient.
Zelda with an adorable pose. I'm okay with these character graphics.
That ends this game. Makes me want to jump right into another Zelda that I haven't played and catch up on this series.
Great, great game, even if it's a bit on the too-easy side. It has an incredible soundtrack, and the overall creativity of the dungeons and puzzles is up there with the best the series has to offer. Definitely worth playing through.
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