Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Finale - Turtle Rock, Ganon's Tower

THIS IS IT.

The Dark World version of Link's House is home to this evil bomb-maker. Somebody call Jack Bauer!

I get ahold of the super bomb and drag it all the way to...

...the pyramid, which you can actually blow up with it. Inside lurks...

...this Great Fairy, who can upgrade the sword and the bow to previously-unprecedented levels.

Now the Master Sword has gone a level beyond Red and become Gold. It throbs with power!

The sword isn't the only key item here. Without the arrow upgrade, you can't actually beat the final boss.

There's one more item to get before the end, and it's up on Death Mountain. Drop down at this point to get to...

...this cave lined with spikes, Val Venis' worst nightmare.

Here is the final item, the counterpart to the Cane of Somaria. No relation to Gabriel Byrne, the aptly-named actor from End of Days. This thing makes Link invincible...which is the same thing the Magic Cape already did.

I don't get it. What's the point? It's an odd bit of redundancy in a game that is otherwise pretty air-tight in terms of everything making sense.

Getting to Turtle Rock is a matter of picking up this random rock and getting to the east side of Dark World Death Mountain. That's about it. Need the Hammer and Quake too. There should be a bridge troll who is all like "you can't pass unless you have the Blue Mail" or something. Unfortunately this game is too good for that kind of random NPC block.

The big challenge of Eastern Death Mountain is these guys. Lynels are exports from the original NES game, and they kinda hit like trucks.

Yeah, see, this would be a perfect place for that Blue Mail Bridge Troll.

Ganon's Tower lurks over here, and it throbs with strobing club lights. Pretty awesome. Once the player gets all seven crystals, the barrier around the tower gets dispelled and it stops throbbing and strobing. Like the club at 2 AM when the lights go on and everyone sees what the person they've been grinding on looks like.

Speaking of lights, Ether is useful here for illuminating invisible bridges. I'll take any opportunity to use Ether, because it's awesome.

Another heart piece is obtained in a particularly cool location in the Light World. Link should just stay here and hang out on this island where nothing can bother him. Rescue yourself, Zelda!

The east side of Light World Death Mountain has this portal that takes you to...

...Turtle Rock, a dungeon so cool it also got to appear in Link's Awakening.

This is a weird dungeon, full of pits and platforms. It's the closest thing the game has to a fire-themed dungeon, except there isn't much fire in it to speak of.

This giant spiked rolling pin also made it into Link's Awakening. No Roc's Feather here, so the only way past it is to go around it.

Check out my complete inventory screen though. Hell yeah. Now I just need a few more heart pieces and the game will be 100%'d.

In case we were wondering if the Mario-like fire chains were coincidental, here are the dastardly Chain Chomps. One of these is in Link's Awakening too, and some psychotic woman thinks it's her dog.

Here's the one real fire-room. It's full of pipes, and feels a little bit like a Secret of Evermore area.

The goal here is this center platform, where the Big Key lurks.

More between-worlds warping leads us to this innocuous cave, home to...

...another heart piece. HOW MANY OF THESE ARE THERE?

The Mirror Shield is so iconic. I think my favorite version of the shield is in Ocarina of Time. It was so cool to see all these things realized in 3D in that game. In any case, this is a shield that can't be eaten by Like-Likes, so that's great. It also blocks pretty much all projectiles.

It's bigger than Link is!

Time for the boss, the aptly-named Trinexx. That drawing on the floor is a portent. How many heads does this boss have, you ask?

That's right, THAT MANY.

This boss requires heavy use of both the Fire Rod and Ice Rod to hit the various heads. One head spits fire, the other head puts ice slicks on the floor that make it difficult to move around. The middle head just spits mad game.

The rods stun the opposing heads so you can get in there and slash away. With the Gold Sword, this fight is pretty damn easy. Pretty sure you're "supposed" to do this with the Red Sword.

Defeat the two elemental heads and most of Trinexx falls away, leaving the center head to attack by rapidly slithering around the room.

Winning is now a matter of sidestepping and hitting the weak point in the middle.

All things considered, this is a fun fight, probably one of the top few fights in the game. A boss ranking for this game would be pretty tough to put in order because there are some solid fights.

The crystallized maiden for this dungeon...is Zelda herself! She's been trapped in that crystal for WEEKS, and she's horny as hell. Unfortunately for Link, she runs off to see what that dashing Red Mage guy in Kakariko is up to. That's right, this game doesn't have her joining you for the final battle like in the Nintendo Power comics. Ocarina of Time fixes that though.

Once he crosses the rubicon, it's over. Why, though? Will he get more powerful? Is this like when Palpatine got rid of the senate?

Now that all of the maidens are rescued, they get rid of the barrier around Ganon's Tower. Weird thing is, they're still in crystals. Is Link lugging them around? Now I'm just confused.

This is it. The 8th and final Dark World dungeon: Ganon's Tower.

We're greeted by statues of Ganon at the entrance, so you know things just got real.

This room is cool because if you hit the switch at the right time you can trap all of these moving spikes.

The tower is full of those annoying rooms where you have to use Ether to illuminate platforms. Sometimes lighting nearby torches helps.

One of the things I really like about this final dungeon: You get rematches with all four Light World bosses, only now they have added quirks that make the fights more interesting. The Armos Knights now have an icy floor, so you slide all over the place. Makes it even more important to stay in the corners.

What's in the other two boxes, though? WHAT'S IN THE OTHER TWO BOXES??

...honestly, I forgot.

It's also ribbed, for her pleasure. Or his! It's 2019, no one cares.

Wizzrobes are out in force here. These bastards are just as iconic as "lategame Zelda enemies" as the Lynels are.

The Lanmola fight now has a fire-spitting statue in the corner to distract you, and the Lanmolas themselves launch rocks in multiple directions which I don't think was the case before. At least, all three of them now do that, where previously it was just the last one.

Finally, the Moldorm is also a bit tougher, with a smaller platform than before. That center part is especially obnoxious.

At the top of the tower: Agahnim, Round II. This time...

...he can split into 3, and you can only damage the solid one with your return-attacks. On the bright side, he loses his lightning attack.

This fight can't be obliterated with the Gold Sword since you're reliant on knocking his attacks back at him. It's still pretty easy though. It'd be a challenge if it weren't obvious which one is the real target. Make all of them solid, though your repelled attacks just fly through two of them harmlessly, and this would be a really intense battle.

Defeat him and we get one of the coolest effects in the game, as Ganon's spirit rises out of his corpse and turns into a bat.

The bat flies off to the pyramid and crashes through the roof. My God. This is it, time for the final battle. But first! I'm forgetting something.

This well in Kakariko Village is home to the one thing I missed earlier.

I got these chests before, but I didn't bomb the north wall, so I checked this off my list without realizing it wasn't complete. It's...

...the final Heart Piece. I almost didn't bother going back for it, because I had no idea which one it was, meaning I'd have to check off every spot on the list until I found it. Glad I did though. As it turned out it was one of the very first pieces on the list.

Time for the final battle. One thing I like to do is get a couple free hits on Ganon before he starts talking.

Alterego...not minion, right? Or did he change from one to the other? I can't seem to get off of this question.

The actual fight is the best in the game, with some incredible music. I recorded it, so stay tuned for the video.

After a lot of hits (which are easily doled-out with Magic Cape invincibility), he unleashes the secret technique of...turning off the lights.

For effect, play Bane talking about being born in the darkness during this part of the fight. In any case, it's a simple matter of turning the lights back on with the Fire Rod, then slashing him to freeze him momentarily, then...

...unleash the Silver Arrows. A few of these and the fight's over.

He was absolutely wrecked. You know what I say? I say...NOT TODAY, SATAN.

Now it's MEME TIME! I finally learned how to blogspot!

Oh shit! Where'd that voice come from!

It explains what we already know, that the wielder of the Triforce dictates whether the power it unleashes is good or evil.

What if Link turned heel at the last second as he picked it up, and the sequel was Zelda having to battle now-evil Link? I'd play that.

Link gets the Triforce, and wishes for everything to be awesome again by snapping his fingers. That's it for this game, just a tremendous Zelda experience.

The Tolkien Estate lawyers are licking their CHOPS.

This guy's alive again too. Pretty much everyone is, really, except Gamora.

These guys are back in the Light World now and the bully is no longer antagonizing the round guy.

The unspoken twist is... it's only because they're now the same size, and the bully is still an asshole.

Link's uncle is no longer dead! Disney's Doug! More importantly, look how much bigger and cooler my sword is than his.

The Flute Boy is alive again, and unfortunately now creepy men are gathering to fawn over his music.

Forever...except for the other games "later" in the "timeline" (lol). Well, Link Between Worlds is definitely a sequel but Nintendo couldn't even fully commit to that idea so it comes off more like a remake.

Rest in peace, devourer of souls.

My final death count for the game. I'm curious how these things are tallied. What about deaths between the palaces? Do they count under the nearest palace? Maybe the next one? What about deaths to Ganon at the end? I definitely didn't die 12 times in the Dark Palace (maybe 2 or 3 tops) so I'm wondering what counts.

EDIT: At the very least I can confirm that a save/quit is counted as a "played game". So no telling how many deaths I actually had. I'm thinking single digits.

That's it for this series, finally. Here's a video of me fighting the final boss.

More Link to the Past posts here