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I loved swimming around the Great Bay Temple in MM. I think of it everytime I find myself playing through a water level in another game, and I think "this isn't as fun as swimming in Majora's Mask."
Thunderbird Palace in Zelda II was such a pain... and yet the music in that temple was SO awesome.
I laughed hard at seeing the Palace of Winds on this list because I complained about it to my friend after I beat that temple. Seriously, that was a long, long frustrating level that I died a few times on and had to backtrack through those annoying platform jumps, difficult enemies, complex puzzles, over and over, just to get the same spot and die again.
Also... THE MIRROR ROOM! *shudder*
I laughed hard at seeing the Palace of Winds on this list because I complained about it to my friend after I beat that temple. Seriously, that was a long, long frustrating level that I died a few times on and had to backtrack through those annoying platform jumps, difficult enemies, complex puzzles, over and over, just to get the same spot and die again.
Also... THE MIRROR ROOM! *shudder*
Great bay was fuckin brutal like water
but Stone Tower Temple will always be the most epic zelda dungeon
but Stone Tower Temple will always be the most epic zelda dungeon
My Skyward Sword collectors edition came in the post today but I wasn't in to receive it. Tomorrow morning I'm waking up at 9am, got the day booked off work, heading down the post office to collect my parcel and dancing back the way home. It's Zelda day!
Nice work Chad! I don't think the Water temple is that bad but I do agree regarding Eagle's Tower! Zomg I spent hours on that as a child, and even coming back to the eShop DX version recently it bent me over a barrel.
Thunder Bird is a huge bitch in Zelda II, but you can always use the Dark Link duck slash exploit.
Also, getting to Stone Temple is a bitch and a half - there's probably a special hell where you have to constantly raise and lower blocks to get to a perfect looking sandwich - except you can never actually get there.
I'm loving Zelda week Chad! I already have my Gold Wii-Mote Skyward Sword copy and super mega collector's edition hard-cover guide (that I'm not opening until I beat the game) pre-paid! So excited! <3
Thunder Bird is a huge bitch in Zelda II, but you can always use the Dark Link duck slash exploit.
Also, getting to Stone Temple is a bitch and a half - there's probably a special hell where you have to constantly raise and lower blocks to get to a perfect looking sandwich - except you can never actually get there.
I'm loving Zelda week Chad! I already have my Gold Wii-Mote Skyward Sword copy and super mega collector's edition hard-cover guide (that I'm not opening until I beat the game) pre-paid! So excited! <3
The Great Temple of Zelda II is the reason I'm glad I didn't play this game until I was an adult. Had I played this as a kid, I probably would have chucked a controller through the TV, and drained hundreds of hours of my life trying to beat it. Seriously, that shit is just INSANE.
While Eagle's Tower is also difficult, it's also rather rewarding. I remember being so psyched when I figured out what to do about the pillars and how to reach the end. Difficult but rewarding is what Zelda dungeon design is all about!
While Eagle's Tower is also difficult, it's also rather rewarding. I remember being so psyched when I figured out what to do about the pillars and how to reach the end. Difficult but rewarding is what Zelda dungeon design is all about!
I feel the same way about the Ice Palace in Link to the Past. I played the game again earlier this year, and it was just as challenging as I remembered it to be. The conveyor belts with spikes around the walls is perhaps the most difficult obstacles to avoid in the game.
Screw Majora's Mask's stone temple. Screw it to hell. I don't even remember it being that difficult, but I do remember that by that temple's very nature, you pretty much play through it twice (once normally and again upsidedown) however I wasn't fast enough and was force to restart the dungeon because I ran out of time. However after I restarted the temple, I came across a glitch right in front of the boss door and had to restart it AGAIN. It felt like I ran through it 6-8 times.
@MrJoe,
Yeah, some of these temples are my favorites as well (Stone Tower Temple!) ... but they still drive me a little insane. :)
Yeah, some of these temples are my favorites as well (Stone Tower Temple!) ... but they still drive me a little insane. :)
I couldn't stand the music in the great bay temple, it drives me mad, and that stupid frog sub boss? eurgh.
Jesus Christ, Chad. Did you have to bring the Great Palace out of the dark recesses of my mind back to the forefront again after 20+ years?
The mere thought of it makes me want to rage all over again.
Although admittedly, it felt like a great "Eff you, game" when you did finally beat it.
But yeah... burn that f*cker to the ground.
The mere thought of it makes me want to rage all over again.
Although admittedly, it felt like a great "Eff you, game" when you did finally beat it.
But yeah... burn that f*cker to the ground.
I actually have the path to the boss in the Great Palace easily memorized. Just go left from the start of the first elevator near the entrance and then after you go down the next elevator you go right and keep going right at every chance you get.
With the Ice temple what I would usually do is go through it far enough to get the blue mail and then leave and go to the swamp temple and get the staff which lets you bypass figuring out how to drop that block through the hole.
I always found dungeon 6 in the original incredibly hard, especially for it being about half way though the game. You blaze through dungeon 5 no problem and then enter 6 to find rooms filled with wizzrobs and like-likes.
I always found dungeon 6 in the original incredibly hard, especially for it being about half way though the game. You blaze through dungeon 5 no problem and then enter 6 to find rooms filled with wizzrobs and like-likes.
Oh man, I love the Stone Tower Temple! Definitely a tricky one. I pretty much agree with your list except, myself finding Minish Cap and A Link to the Past on the easy side in general, I'd replace Palace of Winds and Ice Palace with the Earth Temple from Wind Waker and Snowpeak Ruins from Twilight Princess. Those aren't really hard temples or anything, but certain elements about them make them a tad difficult. With the Earth temple, the floormasters and the control-reversing Bubbles come to mind. In Snowpeak Ruins it would be the abundance of enemies and unique level design contributing to this overwhelmingly oppressive feeling, to me anyway.
Surprised to see the Ice Palace so high. I've always thought that was one of the easier temples in the dark world.
I also had a hard time in the Stone Temple my first time through Majora's Mask, but when I gave my brother a copy he found it to be one of the easiest. I guess difficulty is relative. I've also never had much trouble with the water temple in OoT but it seems like you can't mention that game without someone complaining about it's difficulty.
The hardest part of Zelda 2 for me in Death Mountain, but that isn't really a dungeon. At least Great Palace lets you continue from there when you die.
Great list, Chad!
I also had a hard time in the Stone Temple my first time through Majora's Mask, but when I gave my brother a copy he found it to be one of the easiest. I guess difficulty is relative. I've also never had much trouble with the water temple in OoT but it seems like you can't mention that game without someone complaining about it's difficulty.
The hardest part of Zelda 2 for me in Death Mountain, but that isn't really a dungeon. At least Great Palace lets you continue from there when you die.
Great list, Chad!
I wish Majora's Mask's dungeons weren't so bad. It's like that specific design team was filled with people who had never worked on a previous Zelda. Those dungeons aren't even easy with walkthroughs! And on top of that they added the collectible fairies whose rewards are just barely worth the enormous hassle!
At least Stone Tower Temple is architecturally interesting I guess? (At least I tried finding something good with it.)
At least Stone Tower Temple is architecturally interesting I guess? (At least I tried finding something good with it.)
Majora's Mask is my favorite Zelda. The temples are a total pain in the ass though. It's like the normal 8 or so temples worth of difficulty condensed down to just 4.
@BadStar,
It is totally tough, but for some reason I always have much more trouble with the Ice Palace. :)
It is totally tough, but for some reason I always have much more trouble with the Ice Palace. :)
Heh, the Great Bay Tenple is one tricky motherfucker. The complicated mechanisms, the platforming, the annoying enemies... and not to mention the three day limit and all of that. It's really as difficult as you make it to be.
And by the way, the motion controls in Skyward Sword are a fucking dream come true. Haters gonna miss an awesome game.
And by the way, the motion controls in Skyward Sword are a fucking dream come true. Haters gonna miss an awesome game.
I agree with Eagle's Tower being one of the harder (and memorable) temple in Link's Awakening. For me, however, it wasn't the hardest one in the game. (which I'm writing a c-blog about)
The Stone Tower had some the best moments in gaming, however, that boss battle was broken as hell if you had the special milk. I remember being so disappointed with that boss til I fight him again with limited/no magic.
The Stone Tower had some the best moments in gaming, however, that boss battle was broken as hell if you had the special milk. I remember being so disappointed with that boss til I fight him again with limited/no magic.
FACT: One time I pushed a necessary block down a floor in Eagle's Tower and it landed on spikes. I had to reset my game.......
:(
:(
The Stone Tower Temple in Majora's Mask was the only dungeon in all my years of Zelda gaming where I had to cheat because I had no idea what to do. Not even the Water Temple in OoT broke me like that.
The great palace is a fucking maze; numerous routes, trap floors, dead ends, the most annoying enemies in the game where you're damned if fight or run cause either way you're gonna get you're ass kicked and very limited magic refills.
I tried to beat this place three times, all of them ended in failure and angrish as my friend took amusement from my rage.
That is why the Great Palace is hard.
Also, yes, I fucking hate the Great Palace.
I tried to beat this place three times, all of them ended in failure and angrish as my friend took amusement from my rage.
That is why the Great Palace is hard.
Also, yes, I fucking hate the Great Palace.
@Pringao,
The motion controls are a dream. Well, in what little I have played of it. This weekend cannot come soon enough! :D
The motion controls are a dream. Well, in what little I have played of it. This weekend cannot come soon enough! :D
Jabu-Jabu's Belly from Oracle of Ages needs a mention. That whole dungeon was just AUGH. It's way harder than the Ocarina of Time version of that dungeon.
I must be a masochist, because I LOVE all these dungeons!
They are frustrating at times though, The Great Palace gets better if you already know which path to take, and if you keep farming for magic every time you need to by killing those floating heads. Dark Link is piss easy if you do it the easy way.
They are frustrating at times though, The Great Palace gets better if you already know which path to take, and if you keep farming for magic every time you need to by killing those floating heads. Dark Link is piss easy if you do it the easy way.
Was Stone Tower Temple the one that flipped upside down? I hated that one! Can't imagine nintendo bringing out a game like that these days, one of only three games I ever needed a strategy guide for. All the groundhog day time travelling and mask collecting, and that evil moon!
bleh, okay, double post.
I want to give Bottle Grotto from Link's Awakening a mention, with its stupid Nightmare key. Granted, I was a *very* young child when I played that game, but it's still a a really dumb puzzle.
It's also possible to lose the wrecking ball in Eagle's Tower forever, which is pretty terrible.
I want to give Bottle Grotto from Link's Awakening a mention, with its stupid Nightmare key. Granted, I was a *very* young child when I played that game, but it's still a a really dumb puzzle.
It's also possible to lose the wrecking ball in Eagle's Tower forever, which is pretty terrible.
It's strange, I've always found the Water Temple to be very difficult and yet I've beaten some of the harder ones on this list. I personally didn't find the Stone Tower Temple that hard, the Great Bay Temple was way harder. Without a guide I would not have made my way through that place.
Nice mention of the Tower of Spirits too. Since SS was coming out I was going to try and finish ST, but that was an awful idea. I forgot everything I learned from the game so I was pretty much lost at the end. Not sure if I should start the game over and go through so much shit again or try to remember what I learned.
Nice mention of the Tower of Spirits too. Since SS was coming out I was going to try and finish ST, but that was an awful idea. I forgot everything I learned from the game so I was pretty much lost at the end. Not sure if I should start the game over and go through so much shit again or try to remember what I learned.
Zelda 2 was indeed difficult enough for every dungeon to make that list. Of course I wouldn't know because I've never been able to even finish the first one. Of the Zeldas that didn't completely emasculate me I thought those MM ones were nasty. I've played through MM a few times, and over time I've discovered they aren't as difficult as they often appear to be,if you can just focus on finishing the dungeon with a full three days and don't worry about the fairies until later but they're certainly the toughest of the 3d Zelda games. I'm exceedingly glad you included the ice temple from LttP, that one was legendary and there were a few really brutal dungeons in the second half of that game. I'm excited to see how Skyward Sword's dungeons stack up in terms of difficulty.
Okay, I'm sorry, but the Water Temple was not hard. No one should have ever complained about it, EVER. The rest of the list I completely agree with, especially the number one spot, but the Water Temple was not that difficult.
I am glad someone does not sub-estimate the irritating power of the Great Bay Temple and the Stone Tower temple.
The Stone Tower temple made me suspend my first playthrough of Majora's Mask for 4 years stuck on that shit hole because I didn't find the way to make one last chest appear. Imagine my raging relief when it turned out it was in a door that was overlooked by a wall that blocked its view.
I remember Eagle Tower to be fairly challenging too, I went through the floors thousands of times up and down without stopping.
As for the Ice Palace on Link to the Past, I don't remember if that temple was the reason why I stopped playing when I was so close.... it is a temple with one of the maidens, right?
The Stone Tower temple made me suspend my first playthrough of Majora's Mask for 4 years stuck on that shit hole because I didn't find the way to make one last chest appear. Imagine my raging relief when it turned out it was in a door that was overlooked by a wall that blocked its view.
I remember Eagle Tower to be fairly challenging too, I went through the floors thousands of times up and down without stopping.
As for the Ice Palace on Link to the Past, I don't remember if that temple was the reason why I stopped playing when I was so close.... it is a temple with one of the maidens, right?
The Ice Palace in ALttP is not that difficult. Or maybe it's because it's my favorite game in the series and I know it inside out. :D
No Death Mountain for Zelda 2? I think that's pretty close in difficulty to Great Palace. It took me longer to beat than Great Palace did anyways.
You should clarify that for number one you start back at the beginning of the game, not the beginning of the dungeon. And that the way to the dungeon is populated with invisible flying enemies.
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