Favorite Zelda Temple

A post from Nbay in a Zelda thread, who would've thought?

But seriously, I'd say my favorite is the Moon from Majora's Mask. I know it's not really considered a dungeon but I always counted it as one. I loved how you had different areas based on different temples that required you to use all the masks you had found on your adventure. I thought it was really creative, and I love to see something like that come back in another Zelda game.

 

Hmm... I can name quite a few that I dislike (shadow temple OOT). I'd have to say one of my favorites would be the fire temple (OOT). It is pretty simple and straightforward and the boss wasn't nigh impossible to defeat.

 

People may find this odd when I remark on this, but my current favourite dungeon out of all the Legend of Zelda games I've played (which are all handhelds, actually) is the Sword & Shield Maze from Oracle of Seasons - largely because it is very much a test and gauntlet of all of the tricks and weaponry you've learned and used up to that point. The dungeon itself is extremely non-linear and can be traversed in virtually any order chosen (in fact, on my first run through the dungeon, there was one chest I didn't end up acquiring until I beat the boss - and in the chest was the map, which by then I didn't need). The music itself is also pretty epic yet sinister for a GBC game as well.

In fact, I think it's the non-linearity of the Sword & Shield Maze that really draws me to it - that, and it's legitimately one of the hardest (if not the hardest) dungeons I've ever gone through in a LoZ game. Turtle Rock from Link's Awakening is a runner-up, for very much the same reasons, as it possesses all of these traits as well. There aren't that many non-linear dungeons in handheld LoZ games; in fact, other than the above, the only other one I can think of is Level 9 from the very first LoZ. (And I've played both Oracles, both Links to the Past, and the Minish Cap, in addition to the games mentioned above. There are a few twists and turns, it's true, but no other dungeon lets you go through multiple possible paths to reach the ending - at least, not that I remember.)

 

I liked OOT Water Temple. Believe it or not. Just subtract Shadow Link and I'm like yeah this is fun.

Turtle Rock from A Link to the Past was fun too, though I can't pinpoint why. Maybe it was the floating platforms and perilous navigation of a top-down 2D, or maybe it was something else. Somehow it felt appropriate, all coming to a good penultimate dungeon there. Similar to one on Oracle of Ages, a dungeon that had a lot of seed shooter ricochet puzzles, that was a fun one.

My favorite one of all though is Stone Tower Temple. The incredible variety of enemies, the soundtrack (such a wonderful soundtrack!), the gravity tricks. I had so much fun there the first time and every time since. It's such a pleasing step up in difficulty too, especially when Stray Fairies are brought into the equation. The only bad thing about it is the puzzles that require you to play the Elegy of Emptiness like three times each, even though there's only one of those inside the temple and like three more outside. Well, that's my favorite Zelda song, so I'm really not complaining that loudly. (On the other hand, there was A LOT of phallic imagery there. I can think of at least eight specific phalluses decorating that temple without even running through it again. Not to mention all the sacrilege against the Golden Goddesses...)