Gamer’s Thoughts: My favorite Zelda dungeons

To those who don’t know, I’m a huge Zelda fan. I pre-order every Zelda games that come out and I own almost all of the spin-off games. Not too long ago, a friend of mine commented on my blog asking if I’m willing to do a top 10 list of my favorite Zelda dungeons. So, here is my list of my favorite Zelda dungeons. Notice the “my” in the previous sentence. So, it’s my opinion. Also, I wasn’t able to rank these 10 dungeons, so they are in no particular order! In any case, I invite you to write leave your opinion on my list and/or give your own list in the comment section down below.

PS: I linked each title to the dungeon theme. Enjoy!

The Eagle – The Legend of Zelda

This dungeon has to be on my list. The reason for that is an obvious one. It was my very first Zelda dungeon. I wasn’t able to play it on the NES when this game can out, but I did play the NES Classic GBA port of this game.

Just when I heard the theme of this dungeon, I remember playing this game for the first time before not too far from the fireplace and just enjoying the game. In a matter of fact, after I had beaten the first dungeon, I was reading the instruction manual and found the mini-walkthrough that helped new players towards the first dungeon.

The only complaint I have with this dungeon is that the theme is way too short. In-game, it doesn’t matter that much, but a loop of 1 minute of music can get annoying sometimes.

Thieves Hideout – A Link Between Worlds

Review of this game

In this dungeon, we have a sort of escort mission. One that I enjoyed quite a lot.

When you fail to escort the girl out, you won’t have to redo the puzzles again to get her out of jail. This is a great bonus.

This dungeon is one of my favorite dungeons in the game. The biggest reason why I enjoy this one a lot is that I enjoy the final boss quite a lot. Seriously, when I think about dungeons from A Link Between Worlds, this one pops right in my head. It was also quite fun to replay this one while I was researching for this article.

Eagle Tower – Link’s Awakening (DX)

Review of this game

My favorite Zelda games are the portable Zelda games, to be honest. To be honest, the puzzle in this dungeon one I really like.

In order for you to progress in this tower, you have to solve some puzzles that don’t require you finding a key to a locked door.

This concept has been used by various other Zelda games, but I played with the mechanic for this first time in this game. And recently replayed it, in the DX-version of the game.

Forest Temple – Ocarina of Time

Ah, Ocarina of Time. A game that is lovely by many, and also disliked by many. In any case, I’m leaning more towards the love side.

The Forest Temple is one of the best dungeons in the game in my opinion. The atmosphere, music, theming, puzzles are all great.

The twisting corridor and the Poe Sisters, I enjoyed it all. I finished it on a real N64 finished it on the 3DS version. Yup, both versions of the dungeon are great. Also, the dungeon item, the Fairy Bow is amazing to play around with in the 3DS version since you can all aim around you with moving the 3DS.

Snow Temple – Spirit Tracks

Review of this game

The Snow Temple in Spirit Tracks is quite a lot of fun. Not only were the towns and the journey towards the dungeon a lot of fun and memorable.

I also really love how the boomerang is used in this dungeon. This time, it’s not only to hit far off switches or anything of that sort. Oh no, it’s something that bows can’t replace. It’s to create a temporary ice path to be able to cross the water.

In addition to that, the final boss was a fun fight as well. I know that the concept of the boss has been done before in the Zelda series, but it was executed pretty well.

Sand Ship – Skyward Sword

First impression article on Skyward Sword

Let me be clear on one thing. I’m in the camp of  “Skyward Sword is a good but not great Zelda game.” So, that said it’s time to talk about why this dungeon is so enjoyable.

On this ship, you have amazing fights. One where you have to get a strong pirate off the ship like shown in the screenshot.

But what I enjoy the most is how the time stone mechanic is implemented here. While Fi ruins some of the puzzles, I learned that by pressing A quickly, I wasn’t able to read all her dialogue, so a lot of those puzzles weren’t spoiled me for.  Yeah.

Also, I was able to make great use of the guest jar, that brought back memories of another handheld Zelda game, the Minish Cap. Also, this dungeon gave me the bow and arrow, the proved quite useful in this dungeon.

I remember finishing this dungeon while I was in a big Skype call with a lot of my friends. We were waiting for somebody to fix his Minecraft server that went down. So, we all decided to play other games. The chaos of everybody talking about what happening in their game was hilarious and memorable at the same time.

Fortress of Winds – Minish Cap

Review of the game

If it isn’t clear enough with my nickname, I’m a cat lover. So, the fact that the dungeon item is sort of cat claws (called the Mole Mitts, but they are Cat Mitts in my mind) is just amazing.

I love this dungeon a lot because it provided me with one of my favorite items in the game. I only wish I was able to use it on more spaces.

I also love how the final boss of this dungeon isn’t defeated by the dungeon item alone. You have to use your bow as well. But what makes the dungeon even more memorable is what happens right after you beat it. Yeah. That was something strange for a Zelda game.

Earth Temple – Wind Waker

Medley is one of my favorite character in the Wind Waker. So, when we both tackled the Earth Dungeon in the Wind Waker, I was such a happy camper.

In this dungeon, you get the Mirror Shield. But the puzzles with it are more tricky than in Ocarina of Time. Since you have two mirrors now to work with.

The final boss is pretty interesting as well since you have to beat all the little ghosts to avoid them going back into one big ghost… I still have a déjà vû for that.

Jabu Jabu’s Belly – Oracle of Ages

Review of this game

So, do you remember the Water Temple from Ocarina of Time? I do as well, and I’m not that big of a fan of it. What I’m a big fan of is the 2D version of it.

One of the last dungeons you do in the Oracle of Ages game is inside Jabu-Jabu’s Belly. Thankfully, you don’t have to escort Ruto in this one. It’s the Water Temple with the Jabu Jabu Inside theming.

If you don’t know what you are doing, you can easily get turned around. But, the creativity in this dungeon is so much fun. Also, the final boss of this dungeon is such a great one. It’s one that tests your reflexes and I like that a lot!

Explorer’s Crypt – Oracle of Seasons

Review of the game

At the beginning of Oracle Of Seasons, I found the beach area quite fast. So, I always wanted to continue right there.

So, when I had to dungeons left in Oracle of Seasons, I was so happy to finally tackle the Beach area.

The build-up towards the dungeon is great and the dungeon itself too. You also have to solve puzzles that test your reflexes and knowledge of the items you acquired. It’s also one of the longest dungeons in the game.

While the boss and mini-boss aren’t too difficult, I still had a great time in this one.

Final thoughts

I love the Zelda series and I can’t wait to play more. There are a few Zelda games I’m close to finishing but haven’t fully beaten yet.

Trying to rank my favorite X in the Zelda series is always a hard task, since every game has it’s amazing and memorable moments. I wasn’t able to put dungeons from Breath of the Wild or Majora’s Mask on here. And that’s a real shame.

Also, to avoid me making all the spots related to the handheld games, I also decided that I was allowed to pick one dungeon per game. So, yeah.

In any case, that’s everything I wanted to say for this article. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article but until then, take care and have a great rest of your day!

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My favorite gaming music #18: Chilling with music

More gaming music articles.

So, I wanted to share some tracks that I love in the games I have played. One of my favorite music genres is soundtracks actually. At work, I listen to various streaming websites that play gaming music 24/7. And in this series on my blog, I pay tribute to my favorite tracks. The rules are simple. In each article, I’m allowed to talk about only one track per franchise and I only talk about the original track that you can hear in-game. Oh, feel free to post a comment when you see me posting a song twice. In any case, feel free to also post a comment with your favorite music and/or your opinion on my chosen tracks for this article. So, enough introduction. It’s time to talk about some new music tracks! The theme of this article will be clear very soon. Ready? Go!

Pokémon Gold / Silver / Crystal (GBC) ~ VS. Lance

My review

So, back in 1999, you are sitting in your most comfy gaming spot. With a new pair of batteries in your Gameboy Color and with your favorite drink and snack beside you. You prepare for a big event in your Pokémon Journey since you have beaten the 8 gym leaders. Then you go and fight the Elite Four. After a tough fight, you finally end up at the Champion. After you chat with Lance, the battle animation starts. You slide in from the right, and Lance slides in from the left.

This is the final challenge of your amazing journey through the Johto region. The intro of the song gets you ready for a tense fight. But after a few notes, the song gets more intense. You try to focus on the battle and meanwhile, the song playing in the background is making the battle even more memorable.

Your young brain is so focused and drawn into this fight thanks to the atmosphere this track brings. Even when you notice that this track has some repetition in it, you ignore it and you get drawn into the fight more and more. When you defeated Lance, you continue your journey.

Then almost ten years later, when the remakes of these games come on the market, you do the whole journey again. But when you hit the fight with Lance, you get that strange feeling. Nostalgia. The remade track is all too familiar. You start to tear up thinking back of all the memories this game, the remake, the journey and the experience brought you. Well, that’s how it went for me at least.

The Legend Of Zelda – Skyward Sword (Wii) ~ Zelda’s Lullaby

First impression

I always played games on the latest Nintendo Gameboy or I played games on the PC. I fell in love with one series. The Legend Of Zelda series. I remember it well, I was in a big convenience store. I was in the games section and I saw the GBA port of the first Legend Of Zelda game.

I heard rumors about a game series that took the player on an adventure. An adventure to slay evil creatures and rescue the princess. They said it had a big open world full of secrets and dungeons.

The game was on sale. I begged my mom to buy it for me and after I went home, I didn’t play any other game until I had beaten that Zelda game. After that, I tried to collect all the Zelda games. Let’s skip ahead a few years until my graduation from high school. As a present, I got my very first console, the Nintendo Wii. I wanted to buy it since I was extremely hyped for the Zelda games that were coming out for it. I pre-ordered Skyward Sword, and admittedly; I didn’t regret it. I enjoyed myself a whole lot but something happened. When Zelda’s Lullaby started playing in that amazing orchestral version, not only my nostalgic bone got hit… My emotions as well. All the joy & memories I got from the Zelda series got to me. I placed the Wii remote in front of me and I just started at the scene. Tears coming up my eyes. That moment is one of the most memorable moments I got with the Zelda series.

Mirror’s Edge (PC) ~ Edge and Flight

Games I wished I finished (2013)

I bought this game a long time after it has been released. I bought it for almost three years after release. I was in college studying Computer Science. During a break, I went into the city together with a few students. When we went into a toy and games store, we saw three copies of this game for 5€. We decided to buy it.

One of the students is actually still one of my best friends. His name is MiseryLC. Well, his nickname at least. We both played this game in school during breaks on our school laptops. They were just strong enough. While we felt that the laptop was clearly overheating, we didn’t care. We played this game.

MiseryLC is pretty good when it comes to parkour in games. I’m a complete failure when it comes to pretty complex gaming puzzles. But strangely, this game drew me in. I started to get better at parkours. The game got it hooks in me. But then, I started to encounter the more graphics-heavy sections and my laptop started to struggle to run the game. So, I set the game aside.

But this year, I bought the sequel to this game. Called Mirror’s Edge Catalyst. So, I think it’s time to play through both games again. Just to get to complete Mirror’s Edge experience. It still surprises me that I play a game where the main mechanic is platforming and parkouring around. So, to honor this game because I like it a whole lot, I selected one of my favorite tracks from the soundtrack! Thank you EA & Dice for this excellent series.

Wrapping up

Thank you for reading this article. If you haven’t already guessed it, in this article I selected three tracks that mean a lot to me. Three tracks that have some history to me.

These three aren’t the only ones that have some history to me. But, the other tracks are for another article. I’m curious, what tracks have a personal meaning for you and why? Feel free to leave that in a comment too.

In any case, thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article on my blog, but until then; take care and have a great rest of your day!

Top 10 Wii games I played until now – Part 2

Part 1 (10 – 6)

So, it’s time to talk about my top 5 favorite Wii games. I was rather surprised by the warm reception of my previous article. I really thought that it would slip under the radar since the Wii is out for quite a while and it’s now kind of obsolete because of the Wii U. In any case, I don’t own my Wii U yet, but that day will come soon. I’m still deciding which game I’m going to buy first. It’s a draw between Zelda, Wind Waker – Hyrule Warriors and Bayonetta 2. I might buy one game and ask for the other one(s) for Christmas. But hey, now I’m going off-topic. It’s time to talk about MY favorite games on the Wii. I’m quite sure that I haven’t played a lot of very good titles since I focused myself on games I heard a lot about. Also, if you followed my blog for a long time, you might be able to guess some of my entries here. So, I hope that you are ready for this since I’m going to talk about a few amazing titles for the Nintendo Wii! And as usual, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the content of this article and/or the games. Feedback is always welcome. I use it to improve my blog. Oh, and feel free to leave your top 10 Wii games in the comments too. 

 

#5: Donkey Kong Country Returns

Before I came up with the idea for this article, I wanted to write a first impression about this game. But why is this game so high on my list? Well, that’s because when I play this game it gives me a vibe that I want to play on my SNES later. Why is this such important to me? Well, I love retro games. And when a game inspires me to play more retro games… That’s a good thing in my book.

This game is a sort of remake of the original Donkey Kong series. A series I have read some many articles and watched so many videos about. Like I told in an earlier article, I haven’t owned a console since the Nintendo Wii. I have played the Gameboy and PC when I was young. While I played a lot of games, I also wrote a lot of stories. So, honestly, I wasn’t that interested in consoles. Apart from the Nintendo64. Since one of my friends brought his one over to play with.

Retro Game Studios really lives up to it’s name. This game is even more proof, since it brings back memories of those times I played on a console in my childhood. But not that alone, this game is a rather solid platformer. I don’t play a lot of platformers since I’m not that interested in them. When I play a platformer, it must have a history or a certain gimmick. And this game combines both. This game has a history, it’s a remake of one of the best platformers ever made for the SNES. It also has a gimmick that sets it apart. Which is, when you are full health, you get Diddy, who gives you special perks.

If you haven’t played this game, what are you waiting for? Give it a jump.. Bad pun, I meant give it a play.

#4: WarioLand Shake It!

 Time for another shocker? This is the first Wii game I ever played. Yes, I was actually planning to buy a Wii for the Legend Of Zelda games, but the first game I bought was Warioland Shake It. Well, I know it under the name of Warioland: The Shake Dimension since I live in Europe.

Earlier I said that the only time I enjoy platformers is when they have a certain gimmick. And this game has that cover easily. It uses the motion controls of the Wii really well but doesn’t depend on them.

Personally, I think that the Wario games are better then the Mario games. Am I saying that Mario games are bad? Hell no, they are one of the best platformers in the genre. But the Wario games always add something to the mix. The stories are more varied and there is more variation in the enemies. I could try and explain why I think the Wario games are better then the Mario games, but hey… That’s comparing your favorite TV-series versus your favorite movie series. It are both things you watch but in reality they are two very different things.

This game has another thing going for it. When you are good at platformers, this game has additional objectives which make the game extremely hard in my opinion. You can’t take damage or you need to collect every coin. And with some brutally placed enemies, that’s very difficult.

Oh, I haven’t forgot about the shaking mechanic. That’s the most interesting of this game. Seriously, to get coins or healing items you need to shake things. Yup, this makes even defeating the smallest enemies worthwhile in some situations.

#3: Another Code R – Journey into lost memories

Oh my, I played this game in 2013 and still haven’t beaten it…? Well, the reason for that is that my SD card died where my save file was stored. I was really far into the game but then when I played it for the 2nd time, I ate something by accident that you needed in order to progress in the story. I think it was possible to progress even without that item but I deleted my save file. I didn’t feel playing through the game for a 3rd time for over a year.

But earlier this week, I started to replay this game. It’s such a shame that I didn’t start my 3rd playthrough earlier. This game is a very nice and realistic mystery novel. It continues where the DS game left off. It further fleshes out the story of the Robins family. Thrilling is the word I would use it to describe it.

I know that this game can be boring for some people. It’s somewhat slow paced and it doesn’t have a lot of “action” that you would find in other games. The gameplay is mostly running around a rather nice lake and forest area to solve puzzles that could happen in real life too. But the execution, writing, music, presentation and characters are what keeps this game together.

But the biggest reason that this game is so high on my list is a rather personal one with one of the main characters. I don’t feel comfortable talking about it on my blog believe me, this game touched me on a personal level. That’s why I put this game on the 3rd place on my list. If you want a great story and feel like playing an adventure game… Pick up this game as soon as you can. If you want to know more about my thoughts about the game, I linked my first impression article for you to read.

#2: Okami

Raise your hand if you didn’t see this game coming. This gem of a game deserves a high spot on everybody’s favorite Wii games list in my opinion. Explaining this game is rather difficult. The best explanation is, it’s a Zelda game in Japanese mythology with a Japanese hand-drawn art-style.

I have written a first impression about this game almost a year ago. This game is totally worth it to check out. While it released first on the PS2, I think that this game deserves motion controls. Since you need to draw on the screen or draw some objects, I think that this game would be quite a pain to play with a controller. But hey, I haven’t played this game with a controller and maybe those things are changed to work well on a controller.

This series of games needs more entries Capcom. I want to see an Okami 3! Seriously, this game is really addictive. I played this game and the sequel on the DS more times then I dare to admit. It’s a game I often bring up when I want to prove that games can educate or can be works of art as well. At the other hand, the story is neatly wrapped up in the end so a 3rd game would need to introduce more characters… It could go horribly wrong.

There were a few moments I didn’t like in this game. Some weapons make the main character glitch out real bad and some bomb mini-games.. Well, if you aren’t perfect, you won’t make it.

This game is one you have to play when you enjoy the Japanese culture. Also, when you are a big Zelda fan… You owe it to yourself to play this game. For more of my thoughts, I advise you to read my first impression article I linked for you guys to enjoy.

Honorable mentions

It was rather hard making this top 10. So, I had to cut out some great titles. Since they deserve to be mentioned, here are the other games that didn’t made the list. Well, most of them.

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure, Kirby: Return To Dreamland, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Fragile Dreams, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Red Steel, Boomblox, Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, No More Heroes 2, Super Paper Mario, Resident Evil Dark Chronicles, Pikmin 2, Pokémon Battle Revolution and Super Mario Galaxy 1/2.

#1: The Legend Of Zelda – Skyward Sword

If you follow my blog, you must have seen this one coming. A Zelda game as number one. The hardest part was deciding between Twilight Princess and this one. Both bring such different styles to the table, it’s was a difficult decision to make. Both games have different and enjoyable memories for me that made it even harder to decide.

But the difference was in the controls of Skyward Sword. How Link does the exact some movements you do with the Wii Remote blew me away. It felt like I was him. That I was part of this adventure.

I think it made it extremely clear how big of an influence this series is and was on me. The music of this game helped me through rough periods and it was the series I played the most as a kid. I even compared elements of the Zelda series to other games in it’s genre and got me interested in reviewing games. The Zelda games are also the main reason why I want to buy the Nintendo consoles. In the past I bought the newest gameboy to play the latest Pokémon on, but now those games are a close second. I bought a DS for Phantom Hourglass, I bought a Wii for Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword; and I bought a 3DS for Ocarina Of Time 3D. Now, I’m planning to buy a Wii U for Hyrule Warriors.

In any case, if you want to read about my thoughts of this game… I linked my first impression of this game. I have one thing to admit, I still haven’t beaten this game. But I think that the holiday season of this year might change that. So stay tuned.

Wrapping up

This list was extremely hard to put together. The reason I haven’t written this top 10 earlier was because I honestly thought that I didn’t play so much different Wii games. Looking back after writing this article, I’m surprised how wrong I was.

The Nintendo Wii is an amazing console and has an amazing library. I’m quite sure that I will enjoy the games I want to beat even more now since I start to realize that this console has still a whole lot of amazing games and fun moments up it’s sleeve. So, maybe in the future you will see even more articles on Wii games. If you want me to take a look at a certain Wii game, tell it to me in the comments and I will try to take a look at it.

In any case, this was a rather long article. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. And I hope to see you in another article in the near future! But until then, have a great day and game on!

First Impression: The Legend Of Zelda – Skyward Sword (Wii) ~ Golden Remote

Official site

It has been so long since I wrote an article about a Wii game. So, since I planned an article about a Zelda game this month, I decided to switch it with this one. That way I avoid using last month’s theme. I wish I could call this a review, but I haven’t finished this game yet. It’s quite a big shame. But I’ll explain the reason why. It’s because I can’t seem to beat one boss. Levias. Man, he isn’t easy. Then I got distracted by other games and yeah, I kinda put this game down. Yesterday I picked it back up and after playing it for a while, I decided to write an article about it. So, here it is! This game was actually the reason why I wanted my first console. Yeah. Loyal readers know that my first console I ever owned was my Wii. I have more been a gameboy kid. (That’s why handheld gaming is such a big focus on my blog.) Anyways, enough talking in this introduction. It’s time to delve into my opinions of this game before I beat it. As usual, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the game and or the content of this article. 

Navi is back? 

In this game, they thankfully dared to change around the usual story of Zelda being kidnapped. In this game it’s actually your goal to defeat the evil trying to destroy the land, while Zelda is supporting you.

It’s quite clear how they tried to do something different with this game. Honestly, it works for me. The story is full of amazing moments that can please any Zelda fan. I even got emotional during one or two scenes due to the pure nostalgia bomb that was dropped.

But why did I choose this subtitle? Well, that’s because one of the main complaints with the game is that Fi has a similar level of annoyance to Navi from Ocarina Of Time. While I don’t think that’s true, I do see where people are coming from. In my opinion, I think that Fi could have benefited from a bit more development. The lack of development is the main reason why Fi gets compared to Navi, I think. Also, she warns you if your Wii Remote batteries are almost empty. That is rather annoying since it already displays a small symbol in the bottom right corner. I think that Fi is a character with a lot of unused potential.

25 years of joy

This game has been released for the 25th birthday of the series. To various people, it was a disappointment, but I honestly disagree. This isn’t the best Zelda game out there yet it does manage to be one of the best titles in my book.

The story does feel genuine. I already talked about that, so let’s move on to the presentation. This is where this game truly shines. This game is a combination of the shell shading of “Wind Waker” and the more realistic  visuals of “Twilight Princess”. It works perfectly.

Thanks to this style, the game can be serious or less serious when it needs to be. I got truly sucked into the game various times. The animation has a lot to do with that too. Everything behaves like it would in real life. Thanks to the presentation you start to walk that thin line of believing that the world is real and alive. You start to forget that this is a game world.

So, it’s clear that I think that the game looks like eye-candy. I don’t know if it pushes the Wii to it’s limits, but honestly that doesn’t really matter. It needs to be a fun game to play. More on that later.

I haven’t talked about everything of the presentation yet. The music and sounds of the game. That’s part of the presentation too. Let me tell you, this game has no voice acting, like we are used from the Zelda series, but it does have an amazing sound design. The sound effects give a nostalgic vibe yet they feel new and fresh as well. The music is one of the game strongest points. I never have heard a more melodic, touching to veteran players, enjoyable, memorable… soundtrack in a game! It gets you in the right mood every time. It never gets boring to listen to one tune.

Wii Motion Plus

When you pre-ordered the game, you got a special disc of the concert of the Zelda music, a poster, a special box and a special golden Wii remote with the Wii Motion Plus. I honestly think that without the Wii Motion Plus controls the game wouldn’t have been as much fun as it is now.

I had moments where I felt that the Wii Remote was actually Link’s sword. Every little shake you did with the sword, Link actually did on screen.

The controls of this game are nearly perfect. While I feel that the controls for the bird rides could have been improved on, I have no other big complaints about the controls.

About the flying, you control the bird by the Wii Remote only. Now, for all other movement, you use the that other thingy… The nunchuck. This feels awkward from time to time. I can’t count on one hand how many times I tried to use the joystick of the nunchuck to try to move my bird. It might be my impression but I think that there is a lag between the moving of the controller and the bird.

Anyways, I think I’ll leave it here for my first impression. I realize that I haven’t talked about gameplay yet or more in depth about the presentation. But those things will be talked about more in depth in the review. (If I ever write it) I hope you enjoyed reading my first impressions of this game. I hope to beat it soon, so I can fully review this game. Thanks again for reading and until another article. Take care and game on!