The Legend of Zelda series has always filled me with excitement. I love going on different adventures as Link. To an outsider, every game may appear the same but, for those of us who delve into the stories, we know that they are all very unique. Having said that, one thing remains the same in all Zelda adventures. They all feature awesome dungeons. For this blog, I'm going to reveal my five best Zelda dungeons.
When I reach the entrance to a Zelda dungeon, I am always in two minds. Part of me is excited, then the other part thinks: "great.....I'm going to get stuck!" As fans, we know that these sections of the game are not always the easiest and I've often come across many frustrating moments whilst trying to work out a puzzle in these tombs.
That said, looking back, I feel you can only praise the imagination that has gone into these Zelda dungeons and even though they are sometimes difficult, we don't stop playing.....we love them! Here are my favourites.
Thieves Town - Zelda: A Link To The Past
A dungeon in this title that is a particular favourite with many Zelda fans is Thieves Town (or Gargoyle's Domain) and that is because it had a slightly evil twist in the sense that you find what appears to be a trapped young girl who needs your help.
You lead her around the dungeon but she will only walk in the dark and stays out of the light... Has she forgotten to apply her make-up? Is she embarrassed about her looks? Suspicious girl behaviour... Well all is revealed when she is led into a room full of sunshine. For intrigued players, Link To The Past is available on the Wii Virtual Console.
The Great Deku Tree - Ocarina Of Time
This is the first dungeon in Ocarina of Time thus making it my first Zelda dungeon EVER! I had no idea what to expect and I certainly wasn't prepared for the disgusting Skulltulas swinging from their webs.
Thinking about it now still really creeps me out. It's a great introduction to the game and brilliant for new players. Being my first dungeon, it really stands out for me and gave me my first taste of the challenging puzzles that Zelda is famous for.
Water Temple - Ocarina Of Time
It's the dungeon itself! Residing at the bottom of Lake Hylia, Link must adorn the iron boots to reach the entrance. Also, much of this dungeon is set entirely under water so it shouldn't be attempted unless you are sporting the correct fashion item - The blue Zora Tunic.
I really like Lanayru Mining Facility from skyward sword. I thought the idea of changing the time with the timeshift stone was very unique. Also, the temple looked really cool when you were in the past.
That twilight princess dungeon is my favourite. Twilight Princess as a whole has really good dungeons. I also like Hyrule Castle in twilight princess.
The last dungeon in skyward sword should be on that list, it was awesome.
i loved snowpeak ruins - it doesnt really feel like a dungeon, and i loved stocking up on yeto's soup after finding pumpkins and the like... great atmosphere and makes you jump, especially the snow wolves, which i hate with a passion.
water temple is actually a really intriguing dungeon, and on he 3ds remake you can appreciate it more than on the n64, and it is really actually good.
i'm also quite fond of city in the sky in twilight princess, because it was weird and had a great change in atmosphere, as well as an odd layout and being massive. same also goes for the forest temple in ocarina.
i have three favourites really, which are all successive temples in twilight princess - temple of time, snowpeak ruins and city in the sky. out of them i'd probably go for city in the sky overall.
Seriously, no Skyward Sword dungeons?!
As my favourite Zelda game, I love all the Skyward Sword dungeons especially the Sandship, Ancient Cistern, Earth Temple and Fire Sanctuary.
Those dungeons were just so full of character. They were really fun and had epic music.
Wind Waker anyone? Forsaken Fortress?
The Tower of the Gods in Windwaker is probably my favourite. I also really like the end of the Earth Temple (also Winwaker) where you have to push all the mirrors about to the reflect the light around the room.
The Lanayru Mining Facility and the Sandship from Skyward Sword were good too. The timeshift stones were a great idea.
I don't really consider the Great Deku Tree or Water Temple to be among Ocarina of Time's best dungeons (Spirit Temple and Forest Temple nail it, easily), but Snowpeak Mansion is a pretty good choice.
Cool list. Though, personally, I always hated that twilight princess dungeon up there. Except for the soup. I love the soup.
I'm not sure if I can think of my top 5, since there are so many amazing ones...so ill just give a list of 5 from the top of my head.
The final temple in skyward sword. If you've played it, you know why it's so spectacular. If you haven't, then I won't spoil the surprise.
The water temple in ocarina of time. Kinda for the reasons mentioned above. It was tough, yeah. But i also love it for that. As a kid I used to play through it repeatedly, finish then restart to do it again, just so that I oculd get the layout totally memorised. Great stuff!
The ancient cistern in skyward sword. Up to this point I wasn't really enjoying skyward sword much, but this dungeon put a big happy zelda fan smile on my face. It reminded me kind of like a mash up of an OOT temple and a MM temple, albeit it a bit easier than anything in those games. The boss was awesome, too.
The snowpeak temple in majora's mask. This temple seriously screwed with me when I was a kid. Nowadays I don't find it so hard, but it still gets a mention for messing me around a lot. Great temple, with a rather cool boss battle.
The spirit temple in ocarina of time. This was just so much fun! You got to go through it as young and old link, it had a cool soundtrack, the boss was awesome, again, and had a funny set of dialogue to go with it...what's not to like?
All of these are better than any Skyward Sword dungeon.
the final skyward sword dungeon was cool partly because of how it appeared and the fact that you could move all the rooms around, i mean seriously i was really stumped looking for another station to shift the rooms, although leaving and re-entering the dungeon was tedious annd when i appeared in a silent realm like place i thought `oh god not another silent realm!` luckily there were no guardians
i realy liked the Deku Tree, brings back so many memories.
Snowpeak Mansion is a good choice. Dungeons I specifically enjoyed are:
Hyrule Castle - LTTP
Desert Colossus - OOT
Pirate Stronghold - SS (Because it's only short and I liked the Time Stones)
Cant think of any others off the top of my head.
I really liked the Spirit Temple (Ocarina) mainly because you have to do part of it as child Link. Being Child Link in an adult temple makes you realise how far you've come since the Deku Tree.
Also Gannon's castle in Twilight Princess.
I don't think anybody has mentioned the Minish Cap yet! The first dungeon in this game (Abbey, I think. Let's just call it the Forest Dungeon) is brilliant because not only is there a jar that fires wind at people, the boss fight is also amazing and somewhat genius. There are a few other master strokes of masterry-ness in this dungeon as well, like the rollling barrell and the lilypad boat.
Have to admit that I really did love Thieves Den and Snowpeak Mansion, but my favourite dungeon is probably Great Bay from Majora's Mask. Swimming around as a Zora is tremendous fun! The first Hyrule castle bit from Link to the Past is a great introduction to the game, too.
Shoutouts for the Forest/Fire/Shadow Temple in OTT the dodongo cave was as child link
I've stated this before over all Twlight has better temples/dungeons than Skyward -- IMO Skyward's dungeons are all boring and predictable and very similar to ones in previous games.
My fravourite one from the Wii games is Arbiter's Grounds and probably one of the better bosses.
I'm a fan of Link's Awakening at the minute, so the Colour Dungeon is my favourite. It's designed with the system in mind (even if it is many years old now) and there's an optional (optional goodies always seem like a bonus to me) red or blue tunic at the end, which really help in the game.
My favourite might actually be Ancient Cistern from Skyward Sword - the game's water temple! Crazy, I know, but it was just so ridiculously fun and the zombie-infested underworld gimmick was awesome.
The great deku tree, yet none of the Skyward Sword dungeons? The SS dungeon are pretty much all top class but aside from those, the only dungeons that really stand out were Twilight Princess's final Hyrule Castle dungeon, Phantom Hourglass's Temple of the Ocean King and Ocarina of Time's Forest Temple and Shadow Temples. Though they only really stand out 'cause they were quite scary on first playthrough.
One of my top favourite dungeons? City in the sky!
It's style pays homage to spyro a little, duo clawshots and the boss was tricky but fantastic.
I can understand why you put the Great Deku Tree as one of your favourites Colette it was my first Zelda dungeon as well. I can't remember if the Skulltulas scared me the first time i saw them but the redeads certainly did!
I do wonder if the original Water Temple had featured the extra bits that were included in the 3DS re-make if it would be mentioned as much as it is. I got lost in the Water Temple as well the N64 version was so confusing with the 3 different levels and four exits off each one just made it hard to work out where you were. People whose first experience of Ocarina of Time was the 3DS version will of enjoyed it more but whichever version you prefer you have got to love that music!
As for my favourite dungeons i would have to say Dragon Roost Cavern was really enjoyable. The cel shading style of Wind Waker made the dungeon look lovely and the Grappling Hook was good fun especially when you used it during the boss fight to swing on Valoo's tail.
My other favourite dungeons would be Spirit Temple as it just seemed so mysterious and more recently the Fire Sanctuary in Skyward Sword which had some tough puzzles in and contained a boss that you had to really concentrate on in order to defeat.
In Twilight Princess i would have to say City in the Sky because 1) Link glides around while holding Ooccoo a weird chicken like creature and 2) you fight the dragon Argorok during a thunder storm. What more could you want from a dungeon?
Ocarina of Time: Deku Tree, Dodongo's Cavern, Inside Jabu-Jabu's Belly and Spirit Temple.
Twilight Princess: Forest Temple, Goron Mines, Arbiter's Grounds and Snowpeak Ruins.
Wind Waker: Dragon Roost Cavern, Forbidden Woods and Tower of the Gods
In my opinion Twilight Princess had such boring gameplay and such boring, rubbish and uncreative dungeons.
I must say that Inside the Deku Tree was my first Zelda dungeon as well, and as OOT was so many peoples first ever Zelda game, by that virtue alone it has to be one of the greatest.
My faviroute is probably the Sandship from Skyward Sword. But then I adore Stone Tower Temple, Tower of the Gods, The Spirit Temple, the Forest Temple (From Ocarina) and the Ancient Cistern, the Fire Sanctuary in Skyward Sword (which reminded me an awful lot of The Stone Tower Temple).
I hate the Graveyard dungeon with all the awful Poes at the end of OOS, and The bloody Shadow Temple and Beneath the Well (those two are even worse in Master Quest!), The horrible Lanarayu Mining Facillty and some from The Legend Of Zelda.
Having said all this I admit I've always liked The Water Temple from OOT, and I have never understood why people find it so damn Hard!
I don't think being on the moon in Majora Mask qualifies as a dungeon...
I loved the temple of time in Twilight Princess, the onl annoying part was the scales puzzle.
My favourite Dungeons are the snow mansion from Twilight Princess and The Gerudo Temple from Ocarina of Time. Bost of those temple have something unexpected in them. In the Snow Mansion, the boss battle is the Yeti's wife and in the Gerudo Temple, you have to be young Link and adult Link. And the two witches are actually Ganondorf's Mother! (As I can remember).
To any people posting "Where is ___ dungeon", remember that everybody likes different dungeons and just because one is your favourite it might not be the same for the blogger.
I would say the Water Temple from OOT on N64 also drove me nuts but I really liked the Forest Temple from OOT.
Twilight Princess really excelled at dungeons in my opinion, so really any of the ones from that game could be considered favourites. If I had to pick one from that game, I'd go for Palace of Twilight, I loved the theme in general, and also the way it had 'stages' to it, like retrieving the sol for the Twili people at first, and then making your way through the main palace to Zant's throne.
I also like dungeons that have a spooky sort of atmosphere to them, and the two that did that for me are Forsaken Fortress from Wind Waker and Ghost Ship from Phantom Hourglass. There is something genuinely creepy about them, not helped by the fact there are enemies you can't kill and have to hide from.
Lastly, Level 9 from the original Legend of Zelda. It's by far the biggest dungeon in the game, and something of a maze, and I spent so long figuring out how to get around it, I think the layout is burned into my conciousness. It's pretty challenging as well, sometimes I just can't get the Wizzrobe fights right.
A great top 5 Collette; has led me to try to think of mine. So, in no particular order ...
- The Forest Temple (OOT), the music freaked me out a little but I really enjoyed the gentle challenge of it.
- The City in the Sky (TP), once again REALLY odd music but there were so many interesting dynamics and puzzles throughout the whole of the dungeon.
- Tower of the Gods (WW), an awesome dungeon!! The water level puzzle throughout was a real problem for me the first time though, but I refused to give up on it. Gave me so much joy when i finished it.
- The Spirit Temple (OOT), a completely brilliant and very well-designed dungeon. The dynamic of forcing Link to return in two different times really added to how awe-inspiring this was.
- Sandship (SS), this place would have originally gone to Catfish's Maw (LA), but the clever use of the Timeshift Stone throughout this one is very VERY well executed.
There we go!
i completely agree with snowpeak ruins, i LOVE ice themed areas
im also quite fond of the sandship, the wind temple, the spirit temple and stone tower temple
I'm not sure I can forgive you for including the Water Temple. I can only assume you're some kind of saddist.
Going by the "first dungeon" logic, mine would be Tail Cave from Link's Awakening. Another favourite from that game is the Eagle's Tower with it's Wrecking Ball puzzle (hypocrite much?).
Yet another great Dungeon is the Dark Hyrule Castle from Minish Cap with its multiple epic Darknut battles
I'd also second the previous suggestions of the Tower of the Gods from Wind Waker, the Dodongo's Cavern and Forest Temple from Ocarina of Time, and the Lanayru Mining Facility and Sandship dungeons from Skyward Sword.
Not gonna lie the final dungeon in SS was incredible and i have no idea how it cant be up there. I also really liked the sky dungeon in TP if only for the boss which was awesome. I'd also probably put Dragon Roost Island from WW and the Sandship from SS
I never realised that the lines on the water temple walls were guides (I thought they were purely for decoration)... that would have made that temple easier =D
Hi Guys,
Really love reading your comments. It's interesting how one persons favourite is another persons hell! haha
My top five...
Snowpeak Ruins (Twilight Princess) - Snowpeak Ruins is an obvious choice for me. It plays with the idea of "what makes a Zelda dungeon" to produce one of the most interestingly structured levels in a Zelda game. The relationship between Yeto and Yeta give it an emotional core, and the strangeness of the setting itself (something that does not go unnoticed by Midna) helps to make this unique and special.
Forest Temple (Ocarina of Time) - Like many others, Ocarina of Time was my first Zelda, and Forest Temple is my favourite dungeon in the whole game. From the creepy music, to the twisted corridors, to the superb boss battle - which also provides one of Ocarina's most iconic moments - all work to make this atmospheric and involving. After the child Link portion of the game, Forest Temple especially feels like it's stepping things up a gear in terms of gameplay.
Ancient Cistern (Skyward Sword) - After THAT fetch quest, I was feeling a little weary, but then Ancient Cisterns came along and made everything right again. It's Zelda level design at its absolute best, and features some rather excellent puzzles, courtesy of the whip (my favourite item in Spirit Tracks, making its glorious return here) and the giant central pillar. The idea of the ancient zombified bowels juxtaposed against the elegant spa of the upper level is a neat gimmick and altogether this level is one that shines brightest amongst Skyward Sword's impressive set.
Forbidden Woods (Wind Waker) - I really like the idea that this used to be the Koroks home but since became overrun by evil monsters. The Deku leaf is one of the coolest items in the game, and is put to great use here. Like the rest of Wind Waker, the Forbidden Woods has great aesthetic design, and also introduces one of the cutest characters to ever grace a Zelda game, Makar.
Hyrule Castle (A Link to the Past) - This earns a place in my top five for three reasons. The setting itself (it's Hyrule Castle!), the superb music (one of the most iconic 16-bit tunes) and a wonderful boss battle which went on to form the basis for later bosses in the series.
The (mini)dungeon in the graveyard in Minish Cap was awesome because it was basically a throwback to a dungeon from the original, music and everything.
The fire temple in Twilight Princess was awesome once you had the bow and really sold me on the Wiimote pointer, I can't imagine it was anywhere near as much fun in the Gamecube version.
And I'm not sure if these qualify as proper dungeons but the pirate fortress from Majora's Mask and the pirate fortress from Spirit Tracks are really good fun (for completely different reasons).
The Sand Ship dungeon in Skyward Sword has very recently jumped to the top of my list for Zelda dungeons. The fact that it was a ship gave it a different aesthetic to other dungeons and the puzzles inside were pitched just right: not too easy, but difficult enough to require some thinking. I really did feel a sense of accomplishment each time I progressed further. What more could you want from a Zelda dungeon?
My top five in a random order is:
Spirit Temple
City in the Sky
The last one in skyward sword
Forest Temple
No others really stand out
I loved the first 3 dungeons in Twilight Princess (Forest temple, Goron mines and the Water temple), but some of the later ones weren't as good... I didn't really like arbiters grounds or the temple of time, but it's still my fave zelda game