There are plenty of reasons to love The Legend of Zelda. Nintendo’s hit action-adventure series has always been one of its best and consistently innovates on its basic formula to wow fans with inventive new gameplay. However, one of the marquee features in any Zelda game is the dungeons. Delving into these mysterious dungeons is where most of the best gameplay happens. You’ll solve puzzles, fight bosses, and test your navigation skills. While every dungeon has its challenges, only a few can stand out as the toughest in the series. These dungeons will put your skillset to the test in more ways than one.
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Here are the five toughest dungeons in The Legend of Zelda‘s long history.
5) Water Temple – Ocarina of Time
Here’s the thing about the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time: it’s much more tedious than it is difficult. Don’t get me wrong, this dungeon gave me just as many fits as everyone else, but you’re much more likely to struggle from frustration than pure difficulty. There’s just so much backtracking.
It still has to rank on this list because it was one of the most difficult dungeons to get through, but I think it’d be a mistake to give it the top spot. Despite being the dungeon most players talk about when discussing its difficulty, I think its challenge has become slightly overrated by fans. Granted, playing the Master Quest version ups the difficulty, but I still wouldn’t rank it much higher.
4) Death Mountain – The Legend of Zelda
Death Mountain is one of the biggest slogs in the series. Early Zelda games derived much of their difficulty from throwing tons of enemies at you on each screen, and Nintendo takes that philosophy to another level for the final dungeon. Death Mountain is jam-packed with baddies, including a final showdown against Ganon.
However, the real challenge with this dungeon is that you’ll need to fight through more than 50 levels to reach the final boss. It’s not just that the dungeon is filled with enemies; you’ll also need to steel your resolve to keep on going for what can feel like hours. This is as much an endurance race as it is a battle against tough enemies like those dastardly Wizrobes.
3) Trial of the Sword (Master Mode) – Breath of the Wild
The Trial of the Sword might be stretching the definition of a dungeon, but Breath of the Wild is constantly doing that anyway, so I think it counts. For this gauntlet, you’ll need to fight through 54 floors of baddies to power up the Master Sword, turning it into a devastating killing machine.
That’s even more difficult because you start the trial without anything. You’ll need to gather resources while working your way through the dungeon. It’s hard enough in normal mode, but if you bump the difficulty up to Master Mode, it becomes nearly impossible. If you get through this one without using a guide, you definitely deserve that powered-up Master Sword.
2) Eagle’s Tower – Link’s Awakening
Eagle’s Tower kind of sits in a similar place to the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, in that there’s a ton of backtracking, and most of the difficulty comes from it being annoying. The reason I’m putting it this high is that those frustrations come from some of the most diabolical trap placements the Zelda team has ever used.
See, there’s a ton of puzzles to solve in Eagle’s Tower, many of which require you to carry things around. When Link’s carrying something, your attack options are limited, and the developers decided to fill Eagle’s Tower with dozens of traps and enemies. Trying to navigate all of that while remembering where everything is a frustrating challenge. You’re probably better off using a guide to help figure out how to navigate Eagle’s Tower’s annoying puzzles.
1) Great Palace – Zelda II: The Adventures of Link
Zelda II almost feels like a spin-off for the series, thanks to how different it is. It also might be the hardest Zelda game fans have ever played. The side-scrolling combat is no joke, and if you don’t manage your level-ups correctly, you’ll quickly find yourself in a hole that you can’t come out of.
The Great Palace is the toughest dungeon in this difficult game. It introduces one of the most difficult enemies in the series’ long history, the Blue Fokkas. These bird soldiers have never been seen in another Zelda game, and that might be because they are so deadly. This was the breaking point for many Zelda fans. Thankfully, the series has, for the most part, toned down the difficulty to make it much friendlier to players. Still, if you’re looking for a Zelda challenge, give the Great Palace a try. I can almost promise you will not enjoy it.
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Images Courtesy of DC Comics
