The Legend of Zelda Mega Review Part IV: The final dungeon

So, you have completed the largest part of the quest, your Triforce is complete, your heart containers are full and your item list is complete. "Just one more level to go", you think, "how hard is that?". 

"Spectacle rock is an entrance to Death" -Old Man

"The Skull" is one huge dungeon

Level 9, aka "The Skull", is the mother of all dungeons, with a whopping 64 rooms to explore, tons of secrets and lots of underground passages for you to get lost in an infinite loop. This dungeon is as vast as half the Overworld.

I can now get to Ganon with my eyes closed, but when I played it for the first time, it took me 20 days or so to find the items and Ganon in there. Remember, no Internet and no walkthroughs back then. I will give you a full walkthrough of this dungeon as this level cannot be summarized like the previous ones.

The key items here are the red ring that makes Link take half the damage than when wearing the blue ring and the silver arrow that replaces the old arrow and is needed to defeat Ganon.

Level 9 is located in screen F1 and its entrance is revealed by bombing the left rock of the formation called "Spectacle Rock". Enter and let's get going.

The Red Ring

Let's find the red ring first. From the entrance go 2 screens up, bomb the wall on the left and go through. Kill the worm enemy Lanmola and go down the stairs. Then go right 2 rooms, 1 down, then bomb the wall and go right one room, again bomb the walls to go up two rooms. This room has a secret passageway. Reveal it and get the red ring. 

The Silver Arrow

Silver arrows you say? From the dungeon entrance go up 2 rooms, 1 left, down the stairs, then 2 right, 1 up, bomb the wall and go 1 left. Kill all of the enemies in this room, then push the block to reveal a passage. Go down the stairs and then go 2 left. Go down the stairs in this room, then bomb the top wall to go 1 up. Kill all the enemies in this room, push the block (you must know which one by now) to reveal a secret staircase and hello silver arrows!

Now let's go and find Ganon. From the dungeon's entrance go 2 up, 1 left and through the secret passageway. Go right 2 rooms, 1 up, 1 left and through the secret passageway in this room, then 2 left, 1 up, 1 left and 2 up. Kill the enemies and push block to reveal another secret stairway and go down. Bomb the left wall and go through, and in this room you get to go down another secret passage. You are now one room away from Ganon, time for a mini-boss fight. Patra, the mini boss, is a flying eyeball with lots of little baby eyeballs flying aroung it. Kill all the small eyeballs with your sword and then stab Patra a few times to beat it. Go up and face the prince darkness himself, its evil majesty, Ganon.

Ganon, the dark prince: When you see Ganon, you'll think "Wtf, he's huge and invisible, how am I going to beat him?". Relax, Ganon is actually pretty easy to kill. Here's the strategy:

The Dark Prince himself, Ganon

Ganon will circle around Link and shoot fireballs. Let him appear a couple of times without moving to see how it goes. Then you can predict where he'll appear and you'll be able to stab him. Stab him 3 times, he goes brown and stays on screen for a little bit. At that time shoot a silver arrow at him. That's it. 

Another way to do it is to move left and right all the time and stabbing at each step. It's easier that way and you'll kill him in no time.

When Ganon dies, the Triforce of Power appears standing on his ashes. Get it and enter the next room. Zelda is in there, surrounded by fire. Take the flames out using your sword and go rescue her. "Thanks Link, you are the hero of Hyrule", she says. Watch the credits and BAM! Another quest pops up, way more difficult than the one you just played, but we'll go over it at another time.

I hope you liked this Mega Review-mini walkthrough of Zelda, the best game on the NES and the best game ever! Thanks for reading.

-NES Cat