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I’ve said it as recently as my last article; bosses are one of my favorite parts of Zelda games. They can be impressive in size and design, but it is not uncommon to ultimately find yourself underwhelmed. When it comes to bosses, nothing is more disappointing to me than an absurdly easy battle. Even an extremely frustrating battle is eventually worthwhile due to the rewarding feeling you get once you claim victory. Now, there are certainly going to be bosses absent from the list that may surprise you, but keep in mind that there are several easy bosses in the series, and only ten available slots.

It was quite difficult for me to decide how I would rank these bosses. I find them all almost equally as pathetic. But in the end, I decided to judge overall ease mostly by how easy I found it to avoid each enemy’s attacks. Lengthier battles do not necessarily equate to higher difficulty, however. For example, I found Koloktos of Skyward Sword to be extremely easy, however the battle takes upwards of three minutes simply because of how the fight is set up. The difficulty in locating weaknesses was not considered because, let’s face it, the Zelda series has never been coy about this. One last thing considered is how far into the game an easy boss appears. For example, Hothead would have made a decent second or third boss in Link’s Awakening based on difficulty, but being the last one before the final boss knocks his threat level down greatly. A boss that far into the game should be much more challenging. Of course, the ease of a battle is all a matter of opinion and level of skill, but I think we can all agree that these ten (except for one that may surprise you) were among the most laughable “fights” in Zelda history.

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Hello Zelda fans. Minish Pants here, with the first of hopefully many articles discussing our favorite parts of particular Zelda games. I’ve decided to start with Skyward Sword, as it is the freshest in my mind. I will eventually get around to all of them, in no particular order (unless a commenter asks nicely!) as I replay each game. The goal with these articles is to focus on the positive, and discuss amongst each other the best of each game. Even if you completely hate the game discussed, try to think of things about it that you liked. For instance, I’m not a particularly big fan of Phantom Hourglass, but when I get to writing about it, I will focus on the game’s strengths rather than weaknesses; what it did right, not what it did wrong. It’s fun to debate the flaws of Zelda and which games are better than others, but let’s remind ourselves why we love these games so much. Hit the jump to see what I felt were the best moments of Skyward Sword!

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As most of you probably know by now, during the Nintendo Direct live stream last week a sequel to A Link to the Past was announced for the 3DS. Eiji Aonuma, the executive producer of the Legend of Zelda games, has recently posted on Miiverse, and given a couple comments on the sequel to the Highly regarded classic.

Aonuma talks about how long the title has been in the works, and gives a short description of the game.

To see what he had to say, hit the jump!

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Hey! Listen! It’s time to dissect Navi! I’m sure many of you have dreamed of cutting up this lovable irritant from Ocarina of Time, but now it’s my turn! Navi is the blue fairy that accompanies Link on his adventure across Hyrule and through time itself… but never stops to help out. Many-a player have deemed Navi as annoying, though when I first played Ocarina of Time 3D, the only problem that I had with her was that she never helped, and felt only that she talked a lot. So, without further ado, let’s see why Navi finds it necessary to talk as much as she does.

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It seems to me that most Zelda fans are more anxiously awaiting Zelda Wii U than Zelda 3DS. I can understand this. The home consoles are more powerful, have unique controls, and are ultimately capable of much more. But c’mon, Zelda 3DS needs some lovin’ too! The 3DS is the most powerful handheld Nintendo system we’ve seen to date, and look what it did for Ocarina of Time. Think about it: another game with essentially the same graphics and gameplay, but with a brand new world, enemies, dungeons, and story? I would bet that such a game would please Zelda fans everywhere. It would utilize new 3D capabilities while taking us back to the glory days of Zelda when the Control Stick/D-Pad and buttons were the standard. As much as I loved Skyward Sword, I have to admit, I miss playing games on the SNES, N64, and GameCube controllers.

But I seem to be getting way ahead of myself here. We don’t even know the style in which this game will be presented. In case anyone is confused by what I mean by 2D and 3D, allow me to clarify: Like many other Zelda fans, I use the term 2D to refer to the top down, overhead view style of gameplay, which we’ve seen in titles such as The Legend of Zelda, A Link to the Past, and The Minish Cap. This style seems to be the standard with the older home console games (pre-Ocarina of Time), and every original handheld title. While this game will no doubt utilize 3D to create depth and layers, I use the term 3D to refer to the camera-controllable style games that have a 3D world. Examples include Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess. This seems to be the standard with almost every home console title since Ocarina of Time. Honestly, I don’t really care which style the game is presented in, as long as it’s a great game. Let’s discuss the merits of each style and how they could possibly utilize the 3DS’ capabiities.

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PAX East 2013 is over now but the memory lives on through pictures. For those of you who made it to Boston, MA for this annual expo of video gaming, CHEERS! For those of you who didn’t, don’t worry, I took lots of pictures for you. Even though there was relatively no new Zelda anything brought to us from the Nintendo booth at PAX East this time around, the fans brought all the Zelda we needed.

Aside from all the game reveals, demos, previews, shopping and cosplay my favorite thing about PAX was talking to the like-minded people. It was amazing to be amongst a group of such cool and interesting gaming enthusiasts. Despite the lack of Zelda related revelations, more than a few fans came equipped with a wide variety of Zelda gear and costumes.

Hit the jump to see a few of my favorite Zelda pics and my overall gallery of the Penny Arcade Expo!

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LIMITED TIME – Item no longer available.

ShirtPunch is always bringing more interesting and clever shirt designs daily, and every time they offer another Zelda design I am surprised all over again by how excellent many of them look. Today’s featured design by Pertheseus is probably one of the best yet.

Titled “The Journey of Courage,” this awesome-yet-affordable shirt features a cool and stylish mash-up of numerous themes from multiple games in the series including Wolf Link, the Master Sword, the King of Red Lions, Ezlo, Majora’s Mask, the Ocarina of Time, and more. Jump inside to see more!

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Do you have a passion for Zelda and writing? Did you realize the two could be combined? Here at Zelda Dungeon we work hard to provide nearly daily editorials exploring the many facets of the Zelda series thanks to a great team of volunteer writers.

If you’d like to join this fantastic team and you think you have what it takes, jump inside to discover the qualifications and find out how you can apply today!
 
 
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Majora’s Mask has always been a title that has stood out significantly in the Zelda franchise for many reasons, such as the emotions conveyed by the characters in the game, the setting and its presentation, and how NPCs interact with the world you play through, giving the universe a very unique feel. This has largely been accomplished through the psychology used in the conversations that occur throughout the game. Recently the folks of the Blog “The Why Button” have been going through the Nintendo 64 Classic and gone into detail about the setting, the characters, and how those factors helped to mold the world of Termina. There has already been a part one, and two, that detail Clock Town and its people, the blogs most recent post has gone into even further detail of the characters such as Gorman, and Guru-Guru, residing in the game and describe the meaning behind their conversations, Mentality, and more.

Hit the jump for the link, and more!

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Flyrule drops upon us all A Terrible Fate, a new album of wicked beats based on Majora’s Mask. This is Shag’s second album dedicated to the Legend of Zelda series after the first album, which focused on music from Ocarina of Time. His music brings us back to Termina with abstract remixes that will get your speakers bumping and put you in the groove. If you’re a stylin’ scarecrow in search of pleasant music then this is for you.

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With the recent announcements of both Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages for the Nintendo 3DS eShop, here at Zelda Dungeon we’ve started the process of updating much of our old game content for these two excellent titles. I’ve been working on upgrading the Oracle of Seasons Walkthrough, and I’ve happy to announce the first two chapters are now online. Over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll continue to update this guide, as well as upgrade our Oracle of Ages Walkthrough.

Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages both became available in Japan yesterday on February 27th, exactly 12 years after they initially released back in 2001. With the release coinciding with their 12th anniversary, to me it makes the most sense that for North America, we’ll probably get these games on May 14th, as that was when they released back in 2001. This is just my pure speculation, but it makes sense to me. Whatever the case might be, it’s nice to know they are on their way. Stay tuned for any additional news and guide updates concerning these two titles.

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Update #2: We are fully back online! Both the Forums and the Wiki are now back online and nothing was lost. The main culprit here was a hardware failure with part of the server. We got that replaced and after restoring some settings during troubleshooting, everything is back up and running. Thanks for your patience.

Update: The site and guides are now running at full capacity… for now. We are working on restoring the Forums and Wiki. Hopefully should be fixed shortly.

Hey guys, we are aware of the troubles with the website at the moment and we are working to get things all sorted out. The front page, news articles, and the walkthroughs are all accessible at the moment, however the website is loading rather sluggishly. The Wiki, and in turn the game index pages, as well as the Forums are currently not working.

A little patience is appreciated and we hope to get everything back up shortly.

Back in early 2012, I started to rebuild The Minish Cap Walkthrough that we have here at the website. This was shortly after the game was released as part of the Ambassador Program on the Nintendo 3DS. I thought that it was inevitable that it would eventually become available to the public for the 3DS. Well, over a year has passed and we are still waiting! In last months Nintendo Direct it was announced that Game Boy Advance games would eventually be released on the Nintendo Wii U e-Shop.

Nevertheless, the final chapter of the Minish Cap guide has since been completed, with this one covering Dark Hyrule Castle. The complete guide is now a 100% guide getting every heart piece, upgrade, and every optional item found along the way. It is filled with over 850 screenshots, helping to guide you along the way. While the guide itself is done, it isn’t exactly complete in that we will still be making improvements. We’ll eventually fancy up the side bars with additional side content, information, trivia, artwork, and game maps. Until then, this should do the trick as one of the best online guides for The Minish Cap.

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Instagram has become a staple application for almost every smartphone user. This application serves as a photo journal, allowing members to post photos of everything related to their daily lives. It’s grown in popularity that even celebrities are becoming apart of the photo-enthused community. Now, how does this relate to Zelda fandom you may ask? Well, follow the jump to find out more about this.

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In the Zelda community, Etsy remains a great outlet for Zelda fans to exhibit their merchandise. You can find the most unique and innovative items that are usually handcrafted by the seller. These items range in price and style, and you can find almost any Zelda product that will be the right fit for you. Now, another amazing Zelda item has made an appearance amongst the vast Etsy listings. Follow the jump to read more.

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Most people who visit Zelda Dungeon regularly will remember the Marathon that we hosted over the summer in which we live streamed every Zelda game. This included me playing through Ocarina of Time, which my band Dowsing incorporated the idea into a music video. “Midwest Living” comes off of our record, It’s Still Pretty Terrible, which we released last year. Today is the music video premiere of our latest track and you can find the video after the jump.

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One of the projects I started back in 2012 was upgrading The Minish Cap Walkthrough in anticipation for its inevitable release on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. Well, over a year has passed since the game was released as part of the Ambassador Program on the Nintendo 3DS, but yet, the game still isn’t readily available to public for purchase. I’m sure that announcement cannot be that far off. Seriously, this is a certain money maker for Nintendo, I wonder why it hasn’t been done yet?

Nevertheless, I completed the first four chapters in early 2012, but then went on an extended hiatus, working on other projects across the network. I’ve finally started back up again this year and today I have released Chapter 5, which covers the Palace of Winds. The guide is a 100% guide and is filled with detailed text and screenshots. Eventually I’ll fancy up the walkthrough a little bit, with nice maps and interesting facts on the sidebar, but for now, the guide works very well for what it is. I’ve only got one more chapter left to go, so I’m hoping to get that out rather soon! Let me know what y’all think of it.

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One of the most extraordinary things about the Zelda fanbase is the controversy over the art style of the games. The Zelda series is probably one of the most, or even the most, varying in this department of all video game series, and though we can often expect a different style in the next game, we can’t always be so sure of what exactly that style will be. So GenGAME is curious as to what you want, and they’ve setup a poll to track opinions. Hit the jump to vote!

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Everyone enjoys a relaxing night at home once in awhile where they can curl up on the couch with a good movie and a warm blanket (especially during the colder months). Now, one Zelda fan has created a quilt that will give these calm nights a little more adventure.

Follow the jump to read more about this.
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Earlier this month, Alex over at GenGAME got his hands on a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Darksi- I mean, just Darksiders II. If you don’t know already, this THQ/Vigil created title is heavily inspired by the Zelda series, and Mases has even called it ”The best Zelda game since Majora’s Mask.” And like any great game, Darksiders II pulls the good parts out of Zelda and makes plenty of improvements that perhaps the Big N could learn from. Hit the jump to read Alex’s analysis!

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For our very second Monday Comic Corner, we have a comic that perhaps all of us can relate to. Each of us has a Zelda game that was a very special first: the game introduced us to the series. Maybe for you older gamers, that magical moment as a child was when The Legend of Zelda was new and unique. It came on a gold cartridge in a gold box. (Bastian most likely has similar sentiments!) For a lot of kids, we shared these early memories with our moms and the amount of exhilaration built-up inside of us was too great to possibly express.

This brings us to our comic; hit the jump to read!

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Throughout the Zelda community, there has been a fair amount of fan art depicting Link and other notable characters in some of the most creative ways. These creations range from paintings to plush figurines, and now one talented fan has brought Link to life in an outstanding style. Follow the jump to read more about this.

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We all know how creepy and odd Skulltulas are. But why not have a poster of one above your bed staring at you making it harder for you to fall asleep?  Well a man who goes by Jofiel, and his REDBUBBLE page can make your wish come true. Jofiel explains that he remembers the first time he had ever faced a Skulltula, and what his first initial reaction was to his foe. He wanted to capture the emotions he felt that day onto his canvas. Jump in to see his work!

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On October 25th I was fortunate enough to attend the Symphony of the Goddesses concert at the Chicago Theater. Mases, my roommate Mike, and I made the trek to the theater through pouring rain. When we turned onto State Street we saw the light of the giant marquee that was illuminating the block. It read “The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses”. It was quite overwhelming to see that written on such a beautiful marquee. I never thought I would see something quite like that.

To add to my list of things I would never see, huddled underneath the light of the banner was a large group of Zelda fans trying to escape the rain. We walked around the crowd trying to see who had come to the show. The crowd was a mix of well dressed people, fans wearing Zelda merchandise, and some very interesting and awesome cosplayers. I saw a very well done Groose, which was awesome because it was probably the first time I had seen Skyward Sword cosplay. There was even a great costume of Ganon from the Legend of Zelda cartoon. The fans were showing their true colors.

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Do you have a passion for Zelda and journalism? Did you realize the two could be combined? Here at Zelda Dungeon we work hard to get you the newest Zelda news as fast as possible thanks to a great team of volunteer writers.

If you’d like to join this fantastic team and you think you have what it takes, jump inside to discover the qualifications and find out how you can apply today!
 
 
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It has been quite some time since we’ve publicaly updated any of our game guides here at Zelda Dungeon, but rest assured a lot of content is being worked on behind the scenes. Much of these content improvements involve the steady transition of some of our minor guides to our Zelda Wiki. The latest comes in the form of our Oracle of Seasons and Ages Magical Ring Guide.

Over the past week or so, I’ve been working on upgrading this page. Every single ring in the game has its own Wiki article, including a description of what the ring does, how it can be obtained, an image of the actual ring, and the in-game description. The main thing I learned in this process is that the Nintendo Power Oracles Guide is not very accurate at all when it comes to these rings. Even browsing the internet, I needed to refer to a handful of different guides just to get accurate information as many guides were either incomplete or incorrect on specific rings.

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Today’s fanart spotlight features an artist who makes creative fan creations and doesn’t restrict herself to any one medium. She’s made everything from Portal sugar cookies to Octorok needle felts, but today we’ll be focusing on her newest and most festive creation. Zelda pumpkins are not new the fandom, but littlemissysg has added her own unique twist with her Ganondorf Pumpkin.

She does an impressive job painting the Zelda antagonists mug on the pumpkin. That is no easy task when you consider how uneven the surface is, as well as the fact that it is a round object- not flat like a piece of canvas or paper. However, the most interesting part about this piece is the unique way she has incorporated the pumpkins stem into the design. Ganons ornate headpiece is beautifully translated, the base of the stem representing the metalwork, while the top is used to represent the gem.

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With cold weather quickly approaching, many people are beginning to pull the sweaters, jackets and hoodies out of their wardrobes. These styles are going to soon become necessities as the temperature continues to drop, and now you can enter this colder season with Link at your side. Follow the jump to read more about this.

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“Half Time” is what gives the football team a break but most of all lets the marching band show off their skill and what they have to offer. Marching bands all over the world learn their shows to preform for half time and they preform show after show trying to please the crowd as much as possible. The Ohio State marching band did just that, they learned a show that has left people speechless from sheer amazement. Preforming a video game show that is sure to blow you mind, the Ohio State band has hit over four million votes on YouTube and definitely deserves all the attention. Make the jump to see the show.

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Less than a week ago I made an update stating that our Zelda Wiki had surpassed the 2,600 article mark. Well, less than 7 days have passed and we have now cleared 2,700 articles. As of the writing of this post, the Wiki sits at 2,713 articles, with another 1,218 Wanted Pages waiting to be created.

One of the projects that I’ve personally been working on, is the Strategy Guides Directory. This is a collection of every single Legend of Zelda strategy guide that has been published, whether it be here in the United States, in Europe, or in Japan. I’ve got around 150 different Zelda strategy guides in my collection and I’m slowly but surely adding them to our Zelda Wiki. Currently the Strategy Guide page has over 65 guides listed. You can see the images in the gallery, but each guide has its own article, highlighting some of the features and the basic information.

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Less than a week ago I made an update stating that our Zelda Wiki had surpassed the 2,500 article mark. Well, less than 7 days have passed and we have now cleared 2,600 articles. As of the writing of this post, the Wiki sits at 2,605 articles, with another 1,236 Wanted Pages waiting to be created.

One of the projects that I’ve personally been working on, is the Spirit Tracks Enemies category. In particular, we have partnered with deviantART user TimoteiLOL, who has created over 30 fan artwork images for many of the enemies and bosses that appear in the game. You can see all of these glorious pieces in the new Spirit Tracks Enemies Gallery. Right in this post you can see one of my favorite art pieces in the form of a Yellow Spinut.

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There is a lot of amazing fan-made Legend of Zelda merchandise, and the best of these items can be found on Etsy, an online marketplace for products of all types. And yet again a dedicated Zelda fan has demonstrated their creativity and talent through a handcrafted medallion. Follow the jump to read more about this.

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The Zelda Dungeon Wiki has recently surpassed the 2500 article mark and we are continuing to surge forward! It was June 30th when I last updated about the Wiki, and it was then when we had just surpassed 2000 articles. Thus, we have added well over 500 articles in less than 3 months. We are still steadily transitioning much of our old site content over to the Zelda Dungeon Wiki.

Currently all of the game index pages from the original Legend of Zelda up until Spirit Tracks have been wikified. We have also setup placeholder pages for Zelda Wii U, Zelda 3DS, and The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest. We are going to continue converting much of game content over, along with populating the various drop-down menus with direct links to relevant wiki articles.

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Do you have a Zelda jewelry collection? Are you well acquainted with someone who loves jewelry reflecting the Legend of Zelda series? Well if you answered “yes” to one or both of those questions then this stunning Triforce necklace may be appealing to you. This special brass Triforce necklace is coated with 18k gold plating and you can check it out closely after the jump!

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The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses has spread world wide joy to all who were lucky enough to witness it. Going to cities all over the world, Zelda fans rejoiced as they got to enjoy the music that they have known to love, redone in a brand new ochestral syle. Nintendo, noticing all the excitment from all the concerts, desided to do a small show at the Nintendo World store in New York city.

This video shows the first movement of the symphony preformance recorded on a smart phone. It has a small intro before the actual music begins to play. Not all of the orchestra is there either, only a few violins, a viola, a cello, double bass, and a harp. Now just because there is not a full orchestra doesn’t mean that the full effect is gone. So if you want to see the video make the jump.

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