Daily Debate: Is The Wind Fish’s Egg a Suitable Climax For Link’s Awakening?
Posted on April 27 2024 by Nick Miller
Something Zelda games almost always get right is their endings. An epic clash with the big bad is typically preceded by a series of challenges that put everything you’ve learned to the test. These include grueling fights with the biggest enemies in the game and puzzles that require the use of nearly every item you’ve collected on your journey. Even open-ended games like Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom have the path to the boss littered with combat encounters that will test everything you’ve got. There are a few Zelda games, however, that break from this trend; the most notable being Link’s Awakening.
Instead of an all-encompassing final dungeon to round out the experience, Link’s Awakening gave us the Wind Fish’s Egg, which is pretty much just the Lost Woods. The player is presented with paths in each cardinal direction and they must follow the correct sequence in order to proceed. While the original Zelda and other games like Super Mario Bros. used a similar mechanic previously, Zelda hadn’t yet established it as a series trope before Link’s Awakening. As such, it could still have been considered somewhat novel for the time, even if players may have seen it at least once before. Even then, it was the only challenge preceding the fight with the Nightmare. Is that really a suitable conclusion to the game? Does one Lost Woods puzzle do enough to tee up the battle for Koholint against the Nightmare?
Despite the Wind Fish’s Egg being home to the final boss, one could argue that Turtle Rock was the true final dungeon of Link’s Awakening. It brings back bosses from previous dungeons and it makes liberal use of Link’s entire inventory. Everything you’ve learned up to this point is put to the test in what is one of the most well-rounded dungeons in the series. The only problem is that it isn’t clearly packaged as the final dungeon. With the Zelda standard being that the game’s final boss is housed inside its own dungeon, it’s natural for players to expect something to come after Turtle Rock. So, if we were to view Turtle Rock as the final dungeon, then Link’s Awakening‘s climax is more than suitable. However, if you understandably consider the Wind Fish’s Egg the final challenge, then the climax just falls flat.
So, what do you think? Does Link’s Awakening need another endgame dungeon? Does Turtle Rock adequetly fill that roll? Or, did Link’s Awakening drop the ball, fumbling what otherwise could have been a more climactic conclusion? Let us know in the comments below.
Nick is a writer for Zelda Dungeon and a longtime fan of the Zelda franchise. In his free time, he enjoys fishing, archery, skateboarding, and some good ol’ fashioned family time. He’s an advocate for physical media and an avid video game collector. His favorite Zelda game is Ocarina of Time, though Breath of the Wild and the Link’s Awakening remake are close contenders.
