Ocarina of Time Dungeons: Dodongo’s Cavern

This is the second editorial in this series and so we will discuss the game’s second dungeon, Dodongo’s Cavern, my personal favorite of the game’s Child Link dungeons. This dungeon is visited in order to defeat its boss, King Dodongo, and purge it of the ironically invading Dodongos so the Gorons can gather food there. Why it’s called Dodongo’s Cavern if it’s not supposed to have Dodongos in it, we will never know.

Dodongo’s Cavern is arguably one of the series’ most generic dungeons, taking place in… a cave. Or a cavern, I guess. It’s essentially a volcanic cavern, and there’s not a lot else to say about it. It’s got some stone structures and some metal and bridges, making it almost resemble a mine in some parts, and it has its iconic gigantic Dodongo skull in its central chamber. In the past I’ve complained about the generic thematic design in some of the series’ dungeons, but I’ve usually accepted them when the themes are well executed, as they are here. There’s also the fact that Ocarina of Time was the first example of a game that tried to break out of the generic dungeons, so it wasn’t at a point in the series where we would or should have expected anything beyond a generic maze with stone walls.

In fact, Dodongo’s Cavern being a cavern instead of a building was fairly original for the series at the time. While Ocarina of Time’s temples returned to the idea of having all the dungeons in buildings, the Child Link portion of the game seemed to go to great lengths to make sure all the dungeons deviate wildly from that; while Dodongo’s Cavern probably has the tamest concept of the first three by far, it was still relatively unprecedented at the time, its only predecessor being Turtle Rock from A Link to the Past.

And it executes its concept very well. The dungeon’s song is quiet and minimalist, much like the music of Inside the Deku Tree, but unlike that song, the Cavern’s is heavy and oppressive, working to sell the Cavern’s danger. The constant noise in the song reminds of the sound of air inside of a cave, and it just works very well to give the dungeon a good atmosphere and make its theme believable.

Meanwhile, as you navigate the dungeon, you spend the whole time wondering… “Where are all these Dodongos?”

It’s a sprawling dungeon. While only having two floors, its rooms are large and there are many of them. Large portions of your time in this dungeon are spent navigating long corridors made of many rooms on your way back to a specific exit in the central chamber where you can find a switch. Almost immediately upon venturing down the first of these paths, you encounter Baby Dodongos. The dungeon has many of these, but that still doesn’t answer the question about the adult variety. By this point new fans of the series are wondering what these things even are, whereas players of the original Legend of Zelda would be wondering… what are they going to look like in this game?

It’s unusual that adult Dodongos are only encountered in one room of the dungeon. It’s curious that Nintendo didn’t make them more prevalent, but it’s a small point. With or without many Dodongos, there’s a large amount of foes in this dungeon.

In fact, Dodongo’s Cavern is a very hostile place. The first dungeon of the game was designed to be a tutorial, but thankfully its second dungeon doesn’t pull any punches. There are many hazards here, from the lava to the blade traps, and many enemies to contend with. Since it has only two floors but tons of rooms, a huge portion of the ground you have to travel is horizontal, making this dungeon into a sprawling trek, but with enough good design to be forgiving and let you quickly return to later portions of the dungeon if you end up at the beginning again. Its length and its danger make it a challenge in concept, if not in practice; hard or not, these elements come together to make the dungeon seem like a deadly journey.

The boss, King Dodongo, is sadly not particularly noteworthy, being a relatively easy boss in my eyes. He is still a fitting boss for the dungeon, with a fitting and different battle song that he only shares with Volvagia, and a retro weakness pulled straight out of the first game. He also performs the much needed duty of padding the number of Dodongos fought in this dungeon!

All in all, a solid dungeon. Harrowing, at least in concept, but very enjoyable. While it doesn’t truly invent anything on the dungeon formula, nothing about it is old or boring, and it executes what it does very well. It’s my personal favorite of the Child Link dungeons because it improves on the design and challenge from Inside the Deku Tree and feels a lot more believable than the dungeon I’ll cover next time, Inside Jabu-Jabu’s Belly. When I first played Ocarina of Time, Dodongo’s Cavern was the dungeon I spent the most time in and the most thought on, so it sticks in my mind.

But what about you? Did you like the dungeon? Did you think it failed to be thematically impressive or interesting, or was it fine for you? Did you think it was challenging or at least felt challenging? Do you think it needed more Dodongos? Tell me in the comments!