ZD Top 5 – Miscellaneous Activities
Posted on April 09 2015 by Mark Olson
Sometimes, Link just needs a break. Days after days spent in dungeons can get tiresome, so sometimes it’s nice to take a nice vacation, go off the beaten path, and relax. You can enjoy finding some sea charts, go fishing, or gathering a handful of nice joy pendants. On the other hand, you can explore an optional dungeon looking just like the last cave you were in and hack away until your forearms are covered in the pureed organs of your foes. Whichever catches your fancy.
Jon Lett – View Profile
5. Kinstone Trades (Minish Cap)
4. Savage Labyrinth (The Wind Waker)
3. Sea Charts (The Wind Waker)
2. Cave of Ordeals (Twilight Princess)
1. Four Sword Palace (A Link To The Past – GBA Port)
Summary – One thing I think Zelda needs dearly is more optional dungeons, like the Four Sword Palace. Really, the closest thing I can think of other than that is the Cave of Ordeals, and that barely counts. I first entered the Palace by use of a wall-clipping glitch I found on YouTube years ago, since I couldn’t beat Four Swords without other people, and not only did that truly introduce me to the wonders of YouTube, but the Palace itself held harder versions of previous bosses, tougher puzzles, and an amazing fight with four Dark Links; it even had a totally separate credits sequence!
Alasyn Eletha – View Profile
5. Happy Mask Trading (Ocarina of Time)
4. Lost Maiamai (A Link Between Worlds)
3. The Bomber’s Notebook (Majora’s Mask)
2. Joy Pedestals (Wind Waker)
1. Nintendo Gallery (Wind Waker)
Summary – I replay The Wind Waker every few months or so and I always find myself taking on the totally unnecessary tasks instead of tackling the dungeons. It’s kind of silly, but I’m very meticulous about the placement of my joy pedestals on Windfall Island. Also, I absolutely love the implementation of the Nintendo Gallery in the HD remake. I mean, who doesn’t love running around taking ridiculous selfies with other characters, critters and monsters when you really should be saving the world?
Andrew Kiser – View Profile
5. Gerudo Training Ground (Ocarina of Time)
4. Mini-game upgrades (Multi)
3. Cave of Ordeals (Twilight Princess)
2. Collecting Treasure/Bugs (Skyward Sword)
1. Optional Items Found in Overworld (A Link to the Past)
Whether I’m given an optional item, a weapon capacity upgrade, or simply a bottle of Great Fairy’s Tears it’s always great to be rewarded for my exploration. A Link to the Past did it well with the very handy yet optional items such as the Bombos Medallion, Cane of Byrna, and Magic Cape. I feel that Skyward Sword did it best because I was able to upgrade items and brew my own potions after scouring the land with a fine tooth comb looking for treasures and bugs.
Kevin O’Rourke – View Profile
5. Happy Mask Shop (Ocarina of Time)
4. Lost Maimai (A Link Between Worlds)
3. Big Poe’s (Ocarina of Time)
2. Bombchu Bowling (Ocarina of Time)
1. Fishing (Ocarina of Time)
Most of the filler sections I had the most fun with the relaxing aspects of the games. Fishing was fun to do in Ocarina of Time and running around Hyrule Field tracking down Poe’s and riding on Epona was a huge time sink for me when I got stuck on the main quest. There’s an addictive aspect to finding all of the Maimai which took a long time but felt so rewarding.
