I really liked this replay of Ages, it complements Seasons by providing a richer experience with its focus on puzzles and story. I find Ages to be more daring with its ideas than Seasons even if it doesn't always pan out right.
Excellent mais un peu moins bon que Oracle of Seasons je trouve. La mécanique qui nous oblige à spammer un bouton pour pouvoir nager à un certain moment du jeu est horrible.
Not as good as OoS, but decent in its own right. These collaborations between Nintendo and Capcom yielded three of the best Legend of Zeldas ever and linking Oracle of Ages and Seasons titles getter is fun. It’s also neat that it works something like Resident Evil 2. You can start the game in either Zelda, and it’ll change things in the following game in unexpected ways.
It’s worth playing both. It’s just a shame the password system is such a pain in the ass.
It’s worth playing both. It’s just a shame the password system is such a pain in the ass.
This is a thoroughly standard 2d Zelda and it scratches a particular itch. This one focuses on puzzles to decent effect. I never felt too challenged by any of the dungeons but maybe I'm just that smart. Some of the overworld time switching puzzles were devious though.
Solid entry into the Zelda series, especially for a game outsourced to Capcom. It has a lot of the charm found in Link's Awakening, but definitely it's own flavor. Spritework and color capabilities are top notch
The best of the Gameboy games. It's dungeons are really good and it surprisingly has a solid story.
one of the few gb games to have aged well, same with seasons
Not the best the series has to offer, but it still has some very interesting puzzles and unique dungeons that make it worth playing. Will probably pick it back up eventually.
these games were so charming dude. dungeons, bosses, graphics, music are all peak. some of the best pixel art on the GBC. it's crazy how well capcom emulated the zelda formula. easily better than LA/minish cap
patches used:
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3580/ - Oracle of Ages Force GBA Enhanced Mode
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3589/ - Oracle of Ages GBC palettes
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2934/ - Oracle of Ages VWF Edition
patches used:
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3580/ - Oracle of Ages Force GBA Enhanced Mode
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3589/ - Oracle of Ages GBC palettes
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/2934/ - Oracle of Ages VWF Edition
Definitely does not have the story of its predecessor. In some places it makes up for this, I absolutely love the dungeons so far and overall they are actually an improvement. The whole island section is now one of my favourite moments in any Zelda game for how tight and thoughtfully challenging it is. I enjoy the RPG aspects included for more variety as well. Definitely coming back to this but I do find it harder to engage with as while I like its puzzles, I dislike being stuck in the overworld because of some random person I need to talk to in some meaningless location.
this is so underappreciated!!!!!!! the puzzle design here goes fucking crazy
I have a bit of history with Oracle of Ages in particular. I first played this game years ago on the 3DS virtual console, but I was always stuck at the final boss. I just couldn't beat it. Now because of a challenge I've started, this game was selected to be the one I played, so I knew what I needed to do.
Before anything else, I want to add I didn't do the game link stuff. I want to do that when I play Oracle of Seasons, as it feels more fitting to do it when I play the other game. But regardless.
I think Oracle of Ages is really interesting! Being a puzzle-oriented game, this is definitely up my alley. And a lot of the puzzles are really fun, I definitely got stuck a couple times, but I was able to eventually figure things out. The time travel mechanic allowed for such interesting puzzles too, switching back and forth between past and present, and seeing what actions in the past effect the present. It's all really fun!
The bosses as well definitely feel like puzzles too. And while for the most part none of the bosses are too annoying, I didn't really care for the Crown Dungeon boss. Funnily enough though, the one boss I couldn't originally beat was among the bosses I beat on the first try this time around.
I feel like certain parts of the game soured my whole experience of it though. It doesn't ruin the game by any means, but it just makes it not as good as it could've been. For one, once I got the Mermaid Tail, the swimming controls were terrible. They were fine for general movement, but for precise movement, which is sometimes necessary, it was terrible. And god, the entire Goron segment was terrible. Most of the minigames were fine, and on their own passable, but that damn Goron Dance. It's the only minigame you have to do twice, and even though it's a basic memory game, somehow the timing you need is just off in some form. It just became really damn frustrating.
Oracle of Ages is an interesting game. It's far from my favorite Zelda title, but it's not a bad game for the most part. I really do wanna see a remake for this game if possible, alongside its sister title. It could definitely touch up the rough edges this game has.
Before anything else, I want to add I didn't do the game link stuff. I want to do that when I play Oracle of Seasons, as it feels more fitting to do it when I play the other game. But regardless.
I think Oracle of Ages is really interesting! Being a puzzle-oriented game, this is definitely up my alley. And a lot of the puzzles are really fun, I definitely got stuck a couple times, but I was able to eventually figure things out. The time travel mechanic allowed for such interesting puzzles too, switching back and forth between past and present, and seeing what actions in the past effect the present. It's all really fun!
The bosses as well definitely feel like puzzles too. And while for the most part none of the bosses are too annoying, I didn't really care for the Crown Dungeon boss. Funnily enough though, the one boss I couldn't originally beat was among the bosses I beat on the first try this time around.
I feel like certain parts of the game soured my whole experience of it though. It doesn't ruin the game by any means, but it just makes it not as good as it could've been. For one, once I got the Mermaid Tail, the swimming controls were terrible. They were fine for general movement, but for precise movement, which is sometimes necessary, it was terrible. And god, the entire Goron segment was terrible. Most of the minigames were fine, and on their own passable, but that damn Goron Dance. It's the only minigame you have to do twice, and even though it's a basic memory game, somehow the timing you need is just off in some form. It just became really damn frustrating.
Oracle of Ages is an interesting game. It's far from my favorite Zelda title, but it's not a bad game for the most part. I really do wanna see a remake for this game if possible, alongside its sister title. It could definitely touch up the rough edges this game has.
Maybe its because I read the manga when I was a little kid but this has got to have my favourite base plot in a zelda game, the story of some sorceress moving back in time to build a dark tower is sick as fuck, game boy color limitations be damned. Also it has ralph (he fucks).
"Believe it or not, veran is the best zelda villain."
"Elaborate on that."
"No."
"Believe it or not, veran is the best zelda villain."
"Elaborate on that."
"No."
soo good
Oracle of Ages was a much more enjoyable experience when compared to its counterpart, Oracle of Seasons. However, I believe a vast majority of this came from utilizing the linking ability between the two titles on my playthrough.
This linking ability still dazzles me even 20 years later - the ability to trade prior game overworld occurrences and progression between the two games by trading generated passwords is just fantastic. It also made this title a much easier experience than Oracle of Seasons was (I received extra hearts through the linking ability, better weapons, etc).
I think Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages are best judged as a package, and frankly I think the combined experience elevates both titles in their own ways. Overall, however, I enjoyed my time with Oracle of Ages moreso, and it was a very satisfying conclusion for this recent Zelda outing.
This linking ability still dazzles me even 20 years later - the ability to trade prior game overworld occurrences and progression between the two games by trading generated passwords is just fantastic. It also made this title a much easier experience than Oracle of Seasons was (I received extra hearts through the linking ability, better weapons, etc).
I think Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages are best judged as a package, and frankly I think the combined experience elevates both titles in their own ways. Overall, however, I enjoyed my time with Oracle of Ages moreso, and it was a very satisfying conclusion for this recent Zelda outing.
I like this game a little bit. it's a fun Zelda game and the dungeons are pretty fun.
In this game, people who disagree with blue haired girls are sentenced to hard labor at the Black Tower... just like real life 😔
The connection of Seasons and Ages is a really good idea. If this will be remaked in Nintendo Switch and do the third game it could be the mix of a good story, puzzles & battles. The games itself well... good but have some problems
Honestly, much better than I remember it being. I will fully admit, my admiration for this game is somewhat based around nostalgia for the Game Boy. I've always loved the Game Boy aesthetic. I'm also pretty convinced at this point that 2D Zelda just gels with me more than 3D.
With that being said, I do think this is great. The dungeon design is excellent, with some genuinely tough puzzles. Bosses are mostly pretty cool. There's a ton of side content too, not just due to the ring system, but also the really neat game link thing you can do if you have Oracle of Seasons as well.
If there's any main complaints, it's that the overworld of this really does feel like a bit of a pain to navigate at times. Going back and forth from the past to the present is cool, and honestly there are some aspects of this that I think Ages does better than OoT. However, it can be a bit of a pain going from point A to point B when it involves using different songs on the harp multiple times.
Oh yeah, also the Goron dance minigame. The mandatory ones you have to do aren't that bad, but godspeed to anyone who tries to do the higher difficulty ones legitimately. I can't imagine how many zoomers will end up filtered by this part when they try to play it on the NSO thing.
With that being said, I do think this is great. The dungeon design is excellent, with some genuinely tough puzzles. Bosses are mostly pretty cool. There's a ton of side content too, not just due to the ring system, but also the really neat game link thing you can do if you have Oracle of Seasons as well.
If there's any main complaints, it's that the overworld of this really does feel like a bit of a pain to navigate at times. Going back and forth from the past to the present is cool, and honestly there are some aspects of this that I think Ages does better than OoT. However, it can be a bit of a pain going from point A to point B when it involves using different songs on the harp multiple times.
Oh yeah, also the Goron dance minigame. The mandatory ones you have to do aren't that bad, but godspeed to anyone who tries to do the higher difficulty ones legitimately. I can't imagine how many zoomers will end up filtered by this part when they try to play it on the NSO thing.
2/3 of this game is actually really good. The other 1/3 is a mix of dull and frustrating game design. Not sure how I feel about the true end being locked behind having Seasons. Like the game link thing is cool, but ending on a cliffhanger without it kinda blows.
This review contains spoilers
Os gráficos desses jogos são muito bonitos, principalmente nas diferenças entre uma estação e outra em Oracle of seasons, e nas mudanças entre eras em Oracle of ages. Há uma evolução gráfica notável desde Link’s Awakening DX, principalmente na questão de cinemáticas, que estão muito mais presentes, e no design das dungeons.
A trilha sonora dos dois jogos é muito similar em questão de qualidade, sendo muito boas em ambos os jogos. Não é nada espetacular, mas está no padrão da franquia, ainda tendo algumas trilhas marcantes.
Os controles continuam os mesmos do último jogo do GameBoy Color, porém com uma pequena mudança, pois há a opção de nadar embaixo d’água em Oracle of ages que muda toda a jogabilidade, pois você começa a nadar apertando o direcional ao invés de segurar e o botão B fica inutilizado para poder afundar. É uma mudança um pouco difícil de se acostumar, mas depois fica mais fácil.
O enredo dos dois jogos está conectado, por isso essa análise é conjunta. Em Oracle of seasons, Link tem a responsabilidade de salvar a Oráculo das estações, Din, das mãos de Onox, o general das trevas, para proteger Holodrum. Para isso, Link vai atrás das essências da natureza, usando o cajado das estações para mudar as estações a sua vontade. Depois de conseguir, ele vai até a fortaleza de Onox e o derrota, salvando Din, porém ainda não era o fim, pois Kotake e Koume, também conhecidas como Twinrova, querem ressuscitar Ganon e, para isso, precisam acender 3 chamas, a chama da destruição, do desespero e da tristeza. A primeira chama é acendida e Link vai para Labrynna, em Oracle of ages, para impedir que as outras se acendam. Ao chegar lá, Link acaba sendo enganado por Veran, a feiticeira das sombras, fazendo com que ela possua Nayru, oráculo das eras, e viaje para o passado, para convencer a rainha Ambi a construir uma torre obrigando todos a trabalharem sem parar. Link, dessa vez, vai atrás das essências do tempo, para poder derrotar Veran. Ele consegue salvar Nayru e derrotar a Feiticeira, porém a chama da tristeza já foi acesa e, assim que a princesa Zelda chega na cidade, ela é sequestrada por Twinrova, acendendo a chama do desespero. Link então, tem que derrotar as duas e salvar a princesa, para impedir que elas completassem o ritual que traria de volta Ganon, porém após quase serem derrotadas, elas se sacrificam no lugar de Zelda para ressuscitar Ganon, o que causa uma ressurreição imperfeita, trazendo uma besta irracional a vida. Link derrota Ganon e salva a princesa, acabando a história dos dois jogos.
No geral, são jogos bem divertidos, com uma boa história, muitas horas de diversão, porém o número de coletáveis, principalmente os anéis, pois muitos precisam de sorte para serem coletados e outros ainda precisam que os jogos sejam zerados mais de duas vezes para pegar todos. De resto, são jogos muito divertidos e a ideia da história compartilhada é muito boa e bem executada, valendo muito a pena.
Nota: Ótimo
A trilha sonora dos dois jogos é muito similar em questão de qualidade, sendo muito boas em ambos os jogos. Não é nada espetacular, mas está no padrão da franquia, ainda tendo algumas trilhas marcantes.
Os controles continuam os mesmos do último jogo do GameBoy Color, porém com uma pequena mudança, pois há a opção de nadar embaixo d’água em Oracle of ages que muda toda a jogabilidade, pois você começa a nadar apertando o direcional ao invés de segurar e o botão B fica inutilizado para poder afundar. É uma mudança um pouco difícil de se acostumar, mas depois fica mais fácil.
O enredo dos dois jogos está conectado, por isso essa análise é conjunta. Em Oracle of seasons, Link tem a responsabilidade de salvar a Oráculo das estações, Din, das mãos de Onox, o general das trevas, para proteger Holodrum. Para isso, Link vai atrás das essências da natureza, usando o cajado das estações para mudar as estações a sua vontade. Depois de conseguir, ele vai até a fortaleza de Onox e o derrota, salvando Din, porém ainda não era o fim, pois Kotake e Koume, também conhecidas como Twinrova, querem ressuscitar Ganon e, para isso, precisam acender 3 chamas, a chama da destruição, do desespero e da tristeza. A primeira chama é acendida e Link vai para Labrynna, em Oracle of ages, para impedir que as outras se acendam. Ao chegar lá, Link acaba sendo enganado por Veran, a feiticeira das sombras, fazendo com que ela possua Nayru, oráculo das eras, e viaje para o passado, para convencer a rainha Ambi a construir uma torre obrigando todos a trabalharem sem parar. Link, dessa vez, vai atrás das essências do tempo, para poder derrotar Veran. Ele consegue salvar Nayru e derrotar a Feiticeira, porém a chama da tristeza já foi acesa e, assim que a princesa Zelda chega na cidade, ela é sequestrada por Twinrova, acendendo a chama do desespero. Link então, tem que derrotar as duas e salvar a princesa, para impedir que elas completassem o ritual que traria de volta Ganon, porém após quase serem derrotadas, elas se sacrificam no lugar de Zelda para ressuscitar Ganon, o que causa uma ressurreição imperfeita, trazendo uma besta irracional a vida. Link derrota Ganon e salva a princesa, acabando a história dos dois jogos.
No geral, são jogos bem divertidos, com uma boa história, muitas horas de diversão, porém o número de coletáveis, principalmente os anéis, pois muitos precisam de sorte para serem coletados e outros ainda precisam que os jogos sejam zerados mais de duas vezes para pegar todos. De resto, são jogos muito divertidos e a ideia da história compartilhada é muito boa e bem executada, valendo muito a pena.
Nota: Ótimo
Very good underrated zelda game. The puzzles are really good and I definitely prefer the more puzzle oriented Ages to the combat focused Seasons.
Pretty good TLOZ game. I just remember getting stuck on this one minigame and could never get past it.
Pros: Ages is one half of the Oracles duo for GBC, and this is a big unique Zelda adventure. Top-down, classic puzzles, dungeons, actions, tons of unique new weapons/items, magic ring collection, and so much more, hell, there's even Animal Buddies in this, Moosh the flying bear, Ricky the Kangaroo, and Dmitri the Dodongo (no Epona, which always felt strange to me, but hey, I love me some rideable animals). Ages has the unique gimmick of time travel, but it's not like OoT's, no you're just travelling to the way past, and back to the present, which shows a ton of changes in the overworld and the people you come across. There's great puzzles in this one for reasons like that, and just in general, Ages is more puzzle focused than Seasons is. I recall dungeons were a bit trickier in this one too. One thing that I remember liking more about Ages than Seasons, was that Ages had Zora, the same type of Zora from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, and that was really cool to me. It had Gorons too! It was just nice to have 2D 8-bit depictions of these characters and races that were created in the 3D era. It's a good time! And upon beating both Ages and Seasons, you get a special extra final boss that's definitely worth doing!
Cons: There's some Game Boy limitations felt, just like with Link's Awakening. Smaller screen, and only two action buttons for all of your weapon usage. And... I didn't really dig the time travel stuff in this game nearly as much as I did the season changing gimmick in Oracle of Seasons. So that one gets half a star higher than this one, that'd be why.
What it means to me: After completing Seasons, I was hooked, I had to get my hands on Ages somehow! I believe at the time, my step brother had gotten the game, and so I just... played his copy, transferring over my password from Seasons, heh! Whatever it took! These two games were a grand journey, and it was the first time I ever really completed a Zelda adventure all by my little lonesome.
Cons: There's some Game Boy limitations felt, just like with Link's Awakening. Smaller screen, and only two action buttons for all of your weapon usage. And... I didn't really dig the time travel stuff in this game nearly as much as I did the season changing gimmick in Oracle of Seasons. So that one gets half a star higher than this one, that'd be why.
What it means to me: After completing Seasons, I was hooked, I had to get my hands on Ages somehow! I believe at the time, my step brother had gotten the game, and so I just... played his copy, transferring over my password from Seasons, heh! Whatever it took! These two games were a grand journey, and it was the first time I ever really completed a Zelda adventure all by my little lonesome.
I never managed to beat the game but still enjoyed it. I liked the items and gameplay, especially for a Game Boy game. It is memorable and has iconic characters. Also the opening title sequence is memorable, being one of the coolest in any Zelda game.
The best part of the entire game is the music.
The best part of the entire game is the music.
I haven’t played the Oracle games in years, so I figured I should give them another shot. To that end, I played them in the opposite order, partially to have a newer experience, and partially because… Ages is better.
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages is fantastic, full stop. It’s less of an action-adventure game and more of a straight-up puzzle game. The overworld unlocks bit by bit, and you have to do things in a very specific way at a specific point in time to progress. The items are clever problem-solving tools that are utilized both in-and-out if dungeons. The dungeons themselves are elaborate mazes filled with riddles, confusing layouts, and deadly traps. Time travel is utilized far better than it was in Ocarina of Time, as it’s now a lynchpin for the entire game experience; Oracle of Ages simply wouldn’t work without its complex time-traveling puzzles.
The dungeons are great overall. I don’t have time to go into every single one, but it’s a very solid and challenging lineup, with my favorite being the Skull Dungeon. However, I’m still not a huge fan of Jabu-Jabu’s Belly. It’s not as soul-crushingly difficult as I remember it being on my first playthrough a few years ago, but the constant backtracking and the water-level gimmick (which doesn’t really work in a 2D plane) got kinda dull. Aside from that, great dungeons.
Only a few other criticisms. The music is very hit-or-miss. The Mermaid Suit controls are annoying as shit. Then there’s the Goron Dance minigame. What the fuck, Nintendo?
Now for the story, Oracle of Ages has a fairly basic plot (Link take sword, save girl, kill bad guy), but the worldbuilding is surprisingly deep for a Game Boy Color game. By speaking to NPCs and paying attention to the environment, you’ll learn interesting details about how Labrynna has evolved over time, and how badly Veran is fucking everything up. You’ve even got some darker themes lurking underneath those 8-bit sprites, like enslavement (the men of Lynna Village are forced to work on a giant tower for days on end, without any food or sleep), a disaster (Veran causes a volcano eruption that completely massacres an entire city), and regicide (Veran poisons the ocean, killing the Zora King; Veran is super evil). They don’t really lead to anything super intelligent or meaningful like Majora’s Mask and Twilight Princess, but it works well for a handheld, 8-bit adventure.
So yeah, the game is great! Very challenging, complex, and ultimately rewarding.
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages is fantastic, full stop. It’s less of an action-adventure game and more of a straight-up puzzle game. The overworld unlocks bit by bit, and you have to do things in a very specific way at a specific point in time to progress. The items are clever problem-solving tools that are utilized both in-and-out if dungeons. The dungeons themselves are elaborate mazes filled with riddles, confusing layouts, and deadly traps. Time travel is utilized far better than it was in Ocarina of Time, as it’s now a lynchpin for the entire game experience; Oracle of Ages simply wouldn’t work without its complex time-traveling puzzles.
The dungeons are great overall. I don’t have time to go into every single one, but it’s a very solid and challenging lineup, with my favorite being the Skull Dungeon. However, I’m still not a huge fan of Jabu-Jabu’s Belly. It’s not as soul-crushingly difficult as I remember it being on my first playthrough a few years ago, but the constant backtracking and the water-level gimmick (which doesn’t really work in a 2D plane) got kinda dull. Aside from that, great dungeons.
Only a few other criticisms. The music is very hit-or-miss. The Mermaid Suit controls are annoying as shit. Then there’s the Goron Dance minigame. What the fuck, Nintendo?
Now for the story, Oracle of Ages has a fairly basic plot (Link take sword, save girl, kill bad guy), but the worldbuilding is surprisingly deep for a Game Boy Color game. By speaking to NPCs and paying attention to the environment, you’ll learn interesting details about how Labrynna has evolved over time, and how badly Veran is fucking everything up. You’ve even got some darker themes lurking underneath those 8-bit sprites, like enslavement (the men of Lynna Village are forced to work on a giant tower for days on end, without any food or sleep), a disaster (Veran causes a volcano eruption that completely massacres an entire city), and regicide (Veran poisons the ocean, killing the Zora King; Veran is super evil). They don’t really lead to anything super intelligent or meaningful like Majora’s Mask and Twilight Princess, but it works well for a handheld, 8-bit adventure.
So yeah, the game is great! Very challenging, complex, and ultimately rewarding.
I hate the goron dance. I know this is a skill issue, but I am unable to progress.
A fun Zelda game. The dungeons and everything are great.
There ARE two issues:
1. The code to transfer your Seasons save to Ages or vice versa is stupid complex. It was probably necessary, but there had to have been a better way.
2. The Goron dance. Nintendo. Please. Never do this to us again.
There ARE two issues:
1. The code to transfer your Seasons save to Ages or vice versa is stupid complex. It was probably necessary, but there had to have been a better way.
2. The Goron dance. Nintendo. Please. Never do this to us again.
It is ludicrous that these games work as well as they do. Capcom taking the reins of Nintendo's second-biggest series, attempting to build a multi-game narrative on a nearly-dead 8-bit portable system using an 8-year-old game's blueprint, featuring a rocky development that went from remake to trilogy to a pair of games releasing simultaneously. In most realities, these games either died on the vine unreleased or were dead on arrival with a reputation approaching the CD-i games. But what we got in our reality is arguably the peak of 2D Zelda in terms of pure gameplay.
Oracle of Ages doesn't quite meet my dream vision for a puzzle-focused Zelda. Over time I've increasingly wished for dungeons that forego combat altogether and just focus on navigation and manipulating the environment/architecture. Look at the opening dungeon of Dragon Quest VII and tell me they couldn't do the same with Zelda. Ages gets close at times: Jabu-Jabu attempts to translate the Ocarina Water Temple to 2D and is largely successful, but it insists on littering the excellent design (which incredibly actually resembles a whale in terms of shape, unlike Ocarina) with annoying electric jellyfish that are frustrating to fight underwater. It also leans a bit too heavily on room-specific puzzles (all of which are good to great), and its one time-jumping dungeon is a bit more tedious and obtuse than one would hope.
In the overworld, I genuinely don't understand how the puzzle-focused game got a simple two-state switch as opposed to the four-way switch of seasons. As in similar implementations of such a mechanic like Link to the Past or Metroid Prime 2, it's usually just a matter of getting as far as you can in one world then flipping over and continuing or clearing some obstacle, rinse and repeat. Difficulty mostly becomes a matter of how many hoops you have to go through to switch between states, and I've yet to play a game that has a satisfying curve for this type of thing. There are a few fun riffs on time travel as in Ocarina, but it's not nearly as fleshed out as the seasons mechanic in its counterpart.
I'm a being more critical than is representative of my experience, which was largely excellent. Basically just a case of expectations being inverted for which game I'd connect to more, and wanting the reviews to maintain the distinctness of the games themselves. (And why not see how distinct the other review is, hmm?)
What these games unlocked for me is the way the Zelda series has cultivated a spectrum with one end being "you are an adventurer" and the other being "you are The Hero". I'd say the adventuring side is embodied by the original Zelda, Breath of the Wild, and the Oracles; even when you are technically constrained in terms of dungeon order or how much of the world you can access, you feel like you're making your own way based on your sense of direction and curiosity. When you're The Hero, you are driven instead by what needs to be done and have situations and setpieces placed in your direct path rather than feeling like you came across them organically. Both games cultivate that sense of adventure well: you're self-reliant and using every tool at your disposal to untangle knotted and unfamiliar dungeons. If you're into 2D Zelda and especially the adventuring end of the Zelda spectrum, you owe it to yourself to play them.
Loose thoughts:
-this one definitely got more love on the story front, with more ongoing plot development (some of which might be a result of playing this second) and a nice little emotional twist at the end.
-very funny that there's one Zora who's whole job is just to explain they aren't like River Zora, even though the Ocarina Zoras were in a river.
-I would play the shit out of that one minecart shooting minigame if it had longer tracks, why wasn't it expanded in Minish Cap??
-Nintendo absolutely fumbling the opportunity to build excitement for the series as a whole in the run-up to Tears of the Kingdom. You could have had these from launch on the NSO Game Boy library, plus Four Swords multiplayer with the NSO GBA. These are the origin point for the guy who's made the three most recent 3D entries, that's pretty important!
Oracle of Ages doesn't quite meet my dream vision for a puzzle-focused Zelda. Over time I've increasingly wished for dungeons that forego combat altogether and just focus on navigation and manipulating the environment/architecture. Look at the opening dungeon of Dragon Quest VII and tell me they couldn't do the same with Zelda. Ages gets close at times: Jabu-Jabu attempts to translate the Ocarina Water Temple to 2D and is largely successful, but it insists on littering the excellent design (which incredibly actually resembles a whale in terms of shape, unlike Ocarina) with annoying electric jellyfish that are frustrating to fight underwater. It also leans a bit too heavily on room-specific puzzles (all of which are good to great), and its one time-jumping dungeon is a bit more tedious and obtuse than one would hope.
In the overworld, I genuinely don't understand how the puzzle-focused game got a simple two-state switch as opposed to the four-way switch of seasons. As in similar implementations of such a mechanic like Link to the Past or Metroid Prime 2, it's usually just a matter of getting as far as you can in one world then flipping over and continuing or clearing some obstacle, rinse and repeat. Difficulty mostly becomes a matter of how many hoops you have to go through to switch between states, and I've yet to play a game that has a satisfying curve for this type of thing. There are a few fun riffs on time travel as in Ocarina, but it's not nearly as fleshed out as the seasons mechanic in its counterpart.
I'm a being more critical than is representative of my experience, which was largely excellent. Basically just a case of expectations being inverted for which game I'd connect to more, and wanting the reviews to maintain the distinctness of the games themselves. (And why not see how distinct the other review is, hmm?)
What these games unlocked for me is the way the Zelda series has cultivated a spectrum with one end being "you are an adventurer" and the other being "you are The Hero". I'd say the adventuring side is embodied by the original Zelda, Breath of the Wild, and the Oracles; even when you are technically constrained in terms of dungeon order or how much of the world you can access, you feel like you're making your own way based on your sense of direction and curiosity. When you're The Hero, you are driven instead by what needs to be done and have situations and setpieces placed in your direct path rather than feeling like you came across them organically. Both games cultivate that sense of adventure well: you're self-reliant and using every tool at your disposal to untangle knotted and unfamiliar dungeons. If you're into 2D Zelda and especially the adventuring end of the Zelda spectrum, you owe it to yourself to play them.
Loose thoughts:
-this one definitely got more love on the story front, with more ongoing plot development (some of which might be a result of playing this second) and a nice little emotional twist at the end.
-very funny that there's one Zora who's whole job is just to explain they aren't like River Zora, even though the Ocarina Zoras were in a river.
-I would play the shit out of that one minecart shooting minigame if it had longer tracks, why wasn't it expanded in Minish Cap??
-Nintendo absolutely fumbling the opportunity to build excitement for the series as a whole in the run-up to Tears of the Kingdom. You could have had these from launch on the NSO Game Boy library, plus Four Swords multiplayer with the NSO GBA. These are the origin point for the guy who's made the three most recent 3D entries, that's pretty important!
ageless