Often ranked as one of the top five best Zelda games ever made, Ocarina Of Time is without a doubt a bonafide classic. It featured an epic story, enchantment, horror, and adventure and changed The Legend Of Zelda for the better.
One way how it became such a classic was through its massive and challenging dungeons; dungeons have been a staple of Zelda since the beginning. Some are fun but challenging worlds to explore within themselves while others are confusing and frustrating messes. From a visual, structure, and difficulty perspective, the Ocarina Of Time dungeons are all over the place.
12 The Ice Caverns
This place is horrible. Visually, it is very impressive and features some of the more unique enemies in the game. However, every person who hates slippery icy traversal shudders in fear at the idea of going through this dungeon in order to continue the game.
The enemies are annoying and the platforming is downright broken at times. Combined with the main theme for the caverns which gets very grating after an extended time, it is a nightmare of a dungeon.
11 Gerudo Fortress
Much like the Ice Caverns, the Fortress is impressive with how much detail Nintendo went into. So why is it so low on this list? It is an irritating maze with broken stealth mechanics. Link is either is hiding or is spotted, there is no in-between like in Metal Gear Solid.
One teeny tiny glimpse from a guard and it’s back to the prison cell to try and repeat the annoying maze of halls and doors. It’s also just an ugly bunch of stone and wall which makes for less impressive visuals. It’s not as irritating at the Ice Caverns but it comes close.
10 Inside Jabu-Jabu’s Belly
Want to get annoyed? Try carrying a spoiled Zora princess through a cavern that is constantly trying to kill the player. On top of that, avoid falling through the dungeon thus essentially restarting tons of progress one probably made.
Just to make it even better, the dungeon has one of the most frustrating bosses in the game. It’s the last of the starter dungeons and it shows by setting up things to come. Visually, it is kind of disturbing since Link is basically trekking through body parts, but it’s impressive at the same time.
9 The Water Temple
Every person who has played the game knows the horrors of the Water Temple. The constant raising and lowering of water levels, the confusing layout, the aggravating backtracking, it gets old quick. Even from a visual standpoint, it’s just a bunch of muted blues and greys which feel depressed after a while.
However, the Water Temple is completely unique and features one of the standout rooms of the game; an ethereal plain that is trippy but beautiful at the same time. This is where Dark Link appears as a mini-boss and it is a refreshing challenge.
8 Dodongo’s Cavern
The best thing about this dungeon is its main area containing the giant skull; it gives the dungeon this massive scope that can be intimidating. The dodongos and Lizalfos enemies are quite the step up from the enemies from the previous dungeon, and it has some great puzzles that require a lot of traversal, but not to the point of irritation.
The only really disappointing aspects of this dungeon are the forgettable music and that the boss fight with King Dodongo is ridiculously easy, even for a starter boss.
7 The Spirit Temple
This Temple is a prime example of a mixed bag; it features some genuinely challenging puzzles yet the enemies are easy to the point of feeling like a starter temple. The music and the boss fight are some of the best in the game, but the aesthetic of the temple itself is absolutely boring.
The aforementioned boss, Twinrova, is by far the best thing about the Spirit Temple. With two different phases (which was not normal for a Zelda game back then) that keep the player on their toes at all times, this is a boss that does not get enough attention from fans.
6 Inside The Great Deku Tree
For a Legend Of Zelda game to really suck in the player, it needs the first dungeon to be the perfect starter. Ocarina Of Time delivered that with the inside of the dying Deku Tree; it introduces the player to many central gameplay aspects, puzzles, and items to use.
It’s visually impressive, it has a creepy but intriguing atmosphere, and it features a great boss to really test a first-time player. It is easily one of the best starter dungeons in the entire series– unless the player suffers from arachnophobia.
5 The Shadow Temple
Speaking of creepy atmospheres, this entire Temple is one big haunted house trip. It features some of the best puzzles that require the use of the Hover Boots and Lens Of Truth to navigate. It features plenty of genuinely terrifying enemies for kids who played the game and a pretty good boss fight.
However, the visuals do tend to get bland rather quickly. It’s just a bunch of black, greys, and dark greens. It is not the best color palette but it does make up for it with some almost-Eldritch Horror designs in the temple.
4 The Forest Temple
Despite the Shadow Temple being all about the undead, ghosts, and demons, it’s actually the Forest Temple that remains the scarier dungeon. Every second in the temple is just ominous; it’s filled with ghosts and monsters that can appear out of nowhere at all times.
There’s also this strange feeling that the player is being watched by something. Combined with the creepiest music in the game and a solid boss, it is a brilliant first dungeon for adult Link to tackle.
3 Bottom Of The Well
The Forest Temple was scarier but the hidden dungeon underneath the well in Kakariko Village is a nightmare. Every second of this dungeon belongs in a survival horror game akin to Silent Hill. It has vastly superior visuals compared to the Shadow Temple, purposefully confusing puzzles and traversal– every kid’s nightmare fuel.
The Dead Hand is one of the most infamous enemies in Zelda history for a reason. This enemy alone is enough to make any child turn off the game and run out of the room. This is the dungeon that probably created a few horror fans.
2 Ganondorf’s Castle
The final dungeon of the game ends things properly: it is one giant gauntlet of every mechanic, puzzle, and item the player has experienced across their adventure. There are even elements of the dreaded Ice Caverns in this gauntlet so this dungeon can get a bit overwhelming but never to the point of rage quitting.
That’s all before the final boss against Ganondorf himself which is a taxing affair in itself. It’s visually outstanding, everything is huge and epic: it looks and feels like a grand finale. One of the best details is Ganondorf’s organ getting louder as Link treks up through the castle.
1 The Fire Temple
It is difficult choosing between Ganondorf’s castle and the Fire Temple: both are stunning in different ways. At closer inspection, the Fire Temple is the one Temple that reaches near-perfection. The visuals remain impressive throughout and the puzzles in retrieving & using the megaton hammer are very fun.
The only downside is that the boss fight with Volvagia is easily the least impressive part of the temple. The enemies also are fun to fight in this temple. What also makes this temple stand out is that it is one of the longer dungeons; at times it feels like the player spends several hours trying to get through it.
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