These master dungeons not only provide meaningful interludes between major narrative segments of the game, but they also act as interesting skill-based checkpoints that test players’ abilities as they learn new skills and acquire new tools. With thirty floors and a dynamic co-op mechanism, this level features perfect articulations of all the qualities that characterized the Sunken Hyrule dungeons. Spirit Tracks expanded and improved upon this gameplay model with the Tower of Spirits, one of the most underrated Zelda dungeons of all time. In 2007’s Phantom Hourglass, Link must visit the Temple of the Ocean King six times over the course of the game, with each new item he acquires helping him to reach another floor of the dungeon. This allowed players to access hidden areas and unlock trophies in a rather nonsensical but memorable quest.ġ Iterative Master Dungeons (Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks)Ī master dungeon is a singular location to which players must regularly return throughout the natural progression of the game, and The Legend of Zelda’s “Sunken Hyrule” timeline notably features an element like this in each of its titles. With a proprietary cable, gamers could connect their Game Boy to their GameCube at certain key sections of dungeons and take control of the NPC Tingle, armed with magical bombs. A largely-forgotten but wildly ahead-of-its-time implementation of this gameplay mechanic involved the use of a Game Boy Advance. Though several subsequent games would feature this mechanic, no game so well embodied it as 2002’s Wind Waker. Numerous dungeons in the game require Link to switch places with Medli, Makar, or any number of manipulable statues in order to solve the game’s puzzles. RELATED: The 9 Best Side Quests in Wind Waker For these levels, Nintendo implemented a unique tag-team approach to its dungeons that allowed players to assume control of allies to reach areas inaccessible to Link. An early iteration of this was featured in Majora’s Mask through the Elegy of Emptiness, which created an unsettling statue of Link that could be used to depress switches. Go inside every dungeon and the check the map. If you have all the skulltulas in a dungeon, a skulltula token will appear on the dungeon map. Once inside, take note of the web in the center it will be useful to you in. The overworld map doesn't count Skulltulas in dungeons. The Legend of Zelda’s many dungeons are vast, and not all of them can be conquered alone. In order to save the Great Deku Tree, you will need to break the curse that lies inside of him.