Bosses

Dragon Island Dungeon: THE LAVA SCORPION

Very fearsome-looking boss. It looks like a giant scorpion, and lives a pit of lava surrounded by a thin border of land, with some wooden platforms welded to the wall. There are pots around the room and on the platforms you can break for hearts. Up above, poking out of the rock, is the tail of a Dragon that looks suspiciously like a grappling hook target. WHAT to do?

This boss has 3 attacks:
(1) Slams one of it's pincers at where you're standing - you can side-jump this if you're Z-targetting. It then gets it's pincer stuck in the ground for a while. 
(2) Slams both pincers down, trapping you in-between. Sticks it's head close and breathes fire (you can't avoid it if you're trapped). There are spaces in each pincer for you to roll through if you get trapped.
(3) If you're lingering on one of the wooden platforms, it will send a jet of fire at you, toasting both you and the platform.

The point of the fight is to slash the bosses' eye. But you can't do that unless you break the boss' outer shell. So grapple-hook and swing from the dragon's tail, and when you let go the ceiling will come crashing down, stunning the boss. Don't bother doing anything at this stage. When the boss recovers, it will slap the ceiling back onto the dragon's tail, freeing the hookshot target. Repeat the process 2 more times, and the boss' outer shell will break, going onto phase 2.

Same boss; just angrier, moving a little faster, and vulnerable. Wait until it executes attack 1, and then grapple hook it's head down for sword-slashing. Or if you suck at the hookshot, wait for it to trap you in-between it's pincers, then slash it's eye before it starts breathing 
fire. You can swing from the dragon's tail to get to the platforms at any time during this fight - just don't swing too long because the boss' flailing pincers can hurt you if you're really unlucky.

 

Tree Island Dungeon: THE HANGING GARDEN

Now where have I seen THIS before. Never mind. This giant flower has a bunch of tentacles, and lives in a room with a sinister-looking neon blue glow to it. It is suspended from the ground by a score of vines attached to the ceiling. There are bushes around you can slash for 
hearts. The weak point is at the centre of the flower, enclosed by the boss' petals. <Looks at boomerang, looks at vines>

This boss has 2 attacks:
(1) Thumps you with it's many, flailing tentacles. Just keep moving and you'll avoid them. Watch out for the stationary ones. 
(2) The tentacles go underground and start chasing you around. You can tell that it's happening because the tentacles cause small amounts of green smoke. When you see green smoke, just run around the room and they'll all miss.

To make the flower come down, use the boomerang on the vines. If you don't do this fast enough, the vines will grow back and this battle will take alot longer than it has to. Multi-target as often as you can, and on tentacles close to each other (nothing so annoying has 
having 2 vines left on opposing sides of the flower); keeping constantly on the move to avoid the tentacles. If I had made this sound hard - well, it's not, actually.

Once the flower comes down, you have several seconds to slash at it's core before it wraps itself up again. If you get caught while at it, the flower will chew you up and then spit you back out again. Then the process starts all over. Do this a couple of times to make it shrivel.

 

Tower of God: THE GUARDIAN

Same face, same neon-blue glow... just looks more mechanical this time round. The guardian is a giant face with 2 eyes and a mouth, along with 2 hands; each with an eye in the palm. It hovers around in a round room with a raised arena and electrified floors at the edges. No pots or bushes to break for hearts this time round.

This boss has 3 attacks:
(1) It's hands will try and sweep you off the arena and onto the electric floors. This can take a while (and some damage) to climb back out, so watch out. 
(2) The hands will try and thump you, either by itself or by clamping it's hands together.
(3) Once the hands are out, the face will start shooting a stream of fireballs at you. You can tell it's about to happen because the surroundings will start glowing yellow. Run in a curved line around the arena to avoid the fireballs - as long as you're moving to the side (and not forwards or backwards), you shouldn't get hit.

First, take out the hands. Z-target the eyes on the hands; 2 shots each will take them out. You'll then have a certain amount of time to take out the face before a hand comes back to life. Take too long and both hands will come back to life, and you'll have to start the process all over. Two shots to each eye (in-between avoiding fireballs) will take the face out. When the face is on the ground, it's mouth will be open, beckoning you to toss a bomb into it. Repeat the process 3 more times.

(Don't worry if you run out of arrows or bombs; the face will snort some out of it's nostrils for you to pick up.)

 

Monster Island: THE SHADOW-MAN

Hmmm... not quite the looks, but the abilities are familiar. This boss looks like a big black floating... shadow, with neon blue markings. It carries a big sword, but favours blasting fireballs at you. You fight him in a place you've been before - the open courtyard outside the fortress.

This boss has 3 attacks:
(1) Charging up a red fireball, and then releasing it in the form of small red fireballs at you (I think they're eyeballs, actually). Just walk out of the way.
(2) Charging up a white fireball and throwing it at you. Hit it back with the master sword for a game of tennis. 
(3) Disappearing, and then reappearing and surrounding you with 4 replicas of himself. The real one will do a circle cut; just roll out through the gaps or do a spin-slash attack.

You can take shadow out by waiting for him to do attack 3, and then slashing the real shadow when the rest disappears. But the much faster and more fun way would be to wait for him to blast a white fireball at you and then hitting it back at him. Good timing is required, because the ball gets faster and faster. When you win, he will be temporarily stunned - run over and smack him with your sword. Just keep doing it until he "dies".

 

Monster Island: THE BUZZARD KING

When was the last time you fought a giant bird...? But this battle is fun. It starts at the bottom of a tower, which is rapidly filling up with water. The aim is to sprint up to the top (fun!) and into the open through the long flight of platforms. As you run, the bird will be destroying the platforms behind you, and will block your path when you get to the top. Whip out the hammer instantly and whack it to make it move.

From them onwards, it's a fight at the top of the tower. The bird will hover over an arena filled with spikes at the perimeter. Just stay near the centre and nothing should go wrong.

This boss has 3 attacks:
(1) Lands on the ground, and walks towards you, trying to stamp you out with it's claws. It will follow up with a hefty attempt at pecking you, getting it's beak stuck in the ground. Just roll out of the way. 
(2) Diving at high speed towards you, scraping it's feet when it touches the ground. Roll out of the way at the right moment. (If you have your back towards a tower in the background, the bird will fly straight into the tower and get plastered there for a moment. Funny!)
(3) Flying towards you, and then creating a gust of wind with it's wings. If you don't stand your ground, you'll be blown backwards into the spikes on the walls.

The hammer is all you need. Wait until the bird is about to peck, then use the hammer on it's head when it's beak is stuck in the ground. After 3 hits, and the mask it's wearing will break. It will then start executing attacks 2 and 3 as well. Repeat the process, and after a few more whacks, it'll all be over (just watch out for the pieces of the broken mask).

 

Earth Temple: BIG FAT GHOST

The silliest supernatural entity I've ever seen. This is an over-weight, over-sized ghost who floats around semi-transparent, carrying a lamptern. It wears a mask and is made up of many smaller multi-coloured phantoms, who spends all their time panicking and doing not much else. It haunts a room filled with spikes and spiked columns around the edges - for you to impale it ON, ofcourse.

This boss has 2 attacks:
(1) Shooting giant fireballs at you. You can't miss them since they're so huge - just watch carefully and get out of the way. 
(2) Turns purple, and flops on you. If you get flopped on, your controls will be scrambled (there is a mask sign on your head) and for a while you'll be running in the wrong direction until you figure it out. Run into the spikes or wait a while for the effects to disappear.

The ghost can't be harmed physically, you'll have to use the mirror shield to reflect light onto it for a while to make it "real". For some reason, there is a handy spot of light right there for you to send the ghost to second hell. When the ghost has been set on light, it will sit there, too fat to move, until you pick it up and roll it into a column of spikes. Once "spiked", it'll revert back to a crowd of multi-coloured phantoms, ideal for using the second spin-attack on. 
Until you pick off every last one, the ghost will reform itself and start again.

After a while, you'll find the spot of light disappearing and reappearing rather quickly. How it does that is a complete mystery, but you'll have to be quick with your maneouvering to shine the light on the giant ghost. The good news is that once you get into the right position and is reflecting the shield onto the target right, the spot of light won't disappear until the giant ghost is in solid form. Get it wrong during the process and the spot of light will move. Repeat until all the mini-phantoms are gone.

 

Wind Temple: BLUE-TONGUED SANDTRAP

Another giant sandworm. This one lives in a pit of sand, and looks like a giant flower when it sticks it's head out of the sand, mouth open, tongue out. Since the sand around it sinks when it has it's mouth open, be careful not to get too close to it for you will be gradually sliding towards it's waiting mouth. What to do with it's vulnerable tongue, seeing I've got the ultra-cool hookshot now...?

This boss has 2 attacks:
(1) Either waiting for you to fall into it's mouth, or it may sink into the sand and then suddenly dive out at you. Every now and then it'll rise up, fly around for a while and then dive back into the sand. Unless you're very slow, you can probably avoid these attacks. 
(2) Send 3 smaller worms out to get you. It's best to kill these worms before you go for the big one; just Z-target and hookshot them to get out of the sand. Once exposed and helpless, 2 slashes will put them away for hearts.

Very simple. Kill the 3 smaller worms whenever they appear, then get close enough to the big worm's mouth to hookshot it's blue tongue. Slash the tongue when you get it over to you. Ta-da. It'll disappear and reappear elsewhere when damaged, so watch underfoot or it'll catch you in its mouth and chew you up. That said, the only thing difficult about this fight is walking around in the slippery sand.

 

Ganon's Tower: BLACK MAGIC MARIONETTES

Get ready to fight 3 very, very ugly bosses, the ugliest you'll see in this game. These bosses, produced by Ganondorf's black magic, is a sorta replacement for Ganon I suppose (they're certainly ugly enough). You have to fight all 3, one after another, in a room with 
reflective floors and stone platforms around the edges. The stone platforms have pots with magic refills/arrows/hearts in them, but you'll have to be at the right place to be able to hookshot up to them. It'll be easier to stay on the ground unless you need refills. 

BOSS ONE: THE BLACK BOAR

A giant pig puppet with retractable arms that try and pummel you if you're standing in front of it. It's slow moving, so you should have no trouble getting to a better spot. At the end of its tail is a glowing blue orb that is asking for you to shoot a light arrow at it.

But you can't shoot a light arrow at it now. You'll have to use the boomerang to cut down all 5 BLUE string that keeps it's limbs moving. Once cut, it will hang loose, including the tail. NOW is the time to shoot a light arrow. 3 hits, and phase 2.

BOSS TWO: THE HAIRY ARACHNID

A giant spider that springs into the air, somewhere where you can't see it, and then comes crashing down, squashing you if you happen to be in the wrong place. Avoid it's body-crash attack by watching the reflection in the water and running to to sides of the arena (preferably under the stone platforms).

If you're lucky, you will be staring at it's butt, and the glowing bue orb attached to it. Light arrow the orb 3 times, and it's phase 3.

BOSS THREE: THE SPEEDY CENTIPEDEY

Woah, has this boss gotten ALOT uglier since "A Link to the Past"! Then, it was somewhat cute and really annoying; now, it's EXTREMELY hairy nd ULTRA-annoying. It moves VERY fast, 
trailing the blue orb at the end of it's tail, and will bodyslam you when it gets close. It's movements are WAY erratic and difficult to predict, as anyone who has fought it's earlier incarnation would know.

You can stun it momentarily by hitting its head with your sword, but you'll have to be quick in light-arrow shooting its tail. Alternatively, you can try shooting it's tail from afar or from the stone platforms, but unless you're good, prepare for some cursing.

Ganon's Tower: GANONDORF

This fight is the coolest fight in the game, and the coolest in Zelda game history. Why? Because for the first time, Link does not fight the boss all by his lonesome self. After 8 games where he faces the boss alone, THIS time he has help; and infact, cannot finish the boss 
off without that help. The arena is cool too - an open platform surrounded by falling water. What is not cool that you will have lost your bow and arrows, so you can't use a light arrow on Ganondorf. You'll have to rely on the trusty Master Sword.

Other reasons why it's cool:
1) You get to sword duel with Ganondorf! Sword duel!! Not swinging you sword at giant lumbering monster or floating black sorcerer, but a REAL sword duel! Wow!
2) ZELDA FIGHTS!! Looks like political correctness has caught up with the game developers. After 8 games being the damsel-in-distress (and one where she just stands there in the final boss fight), Zelda finally shows us she doesn't have the Triforce of Wisdom for show.

First of all, you can't get past Ganondorf's defenses with conventional sword techniques. You'll need to do the A button timed attack to even get a hit in. For the first third of the fight, you'll be combo-attacking Ganondorf, while Zelda will try and zap him with her magic. Ganondorf, meanwhile, will be flying around avoiding your attacks and Zelda's, while executing moves that look far cooler than any of yours. If Ganondorf gets zapped by Zelda, it's a good time to slash him though you don't HAVE to do so since it's not the number of blows that determine the fight.

After a while, Ganondorf will get annoyed by Zelda and K.O. her in one blow. You're then on your own, and this is THE time to use A button timed attacks (no other way can you hurt him). Once you use the A button, Link will slash at his eyes, stunning him temporarily. Turn around and slash him in the butt. Repeat this until Ganondorf figures out how to block your A button attacks - then you'll have to wait for Zelda to wake up.

Zelda wakes up, and she comes up with a plan. She will zap her magic at you, and you will use the mirror shield to reflect it back at Ganondorf. From then onwards, you'll have to watch where Zelda is standing, wait for her to charge up her powerball and then position your shield at an angle. Careful to have your shield out when you see Zelda all charged up; her magic can hurt you too. Once Ganondorf is stunned, DO NOT hit him with a conventional attack. Use the A button on him (at the right moment/distance), and one blow will finish him off.