PrinceWatercress plays Kid Dracula - Part 2 of 4

This entry takes us up in the clouds, through a roller coaster and onto a pirate ship.

Level 3

Enemies in the cloud include vultures that move like Medusa heads and witches that drop bombs downwards. 

The cloud platforms move from the bottom to the top of the screen.There are some that don't move, and those will slowly descend when you put your weight on them. Be ready to get to where you need to go.

The second section is on a roller coaster. There are two platforms, and you'll have to stay on them and ride the roller coaster to the end. Along the way, you'll have to watch out for enemies that include flying robot turtles that fly forwards and cloud enemies that fly around in a circle that throw lightning bolts at you. Be sure to duck down at the first set of loop-de-loops, and switch to HMG for the second set of loops to take out the UFOs.

You'll eventually be knocked down to one platform and you'll have to deal with a guy who throws lightning bolts at you for a while. Make sure not to fall off as you avoid the lightning bolts. After that battle (which you just have to outlast), be sure to duck down when the platform leaves the track to latch on to the next track, so you don't get hit by enemies. Use HMG on the last loop to take out the UFO.

You'll eventually drop onto a cloud. Switch to HMG and power it up. You'll be fighting a giant chicken. Use the homing shoot to attack not only the giant chicken but also the chicks that it sends at you. Be sure to aim upwards so the chicks don't become a problem, and be sure to collect the coins that the chicks leave behind.

When you beat the chicken, you'll then have to fight an egg that bounces up and down as it slowly moves back and forth. The same strategy applies, you just have to dodge an egg now. When the egg cracks, take out the chicks. You're done. You'll learn UPD, which allows you to walk upside-down on ceilings for five seconds when charged up.

Game C is Rock-Paper-Scissors. It's much like what goes on in the Alex Kidd games, but it's a little harder, as you have to remember to hit your opponent afterwards with A or B, or block with Down or Left if you guess wrong. As always, paper covers rock, rock blunts scissors, and scissors cut paper. Just choose with the Control Pad, then press A to start. You get an extra life for every win you get, and you have to remember to hit your opponent in order to get credit for the win. Alex Kidd and Hirake! Ponkikki handled this better, believe it or not, and the extra steps keep me from enjoying this bonus game as much as I could have.

Level 4

Watch out for the cannons at the beginning of the level, as they track your position to some extent. Also, the scythe ghosts take two charged-up fireballs to kill. There will be sets of platforms moving around in circles, too.

Use ATT to attack the ghosts with the spears and shields to hit them from behind, destroying them instantly.

Inside the ship, watch out for the skeletons as they throw their heads at you, and walk quickly over the spike platforms to get past them. You may have to use UPD to get past a few.

The barrels just move towards you when they drop, and you can stand under where they drop to get as many coins as you want.

The circle-segmented bridges flip when you jump directly on them. Also, use charged up fireballs to take out the cannon enemies.

At one point, you'll have to go upside-down and jump on the far left of a large "bridge" segment to get to the area above. If you use UPD and go right before doing this, you'll find another heart in a box, which can bring your maximum health to five if you found the one on Level 2.

The first boss is a giant scythe ghost. Switch to HMG and aim upwards. When the boss throws its ax, be ready to jump over it and stay away from it, and keep throwing the homing attack upwards.

You'll then face the second boss: a giant robot. Go all the way to the right and stay there. When the robot is all the way to the left or right in front of you, duck down to avoid its arm when it punches at you. The rest of the time, keep jumping and aiming the homing shot upwards. As long as you keep doing this, you can beat this boss even with one hit left.

For beating this level, you get BOMB, which is an explosive attack you can charge up to blow up certain walls. You'll also get a cutscene where a bat television talks to you and gives you a message from Death where you also get the Bat Umbrella, which acts as a shield from things that try to hit you. Just switch to UMB, then charge it up. You can hold it out in front of you to shield yourself from bullets, and you can also duck to hold it above your head to keep things from hitting you from above. Before the message is complete, the message will be interrupted by one of Garamoth's goons, who tells you that he will not be easily beaten again.

Jump & Pop has you on a pogo stick with a spiked helmet on your head. Press A and B to get yourself to bounce. As you get the timing down, you'll be able to jump higher and hit higher things. The dark balloons give you nothing, but the light balloons give you 1-Ups.

PrinceWatercress plays Kid Dracula - Part 1 of 4

It's time for a Castlevania spin-off. Wish there were more than two games for this...

Believe it or not, this is a remake/sequel to the Famicom Kid Dracula game; the only difference is that this got a Western release.

The game begins with Kid Dracula learning that Garamoth (a mistranslation of Galamoth) is causing trouble again and is much stronger than before. Unfortunately, Kid Dracula has forgotten his magic, and he will have to re-learn it all along the way.

You'll learn how to cast the Bat spell: select "BAT" with Select, then hold B and release when the Kid Dracula face in the bottom center is angry. From there, you can fly for five seconds before you revert back to human form. You can also press B in bat form to revert back to human form early if necessary. After some more dialogue, the game begins.

Level 1

The Control Pad lets you move left and right, and you can duck with Down and aim attacks upwards with Up. B lets you attack, and A lets you jump.

The heads-up display is simple. To the left is a three-letter code signifying which spell you have selected. "NOR" lets you throw fireballs, while "BAT" lets you turn into a bat. Pressing Select lets you cycle through your spells. Below that is the number of lives you have left The Kid Dracula face gets angry when you power your attack up by holding the B button (and sleeps when you pause the game), and tells you how much time you have left on certain spells. The hearts are your health, and below that is the amount of coins you have. You can pick up coins by beating up enemies and taking coins that they leave behind.

By charging up the NOR spell, you can get a larger, more powerful fireball than you would if you just tapped the B button.

Wait for the spikes to move up before walking under them.

To climb ladders, hold Up and Down when in front of them to climb them.

The enemies here - the bats, the Frankenstein's monsters, the knights - are pretty easy to destroy, especially if you always charge up your fireball before attacking. The bats fly around, but they can also swoop down The Frankenstein's monsters will alternate between walking slowly and quickly. The knights will throw their lances at you if they see you.

The small heart refills two hearts on your health meter. The big ones refill the whole enchilada.

The see-saw platforms will tilt back and forth as you walk across them. As long as you don't play around, you can make it to where you need to go just fine.

The boss here is a series of ghosts. The small ghost can easily be defeated with four big fireballs. The big ghost will go down in five. Both of them walk back and forth, but will also jump up and down to the point that you can walk under them and stop at the side of the screen to spit fireballs at you that you can jump over.

You'll then fight an old man ghost. Switch to BAT and fly over him. When he does a full lap around the screen, he falls asleep and has to be dragged off the screen. Thus ends Level 1.

At the end of the level, you'll meet a bat who asks Kid Dracula for forgiveness for switching over to Garamoth's side before joining Kid Dracula on his adventure along with his other bat friends.

You'll then learn the Bat Attack. Switch to "ATT" with Select, then charge up with B to throw a short-range arcing attack that defeats any enemy it touches.

At the end of every stage, you can play bonus games, and you can play for coins or for lives. The lives games cost ten coins compared to the coin' games two, and are a lot easier and a lot more rewarding, and I show those off first. There will be four crystal balls, and you'll want to watch the one that you want carefully to see where it ends up so you can select it and play the game that you want.

Of the four lives games, Grab Bat is perhaps the easiest. Move around with Left and Right on the Control Pad and press A to swing the net. The more bats that you catch, the more lives you'll get. Five bats net you one extra life, ten net you three, and fifteen net you seven.

The coin game has you guessing numbers in order to get more numbers. The more you bet on a certain number, the more coins you can win if you land on that number on the wheel. If you land on a zero, you'll get nothing. Also, there are four 2's, four 4's, three 6's, two 8's and one star, making the higher numbers harder to land on for big money.

Level 2

You'll see the world map before every new level.

At the start of this level, you'll be climbing upwards. The ATT spell will make it easier to attack the zombies that throw knives at you and owls that swoop down at you.

The music here is from a Commodore 64 game called Super Pipeline. 

The heart in a box increases your maximum health by one heart.

The faces in the walls will take you to an earlier point in the level if you walk into them.

Charge up the fireballs to push the plants back. Also, watch the top of the screen for owls, stag beetles that will drop downwards and the spores that the plants spit out. Make sure not to let the owls make it to the plants, as they can rip the plants off the platforms that move with you and force you to use the lower path if you leave them at the plant long enough. If you can make it to the end without losing either plant, you can get a big heart.

The slightly darker logs in the log segments fall when you land on them. There are fish that you will want to watch out for and destroy with charged fireballs that are aimed upwards, and there will also be logs going downwards on the waterfalls that will block your path.

When you reach the bridges, just keep going right. Go under the first fish, but shoot the second and the third.

The boss is a Jason wanna-be with an ax. Charge up fireballs and throw them at him as he goes for the ax and comes at you. That will take down the first phase very quickly. This then starts the second phase where he has a shotgun. Stay to the left when he is on the roof of the log cabin to jump over and dodge the bullets, then throw charged-up fireballs at him as you keep away from the guy. You'll take him down in no time and learn HMG, which is a homing shot that has to be charged up. When it is, let go of B to attack multiple enemies with homing shots.

Stick 'Em is one of those "stick things in a barrel and hope you don't trigger a game over" games. Pick which hole you want to put a sword in with the Control Pad and press A to make your choice. Four swords will give you one extra live, seven will net you three and nine will net you seven. If the skeleton in the barrel loses his head, the game is over and you will receive your prize, should you have earned one in the process.

The five different entrances to the Chris Houlihan room

The Chris Houlihan room, and five different ways to get in there.

Available in the Super Nintendo version only and named after Chris Houlihan, who won a Player's Pulse contest back in the day and got a secret room named after him as a result. The telepathic message block is a message from Chris himself. (If you're wondering what the contest was, you had to find Warmech in Final Fantasy, snap a picture of it with a camera, and send the picture to Nintendo Power. Despite the fact that the room existed and can only be reached when the game made a checksum error during a room transition, it was barely found by only handfuls of people until the Internet and Super Nintendo emulation came along, when the game's code was analyzed and the room was finally discovered. Once everyone knew the many means of finding the room (there are five entrances), the room finally became a thing among gamers. (It can also be found on GBA, but you have to use a game enhancement device to check it out, as the methods from the Super Nintendo version will not work.)

PrinceWatercress plays The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Part 21 of 21

In this entry, we finally confront Ganon and bring our adventure to a close.

When you drop down, you'll finally meet Ganon. PROTIP: Walk forward and hit Ganon with the Sword before he speaks. You'll get a free hit in.

You'll need the Cane of Byrna for most of this fight. Ganon can throw his trident and also shoot fire around him, sending angry phoenixes in your direction and also creating a spiral of fire in front of him.

As you fight, he'll shake the floor and cause tiles to disappear. The floor tiles nearest the wall will fall into nothingness one side at a time. If you fall into the pit, you'll enter another part of the pyramid. You'll find a telepathic tile here telling you to hit Ganon with a Silver Arrow when he's stunned. Of course, you'll also have to start the battle over when this happens.

When the room goes dark, light both lanterns in the room with the Fire Rod. You'll be able to see Ganon again and continue the fight. Watch out for the phoenixes he shoots at you!

At this point, once you've lit the lanterns and hit Ganon, he'll be frozen for a few seconds. Immediately switch to the Bow and Silver Arrows and hit him with it. After a few arrows, it's over. A door will open in the wall to the north. Go in and put the controller down. You've done it. You've beaten A Link To The Past.

PrinceWatercress plays The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Part 20 of 21

It's time to head to Ganon's Tower. Our adventure is almost at an end...

Ganon's Tower

Seventh Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Sixth Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Fifth Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Fourth Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Third Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Second Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

First Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

First Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

You'll enter at the second floor. Go down one of the side staircases first, as that takes you to the first and basement floors of the tower. These contains some good treasures, including the Big Key. You'll really need the Big Key here, since the Big Chest treasure is worth taking.

The teleporter maze is really easy, since all you have to do is step on one and you'll be able to plot your path just by going to the closest teleporter that takes you where you'd want to be in the other room.

There's another invisible path maze, but instead of using the Ether magic to light the way, just light the lantern to the right with the Fire Rod. This will automatically reveal the path until the lantern's light burns out.

This tower is also a boss rush of sorts, and you'll find the bosses from the Light Palace dungeons here. The giant Armos Knights from the Eastern Palace can be taken down with one hit each now that you have the Silver Arrows, so go ahead and use those. Not even the ice physics in the room can stop you now!

The door to the north of them contains the Big Key, and you'll find a shortcut to the Big Chest nearby. Inside the Big Chest is the Red Mail, which provides even more protection than the Blue Mail.

There's a switch on one of the walls in the first floor. It doesn't do anything you'd like it to do, so leave it alone.

The room with the evil floor tiles also has a Ceilingmaster, so hiding in the doorway to avoid the tiles is a little harder this time. Since you have the Level 4 Sword, hide in the doorway and power up the Whirlwind Slash. When the Ceilingmaster is in range, smack it with the whirlwind slash to get rid of it!

To light the four lanterns in the next room up, you'll have to move a block out of the way near one of them and then light them from top to bottom. To hit the colored block switch afterward, you'll have to toss a Bomb to the conveyor belt that moves towards it as quickly as possible. There's no other way. From there, open the upper-left chest last. It contains the Compass and also opens up a bunch of pits in the floor when you get it.

After the conveyor belts (which is self-explanatory; go get the key in the nook to the north wall), get to the other side of the bridge before the floor collapses with the help of the Magic Cape. In the next room, move the statue to find the secret pit-moving tile that allows you to touch the teleporter tile. You're now back to the big room near the Big Chest.

Trying to make it to the cracked wall near the chasm? Run into the blocks with the Pegasus Boots. When you're knocked back, you'll be sent to the other side before you hit the ground. You can refill your life and magic here.

The laser-shooting statues will soon be on conveyor belts as you ascend the tower. Use the Bombos Medallion to take down all the enemies in these rooms so you can breeze through them.

You'll fight the desert worms from the Desert Palace again. The same tactics apply, but since you have the Level 4 sword, you can kill all three worms with two whirlwind slashes.

You'll be dealing with a few more lantern-lighting puzzles that require the Fire Rod, but there's really nothing to them.

You'll fight Moldorm from the Eastern Palace again. Stay near one of the walls and whack Moldorm in the tail with a whirlwind slash. Since you have the Level 4 Sword, this will kill him immediately.

The boss is Agahnim. This time around, he splits into three and teleports around the room, sending a salvo of fireballs at you to send back at him. The clones are translucent and can't be damaged, while the real one is opaque and has a darker shadow than the other two. This allows you to hit Agahnim multiple times whenever possible. When you beat him, Agahnim will fall and a blue bat will pop out of his body. This is Ganon. Link will use the Ocarina and the Bird will drop him off at the top of the pyramid in the center of the Dark World, which is weird considering that the bird only appears in the Light World.

The bat will fall through the base of the pyramid and make a huge hole in the ground that you can fall through.

PrinceWatercress plays The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Part 19 of 21

Here we are: the last crystal dungeon in the Dark World, and it's the toughest one of them all.

Turtle Rock

First Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

First Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Second Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Third Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

The telepathic message tile at the beginning tells you that if you don't have the Medicine of Magic, then you shouldn't go any further. Agreed.

When you enter the dungeon, you'll be faced with a bottomless pit with very little clue as to how to get anywhere. If you have the Cane of Somaria, you can use it on the question mark block at the very end of the dotted line and use it to create a platform. Step on, and you'll be able to move to the other side of the room.

You can only make a platform at the question marks, and you can only change directions at the junctions in the dotted lines.

The door that leads to the compass disappears when you face it after entering the room. Even worse, the eye above the door will fire lasers. If you turn away from the wall by powering up for the Whirlwind Slash and move towards it, the door will appear again. It also makes it so the eyes above the doors won't fire lasers. Nice.

To open the door activated by lighting the four torches, make a platform and equip the Fire Rod. Light the upper-right lantern, then light the bottom ones at the same time. You can then get the upper-left one and make it into the doorway. I barely made it here.

The spiked crushers inside can be avoided with the Magic Cape. You could use the Cane of Byrna, but the Magic Cape lets you move through them, which makes things a lot simpler.

The leaping orange caterpillars can be best taken out with the whirlwind slash.

Here's an interesting enemy: the Chain Chomps from the Mario games. They would be friendly in Link's Awakening, but here they're enemies. All you can do is avoid them.

The pipes whisk you away to another part of a room. Just walk in and the game takes care of the rest.

At one point in the dungeon, you'll be able to blow up a crack in the wall and reappear in a cliff on Death Mountain that you couldn't normally reach. Keep in mind that while you're blowing a hole in this cracked wall, some eyes will fire lasers when you look at them while some fire lasers when you look away from them. This dungeon actually has a decent security system, believe it or not.

Death Mountain - East (Light World) (by JonLeung)

Death Mountain - West (Light World) (by JonLeung)

Death Mountain - East (Dark World) (by Alex Foster)

Death Mountain - West (Dark World) (by Alex Foster)

When you're at this cliff, go all the way to the cave entrance to the right and use the Magic Mirror. You'll reappear at a part of the mountain in the Light World that you can't otherwise reach. Go inside this cave, take aim with your Bow and Arrow to take out all the monsters and you'll find the 24th and last Heart Piece in the game.

Return to the Dark World and head into the Cave. If you've explored the entire dungeon up to this point, you'll have the Big Key ready to open up the Big Chest here. Inside is the Mirror Shield, which allows you to deflect the beams shot at you by the eyes.

One of the rooms has nothing but three crushers and 270 Rupees. That's 45 blue Rupees in six rows with nine each. Fill up your Magic, don the Magic Cape and get rich quick in case you're low on money and need to fill up on potions after this dungeon is over.

In one room, you'll be riding around in a platform you'll make with the Cane of Somaria...in the dark. The door in the lower left leads to some chests guarded by eyes that fire lasers when you get close enough. Face south and charge up the sword to block the lasers that come from the right to guard against the lasers now that you have the Mirror Shield. If they're at the left, face north before doing this.

The boss of Turtle Rock is a...rock turtle. It has two heads on its back, one red and one blue. The red head has a fire breath and can be stunned with the Ice Rod, while the blue head has a ground-freezing ice breath and can be stunned with the Fire Rod. Use the corresponding Rod to stun the two heads and finish them off with the sword. The turtle's own head will lunge at you as it moves around and tries to follow you.

When you destroy these two heads, the turtle's body explodes and it turns into a fast-moving stone worm. Equip and use the Cane of Byrna and hit the flashing center segment with the whirlwind slash as it flies around.

You'll get the last Heart Container of the game when you beat the boss, as well as the last crystal. Instead of one of the other Maidens, Zelda will be inside. She and the other maidens will be able to break the seal on Ganon's Tower, which is the flashing tower that you passed a couple of videos ago. It'll be marked on the map so you'll know where to find it.

Go straight west to the glowing tower. When you stand in front of it, the crystals will break the spell, and the tower will stop flashing before it opens up to you.

PrinceWatercress plays The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Part 18 of 21

Before we head to Turtle Rock, there are a few things that we can do.

Light World Map (by JonLeung)

Dark World Map (by Alex Foster)

Since you've beaten the first six dungeons (you only need to beat the fifth and sixth), you'll be able to do something a little interesting.

Head to where Link's House is in the Dark World. This is the Bomb Shop, and you'll find a big pink bomb. This is the Super Bomb. Pay the 100 Rupees for the Super Bomb and it will follow you around. Much like the chest you had to give to the guy in the desert, press A when you want it to stop following you around. Of course, if it stands there, the countdown will start underneath your life bar, and once it goes to zero, it explodes.

Take it all the way back to the Pyramid at the center of the Dark World. You may have noticed a huge crack that wouldn't budge with your regular bombs or with the Pegasus Boots. As it turns out, the Super Bomb is the only thing that will do the trick. Lay the Super Bomb there, and you'll finally bust the crack wide open!

When you go inside, you'll find the Dark World's equivalent of the Well of Wishing. First things first, throw your sword in there. The fairy that pops up will be changed by the magic of the Dark World, but she's still a fairy. Tell her you threw the sword in there, and you'll get the Level 4 Sword, which is the most powerful in the game!

Before you leave, make sure you throw the Bow in there as well. When she asks if you threw it in, say yes. She'll tell you that she has something important that will give Ganon his last moments, and that she knows that the Golden Power is to blame for her looking like she does. She then tells you to defeat Ganon.

The Path to Turtle Rock

Death Mountain - East (Light World) (by JonLeung)

Death Mountain - West (Light World) (by JonLeung)

Death Mountain - East (Dark World) (by Alex Foster)

Death Mountain - West (Dark World) (by Alex Foster)

Head east and stop at the dead end, then use the Magic Mirror to return to the Light World. Now that you have the Hookshot, you can make your way past the huge gap in the bridge. The dark-colored rock at the southern-most tip of this area contains a teleportation tile.

Use the tile to go back to the Dark World, then go northeast. There are two caves. Enter the one on the left, and go west. Go up the stairs, follow the path and fall into the pit. Push the block and go up the stairs. Go down the pit to the east, and go up the stairs to the east. Go down any of the three pits, but keep in mind that the bottom-most pit will give you access to the two chests, which contain Bombs and 10 Rupees. Go up the nearby stairs. Follow the path. You'll be back outside.

From there, pick up the rock near the cave you just came out of and throw it. This uncovers a secret passage. Go in and use the Ether Medallion to uncover the secret paths in the bottomless pits (remember where they are!). Go across from where you entered, bomb the crack in the wall, then bomb the crack in the left wall. (The north wall leads to a large fairy who will refill all your health.) Head out and you'll be in an isolated part of Death Mountain. (There is a destructible entry point to the north that leads to a few fairies.) Head to an open space and warp back to the Light World with the Magic Mirror. You'll find a Piece of Heart. From there, head back to the Dark World and drop down. 

In the Dark World, the four-legged manticore-like creatures with the white manes will back away from you and spit fireballs at you, moving around like the bow and arrow soldiers in the Light World. You won't be able to block their fireballs until you get the Mirror Shield, which you won't get until you explore the seventh Dark World dungeon, Turtle Rock.

If you decide to check the series of caves in the Light World, you'll find out that one of them contains four fairies that you can use to refill your health and even get some revives in case a boss kills you.

If you go to the Light World near the Tower of Hera, you can finally explore the area to the west now that you have the Magic Hammer. There are some platforms with cave entrances that you can drop down to, but all you'll get out of it is a bunch of rupees.

You're ready to head to Turtle Rock. Head east, and you'll find a hill with three posts to hit with the Magic Hammer. Pound the right, center and left posts, in that order. This will trigger a teleportation tile. Stand on it, and you'll be on the top of the Turtle Rock dungeon. Use the Quake Medallion on the Quake Medallion icon on the ground, and the turtle's head will disappear, opening up the dungeon.

PrinceWatercress plays The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Part 17 of 21

Our adventure takes us to the sixth dungeon in the Dark World...and inside is a ton of Wizzrobes. Yep, those guys finally show up again.

Light World Map (by JonLeung)

Dark World Map (by Alex Foster)

Misery Marsh

It's time to head into the dungeon in the lower-left corner of the Dark World. The only catch is getting there, and since you can't enter that area on foot like you could the Light World, here's how to get there.

Return to the Light World. Play the Ocarina, and choose number 6 for the landing location. From there, pick up the rock to the right where you land and you'll find a teleporter underneath. Congratulations, you're finally at the secluded marshlands area.

Misery Mire Map (by Alex Foster)

When you enter the building to the left of the dungeon entrance, move the blocks around so you can open both chests. (It's pretty easy.) From there, you can get another Piece of Heart.

Also, walk to the upper-right corner and you'll find a nook that doesn't exist in the desert in the Light World. Walk into this area, use the Magic Mirror, and lift the Rock to find a hidden passage. Go inside to find another Piece of Heart.

The building to the right contains a large Faerie that completely refills your health.

The enemies in the mire can be easily defeated with the whirlwind slash.

The flying guy in the cave will tell you that a monster is making it rain in the swamp, and if you can defeat the monster, the rain may stop.

You'll see the Ether Medallion symbol near what should be the entrance. Use the Ether Medallion here and you'll stop the rain, causing the dungeon entrance to appear.

Misery Mire Dungeon

First Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

First Basement Floor (A) (by Iron Knuckle)

First Basement Floor (B) (by Iron Knuckle)

Second Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

You can make it across the pit at the beginning without the Hookshot. To do that, just run into the block near the pit and hold Right on the Control Pad when you're knocked back.

The Wizzrobes rear their ugly heads here, and they'll shoot beams at whatever direction they see you in. They're limited to four directions, however, and having the Level 3 Sword, especially at full health, makes them much easier to kill.

You'll also start seeing the lamps spit fireballs at you now.

The slugs not only do three hearts' worth of damage to the touch, they also drop bombs at random intervals. Take them out with the whirlwind slash.

There is a telepathic message tile with a message from Sahasrahla saying to light the four torches to continue. This is in reference to the two rooms that come before this one, where you have to light the four torches in both rooms to move a wall and find a passage to another part of the dungeon. If you move any of the blocks in either of these two rooms in the wrong direction, just go back down a floor and then return. The hardest part of this isn't moving the blocks in the wrong direction, but the infinite Wizzrobes that show up in the two rooms. Once you open up that part of the room, you'll find a pit that you'll have to drop down. Despite its appearance - which makes it look like a pit you should not drop down - you'll have to drop down into it to explore the rest of the dungeon. As you can see, this has the potential to trip some people up.

You can get to the Big Chest without the Hookshot, but just barely. Inside the Big Chest is the Cane of Somaria. This lets you create a red block that can be pushed around in lieu of a statue. If you use the wand while the red block is onscreen, it splits into four fireballs that can damage enemies.

In one of the dark rooms, there will be a bunch of black mice grouped together that run out of the north wall and towards the south. They can easily be destroyed, but if you're not paying attention, they won't be easy to see coming.

The boss is a giant eye with a bunch of smaller ones grouped around it. You'll have to destroy all the smaller eyes with your sword while avoiding the lightning blast from the big one (the big eye peeps out of the water just before it blasts you). Whatever you do, don't let the smaller eyes touch you, as they can do three hearts' worth of damage.

Once you destroy all of the smaller eyes, the big eye will come after you itself. Keep it away from you (it does three hearts' worth of damage much like the smaller eyes) and keep attacking it with your sword.

The Maiden here will tell you that Zelda is waiting for you inside Turtle Rock.

PrinceWatercress plays The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Part 16 of 21

We have the Titan's Mitt...so now we can do stuff before going to the fifth dungeon!

Light World Map (by JonLeung)

Dark World Map (by Alex Foster)

Village of Outcasts (by Alex Foster)

Romancing The Sword (Again)

Now that you have the Titan's Mitt, you could use the Titan's Mitt to get the Magic Cape as intended, but since it's easier to do the Magic Mirror thing to get it, it's a moot point now.

You can now go east of the village. If you pound all of the posts with the Magic Hammer, the tree stump to the south of them all will turn into an underground passage. Go inside and you'll find a Heart Container.

If you go south of the village and go to the east near the south village entrance, you'll find a frog in a blue tunic hopping around. Now that you have the Titan's Mitt, you can rescue the guy and talk to him. He is from Kakariko Village, and he wonders how his partner is doing without him. He'll then want you to take him to his partner.

From here, use the Magic Mirror to go to the Light World and head back to the Smithy's house. When you return to the Light World, the frog will change shape and will turn into an old man that looks exactly like the Smithy. Now that the Smithy's partner is back, walk out and walk back in. They'll offer to temper the Master Sword for a huge discount of just 10 Rupees. Take it. You're going to need the extra strength.

Also, if you use the Magic Hammer on whatever the Smithies are working on, they'll politely ask you not to do that.

Since your sword is being tempered, you're going to be running around without a sword as you leave, off-screen the smithee's house and come back. If you want, you can walk outside and roam around for a few minutes. If you have to attack any enemies, use your Magic Hammer as a weapon. (Yes, you can do that with just about every normal enemy in the game.) Pressing B will allow you to swing your hand around as if you have a sword, and you can even perform the whirlwind slash minus the sword. Strange.

Anyway, go back to the Smithees and the Master Sword will have a red blade. This is the Level 3 sword, and it's pretty powerful.

Now that you've got the Level 3 sword, head back to the Dark World and return to where the Smithies' house was. Now that you've got the Level 3 sword, you can find a chest in this abandoned house. If you touch it, you'll find out that since the key is locked inside the chest, you can't open it. 

*record scratch*

Okay, first of all, how do you know this? Does Link just look at the chest, peek inside and find the key? I can picture that being the most logical scenario. But then the chest follows you as if by magic. What, is there some invisible chain between Link and the chest? Or stranger still, did the chest tell Link "Hey, my key is inside me!" with the same magic that just lets it follow Link wherever, especially when you use the Ocarina to warp wherever you want in the Light World?

Anyway, you have to take this chest to the old man near the desert entrance. You'll have to teleport all the way to the Light World and then give it to the man sitting near the sign. While you're doing this, you'll stop moving the chest around when you press the A button. If you do that, just move over the chest and it'll follow you again. The old man at the desert will ask you to keep the fact that he used to be a thief a secret, and if you do, he'll open the chest. Inside will be the fourth and last Magic Bottle!

The Ice Palace

Lake Hylia (by JonLeung)

Lake of Ill Omens/Ice Palace (by Alex Foster)

Now that you're done with the fourth dungeon, you'll want to go to the dungeon at the Lake of Ill Omens. To do that, however, you'll have to head back to the Light World.

From here, go back to Lake Hylia and grab the dark-coloured rock near the Well of Wishes. This rock hides another teleporter to the Dark World. Stand on it, and you'll be in a part of the Ice Island that you've been unable to access up until now. This is the entrance to what should be the fifth dungeon.

First Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

First Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Second Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Third Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Fourth Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Fifth Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Sixth Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Seventh Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

You're going to need the Flame Rod and plenty of magic power if you want to complete this dungeon. The telepathic message tile at the entrance even says that the magical flames will protect you. If you don't have the Flame Rod yet, get it before you come back here.

Some of the blue monster statues on the walls will come to life and chase after you when you get close enough. The Fire Rod is the only way to kill them.

The light blue tiles make Link slip and slide around, so be careful when you walk or fight monsters on them.

The green penguins can be killed with the whirlwind slash, but they can also be killed easily with the Bombos Medallion if you're dealing with a large group of them.

The yellow balls of light from Blind's Dungeon also appear here, and they can be killed with either the Magic Powder or the Bombos Medallion if they're still underneath a skull.

You'll be bombing a few cracked floors as you make your way down this massive dungeon. There are eight floors in all, counting the entrance.

When you make your way down, you'll meet the Stalfos Knights. The telepathic message tile you'll see when they make their first appearance tells you that you'll need another weapon to finish them off. To take them out, hit them with the sword, then destroy them with a Bomb while they lay lifeless on the ground like a pile of bones.

The next room is another conveyor belt amassed with spikes, those blue flying things that electrify themselves and black lizards crawling from one hole in the wall to the other.

Watch out shortly after you reach the third basement floor. You'll see another spiked yellow monster come straight for you when you enter the first door. Hide near the door and it won't hit you.

When you drop down to the fourth basement floor, the telepathic message tile will tell you not to use all your magic if you don't have the Medicine of Magic. This is crucial, because you will need several replenishments of magic for this dungeon.

Some of the statues are faces with tongues sticking out. Sometimes, you can pull the tongue out to either open doors or find other things. Try it out.

The big yellow square-shaped monster with spikes on each corner is a larger version of the spiked squares that you see in the dungeons. They can move in any direction and will move rush you when they sense you.

The stairway that leads to the fourth basement floor that isn't a door has some floor that you can bomb. Bomb it to get the Big Chest...which contains the Blue Mail. This reduces the damage you receive slightly. (Believe it or not, I could never find this when I played the game for some reason, and I ended up making it almost to the end with the Green Mail. How you're supposed to know that you can do this besides the help of a Player's Guide is beyond me.)

The boss is reachable via a hole from the sixth basement floor. To reach it, you'll need the blue tiles down. From there, you'll have to go to the room on the fourth basement floor. where you dropped down to the Big Chest from. Drop down the pit on the east side of the room, then go east. You'll be on the west side where you'll need to push a block into the pit.The boss here is a one-eyed cloud encased in ice, and you're going to need all the magic you can get for this one. 

You could melt the ice the boss is encased in with the Fire Rod, but if you use the Bombos Medallion, this becomes a moot point. All you have to do know is avoid the falling ice as well as the boss itself. Thankfully, the boss is easy: just keep whacking the boss and all the clones it creates with the whirlwind slash.

Cave of Byrna

Death Mountain - East (Light World) (by JonLeung)

Death Mountain - West (Light World) (by JonLeung)

Death Mountain - East (Dark World) (by Alex Foster)

Death Mountain - West (Dark World) (by Alex Foster)

Due to my lack of practice runs, I get the Cane of Byrna, thinking that it was the way to get the Cane of Somaria, which I thought I was going to need for a puzzle. It wasn't. But since I get it here, I'll tell you how to get it here, anyway.

Head back to the Light World and return to Death Mountain. Use the teleporter near the Tower of Hera, then drop down the edge to the south. Go inside the cave you land near, and use the Magic Cape to get past all the spikes and obtain the Cane of Byrna. (You could have gotten this earlier after getting the Magic Cape and the Magic Hammer, if you wished.) This cane produces a force field that protects Link as long as he has Magic Power.

PrinceWatercress plays The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Part 15 of 21

Our next entry takes us to yet another Dark World dungeon for our fourth crystal.

Blind's Dungeon

First Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

First Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Second Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

The first item you're going to need is the map, and you'll be able to find it in a chest right after you enter the dungeon.

There are men with horse heads that walk around in the stage much like the skeletons. The red ones spit fireballs at you when they see you.

The red blobs pop out of the ground and follow you around, but they're not that hard to deal with.

In addition to inside some pots, you'll also see these wisps that will turn you into a rabbit when you pass through certain areas in the lower level of the first basement floor, so keep an eye on your surroundings if you have to go under for anything.

You'll be able to enter the boss room right away as soon as you find the Big Key. There's just one problem: the boss isn't in there at all and it's just an empty room that you can enter and leave as you please.

The conveyor belts come back with a vengeance, and there are rooms in this dungeon where the floors are nothing but conveyor belts that move you in a random direction depending on where you're standing.

The translucent red blobs have a solid red core inside of them, which they shoot out a few feet before traveling back to it. If you hit the core with the whirlwind slash, you'll get rid of the blob itself.

Apparently, if you have a fairy onscreen at the same time as one of the yellow blobs, the fairy is translucent just like the blog. I'm not sure if this is an emulation error of if this is actually part of the game.

In the telepathic message tile, Zelda tells you not to be deceived by Blind's magic.

The green lizards just follow the walls like the rats; the only difference is that they take more damage before dying.

You'll see a crack in the wall awash in sunlight from a nearby window. Throw a bomb at it and let it break the cracks in the floor. You'll need this hole for later.

The huge version of the dungeon pushblocks can be picked up and grabbed with the A button. They're like the large rocks, so you'll be stuck in one place before you throw it.

If you have the Big Key, you can open the jail doors much like you did in Hyrule Castle when you rescued Zelda. At the last door will be a young woman, who seems to look like one of the Maidens. She'll ask you to take her outside.

You'll need the Magic Hammer to get to the Big Chest, which isn't much of a problem at all. When you open the Big Chest, you'll get the Titan's Mitt. This works just like the Power Glove, except this time you'll be able to lift the dark-colored rocks and gain access to more areas and secrets. Just be quick near the chest, because the floor will start to crumble away in a clock-wise pattern from the top-left after you enter the room.

If you go to the exit, she tells you not to go this way. Before you actually throw up your Yao Ming face, remember the boss room. You're actually supposed to head there instead. Since you've bombed the crack in the wall that was covered by the sunlight, there will now be a swath of sunlight in the center of the room. Put the girl in the sunlight, and you'll fight some red monster. I'm assuming this is Blind the Thief.

He'll float around and shoot lasers out of his eyes as well as multiple Zora-style fireballs. Hit him in the head with the whirlwind slash a few times, and his white shirt will fall to the ground, causing only his floating head to remain. Another Blind head will pop out of the shirt and you'll be dealing with the head and Blind himself. Attack the new Blind like normal. Now you'll have two heads floating around. After a few more hits, Blind will be out of commission.

You'll get another heart container before saving another Maiden.

CGR Undertow reviews The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

I'm surprised I've never gotten to this CGR Undertow review until now.

PrinceWatercress plays The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Part 14 of 21

I really need to play these Zelda games beforehead before Let's Playing them. Watch me not heed this advice during Link's Awakening!

Dark World Map (by Alex Foster)

Skull Woods (by Alex Foster)

First Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

Second Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

There are multiple entrances to the dungeon here...but which one should we use? Turns out, there are a couple of entrances to this dungeon in the Skull Woods, and there's no correct one. Some are inside skulls, while others are holes in the ground. So go ahead, pick one and look around.

The entrance in the center of the Skull Woods will take you straight to the Big Key, so go ahead and take that one first.

The Ceiling Masters are the giant hands that come out of sky and fall on Link, taking him back to the dungeon entrance he last used if they catch him. Thankfully, you can hear the sound of something following as well as see the Ceiling Master's shadow before hand. If you kill one, you'll still have to deal with another one. Just pay attention whenever you're doing something so you won't get caught off guard.

When you open the chest containing the Compass, you'll cause pits to form all over the floor.

Some of the pots in this dungeon (and other dungeons) contain a yellow magical wisp. The wisp will follow you, and if you run away from it long enough or it runs into a wall, it will disappear. If it touches you, however, Link will turn back into the bunny, and the Moon Pearl will be negated for a few seconds. It doesn't last very long, though, so more often than not you won't have to worry about running into a situation where your bunny form will render you helpless.

One of the entrances to the dungeon is underneath some bushes. Find it, go in, and you'll be able to pull the switch to open up a wall and access the Big Chest. Inside the Big Chest is the Fire Rod, which you'll really need here. It works like the Ice Rod, only it shoots fire instead of ice.

The mummies take a good bit of abuse, but now that you have the Fire Rod, you won't have to worry about that. If you have multiple mummies on-screen, you can kill them with the Bombos Medallion.

The Star Tiles from the Mountain Tower in the Light World make a return appearance here, and you'll have to hit them in order to move some pits around and reach areas that you wouldn't be able to get to normally.

You'll eventually find a giant, monster-like skull in the ground with a giant bone sticking out of where the mouth should be. Use the Fire Rod on this stick and you'll set it on fire, burning it out of existence and opening up another entrance that leads to another part of the dungeon.

There is a chest at the beginning when you enter this area, but you'll have to get past some walls hidden underneath the bridge in order to reach it.

You'll need the Fire Rod to light all four torches and open the door in time.

You can actually slash the vines that cover parts of the walls. One of them, not surprisingly, hides a door that leads to the boss.

The boss is a giant moth. As you fight it, the floor moves like a conveyor belt and some of the spikes move into different positions. You can fight this thing with the Fire Rod, your sword, and the sword beams, but you can also use bees on it. Yes, bees work on this boss, and they do quite a bit of damage before they finally fly away.

By going to the Village of Outcasts and pulling on the pitchfork of the demon statue, you can enter the fourth Dark World dungeon, Blind's Dungeon.

PrinceWatercress plays The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Part 13 of 21

Now that we've gotten the second crystal, let's go exploring some more.

Light World Map (by JonLeung)

Dark World Map (by Alex Foster)

Map (by JonLeung)

Go back to the village cafe and use the Ocarina on the old man sleeping. He'll find out what's happened to his son (who turned into that creature in the woods area we talked to), and if you talk to him again, he'll tell you to play the flute in front of the bird at the village square.

Go to the village square and play the Ocarina. The bird statue will explode and a real, live bird will fly out of it.

Play the flute again. The bird will fly towards you and Link will grab on when it touches him. (Make sure you're lined up with the bird, because the bird doesn't return, forcing you to play the ocarina again after several seconds.) From here, you'll get the World Map, and you can choose one of eight places to drop Link off at. Number three, obviously, is Kakariko Village.

If you remember the Dark World's Kakariko Village equivalent, you'll remember that the dark rock behind the Bow and Arrow mini-game house will be in your way, keeping you out of the village. You'll have to go to the Lost Woods in the Light World and find a teleportation tiles in order to enter the village from within.

Lost Woods (map by Tropicon)

Go north from the upper-left corner of the village, then go into the woods, go east, then south. Pound the post with the Magic Hammer and grab the rock here to find the Magic Teleporter the tree told you about. This will allow you to enter the Dark World's version of the forest.

Village of Outcasts (by Alex Foster)

Don't do that just yet, though. Instead, enter the teleporter, then go through the bushes and head back to the village...or whatever it is in the Dark World. This is the Village of Outcasts, sometimes known as the Thieves' Town. There's nothing friendly about this town at all, and some of the buildings are completely destroyed.

There is a chest mini-game here...and there are a lot of chests to open. One of them is a Piece of Heart, which will be in a random chest every time you play the mini-game. You'll have to pay, play, and return over and over until you finally get this Piece of Heart, but  it's so worth it.

The bird statue is a statue of a demon holding the pitchfork. Pull on the pitchfork to lift it up and open a dungeon entrance. We'll be going here later on.

The guys in blue that look like they have fox ears are like the thieves that used to be in the Lost Woods before the fog lifted. Don't let them get near you if you prize your Rupees and arrows!

There are a few houses here with chests that contain 300 Rupees each, so if you really need money, save these for later.

There is also a treasure chest game where you can open two chests for 30 Rupees here. There is a slight chance that you can get a Piece of Heart out of one of the chests, but you may have to spend quite a few Rupees to get it.

You won't be able to go to where the Blacksmith's house is in the Dark World unless you can pick up dark rocks. There will also be a frog person trapped behind dark rocks to the south of the village, and you won't be able to help him out right now, either

The Lumberjacks' House is a shop in the Dark World.

The Sanctuary is a makeshift church in a cave in the Dark World. The octopus will tell you about the big crack in the Pyramid of Power, which you won't be able to break yet.

Head to where the cemetery is in the Light World. You'll be able to enter the upper-right corner of the fenced in area at last, and you can use the Magic Mirror to enter this area in the Light World earlier than usual. Dash into the grave to reveal a hidden cave with a chest inside. This chest contains the Magic Cape, which turns Link invisible and into nothing more than a shadow when he wears it. With this cape, you can also pass through enemies and not take damage The longer you wear it, however, the more Magic Power you use, and the invisibility wears off when you run out of Magic Power, so be careful.

If you go to where the Death Mountain was entrance in the Light World, you'll find a Piece of Heart at the top. You're supposed to have two item when you go up the stairs in the nearby cave entrance: the Hookshot - which you'll find in the Swamp Palace - and the Magic Cape. However, you can easily slink up the upper-left edge of the pit, grab the skull, throw it down and continue on your way without using the Hookshot. Then, use the Magic Cape to walk through the bumper, and you'll be able to get the Piece of Heart on the other side.

In the forest between the Village of Outcasts and the Pyramid of Power, there is a shop where you can buy a red shield for 500 Rupees. Do yourself a favor: buy a regular shield and toss it into the Waterfall of Wishes in the Light World and save your money.

PrinceWatercress plays The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Part 12 of 21

We go for the second crystal in the game...and get a very, very useful item in the process.

Light World Map (by JonLeung)

Dark World Map (by Alex Foster)

Believe it or not, there is an old man sitting next to a sign near the desert in the Light World. If you grab the sign, he'll follow you around until you go to another nearby area.

Back in the Dark World, there is a dead end where the entrance to the desert in the Light World is. However, if you use the Magic Mirror behind the stakes, you can go left and use the Book of Mudora at the stone slab to get the Bombos Medallion, which will set all on-screen enemies on fire.

Remember how you drained the lake in the swamp south of Link's House? Well, if you come to the location of where you did it in the Dark World, use the Magic Mirror in the Light World, drain the lake there and go back to the Dark World, the lake will be drained in the Dark World. With the lake drained, you'll be able to get around in the second Dark World dungeon of the game: the Swamp Palace.

Swamp Palace Area (by Alex Foster)

Swamp Palace

First Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

First Basement Floor (A) (by Iron Knuckle)

First Basement Floor (B) (by Iron Knuckle)

Second Basement Floor (by Iron Knuckle)

When you enter the dungeon, you'll find out that you won't be able to get anywhere in this dungeon. The only thing you can reach is a telepathic message tile. It's a message from Sahasrahla, telling you that objects exist in both world with similar shapes, and if you change something in one world, it'll change the same thing in the other.

Go back to the Light World with the Magic Mirror near the Swamp Palace, and enter the Swamp Palace there. Drain the water, and head back out. Go through the portal back to the Dark World that the Magic Mirror left, and the water will be drained in the Dark World as well. Go back into the Swamp Palace there and the chasm near the entrance will be filled with water, allowing you to swim to the ladder and explore the dungeon.

The ring-shaped monsters that look like they have green noses are easily destructible, but the blue monsters that almost blend in with the shallow water on the floor are something else. They're pretty fast and both travel and bounce off the walls at 45-degree angles. You'll be spending more of your time avoiding them than anything else. You can destroy them, but they just disappear when your sword hits them, and they keep re-spawning no matter what.

The brown square-like object with holes on each side shoot fireballs similar to what the Zoras spit at you whenever you swing your sword. The fireballs track you, but these brown things can't fire at you diagonally, so they're not much of a problem.

Those grey things that look like turnstiles are really the switches for the floodgate. Walk up to the right side and keep walking into the stick-like part of these switches to push them and activate the switch to release the floodgates.

The dark holes in the walls contain orange fish-like monsters that come out of the holes and swim around the room. Like the ring monsters, they're easily destructible.

You'll have to swing through the wall in order to hit the color switch behind the locked door and activate the nearby floodgate. Once you trigger the switch, raise the blue blocks up again. You'll need this for one of the pits on the first floor...and real soon, too, otherwise you'll have to go all the way back and do what you should have done before you left the room.

If you have the orange blocks down, then congratulations! You can get the Big Key!

The Big Chest contains the Hookshot, which makes its series debut in this game and has appeared in many Zelda games since. Use it to grapple onto pots, skulls and other things that can acts as hooks from a long distance and scale pits and gaps in a hurry!

One of the rooms has a couple of waterfalls. The waterfall second to the right is a door to another room, but unless you looked at your map, you wouldn't know this.

The boss of this dungeon is a bunch of clouds. Use the Hookshot to drag one of the clouds to you, and destroy it with your sword. When you destroy all the clouds, the flying one-eyed monster that the clouds were hiding will leap up and land on the ground before bouncing off the walls at 45-degree angles. If you have the Level 3 sword, you can defeat the boss with two whirlwind slashes and get the Heart Container and Crystal easily.

Kakariko Village Map (by JonLeung)

When you return to Kakariko Village, the village will be swarming with soldiers.

To the east of the village is the blacksmith's house. To the right of the village is the Smithy's House as well as another well. If you go inside and talk to the Smithy, you won't be able to do much as his partner has gone missing. Hit the stump next to the house with the Magic Hammer, then drop down into the well. Now that you have the Magic Hammer, you can use it to pound a wooden stake down and drop down the nearby well. Go north after you drop down to find some jade-colored statue of two hands holding a bowl with some sort of red liquid in it. Sprinkle Magic Powder on it, and you'll unleash a demon. He's ticked that you've woken him up, and he's going to curse you. This is actually curse you're going to want anyway, and you're going to get it whether you want it or not, as it cuts your Magic Power consumption by half! This is going to be very useful later on when it comes to using the Medallions and the Ice Rod. My only question is...what's with the bat when he speaks? It's like they predicted Fluttershy in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic almost twenty years beforehand and used her passive mannerisms as the basis for how the bat speaks.

PrinceWatercress plays The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Part 11 of 21

Before taking on the second dungeon in the Dark World, we do some more exploration and get a few key items.

Light World Map (by JonLeung)

Dark World Map (by Alex Foster)

By going to where you found the Ice Rod in the Dark World, you can pay 20 Rupees and learn that the guy in the desert is pretending to be a strange man to hide the fact that he used to be a thief. You can bomb the nearby crack in the wall outside to find a large Fairy.

When you near the Ice Palace (which is the equivalent of Lake Hylia in the Dark World), there will be green and blue flying enemies that will try to drop bombs at you. There will be orange enemies that will try to eat your shield with their tongues if you get too close, so fight them from a distance.

To the west of the Ice Palace is a ring of rocks. If you stand in the shallow part and use the Magic Mirror, you can get on the island in Lake Hylia that holds the Heart Piece.

Now that you have the Magic Hammer, you can pound down the stakes blocking your path leading to the Bomb Shop, which is where Link's House is in the Dark World. By going to the Bomb Shop, you can buy 30 bombs for 100 Rupees. Keep the shop in mind; you'll need to go here later.

The trees in the Dark World look like they have faces. Of course, Nintendo has to think of everything, and there's two near the forest that has eyes that actually move. If you run into its mouth, it spits out a bomb. There are two types of talking tree: one of them is rude and just tells you to watch where you're going, especially when you dash. The other gives you hints, such as the fact that there is a magic teleporter in the Lost Woods and that the two forests may be connected to each other.

Between Link's house and the library area of Kakariko Village is a forest where a kid is playing the ocarina. When you approach him, however, the animals run away and he disappears. Enter that area in the Dark World. You'll find a creature here, and it turns out that this was the guy with the ocarina that went to the Golden Land in search of the Golden Power and never returned.

He buried the ocarina with some flower seeds, and he hands you a shovel so you can go get it if you agree to help him out. While you could just go back to the Light World's version of this area with the Magic Mirror, you can have some fun with it beforehand by equipping the shovel and digging in the dirt to find Rupees and other power-ups.

Unlike the Light World, where you can enter the desert area, you won't be able to enter the Dark World's equivalent unless you have certain items. If you do head to it the normal way, you'll find something that you've probably noticed earlier in the game: a stone tablet that looks just like the one that gave you the Ether Medal. Stand inside the area where the posts are and use the Magic Mirror to go back to the Light World. You'll now be on top of the rock wall. Go west and you'll finally reach this tablet. Use the Book of Mudora on it and you'll receive the Bombos Medal. This medal sets all onscreen enemies on fire and kills them, but just like the other medals, this requires a good amount of magic to use.

This is one of the earliest puzzles that requires using something in one world to reach it in the other...and it won't be the last.

The ocarina is in the upper-left corner of the area where the guy is playing the Ocarina. When you get the ocarina, however, you lose the shovel and you'll never be able to use it again. That disappointed me as a kid, and thankfully the next game, Link's Awakening, actually has a shovel that you keep permanently once you find it. (Nintendo also fixed this in the GBA version, allowing you to switch between the shovel and the ocarina by highlighting the slot they share in the inventory at the touch of a button.)

Go back to the Dark World and talk to the creature. He isn't able to play the ocarina anymore, so he lets you keep it. He tells you to give it to a tired old man in Kakariko Village. He then asks you to play the ocarina one last time. Do that, and he'll transform into a tree.

Go back south and go to the southwest corner of this area. Stand in the circle of bushes and use the Magic Mirror to reach another cave that you couldn't normally reach. There's another Piece of Heart here.

At the southern part of the Dark World equivalent of Kakariko Village, you'll find a target practice mini-game for the bow and arrow where you can get a lot of Rupees if you're good enough. There is also a digging mini-game where you can pay Rupees to dig things out of the ground for a limited amount of time. If you're lucky, you can find a Heart Piece while playing this game. For 80 rupees, you can get a shovel, go behind the guy running the game, and use a shovel on the entire field behind him and keep whatever treasures you find. This is a nice substitute, but I'd like to do this wherever I want, bah gawd. Once again, refer to a few paragraphs back to where I reference Link's Awakening.

Believe it or not, there is something worth getting in this game. Keep playing the game and keep digging until you find another Piece of Heart. Yes, there's a Piece of Heart here, and it's in a random spot every time, so be ready to dig...and dig...and dig. It's not the only one you're going to find in this village, as you'll soon see. You'll make a good amount of Rupees and easily recoup what you've paid while playing this game, but you can also get a little more than that if you're lucky, so don't worry about running out of money.