"Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening" 3 Quiz

Answer: Enter Face Shrine

Swimming will not get you into Face Shrine; you need a bow, some arrows, and a secret passage for that.
You have to swim to visit Manbo in the cave to the left of Angler's Tunnel. (His cave is the one with two fishes engraved on the outer walls.) If you have the ocarina, enjoy a music lesson with the Manbo and the two little fish; you can use the song to warp to Manbo's Pond by Crazy Tracy's. If you play the song in a dungeon, you will warp to the safety of that dungeon's entrance.
You have to swim to Catfish's Maw and dive underwater to pass the reef to get to the entrance. To make it fairly obvious, a special niche in the reef marks the underwater passage.
You have to swim to find someone to take the fishhook in the trading sequence. The trade for the necklace is well hidden, but if you read the owl statues instead of ignoring them, one will tell Link that secrets are like water under bridges... You typically can't swim under a bridge, but this one is special. The "camera angle" drops to the side while you talk to the fisherman. He sees the fishhook, tells you he'll swap his next catch for it, and pulls in a necklace. How on earth...? Take the necklace to the Mermaid who keeps popping up in the bay. When you return the lost necklace to her, you get one of her scales-and the trading sequence is *finally* over! Now all you need is the hookshot...

Answer: In an enemy

Link faces off with a tremendously annoying pile of bones. The monster's blows are devastating, but if Link is quick enough to dodge, he'll have it easy. Hack at the skeletal warrior, and you turn him into a literal pile of bones, but you don't damage him. Collapse him *and* plant a bomb in the pile, and you're winning! If you stick close to the blast zone and jump in swinging, you can keep the enemy falling apart.

The warrior jumps back, whines about losing, and disappears. Link proceeds to the next room, assuming that he has beaten the mini-boss...only to find that the bony loser has taken off with the prize!

Answer: Four

The lousy coward runs away three times and finally surrenders the fourth time. Link has better things to do than run back and forth through the dungeon chasing a scaredy-cat- Wait! I guess he doesn't- He *must* get that hookshot! The rooms in which the skeleton appears are numbered in order by how many corners have blocks in them.

The last room is not far from the entrance, just straight left and through the stairways. When you find him, watch his heavy sword, topple his fragile form, and blow him to bits!

Answer: Wind Marimba

It has a nice sound to it-"Wind Marimba!" The other instruments are the cello, drum, bell, triangle, flute, harp, and horn. You can listen to their combined music by climbing up to the Windfish's Egg and playing his ballad on the ocarina. The magic instruments pop out and play themselves, but nothing else happens unless you have the complete set.

Answer: Bow

Of course, if you don't have the bow yet, you'll have a long walk to Mabe Village and back to add to the short walk to Face Shrine. Link must have the Face Key, and that is within a courtyard full of Armos Statues that can only be destroyed by arrows. (Annoying? You bet.) Link must first animate them by touching them with his bare hands, then get back to use his bow.

They can be "filliped" with the shield, but they will still get in the way. The enemy in the little temple structure *must* be fought with arrows (I tried bombing, slashing, ramming, jumping, and-hookshotting? Nothing worked but arrows.) Save all your rupees from treasure chests and enemies up to this point, and you should be able to buy the bow without a great deal of trouble. I've been told you can steal the bow, but entering the shop after a theft kills you.

Answer: "This is all a dream."

"Ocean, island, sea, and sky; All the scene on the lid of a dreamer's eye. Dreamer, you should know the truth!" Sounds a little creepy. So, what are they saying? This is all an illusion created by the sleeping Wind Fish. Link is sharing his dreams and his nightmares with this creature. What is Link's nightmare? Well...

He has this relationship with an evil emperor and a beautiful princess-and the evil guy won't die-and the princess is always in danger-and Link fights his way through armies of minions-and it all happens over and over again like a recurring nightmare... Sound familiar?

Answer: Tile path leads straight to it

If you were lucky, you might not remember this (sorry). This one stumped me for almost a week. My brother discovered it after he began randomly bombing *every* wall in the dungeon. It's actually very simple. The spacing of the torches is one clue, and another is the utterly obvious tile path in the floor.

The path enters the room going north, then makes a direct turn into the wall. (And yes, if you whack it, it sounds hollow. *sigh* There are so many walls to whack.) We discovered another bombable wall (one that isn't necessary) that can make you dizzy.

It "warps" you back three rooms. You exit a room going north and enter another room that is south of it... :) Craziness!

Answer: Destroy the island

They insist that Link doesn't understand. Destroying the Nightmares also means destroying the dream. Everything on the island will perish with the Nightmares when the WindFish wakes. There can be no happily ever after-ever!-after all. The "face" nightmare in Face Shrine is pretty easily understood. They don't want this outsider destroying their unhappy little world.

Answer: Exploding arrows

There is a special arrow! Fire and ice arrows debuted in "Ocarina of Time" and light arrows appeared in previous "Zelda" games, but none of these appear in "Link's Awakening." However... Equip Link with both arrows and bombs, then press both buttons at the same time.

The graphics depict an ordinary arrow, and an ordinary bomb-but the bomb rides the arrow! This is especially convenient for destroying the wizrobes (they look like ghosts with sombreros.) They ordinarily take three arrows, but one bomb-arrow (or arrow-bomb if you prefer) will dispose of them.

Answer: Ukuku Prarie

Link must visit the Signpost Maze, an annoying little tourist trap in Ukuku Prairie, and carefully check 14 signs in order. Once he has followed the directions correctly, the pond opens and Link meets Mamu and the singing frogs. The music needs some work, but they leave on a singing tour anyway. Link needs their song (an equipable item to the ocarina) to revive the flying rooster that has been buried under the statue in Mabe Village for so many years. With the rooster, he can get the Eagle's Key and *finally* check out that annoying staircase that sits beyond six pitfalls at Kanalet Castle's front gate.

Answer: Boomerang

To see this trick, equip the lift bracelet and the boomerang. Enter a screen that is full of baddies and throw the boomerang out in any direction. Grab the rooster and hold on. The boomerang whips forward away from Link, attacking a monster...then another monster...and another...and finally returns to a spinning standstill under Link's feet as he hovers with the rooster. Cool!

Answer: He has no name!

Oops, he has no name. (Trick question) The flying rooster is a well-known chicken on the island, but no one ever calls him by name. Ulria remembers the flying rooster that used to carry them around and a few others might mention it, but he has no name. Chicken gliding is used in "Ocarina of Time" in Kakariko, Zora's Domain, and Gerudo Valley.

Many things that appeared first in "Link's Awakening" were carried over into "Ocarina of Time".

Answer: Ball

In level seven, Eagle's Tower, Link gets to lug around a huge, two-toned, two-ton wrecking ball. Not my description of fun, but that's what gets the job done. After six dungeons and a world map that prohibits items from being carried screen to screen, it takes a moment to get used to carrying a massive wrecking ball around. Getting it from place to place within the dungeon is quite a puzzle as well! Use the ball to smash the four pillars supporting the upper levels of the tower so Link can go beat that oversized bird and his flute-playing master.

Answer: Going to fish in the sea

The fishing mini-game returned in "Ocarina of Time." In "Ocarina of Time," Link can let the fish go after he catches them, and the manager refuses to give him a different lure. In "Wind Waker," Link can feed the fish and even shoot them with arrows. In "Link's Awakening," Link can catch two Lunkers and a two small fish. If this seems difficult (I've seen more than one person struggle), realize that you reel the fish in by tapping *both* A and B buttons alternately or just wildly. Once you catch all the fish and get heart piece, ask to fish again before leaving.

The manager notices the fish are gone and suggests fishing in the sea, but then tells Link to forget he said anything.

Answer: Increases item capacity

"You've woken me up! Now I'll make you pay! Are you ready? (yes or no)" ZAP! "Hahaha! Now look at all that junk you have to carry!" This ironic little creature has some twisted logic to be sure, but who is Link to straighten him out? He even asks you if you're ready! This is how Link upgrades his bomb and arrow capacity.
Thank you for joining me on an adventure down memory lane. I find it rather ironic to give a spoiler notice for something that came out in 1989, but I realize that many younger "Zelda" fans are just hearing all this for the first time! :) I hope you enjoyed it!