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Chapter 23: Fire, Fire! Great Balls of Fire!

Hey guys, and welcome back to another exciting episode of LP! LoZ: LA DX! Today, we're gonna clear up the final dungeon, the Turtle's Rock. I for one have a strong dislike for this dungeon. Why? Well, besides the fact you have to fight previous mid-bosses from previous dungeons, this is one of those dungeons where if you use the wrong key on the wrong lock, you will be unable to finish the game.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Right then. Now that my warning message has been given, let's get started.


Behold, the entrance to the Turtle's Rock. Head up.


The two doors on either side are gonna lock when you step in, and you'll have to face this guy. Players of the other Zelda handhelds may recognize him as an enemy from... I wanna say Oracle of Seasons, but he may be in Ages too. He'll stay on the outer portion of the screen, shooting fireballs at you before either divebombing you or flying off-screen to attack from a different side. If you hit him twice, he'll split into a pair of bats, which will then fly into you. Not difficult of an enemy at all.

Once he's gone, head right.

Likewise, the doors will lock upon entering. There's a switch hidden under one of the pots, and you need to be careful with the Sparks to get to them.


Fortunately, the boomerang makes short work of them, and the switch is hidden under the pot nearest the lava near the closer Spark. Once you push it, head south.


There are two of the elephant enemies that mimic your movements, and two firepits that shoot fireballs at you.


Defeating both the enemies will spawn some stairs, and the fireballs will stop. Take the stairs.


Jump on the floating platform and take out the Spark with the boomerang before heading across.


Jump on the platform and ride it to the ladder, then climb up the second ladder to get out of the underground area.


There's gonna be a couple of the green blobs hiding here, and a Beamos. Move for that pot, and jump over the beams if needed.


Time it so that the Beamos just finished passing its gaze over the pot, then pick up the pot to find the switch. Press it and head for the door.


And it's our first deja vu battle! If you don't remember how to beat him, simply grab the metal ball after he throws it and throw it right back at him.
Link: It's like playing catch.
Only you're pegging them with a two-ton ball of steel.


Once he's been vanquished, grab the fairy he drops and head south.


Kill the snakes and head for the chest.


You'll find a stone beak. Head back through the doorway, and ignore the stairs.


Head left.


This is one of those interesting rooms you'll see in the dungeon. If you push that block with the bubble on it, you can take control of it. There's a key in this room, so the goal is to fill up the entire empty space with ground. Also, if you're using the block and you collide with either pre-made ground or a wall, it will disappear.


Once all the space is filled, you'll be rewarded with a key. Head left.


There's a chest here, but I wouldn't bother with it.


Green blob hiding in it. Once you beat it, head left.


And we're back here. Head left.


Defeat this guy again and head left.


Beat the snakes while evading the beams to unlock the door, then head north for your second deja vu battle.


Remember this sap? If you have full hearts, just beam sword him to death. He won't even be able to reach you.


He'll explode and drop a fairy, and head left once the door opens.


It's another one of those rooms, with that device. Fill up the empty space.


Doing so will give you a chest...


Filled with money we have little need of. Head south.


There's a chest here too. Inside of it has...


More money, which gives us the 999 limit. From here, head left.


Oh man, we haven't seen this guy in a long time. Just jump over the rolling barricade and slash at him to bring him down.


Grab the fairy once he's defeated, then head south.


Head down towards the vacuum, killing the enemies along the way, and then slash the black hole thing to kill it. Then go for the chest.


Our ever-faithful HRC joins us one last time. Head back north once it's in your pocket.


Keep heading north.


And this brat's back. I think you can get him in one shot using the boomerang, but I didn't check on it.


You'll get a key for your efforts. Backtrack to the room north of the entrance.







Head north from here.


To the right.


We're gonna use this room quite a bit.


Push the moveable block so that you can reach this area right here.


You can bomb the wall at the end of the path for a new route, and you can push the blocks to reach the chest.


Get that map.


The dungeon is shaped like a turtle. Interesting, huh? Head through the entrance you just made with the bomb.


Take the stairs.


Dodge the fireballs while jumping from pillar to pillar to the other side.


Take the ladder and climb across to the other side, dodging fireballs.


Congrats, you're back in the Stone Beak room. Kill the snakes to proceed to fight one of the old mid-bosses again.

Once he's vanquished, head left.

Now that we're back in this room, examine the north wall.


There's a spot you can bomb.

Once the bomb goes off, head through the new entrance.

You'll see a crystal here. Remember it for later. Go ahead and bomb that cracked wall though.


Don't bother taking the stairs. It's covered in ice and we don't have the item to get through. Also don't bother heading left, as there's a lava pit you can't cross either. Just take the path south.


And we're back here! Make your way back to the moveable block at the lava pit.





Now that we're back here, we need to head north. But there's several options, right?


This is the one we want. By the way, if you ever need to head quickly back to the entrance from anywhere in the dungeon, just play the warp song. It'll take you right back to the entrance. Pretty nifty, right?


Use your key on the block and head left.


Keep going left.


Oh look, dead end. Head two screens to the right.


Head right once more.


You can either take out the flying demon, or ignore him and open the door with your key.


Take the one-way door, and ignore the stairs.


There's a bunch of bombable blocks here. And the door locks too.


Defeating all the enemies will open the door. But if you bomb all the blocks, they'll reveal an arrow on the ground. There's a part on the wall you can bomb.


This part, in fact.


Careful here. If you use a key here without grabbing all the ones from further in, you can and will be trapped and unable to complete the game. So ignore this area for now and head back.


Head north.


There's gonna be a chime, and your goal is to kill the gibdos on the breakable floor.


Grab your key, then head left.


Just... just ignore this battle. Beating them will spawn a chest that you can't reach. Head left.


Take the stairs and head north.


Hookshot across to the chest.


Hey, a potion in case you don't have one. Jump down and collect all the goodies, then head north.


Take the stairs.


Get across as you see fit, and kill the goomba if you must.


Climb up the ladder, then hookshot across. Careful with the fireballs.


You're back here now. Head through the one-way door and make your way back to that door with the keyhole. Not the one that is directly left to the arrow room. The one that's past the mid-boss battle we ignored.





Use the key and go through.


There's the Nightmare's room. Ignore for now and head left.


Beat the enemies and head left.


Climb up the stairs.


Hookshot across to the chest.


Yay~ Money we don't need! Jump down and take the stairs.


Link: Ah... fresh air.
And look, there's a piece of heart!!


If you've been following my LP, this should be the last piece of heart you need. Once you got it, head right.


And there's a teleporter. Go ahead and activate it. Then come back and head right.


Take this entrance.


And now we're back inside the Turtle Rock. And look! We're up on the ledge where the chest will spawn! Lob bombs at those eaters and hope they get eaten! It'll take a few bombs to get the job done.


Once they're both out of the picture, the chest will appear. Go open it.


And add that small key to your collection. Head left after you get the key.


Jump down and head left.


Go left some more.


Head south.


There's a chime in this room. This puzzle is fairly interesting. You see that line on the ground? Go stand against the wall.


Shooting an arrow at the eye of the statue will drop the key. Grab it and head south.


Restock on items, then head back up.


Take a left.


Evade the beamos and make your way to the left of the chest and hide behind the block.


From here, push the block down, and the one in front of the chest to the right.


You'll get a small key. Head up the stairs and go around and south.


You can't clear this room, so just head back to the previous one.


With three keys, we need to head back to the arrow room. So go do that.








Head to the left.


Take out the sparks and jump across the pit and make your way over to the keyhole block.


If you have three keys, great. Use the first one on the block and head left.


Kill the snake and head left.


Head up the stairs and use the second key before heading right.


You'll need to hookshot onto one of the blocks on the other side.


Like so. Use the last key on the keyhole block and take the stairs.


Jump onto the platform and then onto the hanging block. Be careful of the fireballs.


Link: I'm hanging by a moment...
Jump onto the floating platform once it's safe and head right.


Jump across the floating platforms to the right, and take the ladder up.


This is the only reason why a crystal exists in this dungeon. To prevent us from reaching that chest. For now, head south.


And behold, the REAL mid-boss battle. Oracle of Seasons players will recognize this guy as Blaino, the dude that runs the boxing gym that you have to face to get Ricky's gloves back. Only difference is that they're blue. This guy is actually pretty challenging. His gloves will block most of your strikes, and he's fast on his feet too. His punches hurt quite a bit too. You need to wait until he does a flurry of punches to be able to go around his gloves and get a clean hit. He's also got one attack where he pulls back, as if he's winding up a punch, and then lunge forward to hit. If that hits you, you'll be sent flying back to the entrance of the dungeon. And we don't want that now, do we?

Once he's beat, grab the fairy and take the warp back to the entrance.

We need to head for the crystal room.




Take the top right route this time.


Jump off the ledge and head right. Grab hearts if needed.


Hit the crystal, then head back to the entrance.






Take the warp.


Head north, through the upper right entrance.


With the platforms down, we can get to the chest now.


It's a MAGIC ROD!



This is a fire-based weapon. So it's pretty sweet. Lights torches from a distance, burns foes, melts ice in an instant. Cool party tricks, yeah.


Link: The game is just as amazed as we are. XD

Head back to the entrance and go north.

With the magic rod, we can kill this guy in one shot.


Link: Gotta love the range on this baby. <3
Head left once he's down.


Kill snakes, go north.


Two hits with the magic rod will make short work of this guy. Head left once the door opens.


Push the block so you can head north.


Take out the snakes.


Then use the magic rod to light the torches.


A chest will appear.


You'll get a small key for your efforts.


I used the warp song to go back to the entrance.


Really nice for going there quickly.


Head for the lava pit room.


Make a path to the stairs.


The magic rod will get rid of all that ice, so use it to get across.


You need to take out the middle row of ice by jumping then swinging the magic rod in midair. This will give you a step to get up the ledge and reach the ladder.


Use the key on the door and go through.


You'd think we'd be done with repeat mid-bosses, but here's one more... hidden away from all the rest. I jumped over him and swung at his backside, since we can't really use the boots on lava. XD


After a couple of hits, he'll die and drop a fairy.


Take the north entrance.


This puzzle is pretty complex, as it does reward you with the boss key. Push the block up.


To get to here and then finish it... follow this pattern.
Legend: x = ground/lantern, | = wall, s = start
|xxxxxxxx|
|x>>v >>vx|
|x^ x>^x vx|
|x^v<<<|xsv>v>vx|
|xx>^>^>>|


Filling all the empty space will reward you with a chest.


Boss key, get~

Head back to the entrance.

Go to the lava pit.


Make a path to the right.


Like so.


Take the stairs.


More ice. Follow the route I will display below.




From here, take out the two ice columns that are above the goomba, drop down and try to take out the ice block that is in the way of making it to the left. If you miss, you can take out the ice to your right, drop down and climb back up.


Once you get across, head left.


Follow these steps.




And from there, jump. You could also ignore the first column and instead start with taking out the bottom row to save on time.


Once you're here, climb up the ice and head down the ladder.


You're now outside the boss room. Save, take a small break, then head inside.




Link: Sorry, but I'm playing those instruments. Cue battle music!



This guy is a laugh. All he does is jump around in the lava, and his main form of attack is the splash, from when he lands in the lava. The magic rod is your weapon of choice here, so spam it a lot. When he gets hit by it, he'll float around the room, bouncing off the walls. Dish out enough damage, and his outer shell breaks.



The concept remains the same, only he's small and thus harder to hit. Just keep using the magic rod until he's beaten. Also, I beat this guy without moving. Yeah. I just stood there and spammed the rod. That's all.







Link: I'll manage somehow. If I got into the dream, I can get out. I'm not like you Nightmares.
He'll burst into flames.


The last heart container will fall and land on Link.


Door will open now that we have the heart container, so head on over there and go north.


There it is. The last instrument.


You got the technicolor drum!


Thunder drum get!



As usual, it'll play before you get engulfed in a flash of light.



And our destination is the Egg now~


And with that, we are outside again.

Oh man, we are so close to the end. You have no idea.

Next time, I'll show you how to get the last picture, then we'll head over to the Wind Fish Egg and awaken him. So until then, see ya~

Final Chapter: Awaken the Beast

Hey guys, and welcome back to another... no... the LAST chapter of LP! LoZ: LA DX! Oh man, I can't believe we've finally made it to the end. It was a fun run, wasn't it? Four months of work, with about half of it being put off due to school and issues at home. But through it all, we have stuck to it. All things, great and small, must come to an end. And yes, that includes this classic. Let's... let's get started, shall we?


Last time, we found the last picture location and awakened the Wind Fish... or did we? If the Wind Fish is awakened, the island would cease to exist. And yet here we are, still on the island. So that must mean that there is still something preventing the Wind Fish from awakening. All in all, seems like we'd have to go inside.
Link: I'm so pumped! I know that this is goodbye to all the people in this dream, but still... can't you feel the tension building up? Let's do this and blow this joint!


Link: ... Apparently it's a lot bigger in the egg than it looks from the outside.
The so-called 'final dungeon': Inside the Wind Fish. We've made it at last.


Link: ... There's no way you can make that jump. D8
You're not supposed to. Jump into the pit and brace yourself.


And welcome to the Labyrinth! There are only a few routes that are known to escape from this eternal hell. Fortunately, if you've followed my instructions up until now, we can make this very painless. So stay focused!


Remember the order? First it's to the left.


Then up.


Link: Then to the right.


Up again.


Left again.


Up once more.


Right again.


If you go up one more time, you should hear a completion chime, and enter a room like this. Brace yourself... the final boss awaits.
Link: Just how far down does this egg go? It doesn't comply with the fabric of space!
You're saying that now?! None of the dungeons followed that law! They ignored what little space they were given!

Jump down to face...

... Yes, you are standing on the final boss himself. He has become your shadow.
Link: Just imagine how screwed I'd be if this was Dark Link forming under me...










Link: He sure spent a lot of time talking...
Probably wanted you to fall asleep during his speech.

The final boss, Nightmare, has several forms. And... believe it or not, if you've played Zelda before, especially ones from the NES/SNES generation, you'd recognize a few of them...


His first form is the Shadow Bot. If you guys remember the boss, or remember this music, great. If not... well, he's one of the mid-bosses you faced back in the 0th dungeon, the Color Dungeon. He'll hop around and attempt to bump into you, but he's not much of a threat. Oh, he'll also sink into the ground and reappear in a different part of the room. Wanna know how to beat him?


With crack. That's right. CRACK. So make sure you have plenty of it by the time you get here. Otherwise you may be in some deep s**t.


After taking a few doses of it, he'll burst apart. Stage one of the boss is done.


He'll then become Shadow Agahnim. For those of you not familiar with him, he's an evil sorcerer from a Link to the Past that gave you hell.
Link: He also plays one wicked game of Tennis. >_o


He'll start by charging up an orb of high-density energy. Pay attention to the next part, because this is important.


If the blast is spherical, you can use your sword (or shovel, if you still have it or got it back) to deflect the blast back at him and deal some damage.


He's also got the cross-shaped blast, which you cannot hit back at him and will hurt you.


Once it travels enough distance, the cross-shaped blasts will explode and fire off smaller blasts from the four corners. Simplest way to get around this is to jump out of the way and wait for the spherical blasts.


Once you deal enough damage, Shadow Agahnim will spin around before...


Reverting back to his normal form. And then he'll take on his third transformation...


Link: O_____________________________________o
Shadow Moldrom. Remember that very first boss we faced, way back in the Tail Cave? Yeah, he's BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK~ Beating him hasn't changed. Just swipe at his tail. But there's a twist. Each time you hit his tail, he'll speed up. You have to keep hitting the tail and make him go faster. If he slows down and goes back to his original speed, all the damage you have done is nulled.
There's a painless method I've heard of... during the transformation bits as Nightmare shifts from one form to the next, if you start slashing him just as he starts to transform into Shadow Moldrom, you can stop him mid-transformation, and if you deal enough enough damage doing this, he'll shift right onto his next form.


Speaking of his next form, it's...


Link: I swear this guy took a look into my memory to see all the past enemies I've beaten...
It's Shadow Ganon. If you don't recognize one of the most famous Zelda villains, I'm afraid you cannot call yourself a Zelda gamer.


He'll summon a bunch of flaming goddamn bats at you, which are immune to your attacks so you'd have to evade them.


Once all the bats are gone, he'll throw his trident at you before it'll return to him like a boomerang. And another thing. This guy is immune to regular sword hits. You'd either have to thrash him with Spin Attacks, or use the Peggy Boots and impale him with your sword.


Once you dish out enough damage, he'll shift to his fifth form...


Shadow Lanmola. You've fought him before back in the desert, as well as in a Link to the Past. However, he won't be defeated normally, like before. He'll chase you all around the room too. There's several easy ways to kill him though. Either use a Spin attack, the hookshot, boomerang, bombs, Magic rod, or charge at him with the Pegasus boots and sword to defeat him. One hit will do the trick.


Link: Hah. You're not so tough for a final boss.


Link: What the...? This is...


The sixth and final (true) form of Nightmare, Dethl. He'll swing those arms of his around to try to hit you, in which you must dodge by jumping.


Occasionally, he will open that eye of his, in which you can fire an arrow into it to deal damage. I suppose you can also use the boomerang, as it is significantly faster than the bow. Which would you prefer? 16 arrows to kill the final boss, or one boomerang hit in the eye?

Once you deal the final blow...




Link: So close, and yet so far away... cool


And then he went super saiyan.
Link: O____________________________________________________O


... I'm kidding. You beat him.




And then some mysterious voice tells us to climb the stairs.
Link: What stairs?


Link: ... Oh.





Link: Are we in space? Or did we have some crack and induce some sort of high?


Link: ... If we're high, why is the Stalker Owl here?


Link: Wait a minute... the textbox is white...
Probably so the words can actually be read, since we're dealing with a black background...
















Link: He sure loves to talk, doesn't he?


Long story short, Stalker Owl is actually the spirit of the Wind Fish to watch over the dream, and then he goes on about how the Nightmares first showed up, and then us, and how he's thankful that we saved this world. This is also the last time you see Stalker Owl, so throw any last minute words you'd like to say to him.
Link: I hate you Stalker Owl!


And then the Owl fades out of existence.
Link: ... I feel guilty now.


Link: Something's coming!


Link: Is that... the Wind Fish?
Huh... like that one Owl said long ago, the Wind Fish is neither Wind nor Fish. It's a Whale with a bunch of tattoos. And really tiny wings for the massive body.


Link: He seems to be sizing us up.
Or maybe he's half asleep.


Link: We figured.

















Link: ... Spirit or physical form, the Wind Fish loves to talk, doesn't he?


And then he fades out of existence to go wake up.



Link: Again? Fine... you have no idea how hard it is to play all the instruments at once you know...


And thus, we played the Song of Awakening once more.


And we watch how everything fades out.


From Bow Wow and his little siblings...


To the two kids playing catch...
Link: I never did get a chance to join them, huh...?


To the Octoroks on the beach...


To-- Did he find ANOTHER MUSHROOM?
Link: Screw it, I'm not saving Tarin's a** again. He's about to be vaporized from existence anyway.


To... yes, even Marin.
Link: D8!


Up until the entire island...




... fades entirely out of existence.


Link: ... You know, if the island doesn't exist anymore, then how do we--


Link: Oh god!


Link: Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Make it stop! I feel like I'm gonna-- urp!


Link: Blurgh...
... Nasty. I can't believe you threw up.

When we finally come to...

We see the sun glaring down on us.
Link: Huh... we're outside...?


Still clinging to the mast, I see.


Link: ....


Link: Marin baby, come back...


Link: Huh... where am I...?


Link: Oh right... shipwrecked... so this is where I really am...


Link: Guess I can just wait to be rescued or something...

3 hours later...

Link: I wonder what Zelda and Ganon are up to... probably partying hard without me.

3 days later...

Link: The world of Termina would have been destroyed by now...


Link: ... huh? Did it get dark all of a sudden?


Link: Oh goddesses! The moon has come to get me!!!!!!! Dx


-scrolling up to the sky-


Link: Oh wait, that's just the Wind Fish...


Link: Would be nice if someone picked me up and took me back to Hyrule...




Link: That's it! I'll get the Wind Fish to take me home!


Link: Hey, Wind Fish! Give me a ride home! biggrin

And then we spend the next two minutes or so watching the staff credits...


Link: You stupid land whale! Stop swimming around in the air and get your a** down here! scream Seriously! It's not funny! stressed


Link: Whoa! Hey, don't try to land on me you b*****d! gonk

For you lucky folks who got the Perfect Ending like I did, this next piece is exclusive to you.

For some reason, the image of Marin in the sky was flickering on me, and I tried to get a good shot. But as you can see, no luck.

So I'm borrowing from the wiki page to give you what you're supposed to see...


And then her image will fade out...

Into a seagull.


In the end, Marin got her wish... to become a seagull. If you did not get the Perfect Ending, congrats. You just denied Marin her one wish.


Thanks to the staff that made such an amazing game.

And as an added bonus, this image I am about to show you is what you would see instead if you got the perfect ending in the black-and-white version of Link's Awakening.


...
Wooo~ We finally beat Link's Awakening DX! It's such a shame that from here on out, LP! LoZ: LA DX will no longer be releasing any new chapters. I would like to thank Nintendo for making such an amazing game, Link and Marin for their assistance in writing this, and to my readers, who enjoyed every minute of this.

This is gabriel sama signing out. See ya!