The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Seasons' dungeon design | Boss Keys

Hi. My name's Mark and this is Boss Keys - a video journey of my research into the dungeon design of the Legend of Zelda franchise. After two Nintendo 64 games, we're back in 2D this time with the Game Boy Color games Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons. Now, despite the fact that they launched on the same day and have blue and red boxes, this isn't like Pokemon where you get the same game twice but with slightly different monsters - these two Zelda games couldn't be more different.

Seasons is action focused, it's set in the world of Holodrum, and sees Link using a magic rod to switch the seasons between Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Ages, on the other hand, is more about puzzles, it's set in Labrynna, and Link can jump between the present and the distant past. What's really fascinating is that whichever game you play first, that becomes the first game in a mini series. You'll get a password at the end of the game and if you put that into the other Oracle game the story continues. Stuff carries over, past events are referenced, and extra sequences are unlocked. The order is up to you.

This also is the first Zelda game not developed in-house at Nintendo LINK: Oh boy! I'm so hungry I could eat an Octorok! Nope. N-n-nope, nope, nope. Ignore that. The Oracle games are actually made by Mega Man developer Capcom - in collaboration with Nintendo and with help from series creator Shigeru Miyamoto. Anyway. Let's talk about dungeons. Throughout this series, I've struggled to find a way to talk objectively about the structure and complexity of any given dungeon. Things like "how many keys are there?" and "how much backtracking do you have to do?" are useful but imperfect ways to discuss these things.

So, while playing the Oracle games, and the 16 dungeons within, I wanted to come up with a universal way of representing a dungeon's structure - so we can clearly see how a dungeon is laid out, and how dungeons compare to each other. Here's what I've come up with, and I'm going to use the first dungeon in Oracle of Seasons, the Gnarled Root dungeon, to explain things. In every dungeon, you start by finding the key item. In this case, it's the Ember Seeds. Your path to the item is often blocked by locked doors, so you'll need to divert from that main path to go find some small keys.

Also, as you go, you'll come across obstacles you can't bypass. Here, these locked doors are opened when these lanterns are lit - but you need the ember seeds to do that. Once you have the key item you can backtrack to those obstacles, and bypass them. These backtracking areas let you access the boss key, and the boss door. Now you can face off agains the boss and finish the dungeon. So this is the graph for the Gnarled Root Dungeon. And we can also lay it over the dungeon map itself to see how things are spaced out.

And pretty much every dungeon follows this formula, but with some changes to the layout that can impact the dungeon's structure. So compare the map for the first dungeon and the last dungeon in the game - the Sword and Shield maze - and you'll immediately see how much the challenge ramps up over the course of the game. This one has some unique locks and unique keys but I'll come back to those in a bit. So, what can these dungeon graphs really show? Well, they'll show if a dungeon lets you find multiple keys at one time, like in the Dancing Dragon Dungeon. That adds some non-linearity.

The graph can also show if you're able to pick from multiple locked doors like in the Wing Dungeon where one door leads to the boss key, and the other to the boss door. Ultimately you have to get the key first, but getting some choice - again - stops the dungeon feeling so predetermined. We can also see how large the explorable space is at any point: for example in Unicorn's Cave, you can explore all of this - which is to say, all of this - before unlocking a single door, which makes the dungeon feel large and maze-like. This graph also shows how many different places you can return to after getting the key item, and how they're spread out throughout the dungeon.

The nice thing about these graphs is that they can be used across all Zelda games. So, remember the Shadow Temple from Ocarina of Time, which I keep picking on? Well here's why: it's only got one bit of backtracking, no choice of keys or locks, and very little explorable space at each phase. I mean, it's got nothing on Dodongo's Cavern. And, hey, that game also has the Water Temple which is... yeah. Link's Awakening has very similar dungeon layouts to the Oracle games. But Link to the Past is different because the big key is used to get the key item, not the open the boss door, so you get the big key before the item. Also, in the Palace of Darkness, there are more keys than locks because one locked door leads to an entirely optional room. In the Tower of Hera, you don't even need the key item, the moon pearl, to solve any puzzles.

Majora's Mask follows the formula set by Link's Awakening, but uses way more of those unique locks and keys I mentioned earlier. So, Great Bay Temple has just one small key but it's way more complex than that because you need to turn on the red valves, so you can unlock access to the water wheel and change the water flow. Then turn on all the green valves so you can pump water through the green pipes and access the boss area. Just remember: red diamonds are keys, blue squares are locks.

A dungeon where you mess around with water has actually become a bit of a trend, now. And Oracle of Ages has one too, in Jabu's Jabu's Belly. Here's the graph. Suffice to say, it's complex. And like the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, it sees you raising and lowering the level of water. Once again this is good because it encourages intentionality. You see this chest and you have an idea of how to get there: you think "I need to lower the water level". And so you act on that - you go up, lower the water, come down and get the key. It's puzzle solving, spatial reasoning, navigation.

All that good stuff. But I will say this. The 2D viewpoint makes this dungeon way more complicated than it needs to be. It's really hard to visualise how the dungeon changes as the water level changes. To know, for example, that these giant platforms are floating on top of the water: something that's very clearly shown in the 3D games. I reckon the Water Temple is actually easier than this one, because of stuff like that.

Also, the Oracle games don't use the "central room" style of architecture seen in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask which, I think helps orientate the player and is especially useful in dungeons with puzzles that affect the whole dungeon. Examples of such puzzles in the Oracle games include the Moonlit Grotto, where you drop one section to the lower floor. And Mermaid's Cave, which you visit it in both the past and the present. In fact, it's the only dungeon to make use of either Oracle game's gimmick.

So stuff you do in the past - like blowing up crumbling walls - will affect the dungeon in the present. And the mermaid suit and boss key are in the present but are needed in the past. Where the dungeon was actually half submerged in water. It's a clever dungeon, and really makes you think about where to go and how to modify the dungeon - like Jabu Jabu's Belly, but way easier to comprehend and explore. There are some other ways to promote spacial reasoning. Oracle of Ages and Seasons like to use this roundabout device - it's used in five dungeons across the two games. When you step on, the roundabout turns 90 degrees in one direction, but then toggles to the other direction. So if Link goes back on, he'll just return to where he started. To go somewhere else you need to turn the roundabout, then go all the way around to first entrance, and spin it again.

You also have crystal switches which have shown up in other games. Here, you hit these orbs to make the blue blocks rise and the red blocks lower - or vice versa. To get through the dungeon you'll need to switch between the two states, often many times. Another challenge, found in the Sword and Shield Dungeon, sees you carrying these blocks of ice to put them in these holes. Carrying the ice limits Link's abilities, so you need to figure out how to get to the holes without going underground.

Now, these graphs are handy but there are things they don't show like enemy difficulty and the location of mini bosses. The compass and map. The tricky puzzles found inside single rooms. Or the optional items that can distract you - like the stray fairies we talked about in Majora's Mask or, in the Oracle games, rings and seeds. I mean, I could put some of that stuff in. Here's the Stone Tower Temple with all the mini bosses, extra items, and stray fairies. But it's, like, oh my god. So let's strip all that stuff out.

Much better. Anyway. I'm looking forward to using this graph system to analyse the future games. What does a dungeon in A Link Between Worlds, where the key items are found outside of the dungeon, look like? Will Wind Waker and Twilight Princess be complex or simple? I hope you're excited too. But until then, some stray thoughts on the Oracle games. The items are pretty great. The Roc's Cape lets you double jump, the slingshot and seed shooter are cool, and the switch hook is a neat take on the hook shot. The best item, though, is the magnetic glove that lets you pull and repel yourself towards and away from metal beams, pick up giant metal balls, and deal with these magnetic enemies.

All of the dungeons have their own theme and backstory but I particularly like the Ancient Ruins. There are statues who come to life when you steal the treasure, walls that close in, floors that fall away, a room that traps you until you kill all the monsters, and more. It's great. I'm going to talk about individual puzzles in a future episode, but the Oracle games are stuffed with puzzles about pushing blocks, stepping on tiles, pushing other blocks, hitting switches, jumping on tiles, and pushing more blocks.

Ultimately, the Oracle games have good dungeons. They build on the designs of the last 2D game, Link's Awakening, and find lots of different ways to complicate that simple set-up of find the item, backtrack, find the boss key, kill the boss. Every dungeon has its own structure and wrinkles and for a team tasked with making 16 different levels, that's pretty impressive. Good work, Capcom. We'll see how you get on with your next Zelda game, Minish Cap. But, not until we go back to Nintendo, go back to Hyrule, and go back to 3D with our next episode on The Wind Waker.

Thanks for watching. Boss Keys is made possible thanks to the generous contributions of my Patreon supporters. LINK: I won!