The Key Bosses
The only thing that’s the same between playthroughs in the base game of Four Swords is the four level bosses. Each boss has multiple phases, at least one per boss with some multiplayer aspect to it.
The boss of the Sea of Trees is Big Manhandla. Big Manhandla starts with three flowers orbiting its body; each time they open up, they’re colored after one of the Links and can only be damaged by the corresponding player. After all the flowers are defeated, the core body spawns a head that chase the Links around and spit rocks at them, and two levers. Once both levers are pulled out, a final flower appears over the core body, and the Link(s) whose color(s) match the colors on the central flower have to come at it and thwack it until the central flower disappears or the boss dies. Later versions (going for gold/hero’s keys) add an intermediate phase, with two heads and two levers, and each lever opening a head until it’s destroyed.
Talus Cave has Dera Zol, which starts the battle encased in ice. Much like Goht, we can’t just take a giant hammer to it and call it a win; the Links need to break the ice so Dera Zol can escape and then kill it properly. The first phases of the fight involve charging into it to force it back into the ice wall to refreeze it, then attacking it while frozen. Later versions add extra phases where it uses illusions, with multiple fake versions appearing, or it being invisible to all but one player. After enough times, it’ll be reduced to a smaller creature surrounded by four orbs. One orb corresponds to each Link, with each player only getting to see one orb’s color that’s not their own color. In multiplayer, players need to tell each other which orbs they can safely attack; in single-player, the player needs to see which orb corresponds to the other Link, then switch over to the other Link and attack that orb.
Gouen (AKA Great Flame), the boss of Death Mountain, is a little critter that surrounds itself by a lot of fireballs. It shoots colored attacks at the Links, and the Link corresponding to an attack’s color can volley it around with sword or shield. If the volleyed attack hits Gouen, it splits into the fireballs, one of which contains the core critter. After the core critter is damaged enough, it can’t protect itself with fireballs anymore, and it dies after the attacks are volleyed enough and hit him. This is a tough fight in single-player, because it’s a fire boss, and a Link who gets set on fire can’t do anything but run around the arena until the fire goes out. (Stop, drop, and roll, Link! Stop, drop, and roll!) As far as I can tell, this one doesn’t get any harder/more complicated as the Links go for better keys, which is just as well because it’s annoying enough already.
Vaati
Finally, the Links reach Vaati, who’s surprised they managed to make it all the way to him, but then he recognizes the Four Sword. His first phase is simple: he flies to the top of a tornado, and the Links can throw bombs in to explode as they reach the top of the funnel. Each bomb brings him a little closer to the ground, and when he’s finally down, he can be attacked. He’s seemingly defeated, but when the Links try to leave the area, he resurfaces, explaining that it wasn’t going to be that easy, of course. He has three different modes here. First, he’ll do like Gouen and throw colored attacks that the Links need to volley back into him. Second, he’ll spawn several balls that rotate around him and can be batted into him. In the third form, he displays a colored weak point, spins around the arena, and then his weak point opens up again and the Links can destroy it. Once he’s beaten again, the Four Sword seals him up again.
Zelda floats down, and ever the observant one, takes a moment to realize she has two (or more) rescuers instead of just one. As soon as she wonders how to get Link back to normal, they merge, and Zelda explains that since they no longer need it, the Four Sword’s power has faded. They leave to return the sword to the shrine. Over the credits, there’s a minigame with rupees and chests continually spawning around a platform and the Links running around gathering them. Afterward, Zelda and Link stand at the Four Sword’s shrine, where the sword and Vaati are safely sealed away, and turn and walk away.
Next: A couple of extra game modes from the Anniversary Edition.
