Stage 2 of Whereabouts of the Wind is the Cave of No Return. The area’s pitch dark, of course, requiring the Links to pick up lanterns to see the way. The cave is a maze, with lots of blocks to push around. Eventually the Links come to a room with colored blocks, that only the Link of matching color can push. In single player, this requires a bunch of switching between the Links to create the way forward. The next room has holes in the floor the Links can fall through (deliberately or not) to explore the room below, which is inexplicably well-lit and has a couple Bubbles/Anti-Fairies/Fire Fairies floating around. There’s also a heart container and 100 rupees down in the room, so it’s well worth exploring.
The second phase of the stage has the Links equipped with a bow, as there are enough torches now to light the way forward. The bow is used for obvious things like hitting switches or enemies at a distance, and the less obvious but familiar use of being shot through a fire to light another torch. As the Links progress, they find a ghostly old man who came in looking for treasure and got stuck and died. He gives hints on how the Links can work together to progress, like one throwing another over a gap or lining up to pull a lever together. Before the boss fight, there’s a deeper underground section where the Links have to find their way through a Lost Woods-esque series of rooms.
The final boss of the Cave of No Return is Shadow Link. He jumps away as the Links approach, so scoring a hit requires forming up to hit him as he jumps away. After a couple hits, he becomes more solid, taking on the appearance of one of the Links, who has to hit him to finish the stage.
The third stage is Hyrule Castle. Outside the castle is a sign left by Tingle, mentioning an encounter with a fairy who was seemingly captured by the guards. Kaepora Gaebora also shows up, saying that there’s a terrible enemy in the castle. The most common enemy in this section is castle guards, which seems a bit strange to me. They were enemies in A Link to the Past, but it was said they were mind controlled by Agahnim. I suppose with Zelda and the shrine maidens gone something similar could have happened here. Anyway, after entering the castle courtyard, there’s a big group of soldiers led by a Chief Soldier guarding the first heart container. The new item to use through the castle level is bombs, which in addition to blowing holes in walls, can be used like the fire rod to burn whole sections of destroyable plants. They also prove useful against the flail trooper miniboss and the two dozen (at least) soldiers that come pouring into the room after he’s defeated.
Once past that group, the Links find a barrier blocking the way forward. To get past, they need to find the fairy Tingle met. She’s actually been split into two, and each half is stuck looking like a Zora. Once reunited, the two fairy halves merge into a Great Fairy – who looks like the Fairy Queen from Wind Waker – who unleashes her magic, first on the soldiers who notice the Links’ progress, then on the barrier. Before leaving, she promises to spread word among the fairies to help the Links if they need it.
The final boss is Phantom Ganon, which seemingly implies that Ganon is the true mastermind behind the Shadow Links, the shrine maiden kidnappings, and Vaati’s release. The mechanics of the fight are the familiar game of knocking the energy ball back and forth until someone misses, except that here for some reason Ganon tends to send the ball drifting off wide to his right. The ability to set the Links in a wide formation helps a lot here. Once he’s taken enough damage, the way forward is opened.
This time, when the Links break the seals, they rescue the first shrine maiden, encased in crystal. She notes the four Links, and immediately knows that they’ve drawn the Four Sword and freed Vaati. She also mentions that Shadow Link looked just like Link, and encourages the four Links to rescue the other maidens. She breaks her crystal prison, then transforms into a winged ball of light fairy to lead them where the next maiden is imprisoned, the Eastern Temple.
Next: The Dark World.
