Four Swords Adventures: Desert of Doubt

The first stop in the desert is the Gerudo village. The Gerudo are all upset about what Ganon’s done; the male Gerudo born every hundred years is supposed to be special, but he became corrupted and is now headed to the pyramid. All of this brings up the question: when exactly is this supposed to be set? It can’t be before Ocarina, because surely the King of Hyrule from that game wouldn’t have been so foolish to trust Ganon after everything he’s done here. And it doesn’t work after Ocarina, given how the name “Ganon” doesn’t seem to be ringing any bells. [Goes to look it up.] Okay, apparently, it’s set in the Majora’s Mask branch, and this is our first true other Ganon (after at least seven Zeldas, six Links, three Impas, three Malons and Talons, and probably four Tingles although it can be hard to tell with fairies).

The Gerudo allow the Links to proceed into the desert after Ganon, but warn that the path through the desert is hard to follow, and if they stray, they’ll end up back in the village. A sign in a cave on the first screen explains how to find the path: go in the direction opposite to the way the winds are blowing. Not that knowing this make it any easier: there’s usually some obstacle to going directly to that path that needs to be overcome per screen. The Pegasus Boots are a common solution, especially once upgraded so they can let Links dash across gaps or sand pits [1]. This game’s take on Gibdos first appear in this section – once the mummy form is defeated, a Stalfos is left behind in the Dark World.

Halfway through the desert, the Links come to a checkpoint an oasis occupied by another tribe, the Zuna. One offers to give the Links a sand rub, healing them a random amount. Another tries to tell the stories about the pyramid, but gets sidetracked wondering if there’s an evil force there or not. Overall, they’re well-meaning, but not as helpful as they hope. The deeper sections of the desert feature areas of loose sand that turn into holes when walked on. The stage ends with two bosses: first a set of Shadow Links that pops in and out of hidden caves, and second the Red Knight as a Big Dark Stalfos who gives the Links the Red sacred jewel. The knight also confirms that Ganon is behind the Shadow Links and Vaati’s release, and wonders where he got the power.

The Desert Temple stands between the open desert and the Pyramid. At first, it seems deserted, with just a few Shadow Links showing up to pester the Links as they progress. After solving the first puzzled: hitting four switches in the correct order that they all stay lit, then standing on a floor switch, the dungeon’s appearance changes. (The music also changes, from the Light World dungeon theme from A Link to the Past to the Level-9 theme from The Legend of Zelda.) They also get hammers, which let them deal with the larger Terrorpins that appear in the dungeon. (The Terrorpins are colored to match the Links, but I don’t know if there’s any significance to this – I was able to kill them all with Green Link leading the rest in duckling formation.)

Unlike most other dungeon levels or the desert itself, the Temple is not particularly mazelike; some doubling back is required once items have been picked up, but otherwise it’s a fairly straight crawl through to the end. The second and final item the Links use for the dungeon is the bow, which proves useful against the new enemies, Armos and Beamos. Well, mostly Armos; Beamos require precise timing to hit their eye when they open to fire, and that’s usually more trouble than it’s worth. Near the end, a puzzle involves lighting torches with the bow while a set of Armos stomps around the room (and disappears once they’re all lit).

The boss fight is against four Shadow Links popping in and out of the Dark World, with a Beamos in the center of the room. This is the one time I found it worth it to kill the Beamos, because Shadow Links running all over the place is tough enough without having to worry about laser beams every time an active Link comes into the line of fire. Once they’re down, the Temple is clear and the Links are free to move on to the Pyramid.

Next: If you mashed Hoth together with Tatooine, would it make a decent planet with nice weather?

[1] At least when I remember this game requires holding down the button to continue running.