Before continuing on the quest, I want to take a minute to look at the controls for this game. The GBA has two extra buttons over the Game Boy/Game Boy Color, which allows for a dedicated action button, allowing Link to pick up pots and even rocks without equipping a particular item. That always bugged me, so this is a good change. Less good is folding the map screen into the rest of the Start button menus; it makes checking the map/switching items a hassle which is particularly troublesome in dungeons where I do both fairly regularly. The Select button has been given over to asking Ezlo for hints, which have never been useful in my limited experience. (Also, when he has something to say, he says it.) And the L button is entirely dedicated to Kinstone Fusion, which… okay, I guess? Seems like that could have easily been an item.
The music on Mt. Crenel has echoes of both the main overworld theme and the Dark World theme. There are two signs of note in the first area. The first, near a wall with lots of hand/foot grips, says climbing is prohibited; it’s not a concern with Link’s current equipment, but I would guess eventually he’ll gain the ability to climb that wall. The second sign warns that a nearby wall isn’t entirely stable and forbids blasting, which in the grand tradition of the series means Link needs to blow it up and explore the cave. The cave leads to a higher plateau, where Link can shrink to pass through a narrow passage to a pond of green Mt. Crenel Mineral Water, which seems to have a nice effect on nearby plants so Link grabs some in his bottle. (Also, I love the sequence of Link shrinking: Ezlo dances on his head while Link holds his temples and makes a face that plainly says he doesn’t enjoy what’s happening. It’s cute and funny.)
Link returns to human size and jumps off that plateau. Before going up further, there’s a business scrub in a cave offering to sell bombs. Link needs a lot of bombs to get through the area, his capacity’s really limited at the moment (10), and they don’t exactly seem to drop plentifully, so it’s useful to have this guy here. Another bomb opens a cave leading up, and at the edge of this plateau, there’s a whirlwind. Ezlo considers for a moment, then encourages Link to jump into the whirlwind. Link does, and Ezlo balloons out to allow Link to use him as a glider to reach another whirlwind, then the next plateau. There’s a heart piece Link can get in a hidden cave to the north.
Up a ladder, there’s a portal hidden under piles of dust. Link shrinks down to Minish size, and falling into a hole, discovers a Minish’s home. The Minish explains that water can grow the Crenel Beans, and the Mt. Crenel Mineral Water can grow green beans. However, when Link approaches a nearby bean at Minish size, all emptying the water bottle onto the bean does is empty the bottle. It took me three tries to realize even Minish Link could pick up the bean and move it to its final location. Then he waters the bean, growing it to a vine that leads up to the next area.
A Business Scrub on Mt. Crenel sells Link the Grip Ring, which, sure enough, will let him climb the gripped walls. Before he can start to climb the Crenel Wall, there’s another hidden cave with a heart piece and some fairies. The fairies are useful, because the wall has lots of boulders bouncing down. It’s hard to predict where they’re going to bounce next; it’s like while Link’s climbing, giants are standing at the top of the wall playing Plinko. Halfway up, there’s a landing with a sign saying “No bomb throwing!” and a hidden cave. Inside is a fairy pond, and if Link throws a bomb in, the fairy does the golden/silver/normal bomb thing (also seen in Oracle of Ages) that if Link answers honestly gets him a very welcome bomb bag upgrade.
Finally, Link reaches the top of Mt. Crenel. After using a mushroom catapult to cross a gap, it starts raining. Link needs to shrink to Minish size to progress, and though they’re normally not a problem, the raindrops become dangerous during a zoomed-in sequence where he passes through a narrow gap. On the other side of the gap, he can return to human size and start pushing rocks into small holes in the ground. Then Link needs to start working his way down this side of the mountain. There are some block puzzles and boulder-pushing puzzles to get through, and finally Link finds a portal that shrinks him back to Minish size so he can enter Melari’s Mines.
Next: The Minish mine. (And the human one too.)
