I’ve realized for a while now how heavily this game reuses assets from Four Swords – the identical design of Eyegores was a big tipoff – but it’s the Palace of Winds reusing a couple things from that game – heavy fans (not new to Four Swords, they were in Ocarina of Time, too) and suspended chain-link platforms with rotating grates that Link can use to jump between levels – that made me come to appreciate Minish Cap as a single-player, more traditional Zelda take on Four Swords.
Ezlo apparently doesn’t do heights – given that his natural form is minuscule, he may be feeling even higher up than he actually is. And, of course, if Ezlo didn’t complain about a key part of the dungeon as Link set foot in it, I would worry that something serious had happened to him. (I like the character, really, but his two main modes are complaining and telling Link what I already know – he hinted at the function of the grates after I’d already tracked down and used one – so I also like poking fun at him.)
This is a long dungeon – Link basically has to get the Roc’s Cape after fighting three waves of Wizzrobes, work his way up to the top of the outside of the palace, fight a miniboss, then go back down to the bottom level of the palace again and work his way back up the inside (getting a heart piece along the way) to fight the boss. The first of the three dungeon items he gets is the Big Key, and that’s just before the miniboss fight. That miniboss is a Red Darknut, which has an extra attack over the easier versions: a thrust that summons a tornado and can pierce Link’s defense. The Compass comes shortly after (at which point Ezlo wonders just how long the dungeon is), and the Map doesn’t come until he’s nearly done.
At the top of the tower, Link has to ride one final tornado upward to the boss fight against the Gyorg Pair. Despite the name, they don’t resemble either the gargantuan masked fish from Majora’s Mask or the shark-like enemies of Wind Waker; they’re more like giant manta rays. Link starts on the red one, which is larger, and has eight spots for eyes. Three pop out, and Link needs to split himself to hit all three eyes, causing the full set of eyes to come out just asking to get pummeled. After they’ve taken enough damage, a blue Gyorg swoops in, and Link needs to jump to its back – something I didn’t really get the hang of. This one sprouts single eyes on its back, and tries to sweep Link off with its tail. After enough hits, this Gyorg retreats, and Link returns to the red one. The process repeats, with the blue Gyorg harassing Link during the red Gyorg phase, and even smaller green Gyorgs trying to knock Link off during the blue Gyorg phase. Eventually, the blue Gyorg is destroyed, and then the red one. Link returns to where the tornado that sent him to fight the Gyorgs was, and claims the Wind Element at long last.
Before heading to infuse the Three Sword to finally become the Four Sword, there’s a few things Link can do. Now that he has the Roc’s Cape, Swiftblade will teach him the Down Thrust, which isn’t as useful as it was in Four Swords Adventures. Having learned the first seven sword techniques, Link can now learn the Great Spin Attack from the original Swiftblade (who really should have been called Ghostblade, but whatever). And with that attack, he can learn to do it longer from Greatblade. And now his bag of tricks is complete. He can go to buy/read all the Swordsman Newsletters at the post office.
The Roc’s Cape lets Link get a few heart pieces he couldn’t get before. One drops from the bell at the center of town if Link flies into it. One is in a shallow area of Lake Hylia Link couldn’t swim to. One is through a Mole Mitts cave he can reach now – the cave also summons the final Goron to pound through the last wall of that cave, where Link can get a bottle. One piece of heart is up the beanstalk Link created with an earlier fusion but couldn’t get to. Finally, at this point, Link can complete collecting Carlov’s figurines, and then if he talks to a man in town, that man is impressed by the complete collection and gives Link the key to his house, where Link can find a heart piece, lots of rupees, and a sound check.
Next: Three becomes four, and the endgame becomes clear.
