The final area of Hyrule to be explored is Death Mountain. Before heading up, there’s one last thing to mention: In Lake Hylia, near where the Hyrule Hotfoot race starts, there’s a bottle with a message inside. The message is from a mountain climber who got stuck and wants someone to bring him premium milk from the Milk Bar in Kakariko Village. How his bottle made it all the way to Lake Hylia, I don’t know. Link goes to the Milk Bar and gets the premium milk for the guy, who’s apparently a valued customer, and finally sets out for Death Mountain.
The cave leading to Death Mountain is more straightforward than its equivalent from A Link to the Past, and there’s no lost old man here to give Link a key item. Death Mountain itself is familiar, even if the geography’s changed: boulders rain from above, and the area is populated by Deadrocks, who turn to stone when hit and now can be smashed by the Hammer. There are boulders throughout the area that can also be smashed by the Hammer; some have a bunch of rupees embedded in them that are liberated when smashed (also seen in the Rupee Rush game). Before starting the ascent to the Tower of Hera, there’s a Maiamai under a rock Link can get.
The main part of the ascent to the Tower of Hera requires passing through caves with rolling smashable boulders, and though the caves are just wide enough for the boulder to roll through, Link can squeeze between a boulder and the wall by wall-merging. (Alternately, he can smash the boulders; it’s becoming increasingly obvious that the key item for the Tower of Hera is the Hammer.) Along the way up, Link finds a Maiamai on the wall he can knock off, and a heart piece through a false cave. Fortunately, the Tower has a weather vane outside, so Link doesn’t need to make this ascent more than once unless he missed something along the way.
To continue the treasure hunt, Link needs to continue east and cross a broken bridge with the Hookshot. To discourage players from attempting to explore this area just yet, there are Lynels in the area, and this is the deadliest incarnation of them yet. Rather than shooting fireballs, they shoot a jet of fire, and take roughly a bazillion arrows to kill. But… ammunition is limited only by reload rate, they’re actually not that hard to avoid, and I’m just now realizing that this was meant as “go away, come back later.” There’s a Maiamai on a wall near where the Turtle Rock warp point was.
On the screen with the Lynels, there’s a cave leading to Rosso’s Ore Mine, and here’s where the fun begins. The path to the Ore Mine is actually a series of drops between moving platforms that’s probably a lot easier to manage in 3D. Halfway down, there’s a platform with two Lynels and three walls Link can merge around to continue his journey. The Ore Mine is to the east, so that’s the last way to go. Going west, the challenge Link faces changes to going upward – the platforms have giant springs with laughing faces that Link can smash with the hammer to turn into frowning faces and, after a few seconds, pop up and (assuming Link steps on the spring in the meantime), send Link flying to a higher level and hopefully catch the next platform. After a few rounds of this, Link gets a heart piece.
Back on the Lynel platform, the next two destinations are to the south. This is probably the easiest of the three routes; it splits halfway through, leading to two exits from the platform cave. To the east, Link finds the missing rock climber, who gratefully receives the milk and drinks it, leaving Link to dispose of the “garbage” empty bottle. To the west, Link finds a Maiamai under a rock, then returns to the Lynel platform and heads east to finish the journey. Rosso’s Ore Mine is not a cave, just a collection of rocks on southeast Death Mountain. To the west, there’s a broken bridge Link can Hookshot across, discovering the fifth and final Maiamai in the area hiding under a rock.
Link has forty-one Maiamais, whom Mother Maiamai collects in groups of ten. She offers to make Link’s items stronger, but can only work with items Link owns, and the Lamp and Bug Net are beyond her ability to upgrade, so Link will have to come back when Ravio changes his business model. Back in Kakariko Village, the Milk Bar owner is happy for Link’s help, and gives him a 50% discount on future purchases, which will be nice.
Next: Now it’s time to start the dungeons.
