Turtle Rock is the game’s fire dungeon, and so the obvious key item is the Ice Rod. The Ice Rod’s icicles can be used to freeze some enemies, kill enemies on unreachable ledges, and freeze lava to either create walkways or pillars Link can merge with and walk around. There are also some walkways which are balanced on a volcanic rock that see-saw as Link walks across them; if Link freezes the rock fulcrum, the walkway will stay as it is so he can walk across to reach higher places. The dungeon has two minibosses: Wizzrobes that require dropping ice on to kill, and Ice Gimos that can only be attacked when frozen. The treasure item is the Hylian Shield, making its first appearance in a Downfall Timeline game. (Complete with the normal Hyrulean Triforce, rather than the inverted Lorulean one.) It can block lots of attacks, including Beamos’ lasers and Lynels’ flame jets. Link can also get the final heart piece by leaving the dungeon to an island.
The dungeon boss is Grinexx, a giant lava turtle. In the first phase, it moves around in the lava below the platform where Link stands, sometimes shooting fire out of a jet on its back. Link needs to drop ice onto the jet through the holes in the platform; after a few shots, Grinexx comes to the platform to fight Link directly. It has two modes of attack: shooting out its head to bite at Link, and pulling its head into its shell and spinning around the platform. When the head is out, Link is able to attack it directly while avoiding its attacks. When Grinexx is defeated, a pillar with the painting of Impa appears, and Link rescues Impa, who acknowledges that she shouldn’t have doubted Zelda and Link is the incarnation of the Legendary Hero. Meanwhile, Hilda is still talking to the painting of Zelda, knowing that Link has nearly gathered the Sages to earn the Triforce of Courage, and Lorule will be saved – “One princess to another…? I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”
With the Hylian Shield, Link can finally complete the last of the StreetPass challenges. When he goes to Gramps to discuss his accomplishment, Gramps reveals that only one other achieved them all – him. He offers Link a chance to battle the ultimate Shadow Link, who has all the upgrades and uses two random items (upgraded versions for all items that have one). This was a tough fight, with me leaning on the shield the whole time through, and I didn’t know the fight could time out, with the winner being the one who dealt more damage. The reward for this is 5 rupees – Gramps pays the bounties himself, and doesn’t want people coming after him. Heh [1].
Right away in the Ice Ruins, Link can start a rotating elevator of blocks, and ride it all the way down to claim the Big Key, so the challenge is making it to the boss door. The puzzles mostly involve finding and opening new secret pathways; there are surprisingly few icy floors (although there certainly are some). The key item is of course the Fire Rod; there are no particularly exciting new uses for it, but Link’s got a flamethrower and finally gets to put it to use. In addition to the expected assortment of icy enemies, both unique (Freezors) and variants of Bubbles and Wizzrobes (but not the Ice Gimos), Pengators make their return appearance, including a Big Pengator that’s the miniboss. The treasure item is the Stamina Scroll, which gives Link more Energy.
The dungeon boss is Dharkstare [2], a mass of tentacles with a central eye. At the start of the fight, it encases itself in ice with three circling orbs it sends out to freeze anything that gets caught in the triangle they form. Link melts the ice, leaving Dharkstare to helplessly hop around the icy platform while Link whacks it. After a while, Dharkstare gets three more orbs letting it make two triangles at once, but even when they hit Link’s got enough health it’s a minor nuisance at worst. I suppose this is the downside of being able to do the dungeons in whatever order you want; whatever boss was saved for last was bound to be anticlimactic.
Rosso, the final sage, knew he was a sage all along but never felt the need to mention it. Now that all seven are gathered, the sages summon the Triforce of Courage for Link, and their chamber is transformed to a series of stairways leading up to it. Each sage has a few words for Link, generally encouraging him for the final tasks ahead. (Gulley: “My papa can’t call you lazy anymore. But I bet he will anyway.”) After Link reaches the top and claims the Triforce, Impa directs him to Lorule Castle.
Next: Saving two worlds.
[1] I’m glad leaving the DS running while plugged in was an option to generate Shadow Links, because my backup plan was tossing it in my bag at Comic-Con to see if I got StreetPass hits there, and… yeah.
[2] I guess Kholdstare had the bonus silent H, so its counterpart must as well. Ugh.
