I never played the two Oracle games in Zelda, which were released for the Game Boy Color and released after the successful duology that's Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. The two games are heavily based on the previous 2D Zelda game, Link's Awakening, and that's why this review is going to be very short -- almost 90% of the bestiary is borrowed from Link's Awakening, with only most of the bosses and maybe a handful of new enemies in both.
And I tried to play a little bit of each game, but I just... I just kind of lost steam, and the opening of both just felt a bit more generic compared to Link's Awakening, A Link to the Past, Minish Cap and a bunch of other 2D Zelda games. In both games, Link gets drawn to a brand-new land, with Labrynna in Oracle of Ages, where he has to fight the singer Nayru from the evil sorceress Veran. Combined with the plotline and the villain in Oracle of Seasons, Link can access the final chapter of both games (through the power of a password) by swapping certain game-exclusive plot devices, fighting against the true mastermind. Anyway, I am honestly rather indifferent about the bestiaries or the games for both, and I think it's because they're so samey to Link's Awakening? About time I talked about them, though.
Returning LA Enemies:
I'm not going to talk about every single one of these, but we'll just quickly cover the returning enemies just to appreciate these old-school sprites. I talked about all of them in my review of Link's Awakening. And discounting a couple of 'traps' like the Beamoses, Podoboos and Anti-Fairies, these are all the enemies that reappear in Oracle of Ages...
We've got your typical early-game weirdo animals and plants like the Octorok, Leever, Peahat, Rope, Tektite, Keese and the Biri/Bari combo. these guys have been such mainstays in the 2D games! Most of them come in different colours, but I'm not going to put in every single one of them.
We've also got the more 'mundane' enemy animals like the Sand Crab, Crow, Cheep Cheep, Beetle and Water Tektite which I mostly just associate with Link's Awakening!
Particularly memorable 'walking hazards' like the Spiked Beetle, two variations of Spiny Beetle and Hardhat Beetle also make their return.
A bunch of slime enemies -- Buzz Blob, Cukeman, Zol and Gel also return.
And a bunch of classic humanoids. Darknut, Wizzrobe, River Zora, Moblin, Pig Warrior and Ball and Chain Warrior make a reappearance.
And a bunch of undeads. Four different Stalfos, Sword Stalfos, Shrouded Stalfos, Gibdo and Ghini.
Another set of 'classic' enemies that I feel I associate more with the later parts of any Zelda game, we've got the Pol's Voice, Like Like, Lynel, Floormaster, Wallmaster, Armos and Mini-Moldorm.
Leaving us with a handful of final enemies that I associate more with Link's Awakening and in that extent the Oracle games, Arm Mimic, Iron Mask, Goponga Flower and Pincer.
In addition, two minibosses from Link's Awakening, Rover (called Smasher here) and Vire also make a reappearance.
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Now on to the new enemies!
New Enemies:
Fire Keese
These enemies are 'new' in the sense of the 2D Link's Awakening game, but the Fire Keese technically debuted in Ocarina of Time, and I'm sure this is a '2Dfication' adaptation of it. Not much to say, it sure is the regular Keese model on fire!
Color-Changing Gel
Remember that even colour in a video game used to be such a massive innovation! The Colour-Changing Gel makes use of the Game Boy Color's, well, colour in order for their gimmick. They can camouflage into the backgrounds of the rooms that they spawn in, and Link needs to use the room's gimmick to change the colours to 'bring them out' and make them vulnerable. Cute!
Guard
Coming in various armour colours, the Guards are the guards in Labyrnna's past, guarding the palace that mostly serve to bother you. As is consistent with most Zelda games, Link isn't allowed to kill explicitly human enemies and these guards will run away instead of disappearing in a dying poof like the Moblins or whatever.
Kyandokyan/Candlehead
Good thing that the Wiki offers a name, otherwise I'd be confused what this thing is! Some kind of sentient fruit creature with legs? A totem? But it's actually a candle enemy. I don't think we've had this in Zelda before! These things walk around in diagonal patterns and hit Link, but are weak to fire and when est on fire, they will run around wildly before exploding.
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Mini-Bosses:
Giant Ghini
Despite his name, the Giant Ghini actually has not much in common with the iconic one-eyed, tongue-lolling Giant Ghinis we see in other games. No, this Giant Ghini has a more unique face and two tiny nubs on its head. It's accompanied by three Mini-Ghini that fly around and stick onto Link and slow him down, while the big one slams onto Link. Pretty simple, but it is always neat to see an "elite" version of an enemy we've grown to be familiar with in the game.
Swoop
He kinda looks like a Vire, huh? Swoop here is basically another goblin or demon-looking creature, but with massive wing-ears. I really don't have a whole ton to say here, because it's honestly not the most exciting thing on this page. It's just a... flying demon-guy with ear-wings! Swoop here does remind me of a more devilish version of something like Terriermon from Digimon Tamers, but otherwise he's kind of just there. I'm not going to talk about the fight mechanics of bosses in a game I've never played, but Swoop here doesn't seem to do anything interesting from the description in the wikis.
Subterror
Speaking of Digimon, Subterror here is just straight-up Drimogemon, being a mole with a gigantic nose-drill. It's a pretty simple design, replacing a mole's regular digging claws with the fun image of a giant drill. The fight, obviously, involves Subterror burrowing around the battle arena, and Link needs to use a shovel item to dig Subterror out.
Armos Warrior
This guy barely got shuffled into the same list as Smasher and Vire up above, because he's basically the Armos Knight from A Link to the Past. It's just that he's actually got a different name and model, and... he's got a sword that he controls telekinetically, which is kind of an interesting way to allow this bulky-looking man to actually fight with a sword. I also like that his massive shield has a sword with a cross on it, saying that 'no sword!'... which is a hint for Link to cause the Armos Warrior's own telekinetic sword to smash onto his shield many times. Kinda cute, thanks to the psychic sword.
Great Moblin
I am frankly surprised we don't get more 'big Moblin' bosses in the older games! I don't think it's until King Bulblin from Twilight Princess that we actually get another 'big blin boss' enemy, and you'd think that it'd be obvious to have Moblin generals and Moblin chieftains. The Great Moblin is a big green pig-man with a kingly crown, cape and a necklace. Is that crown supposed to be upside-down? Cute.
While he's kind of an 'expected' depiction of a Moblin boss, I do like that the Great Moblin appears in both Oracle games, and based on whether you do the 'linked game' thing or not, the Great Moblin would disappear in the second game you clear and allow exploration of his territory.
Angler Fish
Huh! This guy has the same name and clearly is a reference to the Link's Awakening boss, but where LA's Angler Fish is a big, dumpy ugly warty anglerfish, Oracle of Ages's Angler Fish is a big, fat and honestly uncomfortable-looking fish with a comical little lure on his forehead. The Angler Fish is apparently fought inside the belly of Jabu-Jabu, in a reference to the iconic dungeon in Ocarina of Time, and he fights more with bubbles instead of charging around like LA's Angler Fish. I prefer LA's more monstrous version, but this one is kinda cute as well, it's like the big brother of the Cheep Cheep enemies or something.
Blue Stalfos
Known by the far more threatening moniker of "Death Stalfos" in the Japanese version, the Blue Stalfos is a straight-up Grim Reaper! It's a Stalfos in a proper, defined hood with a massive scythe, and he's not hunched-over like those silly Shrouded Stalfos minions! Blue Stalfos isn't our first or last 'creepy grim reaper' enemy in the franchise, but it's still cool to see something like him rendered in 2D. The fight is an interesting one, where the Blue Stalfos will shoot around balls of light that transform either Link or the Blue Stalfos into a helpless form. For Link, he gets turned into a baby, which implies some kind of time reversal magic... but the Blue Stalfos gets turned into a Stalfos skull with Keese wings! Huh!
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Bosses:
Pumpkin Head
And we're going into the bosses now, and our first one is... a jack-o-lantern man? Huh. That feels a bit off for Zelda? Is it just me? He's a pretty cute looking pumpkin man, though, and the fight is kind of interesting. The design makes him look like a humanoid or a spirit (like a Poe or something) that dances around and summons fireballs, as you do. But when Link deals enough damage to the Pumpkin Head, his body will disappear and leave behind just the jack-o-lantern head. Pretty expected for one of these things, right? then Link needs to pick up the pumpkin and reveal the true form of the creature, which is a tiny little ghostly spirit not too reminiscent to the Mini-Ghinis we see above! So it's a puppeteer spirit that manipulates the larger pumpkin head body! That's cool!
Head Thwomp
Huh. The Thwomps are from Mario, right? Well, we have a four-sided Head Thwomp, who spins around like they're a Quintesson from Transformers or something, and you fight him in a side-scrolling section. Each of the heads have a different effect and summons different kinds of attack patterns, with the exception of the red face -- which is shocked and will spit out a healing heart. The Head Thwomp also shoots out Podoboo, another Mario-based hazard. Not too much to say here, it's neat to get a stronger version of an enemy that you encounter earlier in the game, even one that I personally think of more as a 'hazard' than an 'enemy'.
Shadow Hag
She looks like a more monstrous version of the Ocarina of Time version of the Poe, huh? She's a pretty neat-looking sorcerer enemy, and while the design isn't the most exciting-looking one visually, I do like that the 'Shadow Hag' actually does split into shadows and rush around the room, and at some point she summons little moths that attack Link. The Moths are exactly like the bastard fire-seeking moths from Majora's Mask which give me PTSD so! Anyway, this wouldn't be quite as exciting without the shadow-diving gimmick.
Eyesoar
Ah, that's more like it! There's a lack of eyeball monsters in a 2D Zelda game. Eyesoar here has a fun English name, but its original Japanese name is 'Patra', referencing the exact same creature from the very first Legend of Zelda game. Actually, a lot of first-game Zelda bosses make a return, just in the other Oracle game. Eyesoar here is a big eyeball with wings, with four smaller eyes that kind of orbit around it.
Unlike the Arrghus, the Eyesoar's orbiting buddies can't actually be killed and Link has to go straight for the central eye, making use of the gaps between the Eyesoar's little buddies and hitting the central eyeball. Interestingly, when this central eyeball is hit the smaller orbiting bodies fly away, leaving the central one vulnerable. Is the Eyesoar actually a symbiotic creature of sorts, then, and the little yellow things just opportunistic or something?
Smog
It sure is a giant, sneering face made out of smog and gas. Smog actually challenges Link to a series of puzzle rooms, making him a rather unique rarity in that it's not entirely a boss that Link defeats in combat but in puzzle-solving. Has there actually been another Zelda boss that does that? Huh.
You still have to beat Smog in combat after completing all of his trials or whatever, but he just shoots lightning and hovers around the room before you stab it to death.
Octogon
Oh, like an Octorok, but octagonal! Kind of! We only really see five or six spikes! Octogon kind of reminds me of Big Octo, particularly the miniboss variant fought in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. The design is much more angrier-looking, and the tentacles actually make me think of something like a hermit crab. He's also got the four-part beak of Omastar from Pokemon. After some back-and-forth where the Octogon's vulnerable part is its head, Link has to actually chase the Octogon underwater for the second phase. A pretty fun creature, and I'm a big fan of, again, adding more powerful variants to existing enemies.
Plasmarine
The boss of this game's version of Jabu-Jabu's Belly, Plasmarine is a big jellyfish with cartoon eyes on it. It's a bit more amorphous and actually jellyfish-looking than the rigid Bari... though the Plasmarine is also able to shoot lightning balls at him. There's a colour-swapping gimmick going on where the Plasmarine goes from red to blue based on how Link hits him. Really don't have much to say about this one, it sure is a jellyfish!
Ramrock
Ramrock is kinda cool! Some kind of rock elemental, Ramrock floats up with its head and two disembodied hands. He fights in four phases, swapping his floating hands for weapons (spiked gloves, shields and ball-and-chain combos on the subsequent phases). It's a simple gimmick, but one that does give Ramrock a bit more oomph as he uses bombs and seeds to take down Ramrock.
Veran
And our primary antagonist for this leg of the game is the sorceress Veran, who's... a lady with a fun hairdo that looks like an upside-down version of the modern Breath of the Wild Zoras. She sure is an anime witch, is all I'm saying. Her boss fight and her role in the story has her possessing a bunch of characters, like Possessed Nayru (the titular Oracle of Ages) and Possessed Queen Ambi. They sure are blue humans! Cool from a story perspective, I'm sure, but kind of yawn, y'know? Until...
Yeah, Veran reveals her true form, and it's actually a bug-winged demon fairy thing! And she also summons Dark Links, which is always a welcome if slightly-tired addition.
And after beating Veran's green form, Veran starts going into wild metamorphosis. Part of her first couple of phases involves her summoning bug minions, but it turns out she herself is a bug! And... there's some rather nasty artwork that looks rather horrific even (or perhaps because) though it's in pretty simple sprites. Veran's Beetle form looks more comical than anything, with Veran's head stuck on one of those Hardhat Beetles or something.
But her Bee and Spider forms has Veran's diabolical cackling face fused unnaturally on either the forehead of the bee or under the mandibles of the spider! Pretty cool little series of final forms!
Of course, Veran is the final boss if you're not playing the linked game -- once you beat the main boss of Oracle of Seasons, it unlocks a 'true ending' on whichever game you play second, but we'll talk about him (it's Ganon, hijacked by Ganon) when we cover Oracle of Seasons!
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