Reviewing Monsters - The Legend of Zelda, Oracle of Seasons

And now we talk about Oracle of Seasons, the other half of the Oracle duology of Legend of Zelda games. As its title implies, Link's gimmick in this game is changing the seasons as he enters the land of Holdorum. Instead of helping Nayru fight against the evil witch Veran, here Link helps the dancer Din fight against the armoured General Onox. 

Like I explained in the Oracle of Ages review, the two games are meant to be companions to each other, with the player choosing which game to play first and which villain to defeat, making the second game you play a bit more easier as you unlock certain things by doing certain events in the former. Eventually, after beating both Veran and Onox, you unlock the 'true ending' of the one that is behind Veran and Onox the whole time, which... to no one's surprise, is Ganon. 

But we're going to talk about the enemies! As I've mentioned in Oracle of Ages, the two Oracle games borrow a lot of enemy resources from Link's Awakening, which thankfully makes these articles quick to write although I'm going to mostly be talking about the new bosses. It is interesting that not all LA enemies are shared between both Oracle games, however!

____________________________

Returning Enemies:

Octorok, Peahat, Leever, Like Like, Rope, Sand Crab, Keese, Tektite, Zora, Armos... at this point, these enemies are basically obligatory to appear in any 2D Zelda game, yeah? 

Also these guys. Spiked Beetle, Spiny Beetle, Hardhat Beetle, Pols Voice, Buzz BLob, Cukeman, Lynel, Mini-Moldorm, Floormaster, Wallmaster...

And some more humanoids. Darknut, Ball and Chain Soldier, Stalfos, Shrouded Stalfos, Sword Stalfos, Gibdo, Ghini, Moblin, Pig Warrior, Wizzrobe...

A couple more ones shared between the two Oracle games! Arm Mimic, Beetle, Cheep Cheep, Crow, Zol, Gel, Goponga Flower, Iron Mask, Pincer.

And these are guys that showed up from Link's Awakening but doesn't show up in Oracle of Ages! Dacto, Goriya and Piranha!

And we finally close off with a bunch more repeat bosses. Great Moblin is technically new to the Oracle games, but I've talked about him in Oracle of Ages. Vire recurs in both games, and one of my favourite Link's Awakening bosses, Facade, returns to menace Link as a miniboss. 

____________________________

New Enemies:

Business Scrub

Clealry someone really liked the Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask Scrubs, and I am sorely disappointed that they haven't really shown up in the franchise after... after Minish Cap, I think? These guys still hide under shrubs, but their appearances are missing the merchant hands of their 3D incarnations, looking more like an even more pudgy version of the base Deku Scrub. Minus the bodies, of course! Unlike their 3D counterparts, however, the Business Scrubs, while still classified as a monster, doesn't actually attack Link and just want to do business with him. 

Magunesu

And our other 'new' enemy in this game is Magunesu, obviously named after magnets, and another one that takes advantage of the new colour available to the technology of the Game Boy Colour. They will be attracted to the opposing polarity and they can intermittently swap polarities. There's an item in the game called the Magnetic Gloves that Link can use to screw with their own movements. Not really a whole ton to say beyond that!

____________________________

MINIBOSSES:

Brother Goriyas

The first miniboss you fight in this game are just... two Goriyas! Apparently, they are based on a pair of Goriyas that appeared in the manga adaptation of the original Legned of Zelda. They just toss the Goriya boomerang back and forth, while Link has to take them out. Presumably if you take one out, the other behaves like a regular Goriya. I do really think that while I don't think it 'fits' the Zelda mould to make full-on numerous villain NPC's, games with a larger overworld like the Switch Zelda games really could've afforded more named minor Moblin and Bokoblin sub-bosses like this. 

Omuai

I think these are meant to be squid, based on their old name translations as 'Calamareye'? Three of them show up from pits in the room and shoot fireballs at Link. Is that jagged line a mouth, then? Link needs to literally pull them out of the water and beat them up. Not the most interesting enemy, but I always appreciate cartoon cephalopods. 

Agunima

An obvious riff on A Link to the Past's Aghanim, Agunima is another red cloaked wizard person with a shadow-covered face under a hood and two glowing eyes -- always a welcome feature in these enemies. He's an evil wizard whose fight is similar to ALTTP's Aghanim, and there's a fun little twist -- you need to light up torches to figure out which of the three Agunimas is the real one, since the real body casts a shadow. 

Syger

Oh, a saber-toothed tiger boss! I don't think Zelda actually has a lot of giant feline enemies, actually? Syger is a relatively simple-looking design for one of these things, being a big tiger with an obvious Zelda-weak-point orb on its tail. The way it fights, though? The Syger curls into a ball and rolls around like an armadillo. Huh. 

Poe Sisters

This is kinda cute. Obviously a reference to the four Poe Sisters from Ocarina of Time's Forest Temple, instead of using the 3D Poe designs, the Poe Sisters look much more cartoonish. Not quite the regular 2D Poe models, since those don't have mouths and have eyes under a hood... but this is fitting for the Poe Sisters, who menace Link and basically acts as a recurring nuisance and boss fight as they go and 'curse' several rooms before they finally are able to be fought. 

Frypolar
What a name. Another one that makes use of the game's new colour engine, Frypolar swaps between red fire and blue ice. The design is pretty simple for an 'elemental' creature, with a shit-eating grin (it's those eyes) and a simple body of flames with two hands. Link obviously has to match the elements to beat Frypolar, who alternates between summoning fireballs or creating ice pillars. 

____________________________

BOSSES:

Aquamentus

Now if it isn't obvious if you haven't scrolled down yet, almost all of the bosses in Oracle of Seasons are actually the bosses from the original Legend of Zelda! Add in Patra/Eyesoar from Oracle of Ages, and I think we've got everyone accounted for! It's a cute little nod, which I'm honestly surprised not more Zelda games do. I can see why they want a new batch of bosses for every game, though, because I don't really have much to say about Aquamentus beyond that he sure is a green dragon with a horn!

Dodongo

The Dodongo is still in its 2D-game Triceratops monster design, though its face looks a bit more... piggish, I want to say? It still has the iconic horn and has a bunch of extra spikes running down its back. He looks a bit more like a monstrous 'dinosaur-dragon' monster compared to the more beaky face that the original Dodongo tends to be drawn with. Most future incarnations of the Dodongo tends to draw a bit more from Ocarina of Time's lizard-like depiction, and I felt like this one is a pretty neat variation of the model.

Mothula

One of my favourite bosses from A Link to the Past, Mothula, is one of two non-original-Zelda bosses in this game. He looks a lot less impressive than ALTTP's Mothula and its elaborate wing patterns, though I do like that this Mothula just seems to have a gigantic eyeball for a head. Mothula spits fire at Link and summons smaller moths, which look like tiny, orange versions of Mothula as opposed to the more Majora's Mask inspired black-and-red moths from Oracle of Ages.

Gohma

Gohma returns, although instead of being a 'mere' one-eyed spider with huge mandibles in Link's Awakening, Gohma now sports a pair of giant crab claws! Inspired by the more monstrous boss Gohma in Ocarina of Time, no doubt? I love that Gohma's design is always consistent as an 'eyeball spider' but there's a fair amount gradual variation over the years. In addition to Gohma's claw, she also shoots out Gohma Larvae, similar to her Ocarina of Time incarnation, though instead of being little chicken-eyeball-bugs, the Gohma Larva are like these weird, colourful eyeballs. 

Digdogger

One of the less-recurring original Legend of Zelda monsters is Digdogger, who looks pretty monstrous! Love the creepy claws on its lower half and the weird spiky-wart things on the upper eyelid. The fight against Digdogger is also kind interesting, where Link uses his magnetic gloves to manipulate a giant spiky iron ball and bash it to Digdogger repeatedly, eventually reducing him into 'Mini-Digdoggers', which have two eyes for some reason as they run around like little Bob-ombs. 

Manhandla

Oh, the Manhandla looks good in this incarnation. I think it's the simple addition of greens and reds, making the central stalk very vividly different from the red-and-orange venus flytrap mouths. The Manhandla is easily the boss that looks the best updated in this engine. Interestingly, instead of being a mere plant, after Link destroys the four flower-mouths, it's very evident that Manhandla's central body in this version is a giant, monstrous Buzz Blob! So this incarnation Manhandla is a giant slime monster that just happens to have plant-like appendages instead of being a giant plant creature!

Gleeok

Eh, I get where they're going for, being a reference to the ball-neck-segments of the original Zelda, but I did kinda wish that they gave Gleook a better-looking neck? The fight is rather epic, however. Link has to keep slashing at Gleeok's head to decapitate it, and then destroy the broken heads before they reattach to Gleeok's body. When it looks like destroying the heads have defeated Gleeok, the body gets reduced to a skeleton... which will fight Link in the second phase! Surprise dragon corpse boss fight! Neat! That's a very cool skeleton sprite, too, with what appears to be a pelvis bone looking like an angry, downcast face!

Medusa-Head

The only entirely-original boss in this game (other than Onox) is Medusa Head, which is a pretty ghoulish-faced demon head with wild hair and fangs. It feels like it's kind of meant to be a 'boss' Beamos, being able to shoot lasers, as well as the titular 'Medusa' beams that can turn Link into stone temporarily and make Link even more susceptible to attacks. Not much to really say here. 

General Onox

The brutish, armoured warrior General Onox is our villain here, and he fights with a giant ball and chain. Onox looks pretty cool, particularly in the 2D artwork, but otherwise I don't really find anything super-special about his regular design? Like Veran, there's not much to say about Onox -- he's kind of a generic anime villain archetype. Onox has a second form that isn't quite as exciting as Veran's many bug modes, though it's still a pretty impressive demon-dragon-serpent thing.

Twinrova

The 'bonus' true bosses of the Oracle games, only available if you play a 'linked game', are obviously Ganon, though you fight his adoptive mommies Twinrova first. I'm not going to go too much into the game mechanics. Twinrova herself is a pretty faithful and somewhat stylized adaptation of her Ocarina of Time incarnation. Not much to say about that...

Ganon
And we get Ganon in his giant pig-man-demon form. In the story, Onox and Veran fail to bring Ganon to life, and Twinrova ends up sacrificing herself to summon Ganon as the final final boss... and... yeah, it sure is a Ganon! I don't really have much to say here without, again, detailing the boss fight. 

...and that's it for the Oracle games! Some neat bosses, but otherwise from a bestiary view it really does feel like it's just a huge rehash of Link's Awakening.