This is one of two Zelda games that were made for the Game Boy Colour. In this game Link finds himself in the land of Holodrum where the seasons have been thrown into disarray by an evil force and the local oracle has been kidnapped. He then must travel through various dungeons in order to collect magical items which will restore order, as is often the case with the Zelda series.
While it may sound like a run of the mill instalment in the series, there’s actually a lot to this game which makes it both unique and very enjoyable. The changing seasons mean that you can be in one area and it’ll be a hot summer’s day and then walk to another and find the place covered in snow and eventually you get an item called the Rod of Seasons which allows you to change the seasons by yourself. Every time the seasons change, the map changes quite a bit too, which essentially means that there are four different versions of the world map!
By this point it had been established that Link sometimes rides a horse named Epona to make travelling around hazardous areas easier. While Epona does make an appearance in the opening sequence, in the actual game, you get to ride three rather more unique creatures: Ricky the Kangaroo (who wears a pair of boxing gloves, perfect for fighting enemies), Dimitri the Dodongo (who can swim and, rather humorously, eat enemies) and finally Moosh the Flying Bear. They do give the game a more childish feel, which might bother some people, but for me they’re very welcome additions.
Another big appeal of this game, for me, was the fact that Holodrum was a very interesting world full of memorable characters. There’s a village on a river, a lava-filled underground world inhabited with mysterious Subrosian people, an ancient abandoned castle (with amazing background music) and a huge desert, to name just a few of the interesting locations. In these wonderful places, you’ll meet the likes of a crew of skeleton pirates, the bumbling king of the Moblins and many other quirky individuals.
Furthermore, this game was released at the same time as The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and the two games can be linked together in order to unlock new items in both of them and also to add a nice extra part onto the end of the story. This is done through a password system where you’ll find a character in one game who will then give you a code to enter in the other game which will then bring you to a secret area or give you a secret item and I found this to be a very welcome and rewarding feature.
On the whole, this is a charming and unique addition to the Zelda series. Rating: 9.1/10
(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show.)