I recently revisited Ocarina of Time, which is probably the most classic The Legend of Zelda title to have ever released. We’ve got Ganondorf threatening the kingdom of Hyrule. Link and Princess Zelda trying to stop him. And Link traveling between two time periods to complete super classic dungeons as both his child self and his adult self. It doesn’t get much more Zelda-esque than that! One of my favorite parts of any Zelda game are the dungeons, which feature thought-provoking puzzles and interesting theming (oh, and memorable bosses, but that’s a post for another time…). As a lover of lists, I’ll be ranking the dungeons of OoT from the least interesting to the most memorable. And you’re welcome to share your favorite and least favorite dungeons in the comments below!
11: Ice Cavern – Every single time I play this game, I forget this mini-dungeon exists. That’s how forgettable it is. But it contains a map and compass, so a dungeon it apparently is. This place is short and doesn’t require much effort. You collect some silver rupees to open doors. And you get some blue flames in order to melt the red ice. And you defeat an abnormally large wolf for the Iron Boots. Neat.
10: Ganon’s Castle – That’s right, I ranked the final dungeon below the Water Temple because it’s just so dang anticlimactic! You revisit sections themed around previous dungeons, and it mainly involves collecting silver rupees to open doors. We do have a Light Sage section, which never received a proper dungeon, but do they do anything interesting with it? No. No, they don’t. So that’s a missed opportunity if there ever was one. Then you climb the tower, fight a few enemies, then defeat Ganondorf. Sure, you do have to escape from the collapsing tower between both phases of the battle, but that alone isn’t enough to make the final dungeon interesting. What a letdown to an otherwise fantastic game!
9: Water Temple – Ah, yes, the infamous Water Temple. If I was going to describe this temple in one word, it would be tedious. Put on the Iron Boots, take off the Iron Boots. Raise the water, lower the water, raise the water, lower the water. Why does it have to be so dang annoying to change the water level in this place? I spent far too much time changing my footwear and getting lost in this nightmare of a place! The Water Temple is awful. There’s a reason everyone hates it.
8: Jabu Jabu’s Belly – I forgot how annoying this dungeon was. Young Link’s third dungeon takes place inside the belly of a large fish. It is filled with annoying enemies, namely electrified things and malicious bubbles that bounce wildly about. To proceed through this place, you’ll need to carry the Zora Princess, Ruto, around so that she can be used to push down switches. My most recent playthrough after many, many years was very confusing, largely due to the fact that I had totally underestimated just how high Link can throw her. This dungeon becomes a lot better once you get the boomerang, which can be used to dispatch the electrical enemies and the parasitic tentacles infecting Jabu with ease. But the annoying first half of this dungeon makes me feel less forgiving about the second half…
7: Dodongo’s Cavern – While this dungeon is more involved than the Great Deku Tree, I didn’t find it to be a terribly entertaining place to visit. There are enemies that breathe fire or blow up or shoot lasers. There are not one, but two, mini-boss encounters with Lizalfos. None of these are fun things to deal with. The one good thing is that, after wielding bomb flowers for a bit, we’ll eventually obtain our very own bomb bag! While getting the ability to blow things to smithereens should have made for an interesting dungeon, it did not. Frankly, I just found this place to be a bit boring and tedious to traverse.
6: Great Deku Tree – The most basic dungeon of the game, this place basically serves as a tutorial and the location of the slingshot. It’s quick and easy, with its main puzzling coming in the form of lighting a few torches and jumping from a great height in order to break through a spider web. Even so, this place does have a minor creep factor, what with the numerous spiders and the Queen Gohma boss fight at the end…. The reason this dungeon is so high on the list is because a basic dungeon is better than an annoying one. Basically, we’ve just reached the midpoint of the list.
5: Fire Temple – The Fire Temple is just fine. There’s a lot of lava. There’s a lot of enemies that light you on fire. And then there’s that room where you must navigate through a maze of fire walls that don’t appear unless you get close, making the room feel just a bit like a rage game. Don’t expect any forgiveness, Fire Temple. You’re only this high on the list because the other dungeons were either worse or too basic. Unlike the Great Deku Tree, at least this place feels like a proper dungeon.
4: Bottom of the Well – I love spooky places, and so therefore, I love this mini-dungeon. This place is extremely creepy. Just knowing that it rests at the bottom of a deep, dark well, underneath the feet of Kakariko Village’s unsuspecting residents is an unsettling thought. Was this place some sort of long-forgotten torture chamber? The chains and prison cells and blood-stained walls and floor seem to suggest so. Then, as further evidence of this place’s bloody history, as soon as you fall through one of the many invisible holes in the floor, you’ll find a watery pit filled with skeletal hands reaching out, like tormented souls that will never find rest. And let’s not forget the resident monster, Dead Hand, one of gaming’s most vile abominations, with its many arms, long neck, and big, gnashing teeth. I can’t help but feel that this guy is the living (or undead) embodiment of all the suffering that had taken place here.
3: Spirit Temple – I always loved the music in this place, as it did such an amazing job of making this dungeon feel ancient and mysterious. Like all of my favorite dungeons, this place has some great vibes, even if it felt like it was over just a bit too fast. I feel like not long after you get the Mirror Shield, I didn’t have much more exploring before I was done! Still a pretty cool end to the game’s main dungeons, especially considering it’s the only one where you’re required to visit as both young and adult Link, which paved the way for a simple, but interesting, story spanning 7 years! Poor Nabooru…
2: Forest Temple – I absolutely love the Forest Temple. They could have just gone with a nature-themed location, but no, instead, they gave us a dark and eerie estate with grand rooms, two courtyards surrounded by castle walls, and a pair of…twisting corridors? (If I was rich, I’d want these in my mansion, too. Just to freak out guests trying to find the bathroom.) And ghosts! This place not only features the four Poe sisters, but an awesome boss fight against Phantom Ganon! The scenery, undead residents, and haunting music (which sometimes sounds like voices) all combine to create a truly unsettling experience!
1: Shadow Temple – The Forest Temple is creepy because it gives off some serious liminal vibes. The Shadow Temple, however, is more traditionally spooky, with lots of guillotines, bottomless pits, and undead things (and some thoroughly eerie music to really send tingles down your spine). Maybe I’m biased because I like spooky things, but the Shadow Temple is just some great creepy fun. After travelling ever downward, we even end up riding a strange ferry with a bird-like prow and a pair of bells that takes us over a misty pit, as if Link is really crossing into the underworld (now that’s a creepy thought)! Whatever was meant by “Hyrule’s bloody history of greed and hatred”, though, I’d rather never find out….
Banner image is official Nintendo artwork