32 replies to this topic

[Anthus]

What dungeon do you like the most from the hit game A Link to the Past?

 

EDIT: Hi Anthus I fixed the accidental second question

Thanks Jenny for fixing my error

[Moon]

Where's Palace of the Four Sword

[Shane]

Dark Palace to Skull Woods (maybe Thieves Town) is pretty much the best part of Link to the Past IMO. Swamp Palace feels like the most realised dungeon in the game. Which kind of makes it disappointing that the game declines in quality from there, with the exception of Ice Palace.

[Anthus]

I added it

[Magi_Hero]

Misery loves company, or something like that.

Edited by Magi_Hero, 28 May 2025 - 01:13 AM.

[Shane]

Dark Palace to Skull Woods (maybe Thieves Town) is pretty much the best part of Link to the Past IMO. Swamp Palace feels like the most realised dungeon in the game. Which kind of makes it disappointing that the game declines in quality from there, with the exception of Ice Palace.

Posting very messy thoughts on all dungeons below:

1. Hyrule Castle, on both visits, has cool vibes but a very lacklustre design - they're more story driven dungeons. I'd say the first visit is stronger for having more variation.
2. Eastern Palace is a fantastic opening main dungeon. It feels grand and masterfully shows off the improved dungeon formula.
3. The weakest light world dungeon is definitely the Desert Palace. Love the multiple entrances, but a lot of the dungeon itself is filler and basic guesswork.
4. Tower of Hera is a dungeon I've grown fond of recently. It introduces the Red/Blue Blocks to the series but uses them in a way no other dungeon has. The trek up the tower varies depending what state you leave it on; you either get a lengthier climb in exchange for heart drops by the boss room or a quicker, less safe route.
5. Dark Palace and Swamp Palace are when the game starts to realise its dungeon design, reminiscent of a modern Zelda dungeon. Everything about these two dungeons is perfect.
6. Skull Woods is also a really good dungeon, but I wouldn't say it's reminiscent of a modern Zelda dungeon. It requires guesswork but it feels more engaging and the way you can just fall into the dungeon and have to find your way back to a proper entrance is very memorable.
7. I'm split on Thieves Town these days... I think the maze at the start is very lazy and uninspired but the second half is pretty cool, save for the troll room above the item upgrade. That's very nasty.
8. I'm an Ice Palace defender, I think it's easily the best out of all the late game dungeons. Also cool you can skip a puzzle if you do the dungeon itself out of order. The stair isn't that bad...
9. Misery Mire is probably my least favourite main dungeon. Like the name, it's just a miserable dungeon to play. Definitely felt the least realised (a lot of NES dungeon design in spirit) and most obsolete (Swamp Palace existed) - even ALBW just removed it outright. Cool item and boss though.
10. Turtle Rock is pretty bad for how it's easy to run out of magic in some of its devious rooms. It does escape being obsolete and is a mildly cool set piece. The Mirror Shield spin attack trick with the laser eyes does make this dungeon a lot more tolerable too. 
11. Ganon's Tower is basically a meanspirited troll dungeon. I didn't enjoy it, and I'm glad this final dungeon formula kind of died off*. A sad way to end such a great game.
    (* I actually do think Link's Awakening's Turtle Rock kind of realised the "unhinged ultimate challenge" dungeon design the last three Zeldas were trying to do... so maybe they were onto something with the formula...)
12. Edit: Palace of Four Sword was pretty cool, but it is a pain to get to lol. It's up there as probably one of the better dungeons.

[Mani Kanina]

Hyrule Castle, I think. Mostly because of the first trip there at the very start of the game is amazing.


ALTTP is absolutely a game that is more than the sum of its parts. I actually don't like most of its dungeons, but the whole is an amazing game.

[Jambu]

Nice thing about about ALTTP is how non linear it is. I usually do Levels 1/3/4/6/7/5/2 Since water palace is my least favorite dungeon.

[Matthew]

Misery Mire tied for first… you guys are out of your minds.

Dark Palace and Ice Palace are top tier for me: they ask you to think about the space of the dungeon more than any of the others. It’s a layer of complexity that is built on in later games. Most of the other LTTP dungeons are fairly straightforward; key gauntlets or find-the-path style. They’re good, but not as good as the Dark and Ice Palaces.

[Mani Kanina]

Misery Mire tied for first… you guys are out of your minds.

Dark Palace and Ice Palace are top tier for me: they ask you to think about the space of the dungeon more than any of the others. It’s a layer of complexity that is built on in later games. Most of the other LTTP dungeons are fairly straightforward; key gauntlets or find-the-path style. They’re good, but not as good as the Dark and Ice Palaces.

I like the concept and idea of the Ice Palace, but actually playing the darn thing is suffering. (And I'm a huge fan of ice aesthetics). It doesn't help that the dungeon has one of the biggest oversights in the entire game: Where you need magic to get past the entrance room, so if you die with no magic you need to ditch the dungeon and come back (which, when the boss requires you to use most of your magic in the opening act...).

I usually do MM first so I have the cane and can just skip the core puzzle. The GBA version is actually better, since it improved the readability of it. As a kid it was actually kinda hard to grasp what the dungeon was asking you to do.

I'm not sure if I think it's the worst dungeon in the game, but the Ice Palace is pretty far down my list.

[Rambly]

I'm gonna review every ALTTP dungeon. Why not. (I started writing this post before shane did his i didn't jus t steal his idea i promise nononoNNNOnoononnonoono)
 
Hyrule Castle: I like it a lot actually; I like the feeling of descending into the sewers and I like the gameplay hook of the weird mysterious upper floor with the weird electric barrier that you come back to later.
Eastern Palace: It's fine. Good introduction dungeon, not very mechanically interesting though and super boring on multiple playthroughs.
Desert Palace: Zzz. Pegasus Boots tutorial dungeon with not much else interesting going for it. I like the fact that it has multiple entrances, but Skull Woods does it a million times better (and even Hyrule Castle gives you the feeling of ascending to the tippy top). The most interesting part is the weird praying cutscene that plays when you open the dungeon.
Tower of Hera: Now that's more like it. Really cool mechanics (the first Crystal Switch dungeon ever), awesome mysterious atmosphere, coolest name of the Light World dungeons, and the Crystal Switches themselves and the Moon Pearl are  aesthetically awesome. I love the Moon Pearl puzzle and I'm insane and like the fact that the Moon Pearl is missable; I like the fact that you can access the main part of the Dark World as a bunny.
Castle Tower: Really cool setup. I'm not sure how well it holds up on multiple playthroughs, and it's very linear, but the fact that a ... relatively "domestic" dungeon like Hyrule Castle has a secret upper chamber full of evil demonic knights is really cool, actually. The fact that it's a difficulty spike, combat-wise, makes it feel super imposing.
Palace of Darkness: Really awesome creepy vibes; the new dungeon theme actually feels pretty justified here. I don't like the 110 rupee paywall, and it's structurally weird (lot of optional keys), but everything else about it is really cool. The boss is an asshole.
Swamp Palace (Watergate Dungeon): The gimmick to enter the dungeon is awesome and super memorable, the dungeon itself... is pretty good, not my favorite. For better or worse, it's probably the most linear dungeon up to this point, but it's also the most cohesive. I like the waterfall secret.
Skull Woods: Awesome cool creepy vibes and it's super easy to get lost in; I love the way it uses multiple entrances and I love the fucked up H.R. Giger design for the main entrance. It honestly freaked me the hell out as a kid.
Thieves' Town (Gargoyle's Domain): It's hard to judge this one on the normal dungeon merits, because it's so thoroughly structured around its gimmick. If I were to judge it as a normal dungeon, it'd kind of suck, but... the Blind thing is so cool and such a fun and memorable twist that I can't help but rate the dungeon highly. I love the dungeon's lore. I like the Japanese name more than the US name, which is Town of the Astray. (In the Japanese version there was no distinction between the overworld/dungeon name, so Village of Outcasts shared its name with the dungeon.)

Ice Palace: I'm kind of inclined to agree with Mani here - cool vibes, I like that it gets its own dungeon tiles, I like the fact that you feel like you're descending infinitely, but actually playing it just isn't that fun. Half the rooms feel like mean-spirited troll rooms, and I'm not actually that wild about the central gimmick where it forces you to basically loop through the dungeon twice. Not the absolute worst, but not great, either.

Misery Mire: I actually like Misery Mire, although I wouldn't say it's my favorite. I like the fact that it has a lot of optional rooms and it's kind of a structural mess - it has that labyrinthine quality the NES games had. I guess whether or not that's a design flaw or not is down to personal preference, though, and I get why people would think it's a step down. I think saying it's a Swamp Palace clone aesthetically is kind of wrong - Misery Mire is a lot grosser and Swamp Palace is really more of a regular water dungeon. It also has the coolest dungeon item of any of the dungeons - the Cane of Somaria is such a cool ass concept and there's a reason the Oracles revisited it and every ZC user wants a scripted version in their quest.

Turtle Rock: Uggh. So much blown potential - this dungeon is basically screwed over by the way it handles magic usage. I like it conceptually and aesthetically, and the first-ever appearance of the Mirror Shield elevates it a little, but... there's so much that's just annoying/frustrating. Actually using the Mirror Shield is frustrating and unintuitive; later games did the controls for the Mirror Shield a lot better. And then of course there's the boss which demands a ton of magic (after a dungeon that requires you to place Somaria pads constantly) - if you run out, you're screwed. There's that awful torch puzzle near the beginning, too. A very mean-spirited dungeon.

Ganon's Tower: Structurally? It's brilliant - the massive lower floor labyrinth that takes up the entire map space that leads up into a gauntlet of multiple floors is an awesome concept and it's clearly trying to be a memorable sendoff both in terms of puzzling design and combat. I really admire it for that. In practice, I think the actual design is a little uneven - in practice the two wings of the basement just feel kind of like two linear gauntlets, and a lot of the rooms are just mean, and not really in a fun way. The torch puzzle with the falling blocks upstairs is probably the meanest room in the entire game, maybe. For all my criticisms, however... the more I actually think about it, the more I realize I find actually playing it really fun!? I don't know why the hell - I used to speedrun ALTTP and I think this dungeon in particular is just super technical and cool.

Palace of the Four Sword: I've only played it once in my life - the first time I ever played it was last year. It's pretty decent. I like the upgraded boss fights. I remember some of the puzzles being kind of weird but others being kind of neat. Definitely a very unorthodox dungeon...

 

I think I'm gonna vote for Tower of Hera, but it's a tough choice between that or Palace of Darkness. Hyrule Castle is also a strong contender.

[Shane]

I think saying it's a Swamp Palace clone aesthetically is kind of wrong - Misery Mire is a lot grosser and Swamp Palace is really more of a regular water dungeon.

I guess for me, it feels weird that a more prominent swamp area doesn't have a swamp dungeon better than Swamp Palace. On a surface level, I do like the grimy aesthetics of Misery Mire, but it's more the mechanics that make it obsolete for me - it's boring in comparison. I wish it leaned into being more of the slime dungeon and made use of its cool item to give it its identity. I associate the cane with Turtle Rock more than I do Misery Mire.

[Deedee]

Desert Palace and Thieves Town are both super memorable from when I played the game, Desert Palace having that cool big opening room that's really cool to explore and the cool sand themed enemies, and Thieves Town's maze section being really cool to me when  played it with it's neat usage of the over/under gimmick. I voted for Desert cause it had no votes and I can't vote for two things.

[Hari]

My thoughts on LttP dungeons, not in any particular order:

 

Misery Mire is my favorite, slime aesthetics are good, and I'm a fan of the nes dungeon labyrinth feel. I got very lost in Misery Mire my first time playing LttP and it was great.

 

I like Ice Palace conceptually, and I think it's a lot of fun to play when you already know what to do in it, but on your first playthrough it kinda sucks because if you get lost in it and then end up dying, then you have to go through the entire dungeon again to get back to where you were. If it had like a shortcut unlocked after completing the first 3 floors I think it'd be a bit better in that regard. Also yeah, having that freezor in the first room with no magic refill is an odd design choice.

 

I think Tower of Hera is pretty cool overall, but gods, the Moldorm fight is atrocious. Not a fan of Zelda bosses where getting knocked out of the arena requires you to start the boss fight over from the beginning. The color blocks switching is a good mechanic though.

 

Ascending Ganon's Tower is technically demanding and fun, but I wish the basement felt more labyrinthine and less linear so it would counterbalance the ascent better, since that seems to be what it's going for conceptually, but the execution is a bit flawed in that regard. Still a good dungeon overall though.

 

My thoughts on Turtle Rock is that it's mostly just... fine. Not a particularly standout dungeon to me, other than Trinexx being a neat boss. The Somaria pads are a neat idea, though I feel that there's a lot of unexplored potential with them. In LttP, it only gets used in 2 ways, one being as a maze of connectors to navigate, and the other as part of a fire rod puzzle. And then the weird pipe things in the middle section of Turtle Rock are honestly one of the most forgettable mechanics in my opinion. I disagree that magic is that much of an issue in Turtle Rock though, there's 3 easily accessible full magic refills, including one in the room right before the boss so you can top off your magic meter beforehand. Even on my first playthrough of ALttP, magic was never an issue in Turtle Rock, despite me getting fairly lost in the dungeon and going in circles a few times. Turtle Rock also has one of the most lenient boss fight return trips in the game, since there's a spot very close to the boss to set your spawn, so you only have to go through 2 major rooms to retry when you die (technically there's 4 rooms, but the other 2 don't really have anything in them if you're entering from the south).

 

Skulls Woods is a good dungeon, not a lot for me say about it other than it's a solid dungeon that uses the multiple entrances pretty well. Doing the back half of the dungeon is kinda ass though if you don't have the half magic upgrade, which on my first playthrough I hadn't found yet when I did Skull Woods iirc. It's a better experience overall if you do have the half magic upgrade.

 

Dark Palace has very good atmosphere, does a good job setting the tone for the start of the Dark World part of the game, and the way it's designed is pretty good. I'm not really a fan of the hammer though, and the boss fight being done primarily with the hammer is annoying. (my least favorite iteration of the hammer, and hammers just in general are not a Zelda item I like)

 

Thieves' Town and Swamp Palace both have decent atmosphere, but design wise feel a bit basic to me. It's serviceable though. Swamp Palace gets points for having a water mechanic though, because water dungeons are good. I'm an OoT Water Temple defender to the day I die. Also shoutouts to Swamp Palace for introducing the hookshot to the series, good item.

 

Unfortunately Desert Palace is mid :c

Sucks because desert dungeons are neat. I think ALBW's take on Desert Palace does the concept more justice. (too bad Misery Mire was sacrificed for good Desert Palace, I want to see a slimy dungeon in the ALBW aesthetic...)

 

Not much to say about Hyrule Castle that hasn't already been said. It's a good story dungeon even if the actual dungeon design itself isn't the most interesting. It has a strong atmosphere, especially in combination with the rainy night preamble before you enter, which I think is an important component to what makes the opening segment of LttP so memorable.

 

Eastern Palace is a good first Light World dungeon (first one that isn't a story set piece that is). I still don't really understand the tentacle-y enemies that don't really do anything though. I guess they're filling a similar role to Z1 Zols maybe? I do like their design though. Tentacle-y.

 

That's all of them I guess. LttP is fun, even if it's not really my favorite Zelda game (in the sense that I just like other Zelda games a lot more, but LttP is still a good game).

[The Satellite]

After literal hundreds of randomizer seeds, my opinions have shifted a bit from what they would've been just casually, and I'm writing this up before I vote to help me think it through, so here we go...

 

Eastern Palace - Solid opening dungeon, kinda milquetoast but gets the job done. Inoffensive.

Desert Palace - Kind of empty and short, guess it introduces the "light torches to expand wall" mechanic which is cool.

Tower of Hera - While they're not a big deal first time around, I'm realizing this is an early example of learning how I don't care for dungeons that are typically just ascending a tower unless there's some significant problem-solving along the way. Not to say I dislike the concept, I just don't prefer them. This one's not too long at least.

Hyrule Castle - Speaking of ascending towers, this one in casual play is at least meant to make you feel powerful and it's a climactic moment. In randomizer? If I have to do the tower, it's a guaranteed "this seed is shit," because damn if Agahnim isn't actually the most annoying boss in the game when he doesn't play along. The castle escape sequence in the beginning is fine, good way to kick off the game and show you the ropes.

Palace of Darkness - One of the stronger ones for sure. The dark maze may be the one mildly annoying part, but also the mirror exists so it's moot. It just feels like a lot's going on here, in a good way, and it culminates in one of the best boss fights.

Swamp Palace - This one can feel kinda slow getting the big key on repeat visits, but I still think it's a solidly-designed dungeon with one of my favorite dungeons. Plus, it introduced the hookshot! Big bonus points for that. The flooding/draining effects aren't as cool now as they used to be, but they work well enough with the level design.

Skull Woods - When you know what you're doing, you skip so much of this place. I think the idea of having all these different entrances is neat, but it's ultimately so small and otherwise straightforward. It constantly pesters you with gibdos and wallmasters, thus I suppose making this the first true distinct "shadow" dungeon of the series, but it's... one of the dungeons of all time.

Thieves' Town - Always like a good dungeon with its own individual storyline and I believe that started here. Thinking you'd saved the maiden, only to find out she's in disguise, and was even foreshadowed early on in the game... It's really cool. Dungeon itself doesn't overstay its welcome either. Only thing annoying about this one I guess is going out of the way for the singular chest by the bombable hole but in vanilla, that's the coolest part about the dungeon.

Ice Palace - Ice Palace is home to two of the coolest (heh) tricks in the game, both of which are mutually-exclusive. Talking about the bomb jump and icebreaker, for the curious. They speed up the dungeon a bit, but even so, I think this one's just fine. Home to one of the more fun boss fights as well.

Misery Mire - I never thought much of this one before but rando seeds have made me come to dislike it. Partially my fault as I do not like the keysanity setting, but without it, you at most have two potential item checks here. Then there's that random basement room where you have to bomb a wall and hit a crystal switch just to progress. It's not a puzzle, just a waste of time. Neat boss, though.

Turtle Rock - I'll always sing this one's praises. Think it has a solid progression and even brings out a unique use for an item from the previous dungeon! Has a fair few checks in rando as well, plus one of the better bosses. 

Ganon's Tower - Another one that rando soured for me because it's basically always the same: Scour the basement for the big key, then do the same exact tower climb every time. Bless the "Fast Ganon" option. I think any distaste I have for this is solely due to rando repetitiveness and not due to any faults of the dungeon itself. Yeah, sitting here and thinking objectively, it serves its purpose fine and is a good closer. Anything wrong with it is a me problem.

Palace of the Four Sword - Shit.

 

As you can see from this I am no fan of Misery Mire, and seeing it tied for first as of this writing leads me to believe none of you have neither taste nor critical thought.

 

anyway I almost didn't want to vote Palace of Darkness so it didn't seem like I'm just outvoting Mire but nah that really is the best one isn't it

 

EDIT: After reading the above post and noting it's been brought up a few times, I am going to defend the Ice Palace opening room as a warning that you need magic in this place. Nowadays there'd be some way around that, but back then it was a good design decision.