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The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons: Fight, delve, adventure, explore

As I said in my review of its sister game, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons is focused on combat rather than puzzles. In many ways, it feels like an homage to the original Legend of Zelda.

The main gimmick of Oracle of Seasons is that Link has a wand, the Rod of Seasons, which allows him to change what season it is. The power of each season is held in the Temple of Seasons, which is found in an underworld called Subrosia. As the plot progresses, Link gains the power of each season. During winter, snow banks appear, and water freezes into ice. In spring, blast blooms open—flora that can launch Link to higher areas. During summer, vines sprout, which can be climbed. In fall, rock mushrooms ripen, so Link can pick them. Manipulating these elements allows Link to enter new areas.

The overall gameplay, items, and enemies are almost exactly the same as in Oracle of Ages, so I need not describe them. A few items are different, which I appreciated. For example, instead of the power glove, Link gets a cape (an upgrade of the roc's feather). Instead of the seed shooter, he gets the almost identical slingshot. Instead of the switch hook, the magnetic glove: it attracts or repels Link from metallic objects. This is used in several dungeon puzzles.

As in so many 2D Zelda games, there are eight dungeons. These are strongly reminiscent of the original Zelda 1 dungeons. The first is identical in shape to the first dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: an eagle with its wings spread. The boss is the same, too: the dragon Aquamentus. The second dungeon looks like a scorpion to me, though it's called Snake's Remains, so I suppose it's a snake. The boss is bomb-eating Dodongo, also the boss of the second dungeon in Zelda 1! The third instead has a boss from A Link to the Past: Mothula. The fourth boss is Gohma, the spider from dungeon 6 in Zelda 1. The fifth boss is Digdogger, also the fifth boss in Zelda 1. The sixth is Manhandla, the third boss from Zelda 1: this is the weird thing that looks like four piranha plants.

Manhandla, from The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts (Dark Horse, 2017), 122
The seventh boss monster is Gleeok, the three-headed hydra from level 4 of Zelda 1. The eighth is the only new boss: a disembodied Medusa head. The final dungeon is a short, simple maze, where Link confronts the game's villain, General Onox, who can turn into a dragon.

The plot contains no information about Onox or really any story to speak of. This surprised me, because Oracle of Ages does have a (thin) story about the sorceress Veran possessing Nayru and building a dark tower in Labrynna's past. If you're playing a linked game from Oracle of Ages (as I was), then after Link defeats Onox, the witches Twinrova summon a mindless Ganon, who is the secret final boss. As I mentioned in my previous review, passwords allow some interactions between the two games, including the ability to upgrade the noble sword into the Master Sword. This game has an item-trading sequence, just like Link's Awakening and Oracle of Ages, which is how you get the noble sword.
Give Biggoron lava soup, to help him feel better, and get a vase.
Oracle of Seasons may be the perfect 2D Zelda game. Although focused on combat, Oracle of Seasons still has many puzzles. I found the dungeons almost as challenging as those in Oracle of Ages. This game hits the difficulty sweet spot. It kept me thinking about what to do but never to the point of frustration. The dungeons were some of the most enjoyable I've played. I like how the series combines fighting and thinking. It almost felt like a sequel to Zelda 1 to me but with all the benefits of the two decades that came between, especially with the more varied environments and NPCs, like the Zora and the Gorons, and even some undead pirates.
My least favorite part of the game is the rings, almost all of which are too weak to matter. Since I already had the blue ring from Oracle of Ages, I wore it the whole game. I also did not much enjoy the visits to Subrosia. It's small, and there isn't much to do there other than fulfill the plot points needed to get to the next dungeon.

I can't recommend Oracle of Seasons highly enough. The best 2D Zelda is obviously A Link to the Past. Next, most fans agree, is Link's Awakening. The first game is hard to judge because some people adore it (like yours truly), but others struggle with the jankier aspects that are a product of its age, such as the lack of NPCs and dungeons being hidden more or less randomly. Because of those limitations, for modern players I would recommend Oracle of Seasons as third after Link's Awakening, followed closely by Ages.

Grade: A+
Linked Review
"Oracle of Seasons streamlines the franchise's formula to let challenging classic combat take centre stage, but brings enough originality to keep it from feeling monotonous. It offers up an old-school adventure that will feel fondly familiar to long-time fans of the franchise."
— Patrick Elliot, Nintendo Life, 8/10
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