Zelda Extreme Challenge Seven: The Demon

We're nearly finished with this challenge already, but I imagine these last three dungeons will probably take us longer than the first six combined. I'm not looking forward to Death Mountain...

One of the best secrets in the First Quest, finding the way into level 7.

And this labyrinth marks our second and last appearance of Moldorm in the First Quest.

I've seen a lot of people complain about this clue, but I think it's fairly helpful as far as finding your way around.

Usually I just ignore this Digdogger, but since we have to kill all the boss monsters, we'll use the cheap bomb exploit on it.

The exact same thing with these Dodongos...

I most certainly would. Those Dodongos really tapped me out.

This is the first Digdogger in the game that splits into three, but it's still no harder than the others if we fight it cheaply.

And yet another confusing room for new players. After all, all of the shops that sell bait are hidden behind trees, walls, or an Armos statue, so the average player might not even know how to find that item by this point, even if they did guess to use it on this hungry Goriya.

You've served me well, enemy bait... I'm very sad to see you go. Am I allowed to buy more, actually? I can't really use my money for anything else except bombs or arrows...

Another well-hidden room that I had forgotten about until I saw a map of this level again.

Hooray, the Red Candle! I imagine we'll use this item a grand total of one time.

I'm honestly taking a huge amount of damage in this labyrinth, but Blue Goriyas frequently drop hearts and fairys, and since I only have a maximum of three hearts, I can constantly heal back to full health.

And the last two Moldorms in the game! I'll truly miss you, you weird things.

And the last Digdogger in the game. I won't miss you at all.

I can't wait to bomb some Dodongos?

After killing them, we can leave to the room on the right: The tip of the nose.

Wallmasters are easily taken care of with the magical rod, and these Bubbles are a mild annoyance at worst.

Aquamentus is somewhat easier this time around since we don't have to hide next to the door it's guarding to dodge the Heart Container.

A demon completed! We now just have to finish the Lion and Death itself.

All in all, this level was rather easy, maybe on par with the Snake labyrinth. Unfortunately, I can't imagine the Lion being so easy...

Zelda Extreme Challenge Six: Unfinished Business

Just a short update today since finals are coming up quickly, so my life is basically studying now. We're going to finish up dealing with the Lizard and the Dragon for now, so this won't really be a content-heavy update.

We come towards the Dragon from the Lost Woods this time instead of from over Death Mountain. So while we're here, why don't we explore the cemetery?

I know we can't have it, but... just let me bask in its glow for a while and pretend...

We nearly run out of bombs, but manage to pass the Wizzrobes that cut us off last time. Yay progress!

Gohma is still a joke, maybe even easier than Aquamentus. Fire an arrow right as you enter the room, and you win.

There is one room on the map we haven't visited, but it's full of Wizzrobes and the door locks behind you. Without any bombs, that would put an end to us, so we'll just grab the Triforce Shard and come back for that last room after.

Besides, the Triforce Shard will let us teleport here with our recorder and save on travel time.

First thing's first, a quick back warp to level five!

Let's clear these Pols Voice out of the way and then bomb upwards to save a key.

First room of three!

I'm sadly not paying enough attention and use up 8 bombs when I should have only wasted six. In any case though, the Dodongos are dead and we can enter the room to the left. Second room of three!

And third room of three! Apparently this old man was hinting at Pols Voice being weak to arrows (Oh, that's another use of arrows over the magic wand!) since in the Japanese version, he says, "Some beings are weak to sound". I always used to think this was a hint to Ganon's weakness, or maybe Gohma's, but nope.

In any case, we're done with the Lizard completely. We'll finish off with the Dragon.

Instead of going up to Gohma, we head downwards to the last unexplored room in the labyrinth.

Yep, trapped in with enemies we can't even touch. We're just going to save and quit...

But first, we check out our map to make sure we've explored the entire labyrinth, and we have. What exactly is the Dragon supposed to look like? I guess the lower half is its tail and the upper-right area is its head, but what's the middle part that's sticking out supposed to be?

Regardless, the next dungeon to do is the Demon. Ominous.

Zelda Extreme Challenge Five: The Magic Wand and the Snake

Here's where things get terrifying, because we're going to take on some of the most annoying and difficult enemies in the game.

Of course, we need to stock up on rupees and bombs first since the Lizard basically tapped us out of both.

And here's our first Lynel sighting. These guys aren't the hardest enemies in the game, but they can kill us quickly and are going to be hard to avoid when we have to pass them.

The bait also doesn't affect them, but we manage to sneak past them and head up into level six.

Here they are! The Wizzrobes, bane of many Zelda players' existence. One magic shot from the orange ones will kill us with three hearts and no rings, and the Blue Wizzrobes' lack of hitstun can make them hard to survive. Not to mention the only weapon other than a sword that can hurt Wizzrobes are bombs...

We absolutely had to force a bomb drop in this room if we want to make it through this place.

My trick here is to kill two or three Keese from near the doorway, and then leave the room before a stray fireball or Keese can hit you. Lather, rinse, repeat until the room is clear.

Miraculously, we manage to survive our first encounter with Blue Wizzrobes and only lose half our bombs! I entirely credit this to a Darkwing Duck speedrun I watched the other day where he says that Blue Wizzrobes can't see you if you stand on the line between two tiles (but can still randomly walk into you).

And we get a random bomb drop from the Wizzrobes in this room to help us out.

I feel bad that the first time I played the first quest, I used a guide, so I can't really say whether or not these clues would be useful or not.

I will shamelessly kill the Orange Wizzrobes and then reenter the room to turn a blue one orange. It's the best way to save bombs.

And we managed to get the magic wand without any casualties! I was shaking a bit at this point.

Now we have another long range weapon as strong as our Bow, but without wasting rupees. I don't think there are any enemies the bow will hurt that the magic wand won't, except Gohma and Ganon, so we might just tuck that thing away for most of the rest of our playthrough.

If we didn't have to kill every boss in the game, I would happily leave this three-headed Gleeok alone. But for the first time in years, I'm taking the three-headed Gleeok on.

That was shockingly easier than expected... Unfortunately, I run out of bombs while fighting Blue Wizzrobes in a room shortly after this. Since I don't have any way of killing enemies that drop bombs in this labyrinth, I guess we'll save and quit here and come back later.

Now that we have a Gleeok-killer though, we can take care of our unfinished business in level four!

There's not too much that happens in this labyrinth aside from the first return of Manhandla. I manage to take him out with one lucky bomb. I've also never noticed until now that the Snake and the Dragon have the same color scheme.

I suppose this quote would probably have been helpful for finding the next labyrinth. It's a shame I'll never have that experience myself.

We've already taken on a three-headed Gleeok, how tough can the two-headed one be?

I walked into Gleeok just as I killed him, and survived. If I remember correctly, I read once that his body does 3/8 hearts worth of damage. So... I have 1/8 hearts right now. Talk about a close call!

Here's the completed map of the Snake. It kind of upsets me that they don't show secret rooms on your own personal map.

But I go back to enter it just to show that I have.

And now we have five pieces of the Triforce! I think next time we'll take on level seven, or possibly go back to finish up levels five and six.