Here we are in Level 5-- Catfish's Maw. I start off by going left, revealing a chest I have no way of reaching over that gap. I think I tried pushing the blocks below, but it was no good. This is actually a positive sign - I'll be ticking off one of the longest standing items on my to-do list today.
For now though I have to deal with these helmet-wearing enemies. They have to be attacked from the front, which is a pain in the neck. I actually take this one out with a spin attack when it's facing away from me, but I wasn't able to repeat that on later ones in the dungeon.
The next room has a locked door and another that's just closed. Killing all the enemies opens the latter.
In the next room I get the compass, showing the chests and boss on the as yet unfound map. Then I take the stairs.
This room is kind of annoying to get through. Hopefully I won't have to do it again. Incidentally, there are 79 images in this update, and 42 of them are gifs. I might have gotten a little carried away.
At the other side of the tunnel is a room full of crystals and jumping skeletons. Killing everything gets me nowhere, so what is Link to do?
There's gotta be at least one player who got stuck here trying to push the middle blocks up to make a line. Actually, I wonder if pushing the side ones down would work? Probably not.
Checking the map reveals I've gone from the bottom left to the top left of the map. The next room is a dead end with nothing in it. What a pointless area! I head back to the locked door and put my newly acquired key to use.
The next couple rooms don't have much to hide, though the second one requires killing everything to open the doors. I head left.
Killing everything in here gets me the map. Not sure what the shape of this one is supposed to represent. Maybe it'll become clearer as the stage goes on.
I head back and go up. There's a closed door to the north that doesn't respond to thrown pots or arrows, and what looks like a window blind at the right that I can't interact with yet. So I go left.
This room is a little tricky, but I make it through.
Only to find myself stumped at the other end.
Getting out proves harder than getting in. I lose my revival potion and most of my health before making it through.
I backtrack to the last junction and take the other path. Eventually I reach a familiar-looking empty room, but this time as I enter a shadow appears.
A skeletal swordsman drops from above. It doesn't seem to be susceptible to my sword or arrows.
Bomb arrows don't work, either.
I try equipping my shield and taking it on head on, getting a sword slash to the back for my troubles. Maybe that would've bounced off the shield if I'd kept my nerve instead of trying to dodge back.
Eventually I manage to knock the enemy down by striking it in the head. Further sword strikes prove ineffective, so I get my bombs out and take a shot. Unfortunately it's back on its feet before the explosion goes off, and no harm is done.
The next try goes a little better.
A couple more hits and the skeleton starts talking.
And running away. At this point I remembered the similar room I went to earlier and start wondering if I should go back there, but decide to explore more first.
You get the screenshots here instead of a transcript so you can see Master Skull's signature.
Heading north I find a crossroads. Only the left hand path can be reached from this entrance, though, so that's the one I take. It leads to a room full of crystals, which I get no benefit from breaking, and then to a puddle with a deep patch in the middle. I've played a video game before, I can figure this one out.
Sure enough, diving in the middle of the pool reveals a hidden passage.
More Mario enemies! Bloopers? Iunno, I'm not a big Nintendo guy. I realise too late that by killing the goomba with the sword I miss out on getting a heart by jumping on it. Oh well.
It's a dead end. Bummer. Oddly, this room isn't shown on the map. Maybe it didn't fit into the incomprehensible 8x8 black and white picture the map makes?
On the way back I grind my health back up to full on this goomba.
Heading north I reach yet another dead end, so I head back to the crossroads. Pushing the block to the right allows me to reach the button to unlock the door on the right, but obstructs my path to it, so I go north.
I go up and then left and then up and then left to reach the chest containing the fragment of a stone slab. I haven't found the writing on the wall yet, so it's of no use. On the way I pass a few chests I can't reach yet and another empty room with the skull shape on the floor. This one has three blocks in corners. The room where I fought Master Skull had one, and the first one I reached had... I don't remember. I'll keep looking around.
Heading back reveals another dead end.
Getting back to the crossroads and taking a right gets me to a room with the skull tile pattern and two blocks in corners. I equip my bombs. While I've got the map up, the room that I mentioned isn't shown on the map is in the gap to the right of the dungeon boss room. You can see its location if you open the map while you're in there.
Master Skull returns. You know, if he doesn't want to fight, he could have just stayed in the ceiling.
The fight goes a little quicker than last time, since I know what to do now.
I head back to the room with three blocks. As expected, Master Skull shows up again.
No opening line this time, and I scare him off again pretty quickly.
I head back towards the first skull room, but detour down some stairs along the way. This passageway has some more Mario enemies in it. Are these ones bloopers? Are these questions losing me nerd cred? I emerge at the upper left of the map.
Dive under where torchlight beams do cross...
Heading right I find the writing on the wall. Once again, it tells me something I already know. This is a clue about the hidden underwater path. The path then continues past the boss door and to some stairs. I don't have a way across the gap to get to the boss door yet, nor do I have a key to get past the block. So stairs it is!
This passage has more goombas and some dragon head gargoyles.
You again?! You keep going and going... I can't outlast you! All right, let's do it!
The passage spits me out near the middle of the map. This level is a bit disorienting, with all the underground passages. I haven't been to this room before, but I have been to the room below. The doorway at the lower left is closed from below, and the pathway to the lower right has an uncrossable gap on the lower screen. At the moment, I can't open the upper left door or get past the keyhole block, so I take the lower left exit and head back towards the entrance, taking a turn to head back to the room with four corner blocks and another encounter with Master Skull.
This time he's gone for good! Presumably the drop here is the item he took from the chest near where I first encountered him. Let's see what it is:
You've got the Hook Shot! Its chain stretches long when you use it!
Oh thank God.
The Hook Shot shoots across the room, bouncing off walls, but latching onto certain items (like these blocks) and dragging Link over to them. All those long gaps I haven't been able to cross so far are now in my sights.
It can also be used as a weapon and to pick up items. It's a nice thing to have.
Perhaps best of all, it will take the helmets off these enemies, allowing me to get rid of them much more quickly.
Here's the chest in the second room of the dungeon. I'm not sure that I have much use for 200 rupees at this point, but a player who hadn't opened every chest as soon as they could and exploited the Trendy Game might not have bought the bow yet.
Here's the room that almost killed me earlier in the update. It's a bit easier now.
And the chest beyond it, containing a key.
The "window blind", as I called it earlier, is revealed to be a retractable bridge that I can deploy with the Hook Shot. Not shown in this gif: me using the Hook Shot on the jar from below and falling in the pit as a result.
I carry on north and use the key I just got to remove the keyhole block and find two giant crabs. The midboss! I'd assumed Master Skull filled that role, so this was a surprise.
They've got a few attacks. They move from left to right and back by default, but can pause before charging at Link either horizontally or vertically, or can open their eye and shoot a projectile at you.
When the eye is open they can be damaged with the Hook Shot. I'm not sure if other weapons work as well, this is the only one I tried.
After a few more hits (not shown: lots of walking back and forth after the previous gif) I take out the first one.
I decide that since I have plenty of health I can just stand in front of the other one, take a few hits, and throw my grapple at it over and over until it dies. It's a winning strategy, and I get a teleporter back to the entrance for my troubles.
I head through the upper exit and reach the stairs again.
Now that I have the Hook Shot I can pull Link to the gargoyles, allowing me to cross this passage from right to left.
Doesn't do me much good, though, so I head back through again and head around to the pool room. This is what the writing on the wall was talking about: if you look at the torches on the walls, they're aligned with the hidden underwater passage. Heading through gets me the Nightmare's Key. I think if I'd not used my small key to get to the crabs I'd now be able to reach the Nightmare without having beaten the midboss.
I pick up some more cash in chests I couldn't reach before.
The last chest in the dungeon gets me the small key I need to reach the boss. I use it to clear the path and grapple my way towards the door. I'm looking forward to being done with this dungeon, to be honest. There's just a lot of backtracking in it, particularly since it makes you chase Master Skull all over the place before letting you get the Hook Shot, after which you have to revisit the same rooms to do the stuff you couldn't do before. Add to that the confusion of going from place to place through underground passages and I spent a fair bit of time wandering about (most of which I just left out when putting the update together).
Ssso...you are the outsssider, come to wake the Wind Fisssh... KEEE-HEE-HEEEH! I shall eat you!
Heading in I get a pretty rude greeting.
This makes me think of Rocket Knight Adventures, though that game came out about two months after Link's Awakening so neither was likely influenced by the other. I guess from its appearance and the hissing when it speaks that this enemy is supposed to be a giant snake?
I can't seem to damage the tail.
A sword to the face doesn't seem to work either.
It turns out I need to pull it out of hiding with the Hook Shot and then strike the heart just behind its head.
This is easier said than done. You pretty much have to be in the right place at the right time to pull it off.
Trying to chase it around the room isn't working.
I don't remember what I was trying to show off with this sequence of shots, but I continue to land and take damage for a little while.
I start getting these exploding smaller snakes instead of the big one. They do a fair bit of damage.
And down I go. I'm not sure what triggers the smaller snakes or how I can get the big one back. Maybe it's just random?
I head back in for another go.
This time I stick to the lower left corner, and assume that it's going to come out of the upper left hole. I try to avoid the tail and get myself positioned to pull the head. If it comes out of a different hole, I just wait for the next cycle.
It's a slow process.
TSSSK, TSSSK! You don't ssseem to know what kind of island thisss iss... KEEE-HEEE-HEEE! What a fool... KEE-HEE-HEH!!
But it gets the job done, with no exploding snakes appearing this time. The snake taunts me on its way out. It's right: I don't know what kind of island this is.
The snake's end in motion. I get another heart container, always nice, and head north.
One more instrument closer to waking the Wind Fish.
Link is a pretty good Marimba player.
Another clue about where to avoid until I've done everything else. But where is the shrine?
Back outside, I check the in-game map. I've been using it less than I probably usually would, since I've been making my own, but you can get the names of areas from it. In this case, I've highlighted the mysterious building north of the Animal Village that I haven't been able to reach yet, and found that it's called the Face Shrine. I'll probably be using my Face Key there. But first, I have a lot of large gaps to cross.
Next Time:
I cross a lot of large gaps.
Map:
I guess this is supposed to be a snake? Ignore the passages at the lower left, since I put them there. The room to the right of the boss room isn't shown on the in-game map, the gap maybe representing an eye. The only other interpretation I can come up with is that it's the Hook Shot on the end of a wavy rope.
To-Do:
Find another way to cross long gaps.
-Reach the last signpost in the signpost maze.
-Cross the gap to the left of the Kanalet Castle gates.
-Cross the river east of the Seashell Mansion.
-Cross the water east of Angler's Tunnel.
-Get the chest in the north cave in the Mysterious Forest.
-Get the chest near the crystals in the cave in the mountain to the east of Mt. Tamaranch.
-Cross the gap over water to the south-west of the Animal Village.
-Get the piece of heart in the cave at the north-east of the Animal Village.
-Cross the gap (going east-west) in the cave at the very north-east of the map.
-Cross the big gap (going north-south) in the cave at the very north-east of the map.
-Cross the gap in the bridge west of the Chicken Man's house.
-Cross the gap in the cave below the Chicken Man's house.
-Cross the gap in the cave under the statue on the island north of Animal Village.- Ram any trees I come across.
-Further south of the Seashell Mansion. - Find a way to get past cracked (but non-explodable) rocks.
-Get past the cracked rock north of the phone booth near Write's place.
-Get past the cracked rocks on Mt Tamaranch.
-Get past the cracked rocks on the mountains east of Mt Tamaranch. - Do something with the Flying Rooster statue.
- Find a flying chicken.
- Do something with the Mermaid statue.
- Find a use for the mermaid's scale.
- Poke suspicious walls with the sword.
Ride the rapids on a raft.
-Fully explore the rapids.
-Bomb the wall behind the first chest.
-Open the map near the second chest.- Reach the chest on the south-west island in the rapids.
- Grasp Schule's art.
- Figure out how to kill the moving skulls
-Kill the moving skulls in the cave to the right of the lake above Richard's house.
-Kill the moving skull in the cave under Richard's house. - Do something in the cave on the beach.
- Reach the piece of heart in the cave in the mountain to the east of Mt. Tamaranch.
-Try bombing the eastern wall of the first cave east of Mt Tamaranch. - Find a demon to double my arrow carrying capacity.
- Jump down the well in the Animal Village.
- Learn to play many songs.
-Learn to play the "Ballad of the Wind Fish".
-Learn to play "Manbo's Mambo". Explore the Catfish's Maw.- Go to the Face Shrine.
- Find a use for the Face Key.
- Use a key in the keyhole north of Animal Village.
- Get the bird key in the cave below the Chicken Man's house.
- Get a magnifying glass.
-Read 'Dark Secrets and Mysteries of Koholint'. - Find the eight instruments.
-Find the Full Moon Cello.
-Find the Conch Horn.
-Find the Sea Lily's Bell.
-Find the Surf Harp.
-Find the Wind Marimba
-Find the three remaining instruments. - Play the eight instruments in front of the Wind Fish Egg.
-Wake the Wind Fish. - Get off the island, I guess?
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