Sometimes I forget just how quickly time moves. Spring 2001, two brand new Legend of Zelda games dropped onto the Game Boy Color. However, I was still neck-deep in everything Dreamcast, not to mention trying to juggle college and a job. In retrospect, these might have been two of the first games to ever enter the dreaded backlog. Let's hold down the fast-forward button until... oh I can't remember exactly... a decade or so? It was around the days of the Nintendo 3DS, and I had just purchased the very same Zelda games. Surely, I'd have the time to... Oh, who am I kidding? Fast-forward again to the beginning of March 2025. It took this long for me to play a pair of great games in one of the most beloved and successful franchises of all time. Sheesh!
Hmm... Honestly, vibe isn't exactly the greatest word either, but I've used it maybe four times in the past 20 years so cut me a little slack.
Now then, Oracle of Seasons is a dense game in many ways. It boasts a massive world full of colorful characters and eight dungeons of increasing complexity and danger. It also houses a substantial underworld with its own characters and circumstances. Going further, the entire overworld is subject to the changing of the seasons, all four of them in fact. Link will cross frozen lakes in the winter, climb freshly grown vines in the summer, and deftly cross the leafy pits of autumn. He'll... also do things involving giant flowers in spring, yeah, I uh... didn't bother to cleverly work that into the last sentence. Under "normal" circumstances, the seasons are completely out of your control, The difference between summer and winter is often just a screen transition away. By exploring the Temple of the Seasons in Subrosia, you can acquire and upgrade a magical wand, allowing you to bypass the many seasonal obstacles. While it doesn't often feel like it, you explore four overworlds to reach the aforementioned dungeons. It's a lot.
In the world of Holodrum, there is not a single "wasted" screen. Whether the path you're treading houses a secret or the path to a secret, there is always something of value to look forward to. A scenario not uncommon to the Legend of Zelda formula, but Flagship takes it a step further with the "gasha" seeds. Plant them in the ground and they'll grow into nut-bearing trees. Crack that nut open and you might get a ring, or something of significantly less value. Collecting rings is fun, even if their usefulness tends to be niche. Like, I myself can't see the value of wearing a ring that turns me into a Like-Like, but whatever. The best rings are either exceptionally rare or require hard work to obtain. Other rewards include NPCs who drop clues pertaining to extra special items, but that's only if you're playing a "Linked Game". By the way, that's a pun that took me almost 25 years to get. Seriously though, Linked Games require that you've finished Oracle of Ages (or vice-versa) and transferred the password to a new Oracle of Seasons (...or vice-versa) play-through. Again, it's a lot.
With so much density packed into every space, the game can feel claustrophobic. There were a number of times where I felt like I couldn't stretch my legs. You know, find my way in the world, move without purpose, that sort of thing. I get that the developers had so much they needed to cram in, and I'm seriously impressed that they were able to do so without the adventure collapsing in on itself. There is one unfortunate casualty, however. The story is nonexistent. You're introduced to Din, who is almost immediately kidnapped and crystalized. Otherwise, a tree gives you directions, and... yeah. It's not a huge problem, since I wasn't lacking for motivation to see this quest to its end.
Minor hiccups aside, the dungeons only got better as I progressed. Inventory management, a "feature" of the Game Boy entries that once bugged me, almost ceased to become an issue. Swapping between a dozen-odd items became second nature, allowing me to appreciate just how meticulously designed some of the later levels can get. That said, there are times where the item-swapping can feel... excessive. This becomes most apparent in the boss battles.
It must be that density rearing its head again, because I felt like Oracle of Seasons was asking a lot out of me. Many of the bosses present a unique spin on known classics. You'll bomb a Dodongo and throw it into spikes, mash a Digdogger with a giant spiked orb, decapitate a Gleeok... repeatedly. This is around the time that I realized the boss battles are actually pretty tough! It's not enough to know how to defeat a boss, I also had to contend with the fact that they seriously wanted me dead. They won't sit around and wait patiently while I figure out their weaknesses. Sometimes, this makes conquering the dungeon all the more rewarding. Other times, this makes for unnecessary stress.
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| Digdogger... ugh I hate this guy. |
Let's go back to that Gleeok for a bit. The fight has two phases, and Gleeok will only enter the second if both of his heads are destroyed... at about the same time. With the level 2 "Noble Sword", I believe it takes 10 hits per head. Trying to keep a count in my head while the boss is puking up waves of fireballs turned out to be a bit of trouble. Digdogger was also a massive pain. I was still coming to grips with the magnetic glove, so this boss fight made me feel like I was playing tug-of-war with myself. Worst part was I idiotically attempted to use the sword to deal with all of the smaller eyeballs that ran everywhere. They can't be pushed back, resulting in Link getting bashed repeatedly.
It was around this time that I questioned why the game couldn't have just given me some Pegasus Boots instead of Pegasus Seeds. Simply having one less item to juggle would've lifted a lot of weight off of my shoulders. Instead, I felt like I had developed some seed addiction that I couldn't properly control. I'd lose focus pressing buttons that brought me no closer to defeating the boss yet prolonged my inevitable demise. I'm getting selfish here, but maybe the Wand of Seasons should've been a Sword of Seasons. That would've resulted in a significant decrease in trips to the inventory screen, particularly during the fight with General Onox. Sadly, that fight is one of three times we see Din and she's the villain's floating / health-sapping crystalline shield. She really deserved better.
Apologies for dwelling on the bosses for so long. I think that they're actually superb in both concept and execution. The only conclusion I'd draw is that they might've been a little too ambitious for a two-button game. Maybe I'd think differently if these bosses didn't chew through my hearts like a handful of Nerds or gave me an extra second or two of time to react. Again, this could also just be a case of "should've played Oracle of Ages first". There were more than a couple times I thought "Wait. That's it?" upon defeating a boss in that game.
However you decide to approach the Oracle duology, Seasons is one primo piece of work. The dungeons are among some of my favorites in the series. They more than make up for the sometimes-messy overworld and sometimes-frustrating bosses. I'll chalk both of those issues up to the limited time and hardware that Flagship had to work with. A remake could smooth these rough edges out, but I'm the last person who should be holding their breath for that. Do I need to remind everyone how many years it took me to play through the original?
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