The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
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| The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons | |
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| Developer(s) | Flagship |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Hidemaro Fujibayashi (director) |
| Release date(s) |  February 27, 2001 May 14, 2001 October 5, 2001 |
| Genre(s) | Action Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E (Everyone) ELSPA: 3+ OFLC: G8+ |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Color |
| Media | Cartridge |
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (ゼルダの伝説 ふしぎの木の実 大地の章 Zeruda no Densetsu Fushigi no Ki no Mi Daichi no Shō?, lit. "The Legend of Zelda: Nut of the Mysterious Tree: Chapter of Earth") is a video game published by Nintendo in 2001 and developed by Nintendo in conjunction with Capcom. Although the game was originally released for use on the Nintendo Game Boy Color, it exhibits special features, such as additional items, when played on a Nintendo Game Boy Advance. The game is the counterpart of The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, another Game Boy Color game which was released at the same time.
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[edit] Plot
[edit] Story
According to the instruction manual, the Triforce called out to Link from within its Temple. Link approached it, and was sucked into a vortex that tossed him out into a dark forest where upon landing, the young hero heard heard music and voices from just beyond a group of trees. In a clearing, a group of traveling entertainers were cheering a beautiful red head who was dancing around a fire. The dancer motioned to Link for him to join her. She welcomed the Hylian to Holodrum, and mentioned that her name was Din. Din took Link's hand and the two began to dance around the fire. Din notices a strange triangle mark on Link's hand, but won't say much about it ... The other people started cheering them on, but the happy moment was short lived.
The sky over the forest became covered in black clouds followed by several strikes of lightning and booming thunder from which an ominous voice spoke. The speaker declared himself as Onox, General of Darkness and added that Din was the Oracle of Seasons.
After his short speech, a funnel cloud dropped from the sky blowing back everyone including Link before sucking up Din into its dark heights. As the tornado dissipated, the seasons of Holodrum fell into disarray with them changing rapidly.
The Rod of Seasons is a powerful item that holds some of the power of the Oracle of Seasons, Din. The item is hidden in the world of Subrosia where it is said that the Temple of Seasons is buried. When obtained, swinging the rod results in a change of season.
[edit] Characters
- Link, as always, is the hero of the game.
- Princess Zelda requests that Link saves the Oracle of Seasons, yet unknowingly is also a target as she is the key to releasing Ganon.
- Impa is Zelda's messenger.
- The Maku Tree is a large magical tree similar to the Great Deku Tree.
- Din the Oracle of Seasons who was captured by Onox General of Darkness and must be saved by Link.
[edit] Setting
Holodrum is much larger than Labrynna in Oracle of Ages, but it has no underwater or past to explore. It does, however have the small subterranean world of Subrosia beneath it. The name Subrosia is derived from subrosa, meaning "secret", and the people of Subrosia are very secretive about their rare movements in the overworld.
Subrosia acts as a go-between with the upper world, with shortcut portals to take Link to different parts of Holodrum quickly; similarly, warping to a different location on the overworld can lead to different Subrosia portals to access isolated areas of Subrosia that cannot be reached via the underground plane alone.
[edit] Gameplay
Oracle of Seasons and Ages each focus on a different aspect of the classic Zelda formula. Ages is puzzle-heavy while Seasons is action oriented. Though they are self-contained games, they also have the ability to link with one another, using either passwords or a cable, so that a person could play one game and transfer his or her progress to the other. This technique is also the only way to reach the "true" ending of the game.
Upon completing Oracle of Seasons, players will receive a 20-character password. Upon starting a new game, players can input the password to play an alternative version of Oracle of Ages. The alternative version features people who will mention passwords. Upon telling these passwords to people in Oracle of Seasons, their Oracle of Seasons file will receive items of some sort. Then, by taking a new password back into Oracle of Ages, the new item can be brought to the game. Rings can also be traded this way, either by password or by Link Cable.
The alternative game also has many extras. Some items move around and must be found in different places. Princess Zelda appears and must be rescued. The pirates appear in a different place, and in the alternative version of Oracle of Seasons, it is mentioned that the pirate captain was the long-lost lover the Oracle of Ages character Queen Ambi has been waiting for. Also, once Veran is defeated, the witch Twinrova appears. Veran and Onox were ploys to light the Flames of Sorrow and Destruction. Upon kidnapping Princess Zelda, the third Flame of Despair lights, and Twinrova attempts to offer Zelda as a tribute, along with the energy of the three Flames, to revive Ganon. Link must then enter Twinrova's lair and stop the ritual. Upon completing the alternative game, players receive yet another password. When used to start a new game, players receive the Victory Ring, which commemorates their defeat of Ganon.
[edit] Development
Initially, Nintendo planned to make a series of Zelda games called The Legend of Zelda: The Triforce Trilogy, remakes of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, plus a third original title. However, early in the development of the first title, it was clear the original NES Zelda games did not port over to Game Boy Color properly, and that it would be better to make new games from scratch. Originally there was to be a third Oracle game (tentatively titled The Legend of Zelda: Mystical Seed of Courage), but this was cancelled due to the increased complexity in creating a password system to coordinate three games.
[edit] Reception
Gamespot gave Oracle of Seasons a 9.2, like its counterpart Oracle of Ages, and IGN gave it their perfect rating of 10.
[edit] Legacy
[edit] Sequels
Oracle of Seasons and Ages were the first Zelda games in the main series not developed exclusively by Nintendo. This arrangement was continued in the next two handheld Zelda titles The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past/Four Swords and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, which were developed by Flagship.
[edit] Comics
The official but non-canonical manga introduced plotlines and characters that were unindentified in the original game. It introduced Link's grandparents and established that he lived in the country with them. It also introduced more of Din's troupe and gave names to the unidentified characters. They included Johvan the troupe leader, Barrot the guitarist, Mel and Rom, tamborine-playing twin sisters, and finally Johvan's son Rishu, who aspires to become a fighter. Also included was a small Cucco chick named Pyoko, who acted as one of Link's companions.
[edit] Notes and references
[edit] External links
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons official site
- Collection of reviews of The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons at MobyGames
- The Legend of Zelda:Oracle of Seasons- cheat codes and walkthrough
