Welcome back to the Ocarina of Time Zelda Game Club. This is part 2 of the community playthrough for Ocarina of Time, where we play through the Zelda series as a community and come together to discuss our experience in the comments. Today is part 2 where we tackle Dodongo’s Cavern, inside Jabu Jabu’s Belly and more.

If you want to get involved, it’s not too late! Part 3 will release next week, so play through until you reach the infamous Water Temple, and then stop, and add your comments onto this video, and they will be read out in part 3. Whether its your first playthrough or your 100th playthrough, if you play through regular style or speed run, we’d love to hear from you.

Goron City

OK, back to the game. We left off in Karkariko Village, about to make our way up Death Mountain to meet the Gorons. We have to go and have a chat with the Guard, show him the letter from Princess Zelda and he’ll let us through. Then we have to make our way up the Death Mountain Trail. Watch out for the rolling Goron who will try and knock you off.

Keep going up and round and you’ll find yourself in Goron City. We have to make our way to the bottom of the city and play Zelda’s Lullaby to get through the door.

@dustybees6308

When we get to Death Mountain we discover that the Gorons are all hangry. Though the Goron at the entrance to the city tells you that they eat rocks but really only have an appetite for the rocks in Dodongos Cavern which is now blocked off. So is this selective starvation? The cavern was blocked because Darunia refused to give the Gorons Ruby to Ganondorf.

Walk through to Darunia’s Chamber and have a chat with him. He’s not really in the mood for chatting, so play Saria’s Song near him, and he’ll start dancing. After a little while he says he’ll give you the Spiritual Stone of Fire as a reward for clearing out the monsters in Dodongo’s Cavern. He also gives you a necklace to help you pick up bomb flowers. This is going to be useful to get into Dodongo’s Cavern because the door is blocked by a large rock.

@dustybees6308

The Chief has taken the Spiritual stone and lock himself up until the Royal Family sends a messenger. With the closed gate in Kakariko and having not sent anyone does that mean Ganondorf has had an influence with the king enough to not send anyone. This part always confused me growing up. I ignored Navi so I didn’t know I needed to go back to see Saria to cheer up Darunia. Fun note is that as soon as you talk to Impa in hyrule field you can got get Saria’s song.

Make your way out of Goron City and up to the top and you’ll find a lone Goron next to a bomb flower. Pick it up and throw it over the edge to remove the boulder blocking the path to Dodongo’s Cavern.

Dodongo’s Cavern

Our next dungeon is Dodongo’s Cavern and this will introduce us to bomb flowers, lava and fire puzzles. It’s also a good idea to have the Hylian Shield, so if you didn’t get it, make your way back to the graveyard and follow the guide from part 1. We’re also introduced to new enemy types called Beamos, which shoot lasers at Link, so be careful in here.

@dustybees6308

As soon as the way into Dodongos cavern is opened to us we you see the giant skull of some long dead dodongo. Looking even broader you realize that the entire main room is a spine and rib cage. If the cavern is where the Gorons get their best rocks is it because they enjoy fossilized dodongo the best? This play through I finally realized you can get the scarecrow skulltula on your first visit. You can pull one of the statues from the far end of the room over to the with the skulltula. Back flip onto the statue and jump off to barely reach the ledge.

Dodongo’s Cavern is more complex than our first tutorial dungeon, inside the Deku tree. This is more fleshed out, although it’s still not as complicated as later dungeon, we’re moving through the gears in terms of dungeon complexity. Some of the highlights in here include some nice fire puzzles, as well as a mini boss fight against two Lizard-like folk, which I am assuming are Lizalfos, which we probably all know very well from our Breath of the Wild adventures.

The item we have to unlock in this dungeon are the bombs, or the bomb bag. At first we have acces to bombs through the gauntlet given to us by Darunia, we can pluck bomb flowers from the ground. Roughly half way through the dungeon we get access to the bomb bag, which allows us to place bombs at will, meaning we can explode cracks in walls, plus boulders too allowing us access to new areas in the overworld.

Once we have the bomb bag, we can open up the top floor by dropping bombs in the eyes of the large Dodongo in the main hall. This is one of those mechanics where we have to use a newly found item to interact with the environment, and it really makes it feel like a Zelda adventure. It’s a great moment.

Then it’s onto the final boss, King Dodongo. Here the boss is going to suck in air for a short time, and we have to run up to him and throw a bomb in his mouth, and then get out of the way as he rolls up and trys to attack. Simply doding out the way should be enough, then repeat the bomb in the mouth trick and he’ll be dead very quickly. Pick up the heart container, and thats Dodongo’s Cavern complete.

Now we’ve completed the dungeon we meet Darunia once again, explaining Ganondorf was the one who sealed the cave. He then gives you the Goron Ruby, the next Spiritual Stone we need in our fight against Ganondorf.

Darunia tells us of a Great Fairy on the top of the mountain, so we make our way up to the top, and blow up the rocks next to our Owl friend. Enter there and we get a sword technique called Spin Attack. The Great Fairy also tells us of another near Hyrule Castle, so make your way back to Hyrule Castle, near where you have to sneak past the Guards. Instead of going up the hill and past the guards, go right, blow up the boulder and get the Din’s Fire Spell.

Developer notes 1

Early design goals, inspiration, and pre-development

Before development began, Nintendo and the team working on the game wanted the game so that it couldn’t be compared to any other title. Early on everyone involved in the game wrote down on a piece of paper what they wished to do with a 3D game, and all of those slips of paper were placed on a wall. The directors of the game would look through the various slips of paper, and choose the ones that would best represent the series. They were especially drawn to the ideas that seemed impossible, knowing that no other developer had done such a thing at that point.

One of the primary goals that the developers had was smoothly translating the sword combats from previous games into a 3D world using lock on targeting (below). Eiji Aonuma explained that if they had not been able to do so, the game would probably not have been a very good game.

Due to there being absolutely no game that was similar to Ocarina of Time, the developers had to simply rely on their past video games that they worked on for inspiration. Many of the people involved had created Super Mario 64 and Star Fox 64, so they had a general idea of how to create a quality 3D game. Eiji Aonuma stated that their biggest inspirations were the company’s previous video games. Having Shigeru Miyamoto on board would also help them achieve their goals due to his vast gaming knowledge.

Shigeru Miyamoto proposed the making the game a first person game rather than seeing Link through a third person perspective. There were multiple reasons for this. For one, The player would be able to enjoy the environment of Hyrule more than he could if it were through a third person perspective. He stated that when a player wishes to view his surroundings in a third person game, they always press the button that allows them to view it through a first person perspective to better appreciate the world around them. Another reason he wanted to make the game a first person title was so that they could focus more of their attention on creating enemies, dungeons and the like. However, in order for the player to notice the distinct differences between child and adult Link, they had to make the game through a third person perspective. He jokingly stated that another reason to make it a third person game was because it’d be “a total waste not to have Link visible on screen when he is so cool looking!”.

Zora’s Domain

Now that’s complete we want to enter Zora’s Domain, which is on the east side of Hyrule Field. You’ll meet the Owl once again and he’ll tell you you’ll need to play Zelda’s Lullaby to get into Zora’s domain proper. Therefore make your way into Zora’s River and find the grate in front of the waterfall. Play Zelda’s Lullaby to part the waters.

Enter Zora’s Domain and have a chat with the King. Then you’ll want to make your way back to Lake Hylia to find the message in a bottle. This can be found by diving down into the lake, and Navi will help you near the stone pillars on the edge of the water. Swim down to get the bottle and also the message. While you are here grab a fish in the bottle, you’ll need that in a minute.

Head back to Zora’s Domain and give the letter to the King.

Then you’ll want to find Zora’s Fountain. There are a couple of boulders here, and blow them up with a bomb to reveal the cave. Play Zelda’s Lullaby on the Triforce to meet the Great Fairy, and she’ll give you Farore’s Wind, which allows you to teleport within dungeons. To get inside the next dungeon you’ll need the fish offering.

Developer notes 2

The targeting system was entirely new to video games and the camera mechanics was unprecedented. In previous games some of the developers felt that it was challenging to go exactly where you wanted your character to go while moving in a 3D environment, especially when you plan to attack an enemy. For example, it may be a bit more of a challenge to stomp on a Goomba in Super Mario 64 than it would in a 2D game like Super Mario World. With a game like Ocarina of Time, the developers had to come up with an idea to conquer this disadvantage, and thus they came up with the targeting system.

Targeting is done by pressing the Z trigger on the back of the Nintendo 64 Controller. Doing so would cause Link to lock onto an opponent, character or important object. Doing so is extremely helpful considering that without it the player would be required to position Link so that the camera is facing towards the character, enemy or object, and would have to constantly alter the direction the camera is facing in. With Z targeting, the camera constantly keeps a focus on what you wish to look at, and this will also allow you to more easily attack your target if you’re battling an enemy. This system was created by one of the game’s directors, Yoshiaki Koizumi (Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy).

Inside Jabu-Jabu’s Belly

We’re inside the belly of the big fish, and here we find new enemies, new puzzles and a new item, in this case it’s the boomberang. The environment plays a factor in this dungeon, given we’re inside the belly of a huge marine animal. Each part of the fish acts as a different room. The mouth is the entrance, the throat is the elevator, plus we track down the princess of the zora in the stomach. She mentions the Spiritual Stone of Water, which is what we came here for. There’s an good mechanic of picking up the princess, which makes the dungeon feel unique compared to the others we’ve seen so far.

@dustybees6308

To this day this place trips me out. Walking along the internal flesh of a sick whale. When we finally meet up with ruto she seems to have no knowledge of the existence of the letter you found. Did she write it? Or was this more of some ones dark plan? Princess Ruto was feeding Jabu Jabu as she always does but recently he wasn’t feeling well and sucked in the Zora Sapphire. She went in after it.

We finally come to the room where the stone landed. After tossing Ruto up to it she is pulled up and a giant octoroc comes down to fight us. Many many people struggle with this fight. But it’s simple. Have your boomerang on one c slot and Deku sticks on another. Let the octoroc hit you. He will turn the other way as you stand. Throw your boomerang immediately. It will stun him. Then pull out a Deku stick and do a jump slash. Boom one hit kill. It works every time.

After solving a few puzzles and carrying the Princess around, we get the boomberang. As always this is going to be key to solving the mysteries of the dungeon, plus it’s useful outside in the overworld too. There’s a mini boss fight with the Big Octo, but it’s not too tricky. The main dungeon boss is a multi-phase battle where you have to tackle the tentacles, jellyish, the spinning defense before finally unloading on the boss and depleting their energy.

@dustybees6308

Barranade always grossed me out. The supposed source of the sickness infecting Jabu Jabu. The rhythm of this fight is constantly moving and waiting for your moment to strike. First disconnecting it from Jabu then waiting for barranade to release the jelly fish. You can actually drop deku nuts to defeat them instantly. Then once you defeat the parasite it ruptures in a nasty green carrion.

Now we’ve completed the latest dungeon, it’s time for one of the most iconic moments of the game. We have the three Spiritual Stones, so we have to go back and see Princess Zelda in Hyrule Castle. The drawbridge is up at the castle, and there are dark clouds in the skies… this doesn’t look good. The drawbridge lowers, and Ganondorf rides out, carrying Princess Zelda. This is just like the dream Link had at the start of the game. Zelda throws something as she passes, and it lands in the moat surrounding the castle. It’s the Ocarina of Time.

Ganondorf attacks Link with some magic and rides off. He’s already attacked the castle with his Gerudo warriors, and they’ve killed the King. He now has Princess Zelda and he wants to get into the Sacred Realm and claim the Triforce for himself.

After the cutscene, dive down into the moat, grab the Ocarina of Time and then Princess Zelda will appear to you and teach you the Song of Time. Now, we have to go to the Temple of Time.

@dustybees6308

We get to the locked up castle gate where even during the day day the drawbridge is up. The gate drops and Zelda and Impa ride hastily away. Zelda throws the Ocarina of time into the moat and there sits Ganondorf on his gerudo black stallion. He isn’t in full sprint he isn’t in a rush. With his power he knocks us down for standing up to him and rides off. We go and grab the Ocarina and are played the song of time by Zelda. I believe this is the song the composer brothers died to keep secret.

The Hero of Time

Now we have the three Spiritual Stones and the Ocarina of Time, we can go to the Temple of Time. Through Hyrule Town Market. Make your way to the temple and you’ll find The Master Sword. We get another iconic cutscene here.

Opening the Door of Time didn’t ruin Ganondorf’s plans as we had thought, it was all part of his evil masterplan. Ganondorf used Link to gain entry to the Sacred Realm. Link then wakes up in the temple, although this time things are different.

@dustybees6308

As soon as we pull the sword we see Ganondorf laughing. He got what he wanted. The sacred realm open. Only one sage remaining. The Triforce before him. He gets one third of it. Immense Power now his. When awake 7 years later we meet the spiritual incarnation of Raruu whom I am convinced is Gabora Kapora. Some shieka stones hint to this as well. I remember seeing this moment as a kid and thinking I was about to hit end credits honestly. Not knowing the game was only just starting for me.

Then we meet Rauru, the Sage of Light. He explains it was your destiny to pick up the Master Sword, but Link was too young at the time, so your spirit has been sealed away for 7 years. Ganondorf got away with the Triforce and turned Hyrule into a land of monsters and evil. Rauru then gives you the Light Medallion, and you have a new mission, save the other sages, defeat Ganondorf and save Princess Zelda and Hyrule itself.

@dustybees6308

We now go to the temple of time with all we need to open the door of time. The Kokiri Emerald. The Gorons Ruby. The Zora Sapphire. The Ocarina of Time. The song of Time. The final key to the sacred realm is the master sword. The sword we are told only the hero chosen by the sword can wield. If Ganondorf planned to get his hands on all the keys before this moment why wouldn’t he have planned for a hero to also arise.

Finally, you’ll meet Sheik. She’s a guide who tells you more about the Sages, and you have to go back to Kakariko Village before going to the Forest Temple.

@dustybees6308

Meeting Shiek next was brilliant. Her telling you the land is different and ravaged by Ganondorf. Upon exiting the temple of time it is immediately realized. The atmosphere is no longer bright and chipper but dark and gloomy. Death mountain is ringed with red and ominous. Then we get into the town square. We are faced with the living dead and everything destroyed. Ganondorfs castle looms in the background.

We are safe in hyrule field but we were told to go to Kakariko Village. We find many from castle town took refuge here. And that dampe has passed away in the seven years. He wants to see if we can follow him through the catacombs. If we do we get the hook shot. Now off to find our best childhood friend Saria. The whole hookshot part bothered me growing up as it is so ambiguous.

I’m also conflicted here. Mostly every time I play I collect everything I can before entering the forest temple. You can actually 100% the fire temple without ever touching forest temple. You can enter water temple and clear gerudo fortress before it as well. I typically do but this time I’m resisting for the Game Club.

Developer Notes 3

Time Travel

Eiji Aonuma explained that time travel was included to allow players to play as both young Link and adult Link. He said one of their goals with time travel was to have what young Link does in the past effect what happens in the future. They also wanted there to be a distinct difference between the two time periods, with Link’s childhood being a peaceful place run by the Hylian Royal Family and the adult Link phase to be smitten by Ganondorf’s malevolent rule. The team was influenced by the dual world of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the SNES.

Ocarina

An ocarina was an item that the player could use in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the SNES, though it wasn’t until this game did Miyamoto suggest allowing the player to actually play it using the Nintendo 64 controller’s buttons. Eiji Aonuma said they were also influenced to use it because the Nintendo 64 controller looks slightly like an ocarina.

Early on in development, the team knew that they wanted to incorporate magic of some sort. They decided to do this through the ocarina. By playing a song that Link has learned, the player can cause one of many things to happen, whether it be changing the weather, talking to people far away, or causing the sun’s light to appear in dark dungeons. According to Eiji Aonuma, the composer Koji Kondo had a hard time trying to think of catchy songs using a five note format.

Using the controller as an instrument was used in many future games. Eiji Aonuma speculated that after Ocarina of Time, Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to use the idea of controlling an instrument via the controller as a full blown game. He accomplished that goal with the Wii game Wii Music.

That’s it for part 2 of Ocarina of Time Zelda Game Club. Part 3 will be going up next week, so play until you reach the Water Temple, then stop and add your comments onto this video. Thanks for playing so far, we’ve completed the child section of the game, and we’re into the adventure proper now, and it only gets better from here.

Looking forward to part 3, and looking forward to your contributions.