While every moment of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is memorable, it’s the Nintendo 64 game’s dungeons that really stick in your memory. Each one is a tightly constructed puzzle box built around the tools you collect inside, culminating in an often-excellent boss fight. The game’s terrific Switch 2 remake doesn’t mess with that strength; it only refines some of Zelda’s best dungeons in tasteful ways.
It was a joy to revisit those dungeons during my playthrough, not just to experience some nostalgia, but to appreciate some timeless Nintendo design. Since I left the remake with some strong opinions about which ones are best in class, I’ve decided to definitively rank the eight primary dungeons in Ocarina of Time from worst to best. (I’ve left out side-dungeons like the Gerudo Training Ground and the Bottom of the Well, though those contain some killer bits of puzzle design, too.)
On paper, the Shadow Temple sounds fantastic. It’s a dungeon that fully realizes Ocarina of Time ’s underlying horror by forcing Link to face off with Gibdos, Like Likes, and Dead Hands. In reality, it’s a fairly straightforward temple that revolves around a gimmick that sounds cooler than it is: a ghost ship ride. The remake misses an opportunity to make that sequence more exciting, leaving it feeling like an amusement park ride. The one saving grace here is Bongo Bongo, a bizarre boss that comes totally out of left field to make for one of Ocarina of Time ’s most delightfully weird combat encounters.
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