I only learned this recently but one fun fact about the 8th boss from ages, that you show at 20:35, is that there is actually an indirect hint for how to defeat each phase in the room before the boss. The order of what you do to unlock passage to the boss door is the kind of weapon/tool you use in their order for the boss. so breaking the crystal with a sword represents phase 1, bombing the block represents phase 2, lighting up the fire/torch represents phase 3 and lifting up the sarcophagus represents the 4th, and last, phase. The thing I personally love with the secrets system is that it allowed people who possibly didn't have any friends to play with to still have the ability to enjoy both games.
Veran at least got fleshed out as a threat through Ages story. Onox was just there to set up Seasons and as final fight, making him extremely forgettable as an antagonist for me
They are both very underwhelming in my eyes, but I will give you that Veran has more going on with possessing Nayru/Ambi. Onox has a much cooler boss transformation though so it evens out.
I was about to congratulate you on retaining your sanity by doding a certain seed-related soul draining attrition, but promptly made up my mind after hearing four swords was excluded from the series >:(. Bonkers or not, we're eating well with the next two retrospectives. Can't wait!
These were my zelda gsmes growing up. I never had an n64 so i missed out on the hype of OoT and MM. I did have a Gameboy colour however, and i played the living fuck out of these games. I know not a lot pf people would agree, but id KILL to have these remade in the style of Links Awakening/Echoes of Wisdom
@@UwUvatar I’d love to have them remade or revisited in some capacity but I’d prefer a new video style at this point. I think that style will start to feel stale if it is reused beyond Echoes of Wisdom. Thanks for sharing!
@@jonbradley4044 definitely same of the most complex in the series! For some that might be a source of frustration but I really appreciated the challenge too!
Nintendo originally intended there to be a third game but found it to be unfeasible with the GBA's technology. Perhaps they can do a Link's Awakening style remake, but with the "lost" third game included, since the Switch could easily store and connect data between all three games without needing passwords. A note about the rings: the games came out around the time that the Game Boy Advance dropped, so there were rings that you could only unlock if you played the games on a GBA.
Resurrecting the canceled third game would be so cool, but I don't think there is much chance of that ever happening sadly. And yes, that might be the most agregious ring in the collection. "If you want the full ring collection, you've got to go buy our new handheld!"
@@zetsumeimaru they are definitely greater than the sum of their parts where the linked experience is far richer than the individual titles on their own
I think part of the reason I love these games so much is they were my 3rd and 4th Zelda games respectively. I didnt have an N64, so I didnt get to play OoT and MM until Gamecube, so my main Zeldas were A Link to the Past and the oracles (with an occasional opportunity to steal Link's Awakening from my brother). And from then, I didnt get to play a single other Zelda game until the release of Ocarina of Time/Ocarina of Time Master Quest on the Gamecube.
@@jonesthemoblin1400 thanks for sharing! Parts of the Oracle games came off as stale to me because they were the last Zelda games I played, but you had the exact opposite experience!
Honestly, the two titles are my favorite Zelda games, besides Majora's Mask. I didn't play the originals so the reuse of things like bosses in the previous title didn't matter. It matters even less considering they wanted to remake those games. I like how these games encourage you to explore everything and reward you for it. This is where I think the fact they offered better swords and rings is a great idea. Can you cheese the boss? Yea, you can, but that is the point of going out of your way for several extra hours to farm things. In any other game with levels and stats, it would be described as being "over leveled" and the end result would be the same. You crush the final boss with your superior stats. The best part is if you think it's too cheesy, you can just unequip your ring. You can skip the ring system entirely if you want. Or you can use your giga chad ring to farm monsters to get the rest of your rings from seeds faster. Either way
I love all these retrospectives. I implore you not to skip the 3 multiplayer games. They hold important roles in Zelda's history and I think you'd be missing out if you didn't explore them. There's a lot that can be said about how Four Swords came to be and in what form, what it represented for the franchise, FSA is a wonderful experience and I think there's something to be said about TFH being the weakest entry in the series. Maybe they can be shorter, less-in-depth entries into this series, but I do think they're important to discuss. Anyway, love the channel and excited to see the rest of these!
@@egghorse Thank you! I appreciate the kind words and the alternate viewpoint on the multiplayer titles. I have played all 3 but they just aren’t really what I’m looking for in a Zelda game. To be fair I was only able to play 4SA solo but did have a multiplayer experience with 4S and TFH. Logistically it would be really difficult for me to record footage of these games and I don’t have strong feelings towards them so it made most sense to just skip them. I do apologize if that’s disappointing!
@@AustinAshworth Little disappointing but I understand. If you don't have passion for them, I can't imagine making videos about them being very fun. It seems that literally every youtuber that does retrospectives on this series skips those three games too, I can't find a single series that captures them all haha. Either way, thanks for the explanation and thanks for making these wonderful videos!
I loved Seasons growing up! Played it so many times. My brother had Ages, and I did do a linked playthrough once, which was really cool. I also went through Ages a few other times separately from Seasons, but I was never that big a fan of it. I always found it really difficult and confusing lol. Seasons was one of my favorite games as a kid though. I imagine going through the ring system for the first time as an adult, especially if you’re trying to collect every single one of them, could easily be a negative point. For a young kid like me though, I always thought they were really cool, and it was fun discovering the ones that would turn you into different monsters (though I always wished they would let me fight as the monsters too). Oh, and Din > Zelda And edited to say: Four Swords Adventures is one of the most underrated games of all time.
Thanks for sharing your memories! These games actually seem like they’d be perfect for sibling bonding like that. I slightly prefer Ages myself but I can see how, as a kid, it would be very confusing.
These were the first Zelda games I played and of course I love them for what they are and especially for introducing me to this world. Now obviously having played pretty much all the entries, after 20 years, I recognize their fault ,and at this point in time they don’t make my top 5, but still I think they are sooo underrated and I appreciate anyone who is willing to make them justice
This is a really great retrospective. I really like this games. I played through them like ten years ago, but started with Oracle of Ages as it came out. The ringsystem was ok, but I did not bother collecting them. Most of the secrets shown here were new to me. I beat the final boss and noticed many of the details when you play with the password. I wish we would get more games that use such systems. Closest I can remember are Zelda BotW and TotK when you get your horses transfered. That was great and it is not really impactful.
@@dwalin619 thank you! There are some games like the Telltale Walking Dead series or the Mass Effect series that carry choices between titles in a far deeper way than the Oracle games. It is a really cool feature when done well!
I really appreciate this over other OoX retrospectives, since it's very "to the point" and articulate; a lot of them tend to go on wild tangents in strange ways.
I played LoZ and Zelda 2, then Link's Awakening DX, then Oracles. I Bea Link's Awakening and Oracles. Then I played OoT, then Wind Waker. Came back and finished OoT. Played and beat MM. Played TP. Played ALttP. Beat Minish Cap and Four Sword. Only played FSA. Played SS. Played and beat BotW. Went back and beat SS. Beat TotK. Went back and beat TP. I have the most mixed up experience with the Legend of Zelda.
I played these games a year ago to the date during a year long Zelda binge, and I had a less than positive outlook on these games. After playing 6 Zelda games, followed by 8 more, it kind of melded in my mind, especially since it was on the same engine as LA. But this retrospective helps to bring back memories of my playthrough, and that's making me want to replay them to give them another chance after writing them off.
Considering your comments towards the end, I would have never thought this was your first time playing the games. As someone who does have very special memories of Seasons ( I found it under a chair at my orthodontist and after my appointment they let me keep it) I feel like a lot of your points were very valid. The item system is very rough, and all the dungeon blend together for me, however, the charm of the characters really makes the games stand out for me. The opening scenes for both games never fail to fill me with excitement for the adventure to come. I am very excited for both the Crystal and Windwaker reviews. Both of them were first for me, crystal being the first video game I played, and windwaker being the first i bought. Good luck with making them and I look forward to hearing what you have to say.
@@oyasumirosie6974 Glad I didn’t come off as a total poser! Thanks for sharing your memories of the game, it’s funny how the universe just seems to draw some games to us. I got a copy of Donkey Kong Country for GBC from a classmate in a trade for a bouncy ball toy when I was young and it was one of the first games I ever played for that reason.
Personally, I have mostly just positive memories of the Oracle games. I played through Ages, and most of Seasons, in the mid 2000s, when I was in college, and helping my sister move. Granted, I was entirely willing to fall back on my wonderful strategy guide, and the Internet, but Zelda has been my favorite series since it wasn't a series, so I still very much enjoyed them. There have been Zelda games I skipped, like anything Four Swords, Tri-Force Heroes, or Spirit Tracks; Phantom Hourglass pissed me off enough, and Skyward Sword is still my least favorite, but I overall really liked these two games, as well as how they could mingle together. It's too bad their on board batteries might be dead by now, as I haven't replayed either in ages (heh), but they still rate highly for me.😊 Thank you very much for doing a retrospective on these. I sometimes feel like they can be some of tbe more easily forgotten titles, especially in an era where RUclips content creators half my age make all the videos, and got into the series, themselves, on Skyward Sword, or maybe even Tears of the Kingdom, and si they don't feel inclined to crawl back through history to see how we got here. Sure, these two aren't exactly defining milestones; they're no Link to the Past, or Twilight Princess, but I still appreciate when other Zelda fans take the time to show off some of the Zelda games I remember most fondly, so thank you!😊
My pleasure, I'm so glad you enjoyed! And thank you for sharing your memories of the games! As I mentioned in the video, I didn't play them until recently but I found them well worth experiencing even today devoid of nostalgia.
Good video about some classics I still love. I have completionsist files for these on my 3DS downloaded version of them. The linked system was a trip when I was a kid
I beat it back in the day and even was asked by friends who played the game to beat that dance because they couldn't. Tbh, I don't know if I'd have the determination required now, years later^^"
Great video!! I just started playing these games when they came to NSO. I’m having a blast! Will you be making a video on Minish Cap? That is definitely one of my favorite Zelda games 🙌🏾
Thank you! I do plan to cover every mainline Zelda game but I'm going through them in chronological order. So Wind Waker will be the next Zelda game but then Minish Cap is after that. Hope you stick around for it!
I don't mind the ring system in general. I never had too much trouble with either game so the good ones just felt like extras that were fun to go for. I particularly liked trying to find all the sprite changing ones when I was a kid. But as someone who replays games, I think any kind of system like this makes getting 100% completion not very fun. I have never and probably will never get all the rings in these games. But I still think they are fun to collect while playing through the games.
Great video! I played through in the opposite order (Ages then Seasons), and found that Twinrova and Ganon were easier that way due to the items you get in Seasons (Rocs Cape & Hyper Slingshot vs Rocs feather & Seed shooter)
There is a hint in-game for the open-head boss in Ages- one of the owl statues that you can talk to with mystery seeds says “the red face fears fire” right before the boss room.
I've played a little bit of oos/ooa but never finished them. I'm currently playing through oos and trying to go without a guide; the fact that these games were developed by Capcom has forced me to not rely entirely on many years of playing other Zelda games to get through the dungeons and overworld puzzles like the trading sequences
Some of the rings are crazy powerful. I remember one that reduce the loss of health to a half? Or rings that increased the damage of the sword? I can't really remember, I was a kid back then. But some rings were very strong. I really loved them. They were a collectable that was both cool and useful. There was this one ring that you obtained for connecting with a friend (I think) that made you look like the old Link from Nes. Come on, if you are a Zelda fan you have to like that stuff. *Oh, you talked about those rings. Either you don't like them because they are "irrelevant" or you don't like them because they are "too powerful". Come on, stop nitpicking XD
I wish they would remake this series and give the 3rd game that got canceled (oracle of spirits) a little more love as a multiplayer option for a 2 player zelda focused experience. Imagine a full 8 dungeon experience with multiplayer puzzle/combat focus.
Sounds awesome but a little too pie-in-the-sky unfortunately. I would like to see the games get more love though and that would be an incredible way for Nintendo to do so
20:15 -Nice pun? I just came across this boss myself. Cant speak for later ones yet but this was not as bad as you make it out if you play the game right. There is an owl outside the boss room. His hint is a bit cryptic but you should be able to peice togther what he means pretty quick. Granted, some of the owl hints are pointless and the game can have show symptoms of moon logic. The backtracking, especially needless kind is frustrating. I got stuck a bit on the cresent island where you have to get all your stuff back. Yo have to go through the same few sections scattered across the map over and over as yoy collect your items in doung so as more paths open. There is a cave you have to go to several times. It has water with one particular pool in an upper corner having a small deeper part visable. This means nothing until you get tour flippers back, swim into the pool and dive down to reveal a subteranean path. This is so poorly telegraghed and is easy to not understand what to do in a series and many puzzles like this with no direction all over the island. Its just padding to the game and I agree it needed better telegraghing then in the least. The four face boss was still annoying to defeat because of the mechanics but I have to give it to the game that it did tell you what to do. The first owl that yoy must tuturial through does say to give it seeds to give tou hints and the one outside the dungeon does say the red face is afraid of smoke. Can't do much more without just telling you the answer. 28:41 -What is wromg with you? You cant follow simple directions and get mad at the game developers as a result..but then praise the wild goose chase scavenger hunt to just waste time and make you sick yo your stomach of these few stupid areads until your head spins, while giving you nearly no direction on how to do this? Its not the game..you're just broken as a player. Just give you mine sweeper and youll be contnet the rest of your life..
I guess we all just experience the games in our own way! I found the Crescent Island segment a fun challenge but I can see how it might be frustrating to someone else. As for the Thwomp boss, looking back at my recorded footage, it looks like I played through the dungeon in 2 separate sittings so must have forgotten the owl statue hint by the time the I fought the boss. Apologies for the error, but in my subjective experience it really was confusing to me haha
@AustinAshworth That's fine but you were presenting the moment as an objective critique. It was on you but you blamed the game and its developers. If you want to do just subjective takes on a specific perisnal playthrough, then you need to do that rather than a critical retrospective. It's yellow journalism.
The codes aren't that bad with the advent of RUclips, i discovered when i was younger you can take codes from the opposite games from YTers playing those games and use them for your own games
I was confused on what you were seeing at first because I was thinking of Midna’s imp form but now I realize you meant her Twili form. I absolutely see the similarities now, very interesting. Great observation!
There’s one thing you forgot to mention, but it’s not as important. So it’s understandable, but this is the game that introduced the idea yet that the Zora we fought in the games before ocarina and the friendly ones introduced. In ocarina are two separate races river and sea respectively it only really became important again with echoes of wisdom which is coming out soon
That's true! I love that detail that preserves the Zora's past as an enemy and reconciles it with their more modern interpretation. I did catch that in the Echoes of Wisdom trailer too! Cool that Nintendo is bringing that dynamic back.
@@AustinAshworth although the official encyclopedia for Zelda did suggest the river ones are twisted descendants of the sea ones. We’ll see how that is going forward because before it was only one game and them counting something that was only used once is not that surprising.
Overall i enjoyed the video but i hate it when people combine Seasons and Ages into one video because "they share similar gameplay and plot structure". You know what other game follows the same gameplay and plot structure? Links awakening, which the oracle games were based off of. Arrived in a new land, get 8 things from 8 dungeons and then beat the final boss. Various story beats happen in-between dungeons. Yet despite the gameplay structure being nearly identical, links awakening never gets lumped together with the other GBC games. Gotta say TY to the few reviewers who actually split the two up. They ARE two different games, unlike the Pokemon different versions.
I can understand that frustration and appreciate the feedback. I did try to emphasize that the games were distinct but I do fall in that category of grouping them together obvious.
Despite what you claim, I believe there is a middle ground between the autistic collector and the no-upgrade one. And a no-upgrade person who loses the final fight will just seek out the noble sword or red ring upgrade to beat the game if they lose. Consider the ring and master sword as difficulty mode selection - especially the ring which you can choose to not equip.
@@mogalixir there’s some truth there for sure, but consider that an un-upgraded player in 2001 is unlikely to even know the red ring exists if they don’t happen upon it. And in the fully upgraded playthrough, all that really matters is the first fight. A player who breezes through that first fight is unlikely to unequip the red ring to go back and do it again Even if they did, the second fight will have reduced impact simply because the novelty and surprise are gone. All that being said, I do appreciate the counterpoints and differing opinion!
Wait, your said you got all the rings.... So you did one play through of Ages on the GBA to get the Advanced ring.... Right? It was only obtainable in the Advanced shop that can only be obtained by playing Ages on a GBA...
Ive' heard that Seasons is suppose to canonically come before Ages but what's weird is if you beat Ages first and then play Seasons, Onox will reference Link defeating Veran. But if you beat Seasons first and then ages, Veran doesn't mention Onox.
@@AustinAshworth Actually now that I think about it that might be the canon of the manga, not the games. I'm not sure actually haha. I played ages first. I wanted Oracle of seasons as a kid but they didn't t have it. So I've come to prefer ages but both are good games. Interesting take on the rings though. In looking forward to your gen 2 video.
Great Video. I'm not saying you're wrong about the ganon fight. But I don't know if I can agree with you a typical noncompletionist player. I would consider myself a typical noncompletionist player. Trade sequences is one of the last things a typical noncompletionist player would pass on in a Zelda game. Trade Sequences is a part of Zelda. Collecting all of the rings? No thank you. Collecting every last Heart Piece? No thank you. Moreover, I don't think the typical player that you're thinking of who wouldn't bother to do these things would bother playing the linked game. If you're not bothered to do a trade sequence, you're probably not going to bother playing both games all the way through. I confess that despite owning Oracle of Ages when it was released, and having had infinite opportunities to play them both through over the last 20 years or so... And having started many attempts. Only this year did I finally play both games through. Long Story Short, Would Ganon be a difficult battle for the player you are describing, who wouldn't bother doing any of the tasks required to update their sword in the least? Yes. But would that player even make it to Ganon? The greater concern is for his ease to players. I think if you manage to stick through both games, and make it to Ganon, you are either going to be in the Goldilocks zone (more likely) or you are a completionist who will find the battle too easy. I just don't think the odds are great that many players would be completionist enough to play both games linked completely through to Ganon, and not do the least amount of anything else. edit: I also want to note that you have skills. I went into the game knowing about some of the powerful rings and the master sword, and looked at guides to try and get the ones I could reasonably get. (One of the rings could only be gotten by planting trees and harvesting nuts again and again and again. I passed on that one). I didn't find the boss battle at the end (leading up to and including Ganon) to be easy. I tend (and I think a lot of players do, given the most common problem in Link's Awakening) to forget about the sword spin. it's also hard to pull off, as you said. So while pulling it off makes the fight really easy if you have upgraded equipment. I think a lot of us probably had a much more difficult fight. :D I don't know. Just for your consideration :)
Valid points about an upgraded player likely not even making their way to Ganon. I do still think trading quest is very likely to be skipped by the average player but that must be from my own anecdotal experiences. Thanks for the thoughtful response!
Nintendo Switch 2 whatever wont have a new Zelda game for many years so why not remake Oracle of Ages and Seasons, give the fans something to look forward to
@@kierenbuckley370 Hopefully it’s not another 6 year wait for the next major Zelda but at least we have Echoes of Wisdom to look forward to. I’d absolutely welcome an Oracle remake too!
Great video! By the way, I may be nitpicking but the triforce of power (associated with Din) is, to my knowledge, the top triangle. ;) Keep 'em coming!
@@skeletonracingandgaming3407 I was in the same boat until just recently but I’m glad I finally did play them. Well worth experiencing for every Zelda fan.
To anybody who is about to suggest these games be remade in the style of Link's Awakening remake: no. If these games have to be remade, they either need to be reiterations like a full-blown 3D game based off the same story or maybe an actual sprite-based hd2D game on modern hardware. We don't need any more low effort Link's Awakening remake-style games with copy/paste assets, computer-generated music, and zero innovation. Also, I'll give you a pass on skipping Four Swords (even though there's so little content the video could be ten minutes long) But don't even think about skipping Four Swords Adventures.
@@leviwarren6222 I’d agree, especially with the upcoming Echoes of Wisdom reusing Link’s Awakening art style, I would want something different. HD-2D would be awesome! In a hypothetical remake, I’d especially like to see the linked game features expanded more and the extra buttons would be much appreciated to reduce menu usage. Sorry to say I don’t plan on covering 4 Swords Adventures! I definitely agree that it is more meaty than 4 Swords or Triforce Heroes but the multiplayer games just don’t feel like true Zelda to me. To be fair I didn’t get the true experience of 4SA because I didn’t have an easy way to play as intended and just ended up experiencing it solo. I do apologize, it sounds like the game is very special to you
@@AustinAshworth I know, I give you crap about it on every Zelda video. I demand that on the day you get your 500,000 subscriber, you start work on a Four Swords Adventures video! Glad you did the Oracle games, they deserve the attention of Zelda fans.
I only learned this recently but one fun fact about the 8th boss from ages, that you show at 20:35, is that there is actually an indirect hint for how to defeat each phase in the room before the boss. The order of what you do to unlock passage to the boss door is the kind of weapon/tool you use in their order for the boss.
so breaking the crystal with a sword represents phase 1, bombing the block represents phase 2, lighting up the fire/torch represents phase 3 and lifting up the sarcophagus represents the 4th, and last, phase.
The thing I personally love with the secrets system is that it allowed people who possibly didn't have any friends to play with to still have the ability to enjoy both games.
@@VampyTheVampire great observation; I didn’t even recognize it but that’s really smart design!
Ages has a lot of little things like that, the dungeons were definitely more puzzle-focused and brain teasing.
It's funny how history repeats itself and now Link's Awakening is being as the building blocks for an new Zelda game again with Echoes of Wisdom.
@@vianabdullah2837 can’t wait!
Veran at least got fleshed out as a threat through Ages story. Onox was just there to set up Seasons and as final fight, making him extremely forgettable as an antagonist for me
They are both very underwhelming in my eyes, but I will give you that Veran has more going on with possessing Nayru/Ambi. Onox has a much cooler boss transformation though so it evens out.
Onox is very reminscent of an Iron Knuckle which is kind of a hint that Twinrova is involved.
Onox could have a impact with his ability to transform from Dragon to human and back again. Could have helped with the dragons.
@@AustinAshworth you forgot to mention that she's hot
I was about to congratulate you on retaining your sanity by doding a certain seed-related soul draining attrition, but promptly made up my mind after hearing four swords was excluded from the series >:(. Bonkers or not, we're eating well with the next two retrospectives. Can't wait!
@@axeldeeker5644 I’ve discovered there are way more 4 Swords fans hiding in the woodwork than I expected haha
These were my zelda gsmes growing up. I never had an n64 so i missed out on the hype of OoT and MM. I did have a Gameboy colour however, and i played the living fuck out of these games.
I know not a lot pf people would agree, but id KILL to have these remade in the style of Links Awakening/Echoes of Wisdom
@@UwUvatar I’d love to have them remade or revisited in some capacity but I’d prefer a new video style at this point. I think that style will start to feel stale if it is reused beyond Echoes of Wisdom. Thanks for sharing!
Crescent island in Ages is goated. Best trade sequence gimmick in any Zelda game. The puzzles in Ages in general I absolutely loved.
@@jonbradley4044 definitely same of the most complex in the series! For some that might be a source of frustration but I really appreciated the challenge too!
@@AustinAshworth Same people who don't like From soft games because they're difficult probably. Skill issue! 🤣
Nintendo originally intended there to be a third game but found it to be unfeasible with the GBA's technology. Perhaps they can do a Link's Awakening style remake, but with the "lost" third game included, since the Switch could easily store and connect data between all three games without needing passwords.
A note about the rings: the games came out around the time that the Game Boy Advance dropped, so there were rings that you could only unlock if you played the games on a GBA.
Resurrecting the canceled third game would be so cool, but I don't think there is much chance of that ever happening sadly. And yes, that might be the most agregious ring in the collection. "If you want the full ring collection, you've got to go buy our new handheld!"
I loved playing these back to back.
@@zetsumeimaru they are definitely greater than the sum of their parts where the linked experience is far richer than the individual titles on their own
Amazing video this came out when I was playing through ages!
@@user-hp2rv6kq2h Thank you so much!
I think part of the reason I love these games so much is they were my 3rd and 4th Zelda games respectively.
I didnt have an N64, so I didnt get to play OoT and MM until Gamecube, so my main Zeldas were A Link to the Past and the oracles (with an occasional opportunity to steal Link's Awakening from my brother).
And from then, I didnt get to play a single other Zelda game until the release of Ocarina of Time/Ocarina of Time Master Quest on the Gamecube.
@@jonesthemoblin1400 thanks for sharing! Parts of the Oracle games came off as stale to me because they were the last Zelda games I played, but you had the exact opposite experience!
Hooray!! My favorite series gets updated with my favorite games!
@@jwechols86 Hope you enjoy!
@@AustinAshworth it was great!!
Honestly, the two titles are my favorite Zelda games, besides Majora's Mask. I didn't play the originals so the reuse of things like bosses in the previous title didn't matter. It matters even less considering they wanted to remake those games. I like how these games encourage you to explore everything and reward you for it. This is where I think the fact they offered better swords and rings is a great idea. Can you cheese the boss? Yea, you can, but that is the point of going out of your way for several extra hours to farm things. In any other game with levels and stats, it would be described as being "over leveled" and the end result would be the same. You crush the final boss with your superior stats. The best part is if you think it's too cheesy, you can just unequip your ring. You can skip the ring system entirely if you want. Or you can use your giga chad ring to farm monsters to get the rest of your rings from seeds faster. Either way
I appreciate the differing perspective, especially from someone who loves these games as much as you do. Thanks for sharing!
I love all these retrospectives. I implore you not to skip the 3 multiplayer games. They hold important roles in Zelda's history and I think you'd be missing out if you didn't explore them. There's a lot that can be said about how Four Swords came to be and in what form, what it represented for the franchise, FSA is a wonderful experience and I think there's something to be said about TFH being the weakest entry in the series. Maybe they can be shorter, less-in-depth entries into this series, but I do think they're important to discuss.
Anyway, love the channel and excited to see the rest of these!
@@egghorse Thank you! I appreciate the kind words and the alternate viewpoint on the multiplayer titles. I have played all 3 but they just aren’t really what I’m looking for in a Zelda game. To be fair I was only able to play 4SA solo but did have a multiplayer experience with 4S and TFH. Logistically it would be really difficult for me to record footage of these games and I don’t have strong feelings towards them so it made most sense to just skip them. I do apologize if that’s disappointing!
@@AustinAshworth Little disappointing but I understand. If you don't have passion for them, I can't imagine making videos about them being very fun. It seems that literally every youtuber that does retrospectives on this series skips those three games too, I can't find a single series that captures them all haha. Either way, thanks for the explanation and thanks for making these wonderful videos!
I loved Seasons growing up! Played it so many times. My brother had Ages, and I did do a linked playthrough once, which was really cool. I also went through Ages a few other times separately from Seasons, but I was never that big a fan of it. I always found it really difficult and confusing lol. Seasons was one of my favorite games as a kid though. I imagine going through the ring system for the first time as an adult, especially if you’re trying to collect every single one of them, could easily be a negative point. For a young kid like me though, I always thought they were really cool, and it was fun discovering the ones that would turn you into different monsters (though I always wished they would let me fight as the monsters too).
Oh, and Din > Zelda
And edited to say: Four Swords Adventures is one of the most underrated games of all time.
Thanks for sharing your memories! These games actually seem like they’d be perfect for sibling bonding like that. I slightly prefer Ages myself but I can see how, as a kid, it would be very confusing.
These were the first Zelda games I played and of course I love them for what they are and especially for introducing me to this world. Now obviously having played pretty much all the entries, after 20 years, I recognize their fault ,and at this point in time they don’t make my top 5, but still I think they are sooo underrated and I appreciate anyone who is willing to make them justice
Hope I did do them justice! We're the exact opposite, they were the last Zelda games I played so the bar was set very high by the rest of the series.
refering to tingle as "he who shall not be named" got my crying xD
Not a fan of the man... I mean the monster...
the monster, the myth, the menace
This is a really great retrospective.
I really like this games. I played through them like ten years ago, but started with
Oracle of Ages as it came out.
The ringsystem was ok, but I did not bother collecting them.
Most of the secrets shown here were new to me. I beat the final boss
and noticed many of the details when you play with the password.
I wish we would get more games that use such systems.
Closest I can remember are Zelda BotW and TotK when you get your horses
transfered. That was great and it is not really impactful.
@@dwalin619 thank you! There are some games like the Telltale Walking Dead series or the Mass Effect series that carry choices between titles in a far deeper way than the Oracle games. It is a really cool feature when done well!
23:00 Don't you dare talk about Tingle that way. Everybody loves Tingle. Tingle is love.
@@ramonmujica3193 I for one do not love Tingle lol
@@AustinAshworth"Kooloo-Limpah" translates to "watch your step".
@@BudravenOG Maybe it’s safer to stay on Tingle’s good side!
I really appreciate this over other OoX retrospectives, since it's very "to the point" and articulate; a lot of them tend to go on wild tangents in strange ways.
@@Wildstag never expected my nearly 50 minute video to be described as “to the point” haha. Thank you though!
I played LoZ and Zelda 2, then Link's Awakening DX, then Oracles. I Bea Link's Awakening and Oracles. Then I played OoT, then Wind Waker. Came back and finished OoT. Played and beat MM. Played TP. Played ALttP. Beat Minish Cap and Four Sword. Only played FSA. Played SS. Played and beat BotW. Went back and beat SS. Beat TotK. Went back and beat TP. I have the most mixed up experience with the Legend of Zelda.
I played these games a year ago to the date during a year long Zelda binge, and I had a less than positive outlook on these games. After playing 6 Zelda games, followed by 8 more, it kind of melded in my mind, especially since it was on the same engine as LA.
But this retrospective helps to bring back memories of my playthrough, and that's making me want to replay them to give them another chance after writing them off.
@@dearprudish glad I was able to shed a new light on them!
Considering your comments towards the end, I would have never thought this was your first time playing the games. As someone who does have very special memories of Seasons ( I found it under a chair at my orthodontist and after my appointment they let me keep it) I feel like a lot of your points were very valid. The item system is very rough, and all the dungeon blend together for me, however, the charm of the characters really makes the games stand out for me. The opening scenes for both games never fail to fill me with excitement for the adventure to come.
I am very excited for both the Crystal and Windwaker reviews. Both of them were first for me, crystal being the first video game I played, and windwaker being the first i bought. Good luck with making them and I look forward to hearing what you have to say.
@@oyasumirosie6974 Glad I didn’t come off as a total poser! Thanks for sharing your memories of the game, it’s funny how the universe just seems to draw some games to us. I got a copy of Donkey Kong Country for GBC from a classmate in a trade for a bouncy ball toy when I was young and it was one of the first games I ever played for that reason.
Personally, I have mostly just positive memories of the Oracle games. I played through Ages, and most of Seasons, in the mid 2000s, when I was in college, and helping my sister move. Granted, I was entirely willing to fall back on my wonderful strategy guide, and the Internet, but Zelda has been my favorite series since it wasn't a series, so I still very much enjoyed them. There have been Zelda games I skipped, like anything Four Swords, Tri-Force Heroes, or Spirit Tracks; Phantom Hourglass pissed me off enough, and Skyward Sword is still my least favorite, but I overall really liked these two games, as well as how they could mingle together. It's too bad their on board batteries might be dead by now, as I haven't replayed either in ages (heh), but they still rate highly for me.😊
Thank you very much for doing a retrospective on these. I sometimes feel like they can be some of tbe more easily forgotten titles, especially in an era where RUclips content creators half my age make all the videos, and got into the series, themselves, on Skyward Sword, or maybe even Tears of the Kingdom, and si they don't feel inclined to crawl back through history to see how we got here. Sure, these two aren't exactly defining milestones; they're no Link to the Past, or Twilight Princess, but I still appreciate when other Zelda fans take the time to show off some of the Zelda games I remember most fondly, so thank you!😊
My pleasure, I'm so glad you enjoyed! And thank you for sharing your memories of the games! As I mentioned in the video, I didn't play them until recently but I found them well worth experiencing even today devoid of nostalgia.
Thank you for making this video 🙏
@@YTPremiumWatch thank you for watching this video!
Good video about some classics I still love. I have completionsist files for these on my 3DS downloaded version of them. The linked system was a trip when I was a kid
Thank you! You have my respect for the completionist files!
Ages is still my fav zelda game of all time!
@@HandheldGamer1991 Ooh that’s a really unique pick! Care to elaborate?
FYI: there's a clever reference to these two games and the unmade third game in Minish Cap.
Haven't played Minish Cap in a long time so I'm looking forward to getting to replay it!
Insert 4 swords comment... great video!🎉
@@NeoDeity haha thank you!
Literally just watched the other videos in this series ^_^ nice timing!
@@agranosclem Awesome! Hope you enjoy and I appreciate you digging through my back catalogue!
IMHO Ages is pretty much UNPLAYABLE without SAVE states IE can't ever do the required Goron Dance Mini game in Ages WITHOUT it.
Guilty!
I beat it back in the day and even was asked by friends who played the game to beat that dance because they couldn't. Tbh, I don't know if I'd have the determination required now, years later^^"
Great video!! I just started playing these games when they came to NSO. I’m having a blast! Will you be making a video on Minish Cap? That is definitely one of my favorite Zelda games 🙌🏾
Thank you! I do plan to cover every mainline Zelda game but I'm going through them in chronological order. So Wind Waker will be the next Zelda game but then Minish Cap is after that. Hope you stick around for it!
@@AustinAshworthAwesome! I’ve never played WindWaker. Looking forward to your videos 👍🏽
Every time I play these games I soft lock myself at the Goron portion
Oof that’s rough. I’m curious on the mechanics on how you can get softlocked
Best Zelda games with out a doubt
I don't mind the ring system in general. I never had too much trouble with either game so the good ones just felt like extras that were fun to go for. I particularly liked trying to find all the sprite changing ones when I was a kid. But as someone who replays games, I think any kind of system like this makes getting 100% completion not very fun. I have never and probably will never get all the rings in these games. But I still think they are fun to collect while playing through the games.
Anytime there is a collectible I just have this urge to 100%, I wish I could just enjoy the rings for what they are but I just can't haha
Great video! I played through in the opposite order (Ages then Seasons), and found that Twinrova and Ganon were easier that way due to the items you get in Seasons (Rocs Cape & Hyper Slingshot vs Rocs feather & Seed shooter)
That cape sounds especially handy to make jump timings more forgiving!
There is a hint in-game for the open-head boss in Ages- one of the owl statues that you can talk to with mystery seeds says “the red face fears fire” right before the boss room.
Ah, that would have been helpful. Must have missed it somehow!
I've played a little bit of oos/ooa but never finished them. I'm currently playing through oos and trying to go without a guide; the fact that these games were developed by Capcom has forced me to not rely entirely on many years of playing other Zelda games to get through the dungeons and overworld puzzles like the trading sequences
@@jennilocke Good luck, hope you enjoy! Glad to hear people are still playing these games even today
How can i play these today? Are they on the Nintendo switch? Played many Zelda games ..been a fan for over 20 years but never played these two games.
@@Aurora-qn2dx They are on Switch through the Nintendo Online subscription! Go for it!
Some of the rings are crazy powerful. I remember one that reduce the loss of health to a half? Or rings that increased the damage of the sword? I can't really remember, I was a kid back then. But some rings were very strong. I really loved them. They were a collectable that was both cool and useful. There was this one ring that you obtained for connecting with a friend (I think) that made you look like the old Link from Nes. Come on, if you are a Zelda fan you have to like that stuff.
*Oh, you talked about those rings. Either you don't like them because they are "irrelevant" or you don't like them because they are "too powerful". Come on, stop nitpicking XD
Sorry I can't help it! If you could ignore them it would be one thing, but they add so much bloat that distracts from the game's strengths imo
I wish they would remake this series and give the 3rd game that got canceled (oracle of spirits) a little more love as a multiplayer option for a 2 player zelda focused experience. Imagine a full 8 dungeon experience with multiplayer puzzle/combat focus.
Sounds awesome but a little too pie-in-the-sky unfortunately. I would like to see the games get more love though and that would be an incredible way for Nintendo to do so
20:15 -Nice pun? I just came across this boss myself. Cant speak for later ones yet but this was not as bad as you make it out if you play the game right. There is an owl outside the boss room. His hint is a bit cryptic but you should be able to peice togther what he means pretty quick. Granted, some of the owl hints are pointless and the game can have show symptoms of moon logic. The backtracking, especially needless kind is frustrating. I got stuck a bit on the cresent island where you have to get all your stuff back. Yo have to go through the same few sections scattered across the map over and over as yoy collect your items in doung so as more paths open. There is a cave you have to go to several times. It has water with one particular pool in an upper corner having a small deeper part visable. This means nothing until you get tour flippers back, swim into the pool and dive down to reveal a subteranean path. This is so poorly telegraghed and is easy to not understand what to do in a series and many puzzles like this with no direction all over the island. Its just padding to the game and I agree it needed better telegraghing then in the least. The four face boss was still annoying to defeat because of the mechanics but I have to give it to the game that it did tell you what to do. The first owl that yoy must tuturial through does say to give it seeds to give tou hints and the one outside the dungeon does say the red face is afraid of smoke. Can't do much more without just telling you the answer.
28:41 -What is wromg with you? You cant follow simple directions and get mad at the game developers as a result..but then praise the wild goose chase scavenger hunt to just waste time and make you sick yo your stomach of these few stupid areads until your head spins, while giving you nearly no direction on how to do this? Its not the game..you're just broken as a player. Just give you mine sweeper and youll be contnet the rest of your life..
I guess we all just experience the games in our own way! I found the Crescent Island segment a fun challenge but I can see how it might be frustrating to someone else. As for the Thwomp boss, looking back at my recorded footage, it looks like I played through the dungeon in 2 separate sittings so must have forgotten the owl statue hint by the time the I fought the boss. Apologies for the error, but in my subjective experience it really was confusing to me haha
@AustinAshworth That's fine but you were presenting the moment as an objective critique. It was on you but you blamed the game and its developers. If you want to do just subjective takes on a specific perisnal playthrough, then you need to do that rather than a critical retrospective. It's yellow journalism.
The codes aren't that bad with the advent of RUclips, i discovered when i was younger you can take codes from the opposite games from YTers playing those games and use them for your own games
Even back in the pen and paper days I don’t think I don’t think they are unbearable, especially given the cool stuff they open up
Veran is basically just proto-Midna, you can't tell me their designs don't look very similar.
I was confused on what you were seeing at first because I was thinking of Midna’s imp form but now I realize you meant her Twili form. I absolutely see the similarities now, very interesting. Great observation!
There’s one thing you forgot to mention, but it’s not as important. So it’s understandable, but this is the game that introduced the idea yet that the Zora we fought in the games before ocarina and the friendly ones introduced. In ocarina are two separate races river and sea respectively it only really became important again with echoes of wisdom which is coming out soon
That's true! I love that detail that preserves the Zora's past as an enemy and reconciles it with their more modern interpretation. I did catch that in the Echoes of Wisdom trailer too! Cool that Nintendo is bringing that dynamic back.
@@AustinAshworth although the official encyclopedia for Zelda did suggest the river ones are twisted descendants of the sea ones. We’ll see how that is going forward because before it was only one game and them counting something that was only used once is not that surprising.
Both are excellent games.
But Ages is a tiny bit better. Because it feels it had a bit more development time than Seasons. Hard to explain. :(
I would agree with that, Ages has the more involved plot and I found many of it's more intricate puzzles really impressive. Very slight edge to Ages.
Whaa they didn't add buttons to the system 😢 I'm so sorry this tragedy befell you.
Overall i enjoyed the video but i hate it when people combine Seasons and Ages into one video because "they share similar gameplay and plot structure".
You know what other game follows the same gameplay and plot structure? Links awakening, which the oracle games were based off of. Arrived in a new land, get 8 things from 8 dungeons and then beat the final boss. Various story beats happen in-between dungeons.
Yet despite the gameplay structure being nearly identical, links awakening never gets lumped together with the other GBC games.
Gotta say TY to the few reviewers who actually split the two up. They ARE two different games, unlike the Pokemon different versions.
I can understand that frustration and appreciate the feedback. I did try to emphasize that the games were distinct but I do fall in that category of grouping them together obvious.
I remember one of the rings in Seasons needed the GBA to acquire. You did play it on a GBA, right?
Another unreasonable requirement to get a 100% ring collection! I played the games through emulation so that I could easily record footage.
Despite what you claim, I believe there is a middle ground between the autistic collector and the no-upgrade one. And a no-upgrade person who loses the final fight will just seek out the noble sword or red ring upgrade to beat the game if they lose. Consider the ring and master sword as difficulty mode selection - especially the ring which you can choose to not equip.
@@mogalixir there’s some truth there for sure, but consider that an un-upgraded player in 2001 is unlikely to even know the red ring exists if they don’t happen upon it. And in the fully upgraded playthrough, all that really matters is the first fight. A player who breezes through that first fight is unlikely to unequip the red ring to go back and do it again Even if they did, the second fight will have reduced impact simply because the novelty and surprise are gone. All that being said, I do appreciate the counterpoints and differing opinion!
Wait, your said you got all the rings.... So you did one play through of Ages on the GBA to get the Advanced ring.... Right? It was only obtainable in the Advanced shop that can only be obtained by playing Ages on a GBA...
@@LycosHayes My dedication to the audience knows no bounds! Of course I did lol
Ive' heard that Seasons is suppose to canonically come before Ages but what's weird is if you beat Ages first and then play Seasons, Onox will reference Link defeating Veran. But if you beat Seasons first and then ages, Veran doesn't mention Onox.
@@Blizzard91 Hmm that is strange if true. I played Seasons first then Ages so wouldn’t have known that, thanks for sharing!
@@AustinAshworth Actually now that I think about it that might be the canon of the manga, not the games. I'm not sure actually haha.
I played ages first. I wanted Oracle of seasons as a kid but they didn't t have it. So I've come to prefer ages but both are good games. Interesting take on the rings though. In looking forward to your gen 2 video.
You didn't even mention the one ring that can only be obtained if playing on a Gameboy Advance.
@@GoeTeeks true! Completing the ring collection literally requires you to buy Nintendo’s new handheld
@@AustinAshworth lol. "New" handheld. Easiest way to get all the rings is to use a password generator at this point.
Great Video.
I'm not saying you're wrong about the ganon fight. But I don't know if I can agree with you a typical noncompletionist player. I would consider myself a typical noncompletionist player. Trade sequences is one of the last things a typical noncompletionist player would pass on in a Zelda game. Trade Sequences is a part of Zelda. Collecting all of the rings? No thank you. Collecting every last Heart Piece? No thank you.
Moreover, I don't think the typical player that you're thinking of who wouldn't bother to do these things would bother playing the linked game. If you're not bothered to do a trade sequence, you're probably not going to bother playing both games all the way through. I confess that despite owning Oracle of Ages when it was released, and having had infinite opportunities to play them both through over the last 20 years or so... And having started many attempts. Only this year did I finally play both games through.
Long Story Short, Would Ganon be a difficult battle for the player you are describing, who wouldn't bother doing any of the tasks required to update their sword in the least? Yes. But would that player even make it to Ganon?
The greater concern is for his ease to players. I think if you manage to stick through both games, and make it to Ganon, you are either going to be in the Goldilocks zone (more likely) or you are a completionist who will find the battle too easy. I just don't think the odds are great that many players would be completionist enough to play both games linked completely through to Ganon, and not do the least amount of anything else.
edit: I also want to note that you have skills. I went into the game knowing about some of the powerful rings and the master sword, and looked at guides to try and get the ones I could reasonably get. (One of the rings could only be gotten by planting trees and harvesting nuts again and again and again. I passed on that one). I didn't find the boss battle at the end (leading up to and including Ganon) to be easy. I tend (and I think a lot of players do, given the most common problem in Link's Awakening) to forget about the sword spin. it's also hard to pull off, as you said. So while pulling it off makes the fight really easy if you have upgraded equipment. I think a lot of us probably had a much more difficult fight. :D
I don't know. Just for your consideration :)
Valid points about an upgraded player likely not even making their way to Ganon. I do still think trading quest is very likely to be skipped by the average player but that must be from my own anecdotal experiences. Thanks for the thoughtful response!
Nintendo Switch 2 whatever wont have a new Zelda game for many years so why not remake Oracle of Ages and Seasons, give the fans something to look forward to
@@kierenbuckley370 Hopefully it’s not another 6 year wait for the next major Zelda but at least we have Echoes of Wisdom to look forward to. I’d absolutely welcome an Oracle remake too!
Ralph? Who's Ralph?
Great video! By the way, I may be nitpicking but the triforce of power (associated with Din) is, to my knowledge, the top triangle. ;) Keep 'em coming!
@@jaakkokeskinen thank you! And right you are, good catch
I’ve never played either one of these somehow
@@skeletonracingandgaming3407 I was in the same boat until just recently but I’m glad I finally did play them. Well worth experiencing for every Zelda fan.
Nintendo Switch Online has both.
Your complaints are pretty weird
This generic engagement. Jk. Want to get engaged cutie?💍
I love Seasons, can't stand Ages 😂
@@Infindox With how similar they are that’s so surprising to me! I assume it’s something about the puzzles in Ages?
To anybody who is about to suggest these games be remade in the style of Link's Awakening remake: no. If these games have to be remade, they either need to be reiterations like a full-blown 3D game based off the same story or maybe an actual sprite-based hd2D game on modern hardware. We don't need any more low effort Link's Awakening remake-style games with copy/paste assets, computer-generated music, and zero innovation.
Also, I'll give you a pass on skipping Four Swords (even though there's so little content the video could be ten minutes long) But don't even think about skipping Four Swords Adventures.
@@leviwarren6222 I’d agree, especially with the upcoming Echoes of Wisdom reusing Link’s Awakening art style, I would want something different. HD-2D would be awesome! In a hypothetical remake, I’d especially like to see the linked game features expanded more and the extra buttons would be much appreciated to reduce menu usage.
Sorry to say I don’t plan on covering 4 Swords Adventures! I definitely agree that it is more meaty than 4 Swords or Triforce Heroes but the multiplayer games just don’t feel like true Zelda to me. To be fair I didn’t get the true experience of 4SA because I didn’t have an easy way to play as intended and just ended up experiencing it solo. I do apologize, it sounds like the game is very special to you
@@AustinAshworth I know, I give you crap about it on every Zelda video. I demand that on the day you get your 500,000 subscriber, you start work on a Four Swords Adventures video!
Glad you did the Oracle games, they deserve the attention of Zelda fans.
No they should get the same renake as Link's Awakening and A Link to the Past needs that same treatment 👍
@@leviwarren6222 haha didn’t realize that was you each time, thought there was just a very vocal 4SA fan base
Literally GTFO about this Links awakening being low effort. Stop gate keeping games.
If Nintendo and Capcom did that style then it’s that style.
Nah they pulled a Pokémon, trying to sell you the same game TWICE.
Tell me you haven't played the Oracle games without telling me you haven't played the Oracle games
Bull crap!