Top 5 Favorite and Least Fave Zelda Dungeons

Tyrell Badd

Tyrell Badd

"The hated boss who beats you down..."
Chat Administrator
Retired Forum Mod
Retired Wiki Staff
'Shroom Consultant
MarioWiki
Gamefreak75
I'm super bored (a.k.a. I can't fall asleep) so I thought this would be an interesting topic to make. It's basically what the title says: what are your five favorite and least favorite 3D Zelda dungeons. You don't have to list five and you don't have to really give a reason why if you don't want to, but it'd be nice to know why you like/hate that dungeon. Go into as much detail as you want. Please be civil about this, if you disagree with someone, don't make a big fuss about it. Remember, it's all opinions, not facts. Anyways, I'll begin. :triforce: <-make it happen

Note: I have not played every Zelda game, so this isn't from being based off all the games.

Favorites

5. Stone Tower from Majora's Mask. Definitely the most memorable dungeon in the game for me. Mostly because of the upside-down gimmick, but also because the moon crashed when I was almost done with this place. It really was a unique dungeon though and the boss fight was pretty great.

4. Lanayru Mining Facility from Skyward Sword. I thought the music in this level was fantastic, the gimmick wasn't too intrusive for me, and most of the enemies are robots, which I thought was cool. It's also futuristic, which is a plus. The dungeon's item, Gust Bellows, was kind of eh, though. Also, props to the Sandship for being fun as well.

3. Tower of the Gods from Wind Waker. Fantastic boss, fantastic music, fantastic setting. Probably the closest we'll get to a futuristic Zelda dungeon...unless the new one has some advanced technology stuff in it, which by the looks of the teaser it does to an extent.

2. Temple of Time from Twilight Princess. Despite having like eight floors and being the sixth dungeon, it was rather simple. It was a very..."clean" dungeon. Also it was satisfying destroying Beamos and other shitty enemies with the giant statue. Ironically, I'm arachnophobic, but I thought Armogohma was the best boss in the game, next to Blizzeta.

1. Forbidden Woods from Wind Waker. I know, shocking, considering Wind Waker is my favorite Zelda game, but this dungeon was great. In my opinion, it was literally what a Forest Temple is supposed to be, not like the fake Forest Temple in Ocarina of Time (I liked the temple, but it definitely wasn't "forest-y" imo). It took place in a giant tree, a lot of music and sounds were ambiance noises, and I generally favor jungle/forest areas (not as much as space/futuristic areas, though).


Least Favorites

5. Water Temple from Ocarina of Time. Yeah, yeah, original, I know. But really, I don't like this dungeon. You have to constantly go back to raise or lower the water. You have to constantly go into your inventory, to your clothes, and unequip/equip the Iron Boots (fixed in OoT3D thankfully) and the whirlpool section is just plain annoying. If you want a good water temple with this mechanic, play Link Between Worlds and go to the Swamp Palace.

4. Temple of the Ocean King from Phantom Hourglass. I'm one of those people that doesn't actually hate PH, but there really is no way to defend this shitty temple. You literally visit it every time you beat a dungeon. There are 6 dungeons in the game. You visit it twice before going into the dungeons. You visit it once after beating the dungeons. You think it gets easier, and then wham, turns out there's a whole 'nother seven floors by making a triforce symbol on the door. And those seven floors sure are something, especially when you don't have the dungeon items that make this a cakewalk.

3. Arbiter's Grounds from Twilight Princess. Ugh, this dungeon. First off, you're almost constantly hit by black bugs, Landmolas, and mini skeleton bastards. The first half is a giant Poe hunt, which is just meh and then the second half is fun with the Spinner. "Fun." Really, the only thing I liked about this dungeon is that Death Sword was the best mini-boss in the game.

2. Snowhead Temple from Majora's Mask. The definition of boring temple. The only redeeming thing about this temple was that the boss fight was fun. Everything else was boring. Trying to find the fairies was impossible because they're hidden in walls. You constantly fall off back to the bottom of the dungeon. Ice is just an annoying element in general. Which is an excellent segway too.......

1. Ice Ruins from Link Between Worlds. I'm shocked I'm including something from such a recent game so low, but this temple was literally the worst in the entire game. This dungeon was such a terrible experience that I actually ragequitted the game the first time through. Like, really, if you thought ice physics were bad, how about them being one square long throughout the entire dungeon. Most of it takes place on small platforms where Link slip and slides all day. The mini-boss will literally corner and give you the ass pounding of a lifetime if you let it, too. God, what a terrible dungeon. Not to mention the trek just to get to the goddamn dungeon is hell itself.

Once again, this is from recent memory. I haven't played games like Zelda II, Spirit Tracks, or Phantom Hourglass in a while to remember the dungeons, so this list may not be the final one, at the least the least favorites one. The favorites list is final. Kind of funny how I went into more detail on why I hate the dungeons though.
 
A bit dependent on how recent I've played the games, and what I can remember at the current moment.

Favorites
In all honesty all of these were really hard to judge because there are certain qualities I really like and some that I didn't. There were some aspects that outweighed others in it, but some that were lacking. There were a lot of temples that I wanted to put in my Top 5 but I just couldn't. Honestly, ask me another day and my Top 5 for this would be in a completely different order.

5. Sandship (Skyward Sword)

Ugh, it was such a hard decision between Anicent Cistern and this one, but I think I have to give it to this one. I felt like it was the dungeon that made the best usage out of the timeshift stones, and the puzzles in were a lot of fun. Not to mention how you got to the ship and riding on the sand sea and stuff. It really felt unique out of the other dungeons from the game. I think Koloktos was the best boss in the entire game and definitely better than Tentalus, but at least watching the entire dungeon turn into a sinking runaway scene leading into the boss was really cool.

4. Wind Temple (Wind Waker)

A lot of it has to do with the boss and his kickass music, but I really loved playing as Makar. I thought the rooms and wind gimmick was pretty cool, and with the Hookshot my favorite item of any Zelda game, it definitely is one I really like. The floormasters here still freak me out to this day since they are placed ever so gently where you don't expect to see them. It was hard to pick out of the Wind Waker stuff, and though I loved the gameplay out of Wind Waker the most of any Zelda game, the temples in general didn't get me that excited.

3. Lorule Castle (A Link Between Worlds)

The main reason why I like this is a lot of things. That music is just amazing and makes everything so cool. I like the puzzles and stuff in it, and I really like how they brought back a lot of the previous bosses like how they did in Ganon's Tower. Definitely made good usage of the gimmicks from the previous temple, and it was overall a ton of fun. It would be higher up if the other temples weren't so good in my opinion.

2. Snowpeak Ruins (Twilight Princess)

It was honestly one of the best temples in the series (in my opinion of course). The reason I find this is because I felt like it was really unique and you had to find your way through it and only being able to search certain sections at a time. The ice made it very difficult, and those ice spear guys sucked, but I thought that the challenge was great for this point. The entire setting felt very...unique I guess. I think I said unique way too much. It was just cool how far in the distance the temple was compared to the other places in the game, and venturing through someone's home was so not like the other dungeons in the series. Plus, Blizzeta was one of the best bosses in the game. For me, Ice Temples I either love or hate, and this is one of the few ones that I love. It was just so interesting and exciting and everything about it just felt really good.

1. Stone Tower Temple (Majora's Mask)

It was tough, but I have to give it to this one. Stone Tower just had a ton of cool things going in it, and having the world-upside-down effect was really cool. It definitely made it hard to collect all the fairies in the 3 days, but once I grew up and figured out that I could slow down the time, it helped greatly. The puzzles were fun, the mini-boss was really cool, the bosses were really tough but fun to battle, and getting to play my favorite Ocarina Song Elegy of Emptiness was just perfect. Not to mention that the music for the area is one of the best the series has. It was definitely a very difficult place, but after the first few times through and getting the rhythm of the place made it much more enjoyable. That fairy hunt still sucks when I replay it though.

Least Favorites

5. Water Temple (Ocarina of Time)

My reasoning for this is not because of the boots. I really could care less about how the boots worked and everything. My problem was the keys. I was so annoyed when you would go to great lengths through an area only to run into a door and realize that you're short a key. I spent the first few times while I was growing up always going to the mini-boss area only to realize that I didn't have a key because you had to do this little passage and everything. Then I would have to run back and go get it and come back and then fight the best mini-boss of the game. After getting the longshot, I would not remember that there is a sun stone in the middle of the floor because it blended right with the floor! Literally I would look at my map after heading back to the main area and trying to figure out how to get there again, and then realize and have to run all the way back to the mini-boss area and finally do that whirlpool-filled area and get that key, which literally was a terrible place.

I am so happy in the OoT 3D version they made the sun block above the ground so that players like me could see that. I mean, as long as I'm thinking about it, I can easily remember to do it, and the Water Temple is not as bad as the first few times I've gone through it. It's only a pain in the ass when I'm not thinking as I play through it and I mindlessly forget to get a key or something and spend way too much time because I'm not thinking.

4. Skyview Temple (Skyward Sword)

My problem with this one is the fact that it was such a disappointment. A literal disappointment. I felt like a lot of the dungeons in Skyward Sword were lacking in area and were just a few rooms long. But this one had like 6 rooms total in it, and it literally took me like 20 minutes to do. You go in, get a key, flood a room, find another key, get the beetle, cross a gap, kill enemies, cross another gap, and you're to Ghirahim. I mean, the mini-dungeons of Ocarina of Time were longer than this dungeon! That's how sad it was for me. Then when you have to revisit it, it was just like "here, we'll just let you go through this place again for little to no reason other than to get water". I really shoudn't expect much from a first dungeon, but it just felt so much of a sandbox.

3. Ice Ruins (A Link Between Worlds)

Gamefreak basically hit the nail on the spot for why I was annoyed with it. The paths were way too narrow for me, and not to mention having to fight those enemies. The difficulty level spiked out of nowhere from basically any part of the game to that area. It was like the game was telling you "save this one for last", since just getting to the temple was an endeavor itself. The boss is cool and stuff, but the mini-boss was not. Also, there was many points in the dungeon where I was confused on where to go, just because there was a lot of just confusion on what was supposed to be done.

2. Temple of the Ocean King (Phantom Hourglass)

Same reason basically as everyone else. It was just a waste of time in the game, and I'm so glad that they didn't repeat this dungeon with the Spirit Tower in Spirit Tracks. Until you finally get the Phantom Sword, it is just so annoying going through that place. One of the reasons why I think Phantom Hourglass was a rather poor game, and why it's like in my Top 5 least fav Zelda games. Anyways, yeah, the temple was just a pain, especially since everything you did through it would need to be redone each and every time you came back through the area. There would be all these floors and steps and I swear half the game was spent in that place.

1. Great Bay Temple (Majora's Mask)

I knew it was going to be somewhere on this list, but I have good reason for it being number one for least favorite dungeon. I mean, the dungeon isn't that bad once you learn to follow the pipes. It can be really annoying like the Water Temple where you forget to grab a key or get lost. Zora Link was too much of a pain to control at times and made swimming through the currents really annoying. The mini-boss was really obnxious as well. A lot of the place is just really tedious and annoying and making ice blocks with the ice arrows was very annoying. And then there were times where you would fall in the water by accident and have to climb back up and jump platforms to get back to where you were. There were parts like the weights where you have to freeze the falling water that was really cool. But to this day, the worse boss fight is at this dungeon against gyorg. I literally hate that battle, all because Zora Link flying out of the water goes from "meh, I can try again next time" to "if I miss, I'm going to be chewed." You literally had to jump out of the water; climbing out Gyorg would grab you in his mouth still. The cheapest boss battle was in this place, and made me lose so much health just because I couldn't master a very touchy and hard to manage control. Just...that place makes it really hard to enjoy the good things about the dungeon.
 
Bump because I know there are more than two people who play(ed) Zelda games. :goomba:
 
I haven't played any Zelda game myself but I do know for a fact that Jabu Jabu's Belly is totally disgusting AND you have an escort mission in there. I'm surprised you two didn't even mention it yet.
 
I've played only Link: Ocarina of Time 3D, and I'm making very slow progress, but here it goes.

I like the Forest Temple because it has the aesthetic appeal with the garden, the main room, the twisty hallway, the portraits, and the quite memorable music goes great with it. There is just this fantastical vibe to it, and considering that it's the first of the "real deal" dungeons, the Forest Temple is one of the more memorable temples.

I'm not extremely fond of the Water Temple although it's not as bad as people make it out to be. The mini-dungeon, however, is much better than this one. Finding keys in the Water Temple can be a pain in the ass, but the biggest thing the Water Temple has to offer is that fight with Dark Link, who makes lower-pitched Link noises, which makes him hilarious when he dies, not scary. Too bad you fight him only once. He's not THAT hard to defeat. He can inflict a lot of damage, but the key to winning is to avoid z/l targeting him.

The Shadow Temple, not very memorable, but those death themes are a bit jarring, with those spinning scimitar things and guillotines? But otherwise, not memorable.

Jabu Jabu's belly kind of scared me as a kid. I'm never fond of biological yuckiness, including Metroid and just insides of living things (if they aren't toony). I dislike this dungeon for these reasons, but it's home to the strangest enemies, including ceiling-mounted sausage-like things, spazzing blocks of tofu, electric worm things, blue stingray things, and of course, the spinning electric pot with satellites on its tentacles that grows zits and explodes when it does.
 
I actually sorta like the Shadow Temple. Nice scary death theme. I used to be utterly terrified of the Well and Shadow temple, but now, I'm a bit fascinated by it. The boss isn't even scary for a creepy temple, he's actually kinda goofy. Definitely a memorable temple.
 
Huh, I never seem to remember the layout of the Temple, though. And I don't enjoy the Shadow Temple THAT much. It seems kind of short. Hell, I don't remember anything from the Shadow Temple other than that there are hover boots. Nope, not even that little boat tri[.
 
I meant to do this much earlier, but I forgot about it. Silly me. Also this list will probably be MUCH different from everybody else's.

Top Five

5. City in the Sky from TP. I think what I like most about this is the idea that there is an adventure awaiting for you hundreds upon hundreds of feet in the sky. And it's a city that features my favorite species in the game: the Ooccoos. It features one of my favorite items: The Double Clawshot, has my favorite mini-boss in the game, Aerolfos. Plus has my favorite boss in the game: Argorok. Although the cons is that it was wwwaaaayyyy too massively spread out, which made it tiresome and tedious. Overall: still great.

4. Inside Jabu Jabu's Belly from OoT. Hehe, BL just said this dungeon suck. I have my reasons why I like Inside Jabu Jabu's Belly, and to be clear this the OoT one, not the Oracle of Ages one (yes, they recycle this). I love the uniqueness of this, being inside a living creature, fighting enemies and solving puzzles. It's so unrealistic, but I still love it. And I don't mind the boss, in fact I love it. The only thing I hate about it is that it is an Escort Mission, which sucks, but since I am one of the very few people who actually like Ruto, almost makes up for it.

3. Mermaid's Cave from OoA. Now time for one of the most, if not the most, UNDERRATED dungeons in Zelda history. In a game where time traveling is gameplay, this dungeon uses the time traveling gimmick in a fantastic way. Mermaid's Cave is not technically one dungeon, but two. One in the past, and one in the present. Both radically different. It is an absolute joy to play this dungeon.

2. Snowpeak Ruins from TP. Ah, Snowpeak Ruins. My favorite dungeon in TP. This dungeon is so incredibly unique. Because it is someone's house! Or mansion/home. Yeto and Yeta live in this place, and I was thinking "How could a home be so difficult"? But it is challenging, and for like the first time in Zelda history, the ice mechanics are actually good. Also considering that another gimmick in this dungeon is that there is absolutely no hearts except until after you beat it. If you want healed, you must get soup from Yeto, which gets stronger the more ingredients you give to him. It's a pesky gimmick, but overall, I found it so refreshing. Also, that boss though.

Sandship from SS. This dungeon has everything I love. Everything. I. Love. First of all, it is incredibly unique. You hunt down this invisible ship using a time stone that let's you sail on sand....except in the past it is water. Then you get on the ship, and you can freely change the ship from the past on water, to the present in the desert. The time stones are my favorite mechanic in SS, and I feel like the best was in Sandship. The ways you could make the ship be from the past to present was freaking brilliant and I loved the battles. And then at the end, how you get to the boss and the boss fight itself. It was just freaking epic. I usually don't praise things as new as this, but there is nothing wrong about the Sandship. Nothing at all.




Bottom Five

5. Forest Temple OoT. As a child: High Octane Nightmare Fuel right here. As an adult: same as child. Really, this dungeon isn't that bad. Like the Wallmasters are easy to avoid and defeat and the Poes were super easy, and the it screamed "creepy" so much that it made it not creepy, but as a child, it freaked the hell out of me. And kind of scarred me. So yeah, bottom five it goes.


4. Ice Temple from ALTTP. I overall enjoyed ALLTP, but there are some dungeons that are super annoying. Ice Temple is one of them. I heard that the Ice Temple from ALBW is terrible, but so is this. You got terrible ice mechanics, enemies that can only be destroyed via magic, and deadly conveyer belts that literally one wrong move will destroy 3-5 of your hearts. The boss sucked too. I hate it so much.


3. Eagle's Tower from LA. My first Zelda is Link's Awakening and will always treasure it...except for this dungeon. Ok, so the gimmick here is that you must use a heavy ball to destroy 4 pillars. It sounds so much easier than what it actually is. If you mess up with the ball, it takes 5-20 minutes to restart to where you are. And the paths are just confusing. Plus the boss is the worst in the game. There is hardly a worse dungeon.


2. Ganon's Tower from ALTTP. Yeah, it's a final dungeon of a game, so of course it is going to be hard, but there are two really huge things about it THAT SUCK. They had to put my 2nd and 3rd least favorite bosses as part of a mini-boss trio. I don't know what their names are, and I am not bothered to learn, but it is the worm sand boss and the worm boss. I. Hate. Both. Of. Them. So. Much. So yeah, that's my grip with this dungeon really.


Palace of Twilight from TP. Take the High Octane Nightmare Fuel from the Forest Temple of OoT, and multiply that from the High Octane Nightmare Fuel from the Forest Temple of OoT and you get something roughly a third to how freakishly scary this dungeon is. Call me a wimp, but I almost did not complete TP because of the dungeon. First of all, the atmosphere so dark, I could not play it unless I turned the brightness on my screen pretty much all the way up. The Zant's Mask enemies freaked me out. I hate teleporting enemies. They get on my nerves a lot. And just fighting 5 of them frays my nerves. And then you include the Zant's Hands. Worst mechanic/challenge in possibly the entire Zelda franchise. You have to return the Sols, guarded by a Zant's Hand to a spot to return Twilight back to the realm. I could barely function when a giant hand was creeping on me. Then comes one of the worst mini-bosses: Phantom Zant, which was pretty stupid. At the end, you fight the Usurper King: Zant. On paper, his battle sounds cool, but when fighting him, it's sort of lame. And cheap. Palace of Twilight is terrible and utterly horrifying to me, and I probably will never play TP again because of this dungeon alone, even despite have 2 of the dungeons on my top 5 list.


Also, I didn't put it down, because I never played it, but the last dungeon in Zelda II is probably harder than all of these combined.
 
The Fire Tenple from OoT3D is underrated.
 
1. Shadow Temple (OOT)- really liked the dark theme it had
2. City in the Sky (TP) - Double Clawshots ftw
3. Goron Mines (TP) - dat boot mechanic, the layout was really nice, and it had the coolest non-final boss fight
4. Temple of Time (TP) - nostalgia bomb, plus the statue thing was pretty neat
5. Level 9 (original) - felt really big and exploring it was fun

as for least favorites I really can't think of any
 
favorite is probably Sandship from Skyward Sword. Least favorite is probably Wind Temple. I also rather didn't like Forsaken Fortress. I hated Forbidden Forest the first time I played it, but now I think i'm somewhat fine with it, though I don't think the leaf puzzles worked well.
 
Hackmon said:
And I don't mind the boss [in Jabu Jabu's Belly], in fact I love it
Click to expand...

I actually really like the boss too

I just hate the setting that's all
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back