The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

A pretty solid Zelda game. Cool overworld, gadgets, and mechanics. Nice music. Maybe it's held back by the GameBoy control scheme and some dungeons could be ridiculously frustrating sometimes. Loads of charming characters backed up with a good localization.

Maybe it's a bit too linear? aLttP had a good balance of open-endedness with directing the player; Oracle of Seasons was too narrow, but on the other hand, it's still a lot of fun to navigate this world with your abilities and I never felt like the game was locking me off from anything, even though it technically does.

This game's colour is so vibrant to the point where it doesn't feel limited in the slightest by the limitations of the GBC. That's what I remember so well about it - how amazing it looked. Mind you, I played it in 2014, when immensely photorealistic games were fully into their own, but I spent far more time absorbed in this little 8-bit title. Though the dungeon design in Ages is probably better, it was also far too complex for my 11-year-old mind, and the dungeons here are plenty fun and challenging. I'll always love 3D Zelda, but I would argue that 2D titles, with their decreased expectations, small size, and humility, are where the series is truly able to shine.

A Flagship creation this time, and their take on Pokemon's dual-releases, Oracle of Seasons was the 'action' half of the Oracle duology. Between all the dejavu, the overworld turns out to be its defining asset, replete with unlockables, side paths and traversal methods that rotate according to the seasons. Other than that, it's a simple retread of past games with unremarkable dungeons and bosses. Its puzzle-oriented counterpart - Oracle of Ages, is unsurprisingly superior.

The Oracle games really came at an odd time period in the Zelda franchise. For one it was released between two 3D Zelda games and both which are considered among the best of the series and it was release near the very end of the Gameboy Colors life cycle. By this point the Gameboy Advance was a few months away from releasing and would support more advance sound and sharper/more detailed graphics, not to mention Wind Waker was only 1 year away from releasing and many Zelda fans were hyped for that since it was the first Zelda game on Gamecube and looked to be bigger and more detailed than the previous Zelda games. So the Oracle games sort of went under the radar and sort of have become forgotten. The other thing is they feel so similar to Link's Awakening, the design and graphics are almost identical and that game came out much earlier, so in a way these 2D Zelda games were starting to feel dated by the time the 2000s rolled around. Another odd thing is Seasons and Ages were both released as a 2 part package, similar to the Pokemon games, only these actually had completely different stories and Worlds to explore.

Seasons is the more well known of the 2. It feels like your typical Zelda you have your 8 dungeons, the puzzles, the boss fights to get the item you need to unlock the final dungeon, plus your village hub with shops and hidden heart pieces. This feels a bit more like Link's Awakening than Ages, where the game sort of just chucks you into the World and you need to explore and progress on your own with little to no story between until the final boss. I actually think this game did a decent enough job, it had a season system you use to solve puzzles and change seasons to change the areas and reach new ones. It introduces a few new things, you get animals you can ride in this to jump across giant pits or travel through deep water. Its actually kind of weird since this wouldn't be used in any other Zelda games, but at the same time it does have a bit of charm. The dungeon design for the most part is competent, although it is a bit more straightforward and simplistic than the previous Zelda games. I guess my problem is the design is somewhat generic at times, it just doesn't stand out, and also the game does get too hard at points. Since you have no fairy bottles in this game you essentially get one shot unless you are able to afford the overpriced potions in this. Some of the bosses in this game are just so brutal and more aggressive than previous Zelda bosses. The final boss in this game is insane since you have to beat him in his first form where he's aggressive as hell and hard to avoid, then you have to beat his second form with the health you lost from his first. I feel like the game just throws tough bosses and areas and expects you to clear them no problem when previous Zeldas were more about puzzles and exploration.

Now the story itself is pretty average. Its basic good vs. evil and the game sort of compliments Ages which both take place around each other. But the villain in this is just some generic guy in armor. The story in this is pretty weak when you compare it to the previous core Zelda games, but that's not to say there aren't a few things I liked. I really enjoyed the secret Subrosia city, even if it didn't really add a whole lot to the game, plus there is a part where you get on a pirate ship with skeleton pirates that felt kind of unique. But those moments are pretty few and far between and most of the game is you traveling between areas using your staff to change seasons and going through basic dungeons with very few puzzles. It does bring some characters from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask into the World which is kind of cool but to be honest it felt like quick fan service mostly.

Season's is a solid enough game and is fun and designed well enough, and you get all the same power ups you had in Link's Awakening. But this does feel a bit different than the other core Zelda games, it feels like the game design is a tad dull and the dungeons are mostly linear and have no challenge or complexity outside the bosses. Plus the difficulty tends to get out of hand near the end. There really isn't much exploration to be done either as there are only 16 heart pieces in this game compared to the previous games which had at least 30 or more. And most NPCs in this don't give you quests or have anything useful to say. Yeah this game does bring back the trading game as well, but it also feels tedious. Seasons is a slight bit better than Ages because it does have a good sized map, the changing seasons concept is pretty unique, and it does have some fun and memorable sections. But at the same time Capcom are the ones who made this and it feels just different enough where it doesn't quite hit the Zelda atmosphere as good as the previous 2D games, especially since Awakening felt like it had more to offer and came out 8 years before this. The fact that it is sandwiched between 2 much better games also doesn't really help, but for a GBC game, this is better than most and its far from being one of the worst Zelda games. At best it can offer some entertainment and has a interesting enough World and controls like a typical Zelda that it does make for a good enough filler game if you've had enough of the 3D Zelda games.