If there’s one thing the average game does right, it’s dungeon desi🍌gn. From to and Twilight Princess, has no shortage of incredible video games dungeons. While Skyward Sword is often regarded as the black sheep of , the game arguably has the best dungeons in the franchise.

At their best, Skyward Sword’s dungeons innovate on familiar mechanics while featuring dense set pieces and outstanding boss fights. For all of the game’s faults, Skyward Sword was the first 3D Zelda in 🔯years to feature an actual difficulty curve that didn’t plummet by the halfway – a fact very much reflects by the game’s dungeon design.

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Edited on August 23, 2021, by Renan Fontes: Skyward Sword HD has breathed new life into what many consider one of the weakest games in the Zelda franchise. While flawed compared to masterpieces like A Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword was never a bad game and its HD remake has ironed out enough kinks for audiences to recognize just how well designed SS' dungeons and boss fights really were. Even at its worst, Skyward Sword still boasts what is arguably the single best set of dungeons to grace the Zelda series (Twilight Princess, eat your heart out).

7 🌞 Earth Temple ꦰ

Skyward Sword Earth Temple

Despite being called the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Earth Temple, this is essentially Skyward Sword’s f⛄ire dungeon. The sec𝓀ond dungeon in the game, the Earth Temple can be found on Eldin Volcano. Narratively, the Earth Temple marks one of Link’s lowest points in the game. After taking too long in the dungeon, Link fails to intercept Zelda in time.

Recommended Gear:

  • Reinforced Shield
  • Life Medal
  • Heart Potions x2

Gameplay-wise, the Earth Temple’s dungeon item is a Bomb Bag. While Bombs aren’t anything special in The Legend of Zelda, players can pick up loose Bombs and place them back into their Bag in Skyward Sword. The Wiimote can also be aimed downwards to let players bowl their Bombs at up ahead enemies/obstacles. The dungeon boss, Scaldera, isn’t particularly challenging but makes for a tense and memorable fi🍎ght.

6 ♎ 🌺 Lanayru Mining Facility

Skyward Sword Molgera

The 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Lanayru Mining Facility is one of the longer dungeons in Skyward Sword, but it features interesting gimmicks where Link needs to shift between time periods while cross-referencing his map to get a be💦tter feel of the dungeon layout. The Lanayru Mining Facility is the kind of dun꧙geon that rewards attentive players who know how to observe their surroundings.

Recommended Gear:

  • Braced Shield
  • Life Medal
  • Heart Potion x2

The dungeon suffers a bit for featuring a particularly unexciting item (the Gust Bellows), but the atmosphere inside the Mining Facility is top-notch and the boss – 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Moldarach – offers one of the best sword fights in the game. The Lanayru Mining Facility isn&rs🦩quo;t Skyward Sword’s best dungeon, but there are plenty of highs to appreciate about it.

5 𓆏 Fire Sanctuar꧃y

Link vs Ghirahim

The second to last dungeon in Skyward Sword, the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fire Sanctuary is more of an earth temple than it is a fire temple. It’s also a narrative turning point for Link. After putting himse🐓lf through hell to save Zelda and losing to Ghirahim earlier in the game, Link readies himself for a second rematch.

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Recommended Gear:

  • Goddess Shield
  • Large Quiver
  • Large Bomb Bag
  • Life Medal x2
  • Heart Medal
  • Heart Potion x2

The Fire Sanctuary itself is a dense dungeon with great visuals, making use of a wide variety of LInk’s tool kit. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ghirahim’s second fight also stands out as one of the best boss fights in t🌃he game, with plenty of great puzzles leading up to the battle. Unfortunately, the Fire Sanctuary suffers thanks toജ the underwhelming Mole Mitts. They aren’t enough to hurt the dungeon, but they don’t add too much either.

4 𝓰 Skyview Temple

Skyview Temple

Skyview Temple is one of the best first dungeons in a Zelda game, rivaling the likes of Majora’s Mask’s Woodfall Temple and Twilight Princess’ Forest Temple. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Skyview Temple features thought-provoking puzzles de🐲signed around Link’s swordplay and its innovative dungeo🍌n item, the Beetle.

Recommended Gear:

  • Wooden Shield
  • Heart Potion x2

Players can aim the Beetle and control it mid-air, using it to pick up items and hit switches from afar. Skyview Temple innovates on the smallest aspects of 3D Zelda dungeon design, from puzzles to combat. Even the boss battle, Ghirahim, is one giant puzzle fight where players are forced to understand how to use their sword. Skyward Sword has a rough start, but it’s worth itꩲ just to get to Skyview.

3 Sandship

Sandship

The Sandship is an incredibly novel dungeon in concept alone – a ship forgotten by time that players can shift between eras by hitting Timeshift Stones. The Sandship’s🍬 dungeon item is the Bow, offering Link a bette🍨r alternative to his Slingshot that can snipe enemies from across the screen.

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Recommended Gear:

  • Goddess Shield
  • Large Bombg Bag
  • Life Medal x2
  • Potion Medal
  • Heart Potion x2

Although Skyward Sword’s motion controls aren’t as well implemented as Twilight Princess’ were, the Sandship makes great use of the item and always gives players enough time to position their shots. The dungeon itself is also one of the more thought-provoking in the game, forcing players to understand the layout and how it changes with Timeshift Stones. While Tentalus may be an easier figh🔯t, the sheer scope of the presentation makes it one of Skyward Sword’s most iconic.

2 Sky Keep

Sky Keep

The Sky Keep is the final dungeon in Skyward Sword and doesn’t actually feature a dungeon item or a boss fight. All the same, it’s one of the most thought-provoking dungeons in the series and a genuinely intelligent display of level design on The Legend of Ze🎃lda’s part. Sky Keep features a sliding panel puzzle that completely changes the layout of the dungeon, requiring players to have an intimate understanding of the dungeon’s rooms and how they interact with one another.

Recommended Gear:

  • Goddess Shield/Hylian Shield
  • Large Quiver
  • Life Medal x2
  • Potion Medal
  • Heart Potions x3

The Sky Keep lifts its set pieces from every single dungeon in the game, making use of all thꦯe tools Link has acquired over the course of his adventure. In lieꦗu of boss fights, the Sky Keep also makes use of extensive mini-bosses, including a particularly tense encounter where Link has to fight his way to the Triforce of Courage.

1 🐟 Ancient Cistern ♑

Skyward Sword

The 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ancient Cistern is a masterclass of level design and easily the best dungeon in Skyward Sword. The Whi🍃p is an incredible item that makes great use of the Wiimote and the puzzles inside the Cistern pull from most of Link’s tool kit up to that point. The fact Ancient Cistern is also directly inspired by “The Spider’s Thread,” a Japanese short story by Ryunosuke Akutagawa.

Recommended Gear:

  • Goddess Shield
  • Large Bomb Bag
  • Life Medal
  • Heart Medal
  • Heart Potion x3

The Ancient Cistern’s beautiful presentation is only compounded by its variety, going through distinct visual stages as Link explores the dungeon. Best of all, the Ancient Cistern ends with the single best boss fight in the game. The battle against Koloktos is a tense sword fight w♎here you need to aim your strikes car𒐪efully, eventually giving Link the opportunity to quite literally tear Koloktos apart.

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