The Dungeon Design of A Link to the Past- ALL DUNGEONS Examined

RE-UPLOAD ALERT: Hi friends! This is another re-upload / compilation video! BUT WITH A TWIST! I have actually ADDED an entirely new section at the end of the video, examining The Palace of the Four Sword, which I did not cover at all during my original run of Dungeon Design in A Link to the Past. So, hey, this is both a compilation AND new content! A few things to note. I began production into this series originally in February of 2023, and as you'd expect given that time window, Tears of the Kingdom released about halfway through production of the series. If I recall correctly, I was working on the video for Thieves' Town when TOTK launched. That said, I pushed through and continued covering this game, and tried juggling that with TOTK content, with mixed success. I'm still, overall very proud of how this series turned out, I think the finished products are some of my best work ever, with narration that I'm actually happy with, a custom 3D intro I made in Blender, and overall pretty refined editing. A teensy thing that bugs me though is that it took until the dark world dungeons for me to notice that I'd been recording footage in 30FPS (frames per second) when the game actually runs at 60FPS! So, you may notice a jump in the smoothness of the footage around the Palace of Darkness section. Anyways, that's enough rambling, I hope you enjoy revisiting the dungeons of A Link to the Past! EDIT: Hey, don't worry, I know you can use magic powder on fire-fairies aka anti-fairies. There's text on screen at 19:12 acknowledging that, but even then it goes by fast and I gloss over it, so that is on me for not being clear enough. My reason for including that line about them in the script is because it is highly unlikely that players are going to even have magic powder at this point of the game, unless they have prior knowledge/experience and go pretty far out of their way to get it. I myself almost never bother grabbing the magic powder that early, instead getting it at the same time I go up to get the flippers. But technically you could I suppose, so I probably should have been more clear in my original script about that instead of just breezing past it. Thanks still for watching!

I can't wait to fall asleep to this, then wake up and rewind it then go back to sleep, then repeat this for 6 nights until i finally finish it

Always a pleasure to work with you Daniel. When things are more stable for me, we should do more together. Thanks again.

That block puzzle in the Ice Cavern is why I always do Misery Mire first and use the Cane of Somaria and make a block that way.

A small note for the Desert Palace and the Tower of Hera, Noting the color of the pendants you get actually gives you a clue as to why certain design choices were made. The Desert Palace is mode about exploration and thinking, solving puzzles and as you said, unravelling the cord. This is because this place is meant to be a test of your wisdom, not really your combat ability. Where as the Tower of Hera is built like a straight gauntlet, because it's asking you to prove your battle prowess, and ability to think on the fly while in combat.

Always thought it was a weird choice to have a defence buff in the Ice Palace when the Ice Rod is literally stuck in some random cave somewhere.

My six year old has a review for you: “The dungeon design videos are MY FAVORITE.” Thanks for these long compilation videos! They’re soothing and safe choice for when this mama needs a mid-day nap!

1:05:42 I'm pretty sure those spikes are there to prevent you from running up behind the Helmasaur King and trying to stab him in the butt. After all, that's how you defeat the smaller helmasaurs before you get the hammer, and a non-creative player might have never thought to hammer them in the face after obtaining it to make the connection on breaking the King's mask. I imagine that playtesters kept trying to run back there and the spikes were placed to prevent them trying to get behind the boss and dying to no avail because that isn't actually his gimmick.

ooh the "all dungeon" series compilations are getting into the 2d Zeldas , this day is getting better and better

The rebound from the Pegasus Boots collision is used in the base game to access a resupply room in Ganon's Tower.

1:08:48 - I think for me, I figured it out because the trim on the floor didn't wrap against the wall clued me in. That and the Eyegore statue being bright cyan just invites you to interact with it. Also, this series is what made me first realize the details in the map screen on the left-hand segment: they're somewhat themed to that specific dungeon (ie: the Tower of Hera having a mountain background, Misery Mire being on water instead of ground etc.) and the basement levels are below the horizon line (the Ice Palace being the most prominent example). I can't believe I never caught that for over 30 years.

I like goofy burger worm boss too. I think it's a fun challenge prioritizing both your health and the need to stay in the ring focusing on the boss and it's movements to get clear shots at it's weak point whenever possible while avoiding it's attacks.

2:43:43 There's actually one other creature in the game, besides Ganon, which is both vulnerable to silver arrows and doesn't die in one hit to them. That's Vitreous, the boss of Misery Mire. Of course, under normal gameplay it's impossible to do this, since you need the crystals from both Kholdstare and Vitreous in order to unlock the big bomb to get the Silver Arrows. But if you do have them, Vitreous actually takes 2 whole shots to go down!

I love these Compilations, there great to pass the time and learn lots about Zelda Dungeons all at once.

Ahh alttp. Sadly I can only play it on emulator but that also gives the fun of doing randomizers

I really enjoyed this video. I hope Link Between Worlds is on your list as well.

Looking forward to rewatching these are the type of videos I appreciate the most and seeing you're perspective on there is pretty cool.

Maybe Aonuma should take a look at this series instead of reductively accusing the fans interest in dungeons to just "nostalgia".

I... never noticed how important the central room is to Zelda's dungeon design. The only post-LTTP dungeon that comes to mind without one is the Shadow Temple from OoT. Every time I think I've thought of one, I remember something like "wait, no, Jabu-Jabu's belly loops back around to the lift room constantly" or think "wait, nevermind, the Divine Beasts are basically one big central room and nothing else."

I've never played the Palace of the Four Sword and I want to so bad 😭😭😭