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Hi. My name's Mark and this is Boss Keys.

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I'm researching the dungeon design in the[br]Legend of Zelda franchise, to see how Nintendo

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creates these imaginative spaces.

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This time, I'm playing the GameCube and Wii[br]game Twilight Princess - though, I used the

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HD remaster on Wii U for this video.

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To me, the real strength of The Legend of[br]Zelda: Twilight Princess is giving each dungeon

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a unique personality and providing iconic[br]moments that stick in your brain.

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Moments like waking on the ceiling, skateboarding[br]around a temple, and basically just being

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Spider-Man.

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These enjoyable moments maybe hide the fact[br]that these dungeons have moved far away from

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the intricate level design of classic Zelda.

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Or the fact that almost all of the dungeons[br]in this game are eerily similar in their design.

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Let me show you what I mean, starting with[br]the Forest Temple.

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Here, you work your way into this nice central[br]room, and find three directions that you can

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take. Left and up happen to be dead ends so[br]you go right, and explore the east wing of

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the dungeon to save a monkey. Then you come[br]back to the central room and can now access

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the west wing of the dungeon to save more[br]monkeys. You come back to the central room

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again, and now have enough monkeys to go up.[br]Okay?

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Now, look at City in the Sky. It's the same.[br]And so is Arbiter's Grounds. And Lakebed Temple

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is almost identical but here, the boss door[br]is in the central room itself. Snowpeak Ruins

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and Palace of Twilight have slightly different[br]directions, but this knotted structure where

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you come to the central room three times is[br]the same.

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And, so, what does this mean? Well, I'm not[br]saying that Nintendo was lazy or that this

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makes Twilight Princess crap. I mean, I never[br]realised the full extent of their similarities

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until I started mapping the dungeons out for[br]this series so it didn't immediately impact

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my enjoyment back in 2006.

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But it does, perhaps, explain why the dungeons[br]all feel a bit unremarkable, and why we remember

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them for their atmosphere, boss fights, and[br]crazy moments, instead of the actual intricacies

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of their level design.

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It also makes the game feel a bit flat, with[br]no real progression in the complexity of the

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game's dungeons. Though, there are a few anomalies:[br]the second dungeon, Goron Mines, is a lot

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more linear. And the final dungeon offers[br]a bit more choice. And then there's the Temple

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of Time which - well, I'll come back to that.

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Now, this repeated structure - on its own[br]merits - is actually pretty good. I mean,

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they replicated it six times for a reason.

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For one, it splits the dungeon into small[br]chunks that can be accomplished in isolation.

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In one of these chunks you might turn a giant[br]water wheel, track down a ghost, or play with fans.

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In most cases, those chunks can then safely be[br]ignored altogether once you've finished exploring

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that area - which stops the dungeon from ballooning[br]out into this massively complex space that you

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need to traverse. There's nothing stopping[br]you from going back to an older chunk, but

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nothing pushing you there either.

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This structure also keeps the player focused[br]on their long-term goal in the central room,

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which might involve pouring in water so you[br]can swim to the boss door, defeating poes

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to light these four torches, or finding Yeta's[br]bedroom key.

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And by repeatedly bringing the player back[br]to that previously explored room, it feels

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less linear than just putting the chunks in[br]a big row, one after the other - which is

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effectively how you're going to play them.[br]But when set up like this, you get a hint

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of that lovely Zelda-like sensation of carefully[br]unpicking a dungeon's knot.

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Now, while the layouts are similar, these[br]dungeons do have some tweaks that make

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them feel different to play - and a lot of[br]it comes down to the criteria I laid out when

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talking about "find the path" and "follow[br]the path" dungeons in the previous episode.

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Well, there aren't many branching paths, outside[br]of the multiple doors in those central rooms.

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And there aren't many choices to make, outside[br]of some monkey business in the forest temple.

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But the backtracking and hand-holding stuff[br]does play a role.

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So, I kinda lied about the Forest Temple.[br]Once you get the Gale Boomerang from the north

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section, you actually do go back to the east[br]wing to access this final chunk and fight

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the boss. And so you have to backtrack to[br]this area and it's up to you to remember where

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However! The game does something very simple[br]but rather clever to help you do so. Earlier

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in the dungeon, when you're trying to unlock[br]this door, you need to divert from your path

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to get a key - which just[br]so happens to be in a room that is otherwise

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inaccessible because this bridge is facing[br]the wrong way.

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Later, you get the Boomerang and use it to[br]twist some bridges, and hopefully you put

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two and two together and think "aha!", I should[br]check out that room again. So the game placed

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a key to ensure every single player has visited[br]that backtracking point, and has the opportunity

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to add it to their mental map.

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Smart stuff.

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Lakebed Temple is another dungeon that trusts[br]you to figure stuff out. And this time, it

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pulls on the stuff we talked about waaaay[br]back in the Majora's Mask episode, about considering

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these dungeons as massive interconnected pieces[br]of architecture.

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The central room has a staircase that can[br]be rotated in 90 degree notches. Because of

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these walls, you need to twist and climb this[br]staircase carefully to get around them and

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access the different doors in the central[br]room. And you need to use the staircase to

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send water from one side of the dungeon to[br]the other, because the water turns a waterwheel

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that was previously blocking your path.

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That's a wonderful eureka moment and part[br]of why Lakebed is my favourite dungeon in

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this game.

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There's also a brilliant second puzzle where[br]you deliver water to the other side of the

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dungeon but it's just for some optional item.[br]That would have been a great place for the

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boss key, if you ask me.

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Anyway, the other dungeons are far less trusting[br]and essentially guide you through the loopy

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structure - a lot like the Temple of Droplets[br]dungeon from Minish Cap, actually, which also

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shares this layout. Hmmm.

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So yeah, in Arbiter's Grounds, the rooms lead[br]you through the east wing and bring you back

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to the central room - but now on the second[br]floor so you can hop on over to the west wing...

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where you get lead back around to the central room[br]again.

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in Snowpeak Ruins, Yeta literally draws markers[br]on your map to tell you where to go, and she unlocks

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one door after the other, which is all, to be[br]honest, a bit crap. And then you get to the

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sliding block puzzles and, remind me why people[br]love this dungeon again?

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Okay, so using the cannons to smash ice is[br]kinda cool. And the dungeon is less obviously

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split into chunks than the others because[br]it's laid out like an actual mansion rather

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than four long corridors like most of the[br]other dungeons.

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So you'll find yourself skipping back over[br]to previous chunks to pick up a cannonball.

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And then getting that cannonball to the cannon[br]involves a tiiiiny bit of spatial reasoning

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which... well, i'll take what I can get at[br]this point in the Zelda series.

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Sadly, the cannon stuff is pretty quickly[br]sidelined when you get the key item: the Ball

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and Chain which is used to waste enemies and[br]smash ice.

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Generally, though, Twilight Princess does[br]a good job of showing you the benefits of

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each dungeon's item by giving you enemies[br]that are a pain to kill with your current

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tools - and then effortless to defeat with[br]the new item. And the item also lets you get around

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the dungeon more easily: the Clawshot, for[br]example, makes the central room of the Lakebed

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Temple easier to traverse.

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Right. Temple of Time. Surprisingly, I don't[br]hate this dungeon! Commenters kept betting

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that I would because it is completely linear[br]but the dungeon is interesting because it

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leans heavily into that linearity. It does[br]something interesting with its straightforward design.

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So you go through the whole thing, solving[br]some puzzles and killing enemies. until you

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get to the end where you kill the mini boss,[br]get the dominion rod, and then take control

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of this massive statue. Now, the goal is to[br]bring the statue back to the beginning of

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the dungeon - now doing all the puzzles in[br]reverse and taking into account that you have

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to guide this heavy statue. It's not massively[br]challenging. but it is clever, it is interesting,

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and by golly it is different. Lots of bonus[br]points, right there.

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And Twilight Princess does have some good[br]puzzles! In Arbiter's Grounds it sets up this

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system where you pull a chain to lift a chandelier,[br]and then run under it before it smashes down

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on your head. Later, you do the same thing[br]but just wind up at a dead end. You've got

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to figure out that you need to drop the chandelier[br]on your bonce so you can climb up on top.

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That's a good'un. I also really liked these[br]swinging platforms in Snowpeak that you bat

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about with the Ball and Chain. Better than[br]a sliding block puzzle!

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I haven't shown any graphs in this episode[br]because, frankly, they're pretty boring in

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Twilight Princess. Forest Temple is probably[br]the most interesting but, for the most part,

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the graphs all look the same. Which makes[br]sense.

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In the Wind Waker episode I talked about warp[br]pots, which help you get from the beginning

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of the dungeon, to the middle, or to the boss[br]door. Twilight Princess doesn't have any of

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that stuff: probably because the looping structure[br]means everything is pretty close to the central

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room anyway. But more so because if you die,[br]the game just lets you retry from the last

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door you went through, rather than kicking[br]you to the beginning of the dungeon.

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Which, well, let's not get into a whole thing[br]on Nintendo and difficulty. But I will say

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that the bosses in this game are easier than[br]ever. They all use the key item from the dungeon,

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which makes them a bit trivial, and they all[br]telegraph moves and highlight their weak points

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super clearly. Oh, and this one is a total[br]Shadow of the Colossus rip-off, right?

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Bit cheeky.

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Commenters ask me to talk about the atmosphere[br]and aesthetics of the dungeons. and so, here we go:

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They're good! Right? They look nice,[br]they look different from one another, the

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music's good, and you can pretend that the[br]Zelda games have some kind of connected universe

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or lore or whatever by noticing all of the[br]interesting similarities to the Ocarina of

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Time dungeons.

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But yeah, Twilight Princess. I think these[br]dungeons are pretty good. Inoffensive, at

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least. They hide their simplicity better than[br]The Wind Waker, and are full of those

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memorable moments.

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But this is, ultimately, a long way from where[br]we started. This video series is about how

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Nintendo builds intricately designed spaces,[br]with clever architectural puzzles and interconnected

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layouts that test your spatial awareness.[br]And at this point... finding anything that

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speaks to that legacy is like picking for[br]scraps.

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Oh well. Next time on Boss Keys, grab your[br]sword and grab your stylus because we're going

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to find out how making your own maps affects[br]the dungeon design of The Legend of Zelda:

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Phantom Hourglass. And maybe Spirit Tracks.[br]We'll see.

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Boss Keys is made possible thanks to all of[br]my supporters on Patreon.