The countdown continues! My weekly adventures through Ocarina of Time‘s dungeons have brought me to the last of the Child Link trilogy, and what a note to go out on.
For those who missed the previous two editions, I’m revisiting one OoT dungeon each week, neatly leading me up to the grand finale on launch week for the Switch 2 remake.
With the Great Deku Tree and Dodongo’s Cavern out of the way, it’s time to dive into Zora’s Domain.
As ever, I’m going into dungeon specifics here, so if you’ve never played OoT before and you are saving yourself for the remake, just know that there are spoilers ahead!
OoT Dungeon Crawl #3 – Inside Jabu-Jabu’s Belly
Remember last week when I said that “even my less-preferred Zelda dungeons are still a damn good time”? I’d like to formally rescind that statement.
I do not like Inside Jabu-Jabu’s Belly, and I rarely have a good time playing it. In fact, I might go out on a limb here and say that it’s my least favourite dungeon in the entire game — we’ll see if that holds true for the rest of the replay, but I’ll keep my flag planted there for now.
It’s a strange one, because I genuinely love the concept. Being swallowed by the giant water beast is one of those ideas that feels fine-tuned for childhood trauma. One step inside, and the vibe is made immediately clear: this place is designed to make me squirm at every stage.
Honestly, it hits that brief pretty much from start to finish. The giant teeth behind Link upon arrival make me strangely claustrophobic, the squelch of every door makes my skin crawl, and the constantly pulsating walls have me turning up my nose even as I think about them to write this.
In contrast to last week’s Dodongo’s Cavern, this dungeon’s style is one of its best features (the mere thought of seeing it reimagined in HD has me taking shallow breaths into a paper bag). It’s just a shame that nearly everything else bugs me to no end.
With its narrow corridors (intestines?) and roster of electrical enemies, Jabu-Jabu feels more like a gauntlet than a puzzle box. Every time I enter this dungeon, I give one of the opening Biri enemies a cursory knock with my slingshot, just to confirm that the gits can’t be taken out that way. Likewise, I’ll be hit by at least one bubble-like Shabom in the tight corners. And the less said about those pesky Stingers, the better.
All of this makes the opening run to the Boomerang just feel a bit… repetitive. Dodge the enemies, press the switches, and get out of there before anything can sneak up behind you.
The sinkhole room remains the bane of my existence. I never pick the right drop the first time, and the climb back up to the top floor is as tedious as it gets. Getting back up there just to be immediately stung by a Biri hardly helps my enjoyment.
It’s made all the worse because 75% of the exploration is a damn escort mission. Yes, it’s time to address the Zora in the room: carrying Princess Ruto sucks. I don’t like manoeuvring NPCs from A to B at the best of times, but the fact that Ruto needs to be carried takes things up a notch on the nuisance scale.
And it’s not like the dungeon’s puzzles are built around this hindrance, either. If it worked as a progression, showing you how to solve a room before adding the challenge of carrying Ruto down the line, then I might be more on board with it.
Instead, it’s a repeated case of ‘pick princess up, enter room, put princess down, solve puzzle, repeat’. The double- and constant-weight switches go some way towards building some puzzle development (I particularly like the final one you need to do without Ruto, making use of the boxes behind you), but it still doesn’t feel like enough to me.
The lack of a central puzzle is the big letdown here. The Deku Tree had the web-covered hole; Dodongo’s Cavern had the skull in the entrance hall. The electric tentacles are the closest thing here, but they never feel quite as cohesive — I always stumble across the rooms they’re in, rather than having to do any real thinking to get there.
Hey, at least the boss battle is an improvement over last week — I like the concept of the Dodongo encounter, but man, it gets repetitive fast. Despite my gripes, I’m a fan of the Barinade fight. It might not be quite as badass as chucking a bomb into a giant dragon’s mouth, but it has enough variety that it feels like you’re always on the back foot, working out what to do next while the threat of electricity circles overhead.
I’m particularly fond of the opening phase, where you have to cut the boss down from the ceiling by using your knowledge of how the Boomerang works on fragile electric tendrils. The dungeon teaching you how to defeat the boss? There’s the classic Zelda puzzling I know and love.
Remake Reflections
Without making some pretty drastic remake changes, I think this one might always be at the bottom of my list. I’d like to think that the Switch 2 version will give Princess Ruto a little more agency — making her less reliant on being carried would be a start — and perhaps some more tendril telegraphing could help the place feel a little more puzzley in the process.
Otherwise, give me a damn lift back up to the sinkhole floor. I’m begging you.
Fortunately, I’m off to one of my very favourite dungeons next week. I’ve got a lot of growing up to do before then (seven years of it, to be precise), but I’ll catch you next time for some forest fun.
