Goron City
Trek up to the top of the map. Show the guard at the gate Zelda's letter. It says, "This is Link…He is under my orders to save Hyrule". How embarrassing.
The guard also brings up a new quest for Link; to go to the Happy Mask Shop in the market and give it to him. This can dealt with later.
After going through the gate, Link will encounter a new type of monster - the Tektite. These crab-like creatures jump very high, and on top of that they're very annoying. Let Link banish them with his sword like the master he is and carry on down the path.
In time, he'll come across a strange, orange-coloured guy twice his size standing beside what looks like a cave with its entrance blocked by boulders. He'll tell Link about his race, the Gorons. He talks about how a huge boulder blocks the entrance to Dodongo's Cavern. This is Link's next dungeon, of sorts, but he can't go in it yet because it's, well, blocked. Instead, turn around and head up the ramp. Keep following the trail; don't go up the side of the mountain yet. Link's goal for the moment is to get to Goron City.
There'll be rolling Gorons as he makes his way to the city, so be sure to keep an eye out for them. Once inside Goron City, jump off level after level until Link gets to the bottom. There'll be a Goron sitting outside a door with a mat in front of it; stand on it and play Zelda's Lullaby – Left, Up, Right, Left, Up, Right. The door will open with the classic Zelda tinkle, so head on in.
There's a buff-looking Goron here who's the boss of ‘em all. His name's Darunia and he's clouded in depression over the Dodongos (giant lizard-like monsters) that are infesting the cavern called, erm, 'Dodongo's' Cavern. Make him frightfully cheerful by playing Saria's Song in front of him – that's Down, Right, Left, Down, Right, Left. Watch him dance manically for several real-time minutes while saying things such as “oooh” and “that's hot!!”. Saria's Song is catchy, but this has really got to be a first.
Darunia's depression leaves him in the blink of an eye and he gives Link a Goron Bracelet in his blind moment of euphoria and massive adrenaline rush. Link can now pick up bomb flowers, those funny things the player has probably seen growing about the city. Be careful though – these things will blow up after a few seconds, whether Link has let go of them or not.
Take out a Deku Stick and light it using a lit torch in Darunia's room. Run out of the room and light the two torches at the entrance on the bottom floor of the city. Press A for Link to take out his sword and preserve the stick.
Light a stick once more using one of the torches and hold it against one of the two bomb flowers on either side of a blocked passageway. Once the boulder blows up Link will have access to the Goron Shop. Buy a Red Potion for forty Rupees if the player wishes to – it works similar to Lon Lon milk, but Link can only drink it once. Exit the shop after he's done shopping.
Equip the stick again, and this time run it through one of the torches Link just lit to the two torches at the other end. The huge urn in the middle of the room will begin spinning, so light a stick once more and head up the stairs.
Once Link is level with the head, it's clear that there's a hole inside. Light the two torches to Link's right and use the bombs through the passage here to blow up the boulders. Congratulations, you've now created a handy shortcut to the Lost Woods! This will be immensely useful for a quest called Biggoron Sword, which the player may or may not wish to check out later. The quest guide will be here.
Optional: Piece of Heart
Run over to the stairs that continue up to the next level. There'll be a bomb flower here, so pick it up and situate Link so that he's standing beside the fence in front of the stairs. The urn has three faces: one grim, one mildly happy and one happy. Once the happy face is facing him, throw the bomb flower. It should land inside the urn, explode, and grant Link Rupees and a Piece of Heart!
Remember, if the urn has its grim face turned Link's way when he reaches the edge, throw the bomb away and get another one. There's not much time to sit around and wait for the urn to complete its turn.
Head up the stairs to the top level. The exit is to the south of the map, so go through there to end up back on the Death Mountain Trail. Turn right as soon as you see a path to find a lone Goron and a Bomb Flower sitting at the edge. If I recall correctly, Dodongo's Cavern was down there. Hmm…
Don't bother talking to the Goron here – he's a lazy guy, as it will soon be shown. Pick up the bomb flower and throw it over the low fence. Don't worry about aiming, because all the player has to do is throw straight. The boulder in front of Dodongo's Cavern will blow up, so Link's way is now cleared. Did you see that, Goron? A kid's smarter than you.
The player can trek all the way back down to the cavern, but killing two birds with one stone is just so much more fun. Get the bomb flower out of the way and, facing away from the edge, hold down L and push down so that Link backflips. Whee! It's a shortcut, and not only that…Link gets a Piece of Heart!
Once you're ready, venture into the cavern.
Link ends up in a disappointingly tiny and boring place. Toss a bomb flower growing conveniently here at the wall opposite that looks a little funny. Voila – Dodongo's Cavern! Link's way is now cleared, so now he can begin his second dungeon!
Dodongo's Cavern
Navi warns Link, saying to look out for the lava. Eh, lava. It only takes away half a heart at a time anyway, right?
Go across the bridge and jump onto the rising platform. Make sure to jump off when it's somewhat level with the large platform in the centre of the room, otherwise Link can fall to the lava.
When Link reaches the middle platform successfully, he'll find a new enemy…the Beamos!
The Beamos shoots nasty beams that reach uncomfortable distances, so it's a good idea to get off the platform as soon as possible. Link can either jump off like I did and miss the ground entirely (bah, who needs ground when you have lava?) or take the safer option and ride the rising platform to the left of the Beamos. If the player decides to do just jump down Link will have to climb a ladder, but either way he'll end up in the same place.
On this ledge, there's another Beamos. Do not fear – it's possible to kill it now! Toss a bomb at its ugly mechanical-like body and watch as its head explodes last. Unfortunately, these guys don't seem to enjoy dropping goodies so Link will have to make do without them.
At the far alcove there's a Business Scrub who Link can do business with by rebounding its Deku Nuts in the same way as with every other Scrub. Remember to swap to the Deku Shield before doing this.
All the Business Scrub sells is a Deku Shield for fifty Rupees, which Link doesn't really need. If the player wants it buy one, otherwise head over to the right side of the ledge. Bomb the inconspicuous secret wall here to receive the Dungeon Map. Hooray!
Hop down and go back to the centre platform with the mean Beamos. This time, ride the rising platform to the right to end up on a ledge nearly identical to the latter. Bomb the Beamos and the wall beside it. If desired, Link can head over to the far alcove for a Gossip Stone. If he's low on hearts and the player doesn't want to use the potion or milk, which is wise, play Epona's Song or Zelda's Lullaby in front of it to receive a recovery fairy (Up, Left, Right, Up, Left, Right and Left, Up, Right, Left, Up, Right respectively).
After business is finished, head over to the wall Link just bombed. Go on through to be attacked by Baby Dodongos. They're not hard to kill, but they explode a few seconds after death so Link will have to back away a bit.
Defeating the Baby Dodongos along the way, run through the corridor to a barred door with two weird pig-like statues on either side. There's a switch between them that opens the door when stepped on, but unfortunately Link has to stay on it for it to work. Because being in two places at once is not physically possible, push one of the statues on top of the switch and go through the door.
Linkk will end up in a short corridor with two jars and two Keese. Kill the Keese if you want, otherwise continue through the door on the other side.
The door locks behind Link and he's met with very creepy cries. This place is, in its entirety, platforms floating on lava with a huge something smack in the middle. You can see two strange, overgrown lizards dancing around the platforms – they're the ones that are emitting the cries, and Link is definitely going to have to kill them.
Go over to one or wait for them to come to Link. These Lizalfos may seem difficult to kill, but if you know what to do it's fairly simple. Keep L-Targeting on one of them and get in as many slashes as you can before the Lizalfo dishes out a stab as well. As soon as the Lizalfo leaps into the air, quickly get rid of L-Targeting and run away. It'll land behind Link like the classic moves ninjas make in movies and try and hit him, so it's a good idea to not be there when that happens. An easier option is to just shield Link with the Hylian Shield, which will protect him even if the Lizalfos is behind him.
After hitting them enough times, they run off to another platform. Just chase them and finish them off. Once they're both defeated, the door Link left and the door he hasn't been to yet will both unlock. Congratulations!
Enter the door Link hasn't been through yet. This is a strange room with pillars so that it's difficult to see around, and the dreaded Dodongos. No, it's true, they aren't so scary. They're especially slow, so that's good.
There are three of these green reptiles, so L-Target one and take your time. These guys don't get aggravated easily like Lizalfos and Keese do, so don't have to worry about the others.
To defeat the Dodongo, the first rule is to keep it L-Targeted. That way, when it breathes fire at Link, he can just sidle over to its tail with ease and hit it; the tail is the only part where damage can be dealt. Step backwards quickly, otherwise Link will either get swiped by the Dodongo's tail as it whips around or get burnt by its fiery breath. Continue this until it's defeated and blows up, then do the same with the rest. Now, light the three unlit torches in a row with the lit torch at the entrance. This will unlock the door at the other end, which leads back to the main room.
Link seems to be above the room he first started off at. Step on the switch in front of him to make a door on the other side of the main room become unbarred, and head over to it.
The Compass
This place is lined with bomb flowers. Go to the left and bomb the wall with the lonely bomb flower beside it. Open the door that is revealed. The door becomes barred behind Link, and he's met with three of the pig-like statues blocking the way to a chest. This time, it's not quite the simple matter of pulling a statue out of the way, because these are alive - they're called Armos, and at the slightest touch they come to life and crash about rather rapidly.
The easiest way to defeat the Armos would probably be to blow it up with a bomb flower that is provided in this room. Place a bomb in front of the middle Armos, then run back to the bomb flower and pick another one up. Wait for the bomb in front of the Armos to explode - this will make it come to life and stampede in Link's direction. Throw the bomb flower Link is holding at it to make the Armos go crazy - just stay out of the way or shield Link with the Hylian Shield, and the Armos will be defeated.
Open the chest for the compass, then leave the way you came.
The Bomb Bag
Now place the lone bomb flower from before in the centre of the row of bombs, where there's a gap large enough to fit another bomb flower. There'll be a domino-like explosion, resulting in stairs lowering to accommodate people.
Take one painful step at a time as Link struggles to climb the huge beasts, then head around the ledge to the vines in front of the door. Defeat the two Skullwalltulas and Gold Skulltula climbing the vines here, and then climb the vines to collect the token.
Go through the door, which becomes barred. Kill the two Fire Keese in here first, either with the Slingshot or sword. They need to be out of the way.
There are four Armos in this room, but don't panic. The one blocking the ladder to the platform in the middle of the room isn't alive, so Link can pull it away to climb up the ladder and step on the switch there. When defeating the Armos, just use the Bomb Flower method and everything will be fine.
Both doors in the room will become unlocked once Link steps on the switch, so go ahead and go through the door he hasn't visited yet.
There's a long bridge here. Walk across to the other side through to a strange place. Climb down the ladder carefully - make sure that the Blade Trap rushing along the path just below Link's feet is out of the way when he runs past to safety.
L-Target to look around corners to watch out for Blade Traps. The next one goes slowly to the right, and super speedy to the left. As soon as it passes Link hurry forward and climb the box here to a ladder. Jump off this tiny ledge to a platform with a bomb flower and a chest. The chest holds a Red Rupee...hooray!
Throw the bomb flower at the blocked path above the ladder. Make sure to keep a hold on it for several seconds or until it begins to blink rapidly so that it will blow up when it's near the boulder blocking the path, otherwise the bomb flower could fall off the small ledge and explode uselessly on the ground.
Climb back up the ladder to the next area. There's an eye directly opposite with high flames blocking the path beneath it. Shoot the eye with the Slingshot to get rid of the fire, then hurry past it - there's a time limit.
This place has another two Lizalfos, but Link is too good for them. Defeat them to unlock the door that hasn't been visited yet to be met with more flame and another eye. Shoot the eye opposite Link to get rid of the flames on the platform in front of him. Jump on, then look into the alcove to the left. There's another eye here, so it's fairly safe to say that shooting it will suffice. And indeed, the flames at the other end disappear, so jump the rest of the way to the next corridor.
Hop across more platforms until Link reaches a chest. Voila - he got a Bomb Bag! Now he doesn't have to rely on Bomb Flowers.
Nearing the Boss
Go through yet another corridor and step on the switch located here. The rising platform from before now rises even higher. As Navi says so helpfully, this means that it can now take Link a level higher. Simply, it means that you don't have to worry about falling to the bottom floor and having to go all the way up again.
Jump across mroe platforms to a chest. Voila - Bomb Bag! Now Link doesn't have to rely on Bomb Flowers. Go through yet another corridor and step on the switch located here. The rising platform from previously rises even higher now, and as Navi says, it can take you to a level higher. Simply put, this means that you don't have to fear about falling off and having to go all the way through the cavern again.
Turn right and go across another long bridge. Bomb the wall at the other side - looks hot! Open the chest for a Blue Rupee, then turn your attention to the two large gaps in this bridge. Funnily enough, they both overlook each eye socket of the giant Dodongo head below. The sockets glow red and its nasty mouth opens, so go on through.
There's a switch in the middle of the room to unlock a barred door, but it needs a weight. So instead, go through the rocky passageway to the right and head over to the end of the room. Bomb the wall here and go through the door if you want a Gold Skulltula. It's skulking behind an Armos, so defeat that first before Link collects his prize. Leave the room.
This time, climb the ledge nearest to Link and onto the box to get onto the upper ledge. Walk across to the space that was previously unreachable, and jump down. There's a fairy in a pot here if the player wishes to catch or use it, otherwise carry on through the corridor.
There's a block here that overlooks the room with the switch. Push the block off the edge and onto the switch - the door opens, so go through it.
There's a chest on the other side of the room that contains bomb if Link's low on them. Bomb the funny patch in the middle of the room and jump on in to fight the King of Reptiles!
INFERNAL DINOSAUR: KING DODONGO
Size isn't everything. Just keep the oversized reptile L-Targeted all the time and back away slowly as he advances. Once he stops, hurry forwards. Wait for him to open his mouth to suck air in, then throw a bomb into it. Link really can't miss. Get rid of L-Targeting and run to either the edge of the pit of lava where it begins to turn red or one of the corners, keeping your Hylian Shield wielded for maximum protection. When he rolls past, chase after him. He'll stop at the end of each wall so repeat. This boss battle is really just reptition, so once you get it right the first time, you're in control. Collect the Heart Container once Link defeats King Dodongo.
A cutscene involving Darunia now plays. The Goron leader is simply ecstatic, and tells Link that he is now a brother. It sounds a little dodgy, but in the midst of receiving the Goron's Ruby - aka the Spiritual Stone of Fire - all is forgotten.
Not for long, however. A group of Gorons begin closing in on Link, ready to give him a big Goron hug. The poor boy runs away screaming.
Part 4: Kakariko Village Part 5: Zora's Domain
