Daily Debate: Which Bestial Form of Ganon is Your Favorite?
Posted on October 17 2021 by Sean Gadus
Ganon is one of the most iconic villains in video game history, but the character has been quite a chameleon over the decades. Unlike fellow Nintendo antagonist Bowser, the Great King of Evil has taken vastly different forms throughout his glorious and destructive history. Ganon’s first appearance on NES was as a monstrous porcine beast, but the antagonist has morphed from bestial to humanoid depending on the game. While Ganon’s human form (often referred to as Ganondorf) has become very popular since its debut in Ocarina of Time, his bestial appearance is something that sets the series apart from other fantasy video games.
With this in mind, which bestial form of Ganon is your favorite? There are a variety of different bestial or non-humanoid designs for Ganon. A Link to the Past‘s Ganon retained the bestial characteristics of its predecessor, but the character added a elaborate cloak and a devastating trident. Ocarina of Time‘s Ganon is a towering beast with two deadly sword; a creature that used the scale of a 3D game to great effect. Ganondorf’s transformation into Ganon is one of the most iconic scenes in Ocarina of Time, complete with a terrifying scream of rage from the antagonist. The Wind Waker included the grotesque Puppet Ganon, who stands out as one of the most interest boss designs in the series. The creature includes three distinct forms including boar, spider, and snake.
In Twilight Princess, Ganon spends one phase of his boss fight as a massive boar with enormous tusks. The boss is one of the largest iterations of Ganon, and the fight requires the player to transform into Wolf Link to defeat it. One of the latest variations on Ganon was Yuga Ganon from A Link Between Worlds. The fusion of Ganon and Yuga, the character retained many of his characteristics of the character from A Link to the Past but added Yuga’s wild hairstyle and purple skin. The most recent iterations of Ganon were the versions seen in Breath of the Wild. The spider-like form of Calamity Ganon is a horrifying mix of a living creature and a Guardian. Dark Beast Ganon (the final boss of Breath of the Wild) is a classic boar, though the fight is so disappointing that seeing the familiar porcine form cannot make up for the battle’s shortcomings.
What is your favorite bestial form of Ganon? Is there one we have not mentioned that is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!
Featured Art: Pooka Doodle
Sean Gadus is a Senior Editor at Zelda Dungeon. His first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time, and he loves all of the 3D Zelda games from 1998-2011. He is currently replaying the narrative ghost story Oxenfree, and taking his first stab at playing Dark Souls. He wants to help build a kinder, more compassionate world. You can check out his other written work at The-Artifice.com.
