Ariel
Think for yourself.
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2010
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
Hi people.
I'm personally a great, big fan of Twilight Princess, but a lot of criticism is directed at the game, in particular, at its easy and uninspired boss battles. But what I'd like to posit with you, is that Twilight Princess did mini-bosses absolutely right. Better than basically most other Zelda games. Here's why:
Creativity and Difficulty:
Twilight Princess included with it some pretty creative mini-bosses. First was Ook, the monkey, which hopped around on pillars throwing a boomerang at you which included a game mechanic not used before in boss battles, rolling into things. Second was the Goron on the magnetic island thing, that mini-boss actually had a bit of a learning curve to it, and I would say it was harder than the actual boss. The Deku Toad in the lakebed temple was pretty standard for a boss, but the Death Sword in the Arbiter's Grounds was actually fairly good, requiring you to use both human and wolf Link. Darkhammer in the Snowpeak ruins was also unique in that it gave you basically the smallest space to fight a large enemy, this added an urgency to the battle and was definitely satisfying to complete. Darknuts in general a fairly difficult foes to defeat, especially encountering them for the first time at the top of the Temple Of Time. Same can be said about the Aerolfos in the City in the Sky, challenging and unique.
Secondly, Backstory:
Mini-bosses in Twilight Princess actually had backstories and sub-plots to them. I don't think this has been done before in a Zelda game. We learn of Ook of the Forest Temple for the first time before we even enter the dungeon, being introduced by the monkey you save at the beginning of the game in wolf-form. This mini-boss wasn't even bad, only infected by some insect.
The mini-boss of the Goron Mines also had a story. He was the guardian of the Hero's Bow, and wasn't even evil. He was a challenge for Link to overcome in order to be deemed worthy of the weapon of old.
The Death Sword of the Arbiter's Grounds also had a backstory. He/it was a monstrous demon locked away for years within the sword as he terrorised the people of the Gerudo Desert/Hyrule. This isn't even stated, its merely alluded to due to what we know of the Arbiter's Grounds being a prison for the worst of criminals and due to the sacred papers hanging from the ropes on the sword which sealed the demon within it.
There was even a back-story to Lord Bulbin, who was revealed to be not directly against Link, but merely a third party that did the bidding of the strongest side. He wasn't inherently evil but lacked fortitude in his morals. This is a significant departure for the Zelda series with its typically archetypal characters, i.e. evil people are just evil, and the good are just purely good and there's no grey area inbetween.
Now, in writing this, there's no real point to my argument other than to shed some light on one of the more overlooked aspects of Twilight Princess due to the constant criticism it gets from not being a bad game, but being held up to the standards of amazingly great games. If you say Twilight Princess had easy, uninspired bosses, I say, well at least they pushed the boundaries with their mini-bosses. If you were to make a top 10 list of mini-bosses, I'd say that at least a few of these guys would make it on that list. Also, this may go without saying, maybe most everyone agrees with this and I'm just shouting already known facts into an empty room. But if I have swayed you, good. Because Twilight Princess is often attacked for its weak points and not congratulated on its merits.
I'm personally a great, big fan of Twilight Princess, but a lot of criticism is directed at the game, in particular, at its easy and uninspired boss battles. But what I'd like to posit with you, is that Twilight Princess did mini-bosses absolutely right. Better than basically most other Zelda games. Here's why:
Creativity and Difficulty:
Twilight Princess included with it some pretty creative mini-bosses. First was Ook, the monkey, which hopped around on pillars throwing a boomerang at you which included a game mechanic not used before in boss battles, rolling into things. Second was the Goron on the magnetic island thing, that mini-boss actually had a bit of a learning curve to it, and I would say it was harder than the actual boss. The Deku Toad in the lakebed temple was pretty standard for a boss, but the Death Sword in the Arbiter's Grounds was actually fairly good, requiring you to use both human and wolf Link. Darkhammer in the Snowpeak ruins was also unique in that it gave you basically the smallest space to fight a large enemy, this added an urgency to the battle and was definitely satisfying to complete. Darknuts in general a fairly difficult foes to defeat, especially encountering them for the first time at the top of the Temple Of Time. Same can be said about the Aerolfos in the City in the Sky, challenging and unique.
Secondly, Backstory:
Mini-bosses in Twilight Princess actually had backstories and sub-plots to them. I don't think this has been done before in a Zelda game. We learn of Ook of the Forest Temple for the first time before we even enter the dungeon, being introduced by the monkey you save at the beginning of the game in wolf-form. This mini-boss wasn't even bad, only infected by some insect.
The mini-boss of the Goron Mines also had a story. He was the guardian of the Hero's Bow, and wasn't even evil. He was a challenge for Link to overcome in order to be deemed worthy of the weapon of old.
The Death Sword of the Arbiter's Grounds also had a backstory. He/it was a monstrous demon locked away for years within the sword as he terrorised the people of the Gerudo Desert/Hyrule. This isn't even stated, its merely alluded to due to what we know of the Arbiter's Grounds being a prison for the worst of criminals and due to the sacred papers hanging from the ropes on the sword which sealed the demon within it.
There was even a back-story to Lord Bulbin, who was revealed to be not directly against Link, but merely a third party that did the bidding of the strongest side. He wasn't inherently evil but lacked fortitude in his morals. This is a significant departure for the Zelda series with its typically archetypal characters, i.e. evil people are just evil, and the good are just purely good and there's no grey area inbetween.
Now, in writing this, there's no real point to my argument other than to shed some light on one of the more overlooked aspects of Twilight Princess due to the constant criticism it gets from not being a bad game, but being held up to the standards of amazingly great games. If you say Twilight Princess had easy, uninspired bosses, I say, well at least they pushed the boundaries with their mini-bosses. If you were to make a top 10 list of mini-bosses, I'd say that at least a few of these guys would make it on that list. Also, this may go without saying, maybe most everyone agrees with this and I'm just shouting already known facts into an empty room. But if I have swayed you, good. Because Twilight Princess is often attacked for its weak points and not congratulated on its merits.
