Favorite/Least Favorite Dungeons

[Justac00lguy]

(I'm in the process of reviving a bit of discussion from the old World of Zelda stickies, so it might seem familiar, but feel free to post and share your views.)

The Zelda series is famous for its puzzle and challenged filled dungeons, each offering something different in variety which has created a wide contrast of views down the years. So what are you favorite and least favorite dungeons and why?

 

[Iridescence]

Top 25 2D Dungeons:

1. Sword & Shield Maze (OOS)
2. Ice Palace (ALTTP)
3. Swamp Palace (ALTTP)
4. Palace of Winds (TMC)
5. Level 9 (LOZ)
6. Ganon's Tower (ALTTP)
7. Misery Mire (ALTTP)
8. Turtle Rock (LA)
9. Ancient Tomb (OOA)
10. Eagle's Tower (LA)
11. Jabu-Jabu's Belly (OOA)
    
12. Skull Woods (ALTTP)
13. Dark Hyrule Castle (TMC)
14. Mermaid's Cave (OOA)
15. Deepwood Shrine (TMC)
    
16. Face Shrine (LA)
17. Explorer's Crypt (OOS)
18. Temple of Droplets (TMC)
19. Desert Palace (ALTTP)
20. Ancient Ruins (OOS)
    
21. Level 6 (LOZ)
    
22. Catfish Maw (LA)
23. Dark Palace (ALTTP)
24. Crown Dungeon (OOA)
25. Spirit's Grave (OOA)

Honorable Mentions: Skull Dungeon (OOA), Tower of Hera (ALTTP), Level 1 (LOZ), Gargoyle's Domain (ALTTP).

Top 50 3D Dungeons:

1. City in the Sky (TP)
2. Stone Tower Temple (MM)
3. Spirit Temple (OOT)
4. Forest Temple (OOT)
5. Arbiter Grounds (TP)
6. Snowpeak Ruins (TP)
7. Sand Ship (SS)
8. Sky Keep (SS)
9. Ganon's Castle (OOT)
10. Lakebed Temple (TP)
11. Laranyu Mining Facility (SS)
12. Wind Temple (TWW)
    
13. Water Temple (OOT)
14. Earth Temple (TWW)
    
15. Great Bay Temple (MM)
16. Ikana Castle (MM)
17. Bottom of the Well (OOT)
18. Fire Temple (OOT)
19. Goron Mines (TP)
20. Shadow Temple (OOT)
21. Ancient Cistern Temple (SS)
22. Fire Sanctuary (SS)
23. Tower of Spirits (ST)
    
24. Snowhead Temple (MM)
25. Woodfall Temple (MM)
26. Palace of Twilight (TP)
27. Ice Ruins (ALBW)
28. Inside the Deku Tree (OOT)
29. Dark Palace (ALBW)
30. Desert Palace (ALBW)
31. Sand Temple (ST)
32. Temple of Time (TP)
33. Pirates Fortress (MM)
34. Hyrule Castle (TP)
35. Forest Temple (TP)
36. Dragon Roost Cavern (TWW)
37. Forbidden Woods (TWW)
38. Turtle Rock (ALBW)
39. Skyview Temple (SS)
40. Earth Temple (SS)
41. Swamp Palace (ALBW)
42. Tower of the Gods (TWW)
43. Thieves Hideout (ALBW)
44. Mutoh's Temple (PH)
45. Jabu-Jabu's Belly (OOT)
46. House of Gales (ALBW)
47. Tower of Hera (ALBW)
48. Eastern Palace (ALBW)
49. Temple of Ice (PH)
50. Temple of Courage (PH)

Observations:

• TWW was a great game with bad dungeons and TP was an okay game with great dungeons.
• A lot of the stuff in the bottom 10 of the top 50 list are placeholders. This list will really tighten up once Zelda U comes out.
• Criteria I rank dungeons on, in order of significance: Level design, atmosphere, puzzles, story significance, enemies, boss, sound. Overall, fun and memorability matter.
• There are some mini-dungeons I enjoyed more than full dungeons due to the atmosphere, for example.
• The portable games (for the 3D) ranking are naturally at a disadvantage since portable systems couldn't handle as much but for some of them to rank as high as they did were good for that standard.

 

[Moonstone]

My most favorite dungeon was the Stone Tower Temple from Majora's Mask. The music was creepy, complex, unique, and my top favorite track from all of Zelda. The dungeon matched it well. Flipping the entire dungeon with light arrows was an amazing- it made me fear jumping lest it break the illusion and cause me to fall to my death. I'd never felt that way before in a Zelda dungeon- the Shadow Temple in OoT was close. I'd never had to fear gravity before in a dungeon, and I appreciated that fear. And having the dungeon flip forced an entirely different perspective on the layout and the puzzles. I would like to see at least one more dungeon in the future make use of flipping like this one did.

I'm going to stick with main dungeons for my least favorite, since mini-dungeons probably don't count. If they did, I've already given my gripes about Ikana Castle in a MM specific thread, and other than that, the ice cavern in OoT was pretty boring, too.

My least favorite full dungeon in the Zelda series was the Forest Temple in Twilight Princess. It really didn't offer anything new or unique. The monkeys were pretty cute I guess, but the dungeon was just very unimpressive. The gale boomerang was pretty whatever, too. If I could've skipped that dungeon, I would have. I actually usually like the first dungeons, but this one was an exception.

 

[Iridescence]

^ Forest Temple in TP was my first ever dungeon. Let me tell you. It took me a crazy 4-5 hours to beat because I kept getting lost. Keep in mind I never played Zelda before. I never even knew what a dungeon was. And I had to pick the Zelda game with the hardest first dungeon. I guess by then Nintendo assumed the player knew how dungeons worked. Forest Temple wasn't anything super-impressive, but for a first dungeon in a game, it's relatively good.

 

[PhantomTriforce]

Here are some of my favorite dungeons (in no particular order):
Desert Palace (ALttP)
Ganon's Tower (ALttP)
Forest Temple (OoT)
Stone Tower Temple (MM)
Jabu-Jabu's Belly (OoA)
Dark Hyrule Castle (TMC)
Goron Mines (TP)
Lakebed Temple (TP)
City in the Sky (TP)
Temple of the Ocean King (PH)
Tower of Spirits (ST)

Dungeons I didn't really like:
Inside the Deku Tree (OoT)
Forest Temple (ST)
Lanayru Mining Facility (SS)

 

[likentro]

^ I second the Forest Temple (OOT), Lakebed Temple (TP), City in the Skye (TP).

I also really loved Dodongo's Cavern (OOT), Great Bay Temple (MM), Ikana Canyon (MM), Earth Temple (WW), Tower of the gods (WW), Hyrule Castle (TP) **my absolute favorite in this game**, the whole Lanayru region (SS), Lake Floria (SS), Ancient Cistern (SS), and Sky Keep (SS).

 

[misskitten]

Have to think about favourite, but right now, out of the games I have played so far, my very least favourite dungeon is Jabu-Jabu in Oracle of Ages, that whole swimming mechanic wrecked real havoc on my thumb.

 

[Mellow Ezlo]

I think my least favourite dungeon in the entire series is the Tower of Hera from A Link to the Past. The dungeon is cool overall, well designed, and some of the puzzles do give out somewhat of a challenge, but I think it's the dungeon that makes me rage more than any other. If you fall down a floor or two, for one reason or another, scaling the tower is a pain. The Hardhat Beetles are extremely annoying to kill, and I find them knocking me down to the floor below many times. Then don't even get me started on the boss... ugh. On a good run, I'll only fall 5 or 6 times while battling the boss. On my worst run, I fell thirty-two freaking times. ugh. Hate this dungeon.

My all-time favourite dungeon is the Stone Tower Temple from Majora's Mask. Brilliant design, perfect length, challenging puzzles, awesome concept. Basically exactly what I want a final dungeon to be. It poses a significant challenge and gets you thinking, while not being frustratingly difficult (at least for me). It combines the use of most of the 3 main transformation masks in the game wonderfully, which is nice. My main gripe with it is no more than a nitpick: The Elegy of Emptiness. Playing a song over and over again to create statues is extremely annoying, though it doesn't even compare to the overuse of the Command Melody in The Wind Waker, so I am able to forgive this. My second problem with it is the boss. I love the boss, as I find it really cool and fun, but it was underwhelming on the difficulty side, being more time consuming and frustrating than anything. Without the Giant's Mask it is somewhat difficult, but with the Giant's Mask it's a piece of cake. Overall, definitely one of, if not the best dungeon in the series, and by far my favourite.

Other dungeons that stand out to me include:

- Snowpeak Ruins (TP)
- Forest Temple (OoT)
- Dark Palace (ALBW)
- Earth Temple (TWW)
- Lanayru Mining Facility (SS)
- Arbiter's Grounds (TP)
- Spirit Temple (OoT)
- Temple of Droplets (TMC)
- Tower of Spirits (ST)
- Skull Woods (ALBW)
- Lakebed Temple (TP)
- Water Temple (OoT)
- Great Bay Temple (MM)
- Turtle Rock (ALTTP)
- Ganon's Tower (ALTTP)

 

[Azure Sage]

My favorite dungeon is either the Tower of Spirits or the Sky Keep. Both are a lot of fun. I loved the teamwork puzzles in the Tower of Spirits, and Sky Keep was just all-around challenging.

I'm not really sure what my least-favorite dungeon is. It might be the Lanayru Mining Facility or the Temple of Time from TP. The mining facility was just one tedious detour full of lots of smaller tedious detours. The Temple of Time was just one huge backtracking mission and that was annoying.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

Top 10 Favorites
10. Face Shrine (LADX)
9. Demon (TLoZ)
8. Swamp Palace (ALttP)
7. Shadow Temple (OoT3D)
6. Arbiter's Grounds (TP)
5. Island Maze Palace (AoL
4. The Ancient Cistern (SS)
3. Stone Tower Temple (MM3D)
2. Palace of Darkness (ALBW)
1. Unicorn Cave (OoS)

Top 10 Least Favorite
10. Dragon (TLoZ)
9. Water Temple (OoT)
8. Great Palace (AoL)
7. Poison Moth's Lair (OoS)
6. Crown Dungeon (OoA)
5. Palace of Twiligt (TP)
4. Eagle Tower (LADX)
3. Lanayru Mining Facility (SS)
2. Temple of Droplets (MC)
1. Turtle Rock (ALttP)

 

[ocarinaofnaptime]

TOP 10 BEST
1. Arbiters Grounds (TP)
2. Ancient Cistern (SS)
3. Forest Temple (OoT)
4. Sky Keep (SS)
5. Palace of Twilight (TP)
6. Stone Tower Temple (MM)
7. Dragon Roost Island (WW)
8. Snowpeak Ruins (TP)
9. Fire Sanctuary (SS)
10. Goron Mines (ALTTP)

TOP 10 WORST
1. Lakebed Temple (TP)
2. Lanayru Mining Facility (SS)
3. City in the Sky (TP)
4. Hyrule Castle (TP)
5. Eagle Dungeon (TLoZ)
6. Water Temple (OoT)
7. Shadow Temple (OoT)
8. Sandship (SS)
9. Skyview Temple (SS)
10. Death Dungeon (TLOZ)

 

[Justac00lguy]

My top ten:

1. Forest Temple (OoT)
2. Stone Tower Temple
3. City in the Sky
4. Lanayru Mining Facility
5. Wind Temple
6. Hyrule Castle (TP)
7. Shadow Temple
8. Great Bay Temple
9. Snowpeak Ruins
10. Ice Ruins

 

[InsomniacAttack]

Top 10 favorite 3D Zelda dungeons:

1. Stone Tower Temple

2. Arbiter’s Grounds

3. Forest Temple (OoT)

4. Earth Temple (WW)

5. Ancient Cistern

6. Great Bay Temple

7. Spirit Temple

8. City in the Sky

9. Goron Mines

10. Sandship

 

[Lusoric]

I can't come up with lists because my memory is complete and utter crap and it took me forever to remember the Lanayru Mining Facility dungeon that i practically just beat a month or two ago. Anyways, My favorite dungeons are probably Stone Tower (MM), Great Bay Temple (MM) and the Shadow Temple (OoT) I enjoy the way that just changing the water flow changes the map (not exactly) in the Great Bay Temple, same for how the entire dungeon flipped upside down in Stone Tower is another practically new map. And the Shadow Temple used to be a least favorite of mine when i was a kid because it terrified me but now i love it with all of the secret passages and such.

Least favorites would have to be ones where you have to repeat mundane things like the Water Temple (OoT) where you have to constantly change the water level to go here, then change it again to go there. Also typically the ones that are just plain difficult i'm not too fond of because i'm a hella sore loser when it comes to losing to AI and computers in a game...

 

[Iridescence]

I feel like ranking the Zelda games in terms of their dungeon quality:

1. Twilight Princess
2. Ocarina of Time
3. A Link to the Past
4. Majora's Mask
5. Skyward Sword
6. Link's Awakening
7. Oracle of Ages
8. Oracle of Seasons
9. A Link Between Worlds
10. The Minish Cap
11. The Wind Waker
12. Spirit Tracks
13. Phantom Hourglass
14. Four Sword Adventures
15. Legend of Zelda
16. Four Swords
17. II: Adventure of Link