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Oracle Of Seasons/Ages Forgotten Gems

The Oracle titles are two games that have been buried by the sands of time. This is partially due to the fact that they have not been re-released on a virtual service since they first launched on the Gameboy Color in 2001.

Seeing the two games replayed on the Zelda Dungeon Twitch TV stream made me recall my limited time with the titles but also the strengths and shortcomings of the duo. Both titles featured dual layered overworlds with Seasons tackling Holodrum and Subrosia while Ages focused on the world of Labrynna in its past and present. Both games boasted eight dungeons and then a final showdown with the boss-Onox and Veran in Seasons and Ages, respectively. Ages was the longer game but Seasons presented the more unique twist switching between the four seasons since the time travelling twist had already made an appearance in Ocarina of Time. The strong point and what set the two apart from the rest of the franchise, however, was the link feature leading to an epic confrontation with Twinrova and Ganon.

The games weren't perfect but the few pitfalls they suffered weren't anything overly major. Obviously, it would have been nice if they featured a different style from Link's Awakening but considering it was made by a third part-Capcom-the final product held up well. Also, Onox and Veran were weak villains who were essentially pawns working for Twinrova.

But enough of my thoughts on these games. I'd like to hear yours. What are your thoughts on the Oracle games? Would you like to see any elements from the sub series return? If so, which ones?
 

SNOlink

I'm baack. Who missed me?
Joined
Sep 7, 2011
Location
United States, Michigan
One of the things I like about Oracle of Ages is that there are so many different areas to explore. Nintendo really did well with the exploration in that. I would always try to find things I couldn't get to in one time and see if I could get there via the other world.
 
I really disliked the Oracle games, they weren't compelling, they didn't feel as if they had any natural Zelda magic and I still have them and have played them recently... I just couldnt get along with them, even back in the day in 2001 on the gameboy colour they didn't seem all that great and they havent really aged well. Theyre also the only Zelda games i didn't have to think about while playing them. Sometimes the puzzles i'm presented with in Zelda games slow me down or stop me completely but neither Ages or Seasons did that for me. The boss battles were pretty awful too I thought, I wanted to enjoy them since they were so unique, kind of like how the Four Swords games are based on multiplayer the Oracle games are the only Zelda's which are symbiotic with the linked/password content.

If they were to bring back anything from the games into a new game be it 2D or 3D would be the Seasons and to be used better than in Seasons itself. Imagine all of the time travel and warping you do in Ocarina or the transforming and teleporting in Twilight Princess to be replaced by playing with the seasons day and night. Ocarina of Seasons ;)

It may be the fact that i still own them that i don't consider them to be forgotten classics but i dont consider them classics even after all of this time. Theyre so primitive even for the time. We'd had Link's Awakening and there was very little difference and oh god i hated the ring stuff and the seed items didn't really thrill me either. But hey there are worse games out there, just can't think of many worse Zelda ones.
 
Joined
Mar 20, 2012
Location
Clock Town, Termina
The Oracles are both 2 of my favorite games. The balance of puzzles and battles in both games was great and the stories, gameplay, music, characters, and world were unique and wonderful. I like Ages a tiny bit better than Seasons, but that could be because I played it first.
 

MW7

Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Location
Ohio
I haven't had the chance to play seasons yet, but I really, really love the puzzle difficulty in Oracle of Ages. This aspect is one of the reasons why Majora's Mask is my favorite Zelda game, and Oracle of Ages is the one game that clearly was superior in this respect. I just love being forced to think in video games.
 

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