Well, my idea is one called Ivory Isle.
It would have an ivory tower in the center that was actually a college filled with various academic sorts who are very condescending towards Link due to his status as a "barbaric sword-slinger." A retroactive change to Sturgeon's room to include a diploma from Ivory Isle University. One of the professors asks Link if he wants to be tested, hinting that he expects him to fail.
If he accepts, the first challenge would be given by the Dungeon Architecture teacher. The teacher would offer a few critical remarks on the static and linear nature of most existing dungeons, and emphasizes how much an element of randomness would throw off potential adventurers. It would consist of a randomly chosen Sokoban-style puzzle (out of three possible iterations), that had to be solved within 10 minutes. If Link failed, he'd get one of the other puzzles next time (eventually they would repeat, but you'd never get the same one twice in a row).
After passing that challenge, you move on the Economics teacher. This teacher would criticize how unrealistic it is to consistently charge the same prices, and talk about how a clever businessman would respond to the market. You would be given 100 "play rupees," and told that in order to pass the test, you have to finish with at least 100 Rupees and a Red Potion. There will be three vendors that all sell the same three items... Red Potion, Bombs, and Arrows (not real ones). One vendor (Kyle) would be selling the Red Potion for 20 rupees, the bombs for 5 rupees, and the Arrows for 10 rupees. Another vendor (Louis) is selling the Red Potion for 40 rupees, the bombs for 10 rupees, and the arrows for 20 rupees. The third vendor (David) would sell Red Potion for 60 rupees, the bombs for 15 rupees, and the arrows for 30 rupees. Each of them will buy your items for half of whatever they're selling it for. Merchants you buy items from raise their prices on the next turn, while merchants you sell to lower their prices. If one merchant sees the other two raise or lower prices, they'll follow suit. A possible solution would go like this: buy bombs from each of the merchants for 30 rupees. Not only will they all raise their prices by 5 rupees, but they'll all see that each other increased prices, and they'll all raise their prices by an additional 5 rupees. Now it will cost 60 rupees to buy bombs from each merchant again, but pay it anyway. You're 90 rupees in the hole, but they all increase their bomb prices by 10 rupees again. Now sell ALL your Bombs to David for 102 rupees, who will lower his prices by 5 rupees. You've got 112 rupees now. Now buy arrows from Kyle and Louis for 30 rupees. They'll increase their prices by 5 rupees, and David will follow suit. Buy more arrows from Kyle and Louis for 40 rupees, and they'll all increase their arrow prices another 5 rupees. If you now sell all your Arrows to David, you'll make 80 rupees and have 122 rupees. Simply buy a Red Potion from Kyle for 20 rupees, and talk to the teacher to win the game (but think how hard it would be to figure out a solution through trial and error).
The last challenge would be from the Arcane Psychology teacher. He'll tell you that you need to confront your unconscious in order to grow as a person, but tell you that there are risks. If you accept, he'll hypnotize you. After you go under, you'll see Dark Link. But you won't be able to reach him because he'll move from right in front of you, to the other side of a maze-like dungeon. This Maze will have keys, switches, and block puzzles much like a normal dungeon, only there will be two differences. One is that you'll need to use ALL of your items in this dungeon, often very close together. It will be shorter than a typical dungeon, but a lot more confusing. and will also have a lot of mechanical traps similar to the Shadow Temple (in lieu of enemies). After you get through it, you'll finally confront Dark Link. He'll be able to use all of your items, so it won't be an easy fight. After you beat him, he'll reveal what the teacher wanted you to learn about yourself... that he is actually a part of yourself that you've rejected, but that he's not entirely evil (though he contains a lot of your unconscious evil side). After this, you'll awaken from the hypnotic state and tell the teacher what you learned. You'll then be sent to the Head Professor.
The Head Professor will congratulate you, though he'll also express a certain degree of disappointment that a non-student was able to complete all of the tests. He'll say that he wishes he could give you a diploma, but that he can't do that unless you pay the tuition and attend classes, which you don't have the time or money to do. So instead, he'll give you some magical knowledge as a recognition of your ability. You'll have a choice between an upgrade that halves the amount of magic that spells cost (like in ALttP), and a new spell very similar to Din's Fire from OoT (though it would be called "Magic Flames" and have an icon that looked like an orange version of the Magic Armor icon).
:ganondorf:
