Looking Back at the Oracle of Seasons Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Book

 

The Beginning of the Seasons

Sometime in the early part of 2001, I went to see a movie with my dad in the theaters. For the life of me, I cannot remember the movie we saw but I remember the trailers… well, one of them at least. To me, it was 30 of the greatest seconds ever experienced in a movie theater. It was the TV spot trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages on the Game Boy Color.

Now, there was a part of 10-year-old me that got so hyped thinking it was a cartoon or some sort of movie. This was quickly quelled though when my dad pointed out that they were two new games. This, naturally, set my sights on the future prospect of playing them as I had with the previous titles. At this point, I was a dedicated fan to the Zelda franchise, owning both Nintendo 64 titles and Link’s Awakening DX for my lime green handheld piece of childhood.

A few months later, I got both games (I’m guessing as an Easter present from a certain Mr. E. Bunny) and dove head-first into them.

 

I don’t remember much of my early playthroughs of these games, to be honest. I remember loving the opening cinematic of Link riding his horse to Hyrule Castle, going inside, and being hurled into another land and adventure. My imagination was captivated at this age. Any sort of wrapping paper tube or paper towel roll became the Rod of Seasons in my hand. Winter filled the kitchen while summer was in full swing the next room over.

Then, at one of those iconic Scholastic Book Fairs, my little hands, probably with a Triforce drawn on the back of one, found a pair of books that couldn’t be overlooked. I scooped up and instantly paid for the You Decide on the Adventure books adapted from Oracle games. The bright orange and yellows of the Oracle of Seasons book still stands out on my shelf of Zelda memorabilia, and I have not been the only one to take notice.

Recently, my Breath of the Wild-obsessed son has taken a broader interest in the Zelda series as a whole. In fact, we’ve been playing Skyward Sword for him, and, a few days after we started it, he picked out the Skyward Sword Link costume as what he wants to wear at his sister’s first birthday (her name is Zelda, and her first birthday theme is Zelda; yes, be jealous). In his growing interest, all the books and collectibles that I own have drawn his interest, and the Oracle books have been among them.

I don’t blame him either. I mentioned the bright colors of the Oracle of Seasons book standing out, but I think the book itself does a lot for the game and its legacy.

 

The Book

First of all, the cover shows Link, Din, and the primary antagonist of this entry in the series, General Onox. Link, clad in his iconic green tunic with brown sleeves, is pulling back a Mystery Seed in his slingshot, taking aim at some unseen enemy. On the left side of the cover, Din is striking a pose straight from the official artwork, dancing and staring at the viewer with a sultry grin and fire red eyes. Lastly, Onox is standing ominously over the shoulder of the hero, his massive ball and chain in his hands and Gerudo symbol proudly shone on his breastplate.

There is a collection of pictures in the center of the book showing a variety of characters using more official artwork and offering brief descriptions of the characters as well. Sadly, my copy, which has seen many moves and better days, is missing a few of these. That said, the entirety of the book itself is intact and unphased by the changing seasons.

And that’s where I come to what this is all about: the book, the “Not-A-Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-Because-of-Trademark-Stuff” choose-your-own-adventure book.

The Oracle of Seasons book begins with Link being drawn to Hyrule Castle by a strange force. He soon discovers the Triforce there:

“Link… Link… accept the quest of the Triforce!”

Link is then thrust into a blinding light and passes out. When he comes to, he’s in a strange forest that is wholly unfamiliar. Despite this, music from a nearby clearing draws him over, and he sees a group of traveling performers practicing. Link joins the troupe and then destiny arrives for the hero.

 

Link noticed a beautiful young girl dancing in circles. When she noticed Link, she called to him.

“Welcome to Holodrum. I am Din, the dancer. Would you like to dance with me?” Not waiting for his answer, Din took Link by the hand and he reluctantly began to dance. Unfortunately, the dance didn’t last long.

In typical adventure story fashion, just when the hero looks like he might be getting a moment of enjoyment out of life, disaster strikes. The skies darken, thunder rolls, and a terrible voice booms out over the land.

“I’ve found you, Din! You can’t deceive me by disguising yourself as a dancer. I am Onox, General of Darkness! Now reveal yourself, Oracle of Seasons!”

With that, Din is swept away by a tornado and Link is left with the cry of, “Help me, Link!” As Link attempts to intervene, he’s pushed back and unable to help.

The story then begins to unfold and tells us that Onox has imprisoned Din and that, without her, the seasons of Holodrum were thrown into utter disarray. Onox is draining the land of all its life and depriving it of nature’s gifts in the hopes of creating a world of total darkness.

These events unfold very similarly to how they play out in the game, including Link’s next moves. After he wakes up, he encounters Impa, who implores Link to seek out the Maku Tree in Horon Village. A small deviation happens from the game and book here, in that in the game, it’s spring in Horon Village, while the book has it being winter.

Similar to the way the Oracle of Ages book handles things, once Link is in town, the reader has a few choices of where to go, but will immediately be sent to the next location in the story after that. I found this format a bit limiting. In the game, players are encouraged to explore, meet characters, and really feel out the world of Holodrum. That’s one of the basic tenants of the Zelda franchise. It would have been a simple option after visiting a place to have an option like, “return to town and check out something else,” added on.

 

Nonetheless, though, Link is directed to the Hero’s Cave after whatever bit-of-sidequest he decides upon. The reader can try to fight some Octoroks on the way there, but doing so results in a very early and unfortunate ending. Now, capturing the idea of battle in a choose-your-own-adventure storybook is fairly limiting. Really, one can only have a few options unless the author pads the book out with possibilities for everything the reader could think up; at that point, one would basically be making a very scripted D&D campaign. So, it’s somewhat reasonable that this book gives the reader an easy opportunity to fail and “game over” this early on. It’s not so punishing that they’ve wasted hours reading, but it’s also predictable enough that the reader should remember that Link has no weapon and that fighting isn’t an option.

Later on, there are three additional routes that the reader can choose that lead to Link failing and waking back up in Hyrule Castle. He then dreads what Zelda will think and yearns for another chance to save Din from Onox as he turns his back to the Triforce. It’s an incredibly somber and melancholic scene, with Link expressing his dissatisfaction with letting Zelda down. But I also think that’s a fair expression of how somebody who’s playing the game might feel. I appreciate that all failures end up on page 77 and have the same sort of feeling. Whether it’s to Octoroks on the beach or in the climactic fight against Onox, Link failing means he feels it.

Eventually, the reader navigates through the Hero’s Cave and claims the sword. As with some of the dungeons the book takes the reader to later on, this part reads almost like a guide or walkthrough, providing descriptions of Link pushing blocks in certain ways or lighting torches in a certain order. It’s interesting to read along with a playthrough and see that the directions are indeed accurate to the game.

 

Something I didn’t bring up earlier, but I will now, is that Oracle of Seasons is very much an ode to the original Legend of Zelda. Many of the bosses and locations are tributes or the same as their predecessors. Capcom, when developing these titles, was originally working with the premise of remaking the original game. Oracle of Seasons ended up borrowing greatly from this original inspiration.

This inspiration is something that’s clearly present in the game as Link arrives at the first dungeon, The Gnarled Root, but is something not quite capturable by the book adaptation. The reader is led on a series of page turns after retrieving the sword from the Hero’s Cave and eventually gets to the aforementioned first dungeon. Again, there is a minor detour in the book to retrieve a Gasha Seed, but it bears no consequence on the adventure beyond this. It serves as a neat little reference to a Gasha Seed the player can get in the game though. A few decisions merely lead the reader to the page right next to the one they’re already on, and one path leads to that sad scene on page 77 again. Oddly enough, the battle with the dungeon’s boss, Aquamentus, doesn’t have a fail option.

The book continues on with visits to the land of Subrosia, the lava filled underworld where the Temple of Seasons sank to. There’s also a trading sequence that can be found by the reader after the conclusion of the first dungeon. It’s optional, but it does provide a happy excursion. Eventually, the book skips over a majority of the game with a summary of Link’s adventures in bullet point form. After that, the reader is given the choice to do the final two dungeons in any order. Following the same format as the first dungeon and Hero’s Cave, the reader navigates through them one at a time and then heads off to the confrontation with General Onox at his dark fortress.

 

The Link to Ages

What I think sets this ending apart from that of its counterpart, Oracle of Ages, is that after Onox’s defeat, he cries out:

“No! It’s too late. My orders were to capture Din and deliver the destructive power of a seasonless land to Twinrova. Now, as the Flame of Destruction, that power is set to devour the land. A-ha-ha – you have beaten me, Link, but you have lost after all!”

This ending is a reference to the Linked Game, arguably the most unique feature of the Oracle games as a whole. When you beat one of the titles, you are given a code to enter into the other game and your adventure will continue. The Oracle of Seasons book makes mention of this very plainly here and ends with the most ominous line that begs you to read the sequel.

Link was glad Din was safe, but he felt uneasy. “I’m sure this isn’t over yet,” he thought. Unfortunately, he was right.

This is something that I don’t recall the Oracle of Ages book mentioning anything about. However, a brief glance at the beginning of the counterpart book, reveals that the way Link begins that journey isn’t at the behest of the Triforce. He simply wakes up in the forest and begins his adventure. While there is no canonical order as to which game comes first (yes, I doubled checked both Hyrule Historia and the Zelda Encyclopedia), these books seem to suggest that Seasons comes first.

 

The New Season

At the end of the day, the Oracle of Seasons book is a fascinating piece of Zelda history, alongside some of the other unique entries. It’s accurate to the game, with some slight differences, which is a big plus to newer fans. But it also isn’t comprehensive enough to be considered a guidebook or even a reference guide. It’s something that I think is a time-capsule of that early 2000’s video game lifestyle. It’s a perfect piece for younger fans who are just exploring or newer fans who want a taste of what the game itself might offer. As a standalone piece, it misses some of the fun, but if it’s coupled with actually playing the game, there could be more fun had by reading the narrative of the sections it covers as you play.

For me, it was a lot of fun retreading the adventure in this form. The Oracle games will always be special to me because of that memory in the movie theater. These books, the Oracle of Seasons especially, play a part in that nugget of nostalgia that will never leave me. For now, they rejoin the collection on my shelf until the voice of the Triforce calls out for my son to take his first journey into Holodrum. And when he does, I can’t wait to see his love of the series deepen through these books.

 

---

Be sure to check out our retrospective of the Oracle of Ages choose-your-own-adventure right here!

Did you read the Oracle of Seasons book as kid? Do you have any cool memories? Did this book introduce you to the Zelda series? Let us know in the comments below!

David Wayne Nystrom is an editor at Zelda Dungeon. His favorite games in the series are Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, and Skyward Sword. He is also a big fan of games like Smash Bros., Final Fantasy, and anything horror-related.