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4[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_tumblr_l5wkfead751qcah8fo1_500.gif]]]]
5[[caption-width-right:350:There was a sword shop? Yeah, not going back in there to find it.]]
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10
11[[MemeticMutation It's not a secret to everybody]] that [[ThatOneLevel these levels]] will test even the best of [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda legendary heroes]].
12
13----
14[[foldercontrol]]
15
16[[folder:''The Legend of Zelda'']]
17* Level 4-1 teems with Vires, and since you'll be wielding the White Sword at the time, you can't kill them and keep them dead. Most of the level is [[BlackoutBasement blacked out]], forcing you to constantly use the candle. And the boss is Gleeok, whom you meet for the first time.
18* Level 5-1 is your first encounter with the Blue Darknuts and you have to fight through two rooms worth of them to get the dungeon item. Especially difficult if you don't have the Magic Sword yet.
19* Level 6-1 marks the first appearance of the [[DemonicSpiders Wizzrobe]] enemy, and it's swarming with shield-eating Like Likes and paralyzing Bubbles. It's quite common among ''Zelda'' players to complete the much easier Level 7 and slightly easier Level 8 before going back for Level 6.
20* Level 9-1 is often regarded as the hardest final dungeon in the franchise. It's a gigantic map; over 50 screens in total, and laden with Blue Wizzrobes, Like Likes, and Bubbles (sometimes all in the same room). It's one of the few dungeons to have two items, one of which is not only on the exact opposite side of the map from where you start, but required to kill Ganon. The name "Death Mountain" is not a lie.
21* Level 4-2 introduces a new mechanic: {{Non Player Character}}s that mug you for either 50 rupees, or ''permanent'' loss of one HeartContainer. It also introduces red and blue bubbles: red bubbles cause you to be unable to draw your sword until you hit a blue bubble, and often a room will have four or five red bubbles and only one blue bubble. It also has a remarkable GuideDangIt moment: there's a walk-through wall ''in the room with the Triforce piece'' where you'd never, ever think to look for it -- and that's where they put the Raft.
22* Level 5-2 forces you to face Wizzrobes with your White Sword, unless you brave your way to the stepladder in Level 6 beforehand and grab the far east heart container early. One room in particular is in a spiral staircase packed with blue Wizzrobes, with basically nowhere to dodge, forcing you to just power your way through and eat as many hits as possible.
23* Level 8-2 isn't known for its monsters so much as for being the most complicated maze in the game. It's full of one-way doors and secret passages. And it has lots of dodongos, too, meaning running out of bombs is a constant issue.
24* Level 9-2 has one last curve ball to throw at players - rooms with red bubbles are extremely common, but blue bubbles are few and far between, leaving the player unable to use the sword for significant stretches of time. By the way, the level teems with Wizzrobes, and the only weapon aside from the sword that effects Wizzrobes are bombs.
25[[/folder]]
26
27[[folder:''Zelda II: The Adventure of Link'']]
28* The Death Mountain Area isn't a "level" or "dungeon", but it's still notorious. Much of it is a difficult maze of caves, where there isn't very much relation between where you enter and where you exit. And as you get towards the end, you start encountering Dairas. These alligator men have a ton of health, do a ton of damage, wield axes that can't be blocked with your shield, and have a frustratingly unpredictable attack pattern as well. Orange Dairas can be dealt with with some practice by timing your sword strikes so you bounce them out of range of their axe attacks. Red Dairas, however, have even more health, do even more damage, and ''throw their axes''. And the main Death Mountain cave is swarming with them.
29* The Great Palace. Yes, this is the era where NintendoHard was the norm, this is a game considered murderous even ''then'', and this is TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of that game. Yet, even by those standards, this is ThatOneLevel:
30** First, for a value of 'level' the final trek to ''get'' to the Great Palace is horrendously painful. Full of bottomless pits, LedgeBats, durable enemies, and mandatory magic use. And without the Cross (found in the sixth palace), the flying Moas will be ''invisible''. The wandering monsters are impossible to avoid; you'll literally run into them every three steps, and the mini-levels they trigger are absolute murder. Thankfully, if you're braced to do the entire Great Palace in one setting (or are playing on a re-release that allows for save-states) you only ever have to make the trek to the end once.
31** The Great Palace itself is plagued with completely unconventional mechanics compared to the rest of the game, including horrid dead ends, endless loops, rooms that look just like ''other'' rooms and will keep you guessing about even where you are, unique monsters that are stronger than even your average boss, and ''normal'' monsters with increased HitPoints relative to what they have when encountered elsewhere. It ends with ''two'' powerful bosses back-to-back with no recovery after the first. If you made it here without all of your experience levels maxed out at 8, good luck! The good news is that you'll restart from this dungeon's entrance upon a Game Over, instead of doing so from Zelda's temple. And you will be doing so ''a lot.''
32[[/folder]]
33
34[[folder:''A Link to the Past'']]
35* Skull Woods. Not that bad on its own...but if you die during the outdoor segments between entrances and exits? Good luck walking all the way back! Oh, and there are these new enemies you haven't seen yet in any level 'til now called Wallmasters. They drag you all the way back to the beginning.[[note]]...well, sort of. Since the level is broken up into several discrete segments, it's possible to enter it from several different locations, some of which are completely disconnected from others. The Wallmaster will take you to the one you most recently entered, so that might actually be midway through the level. Still quite annoying, though.[[/note]] Have fun!
36* The IcePalace can become seizure-inducing due to the tougher bestiary, obstacles, and maze-like layout. In particular, there is a switch in B6 which requires hitting a red/blue switch, then doubling back several floors in order to push a block down from B5 onto the switch, something that's never implied to be possible since normally any objects that fall down a floor are as good as gone and pushable blocks can't normally be pushed for more than a single square. Luckily, having the [[SequenceBreaking Cane of Somaria]] makes it much easier.[[note]]In fact, until the UpdatedRerelease, it was almost ''assumed'' that any player would do the dungeons out of order so that they could tackle the Ice Palace with the Cane of Somaria.[[/note]] Worse, the map is rendered useless due to most rooms being made up of discrete sections. There's nothing worse than finally getting halfway down correctly, then remembering that warping to the beginning of the level flips the red/blue switches.
37* The Misery Mire lives up to its name very well, especially if you show up early to pick up the Cane of Somaria to skip ThatOnePuzzle in the Ice Palace, since you won't have the Blue Mail from said dungeon, and the enemies here, especially the Beamos and Wizzrobes (let alone Vitreous, whose mini-eyes take off three hearts apiece to a green Link), will take you out quickly if you're not careful. The Wizzrobes actually take off ''four'' hearts if you haven't gotten the armour upgrade.
38* Turtle Rock has several confusing floating platform track sections. The first one in particular forces you to ride through four lamps, shoot each one of them with the Fire Rod to light them all and open the door, and then run back and get through the door before one of the lamps goes out and the door closes. This is why Sahasrahla advises you to "[not] go any further without a green potion" right at the entrance (having the magic meter upgraded also helps). Also, the boss will be UnwinnableByDesign if it's challenged without having both elemental rods (fire and ice) at hand, which also means magic will be important in that battle as well.
39[[/folder]]
40
41[[folder:''Link's Awakening'']]
42* Catfish's Maw contains a miniboss who steals the dungeon item, and you have to chase it all over the damned dungeon to its hidey-holes. The last one is extremely difficult to find, as it's right next to the entrance in an area the player has likely long since visited and won't think to go back to.
43* Face Shrine has a confusing layout, with some rooms not appearing on the map. It also introduces TeleportSpam-abusing Wizzrobes. But the miniboss is fun and the end boss is easy, so that evens it out a bit.
44* Turtle Rock, the last main story dungeon, is an absurdly complicated and massive maze. [[BossRush Every previous miniboss from the game]] appears as ''respawning enemies''; the dungeon's unique miniboss can [[MookBouncer knock Link back to the dungeon entrance]]; one puzzle requires Link to shoot an arrow into the eye of a random statue (while this is normally a ''Zelda'' staple, this is the only time you need to do it in this game, in the final dungeon no less)[[note]]This puzzle in particular stumped so many people that the ''DX'' remake adds a hint that you must shoot the statue right in the same room it's found in[[/note]]; and completing the dungeon requires the player to visit a hidden room whose entrances are [[GuideDangIt not even on the Dungeon Map.]]
45[[/folder]]
46
47[[folder:''Ocarina of Time'']]
48* Jabu Jabu's Belly has an [[ShockAndAwe electric theme]] -- almost all enemies will electrocute you if you attack them, making them very difficult (if not outright invincible) until you get the boomerang. It's also part of an annoying EscortMission, where Princess Ruto will [[ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike berate you for leaving her alone]] (and sometimes even vanish if you do so). But you can solve one problem with another by [[GrievousHarmWithABody tossing Ruto at the enemies]], which will work as she's impervious to electrocution (and oddly seems to enjoy the experience).
49* The Forest Temple can become a real pain if you missed a key. Also at one point in order to progress, you have to jump down a dark hole next to the boss key you'd normally consider a deadly chasm, but since the whole place is rotated at that point, it's actually a corridor to the final small key. Said small key is guarded by the very annoying Floormaster as well.
50* The Water Temple is, by far, the most infamous dungeon of the game, if not the entire series. Its main gimmick is that it's a multi-level dungeon where by changing the water level, you can access different areas. But this was notoriously difficult to keep track of, and it has a bunch of extra quirks that frustrated players. Notably, the game's director [[http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2009/11/29/aonuma-apologizes-for-water-temple.aspx officially apologized for the Iron Boots in the Water Temple]], ''[[UpdatedRerelease Master Quest]]'' made the entire game harder ''except'' the Water Temple, and the [[UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS 3DS]] version made the most frustrating mechanics easier in general. But it was still tough:
51** Link needs the Iron Boots to explore the temple, as they allow him to sink to the floor underwater. But he has to take them off to float again if he wants to go back up. In the original game, using the Iron Boots was a tedious task, as equipping and dequipping them requires you to pause the game and open the equipment menu. The 3DS version fixed this by allowing you to map the Iron Boots (along with the Hover Boots) to one of the shortcut buttons.
52** Even getting to the dungeon can be incredibly obtuse and confusing. A few gamers accidentally missed the Blue Tunic, an item which gives Link SuperNotDrowningSkills. Without it, it's still possible to beat the Water Temple, but it's obscenely difficult. Nowadays, it's a SelfImposedChallenge to be able to beat the temple without the Blue Tunic.
53** The dungeon's keys are super complicated, as sometimes the right door to open is not the next locked door you encounter. While it's not [[UnintentionallyUnwinnable totally impossible]] to beat the temple if you use a key on the wrong door ([[UrbanLegendOfZelda persistent rumors notwithstanding]]), you do have to guess the right course of action and access the next area the long way around, and it's very frustrating to always be one key short. The most infamous key was one in a room filled with spikes, which you escape from by raising the water level and floating above the spikes to safety. But one of the spiked platforms also floated up, revealing a key in the nest of spikes below. Most gamers missed the key and never thought to swim back down for it. The 3DS version tried to make this easier by making the key more obvious in the cutscene when you raise the water level.
54** There are two points where you must shoot an arrow switch to open a gate and then Longshot through the gate before it closes to get a Small Key. The first is at the end of a river of vortexes after the miniboss room, and the second, you have to do twice to move the block aside. As this requires precise aiming with a short time limit it can be difficult.
55** The miniboss, [[MirrorBoss Dark Link]], is one of the hardest in the game, particularly because his health will always be the same as yours, so the tougher you are, the tougher he is to beat. (But this also means that he's much easier to beat on a [[LowLevelRun three-heart run]].) The fastest way to beat him is by using the Megaton Hammer or Biggoron Sword, as he cannot use these items. But if you target him, he will block you.
56* The Bottom of the Well is characterized by false walls that look like any other wall, except if you see them through the Lens of Truth -- which you only get inside the dungeon. You have to walk through a false wall just to get into the place, and [[GuideDangIt the only hint]] is Navi's cryptic suggestion to "see the truth." It's the first false wall in a game with no prior hint that those are a thing, so you have no reason whatsoever to think of that. The dungeon itself also has fake floors, which drop you into a cavern filled with Redeads. It's the epitome of TrialAndErrorGameplay. And the boss is hidden [[spoiler:right at the start of the level]]. ''Master Quest'' kept him there but moved the item you're trying to retrieve instead.
57* The Shadow Temple isn't much better, seeing as it's filled to the brim with these fake walls and floors to the point where almost half of the dungeon is invisible. The worst part is that the Lens Of Truth is magic-dependent, so if you end up running out of magic and there are no pots nearby, you either have to stick to TrialAndErrorGameplay or just die. Not to mention that dying in this dungeon can be a massive nuisance as it's almost entirely linear following getting the Hover Boots surprisingly early on, so being sent back to the entrance means that ''you will have to do the entire thing again''. It doesn't help that this dungeon is one of the game's biggest sources of Nightmare Fuel.
58* Although ''[[UpdatedRerelease Master Quest]]'' made all the dungeons harder (except the aforementioned Water Temple), its version of the Fire Temple is particularly hard. The very first room has a stairwell blocked by a wall of fire, which veterans would assume you turn off with a switch -- but instead, you have to [[GuideDangIt climb a wall and bypass it]]. The rest of the dungeon is filled with confusing mazes and irritating fire puzzles, particularly involving lighting torches by shooting arrows through other torches, to the point that many gamers [[SequenceBreaking beat the Water Temple first]] so they can get the Fire Arrows (and to a lesser extent, the Longshot). The most frustrating puzzle is a switch that deactivates a wall of fire with an improbably short fuse, and you have to run to a hookshot target and use it to make it through (although the Scarecrow's Song provides a shortcut).
59* The Spirit Temple in ''Master Quest'' is much more difficult than it was before. In the original version of ''Ocarina of Time'' the gimmick behind the Spirit Temple was that you visit it as Adult Link only to find you can't progress, so you must travel back in time and clear half the Temple as Young Link, then return as Adult Link for the second half. ''Master Quest'' ups the ante by also including multiple instances of switches and keys that are accessed by one Link, but are only resolved by time-traveling and changing to the other Link, drastically raising the complexity of the dungeon and the number of options you have on your plate if you get lost or stuck. This is on top of the dungeon being immensely confusing and harder than it was before in general.
60[[/folder]]
61
62[[folder:''MajorasMask'']]
63* The Bottom Of The Well. [[Music/{{Eminem}} Hey kids, do you like]] {{Fetch Quest}}s? The premise of this mini-dungeon is ''every'' door is guarded by a Gibdo who demands an arbitrary item in an arbitrary quantity and you go get it, and the entire area is a labyrinthine nightmare of Wallmasters, spinning spike traps, and ''sometimes'' the items you need, where you run back and forth trying to remember where you found a room with bugs or spring water and which Gibdo wanted it. In the end it's not fun or satisfying, nor does it use any of the game's mechanics in an interesting way: you basically just burn a good hour or so going shopping for some mummies in the most blatant example of FakeLongevity the game has to offer (though ''Majora's Mask 3D'' ever so slightly softened the blow by reducing all item quantities to 1).
64[[/folder]]
65
66[[folder:''Oracle of Ages'' and ''Oracle of Seasons'']]
67* Skull Dungeon in ''Oracle of Ages'' contains a lot of ridiculous jumping. One room in particular requires you to jump across three moving platforms and requires second-perfect timing, otherwise you have to start the whole room over.
68* It's always the water levels! Mermaid's Cave requires you to take certain actions in the present ''and'' the past, so you have to leave and return more than once if you don't plan just right or get lucky. Also, it's got one room where to continue you have to bomb a spot on a wall that ''doesn't'' have the usual cracks denoting a bombable wall. No, it's never hinted at. Even ''getting inside'' will be tougher than expected because some of what you have to do to get one of the keys isn't adequately hinted at. It's a couple of GuideDangIt points that are less extreme than what's found in the NES games, but it's the kind of thing that would have a casual player wandering for ages wondering where to go or what to do next. What is worse is that the boss key is is found in a room that requires a luck based challenge where pulling the wrong switch will spawn enemies.
69* The Ancient Ruins in ''Oracle of Seasons'' is a massive, five-level dungeon which introduces the Magic Boomerang, which could easily throw you into a pit if you hit something while using it and the controls shift from the boomerang back to Link. The boss key requires a mad dash as TheWallsAreClosingIn, and the boss itself requires quick timing and mad boomerang skills -- in a quicksand pit (although it becomes easier if you have the Quicksand Ring). Just like in Mermaid's Cave, there is a luck based challenge room that is the same but only slightly less tedious because it uses floor switches instead of pull levers.
70* Jabu-Jabu's Belly in ''Oracle of Ages'' puts all other water dungeons in all other ''Zelda'' games to shame. It infamously has got a very easy set-up to accidentally fall into that seemingly soft-locks the level. Fortunately, there is a hidden pushable block that allows you to access the part of the mechanism needed to reset it again to a finishable state, but many players have started their entire games over at this point not knowing this. It's also got the problem of the infamous Water Temple of being so damn ''tedious.'' Expect to spend a ''lot'' of time re-re-retaking the long trek back and forth to the room where you can raise and lower the water level.
71* The Sword and Shield Dungeon in ''Oracle of Seasons'' has some brutal puzzles; the Ice side requires you to perform puzzles [[SlippySlideyIceWorld while sliding around]], and the Lava side has some puzzles that take their cue from the aforementioned Skull Dungeon.
72* The [[BonusDungeon Hero's Cave]] in ''Oracle of Ages'' is full of hair-pullingly difficult puzzles. One particularly aggravating room is full of lava, and if you fall, it drops you back to the warp point and "conveniently" resets the puzzle, forcing you to start it again.
73[[/folder]]
74
75[[folder:''Four Swords'']]
76* 2-2 of Hero's Trials in the Anniversary Edition is quite frustrating (especially if you're playing solo and your [=DSi=]'s/3DS's L and R buttons don't work). Door two, up until level 3, is a remake of the Talus Caves. While the original Talus Caves is mildly difficult, this game gets ridiculous in the second section, where the majority of the level is a SlippySlideyIceWorld. Add on Moblins at the beginning that can snipe you. Add on Ice Wizzrobes. Add on Darknuts. Add on Ball-on-Chain Darknuts. Add on very narrow paths at critical portions. You will cry.
77* Vaati's Castle section (the last section per level) in each of the three doors are not "boss fights" per se, but the course itself is a boss room. It contains fans that will annoyingly blow you off the narrow paths. Enemy ambushes can knock you into the bottomless pits and really drain your rupees. And these are some of the few levels with flying tiles, some of which respawn. A particular ambush in Hero's Trial level 2-3 comes in three waves of enemies and is notoriously difficult to survive.
78[[/folder]]
79
80[[folder:''The Wind Waker'']]
81* Sneaking around the Forsaken Fortress shouldn't be too hard, if it wasn't at the very beginning of the game and the Moblins were placed in the most irritating spots. It's easy to get lost, or to be spotted and tossed back into the cell at the very beginning. It's not hard in NES sense of a lot of difficult enemies or the need to make precise movements with no time to think, it's just ''so tedious'' as you do a lot of waiting for Moblins to slooooowly walk past (sometimes changing direction, too, so that Moblin you need to sneak past might be between you and the door for ''several'' minutes. Why yes, there ''are'' more on the other side that'll require you to do the same.) You can expect a lot of redoing the same rooms, and a lot of walking around the same places over and over as you were ''sure'' you read the map right and knew where to go next but somehow you're back to the same place again. For added insult, ''you have to go back there later in the game.'' To be fair, the second visit is much easier as Link now has the Master Sword by that point and can fight his enemies as soon as they detect him. This makes it a ''little'' less painful... but a little less painful than ''that'' is still pretty damn painful.
82* Most of the dungeons in this game are relatively easy, but the Wind Temple serves as a huge difficulty spike! It's the second escort dungeon in the game, so you have to carry Makar around everywhere you go. However, unlike Medli (whose ability to carry Link while flying and light-reflecting harp made her very useful and meaningful in the Earth Temple), Makar's diminute size leaves him with the only purpose of planting seeds for trees that can be latched onto with the Hookshot (he's too small to take Link to higher parts); and the fact he gets ''inevitably'' abducted early in the dungeon doesn't help. Also, the center of the dungeon is a long vertical shaft with a fan that turns on and off, with a ton of doors connecting it. Finding where you need to go next and bringing Makar there can be a ginormous pain. Worse still, getting around certain puzzles requires perfect timing and reflexes, especially if you don't have the enhanced magic meter which is fairly easy to have missed at this point.
83* Phantom Ganon's maze in the last dungeon (Ganon's Tower) is very tedious. Imagine the Lost Woods in ''Ocarina of Time'', but you have to fight a MiniBoss in every room. This segment will take you forever!
84[[/folder]]
85
86[[folder:''The Minish Cap'']]
87* The Temple of Droplets is a long, difficult [[SlippySlideyIceWorld ice-themed dungeon]] full of annoying puzzles, especially after you get the dungeon item.
88* The Cloud Tops force you to walk in a circle collecting [[MacGuffin Kinstones]] and fuse them to random pieces of architecture, for seemingly no reason other than {{Padding}}. If you miss a Kinstone, you just have to go in another circle and hope you don't miss it twice. The music's nice though, and it leads up to the [[BestLevelEver Palace of Winds]], so it's not as bad as it could be.
89* The Palace of Winds is also incredibly difficult at times, forcing you to use the Roc's Cape perfectly to get across some tricky platforming. And if that's not enough, the dungeon is twice as long as most of the others in the game, the miniboss is a Darknut, and there are a ton of enemies to defeat.
90[[/folder]]
91
92[[folder:''Twilight Princess'']]
93* The Tear of Light collection quests are tedious because you're stuck in your wolf form, which severely limits your tool and travel options. You have to search the entire region for Shadow Insects to kill, but they're invisible unless Link switches to sense mode, which limits the player's range of vision. You have to do this three times in all; the Lanayru Province can take an ''hour'' even at a good pace (and that also includes riding the Shadow Kargorok, which can be either incredibly difficult or incredibly tedious).
94* The caravan defense requires frequent use of the Gale Boomerang, putting out fires, fast-moving targets, pterosaurs dropping bombs on everything, and a horse who handles like she's drunk and makes it nearly impossible to beat.
95* Lakebed Temple hangs a lampshade on the infamy of ''Ocarina of Time'''s Water Temple, as Midna will comment on how hard the dungeon appears to be, especially finding all the keys. It's not nearly as hard to find the keys as in the Water Temple -- but you do have to pull multiple levers in the main room to change its layout, and many of them lead to dead ends.
96* The game's version of the Lost Woods has an absurdly confusing layout with no map of any kind and infinitely respawning GoddamnedBats that go out of their way to hunt you down while you're navigating the place. You have to beat ThatOnePuzzle to make it out. And to beat the game as a whole, you have to do it ''twice''.
97* Snowpeak Ruins has knee-deep snow, [[SlippySlideyIceWorld icy floors]], sliding {{Block Puzzle}}s, and enemies who can freeze you. You do get the [[AwesomeButImpractical ball and chain]], but it doesn't help much. And enemies don't drop hearts, so in order to heal, you have to backtrack to the room with the nice Yeti and ask for the healing soup.
98* The City in the Sky is a MarathonLevel that takes an average of four to five hours, and that's if you know where you're going. Just getting to it is annoying enough, since it requires a huge FetchQuest just to start another FetchQuest. It's far too easy to fall to your death, and the level requires precise clawshotting in order to survive. You often don't have long to find the next place to clawshot to, as there are a ''lot'' of platforms and such that begin to fall the moment you're on 'em. And it's huge and easy to get lost in. Fortunately, it's better once you get the second clawshot, if only because using two clawshots is a lot of fun. However, near the end there is an extended path that ends with you descending back into the main room with your Clawshot through a hole in the ceiling. Many players overlook the Clawshot switch that can only be reached from this particular position; if you don't activate it before you drop down all the way, you have to go through that entire path again just to Clawshot onto that switch.
99* Having to retrieve the two Sols in the Twilight Realm is a deeply stressful segment. You have to explore the two sides of the Palace of Twilight, fight off a holographic Zant, grab the Sol and traverse back to the start. During the last segment, Zant's hand will constantly pursue Link, and if it manages to steal the Sol, it will carry it back to the room where you first collected it.
100[[/folder]]
101
102[[folder:''Phantom Hourglass'']]
103* The Temple of the Ocean King is unanimously agreed to be one of the franchise's worst. The idea behind the dungeon is that you return to it five times over the course of the game, using the items gained in other dungeons to get deeper and deeper upon each visit. The dungeon as a whole is effectively a [[TimedMission timed]] StealthBasedMission, with the place crawling with [[InvincibleMinorMinion invincible enemies]] that will knock the player back to a room's entrance and/or reduce the timer if they catch you.
104[[/folder]]
105
106[[folder:''Spirit Tracks'']]
107* The final floors of the Tower of Spirits are the most devious part of the game. They're packed with a vast array of puzzles, hazards, and passageways that can only be tackled by out-of-the-box methods that make use of ''all'' of the items in the inventory and clever cooperation with the various types of Phantoms Zelda can possess. At one point, Link and Zelda have to find three keys to access three different rooms whose puzzles can only be solved when all of those rooms are available for access. Near the end, there's also an invasion of several powerful enemies (including three high-tier Geozards) where Link must triumph while avoiding a pitfall.
108[[/folder]]
109
110[[folder:''Skyward Sword'']]
111* The Lanayru Mining Facility contains annoying enemies, tedious time-shifting puzzles, and [[HellIsThatNoise rather freaky music]]. Even more frustratingly, it's longer than the next two dungeons, but has a relative joke of a boss. It says something when this game's water dungeon becomes its BreatherLevel thanks to this dungeon. [[SelfImposedChallenge Challenge gamers]] on a no-shield playthrough find it particularly difficult to carry the timeshift orbs past the Beamos and Sentrobes.
112* The Eldin Volcano EscortMission is a rare non-dungeon example in the series. You basically have to escort a robot up the entire volcano, which is now swarming with Bokoblin Archers that can hit the robot from long range -- even after you're sure you killed all of them. And Scrapper has some serious LeeroyJenkins tendencies to rush into trouble, and he [[AnnoyingVideoGameHelper annoyingly pesters you when he's under attack]]. It's hard enough fighting two [[DemonicSpiders Lizalfos]] at once without having to protect this guy.
113* Lanayru Gorge has a single infamous room, filled with GoddamnedBats and DemonicSpiders, in which you must follow a Timeshift Stone in a moving mining cart to avoid falling in {{quicksand|sucks}}. If you fall, you're taken back to the start of the level, and all the enemies respawn. The enemies are pretty accurate with their ranged weapons, too. The most annoying bit is that the few rooms before are incredibly easy, but they're between this room and the checkpoint, so you have to run through them every time you try again.
114* The Sandship dungeon is so hard that just reaching it is excruciating, requiring you to visit three mini-dungeons (one of which throws you into an unexpected rematch with the Mining Facility's final boss). Then you have to sail in a boat with wonky controls, search for an invisible ship, and blast it with a cannon several times before you can finally engage the real dungeon.
115* The Silent Realms require you to collect 15 tears and get back to the entrance circle, then obtain your next PlotCoupon to get to the next dungeon. But once you leave the entrance circle, the realm's Guardians will chase you (to some [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8_LJN-dxtc freaky music]]), and getting hit will cause you to fail the test. The Eldin Silent Realm in particular is massive, meaning the tears are scattered across a large distance, and one set is in a one-way slide covered with Waking Water (which instantly alerts the Guardians if you step in it). And once you think you've beaten them all, there's one final, extra-hard realm [[spoiler:in Skyloft]], which is particularly tricky [[spoiler:because of the constant risk of getting lost and falling off the place]].
116* The Tadtone collecting quest requires you to hunt underwater through the totally flooded Faron Woods to collect Tadtones, and it's necessary for Faron to teach you her part of the Song of the Hero. You'll spend more time trying to avoid drowning than actually looking for the Tadtones. A GuideDangIt solution is to prolong your oxygen meter with an upgraded Air Potion and the Potion Medal equipped in your adventure pouch.
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118
119[[folder:''Hyrule Warriors'']]
120* The first chapter of Cia's tale in the Master Quest DLC pack, which really lives up to the "Master Quest" name. You will be constantly switching back and forth between offense and defense in this mission. In the first part you have to capture four keeps controlled by Volga's army, all while protecting your main base from Goron invasions which include Bombchus, and protecting your ally Wizzro from a series of [[DemonicSpiders Lizalfos and Dinalfos Chieftains]]. The last part of the mission has you scrambling to save your main base from [[spoiler:Wizzro after he betrays you]] as well as Volga and two King Dodongos. That's four bosses at once!
121* The Twilight Palace is ''ridiculously'' hard, featuring a seemingly infinitely respawning army of near-invulnerable minibosses, which tend to group together so you have to fight them all at once. To win you have to defeat Zant and Argorok at the same time while protecting your Allied Base which is quick to fall.
122* For the best rewards, the "fight against two armies" quest that unlocks Darunia's level 2 weapon qualifies. In order to win, you have to defeat two armies' commanders (general-class versions of the Icy Big Poe and Gibdo), with the army that you're not beating becoming stronger the more you fight the other. Foes will regularly make forays into your territory, frequently requiring you to run back and play defense. Also, there will be three Manhandla stalks that will spawn and start an artillery rain on your base, and allowing it to continue for any amount of time will result in a severely weakened base camp (this can cross over into LuckBasedMission - if all three spawn near your start point, it's manageable. If none do, get running). Even all of that is comparatively manageable. However, due to how spread out everything (including enemy encampments and raids) are, the A-rank requirements of 1200 downed foes in 15 minutes require a combination of serious leveling as well as a highly coordinated plan that must be modified for random factors. (Did the stalks spawn near you? Did either general decide to advance on your base? Can you afford to hold off on rescuing Impa to finish taking this base, or do you run back and risk Raid Captains spawning from it?)
123* ''Legends'' brings chapter two of Ganondorf's chapter. For the most part it plays out the same as the original version, until you get to the final phase, where Lana doubles herself and tries to flee. In the original, both doubles had half health and a fair way to run. This time, Lana splits into ''three'' full-health copies, which start sprinting in different directions. Each still has Lana's "commander" flag, giving her plenty of health and a strong AI. You ''will not'' be able to hunt them down alone. Fortunately, Zant and Ghirahim are there to help, and will run to intercept two of the Lanas... but if you left them to their own devices, they'll be horribly out of position, their pathfinding when ordered to chase a target is moronic, and even if they catch her Lana will ignore them and keep running unless the player assumes control. Manually ordering them to the escape points is the way to go... but unless you're deep into Adventure Mode, Zant and Ghirahim will still be locked, meaning they have default weapons, no badges, and pitiful health and damage, meaning it's difficult to stall them, let alone defeat them. The only reliable way to do this is to start moving Ganondorf to intercept the fleeing doubles before they actually appear, and tie up two while sending both other characters to intercept the last one. Oh, and just to add insult to injury, since checkpoint triggers are processed in the dialogue queue, it's possible for the final checkpoint to save while the level is already UnintentionallyUnwinnable. Have fun!
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126[[folder:''A Link Between Worlds'']]
127* The Ice Ruins is a treacherous SlippySlideyIceWorld with very narrow pathways and tough enemies throughout the dungeon. The run-up alone requires you to find a portal in a place [[GuideDangIt the game doesn't hint at]], perform precise platforming in a massive cavern with GoddamnedBats, and face several [[BossInMookClothing Lynels]], which are more powerful than many ''bosses''. Then you have to do the same thing in Lorule's Death Mountain, with the same cavern covered in ice and the Lynels replaced with ice statues.
128* The Palace of Darkness is, understandably, a BlackoutBasement which requires frequent lamp usage. However, some rooms require you to put out the torches to see things that the light makes invisible -- and there's [[GuideDangIt very little indication]] that you need to do this. It's also huge and difficult to navigate.
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130
131[[folder:''Breath of the Wild'']]
132* Akkala Tower requires you to go through a ruined citadel full of Black Bokoblins, Moblins, and Guardian Skywatchers. The only way to avoid them is to climb the walls of the place. The tower itself is flooded with malice, you have to find a Cursed Eye in this really large pool and realise that defeating it only clears up a small part of the Malice. This small patch of Malice protects a metal plank, which you move to use as a bridge to reach the tower.
133* Oy gevalt Ridgeland Tower. It's surrounded by a lake infested with Electric Lizalfos, the shores are patrolled by even more, and there are three, count 'em, ''three'' Lightning Wizzrobes dancing around the tower. As Wizzrobes have insanely high aggro and attack range in the game, this tower is damned near impossible unless you get incredibly lucky sneaking past everything or make a mad dash with Revali's Gale (which is on the ''other side'' of the area with this tower).
134* The initial trek to Zora's Domain requires you to navigate a long, narrow, winding path full of near-constant enemies, some of whom have [[ThatOneAttack electric attacks]]. The first few enemies aren’t that hard to take on, but then you reach a camp along a long narrow path full of Lizalfos on watchtowers that fire nothing but Shock Arrows, which is pretty much impossible to sneak past, and said path is littered with puddles and metal boxes that can generate unblockable domes of electricity if struck. It keeps throwing tricky encounters at you from there, including having to travel through a tight space full of [[GoddamnedBats Electric Kesse]], a sudden encounter with a Blue Moblin on a bridge that ''will'' hit you if haven’t gotten the hang of dodging or shielding, the introduction of spiky barricades that damage you if you run into them, and battling both weapon-wielding and Shock Arrow-shooting Lizalfos in another tight space. It's also raining thanks to Divine Beast Vah Ruta, so you can't use your usual shortcut strategy and just climb around it. On the bright side, all the Lizalfos drop lots of arrows, so persevering though the path is worth it if you’re running low on them.
135* The road up Death Mountain to reach Goron City is difficult because the area is so hot that without proper protection, Link will [[ManOnFire burst into flames]]. The "correct" method is to go to Foothill Stable and buy some Fireproof Elixirs, but the game's WideOpenSandbox nature means that many gamers will likely miss the stable. The only other way to make it through safely would be to make your own elixirs (with creatures [[TheKeyIsBehindTheLock found only on Death Mountain]]) or to buy Fireproof Armor (from a shop [[TheKeyIsBehindTheLock in Goron City]], though you can get one of the pieces for free by completing a minor sidequest along the way). Meaning that a fair number of players ended up [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-VX0wUwbjE eating a bunch of food and running for it]]. Furthermore, even with the Fireproof Elixirs, if one is to take the path starting from Foothill Stable (rather than starting from Eldin Tower), they will run into a Guardian Stalker that is virtually impossible to get past even on horseback unless you are able to kill it.
136* The battle against Vah Rudania is a combined StealthBasedMission and EscortMission. The escort, Yunobo, is surprisingly not the problem, because he has Daruk’s Protection to shield himself with and you can order him to stay where he is at any time. The sentries need to be knocked out with metal blocks, and not everyone figures out that they should do this (and the controls aren't the best either). And the Moblins you encounter on the way up are powerful and can easily knock you off the mountain. In addition, the sentries in view of the first two cannons have led many players to believe that you should fire the cannons at them and not realize you have to fire at Rudania itself, as this is not explicitly said, though hinted at.
137* The Yiga Clan Hideout is a forced StealthBasedMission where you have to sneak your way around to recover the Thunder Helm. While the Yiga Blademasters can be distracted with bananas so you can OneHitKill them with a Sneakstrike, they move ''very'' slowly and you'll be forced to wait around to make your next move. If you are spotted (which can happen quite easily due to the enemies in the place having a big cone of vision and very sharp hearing), all the Blademasters in the area are alerted to your presence and they'll also summon the more nimbler scouts to fight you. While you ''can'' fight them all and survive, getting hit just once by a Blademaster without any temporary hearts to tank with will instantly kill you no matter how much defense or hearts you have. Getting killed at the hideout won't activate your fairies or Mipha's Grace because it's implied the soldiers are too strong for Link to handle, [[GameplayAndStorySegregation even though you can fight them outside of the hideout with little trouble and only take moderate damage from them.]] Luckily, Ancient Arrows can kill the guards in one shot, but finding said arrows is a crapshoot and getting the materials to craft the arrows requires killing many [[EliteMook Guardians]]. The one silver lining is, in stark contrast to Naboris, it ends with the easiest boss in the game.
138* Shora Hah Shrine is often regarded as the most disliked shrine due to being a very long shrine requiring you to have a torch and many arrows to continuously transfer a blue flame to various torches throughout the shrine, ending with having to use a Spin Attack on a circle of torches, which, if not done right, can leave one torch unlit and cause the others to be put out by water. Though most of the other challenges aren't that difficult, they are impossible to do if you don't have enough arrows or a torch, even though the latter is provided and a wooden weapon could serve similar purpose.
139* Divine Beast Vah Naboris is the largest of the Divine Beasts and has some fairly annoying puzzles in it. The map controls have three different things that can be moved and each of them has four different positions they can be in (compared to Medoh and Rudania only changing between two or three different positions and only Ruta's trunk getting controlled). Some of the puzzles also involve making the controllable portions line up. Overall, Naboris is easily the most complex Divine Beast. And when finished there is [[ThatOneBoss Thunderblight Ganon]] to deal with.
140* Eventide Island [[NoGearLevel takes away all of Link's gear]] (except the Sheikah Slate and any Champion’s Blessings you’ve obtained by the time you get there) and forces him to use only what he can scavenge from the island. The earliest encounters with no weapons are extremely riskier, and the later encounters aren't much easier either, especially if the player accidentally alerts some enemies too quickly and ends up with a pack of Bokos or a Hinox hunting them down. Oh, and since your armor got taken away, you’re gonna take a lot more damage than usual. This escalates on Master Mode, which makes all enemies one level higher and gives them a HealingFactor, meaning the weak weapons one will find will do little more than ScratchDamage before breaking. Players who do not know you can steal the orb from the Hinox will have a difficult time killing it.
141* The Trial of the Sword from ''The Master Trials'' DLC is a gauntlet of multiple floors of enemies which, like Eventide Island, starts you out with no weapons or armor and forces you to scavenge for them. It also cuts out your access to the Champion’s Blessings and saving, so any death forces you to do the whole Beginning/Middle/Final Trials all over again. Particularly infamous is Floor 10 of the Beginning Trials, which pits the player against three Lizalfos on a tiny raft, one of which spots you immediately and must be killed ASAP lest it warn the others so that they all gang up on you. Worse, Master Mode again boosts all the enemy levels, so an already difficult trial against a somewhat weak Blue Lizalfos and two sturdy Black Lizalfos becomes one Black Lizalfos and two MadeOfIron Silver Lizalfos, all of which can heal off damage. Floor 10 is even considered to be harder than much of the Middle and Final Trials, since those give you decent weapons from the start and focus more on the surprise factor of environmental gimmicks.
142* The opening trial of the ''The Champion's Ballad'' DLC makes everything else in the game look like a cakewalk by comparison. You are given a weapon called the One-Hit Obliterator, which does exactly what it says and lets you kill any enemy in one hit. The trouble is that in exchange, it drains your hearts all the way down to a single quarter, meaning one hit from an enemy or an accidental fall from a great enough height, and you’re dead. And you aren’t allowed to unequip it. Also, all healing items will be negated, the Champion’s Blessings are once again disabled, and the Obliterator only has two charges before needing to take a few seconds to recharge (at which point it is much weaker). Four different enemy camps need to be taken out to progress (one of which is near Mount Hylia, meaning you’re screwed if you don’t have proper cold protection); the enemies within often have a lot of weapons with long reach and some have long range weapons too meaning one slip up will cause a game over, and they all have horns so if one sees you, the rest will be alerted to you as well. It is actually more efficient to use bows and arrows to deal with these camps, but then there’s the possibility of accidentally running into a spiky barricade since the trial takes place in a perpetual night, which mean [[GoddamnedBats Stal enemies and Keese]] also show up to try and set you back. Thankfully, unlike the Trial of the Sword, you don’t have to start all the way from the beginning upon death, because saving is enabled during the trial, but if you aren’t at the top of your game, prepare to die a lot. The Shrines unlocked when the enemies get defeated are not exactly easy (much of the difficulty comes from you only having one quarter heart) but they are a breather compared to the camps.
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144
145[[folder:''Tears of the Kingdom'']]
146* Remember Eventide Island from ''Breath of the Wild'' where you're stripped naked of your gear and had to scavenge whatever you could find to defend yourself? There are several shrines in ''Tears of the Kingdom'' that take that concept and run with it. Each of the Proving Grounds shrines will have some gimmick to mix things up, such as one shrine having a moat and an island in the middle while another shrine will have [[BlackoutBasement complete darkness]]. Without your gear, Link effectively has zero defense, thus enemies can hit quite hard and can easily kill him in one or two hits unless you managed to have gotten a lot of Heart Containers to offset the damage. Enemies that use long sticks and Zonai devices like Flame Emitters will be your worst foes to face due to their sheer long range capabilities. Since you can't proceed until you beaten all the Constructs, you'll have to play it safe and avoid being hit as much as possible or risk dying and having to start the trial over from the beginning.
147[[/folder]]

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