-nin10dave
Zelda games are often a tale of two halves. One half is that of the main story which is usually Link, conquering evil, to save Princess Zelda. The other half is a complete distraction to the main story and has Link completing frivolous sidequests to further strengthen his arsenal, or just to make some spare Rupees. Yes, whilst Zelda suffers at the hands of a delusional wizard, Link is off chasing chickens to bag himself an empty bottle. Absolutely makes sense – who wouldn’t want a shiny new bottle?!
Although these are completely optional, each game has variations when it comes to the difficulty and number of sidequests. You have Zelda titles, like Link’s Awakening, where these are few and far between. On the other hand, with titles like Majora’s Mask or Breath of the Wild, the sidequests tend to make up a larger percentage of the game than the main story itself. For me, I’ve always preferred these Zelda titles as it allows you to be a bit sporadic, and less linear than that of following the steps of the main story.
Therefore, I’ve put together my top 10 Zelda sidequests, and how, sometimes, I prefer completing these over saving that struggling princess!
Did You Know?
- Breath of the Wild currently features the most sidequests in a Zelda title.
- Link’s Awakening was the first Zelda title with a sidequest, tempering the Master Sword.
- The Gold Skulltula and Poe collecting sidequests appear in more than one Zelda title!
10) Lumpy Pumpkin
Link in Skyward Sword is presented as a bit of a lazy genius. He’s naturally talented as a Knight, and has a strong bond with his Loftwing, but lacks effort. He’s pushed by Zelda to try harder, so whilst in the Lumpy Pumpkin, who could blame him for trying to grab the heart piece? This sidequest starts with Link rolling on an unstable balcony in the Skyloft Pub, which causes a chandelier to fall, and break. Although this results in a heart piece, the landlord is furious with Link, and has him completing several tasks to foot the bill. These include delivering hot soup, taking a stack of towering pumpkins from the garden to the storeroom, and playing the harp during a band’s performance. I like this sidequest for its backwards nature. Normally you’d complete the sidequest and then gain an item, but here you get the item, then have to do the sidequests – and that’s quite nifty!
9) Stamp Book
Back in 2011, I completed a little stint around Japan, and it was wonderful. Throughout my trip, any museums or points of interest that you visited had cool little stamp stations where you could pop a quirky animation of said place in a book. It was a really nice way of creating memories, and this has clearly been translated into Spirit Tracks. Throughout your journey across New Hyrule, you’ll find stamp stations almost everywhere! In towns, dungeons, and random stops along the tracks. Collecting all of these and filling the book is a great little sidequest – not only is it fun seeing what the stamps look like for each place, but collecting them all results in receiving the Swordsman’s Scroll from Niko, allowing Link to unleash the Great Spin Attack.
8) Mother Maimai
There’s a lot of ‘collecting’ sidequests in the Zelda series – heart pieces, Gold Skulltula, Joy Pendants, I could go on. However, my favourite of these is Mother Maimai in A Link Between Worlds. Perhaps winning the worst parent of the year award, Mother Maimai has lost all her 100 children across both Hyrule and Lorule. In a plea for help, she asks Links to collect these and, for every 10 you bring back, Mother Maimai upgrades and strengthens one of Links weapons. Seems fair! Although a collecting mission, I love the variety in where all the Maimai children are hidden. They’re stuck in walls that require the merge mechanic, buried under large boulders, and one even requires a rooftop to rooftop chicken flight expedition! There is, of course, some repetition in how to find Maimais, but overall the nice mixture of where they are hidden, plus the multiple item upgrades, make it a joy to reunite this terrible mother, with her many, many children.
7) Romani Ranch
Majora’s Mask is made up of a whole heap of sidequests. There are 40 masks to gather and apart from the 4 transformation masks, and 4 boss masks, every other Mask is obtained through a sidequest. One of these Masks is obtained by completing two missions over two evenings at Romani Ranch. During the first day at the Ranch, you learn Epona’s song from Romani. When seeing the bond between Link and Epona, Romani asks if you could help during the evening, where strange creatures try to abduct the cows from the barn. Link has to keep the “alien” like monsters (based on West Virginia’s Flatwood monster) away. Success means Romani brands you as her “little hero” and shares your heroics with her sister. Cremia will then ask Link on the second evening to helo with a milk delivery to the Milk Bar in Termina. During the delivery, you’re forced to detour down a dodgy road and are attacked by the (clearly obvious) Gorman Brothers. Fending these off results in the Romani Mask, which you can use to enter the Milk Bar at night, unlocking further sidequests. The reason I love this one is the wholesome story behind Cremia and Romani, they’re both trying to keep the Ranch alive despite external problems out of their control. If you fail any of the missions, speaking to Cremia or Romani results in some unsettling dialogue – so try and help them out!
6)Tarrey Town
It’s not often the map within a Zelda game changes. There are some aesthetic tweaks throughout the series but usually, the landmarks, towns and locations are set when the game begins, and stay that way. However, in Breath of the Wild, one of the sidequests sees you build an entire town from the ground up; Tarrey Town. After buying a house in Hateno Village, Hudson, one of the construction workers, is sent out to clear some land for the expansion of Bolson Construction. Link runs into Hudson later on and has the option to help collect materials to build up what will eventually become Tarrey Town. As buildings start to take shape, Hudson tasks Link with finding suitable vendors, each of which needs a name ending in -son (all part of the T&C’s of Bolson Construction). The quest culminates in a wedding within the Town, after which you’re welcome to come and go as you please, buying from the vendors, one of which even has a Hylian Shield for low price of 3,000 rupees!
5) Cave of Ordeals
The Cave of Ordeals is as exactly what it says on the tin. A cave, full of ordeals. A few Zelda games include these combat-based sidequests where you have to clear a certain number of floors, without letting Link perish. I really love the Twilight Princess version – not only because it features some of the best Zelda combat, but you’ll need a fair bit of Link’s arsenal before you can reach the bottom. The further down the cave you go, the more frequently you’ll come across areas that require the Spinner, or Double Clawshots, to progress. This stops you taking on the cave too early, as some of the floors get pretty tough. One such floor includes a Darknut and two Aeralfos forcing you to watch the sky and ground for attacks simultaneously. Just when you’ve beat this challenge, the final floor chucks three Darknuts at you, as they wouldn’t want to make it too easy! Finishing the sidequest results in a spare bottle, full of Great Fairy Tears, so it’s fair to say that the thrill and challenge of the Cave of Ordeals heavily outweigh the reward, but again – who doesn’t want a shiny new bottle? Check out my Top 10 Twilight Princess Items list that may include the Spinner and Double Clawshot.
4) Biggoron’s Sword
The first trading sequence to make this list (but not the last) is the Biggoron Sword. I really love this sidequest in Ocarina of Time, and I remember how mammoth it felt when playing the game for the first time as a 9 year old boy. Not only does the trading feel so expansive, covering a large portion of Hyrule, but some of the trades have time limits, putting further pressure on the task at hand! A non-walkthrough summary – You receive an Egg in Kakariko Village. This hatches to the Pocket Cucco, and using this to wake up Talon makes it happy. Showing the happy Cucco to the lady who gave you the egg results in a Blue Cucco, called Cojiro. A Crafstman’s Son in the Lost Woods pines for Cojiro and gives you an Old Mushroom for him. The Mushroom only lasts three minutes so you need to get it to the Potion Shop in Kakariko Village. Here the Granny gives you Odd Poultice to give back to the Craftman’s Son, however a Kokiri boy creepily tells you he’s turned to a Stalfos, and trades the Poacher’s Saw in return. Give the Saw to the Master Craftsman and you’ll get a Broken Goron’s Sword, which Biggoron says he’ll fix it – but his eyes are gross, so you get the Prescription. King Zora gives you a Frog for this, with a three minute timer, for the Lake Scientist. He’ll turn that Frog to eyedrops (again you’ve three minutes) and BOOM – you get the Cliam Cheque for the sword. Wait three days / spam Sun’s Song and you get the mammoth, powerful Biggoron Sword – as I said, this sidequest’s a beast!
3) Boomerang
Number three on the list, and another trading sidequest, is from Link’s Awakening. This trading sidequest is as expansive as the Biggoron Sword, but the reason I prefer the one from Link’s Awakening is it’s kind of completed as the game progresses. Where the trading sidequest in Ocarina of Time can be completed all at once when you’d like to, Link’s Awakening’s sidequest unfurls as you meet people throughout the main storyline. I won’t detail all the trades again for the sake of everyone’s sanity, including mine, however where this particularly shines true is for the Third Dungeon. You need the Slime Key to get into this dungeon, which is owned by Prince Richard. Richard won’t give you the key unless you bring back some Golden Feathers from Kanalet Castle, however you cannot reach this castle UNLESS you trade the stick to the monkey Kiki, who then builds you a bridge to Kanalet. It’s a nice touch to see the trading sidequest go hand-in-hand with the main story and, I love how it pushes you to interact with the colourful characters on Koholint Island. An alligator that eats dog food, A bear after some honey and a goat in love with an islander – this sidequest ticks all the boxes. It finishes with the Boomerang, a beast of a weapon in this game, and a reliable item on your mission to wake the Windfish.
2) Eventide Island
Taking the silver medal is my favourite sidequest from Breath of the Wild – Eventide Island. Breath of the Wild’s opening rekindles that feeling Nintendo wanted to achieve with the original Legend of Zelda. A hero, alone, in a vast open space, with no items. You start to build up your catalogue of weapons, armour and food as the game progresses, and you soon find yourself at one with the Wild. However, as you edge the map, a relatively large island can be seen in the Necluda Sea, just off the coast of Hateno Beach. Venturing out to this island via raft is a leisurely sea voyage, but this calm soon turns to dread when you land on Eventide Island. The mission on the island is a to reveal a shrine, however the Sheikah monk, who speaks to you when you set foot on the sand, removes ALL of your items and armour, taking you back to that vulnerable feeling that the start of the game serves up. Throughout the quest, you have to scavenge food, items and weapons to help you survive as dying here means a complete restart. With these weaker, fewer items in hand, you need to get three orbs to three podiums – with one orb on the necklace of a Hinnox. I felt stealthy as anything paragliding onto his stomach, lifting the orb before he woke, and running to the hills as soon as he murmured to an alert state. You can start this quest at any time in your journey given the freedom of BotW – but no matter when you start it – it’s a great challenge that throws a curveball into the way you approach hoards of enemies as your stripped back to your weakened state. A sidequest I love to revisit to tackle with different approaches and strategies each time.
1) The Couple’s Mask
Absolutely no surprises based on the header image for this post, but taking the top spot is the Couple’s Mask. Majora’s Mask is my favourite Zelda title and this sidequest plays a huge part in that opinion. It’s long, detailed, full of feels, and finishes with a bittersweet ending. The sidequest takes place almost immediately on the first day, finishes at the end of the final minutes of the third day, and has numerous events take place in between. I love watching the events unfurl live during the in-game time, as it cements that feeling that Termina is a real space – things are happening all around Link, even if he doesn’t see them. On the 1st day, from the base of the clock tower, you can immediately see a purple-haired boy post a letter and then run off from the postbox. As you explore the town, speaking to Madame Aroma in the mayor’s office reveals that this child is Kafei, and he’s gone missing. Madame Aroma gives you the Kafei Mask as a means for you to help find her son. The posted letter ends up at The Stockpot Inn and being present to the deliver shows a scene between the postman and Anju, who’s desperate to know where the note has come from. Speaking to her afterwards with the Kafei Mask moves Anju to ask you for help, to find her husband to be. The dialogue is littered with emotion, and it’s clear she’s desperate to see him again. Events unfold and you eventually meet Kafei who has been cursed into child form by the Skull Kid. As the sidequest progresses, you help Kafei reclaim his stolen ceremony mask, which couples trade as a token of their love during a wedding in Termina. The sidequest climaxes in a reunion of Anju and Kafei who leap into each’s others arms in an emotional embrace, all whilst the Moon is plummeting to earth, and the whole of Termina is shaking. No sooner after they give you Couple’s Mask do you have to immediately play the Song of Time, and go back to the Dawn of the First Day – undoing everything. As you’re put back to the first day, the happiness from the ceremony is immediately washed away when you see Kafei posting that letter in the same postbox. It’s this juxtaposition of love and loss, and the looming-groundhog day reminder that nothing in Termina is set, that really portrays the darkness of Majora’s Mask, and cements my love for this complex, moody Zelda title.
I’ve rambled on there about the Couple’s Mask sidequest, but I do really love it. In fact, there aren’t many Zelda sidequests I don’t like! They’re such a key component to the Zelda series, I’d be disappointed if they were ever removed. Even in BotW, where the formula of the series was shook up, there was still a big focus on sidequests, and that made me happy. I cannot wait to see what sidequests might appear in BotW2 – whatever they choose, I hope the result is a shiny new bottle!