I started the level filling a bottle with water. It was a cave like area, with rocky walls and a collapsed bridge, which I climbed down. The bottle came from a half bird half girl creature who needed your help crossing over a gap where the bridge had broken. By picking her up and throwing her as the wind is blowing in the right direction, she can reach her destination safely and then rewards you with the item. The problem now, how does Link get across the gap? By watering a small bomb flower and throwing the bomb that grows at the rock that is covering the fountain, water rushes out to fill the space and Link can swim across the gap into the first dungeon.

That was the first scene I went through. She was happy when you rescued her, each character has many expressions, and this is especially noticeable in their faces. They smile, cheer and look annoyed at Link and tell the story through animation. It suits this game well and is more appropriate than voices for personalizing each character.

The main room of the first floor has a large bridge suspended over the lava below. The ledges around the room lead to each door (except for one!). The only two enemies in this room are two Keese, although the lava will come roaring up from below to obstruct your path. The entire room has a hazy effect from the heat, this is just one of the graphical touches that are everywhere. When the door opens to this area the flames and anything else moving is still. It’s like the level has been frozen in time and although it only lasts for a second it makes the graphics just a bit more amazing.

Many of the rooms are separated by wooden planks rather than doors. Different techniques need to be used to break them apart. Sometimes throwing a rock or Link’s own sword will open the door, otherwise an enemies’ larger sword or a flaming stick. The sticks can also be thrown at a door if it is too far away to reach. Often the doors are locked until all the enemies in the room are killed, sometimes they will be hiding in pots and jump out as you approach.

In some rooms there are large pots of water. As well as looking comical when carried above your head they can be thrown onto the lava to create temporary rock platforms. This can be used to cross a large pool or when the lava is shooting up, the platform formed by throwing water also shoots up and can take you to higher ground. When you take a wrong step and fall into the lava, Link goes shooting up into the air kicking and screaming, and you restart at the last door you came into with slightly less life. As with all of Link’s actions this is very well animated and very amusing.

Some of the dungeon requires you to be outside. One of the dungeon keys is found in a bird’s nest, reached by climbing, crawling and shuffling around the cliff. Outside passages are found often in this dungeon and it is usually easier to reach a different floor this way. There are also warp jars in some of the rooms, usually obscured by a boulder.

In one sequence, the flying girl has been captured. After defeating the enemies, (including the final one that is dropped down by a bird) she is freed and gives you the rope and hook. This can be assigned to one of the buttons and launched where a yellow flashing symbol appears. Pressing the same button again releases it and you land wherever you were flying above. It is important to face the correct angle while using the hook and rope otherwise it’s easy to just swing into mid-air and fall when the rope is released.

Once you have the rope and hook there are a lot of areas in the first floor that are now accessible. Rooms can now be re-visited to ensure the entire dungeon has been explored. The map is accessed by pressing up on the D-pad. Once the compass has been found visited rooms are shown in green, rooms yet to be entered are black and unopened chests are marked as yellow.

Link can use the Baton to change the direction of the wind. Pressing directions on the control stick in time activates the compass that can be used to choose the new direction. In one case this was used to make the wind blow into a cave entrance.

Not all the characters have eyes as large as Link. Also interesting, Link actually starts off in a blue and white shirt, instead of his normal uniform. After finding your grandmother, she gives you the normal clothes, which Link puts on with a look of disgust.

As always, there are shops in the village. One of these was found on a boat and sold a type of fruit. After purchasing this and going back outside, using the fruit would balance it on your head. A seagull would then swoop down and you’d end up on it’s back, flying through the air. It appears that there is a lot to explore in the main world and a lot of fun things to do.

Finally, I had visited every room and opened every chest except for one, which contained the Master Key to the boss. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to fight the boss… this time. Completing this first dungeon (minus boss) took around one hour. The puzzles and combat were fairly simple in this first level, and gameplay is very similar to the N64 version, and the hook and rope are used in much the same way as the hookshot was.

The game is very special, there are countless small details and the world looks and behaves very realistically, even though it has a different graphical style. I remember what I saw and played very clearly, it is unique, and there are a lot of new features to experiment with.

For those considering an import, be warned that there is a lot of Japanese text in most areas. The story parts of the game are largely trial and error if you cannot read the text but the dungeons have less writing so are easier to navigate.