The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (ゼルダの伝説 ふしぎの木の実 大地の章, ) is a Zelda game released for the Game Boy Color at the same time as its counterpart The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages. The two games of the Oracle Series may be played independently, but may also be linked by a password system to expand upon the story by connecting the incidents of the two games, and causing a different ending than the standalone game. Although both was originally released for use on the Nintendo Game Boy Color, they exhibit special features, such as additional items, when played on a Nintendo Game Boy Advance. The game is named after the central character of the game (and the element controlled within the game), Din, Oracle of Seasons.

Story
Oracle of Seasons opens up the same as Oracle of Ages, with Link riding a horse. Spying a castle on the horizon, he goes inside and is sent by the Triforce to help a land being ravaged by the ruthless General Onox. Link is teleported to the land of Holodrum and after a bit of exploring discovers a traveling troupe. After hanging around and dancing with the troupe's main attraction, Din, the sky becomes dark and General Onox strikes. In the ensuing chaos, Din, revealed to be the Oracle of Seasons, gets kidnapped, taken to Onox's mountain fortress, and imprisoned inside of a crystal. As a result, the Temple of Seasons falls into the earth and the seasons of the land begin to become erratic.

Link embarks on a quest to save Din and restore order. The young hero learns from the Maku Tree that in order to penetrate to the center of Onox's fortress, he needs to collect eight Essences of Nature.

While in the process of visiting the dungeons, Link spies a shady character moving in the weeds. He sneaks by her and the girl disappears. After some exploration, he uncovers a strange looking portal. Stepping on it, he is teleported to the lava-hot underground land of Subrosia. Looking to his left, he sees the missing Temple of Seasons. Taking the Rod of Seasons that he borrowed from the Temple itself, he learns seasons from the temple that become useful in his quest to retrieve the eight Essences of Nature.

After finishing the last of the dungeons and destroying Onox and his evil dragon alter-ego, Din is released and the seasons become regular once again. However, the adventure is far from over. The Flame of Sorrow is already lit by the destruction Onox caused. Observing Link from afar, a mysterious pair laughs, saying the true evil had yet to arrive...

The adventure carries on in a Linked Game of Oracle of Ages (or a linked game of Seasons if Ages played first).

For the complete story revealed in the Linked Game, see Oracle Series: Resurrection of Ganon.

General Mechanics
The two games of the Oracle Series retain many gameplay elements from Link's Awakening (especially the DX version), such as the graphics (many sprites in Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons are reused from Link's Awakening), audio and top-view perspective. As in Link's Awakening, items (including the sword and shield) are assigned to the A and B buttons via an Inventory. Unlike certain games of the series, items are not assigned a specific place in the inventory. Collected Rupees, health, and the two equipped items are shown on an interface which consists of a yellow bar running across the top of the screen (similar to the one in Link's Awakening, which was located at the bottom of the screen).

Oracle of Seasons, like the great majority of Zelda games, features eight regular dungeons and a large overworld to explore in between. This is done with the help of an overworld map, which is composed of a 14 x 14 grid of squares, where each square represents a single screen. As Link explores the overworld, the "squares" that he's visited will be colored in. Link is guided by the Maku Tree, an important character in both games of the Oracle Series, who will direct Link to the next dungeon, among other things. The Oracle Series, like many games in The Legend of Zelda series, features a Trading Sequence.

One particular feature of Oracle of Seasons (and Oracle of Ages, for that matter) is the fact that certain choices made on the adventure will affect an outcome later on, making for various possible scenarios in a single play-through. Among these are the animal companions that will accompany Link on his adventure (either Moosh, Dimitri, or Ricky), and the growth Bipin and Blossom's son. These choices affect the passwords obtained for a Linked Game (see below).

Where Oracle of Ages is said to be puzzle-based, Oracle of Seasons centers its gameplay on action; both of which are key gamplay elements in The Legend of Zelda series.

The Rod of Seasons
The Rod of Seasons is the main item of the game; the changing of the seasons accomplished with it the defining gameplay element of the game. On his quest, Link must solve various puzzles by manipulating the seasons. For example, a path that may be blocked by a large deciduous tree can be bypassed in the winter when the leaves have fallen. Link originally only begins with the power of winter, but will obtain the rest of the seasons (and thus, reach new locations), as the game progresses.

Linked Game


A staple-point of Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons is their unique ability to be linked together to form one linear plot, as opposed to two parallel ones. The games, which can be linked together by using passwords or a Game Link Cable, unlock additional content not seen in the separate games. Among the most notable changes in a Linked Game is the extended ending (the "true ending") where Twinrova and Ganon are encountered.

In a Linked Game, new characters appear in Labrynna. These characters will tell Link secrets in the form of passwords, which can be relayed to characters on a completed file of Oracle of Ages for new items unobtainable in a non-linked game. The reverse occurs if Oracle of Seasons is played first and Oracle of Ages second.

Passwords obtained in a Linked Game vary depending on the choices Link made on his adventure. Therefore, passwords identify a specific play-through, allowing the linked game to adjust according to it (e.g., so that Link will have the same animal partner as the previous game).

Magic Rings
Also a unique feature of the Oracle series is the appearance of Magic Rings which Link will collect on his adventures. These rings, when worn, provide Link with a variety of bonuses and abilities, giving an almost RPG-like twist to the game. Some rings augment his strength and defense, others increase his swimming abilities, another prevents Link from sliding on frozen floors. Some, like the Cursed Ring even decrease Link's abilities, making the game more difficult. Yet other rings simply change Link's appearance. A total of 64 rings can be collected throughout Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, some requiring the use of Linked Games to obtain, or even the use of a Game Boy Advance.

Gasha Seeds
Gasha Seeds, appearing exclusively in the Oracle series, can be collected on Link's adventures. They can be planted in patches of Soft Soil scattered across Holodrum. After a while, the tree will mature and Link can collect the single Gasha Nut that the tree will produce. Inside the nut, Link may find various goods, such as Rupees or Magic Rings.

Development
Oracle of Seasons, along with Oracle of Ages, were the first Legend of Zelda titles to be developed outside of Nintendo. They were developed by Capcom, who later went on to develop two more titles for the Legend of Zelda series on the Game Boy Advance (Four Swords and The Minish Cap).

The beginning of the development of Oracle of Seasons dates back to the very first proposal for a Zelda title made by Yoshiki Okamoto, then head of Flagship (a screenwriting subsidiary of Capcom) to Shigeru Miyamoto. The proposition consisted of remaking the original The Legend of Zelda for the Game Boy Color. After some deliberations, an agreement was reached, and it was later decided that, depending on the success of this first title, Capcom would go on to develop a "more ambitious" sequel, which would be a completely new and original Zelda title built from the ground up. However, the members of the development team, contrarily to what Okamoto had in mind, wanted to skip the remake and begin creating a new Zelda title right away. The opinion to abandon the original project was incited further by a number of complications that came up during the port: the scenario and the maps had to be reworked several times to make all the elements fit. Development was further hindered by the Game Boy Color's narrower screen, which would force players to scroll to the right or left to see the entire room, potentially causing them to overlook certain elements in the room.

Eventually, Miyamoto proposed the creation of the "Triforce Series", a trilogy, to replace the current projects. Each title was to focus on a different gameplay element, each relating to one of the three powers of the Triforce (i.e., Wisdom, Power, and Courage). What was originally meant to be the remake of The Legend of Zelda became the Chapter of Power (later known as Mystical Seed of Power), which was action-based. The Tale of Power was demonstrated at the Nintendo Space World trade show in 1999; it was the only title of the three to be presented. The demo of the game had Princess Zelda, keeper of the seasons, captured by Ganon, who stole the Rod of Seasons to throw the four seasons of Hyrule into disarray, while sending Hyrule Castle and the rod to another realm - a precursor to the plot of Oracle of Seasons. In the demo, Link uses the Rod of Seasons to manipulate the seasons of winter, spring, summer, and autumn in order to solve puzzles. Several characters of Oracle of Seasons also make an apperance, such as the "Mystery Tree" (Maku Tree), "Rikki" (Ricky), "Mable" (Maple), and the Ulra Tribe (Subrosians).

The three games of the series would interact with each other for additional gameplay via game-linking system. However, the overcomplexity of coordinating the three games caused for the cancellation of Mystical Seed of Courage. Thus the series was reduced to two titles and became the Oracle Series as it is known today: Oracle of Ages was adapted from Mystical Seed of Wisdom and Oracle of Seasons was adapted from Mystical Seed of Power.

Throughout all its transformations, from The Legend of Zelda remake to Mystical Seed of Power, and finally to the Oracle of Seasons as it is known today, elements from the original NES title, such as dungeon layouts, bosses, and even parts of the overworld, can be observed to this day in Oracle of Seasons.

Completion Records
According to the Speed Demos Archive, the fastest completion time for Oracle of Seasons is 2 hours, 6 minutes and 40 seconds by Tomas 'Tompa' Abrahamsson on November 19th, 2005.

Trivia

 * In both the chapter book and manga adaptations of the Oracle series games, Oracle of Seasons is the first game in the sequence.