Ramrock

Ramrock is the boss in the Ancient Tomb dungeon in Oracle of Ages.

Ramrock was the final obstacle before Link and the Essences, the guardian of the Falling Star. As such, he was the strongest of the eight guardians, able to change his weak spot with the various forms he took but never able to rid himself of one.

For his first form, Ramrock moved left to right against the back of the room, launching his fists at Link repeatedly. By aiming well, Link was able to strike the fists back at Ramrock with his sword, injuring Ramrock instead.

Ramrock would not be defeated so easily, however. To the surprise of Link, Ramrock then proceeded to morph his hands from fists into what looked like spiked gauntlets. Taking care to step clear of his new hands, Link tried throwing bombs between the hands as Ramrock smashed them together, the resulting explosions injuring Ramrock.

The toll of battle slowly coming across, Ramrock changed his hands, this time into shields that doubled as offensive weapons, firing energy balls and lasers and returning to moving against the back wall. Not wasting any time, Link proceeded to attack with the Seed Shooter, the seed bouncing off the wall and hitting Ramrock from behind, rendering his shield pointless.

In a last ditch effort, Ramrock transformed his hands one last time, this time into balls and chains. Launching his new hands at Link, Link was able to use the Power Glove to pull the unlaunched hand back and fire it back at him, causing him damage. Finally succumbing to his injuries, Ramrock fell, allowing Link access to the Falling Star.

Strategy
Ramrock has four different strategies, one for each form.

To defeat Ramrock's first form, Link would slash at Ramrock's launched fists with his sword, sending them back the way they came and back onto Ramrock.

Ramrock's second form he will replace his hands with large fists that would crush anything he could get his hands on, Link would have to place bombs between its hands, which exploded and damaged it when it slammed its hands together.

Ramrock's third form will replace his hands with shields, protecting its front from any harm, but leaves its back vulnerable. The Seed Shooter is used to damage this form, by bouncing seeds off of the back wall and into Ramrock's back.

Ramrock's final form, where he replaces the shields with ball and chains, is possibly the easiest. By grabbing the ball that Ramrock does not launch, all Link must do is send it slamming back into its master. With good timing, Link can continue to pull the ball out without Ramrock trying to move away.

Trivia

 * For reasons unknown, Link's spin attack is not capable of deflecting the fists of Ramrock's first form.
 * This boss is very similar to Bongo Bongo from Ocarina of Time, Gohdan from The Wind Waker, and Mazaal from The Minish Cap. It is fair ot note that in Japanese, Ramrock's name (ゴーリガン) is written with three of the four katana used in Gohdan's name (ゴードン).
 * His name could be a reference to Eyerok from Super Mario 64, or Wham Bam Rock from the Kirby series, with which he also bears resemblance.