Oracle Series

The Oracle Series consists of the two Game Boy Color Legend of Zelda games, ' and ', made by Capcom and Nintendo.

The Series
The original idea was for a trilogy known as the "Triforce Trilogy", which was going to be updated remakes of The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link, and a third installment. After consulting with Shigeru Miyamoto, it was decided to make an original trilogy, called the "Mysterious/Mystical Seed Trilogy", each game revolving around one of the three Goddesses — Din for The Mysterious Seed of Power", which had gameplay mechanics related to Seasons; Nayru for "The Mysterious Seed of Wisdom", which used color as the central gameplay element; and Farore for "Mysterious Seed of Courage", a time-travel adventure (Ages);. Nintendo eventually decided that having only two games would make linking easier, so Farore's game was canceled. The result was Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons.

Oracle of Ages


Oracle of Ages follows Twinrova's plot to light the Flame of Sorrow. Their minion, Veran uses her power of possession to take control of Nayru and disrupt the flow of time, causing great pain and sorrow in the land of Labrynna. Her actions locks two periods of time together and alters history. Her ultimate goal is to cause as much sorrow as she can, and increase her own powers by forcing the populace to construct a large tower without rest or mercy. Link must harness the Harp of Ages to control the flows of time and stop Veran from destroying Labrynna.

Oracle of Seasons


Oracle of Seasons follows Twinrova's plot to light the Flame of Destruction. Onox, their servant, plans to abduct Din and sink the Temple of Seasons to throw the seasons of Holodrum into total and complete chaos. Link must wield the Rod of Seasons and master the Essences of Nature to return Holodrum to regularity.

Mystical Seed of Courage
Mystical Seed of Courage, sometimes called by fans Oracle of Secrets, is the canceled third game in the series. It was canceled because the developers could not figure out how to make an efficient password system that could link the three games. It was supposedly supposed to feature Farore, who was instead depicted as the Oracle of Secrets in the other two games, and focus on Twinrova's plot to light the Flame of Despair. Little else is known about what the plot was to be before the game was canceled.

Resurrection of Ganon
The main plot of the Oracle Series as a whole has Twinrova orchestrating an elaborate plot to revive Ganon using their minions they called from darkness, Veran and Onox, to light the Flame of Sorrow and the Flame of Destruction respectively, and the ultimate kidnapping of Princess Zelda, the world's symbol of hope, to light the Flame of Despair. They intend to use the three flames to revive Ganon. Their final move is to sacrifice Zelda to Ganon for him to use as a vessel. When Link saves Zelda, Twinrova decides to sacrifice themselves as vessels for Ganon. Because this is not the way the rites were intended to be done, the revival of Ganon instead results in a fairly mindless version of him that only seeks to destroy everything rather than rule over everyone.

Linking Secrets


A staplepoint of the Oracle Series is its unique ability to interlink using passwords. The passwords are all totally random and will only work on a specific playthrough of a game. Through Linking Secrets, Link can work with Farore to obtain rare items which he could not otherwise get. This is also the only way to link both games together into one single plot, as opposed to two alternate ones. To complete the entire series, the two games must be linked together in order to defeat both Veran and Onox in one single storyline, as this is the only possible way to encounter Twinrova and eventually defeat Ganon.

In a Linked Game, various other (although more subtle) changes to the plot occur which further interlink the storyline of both games. This includes the meeting of Queen Ambi with her lover, the Captain, in Oracle of Seasons, or the appearance of Rosa on Crescent Island in Oracle of Ages.

Timeline Placement
The chronological placement of the two games of the Oracle is perhaps one of the most ambiguous of The Legend of Zelda series. It is known to take place in a time when Ganon is dead and the Triforce is united in Hyrule Castle. Therefore, the most likely chronological predecessor would be A Link to the Past (despite the fact that Link's Awakening is assumed to be its sequel) or The Adventure of Link. It is unknown, however, if the hero in these games is or is not the same from a previous adventure, because there are contrasting elements suggesting both possibilities.

The way the two games' plots are organized presents another dilemma to a chronological placement, as the two games mirror each other (except in a Linked Game, where the Oracle Series takes a linear form), and it is impossible to place one game before the other.

In the linked ending of the Oracle Series, Link is seen leaving Labrynna/Holodrum on a boat similar to the one seen in the introduction in Link's Awakening. This would lead many to believe that the Oracle Series is followed by Link's Awakening, the title widely considered to be the successor of A Link to the Past thanks to a prologue in the Link's Awakening game manual. Thus, the Oracle Series would be placed between A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening. There is no other evidence supporting this unconfirmed theory. However, the possibility for another placement of Link's Awakening in the timeline is supported by a statement made by Shigeru Miyamoto in an interview with Nintendo Power prior to the release of the Oracle series. In this interview, Miyamoto mentions mentions that it is "not very clear where Link's Awakening fits in".

If Link's Awakening does not follow A Link to the Past in the timeline, the Oracle series would be the most likely candidate.

It is worth noting that in the Split Timeline, a popular timeline theory, Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons are often placed at the exact same points on the two separate branches of the timeline, due to their parallel storylines. However, this bit of speculation does not take into consideration the Linked Game plot.

Sales
Both Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons were commercially successful, each selling almost 4 million copies worldwide.

Reviews
Both titles of the Oracle series were commonly given identical scores in critical reviews, both receiving a 9.2 out of 10 at Gamespot, and a perfect 10/10 rating of "Masterpiece" at IGN. With the looming approach of the Game Boy Advance, Gamespot believed that the Oracle series was "sending out the Game Boy Color with a bang". IGN's Chris Carle went even further, saying: "there are no two games better than Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons currently available on the system". The series was somewhat criticized for its audio. However, taking into consideration the limitations of the Game Boy Color system, it was noted to fare quite well in comparison to other titles on the system. The Oracle series was praised on IGN for its vibrant-colored graphics. Due to the "panoply of hues" seen in the changing of the seasons, IGN considers Oracle of Seasons to be the more graphically impressive of the two.

Although receiving identical ratings of 5 out of 5 in the Nintendo Power magazine, Oracle of Seasons was placed before Oracle of Ages in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games List, the former ranking 34th on the list, the latter 39th. In August 2008, Nintendo Power Ages and Seasons were ranked fifth and fourth in Nintendo Powers top Game Boy (Color) games. Together, the Oracle Series ranked 57th in the Top 100 greatest Nintendo games of all time.

Fan Reception
Both games of the Oracle series received positive fan reviews, maintaining identical user scores of 9.1 at Gamespot. IGN users also rank Oracle of Ages at 9.1, although Oracle of Seasons holds the slightly higher score of 9.2.

Trivia

 * A majority of the graphics in the Oracle Series are recycled from Link's Awakening.