Having not played Phantom Hourglass since it released in 2007, my general memory of the game is admittedly rather hazy. There is, however, one puzzle in particular that still stands out to me
That’s because it was the first time that, after really struggling with a Zelda puzzle, I experienced the eureka moment after I had solved it, rather than before implementing the solution. Despite completing the puzzle by mistake, its genius was not lost on me.
If you’ve played Phantom Hourglass, you probably know the puzzle I’m talking about. In fact, Zack has already discussed this very part of the game before in his excellent article. While I understand many of the frustrations he and others have had with it (and the game in general), I wanted to touch on it again because my experience was quite different.
The part I’m referring to is on the sixth floor of the infamous Temple of the Ocean King, where Link and Ciela are seeking a clue to the Ghost Ship. Here, you’ll find a room with a large sun symbol, and the game will instruct you to “Press the sacred crest against the sea chart to transfer it.”
The solution, of course, is to physically close your DS to “imprint” the symbol from the top screen onto your map on the bottom screen. I had the correct map open (noticing it was a
After being stumped for a while, I remembered a puzzle from another DS game that I greatly enjoyed, called Another Code: Two Memories (known in the US as Trace Memory). In that game, there is a part where you need to close your DS halfway, so that the image from the top screen reflects itself onto the bottom screen. This causes the two images from both screens to layer over each other, revealing the code required to progress. At the time, it was mindblowing to me that the developers would think to utilize the DS in such
Anyway, I tried to apply this logic to Phantom Hourglass, tilting the top screen down just enough to see if the reflection would reveal anything. Convinced that this had to be the right way to approach the puzzle, I kept moving and manipulating the DS screens and trying to look at different angles to see if I could find anything that lined up. In my long and stubborn attempt, I accidentally pushed the top screen down far enough for the system to think I had “closed” it, thus putting the system in Sleep Mode for a second. After the screens blinked off and on, I heard the victory chime, and Ciela congratulated me on my puzzle-solving skills.
I was more confused now than I was when I started the puzzle.
After this state of perplexity passed, I realized what the game had actually wanted me to do, and I laughed. Here was a very clever puzzle presented by the game, and I had just stumbled my way to the solution through sheer luck.
When the game was still new, I remember this puzzle being notoriously difficult for many players in the community. I don’t think it was because it was unfairly cryptic (though perhaps the hint could have been a bit clearer), but possibly because we all underestimated Nintendo’s ability to think outside the box when it comes to gameplay.
The brilliant thing is, this puzzle is still stumping players, in a whole new, unintentional way. Many people who play Phantom Hourglass on the Wii U, or on an emulator via their PC, run into trouble at this point in the game. After all, you can’t close your DS if you’re not playing on one. This presents a whole new means of solving the puzzle, which is figuring out how to activate Sleep Mode on whatever system you’re playing on.
For all of the game’s flaws, I applaud Phantom Hourglass for utilizing all of the DS’s features in such creative ways. By taking full advantage of the hardware, finding its quirks and pushing its limits, Nintendo made a truly unique gaming experience.
