A Link to the Past has seen a bit of a resurgence lately thanks to the advent of randomizers. It’s a really great game, so I’m glad that it is getting a bit of a renaissance. I played a lot of A Link to the Past in middle school, so it’s a game that is very near to my heart. What I loved most about it were the bosses. There was a huge range of characters, from a bipedal pig monster to several iterations of wiggly worms. However, there was one that has stuck with me since I first fought against it.
The Helmasaur King.
This boss straight up terrified me as a kid. It’s a massive creature, filling a whole room with its giant body, flinging its tail and shooting fireballs at every chance. Now, as an adult, it’s one of the easiest bosses in the game. I stumbled on a recent work on our Zelda Universe DeviantArt group from user N2Y88 that reawakened that rush of anxiety and fear I used to feel for it. This piece, Helmasaur King, was part of N2Y88’s Linktober Shadow series and is one of their many incredibly creepy works.
This was exactly what I saw when I fought the King for the first time. The minimal use of color in the piece drives home the stark outcome Link faced. He either defeated this behemoth or it was game over for him. The artist portrays Helamsaur on the attack, blasting one fireball out while preparing a second one shortly behind it. The color mixing gives each blast a sense of depth and really makes them pop.
One thing that drew me to the work were the eyes. The bright red eyes amidst the sea of grey and black stood out to me more than the fireball in the foreground. They’re menacing, ready to give Link the fight of his life.
I feel like the Helmasaur King is left out of the conversation when people talk about scary bosses in the Zelda series, and that’s a shame. N2Y88 does an incredible job of showing just how terrifying this monster can be. Next time you watch a randomizer or play through it yourself, think of this portrayal. I’m sure you’ll see this monster in a different light.
You can check out the rest of N2Y88‘s work on their DeviantArt page and give the rest of their Linktober art a perusal. If this piece was a bit too scary for you, check out their Twitter or Instagram to see more of their lighter work. You can also get in on the action by joining Zelda Universe’s own DeviantArt page and you, too, could have a piece featured on the site!
