The Zelda franchise has always offered me a lot of differing experiences. Nostalgia, dread, atmosphere, happiness, and many others. Since completing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, I found myself seeking a similar experience that the game had given me: challenge. I’m no stranger to challenge, I’ve written about my 3-Heart Giant’s Knife run in the past, and I felt it was time to yet again try something similar to this.
This time, my attention turned to The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Ever since the remaster that was released on the Wii U, I’d heard that the game had included two additional challenges that I took note of: that Hero Mode doubled your damage, and that activating the Ganondorf Amiibo doubled it further. So, I decided to attempt these conditions while also enduring the 3-Heart run challenge. I’ve also opted to keep the Zora Armor on as often as I possibly can, since wearing the armor doubles the fire and ice damage you take. Would that make 8x damage? I don’t know, I’m not a math guy.
As of now, I’ve gotten up to finding the Master Sword, and to put it lightly, this challenge is the hardest I’ve ever put myself through. I’ve died over 30 times since attempting this, and I get the feeling that’s not going to be the end of it, either. Many of the deaths I’ve suffered ranged from a simple claw swipe from the Twilight Messengers, to falling to my death (which results in a one-hit kill), having rocks dropped on me, and enemies ambushing me from above.
But bar none the most ridiculous one was while I was exploring the Goron Mines. I decided to use Ooccoo to leave the mines temporarily so I could get some milk from the shop nearby–it has two portions worth, so it’s an invaluable asset when attempting a 3-Heart run of any sort. So I jump down from the outside platform to head to the shop by the hot springs…only to get literally sucker punched from behind by a Goron and KILLED.
At this point, I had defeated Gor Coron in sumo wrestling and earned the trust of him and the other Gorons. Not only did I not expect him to kill me with one punch, I also wasn’t expecting him to punch me at all! Why did he swing at me when I’m literally TRYING TO HELP HIS PATRIARCH??? I still don’t know why this happened, either. Did the developers just not expect you to leave the dungeon early or something? I actually clipped this incredible moment while I was streaming the game on Twitch, which I’ll link below. Fair warning, I do yell Twitch Appropriate levels of profanity.
Overall, I expect there to be more ridiculous and far more infuriating deaths along the way, which will only make my triumph over this challenge even more worthwhile.
https://clips.twitch.tv/BloodyTallCormorantKappaRoss-o2Amg8avZ9T0eLeM
