Foreword
I relished the opportunity to jump into the Oracle series back when it first came out. However, I had already been exposed to a quartet of amazing games in the franchise: A Link to the Past, Link’s Awakening, Ocarina of Time, and Majora’s Mask. It was hard to not have high expectations for the Game Boy Color titles given those circumstances. And eventually, well, Oracle of Seasons didn’t really have that same je ne sais quoi that my previous experiences had. Yes, the combat was fun, and the dungeons presented a few challenges, and the final bosses of the game weren’t pushovers, but Seasons had practically nothing in the way of story, and the world of Holodrum just didn’t seem to present itself in any cohesive way. It didn’t feel real. So for many years I had left it alone as one of those “okay games” and focused my love elsewhere.
But in composing this guide — and now having many years of game analysis under my belt now — I’ve found a renewed appreciation for Oracle of Seasons. I’ve always heard it described that Oracle of Ages was “the puzzle game” and Seasons was “the combat game.” While that may be true in broad brush strokes, it’s certainly an oversimplification. There are actually some really devious puzzles in the game — namely the statue puzzle in Poison Moth’s Lair and the ice block puzzle in the Sword & Shield Maze. The dungeons themselves are also wickedly devious requiring a lot of clever navigation and an understanding of three-dimensional space. And some of the dungeons are expertly themed, especially the Ancient Tomb where everything feels like a possible trap that will kill you.
And besides, Oracle of Seasons has a lot of callbacks to the games that came before it: The Legend of Zelda and Ocarina of Time. It not only celebrates the series but, more importantly, expands upon it as well.
So let’s dive into the world that is Holodrum. Let’s travel the world of mixed-up seasons. Travel between the cold winter snowscapes, the new growth of spring, the hot and parching summer, and the vivid, red colors of autumn. Let me tell you how to find all those rings and how the game expands upon itself if you’ve completed Ages first. I hope you can discover as you go through this how elegant and how devious the game’s dungeons are in more than just a combative sense. And I hope you find the appreciation that I’ve found in Oracle of Seasons.
David Johnson, a.k.a. “The Missing Link”
Features Editor
