…my favorite battle?!

Oh, that is not fair.

I mean, like most things in this countdown, there are so many to choose from, all sharing enough commonalities for them to run together a little, and each somehow unique in its own way. I have no idea what sort of objective criteria I could put together for this.

So, I’m just going to try and pick one that I had the most fun with instead. 😉

Let’s see… nothing particularly stands out at the moment outside Ocarina of Time. Which I’m sure is a huge surprise,eh? 😉 Seems like a good game to mine for my favorite battle. 🙂

For practical purposes, we shall simply dismiss the lesser battles and focus on the more major fights. The bosses and minibosses of the Child Link dungeons are nice, but not that special. Not Morpheus. Not Volvagia. Definitely not Bongo-Bongo. 😉 Twinrova was pretty exciting, definitely among the better fights. Shadow Link was pretty unique, but it kinda came out of left field, ya know? Oh, Phantom Ganondorf was pretty good! But I do still want something with a litle more umph to it…

…ah! Of course!

My favorite battle is the final battle! Where we at last confront Ganondorf, rescue Zelda, and win the day! 🙂

Picture, if you will:

After a long, arduous, exciting game, one that has riveted you from start to finish, you reach the climax, and everything comes to a crescendo! The princess you have sought reveals herself as your mysterious ally from earlier, and you are ready to face the villain himself… only for said villain to swoop in and kidnap her, right in front of you! So you go, fight your way through his forbidding fortress, and at last meet him in combat. Now, after all the wrong he has done, now, after he has hurt your friends and ruined your homeland, now, after he has kidnapped your ally, now, after you have just laid waste to his entire dominion, and yet he is so smug and sure, now…

It is on!

…and the whole fight is too easy, and the climax fizzles into nothing.

…or, it’s too difficult, it’s impossible, it can’t be done, and you are so close to finally winning, but forever denied.

You see what I mean?

The “final battle” needs to balance the virtues of being an appropriately challenging experience, but also a rewarding one. They did that brilliantly in Ocarina. They kept us on our toes with Ganondorf’s variety of spells, they doubled the tension with the collapsing castle, and then they brought things to a head with the overwhelming introduction of Ganon. Seriously, everything about this battle, from start to finish, is awesome.

And I can’t count the variations of what I’ve had to do to win! There was one time, I was out of everything. Magic, arrows (when he was down, I shot his tail with an arrow of light… it’s hilarious how he leaps upward!), bombs (it’s kind of amusing how he shakes his head right after a bomb goes off in his face), everything. I knew I was really close to victory. Just one more hit on that freaking tail! But I nearly got killed trying to go under him, so the only way was around, which he never let happen. That is, until I shot the hookshot into his face, and he shook his head, momentarily stunned, and I edged around him. I shot him again, and he stopped before he was fully facing me. Again, and my lead was slowly growing. Again, and again, and again, and again, and again. I even accidentally shot his tail with the hookshot, which, again, amusing, but not healthy. He turned aroung very quickly after that, and we began the whole thing over again. Until… finally… I got him! Whoooo!

And it’s all set to an awesome soundtrack! 🙂

Oh, yeah. Definitely my favorite fight. 🙂

What is there to *not* love about this? 🙂