The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s Water Temple is infamous for being one of the most challenging dungeons players have to beat in the Zelda series. However, it’s far from being the only Zelda dungeon that left players frustrated, angry, and disappointed. With dungeons being a central part of game design throughout the series, it’s no surprise that some are better than others, and some Zelda dungeons are just objectively bad.
While Zelda’s dungeons primarily serve as the franchise’s main way of allowing the player to put their skills to the test and take on challenges with the power they’ve gained, some Zelda dungeons take the fun out of gameplay and leave players grinding their teeth. Whether it’s cumbersome controls or punishing consequences, some dungeons seem to be designed to work against the player entirely. Certain dungeons can even affect the game’s overall story or pacing, turning what should be an epic quest into a draining encounter.
Many of Zelda’s dungeons absolutely nail the aspects of design that they use, incorporating typical Zelda gameplay mechanics with interesting and unique features that add to the player's experience. However, its bad dungeons are those that feel repetitive, boring, or frustrating in ways that are often out of the player’s hands, and these are some of the absolute worst.
Great Bay Temple From Majora’s Mask Is One Of Zelda's Worst Dungeons
Ocarina of Time’s direct sequel reused many of the first game’s assets, but it also made similar mistakes with the implementation of its own water-based dungeon. The Great Bay Temple in Majora’s Mask is just as frustrating as Ocarina’s Water Temple, if not more as it requires players to play as Zora Link in order to navigate its rooms and water currents.
The water currents in this Zelda dungeon are extremely strong, and it’s easy to send Link barrelling through a tunnel that will take him to an entirely different part of the dungeon by mistake, which then requires backtracking through a large portion of its confusing layout. Controlling Zora Link is difficult as well, and with the large amount of technical tasks Link has to accomplish in this dungeon in order to progress, it becomes a chore for players to wrestle the controls into doing what they want. Combining that with Majora Mask’s time limit makes this dungeon quick to cause stress.
The reward for completing the first half of the Great Bay Temple is the Ice Arrows, which allow Link to freeze the water in the temple to create platforms. However, these platforms are small, slippery, and disappear quickly, which immediately turns this temple’s biggest reward into yet another source of frustration. The temple isn’t redeemed by its enemies, either, as both mini-bosses are tedious to fight, requiring players to shoot or hookshot a ton of jelly balls that bounce around and punish the player for not taking enough of them out. All of this combines to make the Great Bay Temple one of Zelda's worst dungeons.
Ice Palace From A Link To The Past Is A Horrible Zelda Dungeon
The Ice Palace in A Link to the Past is yet another temple that players likely shudder to remember. As the name suggests, this dungeon is covered in ice, leaving most of its floors slippery enough to make controlling Link extremely difficult. The layout of this dungeon isn’t intuitive, and while it’s not the most confusing dungeon layout in the Zelda franchise, it’s made more difficult by Link falling between floors and having to backtrack often.
While this Zelda dungeon requires players to have patience and move slowly to counteract the loss of control of Link’s movements, there isn’t anything particularly interesting within that makes it worth spending a lot of time there. The enemies and puzzles don’t offer anything exciting, nor do they interact much with the mechanics of the icy floor, which leads to an increase in difficulty that is more frustrating and tedious than engaging and challenging. Compared to the other dungeons in A Link to the Past, the Ice Palace doesn’t offer much to make gameplay fun.
While players are rewarded for their efforts with Link's Blue Armor, this prized loot is the temple’s only redeeming quality. The dungeon’s boss, Kholdstare, is also extremely lackluster. With only two phases and no interesting mechanics for players to discover, this fight feels like another run-of-the-mill battle against an overworld enemy than the final fight of one of the game’s important dungeons.
Jabu Jabu’s Belly From OoT Is Worse Than Zelda's Water Temple
Being the first 3D Zelda game, as well as one of the first 3D games ever made, it’s understandable that not all of Ocarina of Time's dungeons are well designed. The game has a number of incredible dungeons with fun mechanics and incredible atmosphere, but Lord Jabu Jabu’s belly is definitely not one of them. While the vile aesthetic is enough to turn some players’ stomachs, it’s not the only thing about this dungeon that makes it one of the game's worst.
Link must escort the Zora princess, Ruto, out of Jabu Jabu’s belly, making this one of the first dungeons in the game that actively prevents Link from exploring at his leisure. It’s difficult to navigate the dungeon’s numerous enemies and tight quarters without having to keep tabs on Ruto, who will complain if Link leaves her and force him to retrieve her. The electric enemies also make progress a slog as running into them will not only inflict damage, but will also freeze Link for several seconds, adding to the incredibly slow pacing of this dungeon.
The Big Octo boss at the end of this dungeon is a perfect fit for the rest of the dungeon’s design, forcing Link into close quarters to run in circles as the massive Octorock chases him. Its movement speed is as fast as Link, and the spikes protruding from the boss room’s center platform leave very little room for error. It’s nearly impossible for players to get their bearings before taking a fair amount of damage, and the fight itself isn’t very fun, even once players figure out how to beat this difficult and powerful Zelda boss - making it arguably even worse than the Water Temple.
Temple Of The Ocean King May Be Zelda' Worst Dungeon
Of all the frustrating, repetitive, and poorly-designed dungeons in the Zelda series, it’s possible that the Temple of the Ocean King from Phantom Hourglass on the Nintendo DS is the worst. It’s one of the only dungeons that’s bad enough to discourage players from beating the game, forcing players to return again and again to solve dull puzzles and face a small variety of enemies as they progress slightly farther into the dungeon each time.
Players have to return to the Temple of the Ocean King at least four times in order to beat Phantom Hourglass, and with the puzzles resetting after every run, it’s hard to feel like all of the effort is worth it. Not only that, but the first run is strictly timed, and making even the slightest mistake can send players back to the beginning to do it all over again. The temple itself isn’t very fun, and by the fourth time running through, it becomes a central pillar of dread in the game.
Knowing that they’ll only have to return to the Temple of the Ocean King over and over after each new area and dungeon they explore, players can become actively discouraged from wanting to progress in the game knowing that the temple always lies ahead. This recurring dungeon has the potential to entirely drain the fun out of advancing in the game, especially for players who didn’t enjoy it during their first few visits and aren’t looking forward to returning yet again. If Phantom Hourglass gets a remaster, perhaps this Zelda dungeon can be more streamlined.
Twilight Princess' Palace Of Twilight Is One Of Zelda's Worst
Twilight Princess’ penultimate dungeon has players face the game’s antagonist, Zant, in the Twilight Realm, making it one of the most climactic moments in the game’s story. With so much leading up to it, the dungeon itself becomes a massive letdown, hardly living up to any expectations the player might have about this mysterious world that they’ve spent an entire game hearing so much about. While the temple itself is aesthetically well-designed and incredibly atmospheric, the pace of this dungeon is almost maddeningly slow. The majority of the enemies are some of the overworld’s most obnoxious mobs, and the main mechanic of the dungeon involves Link drifting around slowly on levitating platforms and playing keepaway with Zant’s Wallmaster hands.
This Twilight Princess dungeon transforms Link into a wolf whenever he falls into dark fog, turning one of the game’s most important mechanics into a punishment as he must manually transform back into a human over and over again to continue making progress. With this dungeon’s position as the second-to-last before the final fight against Ganondorf, it’s inexcusable for the Palace of Twilight to be so lackluster, making it far worse than the Water Temple from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time.