LoZ: Link's Awakening DX (Part 4)

Continuing on with our adventure, we are heading into the third dungeon!

 

Level Three: Key Cavern

Dungeon Map

We can't get anything in the room to the right just yet, so take a pot and smash open the door to the north. Kill everything in the next room for a Key (1). In the next room is a chest guarded by 4 zols, it just contains another zol. Again there's nothing to the right, so go north. We can't get what's in this room yet either, because we need to kill that gel on the other side of the left wall. Go north again - and another chest we can't reach. Go down the stairs.

Immediately when you emerge you will find four zols and a gel, so take them all out. There is a locked door in each direction, two of them are completely pointless, one leads to a couple items, and one is the way forward.

North: Items (-1 key)
Kill all the enemies to get another Key (1). There is also a switch here you can hit. Back upstairs, this allows you to get the Stone Beak (right by the stairs) as well as the Dungeon Map (two screens down and one east, with a couple Keese and a shrouded stalfos knight in the way)

Left: Pointless (-1 key)
A tricky room with pairodd enemies that will teleport away if you get too close. Try to stand just within reach and hit them with a charged sword attack, and make sure you have the Roc's Feather equipped. A Key (1) will drop down on the left side, being pushed toward the pit in the center. Sine you had to use a key to get in here, this just makes you break even.

Down: Pointless (-1 key)
Another room with some enemies that will just reward you with a Key (1). Half the floor is covered in tracks that will move you around, and another annoying pairodd enemy. You can just pick up one of the pots and chuck it at the bothersome bird, though. There are bombs under both of the pots as well.

Right: Way forward (-1 key)
Destroy the keese and pairodd enemies here, then move against the conveyor to make it to the stairs.

On the next floor, there are a bunch of zols hidden in the floor, so make your way around and kill them all to get a Key (1). Head north to a room with a couple shrouded stalfos, so smack them out of the way.

Going up again and then east will lead you to this room with a conspicuous tiling pattern. You can bomb the wall and open up the room below if you want, but we can't get what it leads to yet. Exit to the north to find a room with three bombs and two zols hidden in the floor. These bombs will come at you while counting down to an explosion, unlike the ones you encountered earlier that just flew madly around the room. Just keep smacking them away with your sword until they go boom.

In the room to the left is a Compass if you want it, and there is also a spot you can open with a bomb on the lower-left section of the wall (if you hold your sword out and push against the wall it will make a different sound then the normal sections). In the new room there are two more bomb enemies (of the "running around madly" variety) and once they're defeated you can collect another Key (2). Head back to the room with the shrouded stalfos.

Along the bottom of the right-hand wall there are four pots, and the one right in the corner has a bomb under it. I suggest taking the stairs in the room to the south up and down again to farm bombs from this pot if you are running low. There's a set of ten up ahead but I'd say you want at least a dozen, just to be safe. The upcoming miniboss can't be harmed by any other weapon and it can be a tricky fight.

To the left you will find a red zol surrounded by red gels. Defeat them to open the doors and continue west. Defeat the two pairodds and a couple zols in the next room to be rewarded with another Key (3) and then take the revolving door-panel north. Kill everything in this next room to make a chest appear on the upper ledge, then continue north. Defeat the enemies here to get them out of the way and collect the floating bombs. Take the steps up and go south first for 50 Rupees. Continue south to the room that had the zol and gels in it and then take the north doorway.

Introducing the Dodongo Snakes. I hate these things sooo much. What you have to do is try to shove bombs in their mouths until they explode. If you just set bombs down in front of them, they will usually change direction. They move sort of slowly, so just try to set it down in front of them when you see they have already started crawling forward. Sometimes they will get stuck on a wall and you can just walk over and place a bomb on top of them and that will count as them eating it. It will take three bombs each to kill them, and you must kill both to open the door.

Don't bother taking the steps up because they lead nowhere, so just go east. Go to the southernmost point you can reach in the path surrounded by stone blocks and push the bottom one left, and the other one up. Open the chest for the Pegasus Boots! Yay! I like these things. Equip them with your sword to smash the crystals below you, then push the block right and go down.

Circle back around and take the warp panel the bosses left behind to the first room of the dungeon. Go right and use the boots to charge the vacuum (yes that's what it's actually called) on the other side pushing you away. Open the chest for a Key (4). Go back to the entrance and head up a few rooms, using your new item to smash through the left path and take care of that red gel that was out of reach before. Go back around and open the chest to be rewarded with 200 Rupees. Whoot! Go back to the entrance now and warp back.

Make your way back to the room with the inconspicuous floor tiles and bomb the wall. You will find a room with a couple shrouded stalfos and a large pit. Just equip the Pegasus Boots + Roc's Feather to make it across here. Head up and over a pit to get the Nightmare's Key. Jump down off the ledge.

Head back to the room with the zol and gels and unlock the block in the northeast (-1 key). Take the path all around (-3 keys) and take the stairs down. Get off the ladder on the upper ledge and charge the red thwomp here with your Pegasus Boots to send him crashing down. Jump down onto him and go right, using the boots and feather to get across this gap. Take out the piranha plant and go down the ladder.

Use the boots and sword to take out the pairodds here, then jump and get the floating hearts if you need them. Head through a room full of conveyors and keese which, oddly, will give you a Key (1) when you defeat them. Open the boss' door to the north.

This thing is called the Slime Eyes. At first you won't see him, simply charge any of the walls to knock him down. From here you will have to hit him repeatedly with your sword, which will cause him to begin to spit in two. When he refuses to split anymore charge him with the boots to break him into two parts. When you hit these they will fly up off the screen and come crashing down to stun you. You can swap the boots out for the feather to jump as they land and avoid getting stunned, but if you look at the shadow they cast as they come down you can usually get far enough away that you'll be able to move again before they reach you. In any case, just keep hacking away at them until they die.

When you're done pick up the Heart Container and proceed to the next room.

Congratulations, us. And we're done another section, off to the next!

Go to part 5 --->

**Note: Now that we've got the Pegasus Boots you can go straight to a bonus dungeon for a choice of one of two special items.