Summary
Like classic adventure stories of old, eachLegend of Zeldagame sees its hero, Link, go from an ill-equipped scrub to a walking arsenal of weapons and tools powered by an array of health-restoring fairies in bottles. To achieve this, Link must quest, fetch, slay, and collect his way to upgrade greatness, trading rusty daggers and pocket-sized packs for sentient swords of eternal light and bottomless rucksacks of endless capacity.
However, even those who enjoy maximizing their characters will probably agree that not all upgrades were created equal. Some of the worst upgrades in the series go from underwhelming to utterly devoid of use. These item upgrades will probably only be valuableas completionist checkboxesor dusty old trophies for Link to leave up in his loft.
As well as being useful for finding secrets hidden behind weak, non-structure-bearing walls, bombs can be handy for taking out large groups of enemies in one well-placed throw. Naturally, it would be nice to be able to carry more of them around. Throughout the series, Link has ways of expanding his explosive carry limits, but inSkyward Sword, doing so just isn’t necessary.
This is in part due to the sheer abundance of bomb flowers scattered all across the surface, especially (and conveniently) where they are most needed, such asduringSkyward Sword’s boss battles. Previously, bomb flowers acted as regenerating, instant-use bombs. In Skyward Sword, replenishable bomb flower nodes can be picked and used later indefinitely, making hoarding the maximum 40 bombs with two Large Bomb Bags largely redundant.
DuringThe Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past, Link can uncover an item in the Graveyard called the Magic Cape. This allows him to bypass enemies and traps with invincibility. It also allows him to pass through enemies without getting hurt. In the same adventure, Link can (optionally) find the Cane of Byrna in the Dark World, which makes Link invincible and mildly injures enemies that touch him.
Effectively, these two items do the same thing, but the Cane is treated as an upgrade. Link even needs to use the Cape to get the Cane in the first place, but it’s hardly worth the effort. While the Cane drains slightly less energy, it is entirely skippable and not requiredto complete any fiendish puzzlesor reach any new places. Even thematically, a slight forcefield seems less cool than a cape of invisibility.
InOcarina of Time,Deku nuts can be thrown on the ground to stun enemies. This might be useful in a situation where Link finds himself outnumbered, but given how agile Link is and how devastating his spin attack can be against swarms of foes, most players drop them pretty quickly (as in dropped from use). Since most players use the Deku nut infrequently, it seems a carry upgrade would be rather pointless. The upgrade can be obtained in any order. The first raises the cap from 20 to 30, and the second from 30 to 40.
Link can expand the size of his nut collection by speaking to a Business Scrub outside the entrance to the Forest Temple after blowing up a boulder covering his hole. The second upgrade is one that most N64 players would have missed. Speaking to the Deku Scrubs in the Lost Wood’s forest stage while Link wears the Mask of Truth will prompt them to insult him and then offer an upgrade. If Link obtainedthe trading item, the Poacher’s Saw, beforehand, they refuse to provide the upgrade. Thankfully, this bug was fixed in the 3DS remake.
3Silver Gauntlets - Ocarina Of Time
Immediately Outclassed By The Stronger Variant
This upgrade sits in an awkward “middle” place between the Goron’s Bracelet and the final lifting item. The Silver Gauntlets do serve a purpose in the Spirit Temple, as they allow Link to lift (very specifically) grey boulders (rocks that bombs or the hammer couldn’t break, for some reason) and push heavy blocks. However, they are immediately outdone by the item received one dungeon later, Ganondorf’s Castle, right before the end of the game: the Golden Gauntlets. The Golden Gauntlets allow Link to do the same and pick up even more impressively large objects, such as giant pillars of obsidian.
Although the Golden Gauntlets only make the SIlver Gauntless redundant retroactively, it doesn’t help that they are obvious reskins of the same item as well. From the player’s perspective, Link gains these silver treasures and then instantly throws them aside when he encounters the exact same item but with a nicer shade of gold. It could be argued that the Golden Gauntlets are redundant instead, as they do pretty much the same thing as the accessory gained one dungeon ago and offer little backtracking rewards besides access toa magic spellfrom the fairy fountain, which is about ten feet from the castle entrance.
The Sand Rod inA Link Between Worldsis already a niche item. It creates pillars of sand that form barriers against enemies and platforms for Link, which only works in desert areas. A nice upgrade for the Sand Rod might have been the ability to use it anywhere outside the dunes, perhaps in a limited capacity, or extend the reach of the pillars.
However, Link’s reward for saving 10 Maiamais and returning to Mother Maiamai with the Sand Rod is the “Nice” Sand Rod, which has the ability to sustain sand pillars indefinitely. Rather than being useful, this is more of a passing novelty that few players will appreciate, and as such, the Nice Sand Rod tends to be a forgotten component of anotherwise brilliantZeldagame.
On paper,The Minish Cap’s Mirror Shield, which can be gained after speaking to Big Goron and allowing him to eat Link’s shield, is an incredibly useful upgrade. When hit with any projectile, it fires out a beam akin to the original Master Sword when charged up with full hearts, striking foes from a distance.
There’s just one problem that invalidates the utility of the upgrade: it can only be obtained after finishing the game. This is a great shame, as most players havehad their fill of battleafter watching the credits roll. It could have potentially produced some interesting puzzles or boss fights, perhaps in optional side areas of the game.
