Oracle of Seasons

Did You Know?

• Two game books based on Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages were published by Scholastic as part of the Nintendo You Decide on the Adventure series, written by Craig Wessel.
• The Oracle of Seasons game book was published in October 2001.
• The Oracle of Ages game book was published in January 2002.

Plot

The Triforce summons Link from Hyrule Castle, transporting him to a forest where he meets a traveling troupe led by a dancer named Din. Din welcomes Link to the land of Holodrum, but black clouds suddenly roll in. A voice from the clouds identifies Din as the Oracle of Seasons and calls itself Onox, General of Darkness. A funnel cloud descends, snatching Din into the sky.

Onox seals her in a crystal and plunges the Temple of Seasons into the underground realm of Subrosia, throwing Holodrum’s seasons into chaos as they shift wildly. Din’s attendant, Impa, explains they were heading to Hyrule and directs Link to the Maku Tree in Horon Village, Holodrum’s capital. Link finds a sword in a cave and reaches the tree. The Maku Tree tells him he must gather the eight Essences of Nature and gives him the Gnarled Key to unlock the first dungeon.

Link collects all eight Essences from dungeons across Holodrum and Subrosia. The Maku Tree uses them to create a Huge Maku Seed, a sacred seed that can cleanse evil, which allows Link to enter Onox’s castle. Link fights through the castle, defeats Onox, and frees Din. Din tells Link he is now a true hero and that a new trial awaits him soon. Watching from afar, Twinrova remarks that the chaos Onox caused has fueled the Flame of Destruction.

Development

In early 1999, Yoshiki Okamoto, who was leading Capcom's writing subsidiary Flagship, pitched a remake of the original Legend of Zelda for the Game Boy Color to series creator Shigeru Miyamoto. Okamoto's goal was to make the classic game accessible to younger players, while also using the project as a trial run for the development team to create a more ambitious sequel if the remake succeeded. He envisioned a workflow where games, including Zelda titles, could be developed and followed by sequels within four to five months.

IGN reported that Okamoto was asked to produce six Zelda games for the handheld—two based on earlier titles and four new ones—though Okamoto denied this claim. Unlike Miyamoto's usual approach of designing gameplay first, development began with writing the scenario, overseen by Flagship. Some staff, including a team led by director and designer Hidemaro Fujibayashi that handled non-story tasks, wanted to bypass the remake entirely and make an original Zelda game from the start.

Because the original game was considered too hard for modern players, so many adjustments were made that the world map became completely new. This constant reworking of the scenario and maps to keep everything consistent caused problems. The Game Boy Color's screen added another challenge: it was narrower than a TV, so players couldn't see a whole room without scrolling, making it easy to miss stairways or wall clues.

Reception

Oracle of Seasons sold 3.96 million copies worldwide and was the third best-selling Game Boy Color title in Japan with 746,054 units. Critics widely praised it. Chris Carle of IGN called both Seasons and Ages the finest games ever for the Game Boy Color, while Craig Majaski of Gaming Age described them as the two best handheld games ever made. GameSpot gave the pair its annual Best Game Boy Color Game award.

Nintendo Power ranked Seasons 34th on its Top 200 Nintendo Systems list and later, in August 2008, placed it fourth among Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles. Official Nintendo Magazine listed both games jointly at 57th on its all-time top 100 Nintendo games. Ben Reeves of Game Informer considered them collectively the 10th best Game Boy games. The ability to link the two titles via passwords and play them in reverse order was a standout feature.

At the 5th Interactive Achievement Awards, Seasons was nominated for Hand-Held Game of the Year. Graphics earned strong reviews: GamePro noted Seasons was bright and colorful with expressive, well-designed animations. IGN found the shifting color palettes tied to the seasons made Seasons the more visually impressive of the pair.