Armed with the first Pendant, information about the other two, and the Pegasus Shoes, Link continues his quest.
There’s a heart piece near the sanctuary under a pile of rocks that can be smashed with the shoes, and some fun to be had in Kakariko village: the magic powder can turn a woman into a faerie, a Cucco can be turned into a woman, and the guy who runs from Link can be caught. Once the fun’s over, time to get the Book of Mudora from the library and go to the Desert Palace.
This dungeon introduces two of my least favorite enemies/traps from this game: Beamos and the floor tiles. The floor tiles are mostly just tedious; hide in the doorway, go get a drink, and when you come back the way will be clear. If hiding in the door’s not possible, it comes down to dodging and/or thwacking them with the sword. As for Beamos… about the only defense is to circle around them, just out of their line of sight, or hide behind something. They still suck, but they’re more a nuisance than anything.
There are two unconnected parts to the dungeon, and the Power Glove from the first part is required to enter the second. There’s also a chance to get a piece of heart between the two, which gives a full heart and the corresponding life fill if Link’s got all of them so far. The boss is a trio of Lanmolas, and the hard part is dodging the pellets they throw as they come out of the ground. The spin attack doesn’t seem to do extra damage, but with a little bit of luck and timing, Link can take two of them out at the same time and skip the final phase where there’s just one throwing pellets in eight directions instead of four.
Armed with the Power Glove, most of the rest of Hyrule has opened up. The first destination should be Zora’s Waterfall in the northeast, to get the flippers. Zora sells the flippers for 500 rupees, the highest price in the game1. That’s not quite enough to buy everything in the first game (540 for the first quest, 600 for the second, not counting potions), but rupees are more plentiful in this game and here’s one place it shows. While in the area, there’s a heart piece in Zora’s Waterfall, and then the Waterfall of Wishing can upgrade Link’s shield and boomerang.
Now to take Zora’s advice and whirlpool down to Lake Hylia. This drops Link off right in front of the Pond of Happiness, which will gleefully soak up any excess rupees Link has, at least until he’s maxed out his bomb and arrow capacity. In the river leading north from Lake Hylia, there’s a man living under a bridge who’ll give Link a bottle, and then it’s time to head to the third pendant’s dungeon.
In the caves leading into Death Mountain, Link meets a lost old man. The man tells Link his granddaughter’s one of the maidens Agahnim’s zapped, and Link helps lead him to a cave on Death Mountain where he settles, setting up a third respawn point for the Light World. Before he goes, the man gives Link the Magic Mirror, which will immediately prove vital to the quest.
Spectacle Rock doesn’t house a hammer – we’ll get that later – but there’s a piece of heart for the taking. From that area, Link can see the Tower of Hera, but not get up there; the only way up for now is to step on a portal and enter the Dark World…
Where Ganon’s evil magic turns Link into a pink bunny.
There are a couple other cursed people here, an ogre kicking a ball. They tell Link that the Tower of Hera has an item called the Moon Pearl that lets its bearer keep their form in the Dark World, but since there’s no reason for Link to think he’s going to revisit the Dark World after this brief sojourn, he ignores their prattle. And the fact that his map a full world in the Dark World that he can only access a small portion of; surely all that excess is just some mapmaker showing off. Anyway, he uses the Mirror to warp back to the Light World atop Spectacle Rock, and jumps down to the level where the entrance to the Tower of Hera is and goes in.
Next: The Tower, the Master Sword, and Agahnim.