Oracle of Ages

Release Dates

USA JAP EUR AUS
GBC 5/14/2001 2/27/2001 10/5/2001

Overview

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (Japanese: ゼルダの伝説 ふしぎの木の実 時空の章 Zeruda no Densetu Fushigi no Ki no Mi Jikū no Shō) is the eighth installment in the series. It was released alongside The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons worldwide in 2001 for the Game Boy Color.

Both Oracles are two parts of an overall story: the final plot is revealed when both games are completed and connected via Game Link Cable and a password. Also, both focus on separate elements that, when put together, create the gameplay of a traditional Zelda game: Ages is more puzzle solving oriented, while Seasons is more focused on action and adventure.

Oracle of Ages was critically successful, called by critics as one of the best games on the Game Boy Color, as well as on any handheld device due to its graphics and replay value, though its audio was not received as well. It was also commercially successful, selling almost four million copies, making it alongside Oracle of Seasons the seventh best selling game in the series.

Prologue

Link awoke one day to find himself deep in a strange forest. As he started to walk through the woods, he heard cries for help coming from somewhere up ahead. Link hurried toward the voice, only to find a group of monsters surrounding a woman who was screaming. When the monsters saw Link, they immediately fled.

The woman who was being attacked was none other than Impa, nurse to Hyrule’s Princess Zelda. Impa said she had come to the forest to search for a singer named Nayru.

“Can’t you help me look?” Impa asked. Despite the strange look she gave him, Link could not refuse her request. As they searched together, they found a large stone with a rune on it. Naturally, Link moved the stone, but Impa wouldn’t so much as lay a hand on it.

As they traveled even deeper into the forest, they found a young woman singing. Invited to sit by the group of animals that listened to the girl’s song, Link joined the circle and let the beautiful song fill his ears and penetrate his heart. This was surely Nayru, the singer Impa was searching for. Just then, Impa erupted into a cackling laugh.

“Ah ha ha ha ha ha!”

A darkness surrounded Impa, and a frightening shadow lifted from her body.

“Nayru! Oracle of Ages! I, Veran, Sorceress of Shadows, shall make you my own!”

The shadow that called itself Veran began swooping about the forest before flying straight into the body of the frightened singer. A blinding light shone forth from Nayru’s body.

When Link’s eyes had grown used to the light, he realised that Nayru looked very strange. Her face seemed veiled in shadow, and her bright smile had vanished. A piercing, evil gaze had replaced it.

“Ha ha ha ha ha!”

“Now the power of the Oracle of Ages is mine! I can travel through time at will! Now a new age shall begin – an age of darkness!” And with that, Veran and Nayru vanished.

Nayru was actually the Oracle of Ages who controlled time in this land of Labrynna. When the oracle was kidnapped, the flow of time in Labrynna was distorted, and strange things began to happen. Before vanishing, Veran said, “When the past changes, so does the present.” Her plan was to travel to the past and gather power from the sorrows of the people of Labrynna so that she could create her land of darkness.

Will Link be able to free Nayru from Veran’s evil clutches?

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