Every world has its evils. And when the balance of power is inevitably lost, it's up to the courageous and the wise to restore it. But sometimes? Sometimes they need a little extra help.
— Opening narration by Cadence
Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer feat. The Legend of Zelda is a Nintendo Switch game developed by Brace Yourself Games and published by Nintendo.note As the name suggests, it is a sequel to Crypt of the NecroDancer that doubles as a crossover with The Legend of Zelda, blending the rhythm-based movement and combat and roguelike dungeons of the former with the overworld exploration and puzzle-solving elements of the latter.
The Kingdom of Hyrule has found itself in peril yet again. A court musician named Octavo, wielding a magical lute, has managed to lock up the king and place royal knight Link and Princess Zelda into a deep slumber. With the other Triforce wielders out of the way, the musically-gifted sorcerer uses the Triforce of Power to enhance his instrument into a Golden Lute and gain control of all the monsters in Hyrule, throwing the land into chaos. However, just as hope seems to be lost, the remaining pieces of the mystic relic combine their energy to summon a hero from another world. One who just so happens to have the experience and skills necessary to tackle a foe as strange as this. With the land now cursed with an unwavering melodic beat, Cadence, Link, and Zelda must groove to the music in order to defeat Octavo and take Hyrule back.
The game was announced on March 20, 2019 at the end of a Nindies Showcase and released on June 13, 2019. Danny Baranowsky returns to compose the soundtrack, consisting of remixes of classic Zelda tunes, with Jules "FamilyJules7X" Conroy also returning as one of the instrumentalists. Among the art team are Paul Veer and Lucas "Midio" Carvalho, the former serving as art director, and both being known for their work on Sonic Mania.
On December 18, 2019, the game gained a new campaign called "Octavo's Ode", that is unlocked after beating story mode. In it, the player takes the role of Octavo as he works to assemble his four champions to accomplish his goal. In addition, a new "Dungeon Mode" was added, which restructures the entire game into Crypt of the NecroDancer's traditional rogue-like format. On July 20, 2020, a "Mystery Mode" difficulty was added, which obscures item and enemy identities.
The game also has three sets of paid DLC. Buying the Season Pass for all three unlocks red and blue alternate outfits for Link and Zelda.
- Character Pack adds five new characters (Shadow Link & Zelda, Impa, Aria, and Frederick the Shopkeeper) and an "All Characters" mode, which has the player play Dungeon Mode with eight characters in consecutive runs. It released July 20, 2020.
- Melody Pack adds 39 new songs to the soundtrack, composed by FamilyJules7X, Alex "A_Rival" Esquivel, and Niamh "Chipzel" Houston, and allows the player to customize the background music with these numerous songs. It released August 26, 2020.
- Symphony of the Mask is an additional story campaign with a new map, dungeons, enemies, items, and songs that features Skull Kid as the main character, who has the ability to change his skills by swapping masks. It is accompanied by two additional modes: "Puzzle Mode" and "Arena Mode", which are standalone versions of the "Temple of Brainstorms" and "Gerudo Arena" (respectively) that can be done with any character, with the latter being an endless mode against various enemies and bosses. It released September 23, 2020.
A physical version of the game that includes all the aforementioned DLC released on October 23, 2020.
Cadence of Hyrule contains examples of:
- Ability Required to Proceed: Downplayed. In true Zelda fashion, there are numerous caves and challenges that require the right item to pass, but not only do most have multiple solutions, but none of them are required to beat the game.
- Achievement System: 32 achievements were added in version 1.0.2, with later updates (Octavio's Ode, the Character Pack, and Symphony of the Mask) adding additional ones, culminating in 48 total achievements. All the achievements are laid out on a grid and, initially, none of them are shown. However, getting one allows you to view how to get the achievements adjacent to them. Achievements range from things like defeating bosses in a specific way, to completing arbitrary tasks like swimming in lava, to beating the game under a strict set of rules.
- Adaptation Personality Change: The Zora and the Gerudo. Instead of their traditional depictions as regal Fish Men and Desert Bandits, the game instead opts to make them a group of laid-back Surfer Dudes and a Desert Punk community of inquisitive scavenger-scientists, respectively.
- All Animals Are Dogs: As of 1.1.0, there's a friendly White Wolfos in Kakariko Village that you can pet. It'll stick its tongue out and wag its tail for you if you do.
- Alternate Timeline: The two additional story campaigns serve as this.
- While Octavo's Ode does follow his attempt to assemble the Champions so that he can defeat Ganon, it ends with a different Bad Future where his future self is the Final Boss. After defeating him, he uses the power of the lutes to return to before he stole the thread of the Weavers in the first place, scrapping his plan all together and averting the events of the game entirely.
- Symphony of the Mask takes place during the game's Bad Future, with Skull Kid being tasked to defeat Ganon in the absence of the main campaign's heroes. And he succeeds, taking the villain down before Cadence and the others can arrive, much to their surprise.
- Ambiguously Related: Entering certain caves while playing as Octavo would cause apparitions of the fortune tellers to appear instead of Cadence, one of which scolding him for not remembering who he is or where he came from. Collecting Octavo's Locket hints at a connection between Octavo and Vaati, with it being a magical family heirloom that appears identical to the gem on his cap, along with making the user immune to electric and wind effects. While this revelation would seem to explain Octavo's similar appearance to the wind mage, exactly where they sit in the family tree and how they're related remains unknown, especially since the magic cap that Vaati wore became broken and powerless after his defeat in The Minish Cap.
- And the Adventure Continues: With Zelda and Link's help, Cadence manages to get out of the Zelda world and into a different one... she just hopes she's back in her own world.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- Once you clear an area of enemies, you can move freely, without being restricted to the beat. There is also a Fixed-Beat Mode where you can move whenever you want, turning the game into more of a Turn-Based Strategy affair.
- Weapons, shields, and most active items are retained on death, which cuts out a lot of backtracking.
- Enemy respawning on the overworld is context-sensitive; a puzzle area will remain cleared if the player switches screens to reset it, while an area with unopened chests that unlock through combat is repopulated immediately.
- The fortune teller will highlight the location of the next dungeon (or, in the case of the Temple of Brainstorms, the dungeon instrument and boss) for a small fee.
- Once you acquire the Lute, you can warp via the map screen, without having to actually equip and use the item.
- Since Shovels and Torches run out and you don't immediately start with either, the game is guaranteed to drop you a basic Shovel/Torch after killing a few enemies so long as one is not already in your inventory.
- Some of the more frustrating enemy types from Crypt of the NecroDancer have either been removed, or have their Hyrule equivalents behave in more forgiving ways, such as Wights only appearing when a trap is activated rather than randomly, and Keese looking in the direction they'll move to next.
- Version 1.0.2 added in a few of these, such as the map marking caverns you've already finished and gear your character can't use stating on pickup that it's for someone else.
- Unlike Melody in NecroDancer, who has to move to attack with the Golden Lute and will simply bounce off if she walks into an enemy, Octavo can do traditional attacks with the Lute, which have the same range and power as a Short Sword/Dagger, while also retaining the "move to attack" ability that Melody has.
- As of Version 1.1.0, the weapons of other heroes can be changed from the inventory screen without visiting a Sheikah Stone. While it seems like a small change, it's actually a blessing for Ganon's boss battle, especially in Single-Character Mode where it would be otherwise impossible to change the weapon of a frozen hero if they were carrying something unwanted. In Story Mode, the feature appears as soon as another character is unlocked, but in Single-Character Mode, it only appears during Ganon's boss fight.
- If the player runs out of stamina, they can still use the Fire and Ice Rods as makeshift clubs on an enemy, making it easier to acquire two certain achievements. Specifically, Cool Riffs and Hot Beats, which require defeating Bass Guitarmos Knights using only the Ice Rod and Wizzroboe with the Fire Rod respectively.
- Armor-Piercing Attack: Several attacks allow you to ignore the defenses of enemies and damage them even if you hit them where they're defended.
- If you obtain a Ring of Piercing, all weapon attacks will pierce until you either break or discard the ring.
- The Bow, once upgraded to the Great Bow, will shoot arrows that pierce through both armor and enemies, only stopping at walls and terrain.
- Frederick's Rupee Toss behaves similarly, throwing a Rupee that pierces foes and their defenses.
- Bombs, Bombchus, and Din's Fire, as explosives, easily ignore defense.
- Arrows on Fire: One of the items you can find allows you to use these with your bow, at the cost of using a chunk of stamina upon firing them. It's among the ways to set your enemy on fire, dealing another hit to them after the initial one.
- Artificial Limbs: Barriara, the Gerudo mechanic, has what appears to be a mechanical left arm with a large metal pincer for a hand.
- Art Evolution: Compared to the original NecroDancer, where the player character had no animations for movement (simply hopping), attacking (represented by attack effects and/or blade lines on the enemy), or digging (shown as your shovel appearing on the tile), this game introduces animations for all categories.
- Art-Shifted Sequel: Although the art style is still distinctly Crypt of the NecroDancer, the characters are depicted in a more cutesy and cartoonish way akin to Super-Deformed. Zelda and Link appear similar to the 2D cutscenes from Hyrule Warriors.
- Ascended Glitch: In Crypt of the NecroDancer, an odd quirk of the way lights were coded made it so south facing walls facing an empty room were always illuminated, which ended up being useful for players to find secret rooms and was never fixed. While this has been rectified in the transition, hidden rooms are now visible whenever the player is close to them, rather than requiring a brighter torch.
- Asteroids Monster: Zols break apart into two or more smaller Gels when defeated. However, if a child Gel would spawn on a space already occupied by something else, it simply fails to spawn.
- Auto-Revive: As in the previous game, you will automatically quaff Red Potions if your Hearts hit 0. Unlike NecroDancer, Red Potions are far more accessible, as you can find up to four Bottles in a single run and you can fill them at any Fortune Teller's house as long as you have enough rupees. Fairies can also be used for the same purpose, but they only heal 8 Hearts as opposed to all of them, making them generally less useful unless you're playing as Yves or Aria.
- Bad Future: The Very Definitely Final Dungeon is set in the future 25 years after the start of the game, where Hyrule is in ruins. The Symphony of the Mask story campaign also takes place during this time, revealing the only remaining settlements to be those of the Deku and Gerudo.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Dampé the gravedigger says that he "found someone sleeping outside town and gave them a bed", you might think he's using a Deadly Euphemism. He's actually referring to Link/Zelda, who is asleep in his house.
- Big First Choice: After you complete the prologue with Cadence, you have to choose whether to wake Link or Zelda first, which determines who you play as. You eventually gain the ability to play as the other, though.
- Book Ends: The game begins and ends with Cadence falling out of the sky.
- Boss Remix: The final boss of Octavo's Ode uses a remixed version of The Wight to Remain (the music of Zone 4-3 in the original Crypt Of The Necrodancer) for its first half and a remix of Grave Throbbing (Zone 2-2) for the second half, along with a nod to Dead End (the credits music) sandwiched inbetween.
- Bowdlerise: Zig-zagged. The "blood" items from NecroDancer are now referred to as "ruby" items, but the rare shops that require paying health instead of money still call the act "paying with blood" (and your cause of death will be listed as "blood debt" if you die from spending too much).
- Bragging Rights Reward:
- The Coupon, which allows you to buy one item for free instead of spending Rupees. Early on in the game this would be very nice, but it can only be obtained by killing the Shopkeeper, which is incredibly suicidal without the right set of items or knowing his attack patterns. Later on in the game, killing the Shopkeeper becomes easier, but the Coupon also becomes much less useful as by that point in a regular run, you likely have more than enough rupees to buy even his most expensive item. There is an achievement for this though, which makes it at least a little useful to do once.
- The situation is slightly different with the Diamond Coupon, which is exchanged for a free diamond purchase instead of a free Rupee purchase. It's only dropped by the late-game red Shopkeepers, and the Money for Nothing situation with diamonds instead of Rupees is similar, but you can also obtain a single Diamond Coupon partway through the game without killing any Shopkeepers, making the item marginally more useful.
- Completing all the achievements doesn't do anything except give you the visual satisfaction of having the entire grid filled out to golden completion. Interestingly, it's become a bit of a challenge to see how many achievements one can obtain within a single run, since a fair number require completing the game under certain conditions. One player has managed to do five at once
. - To the delight of many players of Necrodancer Aria has no content exclusive to her nor does she have her own ending this time around.
- Breakable Weapons: Torches and shovels aren't permanent anymore, as they have durability bars that wear down as they're used to break terrain. Glass items return from NecroDancer and break after taking damage as expected, and some items are generally fragile and break after taking too many hits.
- Call-Back:
- The end of the opening cutscene fades out on the opening of "Disco Decent", the first level theme of Crypt of the NecroDancer. The music for Cadence's gameplay is a medley of the same song with the Zelda overworld theme.
- While they are now Zelda themed, many of the enemy patterns and designs are analogous to those in Crypt of the NecroDancer, with Puffstools serving as an analogue to Mushrooms, Keese having random movement like Bats, and so on.
- Dampe the Gravekeeper's house has various shovels from Crypt of the NecroDancer that didn't return, such as the Titanium Shovel, Blood Shovel, and Obsidian Shovel.
- The Shopkeeper's outfit in the Bad Future is the Blood Shopkeeper's outfit from NecroDancer.
- Ganon's boss fight has the same trick as Cadence's fight against the NecroDancer being that the player has to control multiple characters.
- Octavo's final boss battle in his story has him wielding the Golden Lute and chasing down the NecroDancer similar to Cadence and Dorian's duel against the same villain, and towards the end, the walls of the room begin to close in while the player needs to reach the top of the room, similar to Melody's duel.
- Cadence's alternate palettes likewise reference her home game: one gives her blue clothes and a bright red bandana, referencing the Palette Swap character Choral, while the other gives her green clothes, a different red bandana, and orange hair, making Cadence resemble her mother Melody.
- Aria's default outfit has brown hair and an orange-and brown dress, which accurately reflects her artwork; her alternate outfit has blue hair and a gray-and-blue dress, resembling her sprite from NecroDancer that didn't reflect it quite as well.
- The Cameo:
- Several enemies from Crypt of the NecroDancer, including the titular Big Bad himself, appear as wooden cutouts in the minigames and in Hyrule Castle.
- The Shrine of Blues takes the form of a statue of the Deep Blues Queen from NecroDancer.
- Similarly, the Shrine of Coral, which turns all unique floor hazards like coals or pits into water, takes the form of a Coral Riff statue.
- Cap:
- 9999 Rupees, which also causes the number to turn green.
- 16 Heart Containers, which is notable because the game can possibly generate enough Pieces of Heart that you would be able to exceed this limit.
- Carrying the Weakness: Iron Knuckles can only be struck in the back, where their armor fails to cover. These enemies have a high tendency to drop Rings of Piercing, which allow you to cut out the middle man and just damage any enemy with armor or shields through their defenses, including the Iron Knuckles themselves.
- Cast from Money: Frederick's Rupee Toss attack requires five rupees to use.
- Cave Behind the Falls: The large waterfall on Death Mountain always has a fairy fountain behind it. The entrance is next to two Armos statues, which have to be attacked and killed before you can walk into it from the side.
- Chain Lightning: Electric attacks done by your character will not only damage and stun an enemy, but also deal one hit of damage to any enemies nearby the initial target while also stunning them.
- Challenge Run: Custom Game allows you to toggle options like Double-Time Mode, which doubles the speed of the beat, choose a specific character to start from the beginning as, and Permadeath Mode, which causes the entire game to start over from the beginning if you die.
- Collection Sidequest: There are always at least 20 enemy Deku Scrubs in every run, and each one drops a Deku Nut upon being defeated. Collecting 10 and bringing them to Tingle in the Lost Woods will double the player's stamina meter, while bringing him an additional 10 will unlock Yves as a playable character.
- Continuity Nod: The enemies from the original Crypt of the NecroDancer appear as cardboard cutouts in Octavo's lair.
- Crosshair Aware: Attacks that hit multiple tiles mark the area they'll hit with crosshairs.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!:
- Unlike NecroDancer, Bombs spawn in the tile in front of you unless said tile is obstructed, and all characters passively have the ability to kick Bombs (otherwise restricted to Eli in the previous game). This can potentially mess up your Bomb placement if you're too used to playing NecroDancer.
- Also unlike NecroDancer, Link, Zelda, and Cadence have unlockable shields, and fans of the previous game used to dodging out of the way may have some trouble with projectile using Deku Scrubs, Zora, and Octoroks until they remember to use their shields.
- Within patches, several low-key things in the game occasionally got unmentioned changes. Among other things, Great Bow arrows formerly pierced non-ground terrain like stumps and trees, and Iron Boots used to protect against poison water.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Dying makes you drop all currency and fragile items, but you get to use your diamonds to buy boosts for the next attempt and respawn at a Sheikah Stone of choice. Custom mode includes full NecroDancer-style permadeath as an option.
- Developer's Foresight: Because the game's overworld is randomly generated for each run, it's possible to get a seed where the player is able to make it outside the bounds of the games map with a bit of work.note Once out of bounds, the player is sent to a screen of a single house surrounded by forest, where Error Houlihan resides and will sell the Boots of Speed, which allow the player to move faster than the beat.
- Difficult, but Awesome: Glass items of course, but special mention goes to the Glass Ring of Preservation, a rare Ring that prevents item durability gauges from decreasing. However, as it is a Glass Ring, you will lose it if you take damage. While difficult to keep, in the hands of a skilled player it verges into Purposefully Overpowered territory, allowing you to maintain any item with indefinite use as long as the player doesn't screw up, including the immensely powerful Boots of Speed.
- The Dividual: In the final battle, you take control of Cadence, Link, and Zelda at the same time!
- Door to Before: Dungeon Mode adds a portal before each boss that takes you back to the beginning of the Zone. The exact layouts of the floors will be different, but any permanent items you didn't collect will still be waiting there for you, in case you couldn't get them at the time.
- Dowsing Device: Tingle will give you a dowsing device (which looks a lot like the Tingle Tuner) in exchange for waking him up, which is used to navigate through the Lost Woods, and can find hidden items elsewhere. When used, it emits a noise that plays louder if you're closer to the right path, or an item.
- Drums of War: The War Drum item. Striking it allows the player to jump in place without missing the beat and increases the damage of their next attack.
- Early Game Hell: You start the game with only three hearts, and due to the randomly-generated overworlds, it's possible to run into multiple enemies who deal half of that in a single hit right out of the area you begin at. Your starting weapons for most of the playable characters also only hit right in front of them for a single heart of damage. Once you get weapons with better range or damage to make combat easier, a couple dozen Pieces of Heart to soften the blows of making mistakes, and some items to grant extra abilities, healing, and attack options, the game lightens up significantly.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Players watching older streams and videos of the game may notice a change to Shadow Link and Shadow Zelda's appearance. This is because when the game was first released, a palette bug had left the doppelgangers with pale skin instead of grey, which wasn't fixed until Octavo's Ode several months later.
- Easter Egg:
- There's a hidden room that can only be found by swimming behind Hyrule Castle and entering a door you can't see on the back. Inside, you can exchange a key for either a free infusion or a Diamond Coupon (one Diamond-purchased item for free).
- If one has the Symphony of the Mask DLC downloaded and begins a new run, Cadence's cave in the Lost Woods has a suspiciously diggable wall. Digging through it all the way will reveal a portal to the future Deku Village, allowing the player to play through Symphony of the Mask as any character they choose, as well as recruit Skull Kid for use in the main Story Mode. You're also required to do this for the "Shortcutter" achievement, ignoring the present-day bosses in favor of only defeating the Future Hyrule ones.
- Ennio Morricone Pastiche: In case the arrangement of the "peaceful" Gerudo Desert theme wasn't a giveaway on its own, it quotes the famous first five notes of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly near the end of each loop.
- Evil Costume Switch: The Shopkeeper subverts this in The Very Definitely Final Dungeon. The Shopkeeper changes from his signature purple and gold robes to sinister black and red robes, but he's still the same friendly Shopkeeper. If asked, he'll tell you that he decided to switch colors to match the Bad Future theme.
- Evil Overlooker: The box art shows Octavo above his minions, with heroes Cadence, Link, and Zelda at the bottom.
- Evil Overlord: When playing as Octavo in The Very Definitely Final Dungeon, instead of Ganon having supposedly sealed the evil Great Fairy's healing powers away, she claims it was the NecroDancer's doing, who is described to be a powerful overlord.
- Eviler than Thou: The NecroDancer proudly boasts as to having defeated Ganondorf before he could take power, immediately setting him up to be a threat worse than the King of Evil himself.
- Evolving Credits: As of Version 1.1.0, the voice-acting section of the ending credits was changed to include two new characters, Impa and Aria, but they didn't make an appearance until the Character Pack DLC.note
- Explosive Stupidity: Zigzagged. You can still blow yourself up with your own Bombs and Bombchus, and Zelda can also detonate Din's Fire within range of herself, which will also set herself on fire. However, equipping the Ring of Blasting will make all your bombs detonate instantly, giving yourself the appearance of blowing yourself up but with the bonus of being immune to all explosive damage.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: In Octavo's story mode, there's statues of Ganon outside of the final boss's room like there are for the other characters, but on the inside, there's statues and banners of the NecroDancer himself, who ends up being Octavo's final boss.
- Forced Sleep:
- Octavo placed a spell on both Link and Zelda, necessitating Cadence to awaken one and a hibiscus potion to wake the other. He also did the same to Barriara, who the player wakes up by playing the Gerudo Valley theme; she rewards the player with the Power Glove.
- The Zora Prince is kept asleep by a ghost. Getting rid of it will have the prince reward the player with the Zora Flippers.
- Foreshadowing:
- In Gerudo Valley, a certain building houses a pipe organ. With a bun-wearing Gerudo in black armor and a red cape practicing, and the only reason he is is because he wishes to harness the powernote within music that Octavo has demonstrated. That's Ganondorf. Ganondorf is just there, in clear view. It leaves the player to wonder how he fits into all of this... and then you find out why Octavo is doing what he is.
- Friendly Fire: Several examples. Any enemy attack with warning signs (e.g. attacks that can hit more than one square at once) can hit other enemies as well as you. So can virtually any of the projectiles fired/thrown by several enemies (most notably Wizzrobes), as well as some enemies' deafening attacks that deal knockback without damage. Finally, Gohmaracas' Eye Beams can also damage its own minions. One achievement is even called "Friendly Fire" and requires beating a certain boss by making it so his minions' own ammunition does all the damage to them.
- Fusion Dance: All the bosses (Octavo, Ganon, and the NecroDancer notwithstanding) are fusions between instruments and various Zelda foes. For example, Octavo's guitar and the Armos become the Bass Guitarmos Knights.
- Future Me Scares Me: Octavo doesn't like the NecroDancer very much. While Octavo only wanted to defeat Ganon, the NecroDancer wants to take over Hyrule. This leads into Octavo's unique final boss.
- Game-Breaking Bug: The music for The Very Definitely Final Dungeon temporarily ended up off-beat from the game's beat indicators in the Symphony of the Mask update; unfortunately, said DLC uses that song for the overworld. This later ended up fixed in version 1.5.0.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: With Link and Zelda in an enchanted sleep, Story Mode opens with the Triforce of Power summoning Cadence to Hyrule.
- Goomba Stomp: The Down Thrust technique allows players to bounce off of enemies by dropping on them from a higher level or jumping on top of them using the Roc's Feather. Death Mountain actually requires the player to use this on Zols in order to cross a gap (though in traditional Zelda fashion, sequence breaking this requirement is possible with some foreknowledge and the right items).
- Guide Dang It!: The way to obtain the Flippers might seem unintuitive to some. There are five Zora ghosts in the prince's cave; you need to find the one who speaks and destroy it with bombs or arrows. However, the other ghosts all respond to you with the same Visible Silence, so if you don't find the right one soon it is easy to assume that there is no difference between any of them. Furthermore, the ghosts themselves are not hostile (only the Ghast that spawns after killing them is), and this is one of the only times you are encouraged to attack non-hostile NPCs.
- Hand Wave: If playing Octavo's story mode co-op, Octavo will remark that he has the second character under mind control as all of the other characters would normally be antagonistic toward him.
- Heart Container: Health increases are present as is tradition for both Zelda and NecroDancer. Heart Containers can be retrieved from bosses and are formed by four Pieces of Heart as usual, and two of them can also be bought with diamonds.
- Humongous-Headed Hammer: One of the items added in the Symphony of the Mask DLC is the Megaton Hammer. Its appearance resembles the Hammer from A Link Between Worlds and the Magic Hammer as designed in Tri Force Heroes, while its usage is more akin to the Magic Hammer from A Link to the Past. When used, it expends a chunk of stamina to strike the area one tile in front of your character for three damage, while also knocking back things it fails to defeat. It's also capable of breaking several things that bombs would otherwise be needed for; aside from diggable terrain, it can destroy cracked walls (both cave entrances and cracked walls in dungeons), golden shop walls, piles of books, and even the money-filled pots and shovel racks Frederick keeps handy.
- Idle Animation: Link and Yves tap their feet, Zelda shakes her hips to the beat for a moment before stopping while her dress blows, Cadence nods her head, and Octavo pulls a baton and begins conducting. The character pack adds more; Aria crosses her arms and taps her foot, Frederick sings along to the background music, Impa puts her hand on her hip, and Shadow Link sways back and forth as his eyes flash red. Shadow Zelda uses the same animation as Zelda. All of these happen in time to the music.
- Infinity +1 Sword: Each weapon category has one unique weapon which can't be enchanted but comes with a unique ability.
- Jeweled Dagger: Deals a whopping 4 damage per hit, compared to the Titanium Dagger (which deals 2) or the Obsidian or Glass Daggers (which deal 3 with a significant drawback). Like all daggers, can only be used by Zelda or Cadence.
- Kokiri Sword: Identical to the Jeweled Dagger. Like all shortswords, can only be used by Link.
- Fragarach: Titanium Broadsword plus piercing.
- Impa's Naginata: Combines the effects of the Emerald Spear (Poisoned Weapon) and the Ruby Spear (Life Drain).
- Hylian Flail: Titanium Flail plus knockback.
- Royal Rapier: Titanium Rapier plus knockback, though the knockback requires spending stamina.
- Caladbolg: 3-damage longsword with no drawbacks (compared to the 2-damage Titanium Longsword or the 3-damage-with-drawback Obsidian Longsword and Glass Longsword). Arguably the best legendary weapon.
- Eli's Greatshovel: Titanium Greatshovel that deals extra damage when it digs.
- There is also an Easter Egg-only item called Boots of Speed, which allows you to take any action at any time without being required to follow the beat. However, obtaining this item requires you to find a way to get out of bounds, which may not be possible on several randomly-generated overworlds.
- Infinity -1 Sword: Titanium/Obsidian/Glass + anything other than a dagger or shortsword. Usually has just as much damage and range as a legendary weapon minus the special effects, and Obsidian and Glass can even outdamage legendary weapons at the cost of a drawback (which can be worked around with enough skill). They can also be readily obtained less than halfway through the game, compared to the legendary weapons which don't appear until the endgame.
- Interchangeable Antimatter Keys: As always, keys can be used on any average locked doors or chests you stumble across. This time they aren't limited to dungeons; in fact, keys can occasionally be found on the overworld, and sold in dungeon shops, but any key from anywhere will work, similar to the original Zelda.
- Interface Spoiler:
- The game inadvertently spoils the existence of a Secret Character through the bios of Link, Zelda, and Cadence; all three state that they can use "most weapons and items." The first part makes sense, as they all have their own unique weapon type (Link has longswords, Zelda has rapiers, and Cadence has greatshovels), but the second part stands out; if everyone can use items, it'd be completely redundant to mention it, unless there's someone who can't use items.
- For a year after release, the appearance of the Story Mode file looked incomplete; once you unlock the aforementioned secret character, there now appeared to be fifth available slot for an unknown character. Upon the release of the ''Symphony of the Mask' DLC, this turned out to be Skull Kid, as it is possible to recruit him by traveling to the Bad Future via the Lost Woods rather than Hyrule Castle.
- Irony: The king is woken up by playing "Zelda's Lullaby".
- Kaizo Trap: An odd example, where Octavo's fireballs remain on screen after he is defeated (until they hit the wall and dissipate). While hard to line up right, it's possible to be hit by them and take damage afterward.
- Lampshade Hanging: Trill notes that Cadence seems to already have a handle on beat-based combat, is fast at using a shovel, and is very at home exploring a crypt.
- Lava Is Boiling Kool-Aid: Once the Goron Locket (which grants immunity to fire) is collected, lava is treated identically to deep water as far as the player character is concerned, right down to being able to use a snorkel in it and being able to dive beneath the surface if the player has both the Snorkel and Flippers.
- Limited-Use Magical Device: Just like in the original NecroDancer, Scrolls allow you to use a spell once. These range from returning ones like the Scroll of Need, to new ones that temporarily increase your damage or armor.
- Level 1 Music Represents: "Disco Descent", the theme of the first level of Crypt of the NecroDancer, is used as an overarching Leitmotif representing the NecroDancer side of the crossover and is heard in several themes.
- Loud of War: Some enemies can produce loud noises (either through magic, or just jamming on a guitar) that will deafen the player, making them unable to hear the beat of the music.
- Luck-Based Mission: Octavo's first four phases (one corresponding to each instrument) come in random order, and enemies exclusive to previous phases can 'leak' into the next phase if the player doesn't defeat them in time (or purposely doesn't defeat them). Certain combinations of two otherwise phase-exclusive enemies can be either much harder to deal with or much easier to deal with than usual. In addition, Octavo's fireballs can travel either orthogonally or diagonally, and if you're right next to him on the first beat they come out, it can be a complete coin flip as to which dodging direction (backward or sideways) is safe.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Shields are a category of permanent equipment, and Link and Cadence can use them. They can be held up with the R button, and while a Shield is held up you can deflect certain attacks. Different types of Shields can be found over the course of the game, each offering different abilities. However, equipping the Long Sword category of weapon prevents you from using Shields.
- Make Some Noise: Green Wizzrobe's projectiles silence the music when they hit the player, making it harder to stay on beat.
- The Guitar Guards whail on their guitars to create a shockwave that will deafen the player, along with knocking them back.
- Metal Slime: Subverted. There's a very rare enemy in the game that's a literal metal slime, but it's completely invincible and can't move, attack, or deal any damage. It acts more like an obstacle for puzzles rather than an enemy.
- Money for Nothing:
- Play long enough and you'll find yourself with way more Rupees than you'll know what to do with. The high rate of Rupee gain offsets the high cost of certain items and is supposed to be balanced by the fact you'll lose all of it upon death, but once you overcome Early Game Hell or become proficient in general you'll have enough Rupees to buy even the most expensive shop items several times over.
- The same happens with Diamonds. After a little while, if you clear all screens in your path, you'll be swimming in the currency, with little-to-no options on where to consistently spend it.
- Averted hard when trying to beat the game with Yves or Aria, the One-Hit-Point Wonder characters. Even moreso on Permadeath mode, which beating with the former is required for an achievement! Potions are all but required to survive, and you can quickly find yourself in a situation where your stockpile of them is used up in literal seconds. Refilling them over and over as you attempt to progress through the dungeons and bosses will quickly drain even a maxed-out wallet.
- Likewise averted when playing as Frederick. There's a reason why the game considers getting 500 rupees with the character to be an achievement, and that's because he loses a rupee every second. If you run out of rupees, your health instantly drops to a single hit point and you turn into a ghost that hearts/potions can't heal until you pick up more money. Playing as him means you'll be hunting down cash and weighing how much you really need to buy items like the snorkel. On the positive side, as long as you have enough rupees, you have an extra hit, losing them instead of your health.
- Mutually Exclusive Power-Ups: Regular weapons can only have one enchantment applied to them. Getting a new enchantment overwrites the old one.
- Musical Nod:
- The title screen's music remixes the title screen music of Ocarina of Time.
- The crypt's theme combines NecroDancer's "Disco Descent" with Zelda's overworld theme.
- The FamilyJules and A_Rival remixes follow suit, with the "Disco Descent" segments in their remixes sounding remarkably similar to their original remixes back in NecroDancer.
- The overworld also uses Zelda's overworld theme, in addition to Tal Tal Heights, Hyrule Field, Great Sea, and NecroDancer's "Rhythmortis".
- Caves use a remix of A Link to the Past's light world dungeon music.
- Lost Woods, Death Mountain, Hyrule Castle, Kakariko Village, Fairy Fountain, and Minigame all remix their respective tracks from A Link to the Past.
- Gerudo Desert remixes Ocarina of Time's Gerudo Valley theme.
- Gerudo Ruins and Temple of Storms incorporate Ocarina of Time's Bolero of Fire and Song of Storms, respectively. Windmill Hut and Gleeokenspiel also remix Song of Storms.
- Parts of Lost Swamp's music use the bassline of NecroDancer's "Knight to C-Sharp".
- The instruments that chime into Octavo's theme use the main melody of Minish Cap's Vaati Wrath.
- Future World uses a remix of A Link to the Past's dark world theme.
- Ganon's theme includes bits of NecroDancer's "Momentum Mori".
- The NecroDancer's theme combines Zelda II's palace theme with the original game's "The Wight to Remain" and "Momentum Mori".
- Deku Village uses a chill take on the Deku Palace theme from Majora's Mask.
- Gerudo Coliseum remixes Breath of the Wild's Molduga theme for its main bassline.
- Temple of Brainstorms uses parts of NecroDancer's "Styx and Stones."
- Synthrova's theme remixes Kotake & Koume's theme from Ocarina of Time.
- Mythology Gag: Given the fact that Zelda is a Long Runner, and that a good amount of the devteam of this game are fans of the franchise, it's inevitable that some of these show up.
- Characters falling into pits quickly fade away with big eyes as they scream, much like Link did in his 2D days.
- The achievement for waking up the player character you didn't select is entitled "Someone's Awakening". Meanwhile, killing a shopkeeper nets you "THIEF".
- In rare cases, a blue cucco will spawn instead of a white one on certain map seedsnote , similar to the elusive and incredibly rare Green Bat enemy from Crypt of the NecroDancer.
- Link's alternate outfits that come with the Season Pass resemble the Blue Mail and Red Mail from A Link Between Worlds, with Link's hat matching his tunic while his sleeves change color to yellow and green, respectively.
- In general, the art for the achievements resembles that of Link's Awakening.
- Some of the rings here are based on those from the Oracle games (e.g., Cadence of Hyrule's Ring of Blasting has the same effect as OoA/OoS's Blast Ring).
- The art for the trees in the Overworld resemble that from A Link to the Past.
- Whenever Link and Zelda lose all their health, they spin and fall onto the ground which was present during Link's 2D days.
- Ganondorf/Ganon can be found in both the present and past playing the pipe organ, just as he did in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
- When receiving Tingle's Dowser from him, he mentions that he was planning to make a map of the Lost Woods to sell for a bunch of Rupees. Additionally, when you talk to Tingle with 10 Deku Nuts, he says that he'll take away half of your stamina... or maybe double it (his magic is confusing), similarly to the Mad Batter saying he'll take half of your Magic Meter, when he actually halves the cost of things that use the meter.
- The shopkeeper will say "Buy somethin' will ya!" backwards if you talk to them twice.
- Nerf:
- Because weapons are now permanent and are impossible to lose, the ability to throw Daggers and Spears from range has been removed. You do get some ranged options to make up for this, like the Bow, Bombchus, and Din's Fire. The Bow even upgrades into a Great Bow, which allows it to pierce terrain and armor, similarly to the Rifle, though the Bow and Great Bow can't have attack modifiers like they did in NecroDancer.
- All of the unique weapons other than the Jeweled Dagger were not carried over from NecroDancer, and most other weapon types were removed, including all weapons from the Amplified DLC. Gold modifiers were also completely removed and replaced with Emerald, which applies a poison effect.
- Rapiers only deal +1 damage on lunge instead of double. This is easily seen with Titanium, which only deals 3 damage on lunge instead of 4. Rapiers in general have also been made Zelda's signature weapon, making them less common overall.
- Notice This:
- Bushes and stumps that hide stairs have a goddess butterfly perched on them.
- As of version 1.1.0, diggable terrain that has an item in it sparkles intermittently.
- Inside The Lost Woods, the monster who looks different from the rest of enemies on the screen always spawns in front of the correct path towards the Lost Swamp.
- The Zora Prince is forcefully kept asleep by several evil ghosts inside a cave, but one of them doesn't have a reflection in the water underneath it. It's also the only one who will respond when spoken to. This is the one who is required to be attacked and defeated in order to wake the prince up.
- Ominous Pipe Organ: Played by Ganon during his boss battle.
- Original Generation: Most of the characters in this crossover come from the Zelda series alongside Cadence from NecroDancer, but there are also some new characters as well, like Trillnote , Octavo, and the four champions (which technically are existing Zelda enemies, but with a NecroDancer-like musical theme).
- Platform-Activated Ability: Starting from Hyrule Castle, the heroes can find grey round pads with curved arrows colored green and purple in the floor which, upon being stood on, allow the currently-active character (whether Link or Zelda, but not Cadence as she cannot access the dungeon in question) to summon the other in their place. This becomes essential to prevent certain color-coded enemy attacks from inflicting damage (namely, the flames from evil statues and the noisy musical notes from Octavo during his boss fight will hurt Link if they're purple but harmless if they're green, and vice versa in the case of Zelda; thus, using strategically the pads to switch characters will prove essential). Before this point, it's not possible to swap characters during gameplay except when standing in front of a Sheikah Stone.
- Projectile Pocketing: The Boomerang, in grand Zelda tradition, can do this. This time, however, the Boomerang can actually pick up more major items like Pieces of Heart, a feature which it has had in some games, but not often.
- Promoted to Playable: As of the December 18th, 2019 update, Octavo is a playable character. He wields the Golden Lute, making him play similarly to Melody from the original game, but with the addition of the Zelda items.
- Poisoned Weapons: New to this game is the Emerald-class enchantment, which bestows you with Poison weapons. An Emerald weapon inflicts the Poison status on anything that it damages, causing the target to take damage after a short period of time. While this is very useful for bosses and minibosses, it is less useful than other enchantments for normal enemies.
- Previous Player-Character Cameo: When playing as Octavo, Link can be found in his bed, while Zelda can be found in Dampe's. Yves still appears with Tingle and can be recruited, but not played. Cadence is the only one who doesn't appear, since his story mode is an Alternate Timeline that shows what would've happened if she never appeared in Hyrule.
- Punny Name: Almost all the bosses in the game are musical puns in some way or shape, coming from a classic Zelda enemy mixed with some sort of instrument aside from Ganon, but he's hiding a Stealth Pun as detailed below. Octavo's champions are Wizzroboe, Gleeokenspiel, Bass Guitarmos Knights, and Gohmaracas. Symphony of the Mask adds a couple more, including King Dobongo and his similarly named minions, and the mechanical Synthrova.
- Puzzle Boss: The Final Boss of Octavo The Necrodancer cannot be defeated through normal means. The Walls Are Closing In, his Elite Mooks are beset upon you, but you cannot defeat him by dealing damage. note .
- Randomly Generated Levels:
- The overworld itself is randomly assembled from a selection of pre-determined tiles. The tiles themselves are static (including minor dungeons and sub-levels) but the arrangement changes with each playthrough.
- Conversely, major dungeon sub-levels use NecroDancer-style procedural generation, changing each time they are entered and featuring many of the same design elements as NecroDancer levels. The Very Definitely Final Dungeon goes a step further and is laid out like an entire Area from NecroDancer, featuring four levels separated by one-way staircases.
- The Dungeon mode added in 1.1.0 plays out similarly to original NecroDancer. You're sent through randomly generated floors like in that game, with setpieces from different dungeons being thrown together to make large levels.
- Retraux: The game has a pixel art style inspired by A Link to the Past.
- The Reveal: In Octavo's storyline, it's revealed that if Octavo went undefeated, he would've eventually become the Hyrulean version of the NecroDancer in the Bad Future, calling back to Cadence's comment about how similar he was to the NecroDancer of her world, Octavian.
- Rewarding Vandalism:
- Like in some mainline Zelda games, pots, bushes, and the like might have Rupees or hearts inside them.
- As in NecroDancer, you can blow up or (with the Glass Shovel) dig the golden walls of shops to collect them, which the shopkeeper is fine with.
- Destroying the shovel racks and book piles rewards the player with shovels and scrolls respectively.
- Running Gag: Waking up sleeping characters by playing musical Simon Says.
- Schmuck Bait: In The Very Definitely Final Dungeon, you can find an evil fairy selling enchantments. She cannot heal you, but she claims that there is a health potion waiting in the room behind her. Predictably, actually going to said room locks you in a monster house. If you talk to the fairy after clearing the room, she mocks you for falling for the trap, although she admits that you're too tough to die to a trap like that.
- Sequel Hook: Cadence is transported back home at the end of the game, but it's left ambiguous whether it actually is her home dimension or if she has been dropped off in a different world entirely.
- Sequence Breaking:
- Because all the dungeons have a small puzzle room screen between floors, it's possible to reach either the chest, the stairs leading to the second floor, or both;
- The Iron Boots or the Cane of Somaria can be used to navigate the Frozen Grotto's Frictionless Ice, leading to the stairs.
- In the Temple of Storms, Link and Cadence can use the Tower Shield to block the wind leading to the second staircase.
- In the Gerudo Ruins, the Goron Amulet combined with either the Flippers or Snorkel can allow you to jump into the lava on the right side of the room and swim to safety, an item, and progression in the dungeon.
- Using the stone block in the Lost Swamp's lobby, you can climb to the purple chest and the button to activate the stairs leading to the second floor. If you can get lucky with positioning a miniboss, the Roc's Feather combined with the Down Thrust will also work.
- Similarly, creative use of various items can be used to gain access to both the Frozen Grotto and Death Mountain in not-quite-intended ways.
- The intended strategy to get into the Frozen Grotto is by getting the Flippers. However, if you have the Ice Rod, you can freeze the water and cross your new homemade bridge. If the nearby Ice Wizzrobe spawns in the right spot, he can also make a bridge. A few rocks in the top-right area can be pushed to make a stone path. Or, if you happen to stumble across a pair of Hover Boots, you can just walk in the air to reach the island, or use the Boots of Leaping to jump to it.
- The Down Thrust is one of the main ways to access Death Mountain, by bouncing off of Zols. Alternatively, the Cane of Somaria can just drop a block in the chasm for you to cross. If you have the Bow and Hookshot, you can latch on to a sign to pull yourself across the pit. The Hover Boots additionally can enable you to float over it, and the Boots of Leaping can let you leap over.
- While it's based on luck more than anything else, if you manage to get a map seed that puts an area with blocks below the screen that has the Temple of Storms, you're able to bypass Death Mountain entirely.
- With careful use of various unlocked items in conjunction with the Hover Boots, it's possible to barrier skip into Hyrule Castle without ever facing the four main dungeons.
- Because all the dungeons have a small puzzle room screen between floors, it's possible to reach either the chest, the stairs leading to the second floor, or both;
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: When Octavo beats his Final Boss The Necrodancer, his Future Me Scares Me, he decides to use the power of the Triforce and two of the lutes with a string of fate to prevent his past self from ever stealing said thread.
- Shield-Bearing Mook: Stalfos and Castle Guards all have shields that protect them from the front, but not the back or sides. The Mini-Boss Stalfos Knights and Darknuts also carry shields, and Dark Link can briefly pull out his shield.
- Single-Use Shield: Nayru's Ring acts as one, triggering Nayru's Love and then breaking when you get hit.
- Slapstick: Anyone can be subject to comical damage, such as an exaggerated drowning animation when going in deep water without flippers, falling into bottomless pits with a wide-eyed look, getting frozen alive, or getting their butts burned by lava.
- Status Effects: Burned (sets the character on fire and deals damage to them once after afflicted, and can be spread to others around the initial victim), frozen (encases the character in a block of ice and renders them unable to act until they break out, but they cannot be attacked while frozen), stunned (stops the character from moving for a brief moment), and poisoned (turns the character green and deals damage to them a few times afterwards). Wizzrobes are the most common cause of these on the field, and if you find any of the four elemental arrow upgrades, you can start spreading them around yourself.
- Stealth Pun: Ganon is seen playing a pipe organ in order to fight you, and Ganondorf can be found practicing in peace in the present-time. To fit with the other bosses being Zelda enemies with musical instrument augmentations, this would make him Organon.
- Super Drowning Skills: You will sink to your doom the moment you step into deep water. If you find and purchase the Snorkel, you can wade a single tile into deep water before sinking. The Flippers let you swim properly, and the Snorkel and Flippers together allow you to dive and avoid enemy attacks.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
- Many of the Zelda enemies sub in for enemy types/behaviors from NecroDancer, especially the ones that are similar in design. Zols are like Slimes (bounces between set tiles instead of pursuing the player), Bokoblins are like Skeletons (moves towards the player every other beat, raising their arms up as a signal), Puffstools are like Mushrooms (rooted in place and produces a cloud of spores on all tiles surrounding them every fourth beat), and so on.
- In Symphony of the Mask, Skull Kid acquires the Skull Mask, an ancient artifact with strange powers that turns out to be secretly sentient and is using the imp for its own gain. Where have we heard that before?
- Technicolor Fire: As of 1.1.0, Octavo uses unique purple fireballs as an attack (both as a boss and a playable character), unlike the normal orange ones used by other characters.
- Threads of Fate: The fortune tellers explain that Octavo stole the Threads of Fate from them in order to make the lute he used to take over the castle. This is directly seen in the intro cutscene to Octavo's Ode, where the threads and lute were combined with the power of the Triforce to upgrade it into the Golden Lute, a weapon powerful enough to defeat Ganon and even render The NecroDancer invincible to most attacks except to the lute itself. Combining the two versions of the Golden Lute created by Octavo's Time Travel attempt undoes the Bad Future timeline and sends him back to the point before he stole the threads. Individually, the Threads of Fate are made up of the Thread of Courage, the Thread of Wisdom, and the Thread of Power, similar to the three pieces that make up the Triforce. They also seem to help the fortune tellers see into the future, as one complains that her visions have been hazy ever since Octavo's theft, though they're still able to deliver fortunes to tell the player where to go next.
- Toggling Setpiece Puzzle:
- In the first floor of the Temple of Storms, there are fans which blow either upward or towards a side (depending on whether they're positioned in the floor or the walls), but some of them are turned on while others are turned off. The player's character of choice has to make their way around the second floor so they can get back to the first via an alternate staircase and reach a switch that swaps the states of the fans, with those currently off turning on and vice versa; doing this will allow the character to reach parts they couldn't before (as a drawback, previously-accessible areas will be now blocked due to the wind of the fans that are now turned on, at least until the Iron Boots are collected).
- In the Frozen Grotto, there's a switch that freezes the tiles of warm water but also melts the tiles of ice. Due to the effect of Super Drowning Skills present with the water as well as the effect of Frictionless Ice with the ice tiles, navigation will be greatly affected depending of the current respective states of the tiles.
- Unique Enemy: The rare Broadsword Lizalfos, which charges like a normal Lizalfos, but wields a Broadsword, allowing it to deal damage to a 3-by-1 area in front of it while charging. Only a few appear naturally, outside the Temple of Brainstorms in the Future World, and they may rarely spawn in the Gerudo Arena.
- Variable Mix:
- The music switches to a more mellow version if there are no enemies present in an area, and there's also an 8-bit version available on the pause menu.
- In the four main dungeons, the instrument the boss guards is added to the music when you reach the second dungeon room.
- Like the previous game, you know you're close to the shopkeeper when you hear him singing along with the music.
- A bit of singing is added to the title screen when you move to the file select. If you set your character to Frederick on the file settings menu, he'll begin singing along as well.
- Most bosses get this:
- Wizzroboe adds oboe to the music whenever it plays its nose oboe to summon things.
- The Bass Guitarmos Knights lose the backing guitars once the smaller knights are defeated, with a different mix for each knight lost.
- When fighting Octavo, the currently active instrument is added to the song.
- When Ganon plays the organ to summon things, the organ is added to the song.
- The Necrodancer speeds up his music after getting hurt or by "casting" haste.
- Synthrova plays a lot with this, using various tracks during the fight:
- The first is a baseline track. It plays in stereo and throughout the whole fight.
- The second is a more melodic track that jumps between playing through the left and right speaker (more noticeable with headphones). It plays alongside the baseline at the start of the battle.
- Said melodic track turns glitchy and corrupted when either side of Synthrova is broken, with differing variations depending on the broken side.
- Additionally, Synthrova regularly speeds up and slows down the tempo of the music, sometimes in quick outbursts.
- Whenever King Dobongo reaches a corner to turn, the track will abruptly play a quick-paced 7 beats jingle, to catch players off guard.
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment:
- The ever-persistent Cuccos are back. They don't count as enemies and can be seen in towns, but if you attack a Cucco for three hearts of damage, it will fly off and the player will subsequently be attacked by a swarm of Cuccos that persists until the player leaves the current screen. The punishment is harsher with the much more sensitive blue cucco, which can only take one heart of damage before summoning its flock for vengeance.
- As in the previous game, a hostile Shopkeeper is probably the hardest opponent in the game, dealing 10 damage per attack, moving every beat, moving diagonally, and even throwing bombs (an ability previously exclusive to Secret Shopkeepers). They can also have a ridiculous amount of health (red Shopkeepers have 20, but purple Shopkeepers have 10 and blue Shopkeepers have 8). New in this game, the Shopkeeper can also shoot arrows with unlimited range, making him even more dangerous. The only way to make the Shopkeeper hostile is if you attack him first (or use a Coupon on him, proving that you've killed another Shopkeeper).
- Visual Pun: Octavo has an attack where he summons holographic weapons that can't harm one of either Link or Zelda, with the locations they'll strike being indicated by musical notation icons on the floor. For Link, he summons hammers, whose icons are a "flat" sign. For Zelda, he summons swords, whose icons are a "sharp" sign.
- The Walls Are Closing In: Occurs during the fight with the NecroDancer, where the walls start closing in on Octavo and will eventually crush him if he fails to reach the safe zone in time. Once Octavo pushes him out of the way, the walls end up closing in on the NecroDancer instead.
- Warp Whistle: Playing the Lute lets you warp to any active Sheikah Stone on the overworld. The lute is found by entering the first cave adjacent to a dungeon, but Octavo can use the Golden Lute he starts with for the same purpose.
- Where It All Began: Choosing Zelda as your first character in a playthrough will start you in Hyrule Castle where the final dungeon is located. This doesn't apply to anyone else, since they all start elsewhere.
