Video Game / Isle of Rebirth

Isle of Rebirth is a Zelda Classic quest made by Evan20000. Zelda is kidnapped by a dragon and taken to the isle of Remdra, which is ruled by a clan of Wizzrobes. Link heads to the isle to rescue her, but, upon his arrival, loses the Triforce of Courage without any apparent explanation. At first, this appears to be part of yet another plot to revive Ganon, but Link soon uncovers something far more sinister...

The quest is known for its difficulty, including a Superboss widely recognized in its time as the most brutal ever made in Zelda Classic. To compensate for this, it lets you choose between two difficulty levels at the start, and allows you to reduce the difficulty further with repeated deaths. Download it here.

---

This game provides examples of:

• 100% Completion: Unlocking the quest's "ultimate prize" (the password to open the quest in the ZQuest editor) requires beating the Final Boss on Hero mode while possessing the reward from at least one Superboss, which, in turn, requires collecting all of something - though you do have a choice as to what. Tartaros cannot be reached without all Cursed Skulls, and fighting Sasic requires clearing the Hall of Memories and obtaining all Heart Containers and Pieces.
• Achilles' Heel: As usual for Zelda games, most bosses have at least one of these. However, the usual format is subverted in that bosses aren't always weak to their respective dungeon items:
  • Crabalt takes massive damage from the Candle, although you can only use it once.
  • The Murky Palace and Undersea City dungeon items have no offensive uses. Instead, Moldorm Prime and Mothula are weak to Bombs and the Candle, respectively.
  • The Hammer is one of only two weapons capable of harming Corgoro, but Bombs are more effective.
  • The Lens of Truth reveals Scourge's weak point, but its true Achilles' Heel is the Portal Sphere, which can defeat it in one hit.
  • The Hookshot is required to dodge Frostknuckle's attacks, but it has all the same immunities and weaknesses as Corgoro until its shield is broken.
  • Medusa is invincible unless hit by light from either the Mirror Shield or the Portal Sphere. Lumen and Sasic also use dark magic buffs that can only be dispelled with the latter.
  • The Gale Boomerang does no damage to mechanical enemies - including Meta Arrghus - but causes them to short-circuit and severely decreases their speed.
• A.I. Breaker: Tartaros takes note of which attacks the player has trouble dodging, and then uses those attacks more often. A somewhat common strategy is to start the fight by deliberately getting hit by attacks the player finds easier to dodge, tricking Tartaros into making his attack pattern easier to handle long enough to defeat him.
• All There in the Manual: The quest itself provides no suggestion that an endgame Superboss other than Tartaros even exists, let alone how to find it. Fortunately, the quest page mentions that you can fight it (Sasic) by returning to the Hall of Memories with all 30 Heart Containers.
• Ascended Glitch: As with most other Zelda Classic quests featuring the Hookshot, Link is invulnerable while using it. Taking advantage of this is necessary to dodge the attacks of many mid- and late-game bosses, especially Frostknuckle - these bosses are fought in rooms with several Hookshot targets on the walls. It can even be used to dodge Venser Reborn's full-screen attack... although your timing has to be perfect, and he will then fire a single shot specifically timed to hit Link when the Hookshot is fully retracted.
• Attack the Tail: Subverted by Moldorm Prime. Like other Moldorm bosses, its tail is the only part of its body vulnerable to the sword, but it takes much more damage from bombs - to which no part of it is immune.
• Beat the Curse Out of Him: Double-subverted. Typically, defeating possessed or brainwashed characters in the Zelda universe returns them to their normal selves rather than killing them, but Lumen appears to die at the Prismatic Gate like any other boss. She's later revealed to have survived, and fights Link again as the boss of the Starlit Temple.
• Belly Mouth: Tartaros has a relatively small one that spews hellfire for some attacks.
• Big Bad: Ganon is initially believed to be this, but he's killed by the real one, a dead false god named Venser, before he even appears on-screen.
• Bonus Dungeon:
  • The Jungle Crypt is a minor case of this, unlocked by completing this quest's Chain of Deals. Defeating its boss, Krampus, grants you a Cursed Skull and a cryptic explanation of their purpose.
  • The larger and more difficult Blighted Abyss, home to one Superboss of two in this quest, is unlocked by collecting every Cursed Skull.

• Boss Rush: All enemies but the last in the Hall of Memories are upgraded versions of the dungeon bosses minus Venser and Lumen.
• Brainwashed and Crazy:
  • Lumen is either this or a victim of Demonic Possession, courtesy of Venser either way - the other angels believe she's the latter, but she acts more like the former throughout her appearances.
  • Corgoro is also heavily implied to be this by the Gorons' dialogue, which suggests he was a respected leader before recently becoming violent.
• Brutal Bonus Level: The Blighted Abyss. See Bonus Dungeon above.

• Bullfight Boss: Crabalt's only attack is to rush you like a hyper-speed Leever, leaving behind a trail of flames when low on HP.
• The Cameo: Krampus from The Binding of Isaac appears as the boss of the Jungle Crypt.
• Captain Ersatz: Tartaros is more or less a Zelda version of Satan from The Binding of Isaac with more attacks, a new phase, and lore with strong parallels to that of the biblical Lucifer. Evan makes no attempt to hide this, often referring to Tartaros as "Stan" elsewhere. Umbral Cloud both deepens and subverts this; he's a fallen elemental spirit who betrayed the others and aims to smother the world in darkness, but, as the True Final Boss of that quest, he's much more original.
• Casting a Shadow: Scourge and Sasic both use this type of magic against Link, the former offensively and the latter for healing. Lumen also harnesses it in the Starlit Temple to boost her stats. All three cases can be countered with the Portal Sphere.
• Chain of Deals: The quest contains a trading sequence much like those in the official games. This one ultimately grants you access to the Jungle Crypt.
• Cognizant Limbs: Subverted by Venser Reborn. Attacking his hands when they're open appears to damage them separately, but they actually share his head's HP. However, while hitting one hand triggers the head's Mercy Invincibility, it doesn't do so for the other hand, rendering him vulnerable to weapons that easily hit multiple targets (such as Powder Kegs).
• Death Mountain: The Gorons' home in Remdra is essentially identical to its counterpart in Hyrule, which is the Trope Namer.
• Decapitated Army: In any room including a Bat and several Keese, killing the Bat will also kill all other enemies in the room.

• Deus ex Machina: Literally - the goddesses themselves intervene to seal Venser inside the Prismatic Gate, preventing his rebirth and saving the world.

• Disc-One Nuke:
  • Powder Kegs. They're expensive, but it's fairly easy to grind for Rupees in any room containing a lot of bottles. Word of God is that they were meant to be used to "skip" any bosses a player finds too frustrating to defeat by other means.
  • Venser's Cane is one for the first half of the final stretch of the quest. That said, if you're good enough to get it, you probably don't need it.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Venser appears in person once before a cutscene several dungeons later strongly hints at his true nature. Up to that point, he's barely mentioned even by the residents of Remdra.
• Dracolich: After Gleeok is defeated in the usual fight, it continues to fight as a skeleton.

• Early-Bird Boss: Crabalt is difficult to defeat without taking advantage of certain battle techniques, primarily attacking to put enemies into Mercy Invincibility and prevent them from dealing collision damage.
• Eldritch Abomination: Venser is essentially a dead Great Old One seeking to reincarnate himself in the mortal plane. He returns to his true form - a mass of eyes, teeth, and tentacles orbited by two spiked Floating Limbs - during his final battle with Link.

• Eyes Do Not Belong There:
  • The mouth on Tartaros' chest appears to become an eye when he takes damage. He also has eyes on his hands.
  • Scourge has one on its back as a weak point.
• Fallen Angel: This is Lumen's boss subtitle, but she doesn't really fit on account of being controlled by Venser. Tartaros, however, does, being not only a Captain Ersatz of The Binding of Isaac's version of Satan, but also (per Umbral Cloud) a Satanic Archetype god of darkness.

• Final Boss Preview: The first part of the final boss fight is just the Hopeless Boss Fight with Venser mentioned below, but in a larger room and with a few more attacks instead of Mook summoning.

• Hero of Another Story: Sasic — the protagonist of Evan's other quest, Umbral Cloud — makes an appearance here. He's a Superboss. Defeating him convinces him that you would be a "worthy successor" should he fail at his own mission. Umbral Cloud, which is this quest's prequel, reveals that said mission is to kill Tartaros, but doing so yourself beforehand doesn't affect his dialogue.
• Hijacked by Ganon: Inverted. When you arrive to fight the revived Ganon, he's already dead, and Venser has taken his piece of the Triforce.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: Venser in the Prismatic Gate. Defeating him there is possible, but neither easy nor causes him to drop his cane before presumably attempting to One-Hit Kill Link.

• Infinity +1 Sword:
  • Venser's Cane. By far the most powerful weapon in the game, but can only be obtained by winning the aforementioned Hopeless Boss Fight with its owner.
  • The Bloody Staff, the Blighted Abyss' dungeon item, is a slightly inferior version. It's somewhat easier to obtain, but accessing the Blighted Abyss requires reaching the final boss with all 20 Cursed Skulls.
• King Mook: Crabalt, Moldorm Prime, Mothula, and the Golden Beasts are this to Sand Crabs, Moldorms, Moths, and multiple common enemy types, respectively. Venser is a subversion - he's the leader of the Wizzrobes, and he summons them during his first two fights, but he's actually an unrelated Eldritch Abomination.

• Lovecraft Lite: This quest is the closest thing to a Cosmic Horror Story that fits the Zelda universe, given its plot of Venser being an Eldritch Abomination seeking his own rebirth, which would be disastrous for Hyrule's very laws of physics, but is still Lite due to Link defeating Venser in the end.
• Mercy Mode: Dying enough times gives you the option to switch to an easier difficulty setting. However, you can't switch back, and going below Normal locks you out of both Superboss fights.

• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: One Wizzrobe in Castle Remdra gives Link tips on how to defeat Venser in protest of being overworked and underappreciated.
• Mordor: The Blighted Abyss is aesthetically somewhere between this and Planet Heck, reminiscent of Sheol. Umbral Cloud suggests the former in terms of lore, as its boss, Tartaros, is an evil god of darkness seeking to deprive the world of sunlight, though he's strikingly similar to The Binding of Isaac's Satan in appearance and combat in this quest.
• The Namesake: The "Isle" part is clear enough, but the significance of "Rebirth" isn't revealed until Zelda tells Link that Venser is a dead false god seeking to use the Triforce to be reborn. He succeeds... however briefly.
• No Item Use for You: Using a potion or Nayru's Love against Sasic will cause him to activate his healing field and dodge all of Link's attacks for several seconds.
• No Name Given: One Superboss is not given a name, instead being referred to as "???". Umbral Cloud reveals it to be Sasic.
• Noob Cave: The first dungeon, the Seaside Ruins, which serves as not only this but also a wake-up call for the quest's difficulty. Defeating its boss, Crabalt, all but requires an understanding of enemy knockback and Mercy Invincibility, the latter of which is explained in text beforehand.
• No Ontological Inertia: Averted. Glim City remains overrun by the undead even after Scourge is defeated.
• Not Always Evil: Unlike their Hyrule counterparts, the Wizzrobes of Remdra are benevolent. Even the ones who attack Link are heavily implied to be Punch-Clock Villains... except Venser himself, who is the Big Bad.
• Oculothorax: Meta Arrghus, true to its name, is essentially a mechanical version of the Arrghus from the official series.
• One-Hit Kill:
  • Scourge, a main dungeon boss, can be killed with a single Portal Sphere shot to its back - though this is only useful in the Hall of Memories, as the Sphere isn't obtained until well after Scourge's dungeon.
  • Venser Reborn has a charged spacetime-warping attack that hits the entire screen and (in Hero Mode, at least) will kill Link in one hit regardless of equipment or hearts. Thankfully, it can be canceled by hitting him with a sword slash or two sword beams.
• Optional Boss: Krampus, Greatblin, Pumpking, Moosh, and the Golden Beasts all appear only in optional areas, though the rewards from all save Krampus and Moosh^note who instead serve as warm-ups to Tartaros and Sasic, respectively are very useful.
• Physical God: Overlapping with Eldritch Abomination above.
• Powers via Possession: Exploited by Lumen during a rematch in the Starlit Temple, in which she's still able to tap into some of Venser's power even while free from his control.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Every single Wizzrobe in the Magus Tower and Prismatic Gate. None of them know anything about Venser other than that he recently showed up out of nowhere and became their leader.
• Recurring Boss:
  • Venser is the Level 7 boss, a Hopeless Boss Fight, and the Final Boss.
  • Lumen is the boss of Levels 9 and 12.
• Reused Character Design: Venser looks like a white-robed version of the Old Man from the Oracle games holding a Cane of Byrna. This fits, as he gives Link a sword at the start of the quest. It only adds to the shock of realizing he's evil.
• Rubber-Band A.I.: The Final Boss, Venser Reborn, attacks more frequently if you're carrying at least one Superboss reward (from defeating Tartaros or Sasic).
• Satanic Archetype: Tartaros. Captain Ersatz status aside, he's a fallen elemental spirit whose goal is to literally smother the world in darkness.
• Schizophrenic Difficulty: The first dungeon is one of the hardest, mostly due to how few Heart Containers are available that early, and the quest tends to spike in difficulty the moment an optional upgrade becomes available, only for said upgrade to make it significantly easier.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Tartaros, the Satan-like Superboss, was sealed in the Blighted Abyss by the angels long ago. Bringing all 20 Cursed Skulls to the entrance lifts the seal. Umbral Cloud goes into more depth on Tartaros' nature as an embodiment of Dark Is Evil bent on permanently blotting out the sun.
• Sequential Boss:
  • Gleeok's skeleton reanimates and continues to fight after its death.
  • The Blighted Abyss' boss fight begins with a rematch against Krampus, followed by sequential fights against Tartaros' egg and hatched forms.
  • The final fight with Venser begins much as the first one did, but then he returns to his Eldritch Abomination true form and the fight continues.

• Superboss: Tartaros and ??? (Sasic), as mentioned in 100% Completion above.
• Turns Red: Most bosses do this twice, but a few examples stand out:
  • Corgoro sprouts flaming tentacles.
  • Frostknuckle changes much of its attack pattern once its shield is broken.
  • Gleeok's heads pop off and attack you independently, as usual for Zelda Classic. This also applies to its undead form.
  • Meta Arrghus gradually becomes faster as its smaller eyes are defeated, but, once all of them are gone, it suddenly starts chasing Link at high speed and spewing fire in all directions.
  • Sasic has three distinct sets of attacks, and will activate his healing field when switching between them.
  • The Stone Hinox-like enemies in the Blighted Abyss have detachable heads. Upon taking enough damage, the head and body will separate, and the body will continue to chase you while the head shoots from afar.
  • That thing that looks like a Wind Fish egg covered in eyes? That's not Tartaros. That's his cocoon.
• Under the Sea: The Undersea City is... well, an undersea dungeon.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The Prismatic Gate manages to be both this and the Disc-One Final Dungeon, being a monochrome dungeon surrounding the dimensional portal central to Venser's rebirth plan. You enter the portal for the final battle.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Moldorm Prime is a rude awakening to anyone who thinks they can get by without liberal use of ammo-based weaponry.
• Wave-Motion Gun: Krampus uses three distinct variations of his signature Brimstone blood-laser attack from The Binding of Isaac. The heads of the golems in the Blighted Abyss can use a more basic Brimstone attack as well.
• Weaponized Offspring: Mothula, a giant moth boss, frequently spawns swarms of smaller moths to stop you from getting close to it.

• Wowing Cthulhu: If you defeat Venser in the Prismatic Gate, he remarks that Link standing his ground against him with just one Triforce piece while he has two truly marks him as the hero of legend.

---