Phantom Hourglass - video guide

Side quests

Before you head on to the Isle of Frost, spend some time collecting treasures from the ocean floor and redeeming your spirit gems. Odds are you have enough to enhance your Power stat and are close to Wisdom and Courage as well. The Southeastern Sea hides two points of interest, a DS shaped island and the Harrow Island, both of which are optional. The former has a couple of gems and the latter is a place to make some easy money.

More importantly, you need to hit up the rock wall in the Nortwestern Sea. By now you've probably heard of something lurking near the westernmost wall - check it out and you'll find a dock. The island, which is totally uncharted, has no map. You have to draw it yourself and find four Boing-oing rocks hidden around the island - hit them in the correct order and you'll gain access to a very special cave. What order should you hit them in? Well, the island looks like a whale. The puzzle wants you to hit the rocks according to the whale's anatomy. First is the tail, then the spout, then the flipper and finally the eye. Also, one square directly below the eye hides another treasure chart.

If you've been buying items from the traveling merchant, you may be able to buy a new heart container from the masked merchant. By all means, do.

Isle of Frost

Head back to the Southeastern Sea. The upper right corner contains an island surrounded by ice. Simply strafe it and blast the ice away. Once on land you'll become embroiled in a civil war between the cute Anouki and the monstrous Yook. One of the Yook has infiltrated the Anouki village and they want you to sniff him out. To do so, you'll have to perform a little investigation to see which Anuoki is really a Yook in disguise. There are six homes, each with one Anouki. Each one has something to say about the others, whether they lie or not. We could run through the list and tell you how to figure it out, but we'll just say it's Aroo. You'll still have to run through the motions before Aroo will admit anything, but that's how it goes.

Ice Temple

The first floor has you re-using the old bombchu puzzle from the last dungeon. Send it through to unlock the red blocks in your way. Up on 3F, stand on the pillar to shoot the ice-melting switch. Now you'll have a switch puzzle to contend with, but all you need to know is this - 1 4 3 2. That's the order you pull the switches. Doing so will open a door to a higher area on 3F. There's also a red potion in a chest here.

The first switch lies in the lower left hand corner. Toss a bomb to lower the blue blocks. Grab the Wisdom Gem right next to this spot and proceed to the center platform with a stone tablet on it. Hit the purple switches in the order it tells you and you'll get a key.

Behind the locked door is a short battle and, at long last, the grappling hook. Now you can zip from post to post to torch base. It also pulls the masks off the pesky bugs that have infested this dungeon. For now, use it to yank the middle tongue into place, which melts nearby ice. Back at the dungeon's entrance, pull the remaining two tongues to melt another section of ice. You'd think your fire sword could melt said ice, but no.

The next point of interest is down on B1. Make your way across the first gap, bomb two holes out of the wall and enter the larger room. Make a tightrope across the gap to the left near the ice wall and eye. Use the boomerang while standing on the tightrope to hit all four switches, then arrow the eye to melt more ice. Now tightrope across the other gap to the right, near two torches. Lasso the switch, then head up to find another tongue. Pull it from far away, but keep holding down the hook to pull the tongue out more. Run back down to the bottom and grab the key. Head back up with the key to get a Wisdom Gem and to click the switch so red blocks fall.

Back near the B1 entrance is a tongue. Pull it out really far so you have enough time to exit through the northern door and down to B2. There you'll learn that you can use the tightropes as slingshots. Make one near the top of the map to hurl Link across a gap. Spin-attack the four switches, slingshot again in between two torches and you'll soon find yourself looking at two eye switches that shut when you look at them. Make a tightrope, stand in front of (with your back to the eyes) and fire two arrows into the rope. For whatever reason, they'll ricochet into the eyes and reward you with a key.

After an easy miniboss (another Yook) you'll come to a switch in the lower right hand portion of the map. Stand on top of the lowest peg to tag the next highest, and so on. Continue down the narrow ice path and you'll find a switch that melts the Boss Key ice. Then you'll see this:

This is one of our favorite battles. One head is fire, the other ice. Make 45 degree tightropes so the fire blast will bounce into the ice head and vice versa. The other head will snap at you, so beware. After you break their masks, the dragon heads will start snapping at you one by one. If they sink below the water, hop on the peg and let the wave pass by. When you see their tongue stick out, connect it to the peg with your hook. This will pull their head into the peg and briefly stun them. Slash away and collect the Azurine.

Before leaving the island, explore the area with your grappling hook. You'll find a ton of rupees plus Power and Wisdom gems. Talk to the townsfolk to get clues about more treasure, including a rather large collection of rupees right there in town.

Before you head on to the Isle of Frost, spend some time collecting treasures from the ocean floor and redeeming your spirit gems. Odds are you have enough to enhance your Power stat and are close to Wisdom and Courage as well. The Southeastern Sea hides two points of interest, a DS shaped island and the Harrow Island, both of which are optional. The former has a couple of gems and the latter is a place to make some easy money.

More importantly, you need to hit up the rock wall in the Nortwestern Sea. By now you've probably heard of something lurking near the westernmost wall - check it out and you'll find a dock. The island, which is totally uncharted, has no map. You have to draw it yourself and find four Boing-oing rocks hidden around the island - hit them in the correct order and you'll gain access to a very special cave. What order should you hit them in? Well, the island looks like a whale. The puzzle wants you to hit the rocks according to the whale's anatomy. First is the tail, then the spout, then the flipper and finally the eye. Also, one square directly below the eye hides another treasure chart.

If you've been buying items from the traveling merchant, you may be able to buy a new heart container from the masked merchant. By all means, do.

Isle of Frost

Head back to the Southeastern Sea. The upper right corner contains an island surrounded by ice. Simply strafe it and blast the ice away. Once on land you'll become embroiled in a civil war between the cute Anouki and the monstrous Yook. One of the Yook has infiltrated the Anouki village and they want you to sniff him out. To do so, you'll have to perform a little investigation to see which Anuoki is really a Yook in disguise. There are six homes, each with one Anouki. Each one has something to say about the others, whether they lie or not. We could run through the list and tell you how to figure it out, but we'll just say it's Aroo. You'll still have to run through the motions before Aroo will admit anything, but that's how it goes.

Ice Temple

The first floor has you re-using the old bombchu puzzle from the last dungeon. Send it through to unlock the red blocks in your way. Up on 3F, stand on the pillar to shoot the ice-melting switch. Now you'll have a switch puzzle to contend with, but all you need to know is this - 1 4 3 2. That's the order you pull the switches. Doing so will open a door to a higher area on 3F. There's also a red potion in a chest here.

The first switch lies in the lower left hand corner. Toss a bomb to lower the blue blocks. Grab the Wisdom Gem right next to this spot and proceed to the center platform with a stone tablet on it. Hit the purple switches in the order it tells you and you'll get a key.

Behind the locked door is a short battle and, at long last, the grappling hook. Now you can zip from post to post to torch base. It also pulls the masks off the pesky bugs that have infested this dungeon. For now, use it to yank the middle tongue into place, which melts nearby ice. Back at the dungeon's entrance, pull the remaining two tongues to melt another section of ice. You'd think your fire sword could melt said ice, but no.

The next point of interest is down on B1. Make your way across the first gap, bomb two holes out of the wall and enter the larger room. Make a tightrope across the gap to the left near the ice wall and eye. Use the boomerang while standing on the tightrope to hit all four switches, then arrow the eye to melt more ice. Now tightrope across the other gap to the right, near two torches. Lasso the switch, then head up to find another tongue. Pull it from far away, but keep holding down the hook to pull the tongue out more. Run back down to the bottom and grab the key. Head back up with the key to get a Wisdom Gem and to click the switch so red blocks fall.

Back near the B1 entrance is a tongue. Pull it out really far so you have enough time to exit through the northern door and down to B2. There you'll learn that you can use the tightropes as slingshots. Make one near the top of the map to hurl Link across a gap. Spin-attack the four switches, slingshot again in between two torches and you'll soon find yourself looking at two eye switches that shut when you look at them. Make a tightrope, stand in front of (with your back to the eyes) and fire two arrows into the rope. For whatever reason, they'll ricochet into the eyes and reward you with a key.

After an easy miniboss (another Yook) you'll come to a switch in the lower right hand portion of the map. Stand on top of the lowest peg to tag the next highest, and so on. Continue down the narrow ice path and you'll find a switch that melts the Boss Key ice. Then you'll see this:

This is one of our favorite battles. One head is fire, the other ice. Make 45 degree tightropes so the fire blast will bounce into the ice head and vice versa. The other head will snap at you, so beware. After you break their masks, the dragon heads will start snapping at you one by one. If they sink below the water, hop on the peg and let the wave pass by. When you see their tongue stick out, connect it to the peg with your hook. This will pull their head into the peg and briefly stun them. Slash away and collect the Azurine.

Before leaving the island, explore the area with your grappling hook. You'll find a ton of rupees plus Power and Wisdom gems. Talk to the townsfolk to get clues about more treasure, including a rather large collection of rupees right there in town.