OOT4

To Dodongo's Cavern

To Walk-Through

To Coming of Age

Jabu-Jabu's Belly

Up the River
From the exit of Kakariko into Hyrule Field, follow the stream south until you reach the entrance to the Zora River (it's before the entrance to Kokiri Forest). You'll have to talk to the irritating owl again, then bomb open the boulders blocking the path. On a bit further, you'll find a chicken (you'll need it for Pieces of Heart 23 and 24). Watch out for the Octoroks and pick up the chicken to run across the river. Run south, then west. Cross over the main body of the river to the path on the far side. Keep going (you can win Pieces of Heart 21 and 22 at the log on your right, but not yet) until you cross over a bridge. You'll find a huge waterfall and a couple of paths stretching past your view. Hop down onto the one that takes you closest to the waterfall. Stand on the gray stone on the ground and play Zelda's Lullaby. The Zora king will hear the song and invite you in by thinning out the waterfall enough to allow you passage. Hop across the gap and go inside.

Zora's Domain
Zora's Domain is one of the neatest places in the game -- the music is cool, the Zoras are generally pretty friendly, and there is some stuff to do. Explore at your leisure; you'll find a store downstairs, the King's audience chamber upstairs (don't worry about running through, he doesn't mind), the diving game to the left of the chamber (where you can win the Silver Scale), and Lord Jabu-Jabu behind the King. Whenever you feel the inclination, head up to the very large king. He's quite distraught that his daughter, Ruto, has gone missing. Being the nice guy you are, you take it upon yourself to find her. Little do you know the trouble she'll cause for you, but, blissfully ignorant, you go downstairs to catch a fish in the shallow water by the shop in a bottle (you'll need it later). With your new Silver Scale, swim out into the water just by the wider entrance to the pathway and dive under the water. You'll swim down to a hole in the wall near the ground. Once you swim into it, you'll warp to Lake Hylia. Look for another bottle on the floor of Lake Hylia near where you exited. Inside is a letter from Princess Ruto (while you're here, you might want to snag Piece of Heart 29). Warp back to Zora's Domain, run upstairs and show the letter to the king. He'll take an infathomly long time to scoot over enough for you to pass by. Take the pathway on the right hand side of the room and go behind the king into Zora's Fountain. You'll find an incredibly large fish there: Jabu-Jabu. Unless you want to visit the Fairy Fountain (the scrap of land kinda behind Jabu-Jabu's left tail fin -- use a bomb on the wall where you can get Farore's Wind), head up to the platform in front of the giant fish. Dump the fish in a bottle out in front of him. Jabu-Jabu will open his mouth to suck the fish in; you get caught in the draft and follow his unfortunate supper.

Finding Ruto
The first thing to do is run forward (ignore the Octoroks -- if you just keep running straight, you'll run right past them). You'll find these strange bubbles; hit them with your sword or some other weapon to pop them. You can run into them to pop them, but it will cause you some damage. When you reach the door, you'll find this strange webbing over it -- it is essentially locked. Turn around and use C-up to go to Link's point of view. Look up and you'll see this . . . thing hanging from the ceiling (it looks kinda like a uvula; I know that's gross but it's the best comparison I can make). Shoot it with a Deku Seed to open the door. In the next room, you'll find a floating jellyfish. DO NOT hit it with your sword -- it's a fantastic conductor of electricity, but it kinda hurts Link. Until you get your Boomerang, the most effective way of defeating the jellyfish is by running past them (though they chase -- slowly -- after you), by hitting them with your Slingshot, or stunning them with a Deku Net, then hitting them with your sword (Oh my goodness, Deku Nuts actually have a minor purpose in life!!!). Don't open the crates you see yet, you'll need them later. Go through the next door by staying on the pathway. In the next room, you'll find kinda the heart of the castle, erm, fish. Standing off to your right a bit is a strange looking blue creature. Go up to it and you'll find it's Ruto. Talk to her and she'll tell you she doesn't need your help then walk off in a huff . . . into a hole. Being the *patient* gentleman you are, jump down the hole after her. Talk to her again. She'll still be pretty angry, especially now that her pride has been doubly hurt. Talk to her one more time and she'll finally give you permission to carry her around. How generous, it's not like she broke her fin during the fall or anything, and if she did, it's her own fault. Anyway, enough of my griping. Pick her up and go through the door on the wall on the platform where you landed.

Getting the Boomerang
Here's where Ruto actually is of some use: you can actually throw her like a pot or a cucco into various enemies and can weight down switches with her weight. Don't leave her in a room unattended for long, though, because she will wander back to the first place you found her. In this next room, you'll find a pool of water. You can destroy the strange bat creatures called Stingers with bombs; hop into the water (avoid the baddies), throw Ruto onto the other side, and hit the switch on the bottom. When the water rises, go to the wall on the right and climb up the vines to find Golden Skulltula 66 and a fairy. The water will recede. Step on the switch again and climb up to the side of the side where Ruto waits impatiently. Pick her up and keep going. You'll have to hit another uvula to pass through. As soon as you get into the next room, drop Ruto and bring up your shield. Kill the Octorok, pick up Ruto, wait for the platform that will eventually come down, ride it up, then go through the door on the right (where you first found Ruto). Go straight to the other side of the room (watch out for this jellyfish thing that will plop from the ceiling near the entrance to the door). This room is basically a lot of hallways; these things in the middle of the room and on the side hallways called Tailpasaran will glide out of the ground at you. Either just run past them or attack their tails -- their only vulnerable spot. I usually just evade them, since you will have to come through here so many times and it is just not worth killing them every thirty seconds. Take the right hallway and, when it branches, take the right branch. Just be careful -- the floor moves and at the end of various hallways are these strange tentacle things that hurt when you touch them. In the room, you'll find Stingers (the things you kill with bombs). Don't worry -- though the floor moves like water, it behaves like normal floor and won't hurt you. After you kill the Stingers, a treasure chest holding the Boomerang will appear.

To the Boss
Go back into the room where you met Ruto (stay on the left wall of the hallway room -- it's the first door on the left) and you'll find her waiting impatiently for you. Pick her up and return to the hallway room. This time, take the left hallway and go through the left doorway when it splits. A strange tentacle hangs from the ceiling. Z-Target it (and DO NOT TAKE IT OFF Z-TARGET!!!!) and hurl your Boomerang at it. When you hit it, it will retract into the ceiling. You'll have to lure it out by getting closer and hit it with your Boomerang as it swings back to hit you (but don't take too long because it is pretty quick and it can hit you a long way). After you hit it a total of 4 times, it will die, leaving you the Dungeon Map. Since you have destroyed this tentacle, the red tentacle at the end of the hallway by the Boomerang room will have also died, opening a path for you. Your ultimate goal is to get rid of the green tentacle that blocks the hole in the floor in the room where you found Ruto. Go back into the hallway room and take the first door to the left. You'll have 40 seconds to pop all the bubbles and your reward will be the Compass (I don't know what happens if you run out of time . . . sorry). Remember you can use Ruto as a projectile (it helps let off steam)! Pick up Ruto and return to the hallway room. Take a left, go through the center of the room and go, when the hall splits over by the Boomerang room, go left. In a word, the next-to-last doorway. In here, repeat the tentacle-killing process; there's no prize this time except another cleared hallway. Go back into the hallway room and go in the center door, the next one to your right. Kill the jellyfish with your Boomerang first (but don't get in the range of the tentacle), then kill the green tentacle. Go back into the room where you found Ruto (straight ahead of you). Go down the hole where the green tentacle used to be (the one in the northwest corner). Kill Golden Skulltulas 67 and 68, then go through the door at the end of the long hallway. So here's the most annoying part of the castle: Mini-Boss Bigocto.

Ruto will spy the Spiritual Stone of Water on the raised platform in the middle of the room; toss her up there as she requests. Step forward and the platform will suddenly rise to the ceiling. Ruto will scream and the platform will return to ground level with someone much uglier than Ruto: Bigocto. The platform (which, you will notice, is lined with spikes that take away a quarter of a heart every time you run into them -- trust me, I've had to find out the hard way) spins and you must ALWAYS run in the opposite direction of the platform. At first, you must run in the counter-clockwise direction (which is easier, at least for me, because Link is left-handed) Bigocto will run after you, but you are slightly faster so you'll eventually catch up to him. When you get close enough, Z-Target him and let your Boomerang fly. If you score a hit, he will be paralyzed for a brief moment, so run up and slash him with your sword on the green spot that appears. Repeat the process four times to defeat him. The annoying part of the battle, though, is that it will change direction haphazardly (after you hit it, if it thinks you're taking too long, or if you get too close to it). Keep on your toes and just be mindful of which way the platform is spinning.

Anyway, once Bigocto is dead, hop onto the platform and ride it up. Break open the pots for some Deku Nuts and a fairy. Kill the jellyfish and go into the next room. Don't worry about the big red things that wag back and forth just yet (just don't touch them) and kill the Octorok hiding in the back corner. Now go back onto the platform and hit the red thing with your Boomerang to pacify it for a moment. As long as it's blue / purple it's safe to stand on it. Hop onto the first one and hit the second one before it revives. Go through the door. Jump to the platform to make it lower like an elevator. Grab one of the crates on the other side of the room to weight down the switch. Go through the door that opens and kill all the jellyfish (there's one lurking in the corner) and Skulltula 69. Climb the vines on the outcropping, stand close to the see-through wall, Z-target the uvula, and hit it with your Boomerang. Go through the door that is opened for the battle with the boss.

Barinade
I used to think this guy was really difficult to beat, but that was because I wasn't using Z-Target efficiently. It is absolutely essential, in this fight, to be comfortable with Z-Targeting. The main thing, though, is that you CANNOT STOP MOVING. Barinade waltzes all over the place, has jellyfish that fly everywhere, and lightning that zaps you whenever you stand still too long. There are pots on the outskirts of the room that contain hearts and stuff, but they don't replenish and, frankly, you don't have time to mess with them. I would just rely on fairies since you won't be needing any magic power in this fight, just steel and the Boomerang. There are several stages in the fight:

1. Keep moving to avoid the lightning!!! Z-Target one of the three tentacles roping Barinade to the roof. Circling around Barinade (once again, I like counter-clockwise since Link is left-handed) and use your Boomerang to cut all three tentacles.

2. The jellyfish around Barinade turn into some sort of strange carousel and spin around him (at varying distances, but most of them are close enough to hit you even when you are far away from Barinade, itself). I like to get up under the jellyfish so I have a better shot, but you can stay outside if you like. Just don't forget to keep moving. Z-Target Barinade and use your Boomerang to stun him.

3. The jellyfish separate themselves from Barinade. Kill them with your sword or Boomerang (these apparently aren't electric, so the sword is safe). If you don't kill them all the first time, it's okay, but the will reattach themselves to Barinade and repeat step 2. Just hit him with your Boomerang to put it back to step 3. Dispatch the rest of the jellyfish.

4. Once all of them are gone, Barinade will just start spinning around the room like a madman. Follow it or avoid it and hit it with your Boomerang to stun it. Go up and slash it with your sword as many times as you can before it sinks down into the ground. When it does this, Z-Target it and run around in circles to avoid the lightning; there's nothing you can do to attack it while it's in the ground. It will eventually emerge. Repeat the Boomerang and sword attack until you have defeated Barinade.

Grab your Heart Container and step into the blue light -- surprise, Ruto is there! She'll make some moves on you, but you'll get the Stone (if you promise to marry her!). While you're here, grab Golden Skulltula 63 and 64.

Here's a list of stuff you should have gotten between Dodongo's Cavern and Jabu-Jabu's Belly:

Golden Skulltula: (42 total)
4, 17, 40-41, 47-51, 58-59, 63, 66-69

Pieces of Heart: (15 Pieces, 8.75 Heart Containers Total)
3, 25

Ocarina Songs: (5 total)

Tools, Weapons, Upgrades: (31 total)
Silver Scale, Magic Beans, Farore's Wind, Third Bottle, Giant Wallet, Din's Fire, Bombs