loaned me her Zelda: Collector's Edition, which includes Ocarina of Time. So now that I've had it for a week or so, I recently got around to actually playing the game, and, though difficult at times, it's pretty amazing. It was a bit hard to get the hang of targeting (having been spoiled by Wind Waker's method of doing things) and the lack of camera control drove me insane for ahwile, but the sheer awesomeness more than compensates.

Anyway, I made it to the Water Temple. I don't know why they didn't design the Fire Temple more like this, a bit of lava and burning would all but complete the absolute hell it's been to get through. Seriously. Quoting a friend of mine when I told her I was completely stuck: "Everyone gets stuck at the Water Temple."

Tired of juggling confusing maps, I simply GameFAQ'd the location of the last SMALL KEY and went on my merry way.

And finally, finally, I faced off against Shadow Link.

Boooring.

Afterwards, I looked up the fight on a couple of GameFAQ guides. All of them, amusingly, stressed the difficulty I was supposed to have getting through it. "The HARDEST boss battle in the game!" gushed one, even. "I've never been able to complete the fight without at least one fairy," read another.

It was really lucky I hadn't read a guide before the battle, because I hadn't HAD any faries.

That turned out not to matter, because I didn't get hit. Not once.

When the battle started, I went in cautiously, unsure of how to handle the fight. I mean, it's Link. How the heck do you kill the Hero of Time?

When I tentatively tried to strike with the Master Sword, he simply stopped me with his shield, and this continued with all my attacks, targeted or not.

So I put the sword away, and--are you ready for this?--just whacked him with the Megaton Hammer until he dissapeared.

Stop laughing, it works! See, he can block all your sword attacks, especially if you're targeting him. He'll stop moving for a bit if you put the sword away, so I had time to pull out the Hammer and hit him. He dissapeared and reappeared behind me, but didn't do anything because I didn't do anything and wasn't holding the Master Sword. So I hit him again. And he reappeared behind me. And I hit him again.

He never put up his shield after that. Not that I gave him any time.

I wouldn't normally rant over a boss fight, especially not a mini-boss, but come on! This was the first boss that never landed a hit!Shadow Link! I thought it was going to be dramatic!