No more games, no more pretense — this is our list of the top 25 Zelda items of all-time. Whether they were weapons or shields or utility items, these are the panel’s selections for the coolest or most useful inventory slots in the series. We’ll be counting down one by one until we reach the #1 pick on Jan. 31.
22) Zora Tunic – 4 votes, 99 points
Shaun: I voted for Zora’s Tunic because it’s blue. No really.
Sure, the Zora Tunic allows Link to breath forever underwater, which is a power I always wanted. With this tunic in Ocarina of Time, Link can brave the depths of Lake Hylia, walk along its bottom, and endure dungeons that are entirely submerged. All these are great abilities, and make the Zora Tunic a valuable asset in Ocarina of Time.
With that said, it’s only on my list for purely aesthetic reasons. It makes Link’s classic green garb blue, and that’s enough for me. You can bet that once I got the Zora Tunic, I kept it on for the duration of the game, regardless if I was leagues under the sea or in the heart of Ganondorf’s castle.
Chris: Equipping the Zora Tunic helped alleviate the stress of underwater situations. You remember when Sonic was in good games, and he went underwater on some levels, and that frantic music started to play when he was running low on oxygen and needed to find an air bubble? That was stressful. It probably gave Shaun nightmares.
Here, I got to spend as much time as I wanted with the fishes. Between this and the Iron Boots, I could tromp around like a badass and no one could stop me — including Ganon. What was he going to do, fire a ball of energy at the lake’s surface? Drown while trying to get to me? Pfft.
I’m glad this made the list and not the Zora Armor from Twilight Princess, which tries to be as cool as this and even throws in some new swimming abilities. Unfortunately, it also leads to INSTANT DEATH SITUATIONS where you take 20 hearts of damage by falling into lava or severe cold. No thanks.
Joseph: Why not wear this for the rest of the game? The Kokiri Tunic did not have a special ability, and you were more likely to run into water than suffocating heat. It reprises its role in later games, making it much more versatile than any other tunic (especially the one that ate my rupees). I say keep it and keep upgrading it. The design itself keeps getting more intricate, why not the abilities? Swim speed, water jumping, advanced combat. I can’t be the only person who has thought of them.
Cary: Would I like to have something to say about Zora’s Tunic? Sure. Except that it was located in Ocarina of Time’s goddamnsonofabitch Water Temple. And I hated the Water Temple. Yes, I know that’s a hackneyed notion to bring up concerning one of OoT’s most infamous dungeons, but that doesn’t make it any less true. The less time I had to spend in the Water Temple, the better. Having Zora’s Tunic would have made the whole watery nightmare a hell of a lot easier, I know, but that ship sailed over a decade ago. In fact, I haven’t thought about how much I hated the Water Temple since then. And now I can’t stop thinking about it. Great. Just great.
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