Bomb

Bombs are explosive items that appear in most titles of The Legend of Zelda franchise. They first appear in The Legend of Zelda, and have appeared in every main series title except Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

Bombs are essential for Link to blow up cracked objects in his path, usually a rock or wall, so that he can progress. When Link places a bomb, it explodes after a few seconds; a bomb flashes red just before it explodes. Link can also use bombs as a weapon against enemies, and many of them get defeated instantly if they are caught within the blast radius.

Link can obtain bombs through various means; he can buy them from a store or merchant, and can sometimes find bombs by breaking a pot or slashing bushes. Some enemies drop bombs when defeated.

The Legend of Zelda
Bombs first appear in The Legend of Zelda. Here, they can be used to blow up walls on the overworld and in dungeons, and are necessary to defeat Dodongos. Gibdos occasionally visibly carry bombs.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Bombs make a second appearance in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. In this game, Link can pick up and carry bombs he has placed around. If Link does not quickly place a bomb he is carrying, it explodes on him, causing him to be damaged. There is also a Super Bomb available at a shop in the Dark World, which will follow Link around the overworld and explode if attacked. Green bombs are used by Bomb Soldiers, Hinoxes, and Bomb Slugs.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, bombs are mostly the same as in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, except Link does not get injured if he is caught within the blast radius of a bomb that he throws. Link can buy bombs from the Town Tool Shop. If he uses a bomb at the same time as an arrow, it will create a Bomb Arrow. Bombs are additionally used by the enemies Bomber and Mad Bomber, which despite their similar English names are otherwise unrelated.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Link cannot carry bombs unless he has obtained a Bomb Bag. Instead of placing bombs immediately upon using them, Link will automatically carry them while lit, meaning he has to drop or throw them to not get hurt. Due to graphical limitations, bombs only use a model when being collected from a chest or a shop, with them otherwise being shown as sprites. The game introduces Bomb Flowers, an explosive type of plant that act the same as bombs, as well as Bombchu, a mouse-shaped mobile bomb that can climb walls. Enemies do not use bombs, though as part of an Easter egg a Hylian soldier can throw one into Princess Zelda's chamber.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, bombs and the Bomb Bag can be obtained quite early in the game at the Bomb Shop in western Clock Town. Bombchu and Bomb Flowers return, and two new explosives, the wearable Blast Mask and powerful Powder Keg are introduced. The Real Bombchu enemy has a bomb on the end of its tail.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages
In The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, Bombs retain their appearance from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, but are used in a that is more similar to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time because Link starts carrying them when used, so they need to be thrown.

In The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, Link can obtain ten Bombs from a treasure chest in the Gnarled Root Dungeon. In The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, Link can trade Mystery Seeds to Queen Ambi in exchange for ten Bombs.

In both games, there are some rings that change the way in which Bombs are used; the Bombproof Ring protects Link from being damaged by bomb blasts, the Bomber's Ring allows Link to place two Bombs at once, the Blast Ring doubles the power of Link's Bombs, and the Peace Ring allows Link to hold a lit bomb without it exploding. In either game, a certain secret can be traded via a linked game to allow Link to hold even more Bombs.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, bombs appear as one of the many items available from podiums placed throughout the game, and act like they do in previous games.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Link can carry up to 30 bombs by default. The bombs at the Bomb Shop of Windfall Island are originally priced at 10,000 rupees, but after Tetra and her pirate crew raid the Bomb Shop, the shop owner lowers the price of the bombs.

Link: The Faces of Evil / Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon
In Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, three bombs can be bought from the respective shopkeeper for twenty Rubies. Link and Zelda can hold up to 99 bombs. They are used to destroy obstacles like boulders and skull-topped barriers, and can also blow up nearby enemies. If a bomb hits a boulder or an enemy, it will explode instantly, and if it hits a wall, skull-topped barrier, or Darknut shield, it will bounce off of it. The bomb's explosions cannot harm Link or Zelda.

In Link: The Faces of Evil, the Gleeok, Dodongos, and Glutko can only be defeated with bombs.

The Legend of Zelda

 * Wii U Virtual Console manual bio: "Damages enemies and blasts holes in walls."