Gohma

Gohmas are a recurring species of giant arthropods with one large eye, which is their weak spot. Generally, they have a mixture of traits from spiders and crabs, and are sometimes generically referenced as either. They often appear as bosses or mid-bosses.

The Legend of Zelda
Gohmas first appear in The Legend of Zelda, appearing in both orange and blue. As such, they are the only boss in the game to have multiple color variations. Both types scuttle left and right across the room, occasionally opening their closed eye and firing projectiles. The orange ones can be defeated by hitting their eye with a single arrow while it is open. The blue version, however, takes three. An orange Gohma is the boss of the sixth labyrinth in the first quest, Dragon. Later, one appears as a minor encounter in the eighth labyrinth, Lion. In the Second Quest, orange Gohmas have minor encounters in Level-5 and Level-7, with the blue version being the boss of Level-6.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, a pair of Gohmas acts as the mid-boss of Catfish's Maw. They both scuttle back and forth across the width of a long room, occasionally charging forward slightly before returning to their original location, along with their original attack of shooting a fireball from their eyes when they open. In this case, they become vulnerable to the Hookshot. Along with Master Stalfos, they are absent from Turtle Rock, unlike other mid-bosses. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX tints them green, while the Nintendo Switch remake colors them red.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
"It's one of the parasitic monsters inside the Deku Tree! Its eye is vulnerable when it's red!"

- Navi

A Gohma, subtitled "Parasitic Armored Arachnid" and called Queen Gohma by a Deku Scrub, is the first boss of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It is fought at the end of the first dungeon, Inside the Deku Tree. The Gohma has a more monstrous and visceral design, featuring a fleshy, nozzle-like abdomen to lay Gohma Eggs from, an eye capable of full spherical rotation, and a pair of lobster-like claws appearing from her back.

Prior to the game's events, Ganondorf put the Gohma inside the Great Deku Tree because he refused to give the Kokiri Emerald to Ganondorf. Gohma is encountered in a web-filled room at the second basement floor. At first, when Link enters the room, the Gohma is rustling around on the ceiling. When the game's camera has her in view sufficiently, Gohma notices Link, rotates her eye, and drops to the floor. In the battle, Gohma mostly attacks with her various claw-like appendages. While Gohma's eye is red, Link must shoot at it from his Fairy Slingshot to stun Gohma temporarily. While Gohma is stunned, Link can attack her eye by striking with the Kokiri Sword. In the original Nintendo 64 version, Link can deal twice the damage to Gohma by striking with a Deku Stick.

After taking enough hits, Gohma climbs to the ceiling and walks around, leaving Gohma Eggs behind. When Gohma starts laying the eggs, her eye turns red, which Link can fling at from the Fairy Slingshot again. When hit, the Gohma falls to the floor, stunned. When Link strikes Gohma's eye enough times, she gets defeated and disintegrates. Despite Link killing her, the Great Deku Tree still dies from Ganon's curse.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
A Gohma is the boss of the Dancing Dragon Dungeon. It has a large fiddler crab-like claw with which to grab Link. If it dos so, it will slam him to the ground to damage him. The claw itself can be attacked, however, and eventually destroyed. After this is done, it will start acting like most previous Gohmas in 2D games, but also be able to summon parasitic Gohma Larvae. Like in Ocarina of Time, the weapon effective against its eye is a Slingshot.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
A lava-based Gohma appears in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, looking very little like previous versions. Instead, it is more centipede-like in body structure, resembling the Magtails found in the vicinity. It is placed in Dragon Roost Cavern under where Valoo rests by Ganondorf, and it angers Valoo by hurting his tail. Once Link encounters it, it attempts to us its pincers and fiery breath to attack him, with the former sometimes getting stuck in the floor. If he attempts to attack its eye, it blocks with its lid. He must use the Grappling Hook on Valoo's dangling tail to cause the ceiling of the volcano to cave in on Gohma, which visibly damages its armor. After this process is done three times, Gohma's armor disintegrates, showing its black, spindly body. At this point, its eye can be attacked. Several sword strikes will defeat it, with its body falling apart. Its head lands near Link and explodes, revealing a Heart Container, the lava in the room cools and hardens (similar to the King Dodongo fight), and Valoo's temper returns to normal. It is later found in a monochrome repeat of the encounter in Ganon's Castle.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, Gohmas appear in multiple sizes, with the larger ones using stretched versions of the smaller type's sprites. Small Gohmas debut in the Field and cannot shoot fireballs, never close their eyes, can face all four cardinal directions, and tend to wander around randomly, stopping every few moments. Two arrows can defeat them, and aside from arrows, certain thrown objects can damage them. Defeating all of them in this location grants access to a path to the Swamp.

A large one first appears as a mid-boss in the Lost Woods, coming right after two smaller ones. The large ones use Gohmas' original attack pattern, taking three arrows to defeat. They alternate opening and closing their eyes between shooting five consecutive projectiles. After the second hit, they begin shooting three at a time, but still take five shots. One accompanied by torches is later fought as a generic enemy in the Desert Temple.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a stone-plated Gohma called Armogohma appears as a boss, with Young Gohmas and Baby Gohmas appearing as enemies. In this appearance, the crab-like traits are removed in favor of making them tarantula-like.

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes
Gohmas are absent from The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes as enemies. However, Gohma's Eyes appear as treasures.

Link: The Faces of Evil
Gohma can be found as enemies in Link: The Faces of Evil, initially appearing early in the game in Crater Cove. They spawn from thin air and sidestep to Link, attacking him with their claws when they get close enough. They can be defeated with several slashes to the eye or a single bomb. Additionally, one is fished up by a fisherman in the same area. When Link arrives, he correctly identifies the crab as a Gohma, and the fisherman rewards him with a sword that can shoot sword beams. A noticeable inconsistency is that the Gohma in the cutscene has two realistic crab eyes, while it appears with the single prominent one in the sprite.

Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon
Gohma again appear as enemies in Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, acting as they do in The Faces of Evil. One initially appears in a small cave in Ahitaru, with more appearing in the desert section after the cave.

Hyrule Warriors
Subtitled as "Arthropod Cyclops Monster," a Gohma first appears as a boss for Hyrule Warriors in Faron Woods, and makes occasional appearances in other areas. Instead of closing its eye, two of its limbs come together to form a large shield in front of its eye. It can us its other limbs as scythes in a spinning attack. Additionally, it can jump great heights before crashing down (with the spot it will fall being marked by a white light), shoot balls of green acid from its underside, and charge forward. Its eye is capable of firing laser beams. It will often shoot a laser and then sweep it sideways or upwards, after which its eye will glow blue and be vulnerable to arrows. Sometimes, it will plant its feet firmly on the ground and charge up a powerful blast. During the charging, it is vulnerable. When it is hit in the eye, it will be stunned, and can be attacked anywhere on the body, depleting its Stamina Gauge. When it is defeated, it will either drop a weapon, Gohma's Acid, or Gohma's Lens.

Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda
In Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda, a variant of Gohma called Gohmaracas appears as a boss. It resembles a stylized red and green version of the Ocarina of Time design, and fitting with the rhythm theme of the game, its claws have been replaced with maracas.