Boulder

Boulder
	; Artwork of a rock from The Legend of Zelda
First appearance	The Legend of Zelda
Latest appearance	The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Nintendo Switch)
Comparable
	Ball; Lava bomb; Snowball

Not to be confused with Rock.

Boulders, formerly known simply as rocks, are large, heavy stones that roll around due to their round shape. They are mostly encountered as an obstacle, but on occasion, they can be used to the player's advantage.

History[edit]

The Legend of Zelda series[edit]

The Legend of Zelda[edit]

In The Legend of Zelda, rocks tumble from the top of the screen at the base of Death Mountain. They are completely indestructible, and as such must be avoided. Their erratic downward bouncing is kept in later 2D games.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past[edit]

In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, boulders are larger and green, appearing on the west side of Death Mountain. Since they appear in large amounts during the ascending portion of the mountain, dodging them can be difficult.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening[edit]

In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, boulders are their original size and found on the western side of the Tal Tal Mountain Range.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time[edit]

In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, boulders now roll around, sometimes back and forth, sometimes in loops, and sometimes in a straight path. If one hits Link, it bounces back, holds still for a moment, then continues on its way. They are common dungeon obstacles, though the first one appears in a secluded part of Kokiri Forest. In the future, they roll down Death Mountain.

Additionally, stationary boulders in three types appear. Light brown ones can be destroyed with explosives or the Megaton Hammer, dark brown ones can only be destroyed with the hammer, and gray ones can only be destroyed by lifting them with the Silver Gauntlets and throwing them.

This game introduces the Gorons, a rock-based race capable of rolling into a boulder-like stance to move quickly.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask[edit]

In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, rolling boulders appear heavily in the climb up Stone Tower, though gray ones appear earlier in one segment of the Deku Shrine. The bombable boulders reappear as well, but less commonly. The dark brown stationary ones also reappear, now destroyed through Goron Link's punches.

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages[edit]

In both The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, boulders appear during boss battles, where they rain from the ceiling during the first battle against Onox in the former game and against Head Thwomp when using its purple face in the latter game, where the respective boss sometimes crashes to the ground to cause several to fall. They also appear on the Restoration Wall in the latter game, using their original behavior. In both games, they are used to represent falling rubble when one of the villains' lairs begins crumbling, being Onox's Castle, the Black Tower Turret (where they are dark blue), and the Room of Rites. Unlike most entities also in Link's Awakening, they use different sprites than in that game.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures[edit]

In The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, boulders appear in the Death Mountain area and look like the ones in A Link to the Past, but brown. They first appear in Death Mountain Foothills, where they replace bombs as Hinoxes' main weapons. Later, on the Mountain Path, stationary ones appear in caves and can be rolled. When they roll, they bump along whatever path is set before them, and if they fall into a pit, act as a bridge across it. Not all of them lead to pits, however, and as such may roll in loops and present a danger to the Links. Higher up the path, some areas give boulders their typical 2D behavior, except in order to progress they need to fall into further pits in the path. These ones, however, only stay on the pit's surface for a short amount of time before falling in all the way. Finally, the Helmaroc King drops them during his fight.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap[edit]

In The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, boulders appear on Mount Crenel, where they are roughly the same size as in A Link to the Past. They appear notably on the Crenel Wall as its primary obstacle. They also have a figurine.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass[edit]

In The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, boulders appear primarily on the Isle of Ruins and the temples within. Unlike previous fixed-camera games, they roll normally. They come out of large holes in the walls and ricochet off further walls, but will be destroyed if they run into them head-on. Some are stationary and block paths, in which case another stationary boulder can be pushed down a ramp to roll into and destroy them. This rollable type also appears in the Temple of the Ocean King, where they can be used to destroy a pair of Gold Phantoms.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks[edit]

In The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, boulders look and act like they do in Phantom Hourglass, but are much more common. They initially appear in the Ocean Temple. A special stationary boulder, larger than the others and darker colored with blue spots, appears late in the Fire Temple and contains a stone platform that can be placed on lava spurts to get across. This type of boulder also appears in Cragma's fight.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword[edit]

In The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, boulders appear in the Eldin region. Bokoblins toss them down certain steep slopes in endless amounts, but can be distracted into dropping them onto their own heads, causing them to tumble down instead. Later, during a stealth portion, they catapult several at Link if he is caught, prompting a non-standard Game Over.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds[edit]

In The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, boulders again appear in Death Mountain. They now roll around within caves, while outside, they are shot out from the top of Spectacle Rock as lava bombs. Additionally, they are sometimes stationary and can be destroyed with the hammer. In all three cases, some visibly contain large amounts of Rupees and burst into a large amount of them if destroyed.

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes[edit]

In The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, blue-tinted boulders appear alongside similar snowballs in Snowball Ravine, looking similar to the ones in A Link Between Worlds, but much larger. They are more dangerous than the snowballs since they cannot be melted with the Fire Gloves.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild[edit]

In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, boulders appear in various shapes, sizes, and materials as a very common object. In some cases, they spawn randomly on certain slopes to roll down onto Link, but other times appear perched atop hills. This kind can be pushed down to squash enemies and solve certain Korok puzzles. Others must be pushed up hills using Stasis, while metallic ones can be moved with Magnesis. Certain shrines contain boulders in varying capacities, including artificial, perfectly spherical ones. In these cases too, they are used both as an obstacle and for puzzles. Flat-shaped ones can be found outside occasionally, usually covering a Treasure Chest or rock hiding a Korok. These can usually be easily knocked away with Stasis, allowing what they hide to be obtained.

Hyrule Warriors[edit]

In Hyrule Warriors, boulders appear during the Land of Myth stage of Legend Mode. They are shot into the Allied Base by the Gorons' two Boulder Keeps, and as such are a major threat throughout that stage. Once those keeps are captured, the allied forces begin shooting them up into Goron City, destroying Darunia's rock sirloin stockpile, preventing him from healing himself further.

Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda[edit]

In Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda, boulders appear solely in the future Death Mountain, available only through DLC in the digital release and the base version of the physical release. They move down the mountain in droves to the beat, moving one diagonal space at a time. If the player character moves into a spot that will occupy a boulder the next beat according to its path, they will be hurt and the boulder will pause, even if it is on a much higher ledge. If it hits a horizontal wall or the side of the bridge, it will stop and disappear after a few moments. If all the enemies on Death Mountain are defeated, the boulders' presence will keep the beat meter going. If it is left and returned to after this, the beat meter may disappear, with the boulders instead moving in time with the player's movements.

Gallery[edit]

BS Zelda no Densetsu
BS Zelda no Densetsu
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

Names in other languages[edit]

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	岩 Iwa 岩ゴロ Iwa Goro	Rock (The Legend of Zelda) Rock roller (The Minish Cap)