Boss Design Review | Gohdan from LoZ: WindWaker (Spoilers)

I have recently been watching my fiancée play through The Legend of Zelda: The WindWaker on the Wii U; a game I have played through the GameCube version several times and loved. Today she tackled the Tower of the Gods, and the accompanying boss encountered, Gohdan. Now, Gohdan isn't going to get the Boss of the Year award, but it does have very cohesive mechanics and theme, which I personally find fascinating.

Image source: zelda.wikia.com

Mechanics & Theme:

Gohdan is a mechanical implement stationed to test the worthiness of any challenger for the power of the Master Sword. It's not some foul beast the hero needs to slay. Gohdan isn't programmed to murder, it doesn't need to be destroyed. It is a test!

Mechanically, it does very little damage, and requires the use of some of the techniques learned from its dungeon. Chiefly among these being shooting moving targets with arrows, and throwing bombs into mouths to destroy enemies (such as the Armos Knights enemies). Once again, the test theme comes up.

The fight itself is shoot arrows at the eyes on the hands to deactivate them, shoot arrows into the eyes on the head to deactivate it, then place a bomb into the head's mouth. Rinse repeat. This seems simple enough, but the complexity lies in dodging the multitude of attacks, hitting the targets as they move, and deactivating the hands within a specific window of time, or they will become active again. Gohdan doesn't require the player to overpower it, it requires the player to have the skill and the timing to execute on what they learned. 

Image source: www.zeldadungeon.net

My favorite part of this fight is what happens when you run out of Arrows or Bombs. Most boss fights have jars laying around the exterior of the room to allow refills. Not this fight. Gohdan sneezes out some ammo for you when you run out! How nice! Unfortunately for the player, it will also reactivate one of its hands every time you run out of ammo. This will push the player to make good, accurate use of the 10 arrows presented to the player, before you run out again. This helps emphasize that this machine isn't trying to kill you. It is simply providing you with the opportunity to prove yourself.

To wrap everything up, when you defeat Gohdan, it does not explore. It does not fall apart. Gohdan simply returns to the fixtures in the wall from which it came. You passed the test, and it has completed its programming.

Image source: www.zeldadungeon.net

End Note:

As I stated earlier, Gohdan isn't going to win Boss of the Year. Never-the-less, this fight has still stuck out as one of my favorites in WindWaker for these many years, and now I know why. It just goes to show that cohesiveness of the mechanics and theme can help make an immersive and memorable experience. That is something that I strive to emulate in my own work: Cohesiveness, and creating a memorable experience.