The most useless items in the Zelda series

**Valigarmander** · 11-24-2011, 12:17 PM

One of the best things about the Zelda series is playing through a difficult dungeon, finding an awesome item, and using it to beat past enemies and explore areas you couldn't before. But sometimes, the items you find just don't meet your expectations. They're not very helpful, they're quickly overshadowed by much better items, or their use is very limited. What items come to mind when you try to remember the most useless ones in the series?

First of all, there's the Slingshot, one of the most chronically-useless items in the series, mainly because it's rendered obsolete by the time you get the Bow. Typically, all the Slingshot can do is hit objects from a distance and stun enemies; the Bow can hit objects from a distance and kill enemies. The Slingshot is rendered slightly less-useless in Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons and Skyward Sword, where it can be upgraded.

There's the Boots from The Adventure of Link. These boots allow you to walk across water... on the overworld map... in certain areas. I mean, it's understandable that being able to walk around the eastern continent to skip difficult areas might make the game a little too easy, but at least the the Boots make things a little easier by allowing you to walk across shallow rivers or parts of the western continent, right? No. The only two places you can actually walk on water are the river on Maze Island, and the hidden path to the Ocean Palace.

I liked Majora's Mask, and I thought having 24 masks to collect was fun, yet one of the side-effects of having so many masks is that most of them were almost completely useless.

The All-Night Mask is only used to get two Pieces of Heart from Anju's mother.
The Circus Leader's Mask prevents Cremia's cart from being attacked by the Gorman Brothers when you're escorting her to Clock Town... however, in order to get the Circus Leader's Mask, you must have already completed that mission with Cremia. Probably the most useless mask in the game.
The Couple's Mask, which is your reward for completing the very long Kafei's quest, is only used to get you one Piece of Heart from Mayor Dotour.
Don Gero's Mask is used to get one Piece of Heart from the Frog Choir.
The Giant's Mask is pretty cool, and not all that useless, but it kind of sucks that you can only use it in one room in the entire game.
Kamaro's Mask is used to get one Piece of Heart from the Rosa Sisters, and to make Link do a stupid dance whenever you're bored.
The Keaton Mask is used to get one Peace of Heart from Keaton.
The Mask of Scents is used to detect mushrooms that can be made into potions. This mask and the Circus Leader's Mask were the only two masks I never had to wear when doing a 100% playthrough of the game.
The Postman's Hat lets you find one Piece of Heart the first time you check a mailbox wearing it, and one green rupee every time after that.

Finally, Twilight Princess had a couple items that weren't that great. The Horse Call is essentially a portable version of Horse Grass, and lets you summon Epona anywhere in the overworld. However, at the point in the game when you get the Horse Call, you can already teleport almost anywhere with Midna. Not to mention Horse Grass was never that difficult to locate in the first place. Then there's the Dominion Rod, which lets you move statues. Outside the Temple of Time it has no use besides helping you find the Sky Characters so you can travel to the City in the Sky.

That's all I can think of. What are your thoughts?

Dizzy · 11-24-2011, 12:24 PM

OoT had Ice Arrows. I'm not even sure what they do, so they can't be that important. (inb4 a more seasoned Zelda fan telling me all the cool things you can do with Ice Arrows)

**Valigarmander** · 11-24-2011, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dizzy

OoT had Ice Arrows. I'm not even sure what they do, so they can't be that important. (inb4 a more seasoned Zelda fan telling me all the cool things you can do with Ice Arrows)

You can freeze Bongo Bongo's hands with them.

Chaos Deviot · 11-24-2011, 07:49 PM

I'd say the Slingshot was only useless in Twilight Princess. You needed it OOT while you were a kid, and it was more accurate than the Boomerang. It was pretty fun in the Oracle games.

The Dominion Rod was actually cool for the sole fact of the innuendo. IMO.

Eh, they needed filler masks. I'll give you that one.

The Zelda II boots eventually became the Hover Boots. Now, if you find THOSE useless too... okay. But the ability to be Jesus in a Zelda game isn't a bad thing. Plus, most of the items in Zelda II were about as useful. Except the Cross and the Magic Key. The rest really weren't needed save the Boots. I'm trying to think: How many items were required to beat the game in general? I know you needed them to defeat the dungeon, but I mean, would be needed to beat every boss, etc.

IMO, I don't think any item beyond the Filler Masks and the Dominion Rod really felt useless. Okay, Horse Call too. Any of those one-off items were annoying, admittably.(especially if they don't get remade)

**Crazyswordsman** · 11-24-2011, 08:41 PM

Easily the Bombos Medallion in LttP. You don't use it for anything productive, everything it can do the Fire Rod does, and it kills your magic meter. -CSM

monstrman · 11-24-2011, 09:52 PM

No I never liked the magic arrows and never used them unless it was absolutely necessary. Which was pretty much just the fire and light arrows. They used too much magic...

Magic Powder from A link to the Past and Link's awakening. Oh no, the monster is transformed and does less damage! You probably could have killed it with a better item, but why would you want to? This is MAGIC POWDER. Strong stuff.

Also I never liked that the iron boots in OoT were used to GET INTO the WORST temple in the game, then had one negligible use later. "Look guys now you get to do the water temple!" "Yaaaaaay..."

They did a way better job in Windwaker and Twilight Princess with those SAME boots and actually gave them uses. F***ng magnets.

**Valigarmander** · 11-24-2011, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monstrman

Magic Powder from A link to the Past and Link's awakening. Oh no, the monster is transformed and does less damage! You probably could have killed it with a better item, but why would you want to? This is MAGIC POWDER. Strong stuff.

Magic Powder was a lifesaver in ALttP, solely for its ability to change those bastard Bubbles/Anti-Fairies into Fairies.

monstrman · 11-24-2011, 10:39 PM

huh. I never used it in any of them guess that was my loss.

the only use I ever found for it was turning those green things that you can't hit with your sword into something you CAN hit with your sword and I was like "Okay. but I could also... just go to the next screen! Aha! And you can't stop me and now are gone forever."

Yeah actually after that I never used it again.

***Cosmonautical*** · 11-24-2011, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazyswordsman

Easily the Bombos Medallion in LttP. You don't use it for anything productive, everything it can do the Fire Rod does, and it kills your magic meter. -CSM

Seriously though? It can clear a room in seconds. Probably the most effective weapon in the whole game. I don't see why it wouldn't come with a high price.

The slingshot is usually not worth owning, sadly, but in FSA it could fire in multiple directions, similar to a powerup in an overhead shooter game. Then it became very useful for that games' hoards of enemies.

***Marilink*** · 11-25-2011, 12:18 AM

The handheld Zeldas that used the slingshot used it a lot better than 3D ones. Namely the oracles.

I usually have to say the most useless Zelda item is the Mask of Scents. Like, I don't even use it for the one thing for which it's useful. (The odor coming off the boxers in the Stock Pot Inn was kinda funny though)

**Crazyswordsman** · 11-25-2011, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the Octopus

Seriously though? It can clear a room in seconds. Probably the most effective weapon in the whole game. I don't see why it wouldn't come with a high price.

Oh yeah, and it cheapens the game.

-CSM

***Marilink*** · 11-25-2011, 10:36 AM

Okay, so you're not saying that it's useless, but rather that it's too useful.

**Loot** · 11-25-2011, 11:44 AM

Which is the exact opposite of this topic.

Ether Medallion, however, was probably the least desirable item, imo. Bombos was fun, Quake was awesome.

**Valigarmander** · 11-25-2011, 11:51 AM

I never really used any of the Medallions. :|

***Marilink*** · 11-25-2011, 02:38 PM

I never really did, either, but they were pretty freakin' cool.

11-24-2011, 12:17 PM	#1
Valigarmander The Bee's Knees Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: The land of rain and trees (Oregon) Gender: Posts: 29,755 Thanks: 1,649 Thanked 5,701 Times in 2,581 Posts Blog Entries: 20	The most useless items in the Zelda series One of the best things about the Zelda series is playing through a difficult dungeon, finding an awesome item, and using it to beat past enemies and explore areas you couldn't before. But sometimes, the items you find just don't meet your expectations. They're not very helpful, they're quickly overshadowed by much better items, or their use is very limited. What items come to mind when you try to remember the most useless ones in the series? First of all, there's the Slingshot, one of the most chronically-useless items in the series, mainly because it's rendered obsolete by the time you get the Bow. Typically, all the Slingshot can do is hit objects from a distance and stun enemies; the Bow can hit objects from a distance and kill enemies. The Slingshot is rendered slightly less-useless in Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons and Skyward Sword, where it can be upgraded. There's the Boots from The Adventure of Link. These boots allow you to walk across water... on the overworld map... in certain areas. I mean, it's understandable that being able to walk around the eastern continent to skip difficult areas might make the game a little too easy, but at least the the Boots make things a little easier by allowing you to walk across shallow rivers or parts of the western continent, right? No. The only two places you can actually walk on water are the river on Maze Island, and the hidden path to the Ocean Palace. I liked Majora's Mask, and I thought having 24 masks to collect was fun, yet one of the side-effects of having so many masks is that most of them were almost completely useless. The All-Night Mask is only used to get two Pieces of Heart from Anju's mother. The Circus Leader's Mask prevents Cremia's cart from being attacked by the Gorman Brothers when you're escorting her to Clock Town... however, in order to get the Circus Leader's Mask, you must have already completed that mission with Cremia. Probably the most useless mask in the game. The Couple's Mask, which is your reward for completing the very long Kafei's quest, is only used to get you one Piece of Heart from Mayor Dotour. Don Gero's Mask is used to get one Piece of Heart from the Frog Choir. The Giant's Mask is pretty cool, and not all that useless, but it kind of sucks that you can only use it in one room in the entire game. Kamaro's Mask is used to get one Piece of Heart from the Rosa Sisters, and to make Link do a stupid dance whenever you're bored. The Keaton Mask is used to get one Peace of Heart from Keaton. The Mask of Scents is used to detect mushrooms that can be made into potions. This mask and the Circus Leader's Mask were the only two masks I never had to wear when doing a 100% playthrough of the game. The Postman's Hat lets you find one Piece of Heart the first time you check a mailbox wearing it, and one green rupee every time after that. Finally, Twilight Princess had a couple items that weren't that great. The Horse Call is essentially a portable version of Horse Grass, and lets you summon Epona anywhere in the overworld. However, at the point in the game when you get the Horse Call, you can already teleport almost anywhere with Midna. Not to mention Horse Grass was never that difficult to locate in the first place. Then there's the Dominion Rod, which lets you move statues. Outside the Temple of Time it has no use besides helping you find the Sky Characters so you can travel to the City in the Sky. That's all I can think of. What are your thoughts?

11-24-2011, 10:39 PM	#8
monstrman Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: LET'S SAAAAAVE THE WOOOORLD. Gender: Posts: 1,035 Thanks: 87 Thanked 53 Times in 42 Posts Blog Entries: 5	huh. I never used it in any of them guess that was my loss. the only use I ever found for it was turning those green things that you can't hit with your sword into something you CAN hit with your sword and I was like "Okay. but I could also... just go to the next screen! Aha! And you can't stop me and now are gone forever." Yeah actually after that I never used it again. Last edited by monstrman; 11-24-2011 at 10:39 PM. Reason: Automerged Doublepost

11-24-2011, 12:24 PM	#2
Dizzy Podiaphobe Join Date: Oct 2007 Gender: Posts: 19,359 Thanks: 1,764 Thanked 1,162 Times in 805 Posts Blog Entries: 116	OoT had Ice Arrows. I'm not even sure what they do, so they can't be that important. (inb4 a more seasoned Zelda fan telling me all the cool things you can do with Ice Arrows)

11-24-2011, 07:49 PM	#4
Chaos Deviot The Betrayer Join Date: May 2004 Location: Mt. Moon Gender: Posts: 1,813 Thanks: 171 Thanked 52 Times in 49 Posts Blog Entries: 1	I'd say the Slingshot was only useless in Twilight Princess. You needed it OOT while you were a kid, and it was more accurate than the Boomerang. It was pretty fun in the Oracle games. The Dominion Rod was actually cool for the sole fact of the innuendo. IMO. Eh, they needed filler masks. I'll give you that one. The Zelda II boots eventually became the Hover Boots. Now, if you find THOSE useless too... okay. But the ability to be Jesus in a Zelda game isn't a bad thing. Plus, most of the items in Zelda II were about as useful. Except the Cross and the Magic Key. The rest really weren't needed save the Boots. I'm trying to think: How many items were required to beat the game in general? I know you needed them to defeat the dungeon, but I mean, would be needed to beat every boss, etc. IMO, I don't think any item beyond the Filler Masks and the Dominion Rod really felt useless. Okay, Horse Call too. Any of those one-off items were annoying, admittably.(especially if they don't get remade)

11-24-2011, 08:41 PM	#5
Crazyswordsman This key doesn't work. Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Booyaville (yeah!) Gender: Posts: 10,791 Thanks: 1,019 Thanked 686 Times in 467 Posts	Easily the Bombos Medallion in LttP. You don't use it for anything productive, everything it can do the Fire Rod does, and it kills your magic meter. -CSM

11-24-2011, 09:52 PM	#6
monstrman Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: LET'S SAAAAAVE THE WOOOORLD. Gender: Posts: 1,035 Thanks: 87 Thanked 53 Times in 42 Posts Blog Entries: 5	No I never liked the magic arrows and never used them unless it was absolutely necessary. Which was pretty much just the fire and light arrows. They used too much magic... Magic Powder from A link to the Past and Link's awakening. Oh no, the monster is transformed and does less damage! You probably could have killed it with a better item, but why would you want to? This is MAGIC POWDER. Strong stuff. Also I never liked that the iron boots in OoT were used to GET INTO the WORST temple in the game, then had one negligible use later. "Look guys now you get to do the water temple!" "Yaaaaaay..." They did a way better job in Windwaker and Twilight Princess with those SAME boots and actually gave them uses. F***ng magnets.

11-25-2011, 12:18 AM	#10
*Marilink* Gotta catch 'em all! Supermod! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Location, Location. Gender: Posts: 29,118 Thanks: 2,536 Thanked 1,823 Times in 1,008 Posts	The handheld Zeldas that used the slingshot used it a lot better than 3D ones. Namely the oracles. I usually have to say the most useless Zelda item is the Mask of Scents. Like, I don't even use it for the one thing for which it's useful. (The odor coming off the boxers in the Stock Pot Inn was kinda funny though)

11-25-2011, 10:36 AM	#12
*Marilink* Gotta catch 'em all! Supermod! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Location, Location. Gender: Posts: 29,118 Thanks: 2,536 Thanked 1,823 Times in 1,008 Posts	Okay, so you're not saying that it's useless, but rather that it's too useful.

11-25-2011, 11:44 AM	#13
Loot Apparently I'm a mod? Join Date: May 2001 Location: LEGITIMATE BUSINESS Gender: Posts: 13,208 Thanks: 236 Thanked 1,237 Times in 659 Posts	Which is the exact opposite of this topic. Ether Medallion, however, was probably the least desirable item, imo. Bombos was fun, Quake was awesome.

11-25-2011, 11:51 AM	#14
Valigarmander The Bee's Knees Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: The land of rain and trees (Oregon) Gender: Posts: 29,755 Thanks: 1,649 Thanked 5,701 Times in 2,581 Posts Blog Entries: 20	I never really used any of the Medallions. :\|

11-25-2011, 02:38 PM	#15
*Marilink* Gotta catch 'em all! Supermod! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Location, Location. Gender: Posts: 29,118 Thanks: 2,536 Thanked 1,823 Times in 1,008 Posts	I never really did, either, but they were pretty freakin' cool.