Zelda: Link’s Awakening has managed to stump me for the third time. Let me talk about this: The first time was when a random attack from an enemy revealed a passageway that I was supposed to find with a shovel (the way to the Animal Village). I must have dug up half the island, but not at that spot. I doubt I would have found that on my own.

The second time was when you have to defeat a big armored knight to get the key to the face temple. You have to evade his jumps and shoot him in the back. The jumping part I hadn’t figured out, but maybe I could have with enough time. The shooting part would have followed, especially because it’s hinted at at the entrance.
I just thought that I maybe didn’t have the right tool yet to defeat it. And I certainly didn’t think that such a big armored knight would be vulnerable to arrows, even at the back. Just at with the first hiccup, I combed almost every inch of the map searching for other solutions.

The third time I was stumped, was with the key to the tower. I had the luminous idea to play the ocarina at the rooster in the village, but nothing happened. Turns out you need to push the pedestal it’s on to reveal a passageway underneath and then you need to play the ocarina. I hadn’t thought of that and I doubt that I would have on my own.

I’m now at the tower and it has very clever puzzles with switches and jumping down to lower levels. Really cool!
Just one more instrument to find after this one. I hope that I can figure it out on my own. But first I must manage to throw this big ball around all the places it needs to be thrown.