The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks/The Three Trials of the Desert

Wrecker of the Plans of Evil: Tower of Spirits Floors 18-23
Head straight for the Tower of Spirits. Zelda is now very worried about Anjean, who, as you last left the Tower, was beginning to battle Staven/Byrne. When you arrive, Zelda will thank you for everything you have done so far, but there is still lots left to do. Anjean hasn't returned, so climb to the top of the Tower's spiral staircase and enter the door.

This is a big floor, and looking at the map, it can be hard to know where to start. Go to the right of the entrance. Stand in front of the brown blocks. Wait for the Phantom to come close and face towards you. Let it see you. It will start to roll towards you very quickly. When it comes near you, run out of the way to the Safe Zone. This is the Wrecker Phantom, which can roll into a ball and smash almost anything in its path. It will roll towards you, through the blocks, and destroy them. Once it has walked past the Safe Zone, let the Phantom on the other side of the wall walk to the left of the blocks. Go right and stand in front of the blocks in the corner. Let the Phantom see you, and roll towards you. When it comes near you, run north as quickly as possible to the northern-most safe zone. When it has stopped following you, run south to where the blocks were, and get the Tear of Light. Go around the room to the north-west corner. Stand in front of the six blocks and make noise (hit the wall with your sword, etc.). Again, let the Phantom roll towards you and duck out of its way to have it smash the blocks. Run south to avoid it, then when it retreats, and walks east, go north through the gap to a Safe Zone. Pull the block here out of the Safe Zone. Pull the next block left, then back. Go right and stand on the switch. It creates a chest in the other side of the room. Go around there by going around the room to the area where the first Tear of Light was, and go north. Cross the abyss with the whip post, and open the chest for a Small Key. Go back around the room to the north, where the locked door is, and open it. Go upstairs.

Go right. Go up the small staircase and pick up the blue object. Carry it across the floor to the left, and walk south. Drop it on the differently-designed tile. Have it face left. Stand on the switch. Equip the Boomerang, and throw it through the now-opened door at the blue object inside. Get that to face north. Shoot an arrow at the nearest blue object. The arrow will be redirected to the eye, and a bridge will appear. Go there, ignoring the enemies, the Mounted Bulblins. Cross the bridge and go left. A Wrecker Phantom will appear. Run left! Try to keep to the north wall. At the end, run into the Safe Zone when you have a clear path. Wait for it to lose interest, then when it is far enough away, run up and get the Tear of Light. Run back to the Safe Zone and up the stairs.

This is the hardest Tear of Light in the game. Get the Wrecker Phantom to destroy all of the blocks. Go to the north-east corner. Pull the block back five times, and up four times. Go to the south-east and pick up the blue object. Carry it to the north-east and jump over the block. Drop the object on the designated tile. Go back to the entrance, and up the small staircase north of it. Throw the Boomerang south-east until the Blue Object here faces north. Go back to the sandy area and stand on the switch. Fire an arrow at the blue object across from here. It will be redirected to an eye, and a door will open. Go there for the last Tear of Light. Don't take the Phantom here, though. Instead go back downstairs.

Take the Phantom here. Zelda is now a Wrecker Phantom! She can now smash the brown blocks and enemies. Cross the bridge. Get Zelda to defeat the Mounted Bulblins. Then get her to clear out all of the 'mounts' to the left, clearing a path. Get Link to follow. Call Zelda and go down the stairs. Here is a massive block puzzle. Start in the south-east. Only Zelda can pull the larger blocks. Get her to pull the right one back. Then get her to push the left one to the right. Now move her out of the way, and Link can push the small block right twice, down twice, and right twice. Now switch back to Zelda. Pull the bottom block left as far as possible. Switch back to Link. Go around and push the block down onto the switch. Now go to the north-west. Get Link to pull the small block back twice. Get Zelda to push and pull the large block into the south-west corner, and then into the north-west corner onto the switches. Call her and go south-west. You should see a small block. Push it left as far as possible, but make sure Zelda doesn't follow you. Pull it south as far as possible. Get Zelda to pull the large block back out of the way. Now go around and push the block onto the switch. Call Zelda and go north-east. Stand on the two switches. The spikes will fall. Go there and open the chest for a Small Key. Go back to Zelda, call her, and go back upstairs.

Go right and open the door. Go upstairs. Go south, and send Zelda up this corridor, through the boulders, and into the switch. Go up when the boulders stop, call Zelda, and go west. With the Wrecker Phantom's body, Zelda can't carry you over lava. Instead, go south, Zelda leading to destroy the blocks. Go right and up the stairs. Go to the centre of the room and stand on the two switches. The door will close. Four Stalfos will appear. Defeat them. Three Geozards will follow. Defeat them and the door will open, but then four regular Phantoms will appear. They'll see you almost at once, and you've almost no room in which to escape! Try to get Zelda to attack them while you run for the Safe Zone. Wait for a Phantom to come close. Take it out. Zelda will leave the Wrecker body and take the regular Phantom's body. Go downstairs.

Now you can cross the lava. Get Link across to the blue door. Attack the blue object until it faces left. Now carry Link back to the starting area, but don't jump off. Go to the north corner where you can see some whip posts. Cross them. Get the blue object here to face right. Call Zelda over. Jump on and go south-east to the area with the small staircase and two special tiles. Hop off and place the blue object on the right tile. Go back to the area where the blue object was, across the whip posts. Stand on the special tile. Switch to Zelda. Walk over to where the first blue object is. Pick it up. Cross the lava to the floor with the two tiles visible from here. Switch back to Link and equip the arrows. Fire an arrow at the blue object to the right. This will hit an eye to open a blue door. Now shoot at the blue object that Zelda holds. This will hit another eye, opening the main blue door. Cross the whip posts. Call Zelda over. Get her to stand beside you, on the same level. Hit her with the sword to get her to drop the blue object. Send her into the lava, so you can jump on her shield. Cross the lava to the blue door. Jump off and go up. Go around this floor, breaking the bubbles and pots for health and weapons. Go upstairs.

Send Zelda north, west, and south to the other side of the sand. Get Link to cross the sand and meet Zelda. Call her and go south-east. Send Zelda through the fire and get her to pick up the Boss Key. Immediately four Floormasters will appear. Call Zelda. Get her to follow you as far as the sand, defeating the Floormasters along the way. Now send her north, and east, as far as the red circle. You, as Link, must use your bow and arrow to defend her on her way. Mirror her path on the other side of the abyss, shooting any Floormaster with your bow and arrow. Once she gets to the red circle, get Link to stand on the other. Zelda will switch places with Link. Get her to go south to the Boss Door and have her put the key in the door, putting out the fire, and defeating all of the Floormasters. Get Link around to the Boss Door, and go upstairs.

Open the big door. A portal to the spiral staircase will appear. Save your game. Go upstairs.

Boss: Staven (Byrne)
The door will lock behind you. Staven/Byrne will emerge. He says that the Demon King Malladus has begun the final stage of his resurrection. He prepares for battle.

He will mainly attack from above. Get Zelda to stand still. Hide behind Zelda to avoid the beams he shoots at you. When a crosshair appears, run away, but do not hide behind Zelda. When it gets stuck in the ground, get Zelda to grab it. She will drag him to the ground, and give you an opportunity to attack. If either Link or Zelda are caught by his gauntlet, the other must attack it to release it. After one attack, he will start to use a magic attack that knocks out whoever gets hit by it. Don't worry too much about it, just continue trying to attack. After your second attack on him, he will stay on the ground. Attack him with the sword to make him initiate a charging attack. Hide behind Zelda, and she will hold him back, allowing you to attack him from behind. Repeat to defeat him.

After all this, set your route to the Desert.

The Three Trials
You emerge outside the Tower of Spirits. Set the route to the dead end at the heart of the desert. Along the way, Zelda will point out a massive stone head statue. There are two more, and they form the stone head puzzle for this land. You'll also see some new enemies. To defeat these, blow your whistle to make them jump out of the ground, then hit them with a cannonball. At this apparent dead end, there is a station, the Dune/Desert Sanctuary.

Here, the area is completely barren, but for two Sleeping Statues, Bomb Flowers, and a sign. Check the sign. Find me by blasting the area where the gazes of the big statues meet. Blast the shown area with a Bomb Flower to reveal the entrance. Go through the tunnel to find Rael, the final Lokomo Guardian. Play the Song of Restoration, the most difficult of the game. After playing it successfully, some tracks will appear on the Ocean Glyph/Rail Map. But Rael has more information for you. You must first pass three trials to gain entry to the Desert Temple. The 'big eye' that lives in the shadows, the 'twisted tunnels', and the 'impenetrable temple'. Leave the Sanctuary, and board the train.

The First Trial: The Great Eye in the Dark
Set a route north to the Fire Land. As you approach a tunnel, Zelda will comment that the name of the trial 'gives her the creeps'. As soon as you enter the tunnel, you'll see what you face. You've seen this before - a Rocktite, that follows you and jumps on the train to attack. As before, attack the eye. But it will adapt, and close its mouth eventually. To attack it now, blow up the barrels you see along the walls to reveal the weak spot, then attack the eye. Keep repeating this to escape.

The Second Trial: The Twisted Tunnels
When you leave, head straight on to the next tunnel. Look at the map. There are broken routes shown all over the south of the Land. You'll first emerge in the southern one. One thing to remember while going through here is that just because you entered through a tunnel doesn't mean you can't leave through it again. And this applies to the first area. Jam on the brakes as soon as you enter, and reverse into the tunnel you came in through. Do it again in the next area. Turn right in the next area to clear the Twisted Tunnels. The final trial awaits you...

The Third Trial: The Impenetrable Temple
Turn left when you enter the Ocean Land for a handy warp gate. To open it, blast the green triangle, then blow and hold your whistle to open the portal. Hold it until you are teleported. When you emerge, teleport back. Save your game, since this is a very dangerous area. Set your route around, but not into the Temple. What you have to do here is go around the Temple and destroy all of the turrets around it. Don't worry if you are defeated, since all turrets defeated will not re-spawn after the Game Over screen. You can destroy the cannonballs they fire at you by attacking them with your own cannonballs. There are twelve turrets in total, and when all are defeated, the door to the Desert Temple will open. Head straight for it.