Forest Temple
Requirements: Hookshot, Song of Time, Shield. Biggoron's Sword is recommended.
Hints
HAUNTED HOUSE
In the first room, you must combat with some Wolfos. Lock onto one with Z-Targeting, hitting him with the sword when he's about to strike. When one is down the other will attack, so knock him out using the same technique and you're in the clear. Before going through the door, however, climb up the vines to the next floor. Find your footing, then look on the far side for a chest. Jump over there or grapple it with the Hookshot, and open it to get a Key. Go back to the first floor of this room, then go through the door. The short passage has a Giant Skulltula; a single hit from the Hookshot will make short work of him.
You'll now be in the main room, and a cinematic sequence will show the four Poe Sisters stealing the four multi-coloured flames from the torches here. When the flames are gone, you'll see that the elevator vanishes and you're not able to access it.
From the entrance to the main room, run straight across to the door opposite you. Hit the blue skulls with the Hookshot, then use the sword to destroy them. In the next room, you must battle it out with two Stalfos Knights. Lock onto one and when he winds up an attack, beat them to the mark. When one is down, the other Stalfos will take over. Once both are gone, get the Key from the chest and return to the main room.
Look for the passage with the blue Time Block which can be Z-Targeted. Play the Song of Time to dissipate the block and enter the door. In this courtyard, go to the vine-covered wall and knock out the two Skullwalltulas within your reach with the Hookshot. To avoid the third, go as far right on the vines as you can and climb up to the alcove. Enter the door defeat the skull, get the Map from the materializing chest and go through the door.
You'll be on a balcony in another courtyard. Use the Hookshot to grapple the target above the other balcony on your left. Now step on the Toggle Switch, knock out the Skullwalltula and climb down the vines. Go to the now-drained well using the ladder and run along the passage, picking up the hearts, to another chest with a Key. Climb up the nearby vines to the first courtyard, then find the passage to return to the main room.
Turn right and go through the locked door, knocking out the Giant Skulltula along the passage. In this next room, climb up the two ladders and follow the arrows painted on the floor to a Block. Push the block along the arrows until it falls into a slot in the ground and a tune plays.
Do not climb onto the Block!! Instead, go back to where the Block originally was to find a hidden ladder. Climb up to the next floor, and look for a red Block which you push along more arrows. When it's stuck, go back down the ladder and climb up the blue Block to push the red Block the rest of the way. Once both blocks are in position SAVE THE GAME, FOR GOD'S SAKE!! That'll save you from having to go through the Block puzzle again. (Along these passages is an Eye Switch; return here with the Bow to hit it and reveal a chest with arrows.)
Now, look for the door guarded by two blue skulls (ignore them) with an Eye Switch above it. Go through the door to come to the twisted passage, and when you reach the room on the far side jump along the blocks to reach the next locked door. Beware of the Wallmaster as you go.
Go down the stairs (ignoring the Poe in the painting) and into the next room. Now you must fight two Stalfos Knights, being wary of the pit in the centre of the room. Once both of these Stalfos are down, you must fight two more which come from the elevator platform above, but when one is down he won't dissipate. You must knock out the second Stalfos before the first regenerates, otherwise you'll be stuck in a repeating loop. Your reward for the trouble is the Bow; go back out the way you came in.
Along the stairwell are three different paintings. Using the Bow, hit the painting with the picture of Joelle the red Poe Sister. Remember that as you aim, Joelle may change paintings. Once you hit a painting with Joelle in it, it will burn away. When all paintings are gone, Joelle will materialise and go down to the bottom floor of the room.
Lock onto Joelle with Z-Targeting, raising your Shield for defence when Joelle herself is not visible. When Joelle does appear, fire an Arrow and she will disappear again for a while. Repeat the process five times and a chest with a Key will appear, as well as the red magic flame being recovered.
Go back to the room where you recovered the Bow and proceed. In this next room, you must again hit the paintings to reveal Beth the blue Poe Sister. Use the same methods which worked against Joelle. When Beth is down, the blue flame will be recovered and the chest containing the Compass will appear. Now, return to the begining of the twisted passage.
Hit the Eye Switch above the entrance to the twisted passage and re-enter it. Enter the straightened passage and go into the room, dropping down to the floor to get the Boss Key from the blue chest. Drop down the hole in the floor of this room, knocking out the flaming skulls to open the door and proceed. You'll now be on a ledge over one of the courtyards; proceed along it to the far end, and to the right is a small room. here you must fight a Floormaster monster.
Lock onto the Floormaster. If it turns green, raise your Shield for defence against its unstoppable attack. Hit the Floormaster to break it up into three smaller pieces; kill them all before they grow into a full-sized Floormaster. When the Floormaster is gone for good, a chest with a Key will appear. Grab it, exit this room and take the door to the right.
Retrace your steps to the begining of the untwisted passage, hitting the Eye Switch above its entrance to re-twist it. Proceed along the passages, going past Joelle's room and where you recovered the Bow. Go through the locked door in Beth's room, jumping to the right to reach a hallway with more flaming skulls. Kill or avoid them, just reach the door at the far side.
This next room is fun; you must hit the Eye Switch, but it's frozen over. You can uses Din's Fire to melt the ice, then hit the switch with an Arrow. Or, hop onto the rotating platforms. When the torch is between you and the switch, fire an Arrow so that the flame ignites it. If your flaming arrow hits the ice, the Eye Switch will activate. Go back to the previous passage, which is now twisted.
Go through the passage and down the hole in the floor. You'll find yourself on a checkered floor; the roof will come down, and unless Link is at a safe area you'll take a single heart's damage and have to start from the begining. Most of the safe spots are guarded by Giant Skulltulas, and there is a chest of Arrows there as well. As your work your way to the far side of this room, make sure you step on the Floor Switch.
In the next room, hit the painting with Amy the green Poe Sister in it with an Arrow. Five blocks will drop from the roof and a timer will appear; assemble the blocks to form Amy's portrait, being wary of the one block which won't fit. If the timer reaches zero, the blocks will turn on one side and the timer will reset with an extra ten seconds. Once you piece together Amy's picture, Amy will appear to do combat. Use the same techniques you used against Joelle and Beth.
Go through the door and return to the main room, being wary of the Giant Skulltula. You'll now face Meg, the purple and final Poe Sister. Meg will create three imposters, but only the real Meg is vunerable.
When the four ghosts appear, the vunerable Meg will make a single 360° turn. Lock this Meg on with Z-Targeting and hit her with an Arrow. If you hit a fake Meg, you have two more chances to hit the real one before she regenerates the doppelgangers. When the real Meg receives five Arrows, she'll dissolve and the purple flame will be returned. The elevator cubicle will rise in the centre of the room.
Now this is tricky; you're in a revolving room. Firstly, look around the available passages for a Floor Switch. Now, see those two walls sticking out for no good reason? Grab them and push to revolve the room. Look around for another Floor Switch, press it and revolve the room again. Continue until the grille blocking the way to the boss arena is retracted. While in the revolving room, remember to always push it in the same direction or you'll cancel yourself out.
Go through the boss door, turn right and go up the stairs. There's lots of pretty pictures here, Triforce symbols on the floor, but no sign of any boss. Head back down the stairs, maybe there's a passage you overlooked....Uh-oh, a fence has popped up and is blocking the passage back down! And what's that sound behind you? Look! It's....
PHANTOM GANON: Evil Spirit From Beyond
PG, mounted on his horse, rides out from one of the paintings and flies over the diameter of the room, firing an energy beam over the floor and then fleeing into another painting. The thing is, there's a fake PG there as well. Avoid the energy attack onto the beam by standing on one of the smaller Triforce symbols along the edge of the battlefield. The real PG is lighter than his imposter.
When PG is emerging from the painting, he does so very slowly and there's a lot of purple energy around him. As PG emerges, fire an Arrow. You can still hit PG as he flies over the room, but you'll have to do so without Z-Targeting as he moves too fast. After about five hits, PG's horse will be knocked out but he'll continue the fight.
PG will now launch an energy attack from his staff. Using the Master Sword, hit the energy beam to return it to PG. Remember that PG may reflect the energy attack back at you, so be ready for a rather long tennis match. Once PG gets hit by his own magic, he'll fall to the ground; rush in and attack him repeatedly with the sword. PG will eventually regain his strength, so back away and get ready for more energy-beam tennis. The closer you are to PG, the more likely it is that someone will get hit. As PG takes more damage, he's more likely to reflect the magic away. Remember that just because an energy beam is reflected, it doesn't mean PG will be hit by it.
Once you've hit PG enough times, the real Ganondorf will decide the creation was a waste of time and banish it to the gap between dimensions. With the evils of the Forest Temple banished, recover the Heart Container and step into the warp for a rather lengthy cinema sequence.