The Minish Cap Walkthroughs
Chapter 3, The Mines of Melari

First things first you want to head back to that first stump you used to shrink by heading south out of Minish Town and east to the stump. Grow to normal size and go northwest to find that Heart Piece you passed several times outside of the Temple. Once that’s done, head back into down and to the Elder who will tell you where to head next, the Mountains to see Melari. Anyways, head left out of his house and follow the path back to get out of the Woods. Along the way be sure to examine the Wind Stone and go inside the house just outside of the Village and get the Bomb Bag from inside.

Make your way back to Hyrule Town itself, and when you enter from the south gate you’ll be approach by a Hurdy-Gurdy Man and his gang of kids. He’ll give you a free Kinstone Bag and teach you how to use it. Fuse Kinstones with him and the vines outside of a tree right near your house will disappear. Go to the tree to find a Heart Piece inside, which should form a brand new Heart Container for you! Now, head back to Hyrule Town.

"Whenever you approach another person and they have a thought bubble, press L to fuse Kinstones with them. Unless this is real life, where if you can see thought bubbles we have a problem."

In town, pay a visit to Swiftblade’s School where Swiftblade (the self-proclaimed Great Swordsman in all of Hyrule) will teach you the Spin Attack! Leave his school and try to leave town via the west exit. The guard won’t let you pass until you do the Spin Attack for him, so take a step back and do so. He’ll then step aside. Now leave town.

Just left of the entrance to Hyrule Town is a ladder going down into the ground. Go down and blow open the wall between the two torches. In the next room use your shield to defeat the Business Scrub, who will then sell you a Bottle for 20 Rupees. Get this bottle, you need it.

Now head up and west until you reach Mt. Crenel’s Base. Use the Bottle to get some water and sprinkle it on the young vine. The vine will grow and you can proceed ahead.

From here go left and then down past the spiky dust balls. Where there is a sign blow up the wall in the gap. GO inside and up the ladder. Use the rock there to shrink down and go up and right through the path and use your bottle get some Mount Crenel Spring Water. Leave, return to normal size, and go back down to where the spiky dust is. Head left more and up to find a cracked wall. Blow it open and head through the tunnel, encountering some “fearsome” Helmasaurs (which are easily defeated by pulling off their masks with the Gust Jar). At the end of the tunnel just into the vortex and Ezlo will act as a parachute so you can glide to the left vortex and then onto the left ledge.

From here go up the stairs and use the Jar to clear the dust all around you, revealing a hole and a shrink rock. Shrink down go in the hole you revealed to get a Kinstone inside. Then leave the hole and go right more and up the vine to get another Kinstone from the chest in there. Leave this hole and get to where you could see the vine nut. Go through the path, lift the nut, and leave the path. Then take the nut and drop it in the shallow hole. Return to normal size and sprinkle the Crenel Water on the vine, making it grow.

Welcome to Mt. Crenel! Now from where you are go up to the Crenel Wall, but rather than attempt to climb it, bomb the wall in between the two spiky rock sets. Inside is a Fairy Fountain and a Heart Piece!

Leave the Fountain and go back down the stairs, this time heading right. At the end of the path is a small bridge that heads up. Follow it to the dead end, and use a bomb to blow an opening in the wall. Go in.

Get a Blue > Kinstone from the chest and head up the stairs to the next room. Be careful with the white ChuChus here, as they can turn to spikes and give you a definite headache. Kill the ones that get in your way and blow the blocks so you can push the non-cracked blocks aside. Head through the south door. From here use the vortices to glide to the left ledge (use the same method as before) and head to the left and up the ladder. From here head all the way to the right until you find a cracked wall. Blow it open and buy the Grip Ring from the Business Scrub inside for 40 Rupees. Now you can climb those walls!

Now, climb the wall going down right outside the room you were just in. Backtrack alllll the way back to past the first vortices and when you get to the sign that indicates Crenel Wall is ahead, go in that direction.

Now, start climbing the wall. At the fork in the road, head right, and then get off the wall at the signpost ledge. Blow open a hole in the wall at the end of the path and go inside to find a Fair Fountain, but this time one that houses a Great Fairy! Toss a Bomb (drop it, lift it, and toss it) into the Fountain and when the Fairy asks you if you tossed a Golden Bomb, Silver Bomb, or neither, be honest and say neither. She’ll reward you with a Big Bomb Bag that can hold 30 Bombs!

Now continue back on the wall, heading all the way up until you reach terra firma. Head right and pull the Mushroom and use it to fling you across the chasm to the other, rainy side. Now this part is a real pain. First shrink down using the Rock and take the south tiny path, heading through it while avoiding raindrops (which hurt like boulders!). At the other side, use the Rock to grow. Notice that there are three boulders and two holes. One hole separates the two sides of the area you are in from each other. Push the boulders next to this into the hole, so you don’t have to shrink to cross it anymore. Now, take the boulder on the bottom right of the screen and push it all the way to the hole in the top middle of the screen, so you can fill that hole and push the third boulder aside and go down the ladder.

"If you mess up, because you can only push that boulder, shrink down and grow up to reset it."

Down the ladder make your way south through the cave, avoiding the Helmasaurs and out onto the ledge. Take the door on the right to go back into the cave. In here use the Gust Jar to pull the pots out of the way you’ll be shortly use the Mushroom to fling yourself to. Now fling across the room and go downstairs. In this room, kill the Red ChuChus go down to the open bridge. Toss a bomb across the gap at what I suppose is a crystal switch. It will explode and the bridge will extend. Head downstairs. In this room navigate the blocks to get a Kinstone from the chest, specifically a Blue \ one. Go outside through the door.

Shrink down and enter the tiny path. At the end take the door down and enter Melari’s Mines. Move around the room clockwise until you reach the bottom where Melari is. He’ll take the broken Picori blade from you and begin working on it, telling you to go find the next element. So, head back up the stairs to the Minish blocking the doorway. Talk to him and he’ll step aside. Head through that door. Now grow up using the Rock and examine the Wind Stone. GO up the stairs to enter the Cave of Flames.