The Minish Cap Walkthroughs
Chapter 8, Temple of Droplets

From the pedestal you begin on, go down the stairs and head around the room to the north wall and through the door. Be careful about the ice, as you could slide into the black that surrounds the room (for damage, of course). In the next room, avoid both the pots that fly at you and the fires that shoot energy balls (?) at you. Head right to leave that room.

In this room, kill the three ticks and go down the stairs. Push the lever to the left to make a beam of sunlight appear. Now, head back up the stairs to see that there is now a hole in the floor. Jump through to land on the icey half of the room below. Spot the small key frozen in the block of ice. Push that block down, then to the right. As it crosses the sunlight the ice will melt and you can retrieve the small key.

Head back up stairs and then left to the room with the pots. Head left through the locked door and jump down the pit in the next room. Here avoid the lever for a moment and head to the right side of the room. Of the three ice blocks, push the top one to the left, the bottom one down and then left, and the middle one (with the Big Key inside) left. Then, push the Big Key block down, left, up, and right. The block will melt and the Big Key will be yours for the taking!

"Wow, earliest Big Key ever. Wait, what? Dungeon isn't over? Drat."

Now, flip the lever and head up the stairs. Return to the very first room of this dungeon, heading south through the Big Door. Head down to find the Element trapped in the ice. Oh, and that giant frozen Octo. Nevertheless, now head left through the door. From here head down through the tunnel and grab the Dungeon Map from the chest. Head back up through the tunnel. Now at the top portion of this room, dive in the deep water to avoid the spiky roller, and head up and to the left. Disembark south of the waterfall, heading up the stairs (killing slugs as you go) and go to the right. Jump in the water, head around and disembark near the flies. Kill them and go down following the water.

Use the Gust Jar on the Mushroom to reach the other side and step on the button. Jump in the water and head down off the waterfall. From the bottom of the falls swim down and dive to avoid the roller. Disembark at the very bottom of the water on the left. Read the stone: “The way forward is hidden in the bottom of the pot.” Now, head right through where the gate used to be.

In this next area you’re basically in a dead end. Dive and swim around in the distinctly Octo-shaped area. You’ll eventually find a small key underwater (try the middle of the area). Now, you need to back track up the waterfall you jumped off. From there heading up you’ll spot a locked door next to you. Open it and head up, left, and down and step on the switch to open the gates so you can reach a lily pad. Swim back and around and get on the lily pad.

Now, use the Gust Jar to navigate the lily pad back off that waterfall. Then, guide it alllll the way back to where you just got the small key and use it to reach the button on the right side of that room. While still on the lily pad head further right and disembark at the ice flow where the caterpillar is. Use the old strategy: hit its nose then the heart that appears on its tail. Three rounds and its down for the count. Go up through the door that opens and grab the compass from the chest.

Jump back on the lily pad and head up. Hit the switch to open the gate and go up on the pad some more. Disembark on the largest ice flow and head to the north part of it to grab 50 Rupees from the chest and head to the left side of the flow where the ice blocks are. Push the top block down, right, down, left, and up to hold down the switch, which opens another gate. Get back on the lily pad and head left and around the room to make your way to the door in the top right corner of the room. You’re finally free of that blasted lily pad now.

Head through the door into a darkened room. Slowly go up to the north door and through that. Here, kill the slugs, go up the stairs, and find yourself back in the element room. Head down a bit and split at the tiles there, and then using the two Links, push the lever to open some sunlight into the room. Jump down at head through the southeast door.

Head up from here and get the Blue L Kinstone from the chest. Go right and be very careful in this next area. Slowly make your way to the chest on the left side of the ice and get the Blue \ Kinstone. Now for the tricky part. Head around the right path of the ice and avoid the snaking green blades to get in the center of their path. Head right first and smash the two pots for a rupee and a Green < Kinstone, then backtrack and take the left path down to the door.

Here head up through the door and go down the stairs (or jump in the hole, both go to the same place) and hit the lever there. Now go back up the stairs, cross the now closed gap, and hit the lever there as well. Go back downstairs and hit the lever you just pushed to close the gap, opening it, and letting sunlight beam onto the chest, melting it. Grab the small key from the chest.

Head back all the way upstairs and head south through the locked door. In here, head down and throw the lever to make a shower of blue ChuChu jelly rain from the ceiling, a disturbingly familiar prelude to… Blue ChuChu!

Use the same strategy on this gelatinous fiend as you did on the Green one (in brief: Gust Jar on hit “legs” and smash his head where he falls down). Also, note that you can’t use the jar on it while the electricity protects it. Nevertheless, five rounds and he’ll be down for the count. Grab the Flame Lantern from the chest that appears.

Now, return to the previous room and activate the Lantern to turn it on. While the Lantern is on, you can melt any small ice blocks you touch. Head up the stairs. Melt the block with the chest inside and grab the 100 Rupees inside. Head right through the room past the other blocks and two ticks. In this next, darkened room, make sure you have the lantern on so you can see the bugs here. Once they’re all dead, head right through the door that opens.

This room is essentially a large maze. Light any torches you find to dematerialize the blocks around the room. On the left side of the room there is a cracked wall. Bomb it and pass through the hole to find a room full of ticks. Kill them all and grab the small key that drops from the ceiling. Now, head back to the maze and continue your march through it.

"In the maze you’ll find three chests, one with a Red E Kinstone, one with a Red > Kinstone, and one with a Red >> Kinstone inside. Score!"

Head through the door at the end of the maze. In the next room make haste all the way across the room, avoiding the fire trail and the enemies. In the next room, use the split tiles to push the top block left twice, then the bottom down, then the left one down, and the top one to the right. You’ll have to switch your form three times, from vertical, to horizontal, to vertical. Now, go through the door to the next room. Head to the left side of the room and push the first block you find left into the nook, and then the other one left onto the switch. Now, backtrack to the opposite side of the room and use the split tiles to split so that there is the size of a large block in between you two. Navigate to the opposite side of the room and step on the switches to open the door.

In the next room, avoid the fire trails push the top right block up to the open the left door. Head through that door.

In this room, the above path restricts what you can see. Kill the blue and red ticks and melt the ice block to reveal the split tiles. Split vertically and push the block to the end of the room and head down to kill the ticks. Go left up the stairs to the next room.

Light all nine torches using the lamp to proceed left to the next room. It might go easier for you (since the ice makes it so tricky) to go in a snaking pattern left, down, right, down, and left through the torches.

In the next room with the rollers, go south past the bugs and through the right door. Here, with the torch a-blazing, take out the caterpillars and head right again through the door that opens. In the next room, follow the path up, all the way until you are once again in the element room next to another large lever. Use the split tiles below to activate the lever, increasing the sunlight in the room and melting the element free. It’s ours! Oh… oh, wait… no. Nevermind, the Giant Octo you just unfroze as well ate it.

As such, jump down and chase the little jerk through the hole in the south wall. Now you will face, Big Octo!

Big Octo is by far one of the harder bosses in this game, and it has five phases. The first it just spins around shooting rocks out of its mouth. Hit the rocks back at it, and the Octo will freeze the room. Now, use the Pegasus Boots to run back and forth and eventually catch its tail on fire. One this is done it will return to normal, and start the third phase where Octo moves around the room, not just shooting rocks, but also sucking you in and shooting you into a wall. Hit three rocks again to start the fourth phase, another ice one. Apply same strategy on the tail and you’ll make it to the fifth phase, a normal one. This is the trickiest, as Octo will darken the room and charge into walls, making a shower of blocks fall around you. Hit three rocks at it, and the battle is over. Octo falls and the element, along with a Heart Container, is yours!

Phew, that was rough.