Crystal Switch

Crystal Switches
A common mechanism found throughout several Legend of Zelda games. When hit with a sword, boomerang, arrow, or blast from a bomb, these mechanisms usually result in the opening of a door or gate, or the unblocking of a new walking path.

In-Game Use
In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, the switches were round and crystal-ball -like. They started out either red or blue, and when hit, would turn the other color. They controlled the rise and fall of color-matched block obstacles in the dungeon floors. When the switches turned blue, the blue blocks sank into square openings in the floor, allowing Link to walk across them. When the switch was red, the red blocks would lower, and the red pathway would be revealed. The switches could only lower EITHER red or blue blocks at a time, and a single switch controlled ALL other switches within the same dungeon, so that Link often had to travel through various rooms, hitting the crystal switches he passed, on the way, in order to completely navigate each dungeon.

In the original black-and-white release of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, the Crystal Switches were either black or white, but otherwise operated exactly the same way. The color re-release of this game for the GameBoy Advance allowed the switches to assume their original color scheme.

In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the Crystal Switches changed both appearance and operation. Here, they looked like diamond-shaped gems hovering above narrow platforms, and hitting them would either open a door, unbar a gate, or lower a catwalk for Link to progress through to the next area. Here, each switch worked independently of each other, and the dungeon designs love to challenge the player to hit switches across wide gaps and behind obstacles, such as tall wire fences and growing vines.

In The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass, the Crystal Switches once again, resumed their round shape and block-controlling function. Here, the additional control of the stylus in "drawing" the boomerang's path makes hitting switches both easier AND more entertaining, as the player has better control of the boomerang's path, and thus is able to draw more intricate paths. Note that, in this game, the switches are available in three colors: a purplish-black, blue, or red. The reb/blue switches are always paired-up, as in the previous games. The purplish-black switches are simple one-gate obstacle controls: hit one, and the corresponding purple-black blocks -- which are usually lined-up in a row across a narrow passage, or set like a barricade before a door -- will lower, allowing you to pass through that ONE tunnel or door, but not the others.