The Eastern Temple is a mini dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom that’s home to the “Let’s Play a Game” side quest. You’ll need to defeat the monster in the temple for the archeologist Sago, who wants to continue his work there.
In this Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom guide, we’ll show you how to get through the Eastern Temple and complete the “Let’s Play a Game” quest, including letting you know how to beat the temple boss, Smog.
Eastern Temple location and how to start ‘Let’s Play a Game’
Head to the Eastern Temple, which is, fittingly, to the east of Hyrule Castle.
At the entrance, you’ll meet Sago, who will tell you that he wants to do some archeological work in the temple, but that he’s heard a strange voice asking him to play a game and fears there are monsters inside. You’ll need to clear out that monster to allow him to do his work.
Immediately inside the entrance to the Eastern Temple, you’ll be greeted by two sparks moving in sync around a pair of pillars. Sparks don’t do damage to Zelda, but they temporarily stun her and push her backwards.
You can use obstacles to push the sparks off path and let you pass, or you can defeat them using ranged enemy echoes. If you do, you’ll be able to learn the Spark Echo, which will come in handy later. Either way, head forwards to get deeper into the temple.
In this room there are three sparks as well as a cube-shaped mechanism in the corner. If you watch for a few seconds (while dodging the sparks!) you’ll see that one of the Sparks will enter the mechanism and cause it to light up.
You need to get the other two sparks into the cube to open the door. You can do this by grabbing them with Bind. It may be easier to time it if you trap them between two obstacles first. Head through the opened door to reach the next room.
In this room you must also change the sparks’ path so that they enter the cube. First, make a step up to the boulder and small wall in the northern side of the room using a table. Then grab one of the sparks using X and climb this makeshift staircase.
Once the sparks are on the height level of the cube, you can release them and they should eventually cross paths with the cube. Go through the door that’s now open.
In this room there are two sparks guarding a chest. Since you can’t move them out of there with Bind, you can use a ranged enemy echo such as a spear moblin to defeat them. The spear moblin’s accuracy isn’t great against a moving enemy, but it will get them eventually!
Open the chest to get five rock salt and then proceed down the ladder on the western side of this room.
In this 2D room there are a couple of sparks rotating around the upper platforms and a caromadillo on the floor. Defeat the caromadillo using an enemy echo to get the Caromadillo Echo Lv. 2. Then you can either defeat the sparks or move past them using careful timing to enter the next room to the right.
In this room, the sparks enter the water, electrifying a small radius around them. However, they’re not too difficult to avoid. Swim down to the bottom of the pool to open a chest with 50 Rupees in it, and then continue to the right. Be sure to pause if avoiding the boulder would cause you to collide with a spark, but you should be able to climb out on the other side without too much bother. Climb down the staircase to enter the next room.
This is a bit of a breather room, with two pots you can break but no enemies.
How to defeat Smog, the Eastern Temple boss
Entering this room will kick off the Eastern Temple’s boss battle, an electric cloud called Smog.
Smog will move around this maze-like area, shooting balls of lightning at you. Swordfighter form won’t be much use to you here as Smog can electrocute Zelda via the sword.
Summon ranged enemy mobs, like the spear moblin, at intersections to get a good shot at Smog. You can also briefly Bind him to give them a bit more time to make a shot. This will also reverse Smog’s direction.
After three hits, Smog will concede the “round” and break into three smaller pieces. You will need to watch their patterns and interrupt and block them with boulders to get them to recombine before you can do any more damage to him.
Once Smog is back in one piece, repeat the steps to break him down again, this time into five pieces. Once again, shepherd these pieces back into one giant Smog while avoiding the electricity. Note that the one in the top right is trapped and you will have to push the boulder out of the way to free it.
All you need to do now is hit Smog three more times with echo enemy attacks and you will have completed this boss battle! You’ll get a bunch of Rupees and a Heart Piece as a reward. And you’ll be teleported back to Eastern Temple Room #1, so you can go outside and tell Sago the good news.
Sago will give you an ancient charm which reduces the amount of harm taken while you’re wearing it. This will complete the “Let’s Play a Game” quest.
After completing this quest, if you’re far enough through the game to have completed the Faron Wetlands rift, you’ll be able to start the “Cotton Candy Hunt” quest at the Hidden Ruins, which leads on from this one.
And for more Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom side quests, we have guides to “A Treat for my Person,” “Cuccos on the Loose,” “The Flying Tile,” “The Rain-Making Monster,” and “The Zappy Shipwreck,” plus details about the side quests related to automatons and getting a horse. Or see our full Echoes of Wisdom walkthrough.