The Thunder Dragon's Lightning Round

The Thunder Dragon’s Lightning Round

This is it, the biggest minigame Skyward Sword has to offer. You can play the Thunder Dragon’s Lightning Round any time after receiving the Thunder Dragon’s portion of the Song of the Hero.

There are two aspects to the Lightning Round: the Silent Realm trials (a time trial mode) and the combat trial (basically a boss rush mode).

For the Silent Realm trials, you can opt to enter any Silent Realm map you’ve cleared already in the game. If you can finish it, the Thunder Dragon gives you a reward based on how quickly you manage to finish. This reward can be anything from 5 Rupees to 100 Rupees, depending on how your completion time compares to the Thunder Dragon’s goal time.

The Thunder Dragon always gives you 50 Rupees the first time you play through a given Silent Realm trial. If you beat your best time for a given Silent Realm, you always get 50 Rupees.

If you can finish the trials while beating the Thunder Dragon’s goal time, you get a random rare treasure. You only get the rare treasure if you qualify for that reward, unless you also beat your personal best time or were playing the Silent Realm trial for the first time.

The Thunder Dragon’s battle trial lets you relive any boss battles you’ve already fought, with the exception of the battle against Bilocyte.

To win a prize from the Thunder Dragon, you must clear a certain number of battles in succession without using any Adventure Pouch items besides your shield.

You only have access to tools and items that you would’ve had during the initial fight. You can select from any of 11 boss fights on a first pass through the game, provided you come here after saving at the point of no return.

The Thunder Dragon offers you a reward after each battle you clear, or the chance to continue on and try for an even bigger reward by beating another battle. If you visit this minigame while playing in Hero Mode, an additional twelfth battle with Demise is available.

Thunder Dragon Rewards

The way the battle trial works is that you pick the first battle you want to repeat yourself, then the Thunder Dragon picks subsequent battles randomly.

While the Thunder Dragon’s battle trial is primarily a test of player skill and memorization, there are some strategies you can use to help yourself get farther and hopefully acquire at least the Hylian Shield.

Try to pick a battle that you find genuinely difficult for the first round, so it doesn’t hit you as an unpleasant surprise in the Thunder Dragon’s random selections.

You can also begin by picking a battle that’s easy to lose under “time out” conditions, like the second or third battle with The Imprisoned. When you’re fighting the bosses for the big rewards, focus most on not taking any damage.

The Thunder Dragon does time your fights and offers you 50 Rupees whenever you beat your best time on a given boss. Still, it’s not worth rushing to grab this reward if you’re trying to survive eight rounds so you can claim the Hylian Shield.

When you fight in a boss room that lets you refill your health from jars or heart flowers, always do so. If you simply repeat battles you find difficult until you begin to find them easy, you can get farther and farther in the Thunder Dragon’s Lightning Round.