For most of the game, the mighty Boomerang will be out of your reach. To put it simply, this is because you need to complete the trade quest to get it. Afterward, you’ll need to head to Toronbo Shores.
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What You Need Before You Can Get the Boomerang
After you perform the last step of the trade quest, which is to get the Mermaid’s Scale, you’ll need to insert it into the mermaid statue in the south of Martha’s Bay. Schule Donavitch—the red crocodile in Animal Village—will give you a hint that will help you find the mermaid statue.
Placing the Mermaid’s Scale on the statue will cause it to move and will reveal a hidden staircase. Down below, you’ll find the Magnifying Lens in a cave with some invisible enemies. When you pick up the Magnifying Lens, the enemies in the cave will become visible. This is to demonstrate the power of your new tool!
Find Goriya in a Cave on Toronbo Shores
In the middle of Toronbo Shores, you’ll find a crack in a south-facing wall. This spot is just south of Sale’s blue house. You can blow open this cracked wall with a Bomb to gain entrance to Goriya’s secret lair.
Trade Goriya Your Shovel for the Boomerang
Normally, Goriya will be invisible. However, with the Magnifying Lens, you’ll be able to see and speak to them. When you do so, the treasure-lover will tell you how to trade with them for “a good item” (the Boomerang). Simply equip the item you want to trade in either your X or Y equipment slot and then press that button when speaking with Goriya.
Although the game is pretty vague with what you’ll need to trade Goriya, it’s your Shovel that he wants. Equip the Shovel and then trade it to Goriya to get the Boomerang. Furthermore, after you do, you should buy your Shovel back immediately.
How to Buy Your Shovel Back from Goriya
After you buy the Boomerang, you can speak to Goriya again to find the option for buying your Shovel back. However, Goriya will only sell it back to you for 300 Rupees. While this is more expensive than the original price of the Shovel, at this point in the game, 300 Rupees should be very affordable.
What the Boomerang Does in Link’s Awakening
The Boomerang is a ranged weapon that you can throw in eight directions (horizontally, vertically, and diagonally in all directions). Furthermore, as you move, the Boomerang will always be able to come back to you—even if you leave the screen while it’s out of your hands.
In terms of damage, it will hurt enemies it hits as well as will stun them briefly. The Boomerang is capable of hurting quite a few enemies that are immune to Sword attacks, such as Armos knights and Sparks. As such, it’s arguably better to use the Boomerang instead of your Sword in most cases.
The main limitation of the Boomerang is that you have to wait for it to return before you can throw it again. As such, if you miss your target, it can be a few seconds before your Boomerang returns and grants you another chance for a ranged attack.
The Boomerang Versus the Bow and Arrow Set
When you compare the Boomerang to your other main ranged weapon, the Bow and Arrow set, you’ll notice that each specializes in different things. The Boomerang doesn’t consume ammo, which makes it much more cost-efficient to use frequently.
However, the Arrows from the Bow and Arrow Set move faster than the Boomerang, allowing you to hit quick foes easier. Additionally, you can combine Bombs and the Bow and Arrow Set to shoot explosives—which deals more damage than the Boomerang.
When you compare the weapons in battle, you’ll notice that the Boomerang is better to use in most cases. Though, the Bow and Arrow Set is ideal to take out faster and tougher enemies.
