Giant Aquatic Amoeba Morpha is the sixth of ten bosses you will fight as you make your way through the videogame The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. He is the evil influence in the Water Temple beneath Lake Hylia, and is responsible for draining the lake of its water. He was placed there by the game's main bad guy, Ganondorf. To beat the game, you (playing as Adult Link) must enter the Water Temple and slay Morpha.
Morpha is a rather disappointing boss visually, taking the form of a large pool of inanimate water with occasionally some aqueous tentacles protruding from it. There is also a small, brain-like object that floats around in the water, controlling the whole body - I call this the nexus.
This is a large square room with a large square pool in the centre of it, and four square platforms in the middle of the pool. You can just about make the jump from the edge of the pool to any of the central platforms, though you must pull yourself up by your fingers. Around the edge of the arena are inward-pointing spikes - these are relatively easy to avoid most of the time, but don't forget that they're there. There are no handy pots containing power-ups of any kind. The pool of water in the centre of the arena forms Morpha's body, but you can swim around in it safely most of the time.
The nexus/brain type thing will float around in the pool, presumably sensing your actions. When you go near it, it will swirl around underwater making a distinctive gurgling sound and out of the surface of the water above it, a large watery tentacle will begin to form. Once complete, the nexus will stop spinning and the tentacle will drop flat onto the border of the pool, in the direction in which you're standing. If you're directly under the tentacle, you will feel the impact. As the tentacle lies there on the poolside, inert, the nexus will come up and move up and down it, tantalisingly within sword reach. After a little damage has been dealt to Morpha (more on that later) the nexus will begin forming multiple tentacles at a time. These will drop nearly simultaneously. It will float up and down the last tentacle it created.
If you touch a blue tentacle or attempt to attack it with any kind of handheld weapon, you will most likely be picked up by it. Then it will wave you about in mid-air choking a great deal of energy out of you, before hurling you against one of the many spikes along the wall.
Typically the nexus moves too fast to be hit by a ranged weapon - it is impossible to damage it with arrows even if you do hit it while it is underwater, and while it is just about possible to Longshot it if you are close enough, it is difficult and impractical.
How to beat Morpha
As with almost all bosses in every Zelda game, the key to defeating the boss of a dungeon lies in the major item you picked up during that dungeon. In this case, that's the Longshot (extended Hookshot). You will also need your Master Sword (or Biggoron's Sword, if you have it).
The nexus is well-protected as long as it is inside its watery protective shell, so you need to remove it somehow. Go close enough to Morpha's nexus to trigger the creation of a tentacle. Wait at a suitable distance (i.e. just outside the range of the falling tentacle) until it falls flat, and then Z-target the nexus. Use your Longshot on the nexus to drag it towards you. This will disintegrate the tentacle completely and leave the nexus flailing helplessly on dry land - vulnerable. As it bounces around, whip out your sword and do a quick slash. You can only get one or at most two attacks in as it bounces before it jumps back towards the pool and in, where it is invulnerable again. randombit adds "I like to use the hammer against Morpha, because sometimes it pounds him straight into the ground, and you can get 3 or 4 hits in."
That's pretty much your entire strategy. Stay away from the spikes and the platforms in the middle of the pool, and continue to Longshot and then slash the nexus until it dies a wobbly death; then the pool will dry up and you can exit the boss arena via the warp in the centre. Don't forget to collect the Heart Container beforehand! The lake will now be filled with water, giving you access to the Fire Arrows. Next stop - the sinister Bottom of the Well.
How to beat Morpha faster
If you're aiming to beat Morpha REALLY fast, try this method. Longshot the nexus as normal, then back away from it a little and Longshot it AGAIN, dragging it further out of the water. Continue Longshotting it roughly twice a second and carefully back into a corner, where you and it will be partially shielded in by spikes. Now move around the nexus to block the exit and lay into it with your sword repeatedly. If you do this quickly enough, you can slash the nexus many times without it escaping; to the point that you can destroy it within a few seconds, thus beating Morpha nearly instantly! Total elapsed time during the boss fight can be as little as thirty seconds. Have fun!
This was the sixth boss from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Previous boss: Volvagia.
Next boss: Bongo Bongo.