Gaming The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

[Desbreko]

[color=indigo]Heh, I take it you're stuck on the second basement and can't figure out how to get back up to the little section of the first basement where Arrghus (the boss) is, right? Well, the door that leads to the room with the staircase is hidden. In the room on the second basement with all the fountain head things on the northern wall, you'll see a doorway in place of where the second-from-the-left fountain should be. Well, there's also a doorway where the second-from-the-right fountain should be--it's just that the fountain [i]is[/i] there, and the water flowing out of it covers the doorway. You can simply walk through the stream of water and into the next room.[/color]

[Desbreko]

[color=indigo]As some of you may have noticed, I had a few lines in my signature just recently that read,[/color]

[size=1]"[b]You know you play too much Zelda: A Link to the Past when...[/b]
...you beat the game without fighting Agahnim in Hyrule Castle because, 'He's not worth my time.'

Booyah."[/size]

[color=indigo]First off, yes, I actually did that, and you'll find out how in a minute. My question for this thread, though, is have you ever done something like that? Used a trick or cheat to beat a Zelda game without doing something that you would normally have to do? Or maybe just added some extra challenge to the game by not getting optional weapons, items, Heart Containers, and whatnot? If you have, I'd like to hear your experiences and what tricks you used.

As I said, I've beaten A Link to the Past without fighting Agahnim in Hyrule Castle. Now I'm playing through again, and this time (believe it or not), I'm doing it without getting the Master Sword. The same trick that makes skipping Agahnim possible also lets you skip the Master Sword, though it makes it harder and a bit trickier.

I call this trick the "Dark World Drop," and you can find out how to do it by reading the text below my main post. Basically, to skip getting the Master Sword, you just perform the trick after you've gotten the Moon Pearl out of the Mountain Tower, but before you get the Master Sword. Then you can just do the Dark World dungeons as you would normally.

But wait, you may ask; how are you going to get into Level 6: Misery Mire without the Master Sword? After all, you need the Ether Medallion to open its entrance, and you need the Master Sword to get Ether. Well, yesterday I confirmed my theory on how to get past this. What I did, was I just went straight to the Tempered Sword from the Fighter's Sword (Lv.1 Sword to the Lv.3 Sword). This let me get the Ether Medallion and open up Level 6, yet the Master Sword is still sitting in its pedestal in the Lost Woods.

I've already beaten Levels 1 and 4 in the Dark World (it's possible to go straight from 1 to 4, since you don't need the Hookshot or Fire Rod in Level 4), and everything looks like it'll go smoothly from there. I'll confirm it when I beat the game. (You'll probably see another thing in my sig, heh).

So yeah, those are my experiences thus far. I've been thinking about going through A Link to the Past and getting as few items, Heart Containers, and whatnot as possible, but I haven't done it yet. Probably someday, though, since I just keep getting better at the game each time I play through.[/color]

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[color=seagreen][b]The Dark World Drop[/b]

This trick allows you to get into all of the Dark World before you've beaten Agahnim in Hyrule Castle. This has some obvious benefits, such as getting some items and Heart Container Pieces before you'd normally be able to, but it also has another use. With this trick, you can actually beat the game without ever getting the Master Sword or fighting Agahnim in Hyrule Castle.

First of all, go to Death Mountain in the Light World and go through the warp portal near the Mountain Tower. You can perform this trick as a rabbit, before you've gotten the Moon Pearl, but there's not much to do in the Dark World as a rabbit. So, it's reccomended that you have the Moon Pearl first.

After you warp to the Dark World, walk south a bit and you'll come to the edge of a cliff. Drop down through a gap in the edging, and then drop down again from the ledge that you'll land on. (Ignore the cave on the ledge for now, as you need to Magic Hammer to get anywhere in it). Now walk one screen to the east, and you'll come to a large gorge blocking your path. In the Light World, there's a broken bridge in this location, which is what makes this trick possible. When you get to this place in the Dark World, walk up to the top post and wedge yourself as close as you can get to it and the wall. (In other words, hold in diagonal up/right until you can't go any farther). Now stop moving, and using the Magic Mirror to warp to the Light World.

This is the hardest part of the trick. During the time while you're flashing, and the warp portal that you created won't pull you back into the Dark World, edge to the right a tiny bit. It should look like you've only moved a couple pixels. Now stop moving, and let the portal pull you back into the Dark World when you stop flashing. DON'T MOVE! If you've done the last part correctly, you will actually be standing in the wall a little, but you won't be warped back to the Light World. If you move, you'll be pushed off the wall and you'll have to start over. Also, if you've moved too far and you do get automatically warped back to the Light World, you'll have to start over.

Now, wait until you stop flashing again, and warp back to the Light World once more. Step to the right until you're all the way out of the portal and onto the broken bridge. Then, while still facing to the right, holding in the B button to charge up a Spin Attack. With your sword charged, edge backwards into the portal ever so slightly. The less you're in the portal when you get warped to the Dark World, the better.

While you're being warped, keep the B button held in, and also hold in right on the Control Cross. If everything has been done correctly, you'll jump off the ledge and into the gorge below. (If you don't, start over; it takes a little practice to be able to do this trick consistently). Don't worry, though -- you can actually stand on the black area that looks like a huge pit. The red lines cannot be walked across, however.

When you land in the gorge, walk south, slip between a little gap in one of the red lines, and walk down to the next screen. (DO NOT walk down to the next screen farther to the right. If you do, the game will screw up, and you'll most likely have to reset). Now you should be in a familiar looking area; just to the east of the Graveyard, next to the river...only you're on top of that big cliff! (And of course, you're in the Dark World). The screen will be a bit glitchy, and the music and color palette won't have changed from Death Mountain, but this can easily be fixed. Either while you're still up on the cliff (you can walk around on it), or after you drop down onto the grass below, simply warp to the Light World using the Magic Mirror and then warp back in order to fix the glitchy screen.

And that's it; you're now in the Dark World, off of Death Mountain, without having beaten Agahnim in Hyrule Castle. This trick can be performed any time in the game after you gain access to Death Mountain in the Light World, but once you get the Magic Hammer, there's no use for it since the Magic Hammer lets you go everywhere in the Dark World that this trick can get you.[/color]

[Sniglefager]

wow, the only trick/glitch I ever used in a Link to the Past is getting the Magic Cape before the 4th dungeon lol. I'll have to try that "Dark World Drop" thing, it sounds kind of cool.

[ShadowLord]

Thats cool. I think this is a glitch but one time on MM I entered Sakon's hideout before he got there on the 3rd day and I was able to wear the Fierce Deity's Mask for the remainder of the day, although wwhen I entered Clock Town I couldn't get out, and I also got Epona into the city once too.

[Kahlan]

i'm so pitiful i have yet to beat ALTTP. However, in OOT i just got the dungeon heart pieces my fifth time through. it wasn't too difficult.
My first time playing OOT, i did the whole thing with the original magic container. Honestly, in that one, its because i didn't find the great fairy that raised it. That was tough against Ganandorf.

[Monkeys_revenge]

I think this was in OOT, or maybe it was Mario Sunshine.... No, it was OOT, er maybe... Oh forget it. But here's the glitch anyways.
I was walking and I fell through the ground of a cliff, moved forwards, and came out the cliff wall, then fell in the river.
OH! It was OOT cause I remember the music of Grudo Valley.:blulaugh: :sweat:

[OtakuSennen]

Heh. I've never done it, but my friend got all the way from Earth Temple to the Spirit Temple without beating a single boss in OoT..

All ya do is get the weapon that you get in that dungeon, then go to the next one... I'm not sure if you can really do that, I haven't played in forever.. But if I remember properly, it's possible to see the Spirit Temple before even conquering Earth first..

[Desbreko]

[color=indigo]Um...the Earth Temple is in The Wind Waker, not Ocarina of Time. Do you mean the Forest Temple?

As for that, though, you'd be able to do all but the Shadow Temple without beating a boss. (As adult Link, that is; you have to beat the previous three bosses as young Link just to get up to that point). You can grab the Fairy Bow out of the Forest Temple; the Megaton Hammer out of the Fire Temple; the Longshot out of the Water Temple, which lets you get to the Spirit Temple along with the Lens of Truth which you get from the Bottom of the Well; and then you could get the Silver Gauntlets and Mirror Shield out of the Spirit Temple. But in order to get into the Shadow Temple, you have to have beaten the Water Temple. Otherwise the event in Kakariko Village won't trigger, and you won't be able to learn the Nocturne of Shadow from Sheik, which is required to get to the Shadow Temple.

Whoa...I just got an idea from that. That is, go through A Link to the Past without even getting the Pendants of Virtue, let alone the Master Sword. You could just grab the items out of the Light World dungeons without beating the bosses. You never actually have to beat the bosses except to get the Pendants, which you only use to get the Master Sword. And since I'm already doing it without getting the Master Sword, the Pendants are completely unnecessary. It would mean not getting those three Heart Containers, but that won't be much of a problem; I haven't even used a Fairy or potion this last time through, and I'm already to Level 6: Misery Mire. (I'm expecting the Ganon fight is going to require a potion, as it always has, though; but still, that leaves three other potions unused).

I just keep getting more and more ideas for skipping would-be vital items in LTP, lol. If not for having to use Ether to open up Level 6, you could do the entire game with the Fighter's Sword (Lv.1 Sword).[/color]

[OtakuSennen]

Heh. Yeah, sorry about the forest/earth misdiscrepency.. I have not played either game in a while... X_X

Wow! A similar trick works for LTTP as well? Cool! I gotta try that..! I never really beat LTTP.. Well, I'll dust off my SNES and try that now! ^_^ Thank you for the statement that put me in a revelation, Desbreko.

[Desbreko]

[color=indigo]Hmm, I was thinking last night, and I figured out you have to at least get the Pendant of Courage. Without it you can't get the Pegasus Shoes from Sahasrahla, which you need to get the Book of Mudora, which you need for a few different necessary bits in the game. So you can only skip the second two Pendants, I guess. (The Pendant of Power and Pendant of Wisdom, as far as I know, can be skipped using the Dark World Drop trick. I haven't thought of any reason why you actually need them if you're not going to get the Master Sword).

You do, however, have to get all of the Crystals from the Dark World dungeons. There's no way around that, since you can't get into Level 8: Ganon's Tower without all seven Crystals. So there's not much point in skipping those, unless you just want to come back later when you've gotten almost everything and completely trash the bosses, heh. (Though really, I can already do that with the normal amount of stuff). ^_^[/color]

[b]New Post Edit:[/b]
[color=seagreen]Right, I finished A Link to the Past again while I was gone this past week, and I can confirm that it [i]is[/i] possible to beat the game without getting the Master Sword. In fact, if you go back and get the Master Sword after getting the Lv.3 or Lv.4 sword, it actually lowers your sword level back down to Lv.2.

So here's the updated list, heheh:[/color]

[size=1][b]You know you play too much Zelda: A Link to the Past when...[/b]
...you beat the game without fighting Agahnim in Hyrule Castle because, "He's not worth my time."
...you beat the game without getting the Master Sword because, "I don't need it."
...you beat the game without using any potions or bottled fairies because, "I'm just that cool."[/size]

[color=seagreen]And if you're wondering, I did that third one on the same file as the second one. And no, I didn't ever reset, either. I actually ended up beating Ganon with only one Heart left, heh.[/color]

[Valen]

Hahaha sweet Des! Have you gotten the 000 ending yet for it? Not really a change in it, you just get that feeling of either: "I have way too much free time on my hands," or "Damn I'm good." Haha, I have tried the Dark World Drop trick, and as you said, it takes practice.

[Desbreko]

[color=indigo]Yeah, the ending is the same, but it is satisfying to see the Quest History scroll down the screen with all 000's. And actually, every game I've played on my LTP/FS copy, I've never died. So I've gotten 000 for all four times through, heh. (I did die a few times on my first time through on the SNES version, though).

Oh, that reminds me! There is one thing that changes the ending, that I noticed when I beat it on my last time through. That is, if you don't beat Agahnim in Hyrule Castle, the Twin Lumberjacks never cut down that tree that they're sawing through. So in the ending, instead of the tree being cut down and them working on a new one, the tree is still there. (Though they're still working on the other tree). So that's a slight change, heh.[/color]

[Valen]

Woah, weird... almost like they planned for that... I'm going to have to try that.

[Desbreko]

[color=indigo]I doubt they planned for it. They probably just used the same overworld graphics, changed the position of the lumberjacks sprite, and put some text on a foreground layer. So if the tree hadn't changed on the overworld, it wouldn't change in the ending, either. I can't imagine they recreate bits of the overworld just for the ending sequence. That'd just take up more space.[/color]

[sophic]

I need help on zelda link to the pass i wunt to know how do you get the blue cane i have the red one but theres a blue can any one help me how to get it THX.

[Semjaza]

Extremely simple question... I've not played in years and I still remember it, so you should have no problem at all.

Obviously you should have bombs at this point. Go to Lake Hylia (on the bottom right part of the map) and walk around to its eastern shoreline.

You'll see a cave, but a little past that is a weak, cracked wall. Bomb it and go inside to get the Ice Rod.

[Desbreko]

[color=indigo]I think he means the Cane of Byrna, not the Ice Rod. If so, it's still not that hard to get if you know where to look. First, go up on Death Mountain, to the warp portal just below the Mountain Tower. Warp to the Dark World, and then walk down to the cliff edge. There'll be a gap in the wall -- jump down. You'll land on a small ledge with a cave on it.

Inside the cave, you'll need the Magic Hammer to pound down some stakes, but you should already have it if you've got the Cane of Somaria. Beyond the stakes is a long path of spikes, so make sure you've got the Magic Cape and a full Magic Meter or lots of life/potions. (And either way, be sure to dash down the [i]center[/i] of the path using the Pegasus Shoes -- there are torches lining the sides, so be sure you're in the center before dashing). At the end of the path, there'll big a big block that you have to lift up, and then a treasure chest with the Cane of Byrna in it. There'll also be eight pots, each with a heart inside.

Hope this helps.[/color]

[Semjaza]

I don't even remember the canes anymore. Shows how much I know, heh.

[sophic]

thx very much i can finaly have every thing in the game.