This is the most recent version of the FAQ. I will no longer upload the text-only version on GameFAQs . This is still a work in progress, although I admit that I don't spend much time on it at the moment...

Table of Contents

I: Introduction and Stuff

I.1: Version Updates

Added the Vocabulary and Abbreviations section

Added the Chris Houlihan's room section (and removed the previous one)

Added information in the "Useful Addresses" section

Corrected an error in the Version Updates section :)

Changed the Table of Contents and the order of some sections

Added the STEG and the "Skip the Sword and Shield" glitch

Added (finally!) the "3 Phases of the Game" section

Added the "Final Save" glitch

Wrote the Super Bunny in Lake Hylia section (and teleportation section)

Capitalized a lot of titles

Added a comparison of the Exploration Glitches

Corrected or updated a lot of sections

Re-read the whole FAQ to check if it was up to date

Added a few names in the Thanks section (because I had a lot of new help)

Corrected a room number error in section [ETH]

Changed my e-mail address

Many other small (or maybe big) updates that I forgot

Added the JSEG

Added the Underworld Map section

Corrected the Rainy Day section

Completed the Rainy Day section with ccexplore's techniques

Fixed some index problems

Corrected some typos

Added the "Others" section with directions to the Houlihan's room

Corrected some minor mistakes here and there

Added the Skull Dungeon glitch

Reversed the order of updates (most recent first)

Added all missing "why it happens" sections

Added a short (and boring) introduction

Corrected a few typos

modified the DMD notes by Frost King

Why it happens sections written for some glitches

Rearranged the glitches so the Levitation glitch comes earlier

Added complement info about DMD

Added the version updates section

Some referencing errors have been corrected

First version of the FAQ.

I.2: Introduction

Version 1.00Version 0.97Version 0.93bVersion 0.93Version 0.92Version 0.9Version 0.82(no v0.81 because of a stupid error when sending the FAQ...)Version 0.8Version 0.7

This FAQ is intended for players who have already finished this game (The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, for the SNES) and want to try new things. It contains major spoilers and I consider that the player is already familiar with most names and normal game events. If you haven't finished the game yet or do not really remember it, it might be hard to understand my explanations (and it can spoil you the pleasure of completing this awesome game normally).

This Glitches FAQ does not reference all known glitches for this game. This would be too long and I'm not interested in most of the minor glitches of this game (having your shield turn blue or seeing a purple soldier is not that interesting...). The glitches in this FAQ are the "useful" ones meaning that they let you do things that you weren't supposed to do (or at least not at the moment you do them). I particularly like to use glitches to complete special "glitch quests" such as speed runs or complete important parts of the game without important items (sword, Moon Pearl, etc.)

The main reason why I have written this FAQ was to talk about the Exploration Glitches (see [EXG]). These glitches are very powerful ones of this game. They can freeze your game or even might damage your saved games (it only happens with one of them, and can be avoided if you follow the instructions). I highly recommend that you first experiment most of the glitches that I present here on an emulator (ZSNES and Snes9X are the best ones by far) so you take no risks, and you can use savestates to make the experimentation easier. Then, if you know what you are doing go and do it on your real SNES if you like (I tried most of the glitches on my SNES).

I.3: Vocabulary and Abbreviations

Here's a short list of the abbreviations that I use sometimes in the FAQ, and quick definitions (or a reference to the paragraph that defines it) of some of the terms I use. I also included some names of elements (places, items, etc.) of the game that might not be so well known.

Blind's Hideout Blind the Thief is the boss of the fourth Dark World dungeon. Blind's Hideout is naturally the dungeon where you fight him... And it's the one located in the Village of Outcasts. Chris Houlihan's room It's a secret room in the game (see [CHR]) Dark Palace The first Dark World dungeon where you get the Hammer. It's the Dark World version of the Eastern Palace. Desert Palace The second Light World dungeon. The one that is... in the desert! DMD Death Mountain Descent. It's a glicth that lets you go down from Death Moutain without going through the caves. It lets you explore the Dark World very soon in the game. See [DMD] Eastern Palace The first Light World dungeon. The one where you get the Bow. It is, as the name implies, located on the east of Hyrule... Exploration Zone The collection of all rooms of the game (inside of a dungeon/cave/house) where you can move almost freely with the help of Exploration Glitches. See [EXG] Exploration Glitch These are the glitches that let you explore the Exploration Zone. See [EXG] Hop (verb) Action of jumping back onto the floor of a room from the Exploration Zone. Hyrule Hyrule is the land where the action occurs. Hyrule is all that you see when you look at the Outworld map. Technically, the Dark World is not in Hyrule... It's the Golden Land, but to me it's the Dark version of Hyrule so I never talk about the Golden Land. Hyrule Castle The main castle of Hyrule. The one where you go at the beginning of the game to rescue Princess Zelda. Then you go there again when you want to fight Agahnim after getting the Master Sword. JSEG Jump and Save Exploration Glitch. One particular Exploration Glitch. See [JSEG] Kakariko Village It's the main village of Hyrule. The one that is on the west side, and south of the woods. Magic Mirror It's the item given to you by the Old Man in Death Mountain. It lets you go back from the Dark World to the Light World. I sometimes use the verb "to mirror" which means "to use the Magic Mirror". Master Sword The Master Sword is the legendary sword of Hyrule. You get in in the woods. Then you can upgrade it twice (into the Tempered and Golden Sword). Notice that when I say "the" Master Sword, it means the Lv. 2 sword that you find in the woods, but when I say "a" Master Sword it means any sword of level 2 or more (the one from the woods, the Tempered Sword, or the Golden Sword). Misery Mire It denotes both the swamp in the Dark World that's where the desert was in the Light World (the place where it rains until you use the Ether Medallion) and the dungeon that's there. Moon Pearl It's the item that's in the Big Chest of the Tower of Hera. It lets you keep your original shape when in the Dark World. It's supposedly required, but there are plenty of ways to do stuff without it (plus it's so much funnier to be a Pink Bunny). PBEG Pegasus Boots Exploration Glitch. Another Exploration Glitch. See [PBEG] Pegasus Boots These are given to you by Sahasrahla. They let you dash and bump into objects. Pyramid of Power It's the big pyramid on top of which you respawn in the Dark World. It's where the final fight against Ganon takes place. STEG Stairs Exploration Glitch. Yet another one. See [STEG] Tower of Hera It's the third Light World dungeon. It's the one in the mountain where you get the Moon Pearl. Turtle Rock The seventh Dark World dungeon. It's the one that's shaped like a Turtle, and is located in the Dark Death Mountain (gee, that's creepy). UDEG Up/Down Exploration Glitch. [UDEG] Village of Outcasts It's the Dark World version of Kakariko Village.

II: The Glitches

In this section I will describe the most important glitches of this game that I know. For each one, I'll explain as clearly as possible what it does, how to perform it, what are the possible uses, why it happens (programming stuff) and some other interesting things you might want to know.

II.1: Death Mountain Descent

Description

The Death Mountain Descent (aka. DMD) is a very interesting glitch. It lets you get down from Death Mountain in the Dark World (you arrive in the cemetery). It can be executed as soon as you have the Magic Mirror. Thanks to David Wonn for this glitch that I found on his site.

Requirements

You'll need the Magic Mirror and the ability to reach the first portal to the Dark World (the one in Death Mountain that leads to the Tower of Hera). Having the Moon Pearl could be a good idea if you want to explore the Dark World without trouble but it is not necessary.

How to

Go to the portal in Death Mountain (in the Light World) that you use to reach the Tower of Hera. Enter the portal.

In the Dark World, jump to the foot of the mountain and then move one screen east. You should see two plots indicating the place of the broken bridge in the Light World.

Go between the two plots and move as much to the right as you can (until you're against the ledge) and use the mirror.

(*) Now this part is tricky: you must move ONE pixel to the right (no more, no less). Then wait for the portal to take you back to the Dark World.

If the transition to the Dark World doesn't work (ie. you're taken back to the Light World) it's because you moved too much to the right. Try agin. If it works (and you actually moved to the right), proceed to the next step.

Use the mirror again. When you reach the Light World, move to the right so you're not standing on the portal anymore.

Wait for Link to stop blinking. Move back to the left until you touch the portal and enter it.

If you did this correctly you should now be standing on the ledge between the ground and the void. Move right so Link jumps into the void. (if you can't move east or if the transition to the Dark World failed, start over from (*)).

You are now walking on the void. Find your way to the southern screen. Be careful not to go too much to the right or you might get stuck in the waterfall or make the game enter an infinite scrolling loop.

If you changed screen at the right place, you should now be on the top of a wall. Jump down.

You can now explore this part of the Dark World (including the village, the cemetery, the Skull Woods...). If the graphics are buggy (which should be the case) simply warp to the Light World and back to the Dark World.

Why it happens

The following illustration will help understand why this weird glitch happens.

(1) ====================================== (Light World)(2) ==================[!]================= (Dark World)(3) [--Link--] (Dark)(4) **[--Link--]** (Light)(5) ***[--Link--]* (Light)(6) [--Link--] (Dark)(7) **[--Link--]** (Light)(8) ************** [--Link--] (Light)(9) *************[--Link--] (Light)(10) [--Link--] (Dark)

In this illustration, each column represents a pixel of the game (for example I have here supposed that Link's sprite was 10 pixels wide, and the ledge was 3 pixels wide). The symbols have the following significations:

TODO: redo image and legend

First, I don't know exactly what are the widths of Link's sprite (S), the ledge (L) and the portal (P). In the illustration I have chosen arbitrarily S = 10, L = 3 and P = 14. This is not capital information, however we need to have the relation (P - S) = 2(L - 2). (If you try to reproduce the illustration with other values you'll easily see why).

A key point when understanding why this glitch works is to understand that the ledge's borders ([!]) are considered "solid" when walking but not when warping from one world to the other. This means that when we try to walk towards the ledge the game stops Link in the position [--Link--]{!} because if he went further to the right he would be standing on a solid object. However when warping to the Dark World from the Light World, the position [--Link--|!] is accepted because here the border of the ledge is not solid (but if Link's sprite touches the center of the ledge "!" then the warp is not valid and we are taken back to the Light World so only the borders are not solid when warping). This is a very weird programming inconsistency (solid objects are not the same when warping and when walking). I think that this has been done voluntarily by the programmers to make warping easier since transitions are considered valid more easily this way (a location error of one pixel is accepted). However it is the key to this glitch since when walking one step to the right in the Light World and back to the Dark World we can be one pixel more to the right than what the programmers expected. Therefore we can put our portal one pixel more to the right than what they thought was possible and this way we can use the portal on the rightmost point and not cover the rightmost pixel of the solid part of the ledge "!".

Another thing might seem strange. When performing the glitch, we jump on the void and we can walk on it. This is very easy to understand since the default state of a floor is "solid" and when designing a level, the programmers have to specify explicitely where the holes are. In this case, they didn't consider that it was possible to walk on the void part east of the ledge so they didn't bother to make it a hole.

Also, keep in mind that all screens of the outworld are stored in the game the ones next to the others. This means that when we go out of bounds of a screen, the game scrolls to the next screen (this is what happens every time you change screens in the outworld). The Death Mountain part seems isolated since it is normally impossible to reach it from another screen of the outworld (we have to use the bird or come from a cave). However it is located next to the other screens (north of the cemetery and east of the Lost Woods), so when we exit the Death Mountain screen from the south we are taken naturally to the cemetery screen. Of course the programmers never thought that this transition was possible but since they programmed a general scrolling instruction, this default action is done by the game.

Notes

You can use the same technique to enter the weird rectangle area that is in the village of outcasts at the location where the bottle seller is in the Light World. This can be useful in a Phase I quest if you want the Bottle from the Bottle Seller, who will only appear in the Dark World, and will be inside the rectangle area [RAIN]

DMD lets you reach the Dark World as soon as you've got the mirror. This means that you don't need the pendants (except for the first one as you need the Pegasus Boots). Therefore you don't need the hearts in dungeons #2 and #3 of the Light World. If you have the Flippers and the Moon Pearl (get in in the Tower of Hera and exit) you can reach dungeon #1 of the Dark World (Dark Palace) and get the Hammer. From there, you can reach "normally" the portal that is north of Kakariko and the one in the swamp and therefore complete all the Dark World dungeons without having the Master Sword. It is possible with this to finish the game with only 11 hearts (see [NOMS] for more info).

You can also perform this glitch from the other side of the broken bridge (thanks to Frost King for this note). Also, if you can make your way through the obstacles in the "void" area, there is a peak in the Light World near the east side of the bridge that has a glitchy top (see screenshot), such that you can jump back to the land from it (move south towards the peak and Link will jump north to the land). This enables you to explore the eastern side of the mountain before getting the Hammer.

II.2: The Levitation Trick

Description

Some points have to be explained:

The levitation trick, as the name says, is a trick that lets you walk over pits as if Link was levitating. It also makes Link move slowly without actually moving his feet (the sprite is still but you can move in the room).

It cannot be done on a real SNES with a normal controller (unless you're some kind of robot that can press the A button with a perfectly regular rate of 60 presses per second...). However, people have told me that they could do it with some turbo controllers (it doesn't seem to work with all turbo controllers, however).

Requirements

For this glitch you need the Pegasus Boots. You'll also need either an emulator with a good turbo controller emulation (ZSNES works wonders) or a turbo controller that allows this glitch.

How to

This is very easy to do. When you have the Pegasus Boots, simply use the auto fire on the A button and use the directional pad to move. You'll see that Link moves slowly but without moving his feet (like levitating). Now if you try to go over a pit, you'll be able to walk over the void.

Why it happens

I can't enter too much in the details here. However I'll try to give an idea.

This whole glitch is a priority conflict (at least I think it's the explanation). When Link is standing on the void, the game should notice it when making a test that compares Link's position with the position of all obstacles on the screen (holes are here considered obstacles). If the test concludes that Link is on a hole, then the falling animation is triggered. However, on another side, when the A button is pressed and if the player has already found the Pegasus Boots, the boots animation should start. Now when Link is standing on a hole and at the moment of the test the A button is pressed then the game gives the priority to the Pegasus Boots animation (this is a programming error in my opinion and this is what leads to this glitch), and at the next frame, normally the animation should be stopped because the game should see that Link is on a hole but if the A button is again pressed at the moment of the test (or right before) then a new Boots animation is started. As the Boots animation can be started translated to one pixel in any direction (depending on the direction that is pressed on the pad) this enables Link to move slowly in a given direction without ever letting the game see that we are on the hole (in fact the test is never actually done since the Boots animation takes the priority).

As only the first image of the Boots animation is done each time (since we have to start a new animation each time in order for the glitch to work) it seems that Link is standing still.

Also note that the programming error is not really an error since on a real SNES it is impossible to obtain a perfect synchronisation so the test happens eventually (1 or 2 frames later) and Link falls in the hole. Besides giving the priority to the input (buttons pressed) over the game tests is generally a good programming choice since it avoids some freezing situations in which the game enters a loop and never considers the player's choices.

Notes

This trick is required to perform the [PBEG].

This is also very useful in most places where you need the Hookshot as you won't need it anymore. Note however that it only works on "continuous" transitions between the floor and the void. This means that it'll work in all places where Link can normally fall in a hole without "jumping" into it.

If you are levitating and that you touch a wall the levitation will stop and you'll fall if you're over a pit (due to the fact that Link will try to "grab" the wall when pressing A on the wall).

Places where this glitch is most useful are: Hyrule Castle so you perform the PBEG All places where you have to walk on invisible tiles (you don't worry about the tiles anymore) Some rooms in Ice Palace, Ganon's Tower and Misery Mire (maybe even others I don't remember) where you're supposed to use the Hookshot in case you don't have it yet (or don't want to use it). Turtle Rock, since you can now do the whole dungeon without ever creating a Somaria platform.



II.3: The Exploration Glitches

Description

Exploration glitches are the most powerful glitches that I know in this game.

It is like a kind of "no-clipping mode" in the sense that it lets you see almost any room of any dungeon in the game. However they are quite hard to use (not really hard to perform, but hard to manipulate correctly to do what you want to do) at first because you easily get lost and the game might freeze quite often if you go to the wrong places.

The main idea of these glitches is that they take you "under" the floor of most rooms and this way you can walk either under or "outside" of the rooms (be on the other side of the walls). As all rooms of the dungeons are in the same place in the program (see [UDRW]), if you don't use the usual connections (doors, staircases etc.) you can go from a dungeon to another without problems... These glitches are the main reason why I decided to write this FAQ because the possible uses are nearly unlimited.

Notes

As I said before, after performing an exploration glitch you are under the floor or out of the rooms. This means that you obviously can't interact correctly with what is inside the dungeons. The key point when using these glitches is to find particular rooms where you can "hop" back to the normal floor (from now on "hop" will be the word that I'll use for such action). This means that in these rooms you can go back from the outside of the room into the room (on the normal floor). Normally this "hopping" action will consist in Link jumping from outside of the room onto the floor of the room (in some cases Link can also hop outside of the room). There are not so many "hoppable" rooms (not even one in each dungeon) but still enough to do what we want most of the time.

The Exploration Glitches are quite unstable... First of all, they don't all work exactly in the same way, meaning that some things might be possible to do with one but not with another. Also, it seems that the more you stay in the "Exploration Zone" and the more transitions you do between rooms before you hop back inside a dungeon, the more likely it will go wrong when you try to hop. Sometimes (for reasons that no one fully understands yet) everything starts to go wrong and you can't hop back anymore, or if you can, you can't interact with anything when inside the dungeon. Some EG are more stable than others.

The stability will be discussed later when comparing the different glitches.

The stability will be discussed later when comparing the different glitches. If you have Hyrule Magic on your computer and the US version of the ROM, you can use the room editor to see how the rooms are located the ones with respect to the others. This can help you a lot when exploring. If not, check the Underworld Map section [UDRW] to understand how it works, and find your way to the most important rooms.

II.3.A: Skull Dungeon Method (SDEG)

Thanks to dvdmth

Description

This is the version I like less. It's harder to perform than the others, must be done later in the game and is very hard to use correctly (it's much more unstable than the other ones). I nearly never use it. Its only real good point is that it can be done on a real SNES without doing anything special. Also it's the first EG that was discovered.

Requirements

Reach Skull Dungeon (#3). Can be done as soon as you can perform the DMD as you can reach Skull Dungeon from there.

How to

Go to Skull Dungeon, in the room 104, the one with 4 bumpers, 3 mummies and spikes (the south-east most room)

Kill all zombies so they won't bother later

Now head to the two upper bumpers and position yourself right between the two (remove the skull pot before)

When you're correctly placed, move right so you bounce against the first bumper and are sent back to the other one

If you were correctly placed you should start bouncing back and forth between the bumpers. If you are sent away then you weren't correctly aligned with them. Try again.

When bouncing back and forth, charge your sword so that you can unleash a spin attack on the ceiling hand when it falls on you

After bouncing long enough (I think that you need to do it around 1 minute) exit the bumpers area and go to the room to the north

You should see a bumper, a red octopus-like creature and star tiles

Approach the door immediately to your left

You'll see that the scrolling is weird because the camera will go out of bounds letting you see part of the next room even before you enter the door

Now enter the door. Two things might happen: Most of the times the camera will scroll two rooms to the left. From there you'll see a room with 3 zombies and a red skeletton and you'll be stuck in the door. There's nothing more to do, the glitch failed. Use your magic mirror. The other possibility is that you go into the left door but the screen only scrolls once and so you see the Fire Rod chest. From there go back to your left (return to the room you just came from) and try finding your way (it's a little hard because the camera won't be correctly placed). After some moves you should see that you are under the floor (for example you'll see yourself walk under the holes in the ground). You can now move under the floor and explore rooms from all dungeons.



Why it happens

I think that some parameter (used when defining the scrolling of the camera) is calculated with an error of one pixel (or so) each time you bounce back and forth between the bumpers. This means that if you bounce for long enough this parameter has a value that is one screen wrong and so the glitch happens. This explanation might not be really clear (in fact I never use this glitch so I know very little about it) but it would explain why two different things can happen when doing the glitch (I think that if you don't bounce enough times nothing happens, if you bounce the correct ammount of times (2) happens and if you bounce too many times (1) happens). However I have not tested this enough to conclude.

Notes

As you might have noticed it, I don't really like this method and therefore I nearly never use it, so I don't have much to say about it.

I think that in order for it to worlk correctly (for the option (2) to happen instead of (1)) you need to bounce enough but not too much.

This exploration glitch is quite hard to use because even when you do it correctly you are never in the room that you actually see, so the obstacles are not really the ones you see on the screen and it's quite hard to navigate.

II.3.B: Pegasus Boots Method (PBEG)

Description

This one is a very good version of the exploration glitch. It lets you easily explore all the Primary Underworld (rooms of the dungeons and some caves) very soon. The bad point is that it requires an auto-fire controller (or an emulator). It seems also that not all turbo controller work (so I recommend you do it with ZSNES).

Requirements

You need to be able to enter Hyrule Castle (so it can't be done after defeating Agahnim unless you use another EG to enter the castle) and perform the Levitation Trick [LEV], so you need the Pegasus Boots and a turbo controller that works with the Levitation Trick (an emulator does this perfectly).

How to

Go to Hyrule Castle's underground (where you rescued Princess Zelda)

In the second underground blue room (114S), there is an infinite pit that has no right limit (ie. there's no east wall at some point). Perform the levitation trick there [LEV] and exit to the right

You shouldn't see yourself anymore and be in a room from the Desert Dungeon (but with messed up colors)

Congratulations, you have reached the exploration zone... You can now walk around and explore the dungeons (see later sections for more info on what you can do with this glitch)

Why it happens

This glitch is very simple to understand. All we do is exit the room from a point where the programmers didn't think we could. As they didn't consider that walking on the void was possible, they didn't consider necessary to close the room on the right wall. If we walk on the void (with the levitation glitch) we can exit the room to the right. When doing so the game handles it as it does normally when going from one room into the next one (most transitions are like this, each time the screen scrolls) and takes us to the room that is stored east of the current one in the ROM. This room happens to be a room from another dungeon since all dungeon rooms are stored together (see [UDRW] for more details). Moreover as we were on a lower level in the previous room (remember that the entrance door of the room is higher than the floor from which we did the levitation trick) the game considers we are in the lower level of the rooms we visit.

Notes

This EG is very stable (possibly the most stable of all). If you use this glitch and hop into a dungeon, most of the times (depending on where you enter the dungeon) everything will act correctly (the pots and items will be there, the enemies will see you and attack you etc.).

Because the glitch must be done in the lower level of Hyrule Castle, it cannot be performed after defeating Agahnim unless another glitch is used to re-enter the castle.

This glitch can be attempted from the room in Turtle Rock right before the boss (room 180) because it also has open borders. However, this room only has an upper level so, by moving to the next room, Link is stuck in the walls and it is not possible to explore.

When you perform this glitch and visit rooms from other dungeons the game doesn't realize that you change the current dungeon so you're still considered to be in Hyrule Castle. The main consequence of this is that if you have the Big Key from the castle you'll be able to open all "big doors" (and the big chests) in the dungeons you'll hop into. Also the small keys (either used or collected) will be counted as keys in Hyrule Castle.

II.3.C: The (Up + Down) Combo (UDEG)

Description

This is another method to perform the exploration glitch. The good point is that everybody can perform it with a real SNES (no need for an emulator), but the bad point is you'll have to open your controller for it. It is a strong use of the more general multi-directional glitch [MDR]. I'll explain here how to perform it in the place where I found it works the best and it's the most useful (as soon as possible) but there are a lot of other places where it can be done too. This glitch is quite similar to the [STEG] to perform, but the two have quite different properties, and are used in different places.

Requirements

This glitch can be performed as soon as you enter Hyrule Castle for the first time. It also requires that you open your controller if you're playing on a real SNES as you'll have to press simultaneously Up and Down (this is it's main bad point)... Refer to the multi-directional glitch [MDR] subsection for more info.

How to

Go to Hyrule Castle, enter from the main entrance and go to the room to the left (room 96E). It' a vertical room that has an exit from the top (that leads to another vertical room).

Go to the north exit but don't enter. Now press (Up + Down) and go through the door while facing downwards (again refer to the multi-directional glitch [MDR] for more details... -am I repeating myself?-)

This should make the game glitch (the transition should be erroneous). Wait until the transition is finished and press again (Up + Down) until another weird transition happens.

If you did it correctly you should now see a completely closed and empty room but not see Link anymore: you're in the exploration zone...

Why it happens

This glitch is very weird. I'm not sure that I correctly understand what happens. For now, I think that the game is very confused when we press both directions (Up and Down for example) and that it acts in some ways as if we were pressing Up and in some other ways as if we were pressing Down. For example Link faces down but moves Up. When entering a door, the game loads the southern room instead of the northern one and Link's location is messed up (I haven't really understood which location is chosen and why). However in the particular case that I have explained here (in Hyrule Castle if you make two transitions) the location is corrected the second time and Link is considered really in the southern room. From there it is possible to explore as for the previous glitch, and once again we are in a lower level since we performed the glitch from a lower level (see [PBEG] explanation).

Notes

Again, there's lots to say about this glitch. It's very useful and some of its possible uses will be discussed in the later sections [QUE].

This is one of the earliest glitches you can perform in the game. It requires nearly nothing and enables you to do a lot of things (including completing the game) without even rescuing Zelda from her cell.

If you perform this glitch at the very beginning (ie. before rescuing Zelda) keep in mind that you are still in phase I of the game. This will affect lots of things in the outworld and even some things inside the dungeons (see [3PHA])

Note that here I explained how to do it in one particular room. This room is the one that I found it the easiest to do it and where you can do it the earliest. However there are other rooms where you can. There's another room in Hyrule Castle where you can do it on the Left exit (pressing Left+Right). And also ccexplore found that you can do it in a room in Misery Mire. Doing it in Misery Mire is only useful if you want the game to think that you are in the Dark World. See section [SMIT] for more details on the UDEG in Misery Mire.

II.3.D: Going Under the Stairs (STEG)

Thanks to The Night Hunter

Description

This glitch seems very similar to the UDEG but has a different behaviour. It's more stable and can be used in different places (so it's complementary). As the name implies, it consists in going through some stairs and under the floor.

Requirements

Not much is required game-wise. As with the UDEG, it can be performed in Hyrule Castle when you enter for the first time. It can be done in many other places (where there are stairs, but not all the stairs). It also requires that you open your controller if you play on a real SNES since you'll have to press all four directions at the same time (see [MDR]).

How to

Go to some place with stairs (inside a room, not stairs connecting two different floors of a dungeon) and stand on the South side. A good place to try the glitch is Hyrule Castle. It doesn't work in the main entrance, but it works with the stairs in both the west room (96E), and the room with the Ornamental Shield (with these two rooms you can see how it works when climbing and descending the stairs)

Press all four directions at the same time [MDR], Link will start walking to the North West (hence your starting location next to the stair)

If you were correctly located initially, Link will start climbing or descending the stairs (keep pressing all the directions)

If the glitch works, you'll be in the Exploration Zone after crossing the stairs: if you were climbing the stairs, Link will have disappeared under the floor, and if you were descending you might not notice anything but when you try to move towards a wall you'll be able to hop through it and be under the floor (or try climibing the stairs normally and if the glitch worked, you'll go through).

Why it happens

That's pretty hard to tell... Again, it has something to do with the Multi-Directional Glitch [MDR] and the game doesn't know if you're moving up or down, or left or right. What's puzzling is that it doesn't work if you only press two directions... I don't really understand it, but I guess that when Link is on the stairs the fact that you're pressing one directions makes the game think you're going up and the other direction makes it think you go down. In the end, you're at some point on the screen with an incorrect level (the game thinks you're on the lower level when you should be on the top one).

Notes

I don't know why some stairs work with this glitch and why some don't. Just try it on all the stairs you find :)

This is the only glitch that I know so far that can let you go under the floor in the pipe rooms of Turtle Rock. All other glitches seem to freeze when entering these rooms, this one doesn't.

This glitch can be performed in caves (the Kakariko cave, or the Faery cave next to the Cemetery both have stairs that work). When doing so, if you hop into a dungeon you can have (almost) unlimited keys! Because there should be no locked doors and no keys inside of caves, the game considers you have -1 key, which is equal to 255 keys (because the integers are counted modulo 256). When you open doors or take keys, your number of keys increases and decreases accordingly. If however at some point you have 256 keys (for example if you take a key before opening any door while coming from a cave) you'll have 0 keys and will not be able to open doors anymore (and the key you took will be wasted). Exitting the dungeon and re-entering from a cave will reset your number of keys to 255. When coming from a cave, you can also open doors and chests that require the Big Key if you already had the one from Hyrule Castle.

II.3.E: "Jump and Save" method (JSEG)

Thanks to Sergio Villicaña

Description

A very simple to do EG, that has very weird side effects and uses. It was found by Sergio Villicana who used a more complicated version of the glitch involving the use of the Magic Mirror (see notes). Here, I'll explain a simpler version that has the same results.

Mainly, the JSEG lets you enter both the Primary and the Secondary Exploration Zones (see the Underworld Map section [UDRW]) very soon and with very little equipment. It can also let you go through sprites in the Outworld (you seem to be under the floor too but can't really go through obstacles).

Requirements

To perform the glitch, you'll need one or two save slots (it might be better to do it with 2 but if you don't have them free then deal with only one). From here I'll call them game A and game B.

WARNING: If you perform this glitch, you'll most likely destroy one of your saved games (game B). Be warned and proceed at your own risks. If you're using an emulator, copy your saved games before or use saved states to recover a lost game. If you're playing on the actual console, then either accept the risk of losing your saves or don't try it at all (or try it when you have no other game of interest saved on your cartridge).

How to

Start playing game A. Reach a room inside a dungeon with a ledge where you can jump from the upper floor to the lower. Note that all rooms don't work for this but most do. For a start, I recommend going to Hyrule Castle's room 96E that is left of the main entrance (I haven't yet managed to do it in the main entrance).

Go to the top level and jump down.

While Link is still in the air, press SELECT. Choose "save and quit".

Start game B.

From here, the glitch is already in effect (let's say it's "armed" to use dvdmth's terminology). Several things can now happen depending on where you start game B If you start a new game, after your uncle leaves the house, jump out of your bed and you'll go right through the floor! You can now explore the Secondary Exploration Zone corresponding to Link's House (see notes for further details). If you start in a room that doesn't have a lower level (Link's House or Sanctuary work but not the Mountain Cave for example) you can walk around and keep the glitch armed. To use the glitch, either be hurt by an enemy (or a bomb) or dash into a wall with the Pegasus Boots (some other things might work too). This will make you go through the floor wherever you are (no matter if you're inside or outside). Keep in mind that whenever you enter a room with a lower level, you disarm the glitch (this is a general idea, it seems that it's more complicated since some rooms with lower levels actually don't disarm it... the best thing to do is try it in the room you'd like to enter the Exploration Zone).



Why it happens

This glitch has many side effects that I really don't understand (see the notes below). However the main glitch is quite understandable. When you're playing game A and jump down, Link enters a temporary "jumping" state while he's in the air. Programming-wise this special state is useful to solve weird problems that could occur with enemies or other things while he jumps, so setting his state to "jumping" solves everything (he can't be hurt and such things). Of course, his state has to be stored somewhere in the memory and supposedly when he reaches the floor, the game will change his state back to "not jumping".

However, if you save and quit while in this state, the game never resets the value (and that's probably a programming mistake since they should reset all such values to the defaults when quitting) so when you start a new game, you're still in this state.

Now I think that dashing into a wall or being hurt causes Link to be into another special "hurt" state (again you're invincible while in this state to make things simpler to program). This means that at this time you're in both states "hurt" and "jumping". However at the end of the "hurting" animation, the game wants to reset your state back to normal so it checks your status and applies the corresponding changes... Normally, after being in state "jumping" you should always be in the lower floor, so it is understandable to consider that the game automatically puts you in the lower floor whenever you leave the "jumping" state. So when the game resets your status, it takes you to the lower floor at the same time and so takes you under the floor.

Also remember that there's no lower floor in the Outworld, so setting you to the lower floor always takes you under your normal level.

The last thing to understand is why entering a room with a lower floor causes the glitch to disarm... I think this is simply because when you enter a room with a lower floor the game knows that you might have a change of level and so prepares the "jumping" state by initialising it to it's default value (which would be "not jumping").

Why it doesn't do it in all rooms even if there's no lower floor you might ask? Simply because it saves one operation in the rooms where it seems "useless"... In other words this is a typical example of a "lazy" implementation (not that the programmers are lazy but that they want their program to do as little operations as possible) that creates a bug because they didn't realise that you could be in the state "jumping" in a "single level" room.

Notes

If you have already played either with the other EG or with the ROM editor Hyrule Magic (or even read the section [UDRW] about the Underworld Map), you might have noticed that even using an exploration glitch, some rooms can't be reached from a normal dungeon room. These rooms include Link's house, most houses and shops and some caves. In fact the rooms of the game are divided into two zones: the Primary Exploration Zone (rooms numbered from 0 to 255 in Hyrule Magic) and the Secondary Zone (rooms numbered from 256 to 295). So far, all the EG that we knew led to the Primary Zone (all dungeon rooms and the Triforce Room). However this glitch is more flexible and can let us explore the Secondary Zone. Although this is an important novelty, I haven't found any "useful" way to exploit this since I can't do much in this zone... (The [STEG] can also enter the Secondary Zone)

About the saved games, what seems to happen most of the time is that after leaving game A with the glitch armed and loading game B, if you save and quit while in game B the contents of game A are copied into game B's slot and so you lose game B... This means that I think that having a third game in a slot that you don't mess with could be safe (but I'm not 100% sure about this). I really don't understand why it happens though.

Going through the floor while in the Outworld isn't really useful. You can't go through obstacles such as mountain walls, trees or water. All you can do in fact is go through sprites (mostly enemies). The very only use that I have found was to enter the Desert's Dungeon without using the Book of Mudora since you can walk through the green stones. The effects of the glitch disappear if you enter a house/cave/dungeon.

Sergio's original method used the Magic Mirror. What he found was that if you were in Blind's Hideout entrance, jumped to the lower side and immediately when Link leaves the ground used the mirror you were taken to the entrance and got stuck in the entrance. From there, save and quit and the glitch is armed. The bad points were that for one it required that you already had the mirror in game A, and also the timing was quite hard to get because you had a 2-frames time where you had to use the mirror...

Apparently this glitch doesn't work on the GBA version if you save and quit while jumping, but Sergio Villicana's method (with the Magic Mirror at the right moment) does.

II.3.F: Pros and Cons of Every Version

So far, we know 5 different versions of the Exploration Glitches ([SDEG], [PBEG], [UDEG], [STEG] and [JSEG]). Each of them has advantages and disadvantages categorized as follows:

Overall: If I like the glitch or not, if it's useful, easy etc. Simplicity: If it requires special and complicated things, or if it can be done easily on a SNES. Availability: How soon it can be done in the game. Range: In how many places it can be done, how many places can be reached with this method. Historical: If it was good when it was discovered (compared to the other known versions at the time). Use: If many interesting glitch quests can be done with it. Stability: How do things work when we hop into a dungeon after performing the glitch, how do things behave while in the Exploration Zone etc.

Skull Dungeon

Overall Simplicity No special requirement Availability Very late. [DMD] makes it more available though. Range Only one place Historical The first known method Use Almost useless Stability The most unstable of all the known versions

Pegasus Boots

Overall Simplicity Requires an emulator or Turbo controller Availability Available when you get the Pegasus Boots Range Only one place Historical The second known method, the first I used, and the first to give an astonishingly fast speed-run technique (15 minutes) Use Because it's stable, and can be done soon enough, it has many uses. I used it as my main EG for quite a long time Stability Probably the most stable version. Very good to start exploring the Exploration Zone

Up+Down

Overall Simplicity Can be done on a SNES but requires to open a controller Availability Available when entering Hyrule Castle Range Works on several places. It can't reach the Secondary Zone however Historical After the PBEG was extensively worked on, this one became a great version because it can be done almost at the start (when first entering Hyrule Castle). It enabled the fastest speed run in 3 minutes Stability Not so stable. Most of the time you have to exit and re-enter the dungeon you hopped into to fix it

Stairs

Overall This might be the best of all on an emulator Simplicity Same as UDEG Availability Same as UDEG Range Can be performed in a lot of places (almost any dungeon, and many caves). Can enter the Secondary Zone and Turtle Rock Historical I did a huge mistake in not noticing this glitch's potential when I started playing with the [MDR]. When The Night Hunter rediscovered it it didn't have that many new uses... Stability Can be very stable (should be possible to hop into any dungeon except Watergate Dungeon) but sometimes leads to the "third level" problem

Jump and Save

Overall Your best choice if you're playing on the SNES and don't want to open your controller Simplicity Easy to do, no special requirement Availability Can be done when you reach the Sanctuary Range Can be armed and triggered in many places. Is the only one to work in the Outworld (but it's useless). Can reach the Secondary Zone Historical Came too late, so not that much of a revolution. Was the first to reach the Secondary Zone but nothing can be done with it. Also enables the only easy-to-do on SNES speed-run (about 7 minutes) Stability Pretty good when you learn to use it

II.4: Super Bunny

Description

The Super Bunny is a weird glitch that lets you use your sword as a Pink Bunny. It is only useful of course if you plan on not getting the Moon Pearl...

Although it gives you the ability to use your sword, you are still very helpless as you can't use any of the other items (except bottles). The Super Bunny reverts to a normal bunny when hit.

II.4.A: Lake Hylia

Thanks to David Wonn

Description

This method lets you become a Super Bunny in Lake Hylia (in the Dark World). While a Super Bunny, you can walk or slide on water, use your sword to defeat enemies. It also enables a few other side effects (see [TELE])

Requirements

You'll need the flippers, the Magic Mirror, the ability to reach the Dark World version of Lake Hylia and not having the Moon Pearl for this glitch.

How to

Having both the Flippers and the Magic Mirror, go to the Dark Lake Hylia from the North East angle (if you come from the Pyramid of Power, it's the path that doesn't require you to use the Hammer). You should be on a piece of land that goes South to a ladder and a platform that lets you come out of the water.

Go to the South-East corner of the Platform

Mirror back to the Light World so you have a portal right in this angle of the Platform (as shown on the figure)

Now, in the Light World move against the top ledge (Link's top position in the figure)

From here walk directly South (you can dash if you have the Pegasus Boots), when you hit the border, jump into the water

If you did it correctly, you should have hit the border where it's diagonal (Link's bottom position in the figure) so you should jump diagonally (to the South West) and hit the angle of the portal you created earlier

When doing so, you'll be taken back to the Dark World (so you'll be a Bunny again) but you'll be standing on water!

From here, you'll see that you can "slide" on the water (like what happens in the Surfing Bunny glitch [SUBU])

Now walk to the shallow water surrounding the Ice Palace (notice that if you walk on the ice, you cannot go back in the deep water, which is not a problem here, so you can do it if you want to)

When in the shallow water, Mirror back to the Light World. Make sure you appear in deep water once in the Light World (which should be the case if you warped from any shallow water spot that is on the North side of the Ice Palace)

Now you're swimming in the Light World, and have a portal that leads to a shallow water spot in the Dark World (is that right?). Use the portal

You should now be standing as a Bunny in shallow water (in the Dark World). If you try to use your sword, you'll hear the normal "sword sound" (but you won't see the sword)! You're now a Super Bunny!

Why it happens

There are two abnormal things to explain here (and I don't really understand them in details so I won't really explain them). The first one is why you slide on the water after jumping on your portal. Obviously what happens here is that the Bunny "appears" on deep water, and that should not happen ever. So the game doesn't really handle this correctly: for one part the warp is supposed to be correct (deep water is a correct target so the warp is accepted), then since you're in the Dark World with no Moon Pearl you're a Bunny, but then that means that you're supposed to be a Bunny standing on deep water (which shouldn't be possible). I think that what the programmers should have done is simply don't accept the warping into deep water if you don't have the Moon Pearl, but apparently they didn't expect this to be possible. From there, I don't really see why the "sliding" effect occurs, but it's clearly for the same reason as in the Surfing Bunny glitch [SUBU] (in this other glitch what happens is that you manage to change screens while on deep water, so you "appear" on deep water too.

The second thing to explain is why when warping from deep water (Light World) into shallow water (Dark World) you become a Super Bunny... This again I don't really understand. Here there isn't even any apparent problem since the Bunny is supposed to be able to walk on shallow water (so warping and becoming a normal Bunny would be perfectly understandable). I think that the key element is that when you warp you're in the "swimming" state and that's what triggers the Super Bunny, but I don't have any explanation why it happens...

Notes

As a Super Bunny you can use your sword but you won't see it (you can attack normally, charge it and do the spin attack and even use the special projectile attack of the Master Sword if you have it and have all your hearts). You can also dash with the Pegasus Boots if you have them

The Super Bunny cannot use items (except for bottles, but the regular Bunny could already...)

As long as you don't touch real ground, you can walk on both shallow and deep water. If you go to normal ground however (ice counts as normal ground) you won't be able to walk on deep water anymore (you'll have to create a portal from deep (Light) to shallow (Dark) water again if you want to).

The Super Bunny state remains for as long as you do "smooth" ground changes, meaning for example going from normal ground to shallow water, but disappears if you "hop" from one ground to the other (like for example if you try to hop onto a platform next to stairs that lead you to the main ground). For this reason you can't go very far as a Super Bunny. You can change screens however (when walking on Deep Water) and use the traveling whirlpools.

If you're hit by an enemy (or anything that damages you) you'll revert to a normal Bunny.

For a weird side effect of this glitch, see the "teleportation" section [TELE]

II.4.B: In a Hole

Description

You can turn into a Super Bunny if you enter the Dark Underworld from a hole without having the Moon Pearl.

Requirements

You must be able to reach the Dark Underworld from a hole without having the Moon Pearl.

How to

There's nothing much to do for this glitch. Simply enter the hole as a Bunny. As soon as you enter the room you'll be a Super Bunny. The "only" difficulty is to reach a hole without the Moon Pearl...

Some places where you can do it

Skull Dungeon

the final battle with Ganon in the Pyramid of Power

some caves.

Why it happens

I don't know why this happens since I never really understood what internal error in the game could lead to the "Super Bunny" state. However as I said before it's due to the fact that the bunny state is so particular and still the programmers didn't expect the player to skip the Moon Pearl.

Notes

I accidentally discovered this glitch when trying (and succeeding) to meet Ganon as a Pink Bunny (because some Bunny fan at the GameFAQs board asked if it was possible). The methods I used (there are two in fact, depending if you want or not to be able to defeat Ganon) are explained in the section glitch quests ([PBGA] and [MSMP]).

At first I thought it worked only with the final battle against Ganon but Frost King told me that it also works when entering Skull Dungeon from a hole, so I assume it's a general glitch when you fall down a hole.

Note that as the Super Bunny reverts to a regular Pink Bunny when hit, you'll have to hit Ganon with your sword without ever being hit by him if you want to challenge him as a Bunny. Also as the Super bunny cannot use items you won't be able to defeat Ganon but still you can make it to the point where he turns the lights off.

II.4.C: Teleportation

Description

As a Super Bunny (with the Lake Hylia method) you can travel a few screens on the Outworld. If you're damaged while in a different screen than the one where you did the Super Bunny trick, you'll be teleported to another location, and can hence reach some points of the Outworlds that cannot reached by normal means (nothing too great though, as it mostly takes you to places where you're stuck)

Requirements

Being able to do the Super Bunny in Lake Hylia trick [LHSB]

How to

Perform the [LHSB] trick so you're a Super Bunny walking on Dark Lake Hylia's deep water

Change screens either by walking on the water to the next screen or by using a whirlpool warp (do not go on normal land to change screens, as you need to be a Super Bunny)

When on a new screen, be hit by an enemy...

If you did everything correctly, you should be teleported to another location on the screen you are (the screen will scroll to your new location). You might either be on a normal place (that you could already reach by normal means) or on an "unreachable" spot (most of the times you'll be stuck on some part of the Overworld where you cannot move).

See the next paragraph (why it happens) for a better understanding of the spots you can reach (because it's not random, so you can control where you're going).

Why it happens

This is a somewhat amusing glitch, but not very hard to understand (in fact it's a very natural behavior, if you admit that you can be a Super Bunny that's walking on deep water, which is part of another glitch, so it won't be explained here).

It's simply due to the fact that when you fall into deep water when you're not supposed to (either as a bunny or as Link if you don't have the flippers) the game will take you back to the last point where you were standing on land. However, since you're not supposed to have changed screens between the moment you left the land and the moment you hit the water, the game simply changes your coordinates on the current screen you're in.

In this glitch, we leave solid ground as a bunny but the game doesn't really notice we're in the water, but still memorizes the coordinates of the last point where we were standing on ground. When we change screen without touching solid ground, the coordinates of this "last land point" aren't changed. When hit by an enemy, the super bunny state is lost so we fall into the water, and the game takes us back to the coordinates it has stored, only now we go to these coordinates on the new screen, which can be an otherwise unreachable point.

II.5: Moon Pearl Emulation

Description

This section covers different ways you can use to revert to a normal Link in the Dark World when you don't have the Moon Pearl. We'll see later [MSMP] that it is possible to use these methods to finish the game by defeating Ganon without ever having the Moon Pearl.

II.5.A: The Surfing Bunny

Description

The Surfing Bunny glitch is a glitch that lets you revert into Link when in the Dark World with no Moon Pearl by having a faery revive you while on deep water... Strange, but definitely the most useful and easy to perform method to explore the Dark Outworld as Link.

Requirements

You need to be able to reach the Dark Swamp (place where dungeon #2 is) as a bunny, the flippers, a faery in a bottle and no Moon Pearl of course.

How to

Go to the Dark Swamp in the screen that is one north and one east from the entrance of dungeon #2 (you should be as a bunny, or else there's no use in doing this glitch!).

On the left part of this screen you'll see deep water that continues to the western screen.

Make sure you have a faery in a bottle, and have enemies hurt you so you only have 1 heart left (maybe a little more, the point is that the flying bomber enemy should kill you in one hit later).

Now as a Bunny walk slowly into the deep water.

If you try to move to the left (more into the deep water) you'll see that the Bunny starts blinking and if you press repeatedly left (do not keep pressing, only go step by step) the Bunny moves slowly to the left more and more into the deep water.

Continue moving left until you change screens.

If everything worked as it should, you should now be on the left screen walking on deep water and sliding as if it was an icy floor (like surfing on the water). If not then simply go back to the right screen, and try again the transition until the surfing effect works.

Once you're surfing on the water, have an enemy kill you in one hit (there's a flying bomber around so he should kill you).

After it does, the faery will revive you as Link.

Why it happens

A weird glitch indeed. For some reason, it seems that when you die in deep water, the game assumes automatically that you should be normal Link and doesn't change you into a bunny (in some sense it's understandable since the bunny should not be able to be in deep water). The weird thing is the surfing on water part (and also my explanation of why you revert to Link is dependent on the sliding part since you'll still be a bunny if you're killed while going in deep water but are not sliding).

Notes

You'll keep Link's form for as long as you're in the Outworld (you can change screens without trouble), and even if you enter a house/cave/dungeon. However you'll turn back into a Pink Bunny as soon as you go back to the Dark Outworld (also you'll obviously turn back into a bunny if you revert to the Light World and use a portal to the Dark World).

When you're in Link's form everything will work as if you had the Moon Pearl so you'll be able to use all your items.

II.5.B: Surfing Bunny Goes to Misery Mire

Description

This is a variant of the previous glitch that works in Misery Mire swamp (necessary if you want to open dungeon #6 with the Ether Medallion).

Requirements

This glitch works similarly to the previous one. You'll need a faery in a bottle, the flippers, no Moon Pearl and the ability to reach the swamp of Misery Mire.

How to

This glitch is very similar to the previous one so I'll assume that you know how to perform the normal Surfing Bunny glitch (as it's much harder to reach Misery Mire without the Moon Pearl you should be familiar with the previous one if you're trying this).

Go to the Misery Mire swamp.

Have a faery in a bottle and the enemies hurt you so that you'll die in one hit when something hurts you.

As a bunny, walk into a deep water spot as before, but this time there need not to be any change of screens (luckily, as there is none in Misery Mire swamp).

When you're in the middle of the deep water pond, use the mirror.

Once in the Desert (Light World), don't move and have the portal take you back to the Dark World.

If everything worked correctly you should now be surfing on the deep water (if not use the Magic Mirror again until it works).

As before, have an enemy kill you in one hit and the faery will revive you as Link.

Why it happens

This glitch is nearly the same as the previous one. The only difference is how to make the bunny surf on the water. As you can't use any change of screens you'll have to find something else: in this case the warping between the two worlds will do it perfectly since it will take you directly on the deep water, as a fresh and normal bunny.

Notes

The only use of this method is to open Misery Mire (dungeon #6) without the Moon Pearl. I don't think there's more to do with it. It is used in the No Moon Pearl Quest [MSMP].

II.5.C: Life After Death?

Thanks to Adam T.

Description

This glitch lets you turn into Link inside any Dark World dungeon that you can enter as a Bunny.

Requirements

You must be able to enter a dungeon of the Dark World as a Bunny.

How to

Simply die in the dungeon. Then select save and continue or continue without save and you'll start the dungeon again as Link.

Why it happens

Quite easy to understand. First, you have to know that the dungeons are not really considered as being in the Dark World. This is simply because all dungeon rooms (from both the Light and the Dark worlds) are stored the ones next to the others (to see clearly what I mean try doing the exploration glitches). Now when you die, you are taken back to the beginning of the dungeon in your normal form (because there is only one "resurrection" script). Since the dungeon is not in the Dark World it won't test whether or not you have the Moon Pearl in order to turn you into a bunny. This might seem an inconsistency in the programming but it is an understandable error since there should be no possible way to enter a Dark World dungeon as a bunny (you should need the hammer, and the only way to enter the 1st dungeon is by having Kiki open the door for you but Kiki doesn't show up if you're a bunny).

This being said, you can check that if you die in the outworld (normally... not as a surfing bunny...) you are resurrected as Link and immediately changed into a bunny since the game checks if you have the Moon Pearl each time you "appear" in the Dark World. This is also why you turn back into a bunny when exitting a house/cave/dungeon (because at that time you go from a neutral zone, neither Light or Dark World to the Dark World so there is a test).

Notes

This trick is really helpful when trying to defeat Ganon without the Moon Pearl as you'll be able to complete correctly any dungeon that you can enter (except for the Water-Gate and Skull Woods dungeons that are special since you have to do stuff while out of the dungeon, but there are solutions)

The only problem is that you'll have to die so you won't be able to use it in a 000 quest (but if you're using glitches you'll most likely won't care about 000 finish and if you really want it then use the easy 000 finish trick: see notes of [3MIN]).

II.5.D: Could You Give Me a Hand?

Description

This trick gives an alternative way to turn back into Link in the Skull Dungeon (#3) (thanks again to Adam T. for this other method).

Requirements

You must be able to enter a room of Skull Dungeon where the ceiling hand tries to grab you as a Bunny.

How to

Well, as you could guess seeing the requirements, simply have the ceiling hand grab you. When it takes you back to the entrance of the dungeon you'll be in your original form.

Why it happens

Nearly the same as the previous one. The "hand script" has been written only for Link's normal form so you are taken to the entrance of the dungeon as a normal Link. Since the dungeon isn't considered being in the Dark World you are not turned into a bunny.

Notes

This method only works in the Skull Dungeon so it's obviously less general and useful than the previous one. Still it doesn't make you die so it won't count in a 000 finish (but I don't see why you would use it if you don't want to enter the other dungeons as Link so you'll need the other method at some point).

II.5.E: Fat Faery's Power

Description

This is not really a useful glitch but I thought I'd mention it. It's another way to revert to Links original form in the Dark World when not having the Moon Pearl.

Requirements

Be able to enter the Fat Faery's pond without the Moon Pearl.

How to

There's nothing really to do. Simply enter the pond and you'll be as Link. However you won't be able to use your items (well I couldn't... maybe sometimes you can) so it seems more like a graphical glitch since I think the game still considers that you're a Bunny.

Why it happens

I'm not really sure why this one happens... The weirdest thing is that you appear as a normal Link but have no abilities, as if you were still a bunny. In other words only the visual sprite has been changed. I really don't know what's so special about this faery room, since this glitch doesn't happen in other rooms or caves.

Notes

This is really not useful at all (since it only works inside the pond and that there's nothing to do except throwing your items which I'm pretty sure even the Bunny could do).

If you're wondering how you can reach the Fat Faery's pond without the Moon Pearl check the glitch quests section [MSMP].

II.6: The Ether Medallion Glitch

Description

This interesting glitch gives you the Ether Medallion without having a Master Sword.

Requirements

You must be able to perform an Exploration Glitch from Hyrule Castle. It seems that some unstable EG don't work for this trick. I recommend using the [PBEG] or [STEG].

How to

There are two ways, the original one, and the later (and simpler) one.

The original method is as follows:

Make sure that there's a boss in a dungeon that you can reach (after hopping into the dungeon) that you have not killed yet (Lanmolas from the Desert Palace and Vitreous from Misery Mire are two such bosses)

Perform the EG from Hyrule Castle.

Now find your way so you can hop into a dungeon and be able to reach the final boss of the dungeon (I know that it's possible to hop into the room with flying tiles (67) that is 2 rooms before Lanmolas and as you have the Big Key from Hyrule Castle you'll be able to reach the boss, there's also a way to reach Vitreous if you prefer). See [ADDR] to find your way.

Defeat the boss.

After the boss dies, he'll give you a heart container and instead of the pendant/crystal you'll receive the Ether Medallion (yes... really!).

The other method is simpler:

Perform an EG from Hyrule Castle.

Find your way in the Exploration Area to the room of a Boss that you have already defeated (while still under the floor this time)

Normally, when you enter the room, the Ether Medallion should fall to the floor.

Grab the medallion (you can take it even though you're under the floor)

Why it happens

Weird... really weird... However I think that I know why it happens (well, at least I know why something weird happens!).

Remember that we did the EG from Hyrule Castle right? Now since we never left the castle (meaning that we never exited and entered properly another dungeon) the game considers that we're still in the Castle. The Castle is like a real dungeon, it has a map, a compass and even a big key (and you can use it in the other dungeons!). However it has no pendant or crystal...

Normally this is not a problem since the boss fight in Hyrule Castle triggers a special action (very special in fact because it switches from phase I to phase II in the game, see [3PHA]). However, if you go and fight some boss from another dungeon, after you defeat the boss, he dies and gives you his heart container (the heart container is not part of the dungeon, it's part of the boss since it appears where the boss died) and then triggers the pendant/crystal script. This is where the glitch happens!

This script makes some object fall from the sky right in the middle of the room.

For some obscure reason, when you are in Hyrule Castle and execute this script it's the ether medallion that falls from the sky. This is possibly a consequence of the fact that since there is no real pendant/crystal for Hyrule Castle the game points to some item in the ROM code and this item appears to be the medallion... It could have been any object, and even something that was not really an object from the inventory.

Why it is specifically the medallion that falls remains a mystery to me but at least I'm nearly sure that the pendant/crystal doesn't fall because we're considered as being in Hyrule Castle. Also, when you grab the medallion nothing special happens (you are not taken back to the outworld) because the dialogue with the princess and the teleportation to the outworld is part of the crystal-grabbing script, so it is not executed in this case.

Notes

This glitch is by far the weirdest and most unexpected of all the glitches that I know in this game. In fact I discovered it totally by accident at a time when I was searching for a way to enter Misery Mire without the Ether Medallion since I didn't have a Master Sword... I was wandering in the Exploration Glitch and met a boss (it was Lanmolas first but then I also did it against Vitreous) and he gave me the Medallion! I was highly surprised but this appeared to be a real miracle since it's the only way that I know of to finish correctly Misery Mire without a Master Sword (since entering Misery Mire with the Exploration Glitch makes the game believe you have completed Hyrule Castle, not Misery Mire).

If you want the pendant/crystal that the boss you have just defeated should have given you, simply enter normally the dungeon and reach the boss room. When you'll enter, the boss won't be here and the pendant/crystal will fall on the floor.

Also, if you use the second method, you can go to the boss room, get the medallion, then walk to the next room and come back and you'll get another Ether Medallion! You can get as many as you want with this, but it doesn't really affect anything (you'll still have only one in your inventory).

II.7: The Multi-Directional Glitch

Description

This glitch is a very weird one (yet another). The idea is to press simultaneously two opposite directions (up and down for example), which you cannot do on a normal SNES controller, so that the game is very confused and many interesting things happen.

The main (most useful) uses of this glitch are the (Up + Down) combo Exploration Glitch (see [UDEG]) and the Stairs Exploration Glitch [STEG] that have already been explained earlier. However there are other minor uses of this glitch that I will present here.

Requirements

To perform this, as I said, you'll have to press simultaneously two opposite (or even the four) directions. This can easily be done with an emulator (if your computer doesn't act correctly when pressing multiple directional keys as it happens to mine simply use the key combos functions of the emulator), but it's not possible with a normal SNES controller.

However, if you really want to try it on your console, you can open carefully your controller and take the "directional cross" part so you'll be able to press two or more directional buttons at the same time. If you do it carefully there's no risk for your controller. I did it and it worked perfectly without any damage.

II.7.A: Fun With the Map

Requirements

Be able to do the Multi-Directional Glitch and see the World Map (with the X button).

How to

Go to the scrollable version of the Map (press X once while in the Outworld).

Move to the right border of it and press (Right + Left) or to the lower border and press (Up + Down).

You'll see that the map scrolls out of bounds.

Why it happens

The game gets confused because you press multiple directions. On one hand it tests whether or not you can scroll left/up and sees that you can (because you are at the right/bottom border) and after the test is ok, it moves to the right/down because this direction is pressed. In fact as you press two directions, the first one is used for the test to see if you can scroll or not and the second is used for the scrolling. This is why you can go out of bounds. Once you are out of bounds, all scrollings are accepted (even if you press only one solution) since you are already out of the regular tested values.

Notes

This glitch gives you the answer to the so fundamental question: "what is behind the white clouds around Hyrule?". The answer is sadly very disappointing. As you'll see if you try it, outside of Hyrule is a glitched zone (graphics are all messed up) followed by a completely black area...

This also gives us information on the topology of the World Hyrule is in. Since when you scroll out of bounds to the east for long enough you reach the west part of the map, this means that Hyrule World is cyclic and without limits (the same applies if you scroll south, but you reach a "flat" version of the map... check it it's very weird...). In other words their world is either topologically equivalent to ours (a sphere) or is a torus (shaped like a donut)... Interesting isn't it?

II.7.B: Princess? What Princess?



See the next paragraph

I keep this paragraph for "historical" reasons and because it might be interesting.

This glitch is now outdatedSee the next paragraph [PRIN] for a better and simpler versionI keep this paragraph for "historical" reasons and because it might be interesting.

Description

This glitch lets you do funny things in the very beginning of the game, before bringing Princess Zelda to the Sanctuary. With it you can exit the castle without rescuing Princess Zelda and reach Kakariko village for example under the rain (as it's raining at the very beginning of the game).

Requirements

Be able to do the Multi-Directional Glitch and reach the throne room of Hyrule Castle at the beginning of the game, before saving Princess Zelda from the castle's prison.

How to

Go to the entrance room of Hyrule Castle and go to the north staircase (the one that leads to the throne room) but don't go to the throne room.

Now use the (Up + Down + Left + Right) combo to go through the staircase (from the main hall to the throne room). You have to be right "in" the staircase because the combo will make Link go diagonally up/left. If you have trouble go to the throne room, go back to the main hall and you'll be correctly placed to do the key combo.

Now you should be in the Throne room. Go straight north. If all worked correctly the screen should scroll strangely (at some point you won't see Link anymore). Continue to go north until you change room. You'll see that you have gone through the ornamental shield (even if Link wasn't in the screen) and are now in the sewers (all dark and only the lantern light, if you have it).

Find your way through the sewers as you would normally do. Some rooms might have scrolling errors (I think that the 3 after the one where you enter do) but it's not very hard to go through (Link will be in the border of the screen instead of being in the center).

Exit the Sanctuary, the sage won't talk to you. You're now out under the rain... You can explore the Light world, Zelda still being held in the castle.

Why it happens

Very similar to the UDEG and STEG (see explanations [UDEG] [STEG]). Since you press multiple directions, the game takes you to some room but loads another room's objects and sprites. The ornamental shield is such an object and it doesn't appear in the room you enter so you can go through the passage to the sewers without Princess Zelda. All scrolling errors while in the sewers result from the fact that your real position and the camera position have been messed up because of the incorrect scrolling (the camera moved in some direction while your position was shifted in some other direction).

All the glitches that happen while you are outside are the consequences of being in the outworld during phase I of the game (see [3PHA]).

Notes

Once you have exited from the sanctuary you'll notice that the outworld is desert. It still rains and there is absolutely no sprite out there (in some particular places you can find one but it'll be all graphically glitched).

If you enter a cave/dungeon/house the inside will be totally normal. Therefore you can complete the Eastern Palace without problem. You can also complete the Desert Palace but it's much more complicated (see later for more explanations).

Once you're out of Hyrule Castle it's quite hard to go back to the Castle/Link's house perimeter (you know, the little zone you have access to at the beginning) because the guards that forbid you to exit at the beginning are now a problem to enter...

If you save/quit your game you'll restart inside the secret passage where you got the sword. From there you can either finish your game correctly or repeat the glitch to exit again without Zelda.

It is possible to do the escape without having the Lantern but in this case you'll have to go through the dark rooms without seeing anything... If you know them well then you have a chance and therefore the Lantern is not strictly necessary. If you use an emulator the save states will help greatly, if you play it on a real SNES then I strongly recommend you take the Lantern.

II.7.C: Take the Princess for a Walk

Description

This glitch uses an EG ([UDEG] or [STEG]) to exit Hyrule Castle with Princess Zelda following you. Its effects are very similar to the ones of the previous glitch as you'll be able to explore the outworld under the rain (now with the the Princess).

Requirements

You can only perform this glitch at the beginning of the game while Princess Zelda is following you. You'll also need to be able to perform the [UDEG] or the [STEG].

How to

(see [UDRW] for instructions on how to find your way in the Exploration Zone)

Start a new game and go see Zelda as you would normally do (note that the Lantern and the Boomerang are not necessary, you can skip them if you want to).

Now go to a room where you can perform either the UDEG or the STEG (the closest one is room 113NE, the first room with stairs that you reach after rescuing the princess). Perform the EG.

Find your way to room 47S (the Kakariko cave). Hop into the room.

Zelda might be invisible but don't worry, she's still following you.

Exit the cave normally. The game might seem to have frozen but it will not be. Wait for a long time and you'll see that the transition is being done very slowly (if you're doing this with an emulator use the fast forward key). After you've waited long enough (wait about one or two minutes before the transition starts at the screen...) you should appear in Kakariko village, under the rain, with Zelda behind you (the game will be at normal speed now).

Why it happens

It is exactly the [UDEG] or [STEG] that has been discussed earlier. All other side effects while in the outworld are the consequence of being in the outworld while in phase I of the game (see [3PHA]).

Notes

Once you exit, almost everything happens like when you exit alone but without rescuing Zelda: the rain won't stop, there will be no one in the outworld.

You can use this way to exit alone without rescuing Zelda (instead of the (Up + Down + Right + Left) combo in the throne room).

If you go to Death Mountain with Zelda the old man won't show up in the cave. This is in fact a good point since the old man makes the game freeze if you haven't rescued Zelda as after giving you the mirror he tries to go back to his home but never actually enters so the game freezes. If you have Zelda you cannont have the mirror either but at least you can "visit" Death Mountain (but you can't see much of it as you can't use the mirror). You can still reach the Tower of Hera though, with an EG into the main entrance (119) and then exit and re-enter to load it correctly.

If you go to the sanctuary from the normal entrance (not the sewers) and go to the sage then the game will act as if you brought Zelda normally from the sewers (Zelda's position in the room will be weird but it'll work correctly) and everything will be back to normal (the rain will stop etc.).

If you save and quit with Zelda with you you'll always be taken back to her cell in Hyrule Castle. From there you can either rescue her (and continue your game "normally") or repeat the glitch to exit again.

II.8: Skip the Sword and Shield

Description

This is a very special glitch, that lets you go through the guards at the beginning of the game (before you enter the Secret Passage) thus skipping the part where your uncle hands you the Sword and Shield.

It is "technically" doable on a real SNES but it would take a lot of time (and by a lot, I mean several hours of boring dialog skipping)... On an emulator with a speed-up function it can be done faster, and automatically.

Requirements

Gamewise, you don't need anything since you're supposed to perform the trick right when you exit Link's house for the first time (so start a new game). Other than than, if you're planning on doing this on a real SNES you'll need several hours of patience (not kidding...) so I consider that it's only humanly possible to do with an emulator that can speed-up (apparently some GameFAQs user with no life did it on the real SNES...)

How to

Start a new game, exit your house and go to the guards that are on the right side of the House screen (the glitch should work with any guard but I'll explain it for these ones).

Now press Right on the control pad, and you'll start talking to the guard. From now on keep pressing Right during the whole process.

When the dialog with the guard appears, press A to skip it, it'll disappear (sometimes you have to press A more than once because he has more than one page to say). Since you're still pressing Right (you are, aren't you?) another dialog will pop-up...

Keep skipping all the dialogs, and after you've skipped thousands of dialogs (the worst part is that I'm not even exagerating, see next why that many) you should reach the next screen and have gone through the guards (and don't forget to always keep pressing the Right direction).

Why it happens

This glitch is very interesting because I have understood it fully even before I tried it (so when I tried it, I knew it would work).

I was playing in the starting zone with the guards when I realized how these guys work: they are sprites, not overworld objects, so they aren't really obstacles. In fact when you are standing next to them and walk in their direction, it triggers a special event that cancels your step (in their direction) and makes the dialog box appear.

Independently, in this area, Princess Zelda contacts you telepathically once every minute (we'll see later what can affect this one minute timer) and this event (the apparition of Zelda's message on screen) has a greater priority than the guards event.

This means that if you are standing next to a guard, if you start walking into his direction at the exact frame when Zelda's message should appear, Zelda's message appears but the guard won't talk to you and, much more importantly, he won't stop you! However this will only last for one frame and on the next frame he'll not only stop you but also talk to you.

Now let's talk a little bit more about the Princess message. When being perfectly idle in some neutral area, the message appears every 60 seconds, which means every 60x60=3600 frames (the frames are the only real time unit of the game). Therefore, there's a counter on the game that starts at 0, that is incremented every frame and when it reaches 3600 triggers the "message event". However, some things can freeze the counter or delay the apparition of the message:

if you're talking to a character (in our case it's one of the guards), Zelda's counter isn't incremented

if you're holding an item over your head (a bush or a pot for example) or if you're grabbing a wall, the counter keeps being incremented but the message event isn't triggered (if the counter reaches 3600) until you let go of the item or the wall (in that case, if the counter had reached 3600, the message appears as soon as you let go of the item or wall)

Combinig this knowledge, you can do an interesting experience (which is what I did by accident, and in the process of understanding what happened I realized that I could completely go through the guards). Go next to the guard until he talks to you (there you know that you're as far to the right as you supposedly can). Now move down and grab the wall (with A). From there, wait a minute (still grabbing the wall).

By waiting a minute while grabbing the wall, you know that Zelda's counter is full, and that she'll contact Link when he lets go of the wall. Start pressing Right, and let go of the wall.

At that point what will happen is that Link will move one pixel to the Right and Zelda's message will appear. However, since you moved one pixel Right, as soon as Zelda's message is over, the guard event will be triggered and a dialog will appear. When this dialog is over, you'll still be in the guard's zone (still one pixel too far to the right) the guards event will be triggered again and another dialog will appear at the next frame!

It'll seem as if Link was trapped in an infinite dialog with the guard! However, if you press Left, when a dialog ends, Link will move one pixel left and be free...

Now let's go back to the main glitch. The idea is that, between two dialogs from the guard, Zelda's counter is incremented (I don't exactly know by how much but I'd say only one or two, since there's not more than one or two frames of "idle" time in between). So every 3600 or 1800 dialogs (yes... that's a lot) the message will appear again, and for the same reason as before, you'll be able to move some pixels to the right (you can move 2 pixels if you do it right, I'll explain that in a moment)! If you move enough (roughly about 28 pixels It seems) you'll reach the end of the screen and scroll to the next screen where you'll be free to do what you like (see [NOSW] for more details of what you can do).

To move that many pixels, you'll have to skip roughly 28*1800/2 = 25200 dialogs, which takes a lot of hours to do... (and that's a very rough estimate, it could be even more)

Now, here's a trick to make Link move 2 pixels every time the message appears. As you might know, when moving right or down, Link moves one pixel the first frame, then 2 the next one, then 1, 2 etc. (see [FPA] for more on this). When moving left or up, he moves 2 pixels first then 1, 2, etc. The message from the princess will appear every 3600 frames (maybe 1800 but it's the same) which is an even number... This means that if Link was trying to move 1 pixel when the message first appears, he will always be trying to move 1 pixel every time the message appears (since he should move 1 pixel every two frames...). What you want to do is make sure that he moves two pixels to the right the first time the message appears. To do so, grab a bush and go to the guards. Move as much to the right as possible (until you talk to them), then skip the dialog and wait for about a minute with the bush over your head (but not talking to the guard anymore). This will fill the message counter. Now throw the bush, and this will trigger the princess message. Now start pressing right and skip the message, this way as soon as the message ends Link will try to move to the right, meaning that he'll try to move 1 pixel to the right the frame following the appearing of the message, and this ensures that when the message appears next, it will be at a frame when Link moves two pixels to the right, and he'll keep on moving 2 pixels every time (which saves half the time, but it's still several hours long).

Notes

I know I'm repeating myself but the glitch is too long to be performed on a real SNES (but at least it's doable, only we'll never have the patience to, except for that GameFAQs user who had no life apparently). However, with an emulator (with speed-up functionality) on a standard computer (about 800 Mhz processor on the one I tried) it took me only 2 hours to do it, and since it only requires to press Right and repeatedly A you can bind some keys to do it automatically and keep them pressed while you're doing something else (you don't seriously think I stayed reading what the guard had to say to me during 2 hours :)).

With this glitch, we can at last (I've been looking for this glitch for more than 2 years) complete the game with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING (not even a rupee or a small key). To do so, exit the Castle area, enter another dungeon (Eastern Palace) and perform an EG ([UDEG] or [STEG] come to mind) and reach the Triforce Room from there. When doing so, you get the Fighter's Sword and the Blue Shield automatically for the ending (when standing next to your uncle in front of the house).

This glitch is in no way a time saver (skipping the sword takes several hours... You could complete the game normally a lot of times in that much time!)

You can use the same trick to go through some other sprites, but it will be much faster (since you won't have dialogs to skip). For example, you can enter the sewers from the Sanctuary by walking through the ornamental shield (you can do it from Hyrule Castle too, but you'll have to use an Exploration Glitch [EXG] to enter). To do so, simply keep pressing up while in front of the shield. Every minute, you'll walk a few pixels (one or two) through the shield, and eventually you'll be through (this is long, but only a few minutes, nothing like skipping thousands of dialogs).

If you go and rescue Princess Zelda without ever getting the Sword (using Exploration Glitches to enter the castle) she'll stop contacting you telepathically as soon as she joins you. If you go see your uncle with Zelda following you, she'll disappear when you get the Sword and Shield. You have to get her back in her cell, and the Ball and Chain Trooper will respawn too.

If you don't talk to your uncle, the Old Man will not appear in the mountain (maybe he does if you trigger Phase II by bringing the Princess to the Sanctuary).

II.9: The "Final Save" Glitch

Description

This is more of a side effect to the Exploration Glitches than a glitch in itself. What it does is that it puts you on top of the Pyramid of Power as a bunny and with all enemies being the Light World enemies with messed sprites.

Requirements

You must be able to finish the game while still in Phase I. The only way I know to do this is by using an EG. See [5MIN] and [3MIN] for examples to trigger this glitch.

How To

Finish the game (enter the Triforce room) while still in Phase I (see [3PHA]). This can be done with some exploration glitches ([UDEG], [STEG] and [JSEG]). The fastest ways of doing it are described in [5MIN] and [3MIN].

Why it Happens

Well, when you finish the game, an automatic save is made that sets your location to the top of the Pyramid of Power. If you were still in Phase I when the save is done, the sprites of the Dark World aren't set yet (see [3PHA]) so instead the game loads the Light World ones, but with the sprites set of the Dark World (you'll easily see that the glitchy thing next to you when you appear is supposed to be the electric bat barrier on top of Hyrule Castle).

Notes

To fix this glitch, simply save and quit. This will make a normal save, and since you're still in Phase I your location will be set in the Light World (usually Link's House, the Secret Passage or Zelda's cell).

There isn't much to do when you start on top of the Pyramid of Power if you're a Bunny. You can only go to 3 different screens.

Note that this glitch is not the GBA version 000 game glitch (which for some strange reason, that has to do with the final automatic save too, makes you start the game from the beginning as a Bunny)

II.10: The Fire Pants Glitch

Thanks to flagitoius

Description

More than a real glitch, this is an exploit of the game's way of making Link move (well it's also linked to the multi-directional glitch [MDR]). It lets you walk at 4/3 of the normal speed when going up or left. It's very tedious to do though and can only be done on an emulator (so not really useful but interesting nontheless).

Requirements

An emulator that lets you go frame by frame, or a device that lets you program your key input frame by frame.

How To

It's pretty simple, all you have to do, if you want to walk to the north, is pressing alternatively Up and (Up + Down) changing every frame. If you want to move to the west, alternate Left and (Left + Right). The best way to do it is by having an emulator that can slow down the speed of the game enough so that you can change the input at every frame, or by recording a key combo that alternates every frame...

Why it happens

Well, normally, when moving in any of the four main directions, Link is supposed to move 3 pixels every two frames. To do so, the game makes him move alternatively one or two pixels each frame. When moving Left or Up, the first frame he moves 2 pixels, then 1, then 2 etc. When going Right or Down, he moves 1 pixel the first time and then 2,1,2 etc.

The fact that Up and Left are handled slightly differently than Down and Right might be an explanation to the Multi-Directional glitch [MDR], and it could be the reason why, when pressing Up and Down at the same time, Link moves Up (since Up is "stronger" than down) and the same priority is applied when pressing Left and Right (and when pressing all four directions, he moves Up/Left).

However, this doesn't completely explain everything since, for one it doesn't explain why he looks the other way in the Multi-Directional glitch, and second, when you press two opposite directions, he moves at normal speed... This means that when pressing Up+Down, he move 2 pixels during the first frame, then 1, 2 etc.

And this is precisely the reason why the "fire pants" glitch works: when you press Up, he moves 2 pixels Up, then you press (Up+Down) and he moves again 2 pixels Up because the game considers that he starts a new move (he somehow changed directions)... then you press Up and he moves 2 pixels again and so on. Bottom line is: he moves 2 pixels at every frame, meaning 4 pixels every 2 frames, instead of the normal 3.

Notes

When you do this trick, Link changes the direction he's facing every frame (because when you press Up he faces up, but when you press (Up+Down) he faces down while moving up...). This looks very weird and is the reason why OmnipotentEntity called it the "HolySh*tMyPantsAreOnFire" trick when he used it for one of his emulator-assisted speed runs.

Again, this trick is very tedious to do, but it's technically the fastest way to walk when going North or West (well, it's not that useful after you get the Pegasus Boots, since these make Link move 4 pixels each frame).

III: Glitch Quests and Things to Try

III.1: Speed-Running with Glitches

This section will explain in details how to complete the game very quickly with the help of Exploration Glitches. The idea is always to go as quickly as possible to the first point where you can perform the EG and then making your way to the Triforce room (entering the Triforce room will trigger the ending).

III.1.A: 15 minutes

Description

This was my first "very quick method" to finish the game using glitches. It lets you complete the game (trigger the ending credits) in about 15 minutes.

Glitches used

How to

(see [UDRW] and [ADDR] for instructions to find your way in the exploration zone, and follow the paths given)

Start a new game.

Do all the beginning normally until you get the Pegasus Boots.

Go to Hyrule Castle and perform the [PBEG].

You're now in room 115SW

Go to the final battle room (room 0) (you can use the path 115-99-98-97-96-80-64-48-32-16-0)

From there keep moving North and you'll reach the Triforce room and trigger the ending.

Congratulations you finished the game, if you do it quickly it should take about 15 minutes.

Notes

This method was the first one I found that let me finish the game very quickly using an EG.

It is not as good as the next one since it requires the PBEG that needs to be done on an emulator, and it is longer (as you'll have to go through the sewers and the first Light World dungeon before performing it).

You can quite easily get a 000 save with this method.

III.2.B: 5 Minutes

Description

Yet another method to complete the game very quickly. This one uses the JSEG as soon as possible. It is the fastest method that can be done easily on a real SNES (without opening the controller).

Glitches used

JSEG

How to

(see [UDRW] and [ADDR] for instructions to find your way in the exploration zone, and follow the paths given)

Start a new game

Go to the Secret Passage (you don't need the Lantern)

Enter Hyrule Castle, go to Zelda's cell and rescue her

Go back to the first room where you have a ledge you can jump from (the one that's right after the room with the green soldier that you must kill to open the door and right before the room with infinite pits, room 129)

Jump from the ledge, save and quit while in the air [JSEG]

Reload your game, you'll start in Zelda's cell (room 128N). Be hurt by a guard (or the ball and chain trooper)

From there, find your way to the Triforce room (you can go 128-112-96-80-64-48-32-16-0 and one more North)

Notes

This method is very easy to do on a real SNES. Probably the best one to use if you want to impress your friends on a real SNES.

This does not give you a 000 game since you have to save and quit once to arm the glitch (a pr