Welcome to Rupee Shards, my own little world for whatever I feel like writing about. (Gosh!) For those who don't know me, I'm an administrator of OtakuBoards and a theOtaku chat moderator, and I've been hanging around here since September 2001. I'm an avid gamer and anime fan so most of what you'll see here will relate to one or the other.
Nintendo WFC Friend Codes
Wii Number: 8387-7566-7057-0450
Super Smash Bros. Brawl: 1504-5385-2566 (Des)
Rock Band 2: 4667-9521-5706
Mario Kart Wii: 4124-7294-7708
Animal Crossing: Wild World: 4553-2727-4864 (Desbreko in Kakariko)
After six, count 'em, six runs through the Ice Palace I finally ended up with this video. And I still used more re-records than I would've liked. There's just so many little things that can go wrong and waste time in there. Not even things that will get me hit, because I know the dungeon so damn well by now—right down to the timing of the jellyfishs' electrification—that I rarely take damage, but stupid little things like sliding back and forth on the ice in front of a doorway for two seconds before finally managing to get through. I called it from the start and the Ice Palace was indeed a huge pain to make a good walkthrough for.
I really was not expecting to be able to do the Ice Palace in one section, though. And my first recorded run was actually over YouTube's 10:59 time limit. But then I remembered two big route improvements that cut out a ton of backtracking and cut the time down by two whole minutes. In the end, I actually managed to beat it a little faster than the Dark Palace, which seems crazy to me.
This makes me wonder if I'll be able to do Ganon's Tower in one section too. That is, show all of it in one section. I'm sure I could do it in one if I skipped a bunch of the huge first floor and just went straight to the Big Key and Red Mail but I'd like to show all or at least most of the dungeon. There's a lot of secrets and interesting bits in Ganon's Tower.
Kholdstare is a really fun boss. It's similar to Blind in that there's a lot of crap to dodge, but not quite as much so that you get to balance defense with offense. And there's just something incredibly satisfying about burning things with the Fire Rod.
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Zelda A Link to the Past - Lv5 Ice Palace
My complete Level 5: Ice Palace walkthrough for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Played in real time on Snes9x v1.43+ with re-records used to optimize video length.
- To get the Tempered Sword, go to the southern section of the Village of Outcasts, where the library is in the Light World, and find the lost smith. Bring him back to his partner in the Light World and they'll temper your sword to make it stronger.
- The 1/2 Magic upgrade can be obtained by jumping down the well next to the smithy's shop in Kakariko Village and sprinkling some magic powder on the statue within.
- You can get Bombos by traveling west from the Swamp Palace and warping back to the Light World in the area marked off by posts, then using the Book of Mudora to read the text on the monolith up on the hill in the desert.
[00:28] Pengators
These duck-billed mammals (no, really) are dangerous in groups when they can surround you on the ice. I recommend burning them all at once with Bombos.
[01:58] Through the Fire and Flames
You can't be hurt while using the Hookshot so use it to pull yourself through the fireball chain.
[02:24] Dashing on ice
Dashing provides some much needed control while walking on ice, by letting you instantly stop moving and change directions.
[02:56] Don't panic
The biggest thing you can do to keep yourself from falling off the edge in this room is to simply not rush. Take it slow and then use dashing to run straight once you're lined up.
[03:38] Giant spike traps
Walk straight down from the doorway and the first two spike traps will always miss, then curve back up and left to avoid the third.
[05:51] SNES-only shortcut
This trick doesn't work in the GBA version because the layout of this room was changed but, if you beat Level 6: Misery Mire and get the Cane of Somaria first, you can use a magic block to hold down the switch under the pot and go straight to the boss from here.
[08:00] Boss: Kholdstare
First, use Bombos (or the Fire Rod if you don't have Bombos) to break the ice encasing Kholdstare. Then, after that's out of the way, what looked like one giant puffball will be revealed as three and they'll all start chasing you around the room as chunks of ice fall from above. Keep your distance, using your sword to knock Kholdstare away and make sure it doesn't corner you, and burn the frozen puffballs from afar with the Fire Rod.
I decided to take a little break from the walkthrough to make a video of the Death Mountain Descent glitch. Like I say in the video description, it's one of the most useful glitches in the game and there's a ton of stuff you can do with it. One time I used it to skip getting the Master Sword and played through the Dark Palace and Thieves' Town with the Fighter's Sword. Helmasaur King gets a lot harder when you have to use spin attacks to damage it with your sword. Though, funnily enough, Blind wasn't much harder since it doesn't matter how strong the hit is, it always takes three for each head.
I also found that if you get the Tempered or Golden Sword and then go back and get the Master Sword it actually replaces the stronger sword with it. Unfortunately, I didn't think to try going back to the smithy's or the fairy pond in the pyramid to see if I could upgrade my sword a second time.
Some time I suppose I should do a glitched minimalist run so that I could skip even more stuff. I think I'd be able to get down below ten hearts total that way and play through the entire game with the Fighter's Sword. Though I'm still not sure if I'd even be able to damage Ganon with it since you have to use spin attacks with the Master Sword.
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Zelda A Link to the Past - Death Mountain Descent
This video shows how to do the Death Mountain Descent glitch, which allows you access to the Dark World before beating Agahnim. Played in real time on Snes9x v1.43+.
Death Mountain Descent is one of the most useful glitches in the game and opens up all kinds of options for sequence breaking. I show how to get the Magic Cape early with it but that's just one small use. Others include:
- Obtain items like the Flute and extra Pieces of Heart early
- Beat the game without fighting Agahnim the first time
- Skip the Master Sword entirely
- Use in combination with other glitches to skip the Moon Pearl
To perform the glitch, go through the warp portal outside the Mountain Tower, drop down the cliff, and go east to where the broken bridge is in the Light World. Move all the way into the upper-right corner of the wall and the bridge post and use the Magic Mirror to return to the Light World. Now, while you're still flashing, move one pixel and only one pixel to the right—Link's shadow should be touching the black line of the bridge but not overlapping it—and then let the portal warp you back into the Dark World. Next, without moving at all, use the Magic Mirror a second time and then step all the way out of the portal to the right.
If you moved too far to the right and got automatically warped back into the Light World after moving the first time, try again from the starting position in the Dark World. It can take a few tries to move such a small distance without going too far.
Once you're back in the Light World and standing to the right of the portal on the broken bridge, hold out your sword and slowly back into it. The goal is to go only as far left as it takes to warp and no farther. Once you enter the portal, hold in right on the control cross. If you've succeeded, Link will go through the wall and jump off into the ravine below. Go south and you'll drop down from Death Mountain on the west side of the river by the graveyard. The graphics will be a bit messed up but you can fix that by using the Magic Mirror and then warping back to the Dark World again.
Thieves' Town is small, uncomplicated, and doesn't have too many dangerous enemies, which makes it one of the easiest Dark World dungeons. What it does have is a great puzzle involving the boss that can take a long time to figure out the first time. I don't believe there is any other dungeon in the series where you can stroll right into the boss room and then find that the boss isn't even there.
Blind is also one of the hardest bosses in the game. Once there gets to be two heads flying around the room it becomes even crazier than the Mothula fight. But, being as awesome as I am, I still managed to do it without getting hit. (Admittedly, I did use sword beams this time, unlike my previous video.) I thought for sure I was going to get hit by that last fireball at the end, though. I checked the recording and I turned to face it only two frames before it impacted (that's 1/30 of a second), and I also swung my sword on the same frame that it got blocked by my shield.
I only used one re-record this time, in the conveyor belt corridor. I do say to take it slow in there but, with the way the enemies were moving the first time I went through, it was just getting ridiculous. I finally got impatient, tried to dash through to the door, didn't make it, and decided that it should be redone. I doubt anyone would've wanted to watch me sit there and wait ten seconds for the cloud enemies to finally move into a position where I could safely kill them.
As a side note, it's actually possible to beat Thieves' Town directly after the Dark Palace, which lets you get the Tempered Sword early.
Finally the dungeon I've been dreading, the Ice Palace, is next. I think it will be, by far, the hardest to produce a good video for and will also likely require two parts due to its length. The game can be roughly divided into thirds (Light World, levels 1-4, levels 5-8), each section stepping up the difficulty a significant amount, and the Ice Palace marks the beginning of the last third. This is where the game stops being a cakewalk for me.
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Zelda A Link to the Past - Lv4 Thieves' Town
My complete Level 4: Thieves' Town walkthrough for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Played in real time on Snes9x v1.43+ with re-records used to optimize video length.
Equipment checklist: 14 Hearts, Red Shield
You can upgrade your shield (as well as the boomerang) at the Waterfall of Wishing, which is just outside Zora's Waterfall in the far northeast corner of the Light World.
[00:37] Bunny Link
If one of these spinning, flashy things touches you you'll transform into bunny Link for a short time and be unable to use your sword or items. Ironically, bunny Link also cannot dash.
[01:47] Conveyor belt corridor
Take it slow and careful in here and kill the cloud enemies as you go. If you try to run through and dodge everything you'll most likely get trapped between multiple enemies.
[03:10] More conveyor belts
You can walk along the edges of this room without getting carried away by the conveyors.
[04:30] Boss: Blind
Blind has three heads and each time you knock one off it'll start flying around the room while shooting fireballs at you. If you can manage to keep full hearts, stand back and return fire with sword beams while dodging the fireballs. Otherwise, move in close when you find an opening and hit Blind's head with your sword, either from the side or, when Blind moves to the bottom of the room, from above. Never try to swing up through Blind's body because you're likely to get hit in doing so.
Skull Woods is an interesting dungeon in that about half of it is completely optional and only there to confuse you. If you know what to do you can go straight to the big key, then the big chest, then the boss, which I do in the video here. The rest of the rooms that you can drop into through the holes in the ground simply lead you back to the main entrances. Normally I like to show as much of the dungeon as I can, unless a room is nothing but a trap, but in this case I decided not to bother because there's no reason to go to the other areas and people can explore on their own if they really want to.
I show a handy little trick you can do with bombs, to blow yourself across pits. It's useful in a few places and you'll see me use it again in Ganon's Tower. As well, I show how you can use the bounce from dashing into a wall to cross pits, though obviously you need a wall directly opposite and close to the pit for it to work, which makes it less practical.
I use Bombos a lot in this dungeon because the Gibdos take a ton of hits to kill otherwise. And, besides, if you've got 1/2 magic it only takes one small magic jar to replenish the magic used by Bombos, which you'll usually get from a room full of enemies.
Mothula is one of my favorite bosses in the game because of the sheer craziness that the moving floor adds to the fight. You really have to be on top of things to use its movement to your advantage in dodging instead of trying to fight it. Mothula got one hit on me because the bugger bounced back off the spikes and ran into me when I slashed it away; it's nearly impossible to tell when that will happen.
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Zelda A Link to the Past - Lv3 Skull Woods
My complete Level 3: Skull Woods walkthrough for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Played in real time on Snes9x v1.43+ with re-records used to optimize video length.
Equipment checklist: 13 Hearts, 1/2 Magic, Bombos
The 1/2 Magic upgrade can be obtained by jumping down the well next to the smithy's shop in Kakariko Village and sprinkling some magic powder on the statue within. You can get Bombos by traveling west from the Swamp Palace and warping back to the Light World in the area marked off by posts, then using the Book of Mudora to read the text on the monolith up on the hill in the desert.
[00:16] Burn them all
Gibdos (the mummies) take a lot of sword slashes to kill so I prefer to burn them all at once with Bombos.
[00:27] Wallmasters
These giant hands drop from the ceiling and will carry you back to the dungeon entrance if they catch you. Watch for their shadows to avoid them.
[01:32] Bomb propulsion
Stand at the very edge of the pit with a bomb at your back and it will blow you across to the other side. Don't touch the control cross until you're all the way across or else you'll fall in.
You can also get to the big chest by dropping down the hole in the bushes outside.
[03:41] Boss: Mothula
This giant moth inhabits a room with a moving floor and spike traps lining the walls, which makes movement and dodging highly complicated. Try to keep your distance, dodging the spike traps and Mothula's beam attacks as best you can, and return fire with the Fire Rod when you get a clear shot. If Mothula gets too close, bat it away with your sword.
The difficulty is rising along with the Swamp Palace's water level. It's still not too incredibly hard but there are a couple rooms that should start to show off my mad skillz. And then there's the 1F room that you drop from to get the Big Key. At one point, back when I was doing my minimalist run, I had a route worked out for running through that room without getting hit since I didn't have the Cane of Byrna. But I didn't care enough to try and figure it out again since using the Cane is so much easier and more reliable.
The Hookshot is fun and one of the best weapons to use against those annoying, electric jellyfish. Did you know that you can't be hurt while you're using it? It's a neat trick but rarely useful.
Arrghus has got to be the second easiest boss in the game, coming in second only after the Armos Knights. I get hit during this fight maybe one time in ten unless I mess around with trying to get it to land right next to me during the second stage of the fight. I did a bit of that in the video here but wasn't too risky.
Only two more to go before I get to the frozen hell that is the Ice Palace. At least Skull Woods will be fun and Thieves' Town will be short.
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Zelda A Link to the Past - Lv2 Swamp Palace
My complete Level 2: Swamp Palace walkthrough for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Played in real time on Snes9x v1.43+ with re-records used to optimize video length.
Equipment checklist: 12 Hearts, Flippers, 1/2 Magic, Cane of Byrna
The Flippers must be bought (for 500 rupees) from King Zora in Zora's Waterfall, in the far north-east corner of the Light World. The 1/2 Magic upgrade can be obtained by jumping down the well next to the smithy's shop in Kakariko Village and sprinkling some magic powder on the statue within. The Cane of Byrna can be found on Death Mountain in the Dark World by jumping off the cliff just below the warp tile by the Mountain Tower and entering the cave on the ledge below.
[00:00] Raise the water level
To go beyond the first room of the Swamp Palace you must first warp back to the Light World and open the Watergate, which will also open the gate in the Swamp Palace and allow you to swim across the channel. This was done prior to the start of the video.
[00:29] Floor blobs
These little guys pop up all over when you walk across the floor tiles they inhabit. They're a good source of hearts.
[00:40] Four-way fireballs
These brown fireball turrets will shoot at you whenever you use your sword.
[02:44] Crystal Switch: Red
It's tempting to leave the switch blue and take the shortcut at the bottom of the room but don't do it. Return the switch to red before you leave.
[03:26] I am invincible!
This room is a huge pain to get through undamaged so use the Cane of Byrna to make yourself invincible while you run through it.
[06:28] Water striders
Bombos, Ether, and Quake are the only things that can damage these water striders since they're below you in the water. You can either kill them that way or use the Cane of Byrna to avoid getting hit as you swim past.
[06:53] Boss: Arrghus
An oversized jellyfish with floating puffballs in tow, Arrghus is the easiest of the Dark World bosses. Just make sure to stand to the side of it while hooking the puffballs away so that they won't hit you, and watch out for it to spin them around in a ring. Once you destroy all the puffballs, charge up a spin attack and keep moving so that you'll avoid Arrghus when it leaps into the air and tries to land on you. Release the spin attack when it gets close after falling into the water and repeat until it dies.
