Through the looking glass? Let's Play The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past!

Dude, this has been epic. Great work.

Order of the Stick agrees.

I may not have won the contest (aargh, I said 13 deaths at Trinexx, so close!), I will submit a simple commoner vote: please to acquire the amazing Bombos medallion! It's the most satisfying weapon in the history of Zelda!

These Let's Play threads have actually inspired me to sign up for the forums. Hooray for vicariously playing games through message board posts while at work!

I have a bit of a glitch/neat thing that you may be interested in trying when you begin to work through the game and pick up all the items you missed. I discovered this because I played this game FAR too much in my younger years, and while I haven't really dug around online to see if other people noted it, it seems obscure enough that it might be unique.

With the second level of shield equipped (the round, orange one), find the enemy that swallows your shield. Have the ice rod equipped as a secondary weapon. Allow it to grab your shield with its tongue and quickly freeze it before it can swallow the shield completely. This will turn the whole sprite blue, including your orange shield. Kill the monster by striking it with your sword, and the shield will drop for you to pick up, but will retain its blue hue, even when equipped. Its original color will return when you scroll into another screen, but until you do so, you can have a rare, blue shield. Quite nice.

It has been a while since I have done this, but I ran a few experiments with it back in the day. I THINK it may still work even after the monster has swallowed the shield completely. I'm pretty sure you can also use the ice medallion to freeze the monster instead of the ice rod. I'm working from roughly 15 year old memories, however, so I may be wrong about these last two points.

I want to see you get the Staff of Brynna. I want you to get this before getting the Cape or any bottles.

I want to see this, because you have given free reign, and I have consequently gone mad with power.

I thought about being a dick and saying the Digging Game Heart Piece, but I'm not going to say that.

My vote is the Bottle from the chest that follows you around. Someone should do a run with the chest following them around everywhere.

Welcome!

fix'd

Without the Cape, the upgraded Tunics, or more Heart Containers, I don't think it's possible to get the Staff of Byrna.

All the more reason to try! It's the only way to be sure!

Hey, I just wanted to say I'm really enjoying this. Way to go.

Huh, I was just reading about that glitch the other day. Apparently you do have to freeze the monster first, which ends up freezing the shield as well. Maybe I'll do it once I grab the red shield?

The list so far:
1] Fourth Bottle
2] Tempered Sword
3] Bombos Medallion
4] Red Shield (w/ glitch?)
5] Staff of Byrna*

*To be honest, I'm not sure the Staff is obtainable at this point, at least not without a faerie in stock. I'll try it anyway just to see if I could pull it off, but I'm making no promises on this.

as soon as you get a bottle, I demand you get GOOD BEE at your earliest convenience.

Man, that Good Bee was useless, but at least she meant well.

You could say she had good intentions. :3

Sometimes the Good Bee is fun for picking on Spluts (that is, any monster that makes a "splut" noise when you attack it), but its best use is probably as an item to sell to the bottle salesman in exchange for an assortment of ammo and money.
That's worth a screenshot, at least.

PapilllonReel are we getting close to seeing the end-game? the anticipation is killing me!

I enjoy using the Good Bee in the overworld occasionally, but I had no idea it could be bartered for goods. I've gotta try this.

Whew, that was a nice break. Now to get back into the swing of things with the next installment.



This is it, the last leg of our journey. Time to head inside and finish the job.



Welcome to Ganon's Tower, quite possibly the largest dungeon in the entire game. Just being here is giving me the willies.



Our first stop is to head downstairs into the basement, so take the staircase in the upper-left corner of the room. Head left from here (the right staircase is just a red herring)



After Hook Shotting across the holes in the floor, make sure to bomb the switches on either side so that they turn pink. This is so we can solve the next room's puzzle.



Notice how there are two switches beside each other? You have to make sure the bomb isn't too close to the other one, otherwise the switches will just flip back to pink when the second one activates.

Move onto the next room and step into the warp after avoiding the trap (no screenshot, sorry).



Watch you don't get burned when you move through this room.





You have to warp back and forth through this room in order to move on, our target being that warp in the bottom-left corner.



Once you get to this room, light the torch and follow the lit path to the door in the top-right corner. Make sure you get across before the torch dies out though, unless you like stumbling across thin air.

More red herrings. Bomb the bottom-right crack and jump down for a rematch against an old enemy.



That's right, the Armos Knights are back. Unfortunately for them, they're the same as before so three shots from the bow to each is enough to fell them.



Now that we've got the Big Key, it's time to start our ascent. Let's head back to the main floor now.



Be sure to grab some faeries if you're low on health.



Though ignore the Red Tunic, since damage reduction is for wusses. Real men wear green.



Since I neglected to grab a screenshot of the main room again, I'll just reuse this one. Our goal is to get back to this room, then head upwards through the middle staircase at the top of the room (not pictured).



Which begins with a series of traps. Pull the statue back and block off the bouncing... thingy and shoot arrows at the two Goryias. Make sure they don't hit you instead though.



No ifs, ands, or buts about it. This room was designed to piss me off, wasn't it?



Thankfully, that's over with soon enough. Time to use that key we found down below.

Head for the switch up here, but watch out for the Eyegores guarding it.



This trap has puzzled me for years. It wasn't until a year or two ago when I looked it up in a FAQ that I found out you were supposed to use the Pegasus Boots to make it into this room. Fortunately, there's nothing much there except a faerie and some ammunition, so head on upwards to proceed.









Needless to say, Ether's very useful in these next few rooms.



Pressing on, we meet rematch #2: the Lanmolas. This time you can use either the Bow or the Sword to attack (they both deal the same amount of damage), and with more heart containers this time around they go down quickly enough. Watch out for that jerk in the corner though, since he'll be taking potshots at you the entire time.

After you beat them, head onto the next room and go up the stairs.

There are two ways through this room. The first is to form a block from the Cane of Somaria and fumble your way through. Not the best method, but it's better than nothing.



Well, except for Ether that is. A single cast should be enough to give you an idea of where to go.



As long as you watch out for the traps on the walls this room shouldn't be a problem. Be careful in any case, since those eyeblasts can take off a lot of hearts.



The Cane of Somaria is good for Wizzrobes, since it gives you a means to attack more than one at once without putting you in the line of fire. Unfortunately, this is probably the only time you'll have to use it though.



Ignore the guards, the floor will start crumbling at any moment.



More eyebeams. You better "look" out for them!



A crumbling floor, a bubble and torches? Yeesh. Start from the upper-right corner, since that's where the floor starts to break apart.



Bomb your way through here and head downwards next. If you plant the bomb close enough, it shouldn't be caught by the treadmill floor.



A simple enough switch puzzle. Simply work your way inside, grab the key, then hit your way back out.

Rematch #3: Moldorm. We deal double damage this time, so he should go down very quickly. Watch you don't get knocked downwards though, as the room below is filled with spiked floors, wizzrobes and anti-faeries instead of the stash of hearts we had last time.



Hook Shot across the chest that appears and make your way onto the next room. Climb the staircase inside and move onto the final floor.



This is it. Are you ready?



Wait, what the- I thought he was dead! Well, nothing a little killing can't solve. I guess it's time for rematch #4 then.



This time he's doing things a little differently, summoning two shadows of himself to join the fight. However it's easy to spot which one's the real one, so send all the shots back at Agahnim for a quick and easy win.



Once he goes down though, Ganon makes his appearance. After transforming into a bat, he takes off from the tower and out of sight. Let's chase after him using our own flighty friend...



Well, here we are. Back at the Pyramid of Power. It's time for the final battle against Ganon, the King of Evil.

Next Time: The Pyramid of Power and the Triforce Within!

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List of Items Thus Far:
1] Fourth Bottle
2] Tempered Sword
3] Bombos Medallion
4] Red Shield (w/ glitch?)
5] Cane of Byrna
6] Good Bee

Anything else?

Aaagh. I always tossed the Boomerang and then Dashed at the wall, hoping to end up on the correct side of the raising Pink Blocks. It didn't occur to me to use Bombs

Ouch, man, use the Boomerang. Impaling poor, innocent Fairies on a metal spike can't be good for them.

Here, OTOH, I would make full use of the treadmill. Why risk getting hit three times (once planting the bomb, then running out, and again going for the newly-opened hole) when you can time your bomb toss so that the treadmill carries it to the crack just as it explodes?

Um, yes. As Link is about to find out, he's missing a rather crucial piece of Ganon-beating equipment :P

Oh don't worry, I wouldn't forget the Silver Arrows for the world.

If there's one thing this thread has taught me, it's that I was remembering completely in error beating this game. I must have stopped halfway through the dark world, as all these dungeons are completely new to me... huh. I should fix that sometime, as it really does seem as awesome as awesome can be.

Yes, eye see!

I had no idea that faeries could be shishkabobed on the hookshot. So many wasted years...

But this is a minimalist run, meaning (a) you have no boomerang, and (b) at this point, you probably want the faeries to share in your pain.

Man, I'd forgotten how many great puzzles were in this game.

The number of uses the designers came up with for your items really shows the contrast between the older Zelda games and the "one and done" items of the newer ones... and I like the newer ones.

quite frankly, Link to the Past was the sweet spot that Zelda as a series has never been able to get back to.