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

I really like Arrghus.

But then, most of the LttP bosses are really good, giving you several different ways to kill them. I think most of the bosses in the later games suffer from having only one prescribed method of taking them down, that being 'use the dungeon item, switch to sword', whereas for the most part the LttP bosses mix things up and have you using multiple items, including the dungeon item.

ZOOM

KAY-O

I'm pretty sure a minimalist run means no sword upgrades.

That's probably because it is a horrible, hateful place. That boss fight is one of the very few fights in all of Zelda-dom where I know I'm going to need healing before I win.

That's exactly the sequence I use. It gets you real overpowered real fast, and I like that.

Would someone please explain this one to me? I know it's POSSIBLE - the version of the game I borrowed from my friend the first time I ever played it had already done so - but I've never seen it laid out in plain, non-GameFAQs english.

Put simply, this works because, as Nich noted above, all you need is a hammer to get into the dark world version of the village. So, if you want, you can skip the hookshot and fire rod in dungeons 2 and 3 and go straight to the glove in dungeon 4.

There's no trick at all really, since you wouldn't normally use the rod or the hookshot to get into the village area, whether you have them or not. Just do the dungeons in the order you want to instead of following the numbers on the map.

I usually don't skip dungeon 2, because I'm always more excited to get the hookshot than a sword upgrade. But it's just a matter of personal preference.

In the screen just north of the village there's a small area fenced off and guarded by rocks. There's a warp tile there. It *seems* like you can't get in there without the Level 2 glove, but all you really have to do is go to the other side. Take the leftmost path into the Lost Woods, then come back out through the next exit. Then you can use the hammer and level 1 glove to reach the warp tile to the Dark World. From there, you can go north a little ways and take a shortcut between the trees to the path on the left, leading into town.

This is all true, but isn't this how you'd normally get into the village in a non-sequence breaking run anyway?

That's the thing - the intent seemed to be that you use the hookshot to cross the broken bridge, and that without it you couldn't get to either dungeons 3 or 4. I always just sort of accepted that as gospel and never went looking for a way around it.

I didn't realize I could get into #4 early until my last playthrough of the game on VC last year. Getting that sword early and saving the (goddamn) forest dungeon for last really does make thing easier.

I've been skipping #5 for #6 for years though. Some people say I'm cheating by skipping the tricky puzzles in #5; I say I just use the most optimal solution ever.

I love how this game treats the Triforce with an air of mystery. Besides being one of the most effective bits of writing in the game, the tree-man's haunting little monologue here is actually the first time anyone refers to it by name. It really makes it seem like more of a legendary item only spoken of in whispers than in games where it's treated like a matter of course. Twilight Princess kind of did it again by only calling it "the power of the gods," but that game's story was a mess overall, so it's a wash.

The image that Kishi cited reminds me of one of my favorite things in LttP, which isn't found in any other Zelda game: walls that collapse when you dash into them. So very satisfying.

I also like how the wall has to be "extra-weak" in order for the dash boots to open it. God, so many little touches for a SNES game in '92.

This thread made me break down and buy LttP on VC for $8. I wouldn't have bothered if I still had my original cart, but I traded it to some guy back in high school for FF3, so I think I did okay.

Edit: Let's see if I can catch up to Mr. Reel before the next update!

The normal way, as I saw it, was to go north-east from the pyramid, and as you go north, there's a broken bridge, which you use the hookshot to cross, then south-west to the village.

!

I always thought that the Super Bomb only went on sale after you beat all 7 Dungeons. I had no idea at all.

All those playthroughs, I waited until after I cleared Turtle Rock. What a fool I was.

Don't you also have to rescue the smith first as well? I remember hearing it being one of the requirements to making it appear, though I've never actually confirmed it myself.

Ah, and I am one of those people who ALWAYS does Misery Mire before the Ice Palace, meaning I've always had to get the final sword upgrade a dungeon later. Well played, LttP. Well played.

I'm the only one who didn't mind the Ice Dungeon, aren't I?

Every time I play the game I expect it to be really long and hard, but it never quite lives up to that expectation.

It must have touched me in a bad place as a child but I really can't remember what about it I found so difficult originally.

I don't mind it. In fact, I wish Zelda games would have more of them - the Yeti's Mansion and Snowfall Temple are some of my favourite dungeons ever.

By the way, I'm almost done now, so expect an update in t-minus ten minutes.

If I'm not the only one who didn't mind the Ice Dungeon, I may be the only one who doesn't mind the Ice Dungeon, Skull Woods or Mothula fight.

Mine are the least popular of opinions.

This is how I feel about it. I hate the damn place and yet I haven't really had any trouble with it since the first time through. Something about that first experience must have permanently scarred me.

Let's not get too ahead of ourselves just yet. We're only at the third dungeon, after all. Speaking of which, it's time to head over there now.



Now that we have the hookshot*, we should be able to make some headway onto the next temple. Not even a fallen bridge can stop us from getting there now.

*(boing!)



However, if you've been following along with the discussion so far, you should remember that a couple of posters mentioned being able to get there without even bothering with the second dungeon. And you can - simply circle around through the Lost Woods and exit through the southwestern corner. It should bring you down here where the hammer and power gloves reveal a warp to the dark world.



In any case, it's time we head towards the next dungeon. Which is fittingly found inside a forest of dead trees and bones. Creepy!



Man, why do they gotta be like that? The first room in and they're already taunting us with the treasure.

I guess we should try and get to it anyway. Head left and then up.



Bomb your way into the next room and pull this switch for some fireworks. However, since we don't have the Big Key yet, we'll have to ignore it for now.



If you're the kind of person who can't rest without a full map, jump down into this hole next.



You should land into this room with a bunch of hardhat beetles. Fight them off and head east, then north afterwards.



You should be in this room now, with annoyance #1: the Gibdo. Yes, that Gibdo. Except instead of freezing you with a piercing shriek like the redeads later on, they just wander around and take forever to die. Kill the leftmost one, grab the key and head east...



...To wind up right where we started.

If you had headed east instead of north in the last room, you would've been trapped in here with a bunch of traps, Gibdos and what is quite possible the most annoying enemy to have ever been birthed in a Zelda game, the Wallmaster.



In any case, even if you survive the trap you'll find yourself at the same destination anyway. What a waste of time that was.



Time to move on. Head through the ribcages until you find another open-mouthed skull (creeeeepy) and head inside.



Now we have a bit of a conundrum. In order to open the switch, we have to push the statue onto it. Problem is, if we do we can't get around it. What do we do?



Well, if pushing doesn't work, we can always try pulling instead. Though try not to push your luck with the Wallmasters around.



After we head inside (and slaughter the enemies in it as well), we finally find the Big Key. Time to find out what was inside that treasure chest at the beginning.



Though be sure to bomb open that wall for a free magic refill while you're at it.



Remember how I said the Magic Hammer was my favourite weapon?

I lied. :3c



The Fire Rod is absurdly powerful against most enemies. Instead of dealing damage to reduce an enemy's health, it acts instead as a one-hit kill. However, there are some enemies out there that can resist or even null its effects, and the magic drain isn't much to scoff at anyway, so it's not exactly perfect. Fun to use, though, especially compared to those shitty arrows we get in the later games.

Well now that we have the dungeon's treasure, it's time to move on. Head left from this room.



Keep going left for now.



And head out the door. Easy, wasn't it?



If you're curious about the locked room, don't bother. There's not much in there except three helmasaurs, skulls and a collapsible floor.



But enough about that. It's time for the real challenge this dungeon has to offer.



Welcome to Skull Dungeon, part three. See that chest down there? We'll need the key to proceed, so head down the stairs and find your way to the door at the northern part of the room.



Circle around in the other room to grab the key, but be careful you don't get turned into a rabbit.



Once you open the door, you'll be in a room like this one. The pattern is the center tile, then bottom-left, center-right, top-right and then finally the mid-right tile.



However, if you want to save time you could always just sashay across like this.



The Fire Rod's use (besides killing things with fire) is in lighting torches that lay out of reach. Hence my comment way back in the thread about the Lamp going obsolete.

In any case, once you head through the next few doors and jump down the pit, you'll face... Mothula.

The key to winning this fight is to STAY CALM. Most people when they enter this fight go "oh shit" and fire off the Fire Rod willy-nilly, wasting all of their magic power and screwing themselves over in the process. Every shot that misses means hitting Mothula with four slashes from the sword, so precision is crucial to winning this fight.



If you don't think you have enough health or magic power, don't be afraid to warp back and farm some Gibdos and Bari for hearts and magic decanters. And believe me, you'll need as many as you can get.



By the way, this fight took me four tries before I finally won, and he isn't even the hardest boss in the game. Scary thought, huh?



Anyway, now that we have the crystal, it's time to get out of this hell-hole.

Next time: Thieves' Town! A Mysterious Maiden Awaits?

You know, you can set Gibdo's on fire. I think you can even do that with the Lantern.

It's a lot faster then anything else.

You can, but it wastes magic power which we need for Mothula.

Sort of a catch-22, isn't it?

Not really, isn't there a Big Decanter, like, right in front of where you fight Mothula? Of course, I usually have the Ice Rod by this point, so getting more Magic wasn't much of an issue.

Sometimes the Magic Upgrade too, but maybe not. That much, I do not recall.