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

With the possible exception of M othula, I think that Vitreous is the least interesting LttP boss. I mean, he's just a big eye ball, that's pretty dull. At least Kholdstare is made of clouds and in a big block of ice.

Also, it should be noted that the Wizzrobes in LttP aren't even close to the ones from LoZ, in terms of how freakin' bad they suck.

I believe this is true. I can't recall ever getting raped to death by Wizzrobes in LttP, but in the original LoZ it's pretty much just a matter of time before you grow to loathe their appetite for your soft, squishy Hearts.

Even the short version was about 37 seconds too long.

Why did they show the trip all the way from the pyramid?

I demand those 37 seconds back!

I was going to say, you probably could've saved yourself a lot of walking time by grabbing this earlier and abusing it - it is a required item, after all, so technically it wouldn't have mattered when you picked it up.

Well technically it is required, but I didn't really need it until Misery Mire -before then, it would've served no use aside from breaking the game. For the most part, I'm trying to keep this as minimalist and realistic as possible by grabbing things only as I need them - hence my skipping of the Ice Rod and Flippers.

re: Ghost of Misery Mire: I'm saving him for a special Tricks 'n' Glitches exposé I'm doing after the last dungeon, so don't worry - he'll get his time to shine eventually. ;P

Good luck with Turtle Rock. Trinexx is by far the hardest part of the minimalist run simply because you have no margin for error for destroying the fire and ice heads due to limited magic and your relatively weak master sword.

I completed a minimalist run once, only to find out that my file had apparently decided to erase itself when I tried to load it up a month later. The other two files were intact, just that one was gone.

Actually, Trinexx drops small Magic Decanters with some of his attacks if you completely run out of Magic, just to avoid making the battle completely unwinnable.

Or at least he did in the GBA version, it's been a while since I played it on the SNES, so it might have been changed.

I have very vivid memories of running out of magic and not being able to win the fight on the SNES version. I made sure to bring blue potion (IT RESTORES MAGIC AND HEALTH!) on all subsequent playthroughs.

It sounds like something they added in the GBA version, but to be honest I would always mirror out of there as soon as it seemed like I couldn't beat him. So I never hung around long enough to see if he actually drops those in the SNES version. I'm curious to know now, though.

...I never even considered this as a possibility. I just walked into him over and over until he killed me so I could reset.

I think I might not have had 1/2 Magic either.

I don't know it seems like it! Am I close to seeing Ganon? Does he look much better than his 8-bit incarnation? I'm excited! What else is there for you to get and what else is there to not get?

We're very close to the end now - after Turtle Rock, there's only one dungeon left before we face off against Ganon in all his glory.

Of course, that's provided I can get past Trinex first. First person to guess how many times I died to that son of a bitch and his dungeon gets first choice in the post-game interactive special I'm planning.

Trinexx is probably the toughest boss in the game regardless of how you're playing it, so I would imagine that a minimalist run is unto hell itself.

17 times.

9 times sounds good too me, though I have nothing to base this on...

Lucky 13, that's my guess!

It's time for... EXTREMELY BAD MATH!! (starring Brickroad)

I'll assume Papillon is about equal to my own skill level for no reason other than it makes things easier.

I don't die on Trinexx, but I take half damage (blue tunic), have approximately twice as many hearts, have twice as much magic (1/2 magic). The magic aspect of the fight can be ignored since if he runs out he can apparently Magic Mirror out and try again (which counts as a loss I guess, but not as a death). In any case I usually use either a faerie or a potion during the fight to refill my health, so Papillon is going to die once where I die zero times, starting the death counter out at 1.

Since my health is approximately doubled, Papillon would die twice in the time it takes me to die once, multiplying the death count by 2 (total of 2).

Further, since he's taking twice as much damage because of his tunic, it's multiplied by 2 again (total of 4).

He's also using a sword two steps worse than mine (four times weaker, I believe) so act three of the fight is four times longer. If one-third of the fight is four times longer, I believe that averages out to a fight that is twice as long overall, multiplying the death count again by 2 (total of 8).

So that's my official guess: 8 deaths, but 12 tries total (I think it's fair to attribute about a third of your retries to loss of magic rather than health).

I OVERTHOUGHT THIS.

Just killed Trinex finally. Dude's harder than Jumpin' Jack Flash on Hard ROCK, and I mean that in a "nearly-punched-a-hole-in-the-wall" kind of way. I'm off to play FES to cool down a bit first, as sifting through screenshots while trying not to vomit in rage isn't exactly the best idea.

By the way, the contest is for the total number of deaths for the entire dungeon, not just Trinex (though Brickroad's extremely bad math is surprisingly accurate on the latter). I'll announce the answer when I update later tonight.

Total for the whole dungeon? Blackjack, 21 deaths and restarts.

I would guess 17, but that one's taken, so I'll say 16. (Worst Price is Right player ever!)

Holy shit. You determined his power level in real life.

I guess... 15 deaths?

All right, I've been balking on this installment for too long. Time to push on to the end, my friends. If you're wondering who one, scroll to the last two posts and look at the bolded names.



Before we can move onto the next dungeon, we'll have to go through another treasure hunt. Our first stop will be to head to lake Hylia to pick up that weapon Sahasrahla mentioned way back after the Eastern Palace.



Meet the Fire Rod's twin brother, the Ice Rod. But watch your magic meter!



Unlike the Fire Rod which incinerates and kills its targets, the Ice Rod freezes them solid without hurting them. Which means you can do all sorts of fun stuff with them before finishing them off, like picking them up and throwing them around, or smashing them with the hammer to grab a magic decanter.



Next we'll be passing by the northeastern part of the dark world, roughly where the Zoras live. Note the sign that says not to toss anything into the river - odds are we're supposed to do it anyway, because it's not like we have anything sensible to go on, right?



Be sure to throw the sign in for extra spite.



After a brief reprimand, the catfish will toss you the Quake Medallion and tell you to go away. Now that we've got what we came for, let's leave him be and head off towards the final dungeon.



Time to head back up Death Mountain. Watch out for the falling rocks, as always.



However, now that we've got the Hook Shot, it's time we take a shortcut. Hook Shot across the broken bridge to the east of the Old Man's house.

Next, head into the far right cave and climb the stairs inside.



See? Nice and easy. No more having to cross through the dark world for us!



Next, head east to this screen. Time to use the Titan's Mitt to lift this boulder.



Next smash the stakes in a counter-clockwise direction to make a warp. Note that if you don't hear the musical chimes, you are doing it wrong.



Finally, we use that nifty Quake Medallion to break open the Turtle's head and open up the dungeon.



The Cane of Somaria serves a unique use in this dungeon, making a large pad that we can use to drift along the tracks all over the place.



First off, head through the NE door for the dungeon's first puzzle.



Light the torches using the Fire Rod, preferably going counter-clockwise so you don't waste time in the return trip.



This dungeon has traps galore. Run around the rolling pins and grab the key before heading back to the main room.



Next, head through the NW door to go further into the temple. Ignore the other doors, they don't give you anything.

I forget what these things are called, but in close quarters they can be deadly. Make sure you get in close to slash at them, since pelting them with sword beams will result in them flinging a piece of themselves at you instead.



Bow-wows. That name has made many a gamer shudder in fear. Between their ability to take off no less than four hearts in one attack, their invulnerability to all forms of attack and the lack of space to evade them with, they may very well be the most infuriating in this game. Thankfully, this is the only dungeon that we'll have to deal with them, so push the upperleftmost block to grab the key and move on.



One of Turtle Rock's new tricks is the intricate tubing that passes through the place, starting with this room. What a "tubular" design, wouldn't you agree?



Head down the right tube - the left one leads to a dead end until we get the Big Key.



Which, after a series of tubes, we find. Head back to the first room for now, then around to the tubes we saw before.



Now we're going down the tubes on the left this time.



Since we're not trapped in like last time, these guys aren't much of a threat. Still, make sure you don't get hit by a projectile limb.



For those of you who don't have an eye for these kinds of things, bomb through the bottom crack to head back outside.



That's right, Turtle Rock is interwoven into the mountain itself. Interesting how they worked that in. But most importantly, now that we're back outside, we've set a checkpoint for the entrance right here, meaning that we don't have to start over when we die.



Since shields are for chumps, we're passing on this treasure in here.

Blow open both of these walls to head on.



The east wall heads to a nice cache of rupees, so if you're short on money you can stock up here.



The north wall, on the other hand, leads further into the temple. Grab the key and go downstairs.



Words can't describe my loathing for this room.



Try not to get lost finding this switch.



Seriously, I hate this room so Goddamn hard it isn't funny.



Try and fumble your way to the door in the SW corner to move on - the rest are just red herrings.



A small narrow path guarded by a single helmasaur that's booby-trapped on all sides by laser-eyes? Just wonderful.



Head to the furthermost end of the hallway and out the door to set the next checkpoint. You wouldn't want to repeat the entire dungeon again, would you?



Afterwards, take advantage of the momentary invincibility you get from damage to grab the key here, then warp back and head further into the dungeon.

This next room is a double-edged sword. If you want, you could probably farm the enemies here for hearts and supplies before you fight the boss. Don't let yourself get trapped by them instead though, since you'll need as many much health you can get.



Poof up the moving pad with your cane before grabbing the magic decanter so your magic meter is full when fighting the boss.

Oh, speak of the devil. Here's the man right now.



Meet the hardest boss you'll fight ever in a Zelda game, Trinex. As you can see, those two heads of his can make things very difficult for you, either blocking you off one side of the room to destroying your traction and making it easy to slip up. Since the latter ability is the more annoying of the two, we'll be taking the right head out first.

Watch out for the middle head though, since throughout the battle it'll be taking potshots at you for four hearts apiece.



Hopefully you noticed the similarities between your equipment and the boss by now. If not, you have to use the opposite rod on them both to stun them - fire for the blue head, and ice for the red head - and then slash at them with your sword. It takes roughly eight hits from the Master Sword to take them down, which means that you have to make every shot from the rods count.



The first head's probably the easier of the two since the Fire Rod's fast enough that it'll hit the head before it moves. The Ice Rod's shot moves slowly, so things get a little dicey after this point.



If you get to this point, the battle's pretty much won. Watch as the shell goes up in flames and prepare yourself for phase two.



Our target is to aim for that glowing part in the middle, as it's Trinex's weakpoint. Dodge out of the way when it charges after you and hit that part eight times to finish him off once in for all.



By the way, the winner of the "Papillon Sucks At Zelda" sweepstakes goes to JFink, as his guess of 21 deaths was the right answer. Runner-up goes to Brickroad, for correctly guessing the number of deaths for Trinex alone. For information as to what you won, head further down for more details.



Finally, we found Zelda. I guess it's time to end this once and for all.



It's time to blow our way into Ganon's stronghold for the final battle, using the power of the seven crystals to break open the front gate.

Next Time: Ganon's Tower Part 1: Search for the Dungeon's Key!

But first, a word from the creator...

Now you all may thinking that the Let's Play is nearing it's end with the appearance of Ganon's Tower, as the battle with Ganon is just after it. However, afterwards I'll be playing catch up with a four part series called Let's Backtrack.



Notice all of the blank spots on the menu screen? After Ganon is defeated I'll be going back and collecting each and every one of the missed items - several times if there's more than one method to acquiring them. However, the order is completely up to you all, so if there's a specific item you want to be found then make your voice heard in your post below. The votes will be tallied up after the next dungeon and each item will be found in order from least popular to most popular, regardless of whether it's a dungeon item or a measly heart piece.

Those of you who correctly guessed the number of deaths in Turtle Rock - that is, JFink and Brickroad respectively - will choose the first two items to be collected, but afterwards anything is fair game. In the meantime, thanks to everyone who's been reading this far and I hope you all enjoy the rest of the Let's Play.

you've done the format proud, papillion. thank you for your effort.

Sweet.

I humbly request first you go after the L3 Sword, since the blacksmith subquest is one of my favorites in the game. I also request that you write that post in a dwarvish accent, if possible.*

*According to FF9, dwarvish = Scottish.