RetroVision – Complete A Link to the Past in Four Minutes

Back in the 80s and 90s, sometimes beating a game just wasn’t good enough. Instead we would challenge ourselves to see who could grab the highest score, who could perform the craziest combos, and quite regularly, who could complete the game the fastest. As such, speedrunning became something of an art, with many in awe of those that could achieve the seemingly impossible.

Quite often though, achieving these impossible feats required not just an insane amount of skill, but also the discovery of a glitch or two. As unlike nowadays, these glitches couldn’t be patched out. However, in other cases, the glitch would do a great deal of the work for you. Giving you the opportunity to impress your friends with a super fast finish, for a normally lengthy or difficult title.

One such glitch can be found in none other than the much revered SNES classic The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past. And it’ll help even a novice skip their way through Hyrule Castle, past Ganon, and all the way to the Triforce in less than four minutes. In fact, courtesy of IGN, read on and you can find out how to do it yourself.

Step By Step Guide to the Glitch

  • First up, start the game and head straight to Hyrule Castle with your sword in hand
  • As soon as you step inside the castle head straight for the steps and head to the left hand ledge
  • Once there, jump off the ledge whilst pressing the SELECT button in mid air, before subsequently saving and quitting the game
  • Then reload the save file you just created and return to the castle. But importantly, you must get there without touching any guards. If you do then simply reload the save and try again
  • Providing you managed get back to the castle unscathed, then you’ll want to head back up the stairs  before heading through the door to the left
  • Once inside the next room, hold fire at the entrance until the blue guard turns around. Once he does,  immediately press left and run against the wall just as the guard attacks you
  • If all this went to plan then Link should now disappear into the wall
  • After this you won’t be able to see Link, but you will still be able to control him. Given you still have control, simply head straight up until the screen changes
  • On this screen you should initially be able to see Link’s hat popping out of the lower wall. If so, simply head right following the hat until the moment it disappears
  • The moment you can’t see the hat is the point in which you then need to start to head up again
  • Doing this will take you past Ganon to the Triforce of the Gods, and in turn to the end credits
  • Congratulations! You just beat A Link to the Past in an insanely fast time

Interestingly, this glitch doesn’t just let you finish the game in less that four minutes, it conceivably allows you to skip your way to just about anywhere on the map, as the glitch actually causes Link to drop one level below the base floor. Luckily though, Ganon’s location ended up being just ahead of where you activate the glitch. As such, you’re able to speed your way to the Triforce and complete Link’s quest is such a short space of time.

Surprisingly though, this isn’t actually the fastest way to finish A Link to the Past. However, this trick is sure to impress your mates nonetheless. Well, it definitely would have back in the 90s.

Sophia Aubrey Drake

A lifelong gamer with a fanatical love of all things Nintendo and Japan. So much so that she's written a thesis on one and lived in the other. Currently on a quest to catch every last Pokémon. Follow me on twitter via @DivaXChill or @RingsandCoins.

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