Commentated version:
Game objectives
This TAS aims to beat The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as fast as possible while beating all dungeons, temples, and breaking all trials in Ganon's castle without using the Reverse Bottle Adventure (RBA) or the Get Item Manipulation (GIM) glitch. Ganon must also be defeated, disallowing the use of Credit Warp.
The branch is widely known as "Medallions/Stones/Trials" (MST) in the speedrunning community, or as "All Dungeons, Temples, & Ganon Trials" in the TASVideos.org community.
Game information
- Game version: JPN 1.1 (A.K.A Japan Revision A)
- SHA1 Hash: 1181034d5f9533f53ebe8e1c781badbee115f5aa
Emulator information
- Emulator: BizHawk
- Emulator version: 2.4.2
- Profile: N64 Tool-assisted Speedruns
- Core type: Pure interpreter
- Video plugin: GLideN64 (default settings)
- Video resolution: 320x240
Timing information
- TAS timing (Power on to last input): 1h 28m 02.63s
- New RTA timing (Link's first movement to Ganon final blow cutscene): 1h 21m 54.57s
- Former RTA timing (File selection to Ganon final blow cutscene): 1h 24m 48.80s
Comments
Shortly after the publication of my previous MST TAS in 1h 42m 29.53s made in 2017, the speedrunning community found a new interesting glitch, being the Equip Swap glitch. It allows to equip the boomerang as adult Link in a fast and convenient way, allowing to complete Jabu Jabu's Belly as adult, which opened new routing possibilities for a new TAS and triggered my attention to start a new TAS. In the following months, new strategies were found to make new TASes faster. For instance, a faster Shadow Temple boat skip was found, saving nearly 30 seconds, or a faster Boss Key skip in Water Temple thanks to a new technique called Low Height Ground Clip, saving explosives and time.
All of this increased my interest in making a brand new TAS using the new tricks somewhere in early 2019. However, I felt that there was not enough new strategies yet for a new TAS to be really different, so I wanted to find myself new strategies to make the effort worth. This research period was really worth it, as I was able to find even more crazy strategies:
- I was able to heavily improve the former Fire Hover strategy, and made it viable to use it in a full game run by reducing the amount of required explosives. The trick saves more than a minute.
- I then found a new strategy and a Boss Key skip in Spirit Temple, which saves more than 30 seconds.
- Later, I improved an existing strategy to get the bow faster in Forest Temple using a new strategy that takes advantage of bomb push, which saves more than a minute.
After this, all temples, even Water Temple being the shortest one, got at least one interesting improvement, which motivated me to start working a the new TAS. After extensive routing and testing, I felt ready to start the new TAS in December 2020, which I originally finished in August 2023. When I started the TAS, I expected this run to be about 7 minutes faster my previous TAS, but in the end, thanks to other strategies discovered throughout the run, I ended it up with a time of 1h 28m 25.55s, so 14 minutes faster, the double of what I initially expected.
Unfortunately (but fortunately as I'll exaplain), when I finished the TAS, the movie was desyncing at the very beginning on the rocks section when the movie was played from the beginning. But fortunately, it was the only point that desynced. Therefore, I had to redo the playthrough up to the first game reset, which resets RNG and global timer, so that the rest of inputs could be reproduced. In the end, it was fortunate that this desync happened, as I was then able to implement a new strategy that was found during the making of the TAS which I could not have implemented before because I already got past the adult section. This trick is the Skulltula Corpse Push, enabling to reach bombchus in Bottom of the Well faster (about 15 seconds were saved). Moreover, I improved other sections up to the reset after the Deku Tree wrong warp, where I saved another 10 seconds. This brings the final time for this TAS, being 1h 28m 02.63s, which is an improvement of 52014 frames, so 14 minutes and 27 seconds compared to the my previous MST TAS.
Game version choice
The TAS was made on the Japanese version of the game because the text is faster, saving roughly 8 minutes over the English version with TAS timing.
The version 1.1 was chosen based on the benefits it provides in terms of glitch, summed up in the table below:
| JPN 1.0 | JPN 1.1 | JPN 1.2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bongo Bongo Quick Kill (-30 seconds) | ✅Yes | ✅Yes | ❌No |
| Bomb OI (-53 seconds) | ❌No | ✅Yes | ✅Yes |
| Blank A (-12 seconds) | ✅Yes | ❌No | ❌No |
| Overall time save | -42 seconds | -83 seconds | -53 seconds |
Important remarks:
- The Bongo Bongo Quick Kill strategy requires to have bombs, so the route was adapted to get bomb early before being adult Link.
- The Blank A time save was made by comparing it to the Bubble Vine Clip strategy, as the Skulltulas Corpse Push strategy was not yet discovered when I took the decision. The Skulltulas Corpse Push strategy is slightly faster than Blank A, so this glitch is no longer a criterion for version choice today.
General tricks and glitches
Check this page for an explanation of various tricks and glitches used in the TAS.
More tricks
Twisted bombchu
While holding the ESS position and a bombchu, dropping it with the shield and a changed angle at the same frame makes the bombchu have weird effects: the bombchu can explode when meeting a wall, and can go through doors. An example can be seen here. This trick is only used once in this TAS, to blow up the entrance wall in Dodongo's Cavern.
Triple slash clip
After performing a triple horizontal slash, it is possible to get Link pushed backwards, either by triggering a text (Navi for example), or either by taking out an aim-based item (slingshot, hookshot...). This trick is generally used to clip out of bounds, as the push is fairly important. This trick is only used once in this TAS, to clip out of the bow room in Forest Temple, in order to save one explosive.
Stage by stage comments
Kokiri Forest
- Like the previous TAS, I need to buy 2 Deku Sticks and 5 Deku Nuts, requiring 35 rupees. The fastest way to collect them is to throw the rocks and manipulate their reward such that they give 3 rupees every time, for which there is 1/16 chance for each rock. On this section alone, roughly 12 seconds were saved compared to the previous TAS because I do not enter Mido's house to collect rupees.
Lost Woods
- I use the aquaescape trick to escape the forest without the Silver Scale, neither the Spiritual Stone.
Zora's River
- I enter in the water whenever the speed it provides to Link is greater than the speed Link can travel on the ground with sidehops.
Hyrule Field
- The owl is skipped thanks to the ESS position that prevents it from talking to Link.
Kakariko Village
- I need the bottle to perform glitches later in the run with it. Manipulating Cuccos is known to be extremely complicated, which has been the case for this movie ! Something new compared to my previous TAS is that I was able to hit the Cucco behind the fence with a Deku Nut, so that I do not need to travel more distance to reach it, saving time. Overall, the Cuccos manipulation has been much better and I saved more than 13 seconds compared to the previous TAS.
- Calling Navi just after a Deku Stick slash results in Link still moving a little while talking, which allows to fall into the well and dive into the water.
Bottom of the Well
- The goal of this section is the get the bombchus and both Deku and Hylian shields in the chests. The fastest way to get the bombchus, at the time of making this section, was the Blank A method, which is not possible to do on the version of the game used. The method I originally used before fixing the desync consisted of pushing the big Bubble towards the vines while it is being stunned by Deku Nuts with precise angles. Once the bubble is no longer stunned, it tries to moved back to its original position, which hits Link trying the climb the vine on its way, allowing the clip through the wall and land on the water, from which we simply need to swim to the chest.
- During the production of this TAS, the Skulltulas Corpse Push trick was found, allowing to reach bombchus even faster. By slashing the Skulltula exactly when it is turning around, we can bring it close enough of the wall and the small pile. Instead of wasting a Deku Stick to kill it, I make use of a Deku Nut to throw a pot, as it allows to get another stick (which we will need later) while not breaking any Deku Stick.
- By pulling a bombchu as soon as a vine is grabbed, the bombchu is instantly released and explodes, allowing to vine clip and swim to the Hylian shield.
Kokiri Forest #2
- It is possible to clip through Mido's house with sufficient speed, which I got using a HESS. From there, it is possible to avoid climbing the ledge that leads to the vines using a sidehop on the edge of the house, which clips Link out of bounds, while being popped up because Link is close enough of the floor.
Lost Woods #2
- Bugs are needed in order to perform important glitches later. It is possible to cut the grass with a Deku Stick using a crouch stab. However, doing so normally results in the stick breaking, which we don't want. To avoid this, the stab is done in a specific spot and while moving the stick.
Gory City
- Thanks to bombchus I got early, it is possible to access Goron City early. We perform a HESS from the explosion to reach the top faster.
Death Mountain Trail
- By landing on an extremely precise position, it is possible to clip through the big rock blocking Dodongo's Cavern, which saves one explosive.
Dodongo's Cavern
- Unlike the previous TAS, I don't skip Dodongo's Cavern opening cutscene, because child Link cannot reach the centre platform where the Beamos is without waiting, as the vertical platform before would be too low.
- Like the previous TAS, we can reach the head of the statue, as child, using only 4 explosives. Moreover, I noticed that it is possible to avoid the jumpslash to climb the mouth, saving a little bit of time compared to the previous TAS.
- After getting bombs, it is faster to exit the cavern with a Superslide on the switch than savewarping.
Kokiri Forest #3
- Using ISG and landing on a precise spot, we can climb on an invisible ground that is high enough to reach the top of the house of twins. From there, we hover and magaflip out of bounds to avoid Deku Tree's loading zone, skipping the cutscene of its mouth opening.
Deku Tree
- When releasing a vine with ISG, it is possible to pull out a bombchu and get it to explode while regrabbing the vine with the shield at the same time, allowing to stay in the air. Because Link is swordless, it is possible to use items while in this state, so a Deku Stick is used to jumpslash and recoil straight to the boss' loading zone. I could have reached the loading zone from lower, by climbing less the vine, but that would have caused Link to enter in the boss room with walking animation, which is problematic for the Wrong Warp later, because Link must exit the door by walking slowly (so that the door close closes slow enough to not disturb the camera), which is only achievable by landing on the loading zone while in the air.
- Like the previous TAS, Gohma cannot be defeated directly, as the blue warp needs to spawn close enough of the door in order to perform the Wrong Warp. For this reason, we head over behind it, so that the blue warp can spawn closer to the door. In this movie, I was able to spawn the blue warp in a good position while almost not waiting for Ghoma, so I saved about 3 seconds compared to my previous TAS.
- As I used the last Deku Nut, its slot in the inventory is no longer useful, so I use a quick dupe glitch to put a bottle on this slot to be used later. This is done by pressing the Deku Nut button while the bottle is swinging.
- Using the Ocarina Item glitch, I delay the warp to the Kokiri Emerald cutscene.
- Thanks to bombs I got early, I am able to use them get ISG quicly, and clip through the door. The clip works because Link has both downwards speed (accumulated the longer Link is hovering) and speed. Unfortunately, it does not look possible to perform this clip using a single explosive, because its damage duration is not enough.
- The camera is manipulated before entering the door such that it goes backwards to trigger the warp timer and succeed in Wrong Warping to Ganon's Castle.
Inside Ganon's Castle
- Like the previous run, the goal is first to reach the bombchu chest in the Spirit Trial. Thanks to bombs I got early, this section is faster than in my previous TAS, as I don't need to push the Armos statue anymore.
- When coming back to the silver rupee room after getting the bombchus, I get a glitched damage value by performing the Quick Putaway glitch with the Beamos' damage and the Armos statue to break the stick. The glitched damage value allows to light up the torches in the Forest Trial.
- By getting ISG with this glitched damage value, bombs explode immediately when pulled up, which is very convenient to reach the torch on the top of the room really fast.
Castle Courtyard
- By sidehoping at the first possible frame after another sidehop, the guards are blind and cannot catch Link, even if Link is facing the guard.
- After talking to Zelda, a bomb is used to kill Link in order to skip the Zelda Lullaby cutscene while still getting it.
Temple of Time
- Using an ESS to do precise sidehop, we can clip though the Door of Time and keep an angle that is able to target the side of the wall in order to not fall and skip the door without any sword.
- After becoming adult Link, there is currently no known way to skip the Door of Time in the other side with the items we had, so a reset is the only fast way to get out.
Graveyard
- While waiting for the bomb to explode, luck is heavily manipulated such that I get 3 bomb drops from bushes (1/16 chance each). I then perform the classic Superslide Teleport method to reach Shadow Temple early.
Shadow Temple
- Supersliding across the invisible walls ended up being a little faster than crossing normally, as it skips one text.
- Using a well-placed bomb on the slope and sufficient speed, it is possible to clip through the wall and skip the Boss Key directly from the Hover Boots room.
- Because version 1.1 is used, and that I have bombs, it is possible to use the Bongo Bongo Quick Kill strategy, saving 30 seconds compared to watching the boss intro cutscene.
- After defeating the boss, the Bomb Ocarina Item glitch is performed while playing the Ballad of the Goddess to delay the Shadow medallion cutscene. A death is then done at the right time to skip that cutscene.
Dampe
- By grabbing a ledge near a wall, it is possible to climb it instantly, which is probably the trick that made the race time 0:42 possible.
- Using a well-placed bomb, it is possible to clip on the corner of the Song of Time block, so that I can get to Kakariko village faster. It has to be noted that this section was done before Triple Slash Clip glitch was found, and some speedrunners found out that it is possible to skip the block without explosives with a Triple Slash Clip. Doing this would have saved one bomb, but I don't know if it's worth doing.
Death Mountain Trail #2
- There is a seam that can climbed on with a fairly precise walking, allowing to climb the mountain much quicker.
- The Z-slide's speed had to be slowed down a little before the steep slope in order to climb it faster.
- It is possible to clip through the bombable wall leading to Fairy's Fountain with a HESS and a certain angle, which is a little faster than blowing it up since we can pull out the bomb and HESS earlier.
Death Mountain Crater
- Using a precise sidehop on the edge of the bridge, we can make Link grab the bridge at the same time the cutscene starts. This allows link to continue falling to the floor while in grabbing state. Once we reach the floor, we release the ledge and fall into the void to skip the Bolero of Fire cutscene.
Lost Woods #3
- RNG was heavily manipulated before entering Lost Woods such that I can get two bomb drops from the bushes while waiting for the bomb to explode (1/16 chance each).
- With a certain positioning and momentum, the HESS allows to clip through Mido without interrupting the HESS, saving time and explosives.
Sacred Forest Meadow
- Using a "glitchless" jump to climb the maze takes nearly the same amount of time than ground jumping or recoil jumping. The advantage of the glitchless method is that it does not require explosives.
- I climb the stairs leading to the forest temple high enough such that when leaving it with HESS speed and hover boots, I end up high enough to jump out of bounds towards the temple, to trigger the Minuet Cutscene and void out to skip it.
Lost Woods #4
- RNG was manipulated such that the bush that was blown up by the bomb used to HESS drops a bomb (1/16 chance).
- With a certain angle, positioning and sufficient speed obtained from the HESS, it is possible to clip through the stone leading to Zora's River. This trick was first shown in the No Doors All Dungeons TAS.
Zora's Domain
- By sidehopping at the edge of the ladder, Link can be pushed by the ladder out of bounds while grabbing the ledge. This allows to get to the Lake Hylia much faster than crossing Hyrule Field.
Lake Hylia
- By entering in the water with a good spacing, speed, and joystick angle, it is possible to delay the surfacing time, allowing to preserve the A-Slide speed for longer, in order to reach the other side of the water without swimming at regular speed.
- A simple backflip is normally not enough to reach the upper part of the island where the Water Temple is from the bottom. However, collisions are different in this area, as Link is not instantly pushed out by walls in a single frame but rather during several frames. By using a twisted sidehop, it is possible to backflip immediately while the wall has not fully pushed link, allowing to backflip from higher, and thus reaching the upper part of the island.
- The jumpslash to clip through the island is very lenient. I again make use of a bomb before link surfaces from the water to hyperswim towards the loading zone of the temple.
Water Temple
- The Low Height Ground Clip trick is used to skip the Boss Key really quickly and using only two explosives.
Lake Hylia #2
- RNG is heavily manipulated such that I get 3 bomb drops from the bushes (1/16 chance each).
- A ground clip can be performed with a megaflip and by landing on a fairly lenient position, enabling to land straight to Zora's Domain's loading zone.
Zora's Domain #2
- Pausing while sliding on ice has the effect of resetting the sliding momentum. I exploit this mechanic to instantly redirect Link's momentum towards the water after clipping out of bounds, allowing to swim very fast without needing to equip Hover Boots.
Zora's Fountain
- The loading zone leading to Jabu Jabu's Belly is still present as adult Link, but underneath the ice. By hovering to a low enough position and megaflipping with another bomb and a certain angle, it is possible to clip inside the ice and reach the loading zone.
Inside Jabu Jabu's Belly
- While I wait for the elevator to come down, I take damage for later from the Octorock and kill it to get a bomb drop (1/16 chance).
- When Stingers have been killed, they were manipulated such that one of them drops a fairy (1/16 chance) in order to catch it while the boomerang chest cutscene plays. This allows to move during the cutscene and to open the chest earlier. The fairy will be needed for later to Wrong Warp.
- With an extremely precise positioning, angle and speed, it is possible to clip though walls in Jabu Jabu's Belly and hover straight to the boss room's loading zone.
- During the Barinade fight, the boss was manipulated such that Barinade dies in the opposite position of the door, so that the blue warp can spawn as close as possible of the door for the Wrong Warp.
- By dying as soon as Link touches the blue warp, and then getting revived, Link is teleported to the blue warp whenever its speed is 0. Looking at Ruto starts the dialog while being able to move around, but items can no longer be used. Therefore, I first throw a bomb, start the dialog, and then clip out of map using the bomb.
- The door's loading zone can then be reached by sidehopping to it at a specific time in the warp timer to Wrong Warp to Dodongo's Cavern boss room.
Dodongo's Cavern #2
- Unfortunately, I cannot directly fight the boss after the Wrong Warp, because otherwise, attempting to Wrong Warp will teleport back the Dodongo's Cavern boss room, which I don't want. Thus, I need to exit the room and re-enter.
- Using the Bomb Ocarina Item glitch, I repeat the process of previous Wrong Warps, but this one has the particularity to Wrong Warp to the Gerudo Training Ground which is a very interesting place since it avoids crossing all the Hyrule Field and the Gerudo Valley.
Gerudo's Fortress
- I hookshot the plank at a precise spot that makes Link somehow go through the ceiling. Then, with a very precise megaflip and camera angle, it is possible to clip directly through the big door leading to the desert without getting caught.
Desert Colossus
- Like the previous TAS, a Skulltula Hookshot Jump is done to reach the Mirror Shield. This time, I was able to kill the Gold Skulltula with the hookshot without climbing to it, which saves times.
- RNG was heavily manipulated again to get 2 bomb drops from rocks (1/16 chance each).
- The Mirror Shield hand is reached thanks to an A-Slide from the Silver Gauntlets hand while keeping Hover Boots equipped, because unequipping and re-equipping Hover Boots is slower than accelerating slower by keeping Hover Boots equipped.
Spirit Temple
- Most doors and certain walls in Spirit Temple can be clipped through with a jumpslash and sufficient height, which is what I do to skip the first battle against the Iron Knuckle.
- Then, I perform another wall clip using a Low Height Ground clip while equipping hover boots to propel farther. From this ground clip, I land on a tiny piece of land that allows to reach the statue room without getting any key. From there, I climb the statue up to its head.
- The head can be clipped through by backflipping with a certain angle and position.
- From there, it is not possible to jump to reach the loading zone, so instead, a very precise sidehop and jumpslash is done to barely reach the zone.
- During the Naboru fight, I drop a bomb 1 hit before defeating her so the bomb does it. During the bomb timer, I climb the throne and grab the corner of it using a slash right when Naboru is defeated by the bomb. This makes Link fall to the floor while in grabbing state, allowing the release the ledge from the floor and void during the cutscene of Naboru's death to skip it.
- One of the twins was manipulated to shoot 3 times a row. The other sister was manipulated to be as close as possible of the shooting position so that the fourth shot is made immediately after the third from the other sister.
- In the second phase of the battle, hookshotting Twinrowa after she shoots has the effect of making her do the next attack sooner. Moreover, I stay close of the platform she intends to move to, which has the effect of making her not move at all from her current platform, which saves time.
- Once defeated, the Spirit Medallion cutscene skip is performed as usual with a death.
- It is possible to take damage from the flying pots without taking the heart by moving with sufficient speed towards their direction. This is useful, as we need to take damage quickly for later.
Death Mountain Crater #2
- A backward A-Slide is made, during which a bomb drop was manipulated to appear from the rock (1/16 chance). A Ledge Clip is then done to land on a tiny piece of land from which the loading zone can be reached directly. The sidehop to reach the ledge is required, because otherwise the wrong wall is targetted, and so the clip would not work.
Fire Temple
- The Time Stop glitch was used in the first room in order to have the camera not look at Darunia when entering in its room, so the cutscene is not triggered as long as the camera is not looking at Darunia.
- Fairies have the property of following Link's vertical position, which we take advantage of here to do our trick to skip most of Fire Temple. I first throw a pot close enough of the boss door, and then perform a Hookshot Jump by hookshotting the platform while looking at Darunia to trigger its cutscene. I land on the boulders and fire traps room.
- Once up, the room is unloaded, so I need to reach the loading trigger below the centre. To do so, I get ISG mid-air by dying while jumpslashing. However, that's not enough, as Link cannot shield the bomb damage while dead. The fairy is needed for this reason to revive Link and block the damage to stay mid-air.
- From there, I reach the loading trigger to load the boulders and fire traps room and hover back up using the remaining bombchus to do that fast. This new strategy saves roughly 2 minutes compared to going to this room normally. Without bombchus, the strategy would have been roughly 1 minute faster.
- A megaflip provides enough speed to get past the fire wall hitbox, allowing to get through it without touching it.
- I detach the Flare Dancer from its body on the platform instead of ground, because that allows it to land faster on the ground and so, to attack it sooner. Morevoer, the enemy was manipulated after dealing damage to it to make it go back to the fire circle faster.
- The hammer chest can be reached without activating the switch by hookshotting it from close enough, in order to open the chest before fire hits Link.
- Farore's Wind is set in this room, as we will need to come back to this temple after to defeat the boss.
Forest Temple
- In the 4 Poes room, catching something in a bottle when the Poes cutscene starts results in skipping a part of the cutscene which is faster.
- Using the Triple Bomb Push trick combined with hammer recoil, it is possible to open the door from far enough to stay inside the wall in the Stalfos room. Using the hammer gives so much recoil that it's possible to perform this trick without Hover Boots with precise bomb positioning (1x1 unit range).
- The time remaining before bombs explode is just enough to hookshot the chest and die at the same time to get a Hookshot Jump to reach the upper room. It has to be noted that all of this trick is frame perfect:
- All three bombs must be dropped on the first possible frame
- Hammer must be drawn on the first possible frame
- Crouchstab must be done on the first possible frame
- Taking out hookshot and targetting the chest must be done on the first possible frame.
- Once above, I make use the of Triple Slash Clip technique to clip out of bounds to void out without using explosives. I respawn with a Y coordinate that is high enough to trigger the Stalfos fight to get the bow.
- Using a twisted roll, it is possible to megaflip with the momentum needed to clip through the pillar while facing the Boss Room's loading zone, which can then be reached with a jumpslash. This is faster than the previous strategy where the pillar is clipped through using an A-Slide, as we travel much faster to the loading zone.
- During the second phase of the Phantom Ganon fight, hookshoting him puts him in a vulnerable state for a short amount of time during which I can slash him with the sword to start damaging him very fast.
- The Forest Temple medallion cutscene is skipped by dying, and teleports Link to the entrance of the temple.
Ganon's Castle
- With a very precise positioning, a HESS on the broken bridge, followed by a twisted sidehop and then jumpslash gives just enough distance to cross the gap to the tower without watching the rainbow bridge cutscene. This new strategy saves about 15 seconds.
Inside Ganon's Castle #2
- Unlike the previous TAS, the order of trials in done counterclockwise because we are able to get bomb drops sooner (from Forest Trial Beamos and Water Trial Freezards).
Forest Trial
- I reach the last white rupee while wind is still blowing, like the previous TAS, which is a problem, as after the cutscene, Link would be blown up and climbing on the door's platform would be required, wasting a lot of time. However, I noticed that by megaflipping into the rupee's platform, I reach it soon enough for the door opening cutscene to play, which cancels the wind's effect. When landing, we have one frame to sidehop back into the door's platform to avoid climbing it again, saving time.
- By slashing a pot while being close of it, it it possible to collect the magic inside immediately without needing to wait for the drop to fall to the ground, saving a little of time.
Water trial
- I manipulate 2 bomb drops, one from each Freezard (1/16 chance), as they will be needed later.
- By hookshoting a Freezard close to a wall, it is possible to clip through the wall, and in this case, the ice wall. This avoids taking Blue Fire.
- Before pushing the ice block, having the sword drawn instead of hookshot saves 3 frames (1 "visual" frame).
- Unlike the previous TAS, I activate the switch from the left side instead of right, as I found out that it's possible to clip out of bounds and fall while the switch cutscene plays. This weird state allows to sidehop/backflip mid-air during the cutscene, which saves a little of time.
Shadow Trial
- By placing a bomb close of a door, and pushing it even more towards the door while entering in that door, it barely gives the distance needed to perform a HESS, which is what I do here.
- By aligning exactly with the pot, it is possible to both hit the pot and collect the magic instantly and perform a HESS with a bomb. It has to be noted that I had to take damage twitce from the bomb before the HESS in order to preserve the inertia of the previous HESS, as a single hit would have reset all the inertia.
Fire Trial
- A HESS can be done in the same way as bombs, as they also deal continuous damage every frame when rolled into. I take advantage of it to HESS again while preserving the speed of the previous HESS.
- Grabbing the platform where the last rupee is is not possible from the raising down platform I landed on, because Link's height is barely below the required height. However, hovering and then going instantly back into the platform and re-hovering has the effect of limiting the loss of height caused by hovering, and allows to have just enough height to be able to grab the ledge at a specific spot to clip into the big rock.
- HESSing with hover boots (slow acceleration) to reach the door is faster than equipping Kokiri Boots and then re-equipping Hover Boots to then unequip Hover Boots, like the A-Slide made previously to reach the Mirror Shield chest.
Light Trial
- I use an A-Slide with a precise angle and position to clip inside the big rock, skipping the need for Gold Gauntlets.
- Like in Forest Temple, I make use of Triple Bomb Push combined with hammer recoil to get inside the wall while opening the door.
- Like in Forest Temple, the time remaining before bombs explode is just enough to HESS. This HESS is done by first pulling out the sword (as hammer cannot use shield), rolling and interrupting that roll by falling off the ground, reaching ground again, turning towards the explosion, ESS, and shield with Z held. It has to be noted that all of this trick is frame perfect:
- All three bombs must be dropped on the first possible frame
- Hammer must be drawn on the first possible frame
- Crouchstab must be done on the first possible frame
- Pulling out sword, rolling, and turning must be done on the first possible frame.
- With a very precise positioning, it is possible to leave the ground far enough to reach a corner, where landing on the very edge of the ground with a certain momentum allows to reset the hover while staying out of bounds. With this, I skip the first key.
Fire Temple #2
- I mustn't take damage before reaching the boss room, as I need enough time to beat Volvagia and Wrong Warp. Therefore, I hit the hammer on the wall at the same time I land in order to avoid fall damage.
- Volvagia has a hitbox located under the first fire hole that can be reached either by dropping a bomb on the corner of that hole, or either by weirdshoting. The weirdshot is a better way since it saves many bombs and can deal damage faster. Moreover, Volvagia was manipulated to come out of the closest hole. Unfortunately, the hammer has to be used at least once to kill Volvagia.
- With a certain angle, jumplsahing into the corner near the door makes Link clip into the wall.
- Because of the Warp effect, jumping off the ground will attempt to bring link to its same height, resulting in a big jump that is just enough to reach the loading zone and trigger it at the same time the game attempts to teleport to the Kakariko Village's crater erupting cutscene, resulting in a Wrong Warp to Ganon's Tower Collapse.
Tower Escape
- With ISG, it is possible to hover up and land on a small piece of land above the loading zone from which we entered.
- Once Link reaches a certain downwards speed on that piece of land (just by standing), I am able to move Link for 2 frames. Only the roll allows to have sufficient speed in order get to a certain position that allows to clip inside the wall.
- From there, a jumpslash recoil on the wall behind the loading zone gives just enough distance to reach the last loading zone, skipping the collapse escape entirely.
- A Superslide is then done using the rock, and allows to reach the door before Zelda. Superslides have the property of conserving their speed during cutscenes. Therefore, I can move Link to the next loading trigger during the cutscene, which makes Zelda walk to the last door sooner.
- Because I got caught in Gerudo Fortress, the game set a shared flag, which coincides with the one to skip the first part of the collapse cutscene. This flag is normally reset when watching the cutscene after Ganondorf's death, but since I never watched this cutscene, this flag stays set and the first part of the cutscene is skipped.
Ganon
- Unlike the previous run, I don't use the Superslide strategy to keep the sword, because I figured out that it's slower. In fact, by using hammer, I only loose approximately 15 frames on the first and second tail hits (so 30 frames, or 10 "visual" frames). It takes more time than that to setup the Superslide.
- Ganon is manipulated to walk towards the sword during the first phase to be closer to it at the end of the phase.
Improvements
Untested Improvements
- Getting the hookshot before Shadow Temple could be more advantageous because of a new strategy found after this part was done in this movie. It allows to do the Boss Key skip using a single explosive. Moreover, since I am doing to Song of Time block clip in Dampe's race, I could save even more explosives, which could be used later.
- The Supersilde teleport could have been done on the grave next to the one I used, but I forgot to try this possibility when making the TAS, so I don't know if it saves time. Using this grave results in slower movement at the beginning (because Link's angle is oriented more towards the fence), but a faster movement after, unlike the other grave. Abeshi used the other grave in his All Dungeons TAS.
- Initially, using Farore's Wind in Jabu Jabu's Belly was made to save an explosive, by performing a megaflip from a Jellyfish. This strategy was used in my WIP. However, the wall clip to reach the boss room directly with a HESS was found later, when I just had completed Jabu Jabu's Belly. I was only willing to redo the part after returning to Farore's Wind point, as RNG was extremely painful to manipulate before that. This new strategy made this use of Farore's Wind potentially not worth and possibly slower because I could have just come back to the blue switch room normally and perform the HESS directly.
- In mid-2022, it was discovered that it is possible to set Farore's Wind in Lost Woods using the Restricted Items glitch. This is very useful, as we know since more than 10 years that it is possible to Wrong Warp from Dondongo's Cavern to Silver Gauntlets cutscene, provided Farore's Wind is set in Lost Woods from Kokiri Forest. This Wrong Warp allows to skip crossing Gerudo Fortress, Wasteland, and doing Spirit Skulltula Jump. The downside is that it creates some backtracking, as we would need to get Farore's Wind, then come back to Lost Woods to set it. It also restricts the use of Farore's Wind elsewhere before the Wrong Warp.
Confirmed Improvements
- In late 2021, a new strategy was revealed, which allows to get past the gate Kakariko Village using only a jumpslash by exploiting the Lunge Storage trick, or either with a precise angle and a speed of -10 (obtainable from a slown down HESS). Using this strategy would allow to reach Dondongo's Cavern faster by roughly 25 seconds (in this case, we would catch bugs under the rock near the House of Skulltula and HESS to the gate). I also confirm that time of day is not a problem, as I am able to reach the Castle's Courtyard about 66 frames (22 "visual" frames) before guards blocking the courtyard arrive. I did not hover past the gate when this strategy was unknown because it required 4 bombchus, which was too much for the tricks coming later. This new trick was discovered when I already got past a big part of the adult section, so coming back to redo this part was not possible, even by hexing inputs later, as the Death Mountain Trail cutscene, and blowing up the rock in Goron City, would have required to redo most of the adult section I had already done.
- In mid 2022, it was noticed that being in first person mode (by pressing C-up) enables to gain control of Link a little sooner after some cutscenes, notably cutscenes where a chest appears. The time it saves depends on the cutscene and some other parameters I poorly understand. I have been aware of this trick while I was doing Forest Temple, so I used this trick from this point. I could have used it in at least one place, being the Hover Boots chest cutscene, which could have saved roughly 15 frames (5 "visual" frames).
Special Thanks
There are many great people who contributed to the production of this TAS I am very proud of.
My thanks go first to the Ocarina of Time community as a whole for finding all the cool tricks used in this run. Below are notable members I need to mention:
- MrGrunz and Bloobiebla: For letting me reproduce their inputs for Zora's River movement at the beginning.
- N3rdsWithGame: For its collision viewer script, which helped a lot in out of bounds sections, notably Spirit Temple.
- Thar0: For adapting N3rdsWithGame's collision viewer to work on version 1.1.
- Bruce Shankle: For brute forcing a bomb drop in Lost Woods after the Minuet cutscene skip and in Death Mountain crater after playing the Bolero.
- Scurty: For giving advice on strategies and routing
- Migu6: For giving advice on routing
- Julian1000: For making link-bot, which is a script to play ocarina songs. I used it in Spirit Temple wrong warp OI.
- Team developping the practice rom (AKA: GZ): For tremendously simplifying the testing of routes and strategies.
Suggested screenshot
I picked up 3 screenshots I like which I let you vote for through this poll: https://linkto.run/p/BDKSK5EY
arkiandruski: Claiming for judging.
arkiandruski: Good job. Accepting as an improvement to [3463] N64 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time "All Dungeons, Temples & Ganon Trials" by homerfunky in 1:42:29.53
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