First off, I could not have completed this run without the help of others. Major thanks to Tompa, who helped tremendously with route planning and glitch-finding. Without Tompa’s help, this run would probably be about 10-15 minutes slower. Other people I want to thank are Maur, spockybiemmichab, evilchen, and Graveworm for helpful criticism and encouragement over the course of the run. This was my first real TAS, and I was grateful for all the help I received.
Link’s Awakening Deluxe is the first Gameboy installment in the Legend of Zelda series, remade in color and with a few bonus features (such as a “Color dungeon” and a set of photos you access through in-game events). This run, however skips all of that in favor of completing the game as fast as possible.
The screen-warp glitch in the black and white version is absent from the DX version, but this run does exploit a number of other glitches. Most of these are a result of holding normally impossible direction combinations, such as up/down or left/right, at the same time. Different directional combinations will achieve the following results:
- Pegasus boots: rockets you diagonally (every diagonal except down/left)
- Bombs: can be dropped (regardless of walls) above, below, or to the side
- Arrows: can be shot diagonally
- Hookshot: chain can reach through walls and be shot in weird directions
- Fire rod: shoots projectiles diagonally
The exploitation of these glitches can be seen in the run.
A few general tricks:
- The text that appears when opening a chest, and some boss text, can be skipped by pressing a/b/start/select at the right moment.
- Save and Quit (accessed through a/b/start/select) warps Link back to the entrance of a room or dungeon. This is used to save time by not having to run to those places.
Start – Sword
I bump off a few things to get places faster. The sword is picked up using the left/right glitch, saving time by not having to talk to the owl first.
Through Dungeon 1
Some pits can be crossed by “damage boosting across,” which means getting hit while walking into a pit, boosting you across. Getting the Tail Key this way is a fairly major sequence break and time-saver. The dungeon is rather unremarkable... look for more action later!
Through Dungeon 2
I turn myself invisible using the multi-directional glitches after rescuing Bow-wow. I also “cut” Link in half, again, using the multi-directional glitches. The boss fight is pretty long and boring... so Link demonstrates the genie’s poor aim, and his dance skills :)
Through Dungeon 3
The dungeon is the first location for some real action. I collect a piece of power early on, so the double sword power speeds some things up. At the miniboss, we see the first real application of the multi-directional glitches with bombs. After getting the boots, it’s just a mad dash (hehe) to complete everything in the dungeon.
Through Dungeon 4
This is a long segment, mostly because I have to pick up the Ocarina, the Angler Key, and Marin.... I leave the dungeon early because I can skip the ghost sequence (he normally appears after dungeon 4, and you have to return him to his house). I save and quit to skip another owl encounter.
Through Dungeon 5
Another action packed segment! I use bombarrows sparingly (need to save the arrows), and instead just use bombs in most places. I also begin to use some of the hookshot glitches here.
Through Dungeon 6
Face Shrine is normally pretty long and boring, but I glitch my way through it pretty quickly, using the hookshot in strange ways to clear obstacles. At the miniboss and boss, I use a glitch that lets me throw two bombs down at once. If one presses up/down while holding a bomb and tries to lay another bomb, another bomb will drop, but you’ll still be holding the first bomb in your hands! I use this to kill the boss before he even begins talking (normally impossible). I skip the lvl2 bracelet due to a trick I’ll explain below.
To Dungeon 8
Tons of tricks in this segment! Mambo-ing back after dungeon 6 allows me to skip yet another owl encounter. The Frog’s Song of Soul has a nice tune, be sure to listen to it :) The rooster can be skipped due to a neat trick found by Tompa; if you jump in a pit and use the hookshot, you can jump again once the hookshot is done firing! The flame cave (which normally requires the mirror shield to pass) is skipped using the pegasus boots to run past before the flames have really had a chance to start. Another nice skip is the Turtle rock boss... you can just walk through his head!
Through Dungeon 8
Another use of the hookshot glitch saves quite a bit of time in the dungeon. An application of up/down bombarrows can be seen more easily (since I timed a menu switch). Note the glitched graphics... did Link just shoot a bomb with a boss key on it?
Through Dungeon 7
Hookshot glitching through the block (to get to the 3rd and 4th pillars) saves a lot of time. The pit was too wide to throw the ball over, so I performed a glitch where I jumped and grabbed it at the same time, thereby giving me greater throwing distance. The boss is dispatched rather quickly with some well-timed fire rod swings (and one glitched swing).
Back to Dungeon 4
Time to finish the dungeon... three bombarrows take down the boss with no trouble at all.
To End
From here, it’s simply a trek to and through the wind fish’s egg, and a final boss battle. The ghost follows me up to the egg, since I had just beaten dungeon 4. I hope the ghost enjoyed the music :) The boss is of course humiliated through Link’s elite skills.
Notable improvements that could be made (I’ll add more if and when I find them):
(Semi-)Major mistakes (several seconds saved)
- Up until the first dungeon, I wasn’t sure that jumping diagonally was faster than walking diagonally (it actually was). Some time can be saved from jumping instead of walking.
- I use a piece of power to kill the Moblin boss on his first charge. The piece of power should be saved for the second dungeon, since the extra movement speed and power against the bosses would save more time than is currently saved on the moblin boss.
- The 50 rupee chest in the swamp should be taken before the dungeon is completed.
- Room in dungeon 3 (with the walking bombs I kill with a bomb) can be completed faster, possibly with a glitched bomb drop.
- My use of the boots in dungeon 3 overall was not very good... in some places, keep walking while charging the boots to gain some distance.
- Using the mambo to warp back as soon as I get it is apparently not the best route; it would be better to warp back via one of the nearby warp holes.
Minor mistakes (a few frames to a couple of seconds saved)
- The text at the beginning of the dungeon can be skipped, and I neglected a few places where it was reasonable to do so, notably dungeons 2 (both times) and 6.
- While the feather is equipped, jump while doors are opening to avoid standing still
- In the beginning of dungeon 2, light the left torch first.
- In dungeon 2, before the miniboss, push the left block first.
- In dungeon 2, after the miniboss, go up and right instead of right and up (in the next room).
Possible areas for further improvements (these may or may not be feasable)
- The small bow-wow who gives you the food sometimes moves closer to the door, this could be manipulated.
- Manipulating Bow-wow to eat the plants faster
- Possible damage boosts elsewhere?
- The final form of the final boss could be manipulated to open his eye earlier? (Not sure about this one, I think it's on a timer)
TAS Info
Uses VBA rerecording 17.1
- Abuses programming errors in the game
- Uses Save and Quit to warp
- Takes damage to save time
- Aims for the fastest time
adelikat: Large number of positive responses, accepting for publication.
