Top 5 Glitches in "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time"

The traditional way of playing indicates that, once we obtain all 3 Spiritual Stones, Link must go to the Temple of Time. Zelda gets into a little trouble, and it becomes Link’s job to go to the Temple of Time, place the Spiritual Stones on the Pedestal of Time, and play the Song of Time on the Ocarina… of Time… to open the Door of… well, time.For those wanting to speed things up (or those who don’t want to play the “of Time” game), this major sequence break ranks upas number 2 on our list: you can actually skip the Door of Time.Skipping the Door of Time is primarily used in the Medallions/Stones/Trials and 100% categories, and can be done with or without a sword. The sword setup is listed below:This angle setup uses c-up, which is useful sometimes and can help you understand the trick better.Get against the left wall near the DoT. Press Z to make sure the camera is perpendicular to the wall. Turn around quickly (straight back, not at an angle), and try not to move forward either. Whether you do or don't move forward, press Z and strafe into the corner so that when you align it in the next step, the angle and positioning is the same every time.Line up the pointed part of your swords handle (the left and highest part of the handle) on the sword icon, with that crack between the 2 wall textures:Then hold Z, and then leave C-UP view while still holding Z.Now, very lightly tilt the control stick diagonally to the bottom left. If the 'A' button doesn't read JUMP then you are good (as long as it's tilted a bit). Press A and then as the roll starts, you can now move the control stick all the way diagonal as far as it goes and mash A. Link will roll into the corner and if you time the sidehop right then you will get through it almost every time.Whether you get far enough after clipping to stay in the wall, or if you get spit back out depends on how late you wait to jumpslash after you clip through the wall. So don't jumpslash too early or you won't get through (or stay in), but if you do it too late then you will die. At least if you get spit back out, you still have the proper angle and can keep holding Z and just use a bottle to sheath your sword. Then you can do it again. This is faster than dying at least and having to set it up again (as well as the falling time, and the time it takes to run back over there from the entrance).The Spirit Temple is probably one of the most interesting Dungeons in “Ocarina of Time”. While Link must navigate the Bottom of the Well for the Lens of Truth, used in the Shadow Temple, Young Link must complete a portion of the actual Spirit Temple in order to obtain the Golden Gauntlets and progress as an adult.Of course, you wouldn’t be surprised if I told you Young Link never had to step foot inside the Spirit Temple, right?This amazing glitch, dubbed the “Spirit Hover”, or a much simpler “bomb hover” makes it possible to obtain both the Silver Gauntlets and the Mirror Shield without ever having to enter the Spirit Temple. In order to do this, the player must:Obtain ISG (Infinite Sword Glitch, not mentioned in this article)Go to the left wall, near the top of the stairs, and align with Z.Do a backflip, then press A after landing while holding Z to do a sideroll.Let go of Z during the sideroll. This gives you the angle for the hover.Position Link in the corner, between the left pillar and the wall adjacent to the entrance.Do a few neutral rolls (roll without moving the analog stick) until Link stops moving.Do 2 sidehops left, shield and let go of shield (to prevent a sideroll).Press A again for another neutral roll.Pull out a bomb and backwalk below the stairs.Drop the bomb, run back up the stairs, then backflip into the explosion. This will begin the hover.Do 4-5 hovers back (one of them MUST be Bombchu, so you can target to be able to adjust your angle) and change your angle to turn around and do 4-5 more hovers.When you think you’re high enough, do 2 backflips and you should land on a seam.Carefully walk up and hookshot the gauntlets chest. Note that in order to obtain the Mirror Shield at this point, you will need to perform a Superslide, a glitch that is not covered in this article.Why take the time to do diving mini games and fishing to collect scales, when you can dive without them?For once, Navi proves useful. While you still have to deal with her (him? it?) talking, it actually has meaning this time around. Link can dive to the bottom of a body of water while Navi is talking, provided the exploit is done right.What does this mean? Well, it means you don’t have to wait on bombs to get to Zora’s Domain, for starters. This trick is also used to get to certain areas early, such as Bottom of the Well for the Lens of Truth.How To:Wait for the Navi icon to appearStand right on the edge of a body of water that has a ledge you can walk offPress B twice to slash your sword (this will make you fall off backwards) and jumpslash back on immediately, or sidehop off a nearby ledge and jumpslash onto the desired oneImmediately talk to NaviYou should be pulled back off the ledge by the jumpslash and dive off of the Navi textWe have confirmed this can be done with a few items as well, including the Bottle and the Ocarina.View the list ยป
With bottles, anything is possible. They hold items, liquid, and fire. Bottles can also hold fairies, a source of life if Link is in trouble.Or you could just, you know, use it to replace your ocarina.Ocarina Items is a strange glitch that… well, the name says all; it allows most items to be used as an Ocarina. This trick is useful for situations where the instrument cannot be used.Here’s a quick how-to for this trick:Obtain a Bottle and fill it with either bugs or fish.Empty and recapture the bugs or fish, so Link is now holding the bottle.Backflip or jump off a ledge, with the bottle still in Link’s hand.Right before you hit the ground, press the C button the bottle is on followed by another item.If done correctly, when you land you should be holding the “Ocarina”.We’ve done some experimenting, and have learned many things regarding what items can and cannot be used. While most speedrunners prefer to just use the sword, we have managed to OI  Bombchus, Bombs, Hookshot, and plenty other items. It’s a fun little trick that helps with other glitches, in the event you can’t use your Ocarina.

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"The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" is probably one of Nintendo's best-selling games of all time. The game was first released in 1998, and since then has been ported to GameCube, iQue, 3DS, Wii Virtual Console and Nintendo 3DS eShop. The amount of content meant hours, even days, of gameplay, and many people spent months trying their hardest to complete the game, sidequests included.

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What if someone came up to you and began to talk about "Ocarina of time" being beat in under 30 minutes? We've heard this, and more - we have even witnessed a record-breaking 5 hour 100% run of the game. How is it done? Glitches.

While glitches can be found in virtually any game you pick up at your local GameStop, "Ocarina of Time" is a game that, in my experience, has more glitches than it does dungeons. Here, we will highlight our top 5, how they work and, in most cases, a quick How-to.

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  • With bottles, anything is possible. They hold items, liquid, and fire. Bottles can also hold fairies, a source of life if Link is in trouble.Or you could just, you know, use it to replace your ocarina.Ocarina Items is a strange glitch that… well, the name says all; it allows most items to be used as an Ocarina. This trick is useful for situations where the instrument cannot be used.Here’s a quick how-to for this trick:Obtain a Bottle and fill it with either bugs or fish.Empty and recapture the bugs or fish, so Link is now holding the bottle.Backflip or jump off a ledge, with the bottle still in Link’s hand.Right before you hit the ground, press the C button the bottle is on followed by another item.If done correctly, when you land you should be holding the “Ocarina”.We’ve done some experimenting, and have learned many things regarding what items can and cannot be used. While most speedrunners prefer to just use the sword, we have managed to OI  Bombchus, Bombs, Hookshot, and plenty other items. It’s a fun little trick that helps with other glitches, in the event you can’t use your Ocarina.
  • Why take the time to do diving mini games and fishing to collect scales, when you can dive without them?For once, Navi proves useful. While you still have to deal with her (him? it?) talking, it actually has meaning this time around. Link can dive to the bottom of a body of water while Navi is talking, provided the exploit is done right.What does this mean? Well, it means you don’t have to wait on bombs to get to Zora’s Domain, for starters. This trick is also used to get to certain areas early, such as Bottom of the Well for the Lens of Truth.How To:Wait for the Navi icon to appearStand right on the edge of a body of water that has a ledge you can walk offPress B twice to slash your sword (this will make you fall off backwards) and jumpslash back on immediately, or sidehop off a nearby ledge and jumpslash onto the desired oneImmediately talk to NaviYou should be pulled back off the ledge by the jumpslash and dive off of the Navi textWe have confirmed this can be done with a few items as well, including the Bottle and the Ocarina.
  • The Spirit Temple is probably one of the most interesting Dungeons in “Ocarina of Time”. While Link must navigate the Bottom of the Well for the Lens of Truth, used in the Shadow Temple, Young Link must complete a portion of the actual Spirit Temple in order to obtain the Golden Gauntlets and progress as an adult.Of course, you wouldn’t be surprised if I told you Young Link never had to step foot inside the Spirit Temple, right?This amazing glitch, dubbed the “Spirit Hover”, or a much simpler “bomb hover” makes it possible to obtain both the Silver Gauntlets and the Mirror Shield without ever having to enter the Spirit Temple. In order to do this, the player must:Obtain ISG (Infinite Sword Glitch, not mentioned in this article)Go to the left wall, near the top of the stairs, and align with Z.Do a backflip, then press A after landing while holding Z to do a sideroll.Let go of Z during the sideroll. This gives you the angle for the hover.Position Link in the corner, between the left pillar and the wall adjacent to the entrance.Do a few neutral rolls (roll without moving the analog stick) until Link stops moving.Do 2 sidehops left, shield and let go of shield (to prevent a sideroll).Press A again for another neutral roll.Pull out a bomb and backwalk below the stairs.Drop the bomb, run back up the stairs, then backflip into the explosion. This will begin the hover.Do 4-5 hovers back (one of them MUST be Bombchu, so you can target to be able to adjust your angle) and change your angle to turn around and do 4-5 more hovers.When you think you’re high enough, do 2 backflips and you should land on a seam.Carefully walk up and hookshot the gauntlets chest. Note that in order to obtain the Mirror Shield at this point, you will need to perform a Superslide, a glitch that is not covered in this article.
  • The traditional way of playing indicates that, once we obtain all 3 Spiritual Stones, Link must go to the Temple of Time. Zelda gets into a little trouble, and it becomes Link’s job to go to the Temple of Time, place the Spiritual Stones on the Pedestal of Time, and play the Song of Time on the Ocarina… of Time… to open the Door of… well, time.For those wanting to speed things up (or those who don’t want to play the “of Time” game), this major sequence break ranks upas number 2 on our list: you can actually skip the Door of Time.Skipping the Door of Time is primarily used in the Medallions/Stones/Trials and 100% categories, and can be done with or without a sword. The sword setup is listed below:This angle setup uses c-up, which is useful sometimes and can help you understand the trick better.Get against the left wall near the DoT. Press Z to make sure the camera is perpendicular to the wall. Turn around quickly (straight back, not at an angle), and try not to move forward either. Whether you do or don't move forward, press Z and strafe into the corner so that when you align it in the next step, the angle and positioning is the same every time.Line up the pointed part of your swords handle (the left and highest part of the handle) on the sword icon, with that crack between the 2 wall textures:Then hold Z, and then leave C-UP view while still holding Z.Now, very lightly tilt the control stick diagonally to the bottom left. If the 'A' button doesn't read JUMP then you are good (as long as it's tilted a bit). Press A and then as the roll starts, you can now move the control stick all the way diagonal as far as it goes and mash A. Link will roll into the corner and if you time the sidehop right then you will get through it almost every time.Whether you get far enough after clipping to stay in the wall, or if you get spit back out depends on how late you wait to jumpslash after you clip through the wall. So don't jumpslash too early or you won't get through (or stay in), but if you do it too late then you will die. At least if you get spit back out, you still have the proper angle and can keep holding Z and just use a bottle to sheath your sword. Then you can do it again. This is faster than dying at least and having to set it up again (as well as the falling time, and the time it takes to run back over there from the entrance).
  • If we haven’t provided enough proof that “Ocarina of Time” is broken, we’ve saved our number 1 slot just for you. Discovered on April 15, 2012, players can perform a Wrong Warp in the Deku Tree and… well, the title of this slide says it all.To be honest, we aren’t sure why this works the way it does. It’s a frame-perfect trick, and theories have been floating around explaining it could possibly be due to certain cutscene values. Landing on the proper value will allow teleport Link to Ganon’s Castle… as a child.Yes, you readthat right… you can actually complete the game without becoming an adult.This glitch is probably the most mind boggling exploit to date, and is used in virtually all speedrunning categories. Whether you decide to take on Ganon (any%), or just arrive at the castle for Bombchus (everything else, really), this has got to be the most broken time saver to date.Remember how earlier, we mentioned there was a way to complete the game? This is it. The world record, currently owned by a Twitch user named “Pydoyks”, clocks in at an amazing 21 minutes and 18 seconds. This is, by far, the most massive sequence break discovered to date.To perform the wrong warp (we have been unable to perform the glitch ourselves, but have had friends do so), Link must be in a very specific position Inside the Deku Tree. On a certain spot of the warp space, Ocarina Items must be used. When done properly, Link will be able to move (some restrictions, elsewise the WW will fail), to get to the door. When the door is used properly, Link will be in Ganon’s Castle, just as Ganondorf dies.The remainder of the game must be done carefully; the game can and has previously crashed. Link's shield can not be burned, and with only four hearts fights are very hard, but not impossible.Saving and exiting the game will bring you to the entrance (pictured), while exiting the castle will take you to the “sneak into the courtyard” entrance of Hyrule Castle. After all, Young Link is supposed to be there, right?
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, Kansas City Video Game Examiner

Jessica (AKA Elaine Spencer) is an indie author, Zelda Speedrunner, and freelance writer residing in the Kansas City area. She enjoys playing video games and the violin, both of which she started at a young age. Contact Jessica at Jessica_Perez@mail.com

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