Zelda
From Tractatus
Contents |
Introduction
So, Marc got me started on the idea of speed Zelda.
By Zelda I mean the original Legend of Zelda game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Yes, I remember the shiny golden cartridge.
By Speed I mean that the goal is to play the game as fast as possible. My personal best time is currently 72 minutes. Yes, that means you plug the cartridge in, put in your name, and 1 hour 12 minutes later you have beaten the game(OK, the first challenge), Gannon's dead, and saved the princess. I don't think that 72 minutes is that great a time. I think that a good time is actually 60 minutes, and a great time 50 minutes. Others may disagee. Do not confuse these times for the times reported by people using emulators/cheats to artifically create incredible times. For those of you not familiar with Zelda, most people who play Zelda probably take tens of hours to beat it the first time, people who know the game well take about 3 hours. Anything less is fast. Anything less than 120 minutes is speed, because you simply don't have time to mess around.
So, I think that the only interesting way to talk about Speed Zelda is to talk about the process of designing the route that you will take through the game. At the heart of it, it is first listing exactly what is necessary to accomplish the various tasks within the game, and doing the minimum necessary.
The Minimum Necessary
In order to beat the game, you need to be standing in Gannon's chamber at the heart of Death Mountain with the Silver Arrows, the Bow, and the Magic Sword. That is all you need. Gannon, the big nasty enemy Boss, is easy to beat; getting there is the main challenge. Unfortunately, each thing that you need depends on other things. Creating the dependancy graph, and then finding the shortest path which you can play will result in your shortest time.
I say 'which you can play' because if you just try to blindly go through the game trying to play perfectly, you will fail, and never beat the game at all. You need to work yourself up to better and better times. Many of the 'tricks' in Speed Zelda are actually knowing what to do after you make a mistake. OK, you died trying to get the ____. Now what? How to you get back to full strength, and accomplish the next goal? If you try for too much too fast, it will just be frustrating.
With that in mind, let's start with the four requirements:
The Bow
This is the easiest thing to get. All you need to do is go to Level 1, and pick it up. That's it. Everyone does this the first time they play the game. The arrows are not hard to find, you buy them in a shop for 80 Rupees
The Silver Arrow
Philosophically, this is just as easy. All you need to do is pick it up in Level 9 when you are there to rescue the Princess. Of course, you have to find the arrows, and you have to get there and back while still alive.
The Magic Sword
Also easy. All you need to do is go to the graveyard, find the right tombstone, push it, and collect the Sword. Oh, yeah, there is one catch. You need to have twelve Heart Cases when you do it, which means that you need to have beaten a couple of levels. But you needed to do that anyway.
Getting to Gannon's Chamber
Ok, this is the hard part. It is not hard because of the many nasty enemies in Death Mountain. It is not hard because of all the wrong turns you can take. Nope. It is hard because in order to enter Zelda#Death Mountain, you need to collect all eight piece of the Triforce. OK, even that is not hard. What it is is time-consuming which is death for a Speed Zelda player. In order to get the eight pieces, you need to go to each of the first eight levels, kill the bosses, and collect the pieces.
Since the levels are scattered all over the place, you will spend most of the next hour walking between levels. In order to beat certain bosses you need certain items... in fact, in order to get to certain levels you need certain items, so you will need to collect them as well. This is Zelda#The Rest of the Story.
The Rest of the Story
Know Your Limitations
An important part of planning your route is knowing what you can expect from yourself. If you cannot beat a room full of Blue Darknuts with the Wooden Sword, then you need to pick up the Silver Sword. If you can't prevent Like-Likes from eating your shield, then you need the Magic Wand. If you can't defeat levels without Potions, then you need to collect Money in the Graveyard. All these things add time to your Zelda run. But, any finishing time is better than not being able to finish. If you can't beat the game without the Blue Ring, then go pick it up even though it requires you to get 250 Rupees, and walk down a dead end. It will take less time than bashing your head into the wall. Honest. Here are some Categories I made up:
Novice
You need to pick up every item you can because you will need them. In fact, you should kill every enemy you encounter, because you need the practice. Beat the game once.
Apprentice
OK, you know that you don't need to clear every room in every level, so start skipping things. Instead of starting by clearing levels, start by collecting everything you possibly can in the overworld before entering the first level. Beat the game every time, and have the Blue Ring before you enter Level 1.
Journeyman
Go crazy. Skip everything. Get the Magic Wand, and the Magic Book before beating the opening levels. Get everything, kill everything. Walk everywhere. Play the money making game until you actually make money. You should be able to beat the first quest in 4 hours taking your time, every time. Start working on your speed route.
Expert
Do nothing. Yawn. Don't even think about picking up the Magic Wand. You are never going to use it. In fact, you don't really need most of that stuff you used to need. Start polishing your speed route. You should be able to beat the game in less than 2 hours, every time.
Master
Why bother picking up the Wooden Sword? You don't need it! In fact, to make it a challenge, don't even bother picking up the Silver Sword. Use only one hand. Why are you even reading this? Because you want to see me give bad advice? If you started playing Zelda instead of reading this page, you would be done by now. I am not joking.
How to Plan a Route
Make a List
First, play the game straight through, paying attention to the things that you actually use. And the things you actually need. Write them down.
Check it Twice
Go back through the list you made, and ask yourself: Did I really need that?
The good example would be the Magic Wand. It is completely unnecessary because it gives you nothing that the Magic Sword, and the Bow give you.
A less good example is the Blue Ring. Certainly, you don't need it, because you can just not get hit, or drink a potion. But, you might need it, necause you are not good enough at not getting hit(Solution: practice).
Regardless, you should make every attempt to cross off everything on your list, and use only the minimum amount of equipment necessary.
Be Naughty
Now that you know what you need, cheat. Think about how you can get all this stuff in the order you want to do it, not the order the game thinks you should do it in.
Be Nice
What does not Matter
I thought it would be good to spend a little time emphasizing what you should absolutely not pick up when playing the game.
Magic Key
OK, so you go all the way to level 8. You decide even though you have about twenty extra keys at this point that you should fight your way through a room of blue darknuts, waste two bombs, kill a blue Gohma, all while being shot at by statues. Getting the Magic Key is an extravagant wate of time. Don't pick it up. Really. It is only good if you decide to open every locked door in the game, and doing that is really really boring.
Magic Wand
For beginning players, the Magic Wand is an awesome weapon. It does the damage of a Sword up close, and gives you a permanent, free, ranged weapon. OK, but in order to get it you have to go wandering around level 6, risking having your shield eaten, or being killed by wizrobes. All this for a weapon you are only going to use on a small handful of enemies in the next two levels. Skip it.
Magic Book
So, lets say that you decide to get the Magic Wand, and then, because you really hate yourself, you get the Magic Book. Now, your wand produces fire, which is great for killing, ... Um, it is great for killing bats? What it is really great at doing is damaging you when you accidently walk into the fireballs you have created. Or, you need to wait until the flame blocking the exit dies down. Waiting is boring.
What Matters
The Magic Sword
Since you are going to need this before the end, and it does lots of damage, pick it up as early as possible. In order to pick it up you need:
- To be in the graveyard.
- Twelve(12) Heart Cases
You start with three Heart Cases, so you need to pick up nine. There are five available in the overworld. So, at minimum, you need to beat at least four levels. Since to get those heart cases you need the Raft, and the Ladder, you need to clear Levels 3 and 4. Since 1 and 2 take about the same time regardless of any items you have, you might as well do them before getting the Magic Sword.
Heart Cases
- Bomb for a case in M3
- Bomb for a case in N8
- Burn for a case in
- Ladder
- Raft
The Levels
For each level, there are three things which matter:
- The number of keys the level nets you
- The number of bombs the level nets you
- Any items required to clear the level
I consider the net number of bombs to be the number that you can garantee. Yes, I know that certain enemies (Most importantly: Green ____, Mummys, Orange Wizrobes) drop bombs from time to time. If you are playing for speed, then waiting around killing enemies hoping to get a bomb is not likely to be the right call.
Level 1
Items: None Keys: +1 (+2 if you use a bomb) Bombs: 0 (-1)
Level 2
Dodongo, the Level 2 boss requires 2 bombs to kill. Since you find four bombs in the room immediately south of his room, that is not a problem. The good news
Items: None Keys: +4 (If you take more, you will have to many) Bombs: +6 (2 required to kill Dodongo, 8 garanteed)
Level 3
Keys: +1
Level 4
Keys: +1
Level 5
Items: Arrows, Ladder Bombs: +6 Keys:
Level 6
Keys: -2
Level 7
Keys: -2 Bombs: -4
Level 8
Keys: -1 Bombs: -1 (-2 if you need the magic key)
Death Mountain
Keys: -1 ? Bombs: -6 ?
My Route
Bootstraps
What you pick youself up from, since you start with nothing. The most important thing to do in the opening is to collect the important equipment you will need.
Wooden Sword
Pick it up, no Zelda Challenge for me. But this is a speed run, not a Master test.
Level 2
I really, really liked this idea when I thought of it. Level 2 takes about as long to walk to as Level 1. It is on your way to the Silver Sword. You net money, bombs, and keys there. You are within three screens of a blue candle, a heart case, and 70 Rupees. The level is easy to clear, because the snakes chase you, so you don't have to wander around chasing them. If you die, it costs you no more than thirty seconds, and as an added bonus you still get to throw your sword when you respawn. The bombs are the most important thing, since you need one to get to the Heart Case at M3, and you need the rest to go through walls.
Walkthrough
Heart Case(M3)
Gives us the 5 life we need to pick up the Silver Sword.
Silver Sword
Level 1
A bomb saves you a key. You should have a bomb left.
Midgame
Blue Ring?
If you need it, then now is the time to pick up the Blue Ring. That means that you should have picked up the 140 rupies near level 2, and the note.