Zelda: A Link to the Past GBA Version True 100% Speedrun attempt in under 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Channel:

Greenalink

Subscribers:

36,300

Published on February 1, 2017 5:42:35 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqpchXNX3_E

Game:

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991)

Duration: 2:22:47

45,906 views

561

My YT channel is officially 10 years old!! True 100% completed in 2:15:30

So 10 years ago I created this channel.
The username was initially going to be called Greena but it was taken so it became Greenalink, this is mainly because the first set of videos I've uploaded to the channel were GBA Glitches of A Link to the Past. To celebrate 10 years, I might as well do a speedrun of the game, but with a few twists.

Traditional 100% runs of the game don't do the following:
Donate 1,400 rupees to maximise both Bombs (from 10 to 50) and Arrows (from 30 to 70)

The GBA version also has 2 new side quests but both require playing through the Four Sword game.

GBA side quest 1:
Q. Bumpkin's riddles. This side quest is unlocked after obtaining 10 Medals of Courage in Four Swords
Complete all 10 riddles to unlock a new sword technique. Because of some of the solutions, this route had to be tweaked from the traditional 100% so Swamp Palace was done before Skull Woods instead of after.

GBA side quest 2:
Palace of the Four Sword: This dungeon (without exploration glitch) is unlocked after defeating Vaati in Four Swords and defeating Ganon in A Link to the Past. The Ganon defeated flag is set after the end of the first half of the original credits.

Other rules:
I used Save and Quit to save warp.
I did not use Out of Bounds tricks nor Exploration tricks. I wanted to show how fast you can complete the game by using minor tricks including bomb boosting.

If out of bounds was allowed then I would have to execute a one frame trick to enter the Mirror Shield entrance to Turtle Rock early.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgrr-3K52_U

If exploration glitch was allowed, then the whole route would need a major revision.



Mechanic tweaks:

What made GBA version better:

1) Lamp
This item is now able to destroy bushes and kill enemies. It can also break pots but only if Link has the Golden Sword.

2) Flute warping
There is a bug when you get grabbed by a bird during a Pegasus charge start-up and cancelling it as it allows Link to gain superspeed after exiting a staircase tile.
Unlocking Turtle Rock, entering and leaving unlocks Flute Warp area 9.

3) Auto Magic refill
Obtaining a magic item except for Bombos, Ether and Quake allows a free refill after obtaining the item.

3b) 10 free arrows
After obtaining the bow, you get 10 free arrows by default

4) Faster text during Crystal cutscenes
The text during these segments are really quick, I think this is the main reason why the Japanese GBA version (1h35m) is faster than Japanese SNES (1h41m) for traditional 100%




What made the GBA version harder:

1) Unable to use secondary items as the boss is dying.
This is notable against Lanmolas (Desert Palace boss) as you cannot shoot any more arrows until the dying member is gone for good.

2) Smaller screen resolution
During my dashes, I have a shorter reaction time when there is an upcoming obstacle such as a wall or a tree.
Moldorm is slightly harder to plan your next attack because of shorter reaction time if it outsmarts you.
Lastly, the single firerod shot to hit 2 torches inside Turtle Rock does not work.

3) Golden Sword being able to break pots.
This is more of a bad thing in one particular room, it's still possible to bounce off from a pot if Link's sword is not colliding but when you accidently break it, bomb-boosting is your last resort.

4) New bug fixes
Both Eastern Palace's Stalfos spawn kills and permanent light torch bug against Ganon were fixed.




Possible improvements:

Execution-related:

Dashing related:
GBA is harder to react sometimes.

On my way to Pond of Happiness:
Before entering Thieves' Town, I donate 700 rupees to increase my bomb max from 10 to 50. The error was that I jumped into the water ASAP after flying to zone 8 instead of going west by dashing and then going north to enter the water.

Hammer Jump in Dark Palace:
I never tried this trick and my excuse for that is getting ~270 rupees inside the dark chamber.

Bomb jump to skip Moldorm in Ganon's Castle:
A level design tweak extended the 20 rupee chest's platform by 1 tile, it's possible to bomb jump over to the other side but the boss is very unreliable.

RNG related:
Agahnim:

1st fight wasn't perfect but it wasn't terrible either.
2nd fight was pretty much the same.

Digging game:
I lost at least 1 minute because I had to do 2 extra rounds of digging and I didn't get much profit after 3 attempts which could have been used to skip a 300 rupee cave as an example.

Treasure game:
Took me 3 tries, but at least the first 2 failed attempts had rupees so I was getting a profit.

OMG how did I do that part badly (never happened before):

I've managed to lose all of my hearts (then revived) on my way to the final segment to Skull Woods

Died and got revived against Trinexx, I blame the lasers from earlier.

Language related:
Japanese is faster but I don't have a Japanese cart to play it on yet.

This is a world record run for now.

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