The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past - A Walkthrough with Dagger

[Dagger Dias]

Enemy Spotlight: Hokkubokku

These are really weird looking Fox Heads on cactus-like bodies which are highly dangerous. The Fox Head sits on top of circular segments and bounces around the room quickly. If you attack with your sword one of the circular segments flies around the room until it vanishes after a moment. You can attack the segments as they fly off if you want but you risk taking damage. These guys do a ton of damage so be careful around them. The Fox Head does not fly off like the segments do. The Fire Rod will instantly kill a Hokkubokku, so if you want to get past them faster this is a better method. Bombos is actually the best method in my opinion, if there is more than one of these guys in the same room it will kill all of them.
​

 

[Dagger Dias]

Enemy Spotlight: Chain Chomp

These are undefeatable and extremely dangerous. They do a ton of damage, so use the Magic Cape to walk past them as you have no way of doing anything to them with any item. They sure do look funny, despite being one of the most dangerous enemie in the game. There was an NPC Chain Chomp in Link's Awakening who helped you by eating a flower at the entrance of that game's second temple, he was really cool. Chain Chomps then went on to become common Mario series enemies.
​

 

[Dagger Dias]

The first room in the 1st Basement floor has Fire Fairies, pipes, and a Hokkubokku. Enter the pipe in the lower right corner to end up in the upper left corner. Go left. Now you'll see two pipes. Go down the pipe south of you and enter the door you end up at. In here you immediately find four Fire Fairies right next to each other. Use Magic Powder to turn them into real fairies, they are inevitably going to get in your way if you do not. Now go south, let the Rabbit Beam hit the wall, and defeat the Hokkubokku to get a key for the next room. There is a Laser Eye guarding the door, so be careful. Follow the wall without facing the eye. Now go unlock the door and go inside as fast as you can before the eye can notice you and begin zapping. Enter the pipe after this door to end up at a chest. It has this temple's Big Key!

 

[Dagger Dias]

Follow the pipes to end up back in the first room of the 1st Basement. Go through the pipe in the bottom right again, and go left. Now enter the northern pipe instead of the southern one. You end up at a door leading to a room with a Medusa Statue and two Hokkubokkus. Defeat the Hokkubokkus by casting Bombos or using your sword or Fire Rod if you prefer, then go through the southern door. The door on the right leads to a spider door which you can open if you have the Big Key, but there are a couple of optional items you may want to grab first.... namely the final heart piece (if you have followed this guide gathering them on the way) and the Mirror Shield. Anyway, go south and then left. Bomb open the door and get outside quickly before not one but FIVE Laser Eyes start zapping you. Go to the lower right corner as the bomb explodes, then run to the exit!!!!

That was close. Ok, now go to the right but do not enter the temple again yet. Use the Magic Mirror right outside the eastern entrance to the temple to be at a secret cave in the Light World. Inside are three Green Goriyas. Use the Silver Arrows to quickly defeat them all including the ones you otherwise could not reach. Use the Hammer to get past the obstacles. Through the door you find a chest containing the game's final Heart Piece (assuming you followed this guide and gathered them all along the way when I pointed them out). You should have only one heart container remaining, the boss of Turtle Rock will give you that heart container upon defeat.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Now warp back to the Dark World and you will be back at the two entrances to Turtle Rock that you were at previously. Enter on the right side. Inside you will find a big chest. Make a platform to get to the chest and open it to get the Mirror Shield!

 

[Dagger Dias]

Item Spotlight: Mirror Shield

This is the final and most powerful Shield upgrade. It is much larger than the previous two Shields. It can protect you from the beams that Laser Eyes, Wizzrobes, or Lynels use on top of the protection that the previous Shields already provided. It cannot be stolen by Pikits but can still be eaten by Like Likes in the GBA version, but if this happens you can buy a new one at the Shield Shop. You still cannot be protected from the beams of a Beamos though so watch out if/when you see one.
​

 

[Dagger Dias]

Go north of where the Mirror Shield was and enter the spider door. This takes you to a pipe that leads to a room with a Hokkubokku. Defeat him then bomb open the cracks on both the north and east walls. Watch out for the incredibly rare and weird enemy known as Zoros who might run out in groups from the northern exit. Go north. In here you have to flip the red/blue switch while avoiding the Spiked Roller. Using the Boomerang to hit the switch and the Magic Cape to avoid the Spiked Roller might not be a bad idea. Open the chest to get a key! Now flip the switch with your Boomerang again and head downstairs, all while avoiding the Spiked Roller. Take a deep breath. The next room is AWFUL. We're dealing with a candidate for worst puzzle in the game, here.

 

[Dagger Dias]

This is one of the worst puzzles in the entire game, quite possibly the very worst one of all. I absolutely HATE this room. It's dark, you have to make platforms to move on the rope to find a switch, then navigate to the door that the switch opened, all while avoiding Guruguru Bars. Horrible. Refill your Magic Meter if it is not full. Now make a platform. Have the Magic Cape ready so you can turn invisible if a Guruguru Bar is about to touch you. It will be difficult to describe the solution to this puzzle in word form and unlike most of the game's puzzles that end up being difficult to verbalize solutions for it would take dozens of screenshots to do so visually as opposed to one or two. Look for the forks on the rope where the direction Link is facing causes the platform to move in that direction.

Starting from where you first entered the room go down, right, down, right to be at the switch. Flip it. Then get back on the platform. Now you need to go left, up, left, up, left, down, stay down until you reach the lower left corner then go right for two forks, then up, left, stay left until you reach a corner on the rop and go down to be at the door. Now exit through the door to leave this room behind you and never have to complete it ever again!

 

[Dagger Dias]

The next room has both east and west walls lined with several Laser Eyes. You're on a narrow platform with a Helmasaur running up toward you. Use your Silver Arrows to defeat him. Now, in order to avoid the Laser Eyes it is best to just run across the platform. Be careful to not fall off when you get to the end. Go south, as you need a key to move on. Ok, this next room is a little tricky. To reach chests on the right side, Link needs to be facing north and you must hold down the B button. This makes him hold out the Mirror Shield where the Laser Eye would be zapping from. To get the chests on the left side, do the same thing but face south instead. Now you can get the rupees and a key from the chests. Do not risk attacking the Red Hardhat Beetle. Let him come to you and then hit him with a Whirlwind Attack while away from the Laser Eyes. Return to the room north of here and use the key to unlock the door.

 

[Dagger Dias]

You're almost at the boss. Now, in here there are tons of red/blue switches and blocks. Ignore the enemies as best you can unless they get in your way, some such as the Fire Fairy surely will. From the entrance, use the Magic Powder on the Fire Fairy if they get in your way. Shoot the Helmasaur with Silver Arrows. Flip the red/blue switch with your sword or Boomerang so the blue blocks are down. Go north of where the Helmasaur was and flip the switch with your Boomerang while being one chamber to the left of it. The red blocks should be down now. Another Fire Fairy may be coming your way, Magic Powder it if you need to. Go left and then north until you are just south of the stairway. Use the Boomerang to flip the red/blue switch making the blue blocks go down. Go downstairs. Make a platform before lifting the skull jars, NOW lift them. The left one might contain a Magic Meter filling item. Ride the platform north and get ready to fight the boss.

Make sure you have both the Fire and Ice Rods before you begin the boss battle. While the game's developers seemed to have an obsession with the Fire Rod (seriously, WAY too many puzzles require that stupid thing), this upcoming boss is the ONLY time the game requires use of the Ice Rod. Ironically enough, it requires the Fire Rod too. Ugh.... Have blue potions ready. You'll find yourself needing to refill both magic and hearts in this fight.

 

[Dagger Dias]

BOSS BATTLE: Trinexx

This is a cool boss, but he is REALLY difficult. In fact, I rank him as the toughest boss in the entire game. The Trinexx starts out in a form resembling a turtle that has three heads. The Ice Head is your absolute top priority. Why is that? If you do not defeat it immediately, it will freeze parts of the floor. The ice created by the Ice Head stays there for the rest of the fight. Use the Fire Rod to make it vulnerable, then attack with your Sword. Now go after the Fire Head. It attacks with Fire, but unlike the Ice Head its fire goes away after a while. Make it vulnerable by using the Ice Rod on it then attack with your sword. Repeat as needed. All three heads will do a ton of damage to you if they touch you. The non-elemental head will sometimes lunge out at you so try to avoid that. He can do this attack in 8 different directions, thus you are never safe from the non-elemental head. Always be prepared to move out of its way. Use blue/green potions if you run low on your Magic Meter. Keep a close eye on your hearts, the boss does a ton of damage and the next hit could be your last without you even realizing it. When you defeat the two elemental heads, he changes to his second form.

Now the shell explodes and Trinexx turns into a huge snake with a glowing weak point towards the middle of his body. Don't underestimate him, he is still dangerous in this form. What you need to do is simply use your sword to attack the glowing part a few times and he will die. It's a bit easier said than done as even though his first form was a turtle, this snake form slithers ridiculously fast so he may be hard to avoid. If the Ice Head made any ice, it makes this part of the fight that much tougher as you will move slower and getting across the ice is difficult, making it nearly impossible to maneuver out of the way of the boss if he tries to attack you as he slithers. Just be careful, use a Blue/Red potion or a Fairy if you run low on hearts. The Magic Cape may help you too if you have enough remaining in your Magic Meter to spare. If so, use the Magic Cape and keep attacking the glowing weak spot with your sword. When you win, you get the game's final heart container and you should have all 20 heart containers filled.
​

 

[Dagger Dias]

After defeating the Trinexx, you view a scene where.... Well, in the rare chance that someone reading this has not played yet, I'm going to spoiler tag this.

Spoiler

The last crystal, has none other than Zelda inside. She tells you about how Ganon is in his Tower, about the enter the Light World.

When you are done viewing that scene, head west to Ganon's Tower. You will run into some Lynels on the way so watch out.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Enemy Spotlight: Lynel

These are monsters resembling lions, that shoot beams at you. The Mirror Shield protects you from these beams. No other shield can. Then use your sword to attack them, just watch out for those beams. One of the meaner Overworld enemies.​

 

[Dagger Dias]

No more sidequests should remain if you did them all. You should have everything but the Red Mail, which you get in Ganon's Tower. It is located conveniently just to the west of Turtle Rock. If you have all 7 crystals, then the barrier will be deactivated by the crystals so you can go inside. This is the final temple. It's long and difficult, so I will likely end up doing the basement and upper floors in two seperate strings of posts. The basement alone is as frustrating as most of the Dark World temples were in their entirety. Anyway, we pick up with Ganon's Tower next time.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Decided to try something out that I never have before. I played through the game again up until the end but without getting the Blue Mail armor upgrade and without either the Tempered or Golden sword upgrades. This makes the last couple of temples in the Dark World a lot tougher because you aren't doing as much damage and you take more damage. The main reason I did this was not the challenge though, it was to see what happens if you try to get the equipment upgrades out of order.

What does this mean? You can ignore the big chest in the Ice Palace. You can also not save the Blacksmith in the Dark World. When you try to upgrade the Master Sword into the Golden Sword by throwing it into the Fat Fairy's pond instead of the Tempered Sword, she simply just gives you back the Master Sword. If you get the Red Mail first then go back to the Ice Palace to open the big chest there, you still obtain the Blue Mail but it never appears in your inventory and Link still has the Red Mail on. Lastly, if you get the Mirror Shield before ever upgrading to the Red Shield, you can go into the Shield Shop in the Dark World and the fox running the shop will tell you "you don't need that" if you try to buy a Red Shield. The foxes/shopkeepers in other stores that sell the basic Fighter Shield will tell you the same thing if you already have the Mirror Shield.

Just some interesting stuff worth pointing out. Ganon's Tower is coming, it's just such a long temple that I have not had the time to sit down to write the strategy or take screenshots yet. Expect it within the next month.