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

[Dagger Dias]

Spotlight: Bunny Link

When you are a bunny, Link cannot use any of his items. You have this form permanently in the Dark World unless you find the Moon Pearl. The Bunny form may look funny now, but it won't be funny if you find yourself turned into the Bunny by a Rabbit Beam and temporarily cannot battle. Rabbit Beams are a monster found in some temples who can temporarily turn you into the bunny which is incredibly frustrating. It wears off after a moment luckily.
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[Dagger Dias]

NPC Spotlight: The Bully

The Bully is seen in the Dark World always kicking The Friend. If you talk to him he tells you about how his form changed because he did not have the Moon Pearl. This is a hint that you will need if you have not played before.
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[Dagger Dias]

NPC Spotlight: The Friend

In the Dark World he is a ball that The Bully kicks. You can talk to him but he doesn't really do anything relevant. He does mention The Moon Pearl, but so does The Bully and what he says is funnier.​

 

[Dagger Dias]

You're Bunny Link for the time being. You can talk to The Bully and The Friend if you want. They each give you a hint about the Moon Pearl, an item you need in order to explore the Dark World in normal form. What you need to do is use the Magic Mirror to return to the Light World, but you have to use it in the right spot. There is a spot called Spectacle Rock you must use it at. In the Dark World go to where The Bully and The Friend start out. You'll see a dirt formation that looks like it has eyes due to the light colored spots. Stand there in between the "eyes" and use the Magic Mirror.

You'll end up on the Light World counterpart of this spot. Step into the shiny spot to go back to the Dark World. Oh, and hey, look! A heart piece! Go grab that and then jump down from the north side of Spectacle Rock (jump to the north of where I'm standing in the screenshot).

To the left across the bridge you will find a large book. If you use the Book of Mudora it tells you to hold up the Master Sword here to get the magic of Ether. You'll have to come back later for that. Across the bridge to the right are obstacles you need the Hammer to get past. It's now time to enter the next temple, The Tower Of Hera!

 

[Dagger Dias]

As soon as you enter the tower you will find a new obstacle that shows up in pretty much every other temple for the rest of the game. Switches that change from red to blue if you attack them with your sword. If it's red, then blue blocks are visible making you unable to go certain places in the room, and if it's blue then red blocks are visible instead. You must be able to manipulate these switches to get to places you need to go in several rooms. Hit the switch with your sword to make the blue blocks go down. Now you can go down the stairs to your left. In here is a key that you can get to if the red blocks are down. If the red blocks are still up you can get the key by using the Boomerang. Get the key and then go back upstairs.

From the entrance room go north. The red blocks need to be down. Defeat the Kodongos if you want and go down the stairs in the upper left corner. You need the key you got downstairs earlier to open it. Grab the map from the chest to the north while you're up there too.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Enemy Spotlight: Kodongo

These guys resemble Dodongos from other Zelda titles. Unlike their relatives the Dodongos, these monsters are not as armored. They can spit fire so watch out for that. You can defeat them using your sword.
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[Dagger Dias]

Enemy Spotlight: Red Skeleton

These are just like the blue skeletons only they throw bones at you if you attack them with your sword and they take more hits to defeat.
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[Dagger Dias]

Enemy Spotlight: Moldorm (small)

These guys are fairly weak but they can be annoying because they move fast and unpredictably. There is also a large Moldorm who is a boss.
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[Dagger Dias]

You'll now be in a room where Tiles attack you. Stay in a corner and defeat them using your sword as they fly toward you. Stay in the left of the room just north of the red/blue switch and hold down B. This makes it easier to withstand the Tiles. When they stop, the door to the right unlocks. Make sure the blue blocks are down. Defeat the Moldorms in the next room and hit the switch to make the red blocks go up. The next room has Red Skeletons. Use the jars to throw at them for easier defeats, or use your Boomerang. Light the torches using your Lantern to make the chest with this temple's Big Key appear!

 

[Dagger Dias]

Enemy Spotlight: Blue Hardhat Beetle

These guys take many hits to defeat and when you attack them you get pushed back a bit. They are faster than most enemies and can fall down holes if you swing your sword toward a direction of a hole to knock them down the hole.
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[Dagger Dias]

Once you have this temple's Big Key, go upstairs from the stairway in the lower right corner of the first room. You'll instantly run into some Blue Hardhat Beetles. Defeat them but watch out to not fall down the hole in the room. If you do, you end up back in the first room. Be on the lookout in temples for these types of holes. They show small tile graphics rather than nothingness, and holes showing nothingness almost always make you take damage. Defeat the Hardhat Beetles to unlock the door to the left. There are more of them in the next room. You also see a new trap for the first time, star tiles. These make holes appear or disappear from the floor. You can manipulate star tiles to make monsters fall down the holes, but be careful to not fall down these holes yourself. Go through the spider door using the Big Key. The next room has more Hardhat Beetles and star tiles. Go upstairs.

Defeat the Moldorms in here and Kodongos if you want. You'll see a big chest you cannot reach despite changing the hole locations using the star tiles. You can't get to that chest until a little bit later. Open the chest in between the two star tiles to get this temple's compass!

If you have both the map and compass for this temple you should now be able to see this:

Go upstairs. In here are more Hardhat Beetles, including a red one! There is a secret fairy room you can now get to, or you can go fight the boss. If you're low on hearts and have an empty bottle, you might want to visit the fairy room. To get there go to the top of the room in the 5th floor. Jump down the hole Link is facing in the screenshot below. You'll fall down several other holes ending up in the lowest floor. When you are done restoring your hearts and/or catching fairies, step on the warp tile to be back in the 5th floor.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Enemy Spotlight: Red Hardhat Beetle

Exactly like the blue ones only they move faster and take many more hits to defeat, more than almost any other monster in the game.
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[Dagger Dias]

You're still not done. In the 5th floor manipulate the star tile so that a hole appears as it does in the screenshot below:

Jump down the upper left or upper right corner of the hole next to the Blue Hardhat Beetle in the screenshot. Now you're at the big chest! Open it to get the Moon Pearl. Go downstairs and flip the red/blue switch if you need to, to make sure the red blocks are down. This makes a bunch of jars with heart pieces available to you to help with the boss, in a way. Once you have done all of this, it will be time to face the boss of this temple.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Item Spotlight: Moon Pearl

This item makes it to where you can retain your normal form in the Dark World. Otherwise, you're stuck as Bunny Link and cannot use items.
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[Dagger Dias]

BOSS BATTLE: Moldorm

Compared to the other Moldorms you have been facing, this guy is much larger. He is in a small area surrounded by holes that you must NOT fall down. If you do you fall down to the 5th floor and the boss regains all of his health by the time you go back upstairs. You have to use your sword to attack his tail enough times to defeat him. If you fall and you took damage, lift one or more of the jars by the stairway for hearts. This gives you several more potential hearts if you conserve them. The large Moldorm gets angry when he is almost dead and moves MUCH faster! This fight really isn't difficult, just frustrating. Having to start all over if you fall is incredibly annoying. Your prize for winning is a Heart Container and the third Pendant.​

 

[Dagger Dias]

Item Spotlight: Pendant Of Wisdom

This is the final of the 3 Pendants you need in order to get The Master Sword.
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[Dagger Dias]

Now that you have the three Pendants you need to go to the Lost Woods and get The Master Sword. Jump down from the cliffs at the entrance to the Tower Of Hera and then go down the long stairway. Go inside the cave to your left. Go through the cave, it is straightforward. Just watch out for the bats and holes. Jump down the cliff when you are on the Overworld map. Go north. You'll see two Lumberjacks trying to cut a tree down. Go to the left of them to get to the Lost Woods. Once inside, go south through the log tunnel. Then go left, and north to another log tunnel. This is where The Mushroom was. Cut the foliage with your sword and go south through the next log tunnel and then enter the tunnel to your left. The Master Sword is in here! So are a bunch of birds and squirrels for some reason. Now that you have the three Pendants you will be able to take The Master Sword.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Item Spotlight: The Master Sword

The Master Sword is stronger than the Fighter Sword, but two more powerful upgrades remain. You can also now use this to destroy the barrier preventing you from entering the Hyrule Castle Tower, which is where we will go next.
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[Dagger Dias]

From where you got The Master Sword, we are now going to go back to Hyrule Castle. Why is that? Zelda has been taken there by soldiers! You find out from a telepathic message right after you leave with the sword. Head to the castle! Try out your new ability when you get a chance. The Master Sword shoots beams out when you swing it if your hearts are all maxed out. Go to the left or right side of the main hall and exit to the castle gates from a door to the south. Remember that barrier you couldn't get past on the door in the middle? Now you can! Slash it with The Master Sword to open it.

Now you'll enter Hyrule Castle's Tower, the final temple of The Light World and my favorite event of the game....! Unlike most temples, it's very straightforward. No major puzzles. Just a gauntlet of guards and a few locked doors. Here we go!

 

[Dagger Dias]

In the first room beyond the entrance you'll find golden armored Ball & Chain Troopers. These guys are just like the one you fought in Hyrule Castle's Basement but with different colored armor. Defeat them to unlock the door to the right. Two blue armored guards with swords run after you in the next room. These guys are fast! Defeat them as soon as you can, they will not leave you alone and stop attacking you until you die. Defeating them makes a chest appear. It has a key in it, use it to open the door to the north. It's stairs leading up. The next room is dark and another of those annoying blue chasing guards with swords runs up to you. Defeat him and the Eye if you want. Go to the left. This next room is a little trickier. Defeat the Eyes and guards along the path and light torches with your Lantern. Now you'll briefly be able to see the path. Make your way to the chest along the middle of the left wall, it has a key that you can unlock the door on the right wall with. Light more torches if you run out of light. Two more blue running guards with swords attack you in the next room, defeat them quickly and then go upstairs.

You're on the 4th floor now. There's some guards in the next room and a door to the left. Go through that door and you'll find a path along a huge hole in the floor. You can knock guards down into that hole or defeat them. Light a torch if you find one to see better. The door you entered through closed but if you push the block in the upper left corner to the left, this opens that door if you want to go back. Go through the door in the upper right corner. There is a locked door to the north in the following room, one of the guards in here using a bow and arrow is the one who has the key. Defeat him and unlock the door to go upstairs. Be sure to go get the important hint from the telepathy tile. You cannot inflict damage on the boss with The Master Sword itself, but I'll discuss that more when we get to him. Go to the left. Defeat the red guards to unlock the door to the south, in there are more red guards surrounded by a ton of jars. Defeat the guard in the middle to get a key to unlock the door on the right with. The next room is cool, but may be tough. Three different types of guards are in here! The gold Ball & Chain Trooper, a red spear thrower, and one of those annoying blue guys who keep chasing you. Defeat the blue one first so you can find a spot to safely attack the red one from. Save the gold one for last, he is the strongest but also the slowest. Then go upstairs.

 

[Dagger Dias]

You're now on the 6th floor. The first room on this floor is what seems like a dead end. Push the statue on the left of you to the left to get out to where the guards are. You can defeat them if you want to. Go through the door to the left and make your way past the guards. Go up the stairs to get to the 7th floor. The music changed....! That must mean something big is about to happen. You bet. I'll spoiler tag it, in the rare chance that someone reading this has not played the game yet and does not want this scene spoiled.

Spoiler

Go through the next room. You'll find Aghanim casting a spell on Zelda!!!!

You are too late. Aghanim finishes his spell and Zelda is gone. He teleports out.

Use your sword on the middle of the three curtains to reveal a door to the boss room. Get ready for your next boss battle, and if you follow my tips you'll defeat him using nothing but a child's Bug Catching Net!

 

[Dagger Dias]

BOSS BATTLE: Aghanim

This is a fun boss battle, one of my favorites in the game. You cannot inflict damage on him whatsoever using your sword. In fact, it damages you to touch him at all or else you lose a heart. You must use either your sword or, get this, your Bug Catching Net, to reflect his magic projectiles back on him. There are three different spells he casts. The most common is an energy ball you can reflect back onto him to damage him with The Master Sword or The Bug Catching Net. The second is a cluster, you can not reflect it but if you strike it with your sword or hit it with your Net, it spreads out in 5 directions. The third only occurs when he warps to the top of the room. Go hide in one of the four corners of the room if he does this, a deadly lightning spell follows that you do NOT want to be hit by. It takes away two hearts! No Heart Container for winning this boss fight. You'll always know when he casts this. He goes to the exact same spot at very top of the room in the middle.
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[Dagger Dias]

When you defeat Aghanim you get warped to the Dark World. The goal now is to get the 7 crystals in this world, and the temples here are MUCH harder than the Light World ones. The elder tells you through telepathy that you need to go to the Dark Palace first. We'll go there.... After getting some items and heart pieces first. That's where we'll pick up next time.

 

[Dagger Dias]

So before heading to the Dark Palace there are some heart pieces and items to get. The first is on the Pyramid you start out at. Walk down the steps in front of you, then down the steps to your right. Jump down the broken part of the wall. Follow the wall up and there's the first Dark World heart piece!

There's not much else of note here. You'll have to jump down to the ground. There's some new types of enemies to encounter. There's a crack in the wall that regular bombs will NOT work on. You'll be able to get inside late in the game when you can buy the Super Bomb.

 

[Dagger Dias]

For the next heart piece you can get at this time, you'll need to use the Magic Mirror to go back to the Light World. Make sure you use it in a spot where you are able to warp. If you end up on a wall or a tree, for instance, you just get warped back to the Dark World. Warp back to the Light World and go to the lumberjack house. It's near the Sanctuary. Go left from the Sanctuary, then north for a couple of screens. See the weird looking tree? Run into that using the Pegasus Boots.

Now go inside the secret entrance this opens. There's some fairies in the back and a heart piece to the right. Jump down and exit through the cavern.