A Link to the Past Glitches - Bonus Hearts
Requirements
- Don't beat either Agahnim I (unless you want to try finding a longer path back to the necessary rooms) or Helmasaur King II
- Provided one doesn't take a longer path from a different start point than detailed below, Death Mountain Descent is a requirement to reach the Dark World initially.
- A portal to the Dark World on the Hyrule Castle grounds
Instructions
- From the Pyramid of Power, warp back to Hyrule Castle in a way that puts a portal in front of the tower leading to Agahnim I. (It doesn't matter if the barrier is in place or not.)
- Head to the westernmost enterable door you can access, leading to the southwestern room of 1F of Hyrule Castle.
- Arm the Master Glitch.
- Return to the Dark World portal, then make your way to the Palace of the Four Sword.
- Once in the Palace of the Four Sword, trigger the master glitch.
- Head one screen north, then one screen east, then north until you reach the Helmasaur King II boss chamber.
- Try to make your way north through the Helmasaur King II boss chamber. The enemy and traps are damaging even in the glitch-armed state.
- You should glitchily scroll into a room on 1F of Skull Woods. Without leaving this room, keep moving up and down until the screen can too, then move around the room like you normally would.
- Slay the two small Moldorms in the room.
Results
Due to Helmasaur King II having put the game into a boss fight state, the game will think you've defeated a boss upon defeating both of the small Moldorms. Because of this, the second small Moldorm will drop a Heart Container. Provided you don't already have 20 Heart Containers, this Heart Container will work like any other. If you already have 20 Heart Containers, however, nothing will happen upon grabbing the Heart Container.
To actually keep your bonus heart, you're going to have to leave the dungeon through the Skull Woods entrance since the game, thinking you've defeated a boss, has disabled the Start and Select buttons while you're still inside the dungeon. Once you're out of the dungeon (you may need to negotiate through a glitch scroll when trying to exit), you'll now be able to save your game. If you haven't yet burned away the blockage that prevents normal entry into the main part of Skull Woods, you'll be stuck and can't move; however, you can still save your game, and you can easily rectify your movement situation by choosing to start at a location other than the saved place.
If you scroll to a different room after the glitch scroll into Skull Woods (typically if you are on enough on the left or right side of the Helmasaur II room to remain under the scenery and then move enough in that direction to go to the next sector) and then back into the first Skull Woods room, you'll disarm this glitch and both Moldorms will exhibit their regular death behavior.
