I’m replaying A Link to the Past (or as I’ve taken to calling it, Zelda III), and I’ve tried to 100% it from memory. Unfortunately, I wound up one heart piece short.
Before going to look up a guide and going through that checklist, I thought it might be fun to ask fellow humans.
What are some collectibles in this game or any others that you tend to miss, or just had trouble finding initially?
There’s one in the dungeon in Turtle Rock, which is the only one located in a dungeon in the entire game. Imagine a lot of people miss that one or at least get to it very late.
I bet that’s what I missed, the picture of it doesn’t immediately jump back to mind. I’ll look forward to scouring the dungeon again!
There’s one or two heart containers in the original Zelda that require burning a specific trees in the overworld. I don’t have those memorized.
Right there with you.
It wasn’t the first time I played, but one of my first replays of LoZ as a teenager, my dad was hanging out and watching. And like, almost every screen he’d go “I think you can burn that bush” or “push that block”, then when it didn’t work held be all “no, well try that one over there”.
At first he got a lot right, over the course of the game less and less. But I was happy for the help, since I didn’t remember any secrets at the time. Definitely a playthrough that sticks with me.
It’s been a long time since I’ve played the vanilla game as I usually play randomizer, so I don’t remember if they are heart pieces, but the locations I always forget are:
- Mimic Cave (mirror back to light world when you get outside of Turtle Rock halfway through)
- Breakable rocks to the west of sanctuary (largely because I forget to come back after getting the boots)
- Lumberjack cave (dash into the tree after beating Ahganim)
The spots on the outside ledges in Turtle Rock always confuse me a bit. I did explore them pretty heavily this time, but only because I totally misremembered where Cane of Byrna was at first.
Randomizer seems very popular for LttP. Don’t think it’s my cup of tea really, but I should probably give it a proper shot sometime. Either way, love that people find the ways to keep things fresh.
Mimic cave is super easy to miss because it’s only accessible on that one ledge when you briefly leave Turtle Rock. So if you forget to check it, you have to do the entire first half of the dungeon again.
With regards to randomizer, it’s super fun, but the fun comes from figuring out what you can do with the items you have. The vanilla game is laid out with progression locked in a loose order, so you never need to figure out situations like how to access the rest of the dark world if you’re missing the hammer, but you do have the hookshot
It sounds like you’re more than familiar enough with the game to not get stuck completely. I recommend playing it at least once to see if it’s your jam
Idk, I don’t remember.
There really isn’t any other possible answer to this question. I forgot, mate. That’s why it’s missing. 🤷♂️
Answer could have been “idk, never played it.”, so…
Last time In played LttP (I played the GBA version to mix it up) I missed the cave that shows up when you hit all the pegs in the dark world version of the blacksmith area.
I don’t think I got all the heart pieces, and if I did im sure I used a guide. I wish a I had a copy of the old Nintendo power guide books.
One of the best Zelda games ever, which puts it high on the list of best games ever. Most of my playthroughs stopped at the dark world lost woods level as a kid
I wish I could help but my last guide less playthrough didn’t have that problem… The others might be right about the tree, sanctuary rock or in Turtlerock (which is technically not in a dungeon but requires a weird exit).
There’s quite a few weird places in the dark world mountains, though. Hope you let us know when you figure it out!
I got the chance to play last night and sadly no luck on the suggested hearts.
So I did end up checking a guide. Turns out it was… the one northeast of the desert (mirror back out of mire). With all the other stuff to collect and see in/around Misery Mire, I totally forgot this one existed. Oops!
Ah, Checkerboard cave.
That one is not as easy to miss in randomizer because you do a whole loop of the area and get 5 checks with just the mirror, flute, and mitts
Oh I actually thought for a sec that it might be but I wasn’t sure enough it was a heart or just a random treasure! Shoot, I should have at least mentioned it. Grats, at least!





