Any%

Speedrun Rules

Timing starts with control in North Palace. Time ends with control loss shortly after killing Dark Link (Make sure to hold right after the final hit until Link stops moving).

Route and Record Progression

Date	Runner	Time	Magic Containers	Ending Levels	Notes
2013-10-28	Inzult2	21:44	7	2-5-2	First run listed on speedrun.com
2014-04-08	Pro_JN	18:53.250	7	2-5-2	video no longer available on srcom. first WR by Pro_JN on srcom
2014-11-26	dood	18:53	7	2-5-2	video no longer available on scrom, frame counted. first WR by dood on srcom
2015-10-01	opus	18:35	7	2-5-2	first opus WR on srcom. Can see a brief use of double-hits here on daira bridge (possibly an accident?)
2016-03-22	opus	18:31	7	2-5-2	more deliberate use of double hits here
2017-02-02	opus	18:25	7	2-5-2	double hits firmly entrenched here
2017-02-04	opus	18:12.700	7	2-5-2
2017-02-15	dood	18:11	7	2-5-2
2017-02-18	opus	18:07	7	2-5-2	opus' last run of the category as of 2021-06-19, currently 7th place
2018-08-05	dood	18:02.336	7	2-5-2	first(?) use of fairy feet in maze warp
2020-02-13	lite	18:02.267	7	2-5-2	first WR by lite on srcom
2020-02-23	lite	17:54.200	7	2-5-2	broke the 18 minute barrier. Record stayed in that minute from 2014 to 2018.
2021-05-04	lite	17:34.933	6	2-5-2	first use of lite's Great Palace:Blue Jar Variation, first record with 6 magic containers
2021-06-07	dood	16:59.500	6	2-5-2	broke 17 minute barrier. Record stayed in that minute only one year, from 2020 to 2021.
2021-06-08	dood	16:52.286	8	2-3-2	first use of #Hippie Route, finishing with 2-3-2 and all 8 jars
2021-06-13	dood	16:38	8	2-3-2	current WR as of 2021-06-19

Routes

Classic Route

This route was the dominant route for many years, while the world record time was pushed down to 17:34 (last WR under the old route by Lite). It has since been superseded by the #Hippie Route, which is considerably more challenging but also doesn't feature a grind.

The key things enabling this route are the discovery of Healer Glitch, which allows for Wrong Warps and fast traversal of rooms from right to left, and Thunderbird Skip, which makes it so you need far less magic and fewer spells to beat the game. Though Glitch Town has been known about since the 90s, and even appeared in Nintendo Power (arrived at through a hud fairy in Darunia), it was not until (year?) that healer glitch allowed fast access to it from the start of the game and eventually allowed for the game to be finished in under 20 minutes.

1. Perform the first Healer Glitch and get the #Hammer (levels: 2-3-2)
2. Get #Trophy and Jump
3. Get #Medicine, Upstab, and Fairy (Unglitched)
4. Get #North Magic Jar (skip if doing the Great Palace:Blue Jar Variation)
5. Perform the #Second Healer Glitch, with the 'standard' door glitch (first door 5 times)
6. Now in scroll lock, get the #Glove
7. Get #Death Mountain Jar and Maze Warp
8. #Maze Jar and North-East Hyrule Exit
9. Do #The Grind (Classic Route Only) (levels: 2-5-2)
10. Do Great Palace:Standard Glitch Route

Hippie Route

This route was proposed by Matematikprofessorn (aka Hippie) on the Zelda II Speedruns Discord on June 7th, 2021. Hippie pointed out that if you use a different set of wrong warps after the #Maze Jar and North-East Hyrule Exit segment you can quickly go to New Kasuto and obtain its Magic Jar, which lowers the magic level you need in Great Palace from 5 to 3.

This route avoids the very long and tedious grind segment, having you instead only fight a couple of Lizalfos on the way (which ones exactly has varied so far) to bring you close to taking Magic 3. You then save this level until the final bridge before Thunderbird Skip, where you kill one of the Myus on the bridge after casting Jump. This gives you enough magic to complete the skip in spite of the low levels and go straight to Dark Link as usual.

This route has pushed the WR down by over a minute, currently standing at 16:38 as of June 16th, 2021 (dood's WR run.

1. Perform the first Healer Glitch and get the #Hammer (levels: 2-2-2)
2. Get #Trophy and Jump
3. Get #Medicine, Upstab, and Fairy (Unglitched)
4. Get #North Magic Jar
5. Perform the #Second Healer Glitch, with the 'standard' door glitch (first door 5 times)
6. Now in scroll lock, get the #Glove
7. Get #Death Mountain Jar and Maze Warp
8. #Maze Jar and North-East Hyrule Exit
9. Get the #New Kasuto Jar (levels: 2-2-2 and 250xp-290xp)
10. Do Great Palace:Standard Glitch Route (levels: 2-3-2 at Thunderbird Skip)

Fairy Glitch Route

This is a developing variant of the #Hippie Route that performs more of the early game glitched. In this route, you move getting Upstab and Fairy to after performing the second healer glitch, then use the fact that you're already at Mido to wrong warp to Bagu for a short travel time to Saria.

For this route to work, you have to use the alt glitch or the helpers in Mido will not appear. This means that, particularly in GP, enemies are often much closer to you than they are in the other routes.

It's not clear yet if time can be saved on this route, and it has not yet set a record. But it is noted here for the record as a workable route.

An example of this route can be seen in Eunos' 17:56 run.

1. Perform the first Healer Glitch and get the #Hammer (levels: 2-2-2)
2. Get #Trophy and Jump
3. Do North Palace to Medicine Cave Walk and get medicine, as described in Dark Medicine Cave.
4. Get #North Magic Jar
5. Perform the #Second Healer Glitch, with the 'alt' door glitch (first door, second door, first door 3 times)
6. Now in scroll lock, get the #Glove
7. Get #Glitched Fairy and Upstab
8. Get #Death Mountain Jar and Maze Warp
9. #Maze Jar and North-East Hyrule Exit
10. Get the #New Kasuto Jar (levels: 2-2-2 with 250-290xp)
11. Do Great Palace:Alt-Glitch Route (levels: 2-3-2 at Thunderbird Skip)

Unglitched Route Segments

These segments are the basic outline of the #Classic Route's first part, where they are all done unglitched. They are mostly unchanged other than some small details in the newer routes, so those routes will be defined in terms of these segment.s

Hammer

1. Go to Rauru. If you start moving in North Palace immediately upon gaining control (whether to the left or right), then move straight right after exiting, none of the Enemy Mobs will touch you. Move down towards Rauru when they disappear.
2. Go to the healer and perform a Healer Glitch.
3. In Glitch Town, walk all the way to the right to exit and wrong warp to King's Tomb.
4. Hold left on exiting the King's Tomb tile and walk all the way to the path on the left, enemy mobs shouldn't touch you unless you delayed pressing left. If you aren't too concerned about time, you can go back into king's tomb quickly to reset the spawn, which should be faster and safer than taking one of the brutal grave encounters.
5. If you want an additional safety, you can pick up the grave 1-up to the south of the path.
6. Enter the Death Mountain Exit Bridge backwards. Fight the Daira with either cautious Falling Crouch Stabs or more aggressive Double Hits on the first screen. You will usually get your first level up off the Daira. Preferably you should take attack 2, but if you got hit taking life 2 can help make sure you have beams in Hammer Cave.
7. On the second screen, jump over the moblins, ideally turning around mid-air to do a falling crouch stab to push them back. If you still have beams, throwing a beam back at the second one can help avoid a possible spear throw.
8. Enter the cave to Death Mountain's eastern exit and go down to the Jumpy Smashy Cave:Backwards. See that page for movement strategies through there (soon(tm)).
9. Upon exiting the jumpy smashy cave, go down towards the bottom ledge of Death Mountain, and go one extra tile below it. As you approach the Death Mountain Maze Exit Cave, move up a tile after a slight hesitation. This should help you avoid the enemy mobs that will spawn here. Exact timing will depend on your movement through the Jumpy Smashy Cave, though.
10. Enter Hammer Cave
11. Do Hammer Cave:Dark Routes. By the time you enter the last room of Hammer Cave, you should have levels 2-2-2. For the #Classic Route you will ideally want a P-Bag off the last Daira to set up for a shorter grind by getting magic 3.
12. Up-A immediately upon obtaining the Hammer. You should have 2-2-2 or 2-3-2, depending on the following parts of the route.

Trophy and Jump

1. From North Palace, go north towards Trophy Cave. If you deviate one tile west before you reach the top of the lake, you will avoid enemy mobs up to the entrance to the cave.
2. Do Dark Trophy Cave.
3. Up-A after getting the Trophy.
4. From North Palace, go north-west towards Ruto. Again, start moving west before reaching the top of the lake to avoid mobs.
5. Use the Trophy to get in to see the Old Man and obtain the Jump Spell.
6. Up-A after getting Jump.

Medicine, Upstab, and Fairy (Unglitched)

1. Do the North Palace to Medicine Cave Walk.
2. Do Dark Medicine Cave.
3. Up-A upon obtaining Medicine.
4. Do the North Palace to Mido Walk.
5. In Mido, cast Jump before Church of Upstab, jump up to the ledge, enter the church and obtain Upstab.
6. Go left and use the Medicine to obtain Fairy.
7. Up-A on obtaining Fairy.

North Magic Jar

1. On exiting North Palace, head down to the Magic Cave and obtain the North Palace Magic Jar. If you got 2-3-2 leveling in Hammer Cave, and are doing this last of the unglitched collections, you can cast fairy to just quickly move through the room and grab it. Otherwise just move through the room as quickly as you can. There's no need to kill anything here in Any%. Slight hesitations when jumping between the Octoroks will help avoid their projectiles.
2. Up-A upon obtaining the Jar.

Second Healer Glitch

1. Exit North Palace and head back to Rauru and the Healer. Perform Healer Glitch again. This time, in Glitch Town, perform either a normal door glitch (first door 5 times) or alt glitch (first door, second door, 3 times first door) to enable Scroll Lock, then exit left without scrolling.

Glitched Segments

After completing the unglitched segments, all routes proceed to enter Scroll Lock for the rest of the run. This allows for Wrong Warps and quick left exits of screens. It is often important to specify exactly what kind of movement is necessary in a room with Scroll Lock enabled, because you might get hard or soft-locked if you do the wrong thing and wrong warp into a wall or mountain.

More details will be filled in on the Scroll Lock page, but a short primer on movement in scroll lock is:

• If you enter a room from the left, you are essentially in that room normally as long as you keep moving to the right. Exiting to the left without scrolling will take you to that room's left exit.
• If you scroll to the right a bit, exiting left will no longer take you to the left exit, but the current room's down exit. The exact consequences of this vary depending on the type of screen and where it is in the world, but this is the main mechanism of wrong warping.
• If you enter a room from the right, the visuals on the screen will appear as if you'd entered on the right, but you will actually be positioned as if you had entered the leftmost 'page' of the room on the right (clarify?). From there, it is the same as entering from the left -- moving left without scrolling will take you through the room's left exit, scrolling right a bit and then exiting left will take you to the down exit.
• In all cases, walking all the way to the right will take you through the room's right exit.
• Note that you will not *fall* to the room below from a scroll right, exit left. You will enter it as if you were coming into it from the right (as described above).

Glove

1. Do the North Palace to Palace 2 Walk.
2. Inside the palace, do the following movement:
   1. Scroll right, exit left on the entry screen (this takes you to the room below, that you'd normally access by the elevator)
   2. Exit Left
   3. Exit Left
   4. You are now on the left end of the Treacherous Bot Bridge Room, on the leftmost breakblock platform, so quickly jump over the lava pit and exit left.
   5. Exit left
   6. Scroll the screen right until the elevator is the leftmost thing on the screen and exit left (this will take you to the room below).
   7. Exit left
   8. Exit left (this is the Middle Finger Room
   9. Grab the Glove and scroll the screen to the right so the (invisible) left wall is past the edge of the screen, and exit left. This will wrong warp you to the entrance.
   10. Exit left to exit the palace.

Death Mountain Jar and Maze Warp

1. Do the Palace 2 to Saria Walk
2. On entering Saria, immediately scroll right and exit left to enter Glitch Town. Note that, if you're looking for safeties as a new runner, you can obtain Life here, but you would be hard pressed to be able to use it. See the 100% routes for more information on doing this. If you need to heal up before going into death mountain, you can also exit left twice without scrolling and you'll find the healer to your right. Simply scroll right, exit left after talking to her to continue along this route.
3. In Glitch Town, scroll right and exit left again to exit on the far side of Saria without crossing the bridge.
4. Enter Death Mountain and follow the glitched path through it.
5. Go towards Hammer Cave, but instead of entering it go above it and over to the Death Mountain Magic Cave, break the Boulder and enter from the top (this is important!).
6. Once inside, cast fairy upon obtaining the Death Mountain Magic Jar.
7. Perform a Fairy Feet on the left edge of the screen. Exiting this screen will Wrong Warp you to Maze Island.

Maze Jar and North-East Hyrule Exit

1. If you performed the fairy feet successfully, you will exit the maze room you warped to on the bottom, overlapping a mountain tile. You can go straight down from here. If you missed it, you will have to go around a bit.
2. Go to the Maze Island Magic Cave and obtain the Maze Island Magic Jar (cast fairy on obtaining this one, but do not perform a fairy feet here).
3. Continue out to the shortest path to exit Maze Island. Unlike in non-glitched categories, the fastest path actually includes an extra encounter near the bottom, but since you enter it from the right it is very quick. (illustrations?)
4. Exit Maze Island and head towards the North-East Hyrule Bat Cave. You can either slink encounters by heading directly through or perform a kind of half-Green Mile. If you go to the 1-up encounter it is faster to skip it, but you can take it for a safety if you want.

The Grind (Classic Route Only)

1. On entering the North-East Hyrule Bat Cave, scroll right and exit left to wrong warp to South-East Hyrule, you'll come out on the north end of the Kasuto Swamp. If you're looking for a safety life, you can get the Kasuto Swamp 1-Up to the west of the cave entrance. Doing so will make the walk to and through the forest more difficult, though.
2. Walk to the east, taking small encounters as you go, killing the Orange Lizalfos in each one for 150xp each (don't bother with, and try to avoid large encounters -- The Red Lizalfos are both harder and only give you 100xp each), around the north curve of the lake. Fight the lizalfos with either Falling Crouch Stabs or Double Stabs if you're more experienced.
3. Enter the Kasuto Forest 500pbag encounter, and kill the red lizalfos there, then take the bag. Make a quick exit by casting fairy after picking it up and exiting to the left.
4. At this point you should be aiming to have 2-4-2 levels, and 500xp. Don't leave the forest until you have that! If you got a jar in Hammer Cave instead of a p-bag, you will have to fight more mobs, and one of the encounters will give you a jar or p-bag chance so might slow you down even more.
5. When you're ready, return through the swamp to the cave you came in through, the Kasuto Swamp P-Bag Cave.
6. Move right through the first room of this cave, jumping up onto the platforms (visual guide?) quickly so the enemies spawning behind you will stay behind you.
7. On the second screen, have fairy queued up, and run straight to the right until you find the P-Bag. Collect it and cast fairy, flying up and over the enemies who spawned behind you to exit left. This will wrong warp you to Valley of Death, right by the last cave entrance. At this point you will be 2-4-2 and 1000xp.
8. Re-enter the Valley of Death Final Cave entrance you came out of. A Blue Lizalfos will come at you from the right. Fight it with either Falling Crouch Stabs or Double Hits to get the last 200xp you need to take magic 5. Keep walking right, and do not stop. Another Lizalfos will spawn behind you and you don't want to fight it.
9. Exit the cave, enter Great Palace, and Up-A to recover lives if you have less than 2 going in.