First, some general gameplay notes:
1) With a few exceptions, there’s very little need to grind. You run into enough enemies in the game that as long as you fight everyone (clear the screen before moving on) you’ll gain XP and levels at a steady rate. Don’t run away from random encounters unless you’re almost dead.
2) If you DO need to avoid a random encounter while on the map screen, step off the road (you’re safe as long as you’re on the roads), trigger the monsters to show up, then duck back onto the road. You’ll go the battle screen, but no enemies, and you just walk off.
3) Explore the whole map, like you did in Zelda. There’s a number of goodies you can get if you poke around — 1UP dolls, experience bags, Magic and Heart containers, and so on. Smash any boulders that you see with the Hammer and cut down any standing alone tree clumps. Be especially suspicious of any lose standing areas of road or clear areas as well and walk onto them.
4) Also, when you get the winged boots that allow you to walk on water, try to explore walking on the ocean as well. There are two items you can get by doing that, and you can also save time when returning from the island palace.
5) In the palaces themselves, always slash at the statues of Iron Knuckle that you can see now and then. Sometimes they come to life — other times, they drop magic refill containers!
6) Within the palaces, the best way to deal with Iron Knuckles is to fake them out. Back them against a wall or the screen so they can’t run anymore, take two slashes either high or low, and then QUICKLY take your third slash the other way (high if you had been going low, low if you had been going high). He can’t react in time and you’ll hit. Rinse and repeat.
7) If you find a 1UP doll on the map, don’t take it! Just note the location of it and leave it for later (or consult a FAQ online when you’re ready). You can find a total of 5 dolls in the overworld. Save them for when you are ready to go to the Great Palace, then scoop them up at once.
On Raising levels and gaining XP:
1) With a few exceptions, try to keep a balanced approach to raising your levels. Don’t ignore magic. Magic is a VERY useful skill to have. As you raise magic levels, your spells are more powerful and (I believe) it costs fewer points to cast the spell.
2) When you place a crystal at the palace to finish said palace, you automatically gain enough XP to your next level. Don’t waste that! Check to see how much XP you need to raise a level after beating the boss. If you’re close (I’d say within 1000 or less) go grind in the palace until you hit that level, THEN go and place the crystal. You’ll gain two levels for the hassle of one!
3) By the sixth palace, you should either be at or almost at, max levels (8 for attack, life, and magic)
On using magic:
1) Some spells are very handy while others are useful only in special situations. Life, Shield, and Jump you use all through the game.
2) Fairy is a great spell to use also. Did you miss a key somehow and can’t proceed? No problem! Just turn into a fairy and fly through the lock! Do you have get past a tough screen? No sweat! Just turn into the fairy form and fly high and avoid all that mess. You can also pick up items in this form! There’s a ton you can do with it.
3) Fire is a spell that you need to cast to defeat some enemies, but none of the bosses require it. Some people use it a lot, I only use it to defeat those few enemies that NEED the spell.
4) Spell, Thunder, and Reflect are only useful at one specific time and place. In theory, Spell lets’s you turn a strong enemy into a weak one, but I never found it useful.
On fighting and palaces:
1) The downward slash is one of the handiest attacks in the whole game. There are numerous tough foes that you can just jump, and ‘bounce’ on their heads with the point of your sword until they are dead. In addition, it makes getting through blocks super easy.
2) The upward slash is more limited in use, but it comes in handy with some bosses, and can help you get out of the ‘trapped’ block areas.
3) A turbo button helps when you are fighting, so that you can do rapid sword strikes. You can paralyze a lot of foes that way,
4) Starting with some of the higher palaces, remember there are fake walls that you can walk through! By the same token, watch out for pits that fake also.
5) There is an item to be found in each palace. Make sure you get it.
On the towns:
1) There is one old man or woman in each town, who can teach you either a magic spell or a sword technique. Make sure to find them!
2) This includes the one town that is ‘dead’ and only has enemies in it, so take the hits (if you don’t have the cross yet) and explore.
3) Sometimes you have to get creative in order to find the old man/woman in each town. In one town, you have to do your best Santa Claus impression. In another you have to cast Spell at the right place.
4)Talk to the folks in the town the first time through, they can provide some nice hints and tips.
5) Usually you need the spell or technique that you can get in each town to advance in the next place, so don’t rush into the palace. Make sure you finish everything in the towns first.
On Death Mountain:
1) No doubt about it, this is one of the hardest places in the game. It’s also great to level up as you battle your way through. Your main objective is to keep heading south while picking the right caves and find the Hammer.
2) Either make a rough map or take notes on where each cave starts and where it puts you out at, and what other caves you can reach. I use the face of a clock as a guide, for example: ‘Cave A at 12 o’clock — Cave B at 3 O’clock — there is here Cave C at 6 o’clock and Cave D at 9 o’clock.’
3) When you finally find the Hammer, you don’t need to go back the way you came! Outside you’ll see a standing alone boulder. Smash it, walk onto the space, go through that cave, and you’ll come out on the long coastal road to the right, which lets you walk back up to Hyrule proper.
On beating the bosses:
I didn’t find most of the bosses in this game to be a challenge, as long as your levels are good and you know what to do. If you die facing a boss you’ll start with full health and magic at the entrance to the room for a re-match, so make sure you have a life in reserve. I don’t recall the names of the bosses, but here’s how you defeat each of them:
1st Palace Boss — run up to him, jump, slash him in the head, then fall back to avoid his counter attack. Rinse and repeat to defeat him.
2nd Palace Boss — jump up and use the downward thrust to hit him on the head. Once the helmet is off it will float around the screen and shoot at you. Ignore that. Jump up and use downward thrust again, seeing if you can ‘bounce’ on his now exposed head to defeat him.
3rd Palace Boss — Have Jump on, and be ready TO jump at a moments noise. He’s on a horse, and when he charges you jump up to avoid him and download slash him on the head to damage him. After a few hits the Ironkuckle will ditch the horse and fight you normaly. Handle him like any regular Ironkuckle at this point.
4th Palace Boss — You NEED Reflect to win this battle. It’s pretty easy. Cast Reflect, go to one side of the screen, crouch, and face the main screen. The wizard will pop in, fire spells, and pop out. With Reflect you bounce the spells back at him, and sooner or later enough will hit him to kill him.
5th Palace Boss — this is the toughest of the palace bosses cause it requires timing. He’ll attack you with a sickle-and-chain weapon that can do major damage. Watch the swing of the weapon as he winds it up. When it gets to one and a half times around, jump up (use Jump and Shield here). You’ll jump the weapon as he swings it out at you, and as you land stab him in the chest. Keep repeating to defeat him.
6th Palace Boss — pick a pit to stand next to, I favor the far right, but the far left or the center one works also. The dragon will randomly come out of a pit, fire a stream of fireballs, then go back down again. If he picks the pit you’re next to, you can stab him once as he is coming up and stab him again as he is coming down. Stay close to the pit and the fireballs will pass over your head. If your timing is good you can also use Jump magic to jump up and hit in the head just after his fireball attack also.
The Final Palace:
1) Don’t bother trying to go here until you cleared all six palaces. There will be a barrier in place.
2) Now is the time to gather up all those 1UP dolls that you’ve been saving!
3) On the long road to get the palace you will run into battle scenes where enemies throw rocks at you behind a wall. They target where you are going to, so use a ‘jerky’ motion to make it through these without being hit. That is, walk a bit, stop, walk a bit, stop, and so on.
4) When you reach the Great Palace itself, keep these two very important tips in mind for navigating it — ALWAYS go to the right (unless it’s a dead end, in which case go left) and keep working your way down in the palace.
5) There’s also a very narrow pit when you are a crumbling bridge in one part that you want to fall down in to advance
6) There are two bosses to defeat to win the game. The first is Firebird, and he’s the hardest boss in the game. Use Shield and Jump here to prepare yourself, then when the battle starts use Thunder. Thunder will weaken Firebird and change his color. Stand under him, jump up, and use your upward slash to hit in the face. Try to avoid his fireballs, and keep doing this until he’s defeated.
7) Your final enemy is your own shadow! He can do everything you can do and can be a hard fight…..but you can also make it wicked easy. When the battle starts, go to the left side of the screen, crouch, and keep stabbing. He’ll run toward you and try to jump to downward slash you, but as he jumps your stabbing sword will hit his legs and he’ll fall back. Keep this up and he goes down in no time flat. One of the easiest bosses of the game!
I hope this helps anyone who is going through this classic game.
About the Author:
Greg Polander has been gaming all his life, and enjoys modern games as much as retro games, from Pong to Skyrim. His favorite gaming consoles are the NES, SNES, and the Xbox 360. He also is the creator and host of The Super NES Podcast.
2 Dudes and a NES 