Did you finish Link's Awakening without help?

[Jorpho]

I feel like I've asked this question before, but I couldn't find it in a search. Needless to say, if you haven't finished Link's Awakening, you should probably stop reading NOW.

I let the official Nintendo Player's Guide to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening spoil me utterly and completely for the game, and if I had to do it over, I would refrain from doing so. But there are a couple of points that are just obscure enough I have to wonder if anyone here completed the game without any hints.

Namely, there's a statue in Turtle Rock that you're supposed to fire an arrow at to get a small key. Except there's hundreds of statues in the game that look just like it, none of which respond to you in the slightest, nor is there any suggestion that this statue is different. And of course the bow is actually optional before that point.

Somewhat less obscure is the whole deal of finishing the trading quest and going to the library and applying the path from the book to when you get to the Egg, though the book does at least suggest what you're supposed to do with it, and once you get the Magnifying Glass, you can probably figure out that you need it for the book.

So did you finish the game independently without any help when you played it?

[SparTonberry]

The first time, yes I did.
It took me months but I did it.

I ended up ordering the official guide book (I ordered it from the NP catalog, and I think that was the only place I actually saw it). But at the point, I think the only help it gave me was finding a heart piece or two I missed. (I remember getting the game September 1993, a few weeks after launch. I don't think the NP catalog that offered the guide was published until winter '94 (side note, it was probably the same catalog where Super StarFox Weekend was originally sold ). As an elementary school kid with nothing else to do, that was plenty of time to play the crap out of the game on my own.)

Some of the puzzles I recall stopping me were figuring out how to beat Master Stalfos (though ALttP pretty much just told you how to do it, LA was the first Zelda game I finished), and the Face Shrine hint confused me (turned out to be another puzzle reused from the original LoZ, but I actually didn't play the original game until several years later).

[Aussie2B]

Nope. Link's Awakening was the first Zelda I played to completion myself, and I had a hell of a time with many of the puzzles as a kid. I called the Nintendo counselors to find all of the golden leaves, and I abused the glitch that warps Link to the opposite side of the screen (not sure where I learned that, maybe I stumbled across it myself). In retrospect, I was probably just making things more difficult for myself, breaking the normal sequence of events. I remember having a hugely difficult time with the whole carrying around a ball to break down the pillars part, and I was also stuck a very long time in that one dungeon where you get the ability to lift the really big statues. There's that one room where there are some darker floor tiles that go up from the door, take a right turn, and meet the wall. I had assumed it was just decorative, so I had no idea that the tiles were a clue to bomb that other end.

A few years ago, I replayed the game, playing the color version for the first time, and it had been so long since I last played the game, most of it had left my memory. It was pretty amazing how easily I progressed through the game, even with all of the puzzles that I didn't remember. And it's not like I was an old Zelda veteran at that point. Even now I've only played five of the games to completion, and two of those were within the last year or so. I guess it's all just a matter of the adult brain vs. the child brain.

[Bloodreign]

Finished it on my own, trial and error till I got things right. In the end a week or so later, I finished the game (pretty much gotten when it first came out, last copy I ever saw for sale in a store again, Dillard's of all places back when they sold games. It was their final copy) .

[frogofdeath]

Received Link's Awakening when it was originally released and was stuck at the very beginning. Don't recall exactly where, but don't think I had even made it to the first dungeon yet. A friend told me what simple task I had overlooked. Wish I could remember exactly what I was stuck on, because even as a wee little lad I thought, "how did I NOT figure that out!?" From that point on, the game was completed on my own.

Link's Awakening is still my favorite of the Zelda games and I now have an urge to go back and play it for the umpteenth time.

[Jorpho]

So if you finished it on your own, how the heck did you find that key in Turtle Rock?

[wiggyx]

I NEVER use guides to get through games. So, no, I got through it on my own.

[jb143]

When it first came out I never used guides and I beat it without them. That was when it first came out though so I don't recall any specifics. I do remember getting stuck in the original Legend of Zelda and not even having Nintendo Power to help so I'd just go around trying anything on everything. I was probably in the same mindset for Link's Awakening.

When I replayed it a couple of years ago, though, my time was much more important to me; so anytime I'd get really stuck on something I'd check a guide online for a hint.

[NE146]

Yes.. I got through it 100% on my own AND I got through it playing the Japanese version so I had absolutely zero help from the text since I couldn't understand a thing.

See when the game came out I was in Japan and I figured I couldn't wait for the English version so I figured what the heck. Turns out I could still play it by feel (i.e. wandering all the time). The ONE part I got stuck on I remember clearly was the part where you're supposed to meet the chick at the beach. Everyone was telling me to go there but of course I couldn't read it. It was only after about 2 days of desperation where I went to every single panel I had visited and finally came to the beach section on the bottom where she was. Hilarious.

I remember one mysterious thing that bugged me until I got the english version was what the telephone was saying to you. I thought I was missing out on something. Turns out of course, it was just supposedly that old man, and he was giving you little hints. Totally unneeded.

As for the statues.. I dunno. In LTTP You shot arrows at them. Then of course in LA there were bunches of them, I guess I just shot arrows and voila. Can you explain which key in Turtle Rock dungeon you're talking about?.. I'm just curious.

[Rickstilwell1]

In 1997 the game had received a Player's Choice release so Nintendo Power decided to go back and re-direct people through the game. I was reading this walkthrough and that is actually got me to want the game so much. Natuarally I used this issue of Nintendo Power to complete the game the first time through. I haven't needed to use the guide since but it was cool to be inspired to get a game because it was shown in a magazine.

[wiggyx]

When it first came out I never used guides and I beat it without them. That was when it first came out though so I don't recall any specifics. I do remember getting stuck in the original Legend of Zelda and not even having Nintendo Power to help so I'd just go around trying anything on everything. I was probably in the same mindset for Link's Awakening.

When I replayed it a couple of years ago, though, my time was much more important to me; so anytime I'd get really stuck on something I'd check a guide online for a hint.

Beating that without help was the sign of a truly devoted player. I remember going onto a square of the map with rock walls, bombing 8 sections (well, 16 technically, bombing on the line in between two tiles), then after finding nothing, walking around and fighting enemies to replenish bombs to go and start the process all over again. There were no cracked walls, no fairies or other beings to hold your hand, and the advice you did get was in Engrish, so you were basically on your own. Not to mention the hundreds of bushes that needed burning. Heaven forbid you try to do so with the damned blue candle like I did. I had no idea that I would get a red candle later on :/

Funny story, the very first time I played that game I put Zelda in as my name. I started on the 2nd quest right off the bat. Talk about torture. It wasn't until a week later when my dad started his own game (with a different name) that we figured out that entering Zelda as your name started you on the 2nd quest (even though we had no idea what was going on at the time, only that it was definitely different when you entered Zelda as your name).

[jb143]

Beating that without help was the sign of a truly devoted player. I remember going onto a square of the map with rock walls, bombing 8 sections (well, 16 technically, bombing on the line in between two tiles), then after finding nothing, walking around and fighting enemies to replenish bombs to go and start the process all over again. There were no cracked walls, no fairies or other beings to hold your hand, and the advice you did get was in Engrish, so you were basically on your own. Not to mention the hundreds of bushes that needed burning. Heaven forbid you try to do so with the damned blue candle like I did. I had no idea that I would get a red candle later on :/

Funny story, the very first time I played that game I put Zelda in as my name. I started on the 2nd quest right off the bat. Talk about torture. It wasn't until a week later when my dad started his own game (with a different name) that we figured out that entering Zelda as your name started you on the 2nd quest (even though we had no idea what was going on at the time, only that it was definitely different when you entered Zelda as your name).

Something else I remember trying when I got really stuck once...I discovered you can use a flame to knock yourself up above the line you can't normally get past in the caves and what not. Eventually you'll reach the back wall where I started bombing. I was pretty disappointed when none of the caves had any secret doors in the back.

[Gameguy]

I think I read some Gamefaqs guide when I was stuck in parts, I didn't play through the whole game with a guide but usually if I get stuck in a game I'll look up how to get past that part.

[Jorpho]

In LTTP You shot arrows at them. Then of course in LA there were bunches of them, I guess I just shot arrows and voila.

I guess that's another thing like beating Master Stalfos that LTTP teaches you.

(I think the first time I came across Master Stalfos, I used Bomb Arrows – you know, equipping the Bombs and the Arrrows and hitting both buttons at the same time. This rather badly bugs out the game, though: bomb arrows detonate immediately, so you can in fact land enough hits on him to kill him completely the first time you see him, and he won't drop the Hookshot! Oddly, I've never seen this mentioned anywhere online.)

Can you explain which key in Turtle Rock dungeon you're talking about?.. I'm just curious.

Just another perfectly ordinary small key – except you need every key to make it through the dungeon, if I'm not mistaken, so you need that one too. It's at 9:12 in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXKetQj9oQQ . (I guess it at least looks vaguely conspicuous?)

[o.pwuaioc]

I did somehow when I first got the game 15 years ago (DX version for the Game Boy Color), but unfortunately, I remember almost nothing about how I did it, which is odd since I tend to remember most of the games I've played when I was even younger (all the way back to the first Legend of Zelda and Sonic when I was 4/5). I revisited it last year, but without the free time I had when I was younger, it's tougher to keep remembering where I left off.

[Sparkster]

It's a been a long time (around 5 years I think), but I finished it without any help the only time I played it. I dont remember turtle rock, but I remember being stuck for a few days. It was in the chain sequence. I was also stuck in the dungeon with the pillars.

In general, I try to play games without using guides... that is until I finish them, or absolutely give up. I did use a guide the original Zelda... just couldn't figure out the door to dungeons 8 and 9, and then even worse on the 2nd quest.

[Astrosmash]

I played through it first as a kid, and I did have the Nintendo player's guide, so I'm sure I used it to get through some parts (don't remember which ones specifically). That always was one of my favorite Zeldas too.

[M.Buster2184]

Loved this game, (who didn't?), but I definitely remember getting stuck halfway through and not playing it for the longest time. My little sister on the other hand played through no problem with no guide.

[JSoup]

One of my favorite games. Took me months to beat it on my own as a kid. Mostly due to one dungeon that kept giving me trouble. No, not Turtle Rock, Face Shrine, probably on of the easiest dungeons in the later parts of the game. I was confused as hell about how I was supposed to get to the non-connected rooms....till I got sick of searching rooms and decided to go hunt for Secret Seashells. Which is how I came upon the second dungeon entrance which brings you to the rooms I couldn't figure out how to get into.

[NE146]

Namely, there's a statue in Turtle Rock that you're supposed to fire an arrow at to get a small key. Except there's hundreds of statues in the game that look just like it, none of which respond to you in the slightest, nor is there any suggestion that this statue is different. And of course the bow is actually optional before that point.

It's at 9:12 in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXKetQj9oQQ . (I guess it at least looks vaguely conspicuous?)

haha you got it man.. now you see, it DOES look suspicous. You always can tell when Nintendo is trying to make something conspicuous like that.. it's all by it's lonesome, framed right in the top middle of the screen, with a path leading up to it. etc etc. it's literally screaming out that it's a secret.