Secrets
The Cuccos Attack!
The Cuccos found in Kakariko Village and other areas have a vendetta against you; that is, of course, if you attack them. Hit a cucco enough with your various weapons, whether it be sword, arrow, bomb, whatever, and cuccos will come from all directions to peck you! It's a storm of chickens! Not really a useful secret, but a good one nonetheless, wouldn't you say?
Running Man
The running man in Kakariko Village, that dashes away from you each time you approach, can actually be caught up to. To catch him, run towards him with the Pegasus Shoes. It'll take some practice, but you can catch up to him. Nothing useful happens though, he just tells you about some various things that aren't very important. Still, it's fun to be able to catch him. He's super fast!
The Waterfall of Wishing
A fairly important secret, the Waterfall of Wishing provides Link the opportunity to upgrade two of his very important items, his Shield, and Boomerang. The Waterfall of Wishing is located at the end of the river in which you get the Flippers from Zora, but on the opposite end of the river. Pass by the Witch's Hut, move the green stone to gain access to the river, and you'll be in the general vicinity. You need the Flippers to access the Waterfall of Wishing, however. Read the signs in the area to find its location, and then jump into the water. Swim north into a waterfall and you'll be in a secret cave. Now, approach the pond in the cave and it'll ask you to throw an item into the water. Throw your Shield in the water to get the Red Shield back. Throw your Boomerang in the water to get the Magical Boomerang back. Both completely free of charge! Pretty easy, eh?
Doubling Your Magic Meter
Doubling your magic meter is a nice little secret in the game that you're most definitely going to want to take advantage of as soon as you possibly can. If you don't know what doubling your magic meter is, it's the act in this game of putting a "1/2" over your magic meter in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. This represents that anything magical you use will now only take half of the magic power it once did to use. This effectively increases your magic meter by two. Isn't that fantastic? Anyway, to do this, you must have the Hammer. Once you get the Hammer, go to the Light World, and go to the blacksmith's house, located due east of the village. Once there, approach the door of the house and look to your right. A lone wooden stake is sticking out of the ground. Pound it down, pass it, and then look over the cliff. Jump into the hole and you'll be in a hidden cave. You can go west or north. Go north and approach the shrine. Sprinkle Magic Powder on the shrine and a bat will appear. He'll try to do something negative on you, but in the process, he'll double your magic power. It sounds bad, but it's not. Voila, you can now use twice as much magic!
Awakening Flute Boy's Bird
The Flute Boy's Bird is a secret not many know about. It's not exactly necessary, but you'll find it plenty useful regardless. To get the Bird, you must acquire the Flute. Once you have the Flute, head to Kakariko Village in the Light World. Go to the center of the village and play your flute in front of the Weathercock there. If done correctly, a Bird will break out of the Weathercock. Playing the Flute on the overworld will now result in the bird appearing. When he does that, he'll scoop you up and allow you to select one of eight places to go. Select that place and you'll be transported there, whoosh! If you call the Duck and don't want him, move out of the way before he scoops you up and he'll pass right by. How neat-o.
Acquiring the Magic Cape "Early"
The Magic Cape is a super-useful (but often overlooked) item in this game which gives Link complete invincibility when worn. It eats away big time at your magic meter, but other than that, all is practically well. Usually, to get it, you'd have to wait until after you get the Titan's Mitt, but not if you know what to do! You can get it after acquiring the Hookshot in the Dark World. Once you do, do this. Go to the broken bridge that leads perfectly horizontal over the river to the south of where the Witch's Hut would be in the Dark World. Use the skull pots on the other side to grapple over, and then go to the locations of the graveyard in the Dark World. Work your way into the extreme right-hand corner of the Dark World graveyard site, and then use your Magic Mirror to warp back to the Light World. If done correctly, you'll be in a surrounded area with the right-most grave in the Light World's graveyard, surrounded by dark green stones that can only be moved with the Titan's Mitt. From here, go in front of the gravestone and dash into it with the Pegasus Shoes. It'll open up revealing a staircase leading down. At the end of the pathway here is a treasure chest, in which is the Magic Cape!
The Pond of Happiness
The Pond of Happiness is a secret and solitary cave located smack dab in the middle of Lake Hylia, which is located in the southeast corner of the Light World. Once you have the Flippers from Zora, you can access this secret, this very, very useful secret. Simply jump into Lake Hylia and swim towards the center, where a small island is located. You can get onto this island using the ladder on the south end of the island. Go into the cave on this island and approach the pond at the back of it, where it'll ask you to donate some Rupees. Basically, for every 100 Rupees you throw in, a kind fairy will appear and offer to either increase your Bomb holding capacity or your Arrow holding capacity. You can make the Fairy (with 1,400 rupees) to allow you to hold 50 Bombs and 70 Arrows - very useful indeed. So make sure to do this as soon as you possibly can. But, where are we supposed to get this kind of money? A good question... see the next secret.
The Rupee Room
Designated as such by players of the game since this game was originally released on the SNES, the Rupee Room is a room which holds fifty Rupees for you to plunder. This cave is located under one of the large green rocks at the entrance to the Desert of Mystery, south and a little left of the Weird Man at the desert's entrance. Enter into this cave to find a thief within. Surrounding this thief are 10 clay pots. Lift each pot to get a Blue Rupee, 5 x 10 = 50. Then, leave the cave and come back. You can get 999 Rupees here in a matter of two minutes! Use this when you need to buy potions, and especially when you need to buy Flippers or, above all else, Bomb and Arrow capacity upgrades from the Pond of Happiness at Lake Hylia (see above).
Defeating the Dark World Dungeons Out-Of-Order
There is a way - actually, several - that you can defeat the Dark World dungeons. You always have to go to the Dark Palace first, naturally, but once you get the Hammer from that palace, anything goes, really. Here are some random orders for you to try out. The uses of this are many - getting items early, primarily, although this can also add to the replay value of the game. Check it out!
- 1 = Dark Palace
- 2 = Swamp Dungeon
- 3 = Skull Dungeon
- 4 = Thieves' Town
- 5 = Ice Palace
- 6 = Misery Mire
- 7 = Turtle Rock
- 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 5, 7
- 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 3
- 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 3, 7
- 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6, 7
- 1, 2, 4, 3, 6, 5, 7
- 1, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7
- 1, 4, 2, 3, 6, 5, 7
- 1, 2, 4, 6, 5, 3, 7
Try these orders out and see what happens!
Chris Houlihan Room
The Chris Houlihan Room is a secret room in A Link to the Past. It contains 45 Blue Rupees scattered on a shining blue floor and a Telepathy Tile on the back wall. The tile says "My name is Chris Houlihan. This is my top secret room. Keep it between us, okay?". While the room exists in the Game Boy Advance version of the game, Chris Houlihan's name is not mentioned.
Access
The room is not an intended part of normal gameplay, but rather a crash prevention measure. It is a failsafe room that the game sends Link to when it can't determine which room he should be sent to. There are at least five different ways to access this room. One of the most well-known methods involves a series of well-timed dashes using the Pegasus Boots starting from the Sanctuary all the way to the secret entrance Link used to enter Hyrule Castle's dungeon the first time. If executed correctly, Link will find himself in the underground room. If Link exits the room, he will find himself outside of his house.
Following is a video of how to get to the room. Chris Houlihan Room
Hookshot Invulnerability
While this is more of an unintended side-effect of the hookshot rather than a secret, it is worth noting. If you use the hookshot, throughout the entire duration of the animation you will be invulnerable to damage and knockback.