Do you remember playing A Link to the Past on the Super NES? If not, you missed out on a great experience in gaming! A Link to the Past was easily a highlight for all gamers when it was released in 1991.

It has been over 25 years since A Link to the Past was released, and is still often regarded by gamers as one of the best Zelda games ever created. This was the game that introduced many concepts to the Zelda game that are now staples, and it’s the game that really solidified the Zelda experience with many gamers. A Link to the Past has remained an iconic game and and a staple among Zelda fans, and it was considered revolutionary for its time. With an emotional beginning and the game’s many dungeons, great items, fun gameplay, and interesting characters, what's not to love about this game?

With all the time gamers have spent with this game, it makes sense that they’ve found several tricks, secrets, and interesting glitches in the game. From obscure references to bizarre programming glitches, this game has quite a bit to offer. So we decided to look for some secrets you may not know about A Link to the Past!

Did you know any of these facts? Some of these facts you may be familiar with, while others may surprise you. Do you have any other tricks you know about this game? If you do, be sure to let us know in the comment section below.

20 The Catfish In The Swamp Of Evil Is Based On Japanese Folklore

Many elements of games, especially creatures, will often get inspiration from some type of folklore or story. The game creators had to get inspiration from somewhere. This is especially true for fantasy games that are dealing with a lot of unusual creatures and monsters. Why create something from scratch when you can borrow an idea?

In A Link to the Past, the catfish that resides in the Swamp of Evil is actually based of a creature from an 18th century Japanese tale about the catfish Namazu. This creature would wiggle its body in the water, bringing chaos and destruction to the land. The rocks that you see sticking out of the swamp surrounding the catfish in the game represent Namazu’s prison. It’s a great reference to a more obscure folklore tale.

19 You Can Get A Blue Shield

While A Link to the Past doesn’t give you much choice in customizing your equipment’s appearance, there is one trick you can do. While you normally possess a red shield throughout the game, you can actually get a blue one. All you need is your red shield and an Ether medallion. Here’s what you need to do.

You need to go find a Pinket (those enemies that try to eat you and end up eating your shield). When you face it, make sure you use the Ether medallion. Let the Pinket take your shield. Once it has your shield, kill it. Your shield will reappear and once you pick it back up, it will turn blue. If you want to turn your shield back to red, just use the same process again. While this doesn’t change the properties of the shield itself, it is a fun trick for gamers that want to change up the look of their shield in a game that doesn’t really leave much room for personalization.

18 The Japanese Release Of The Game Had A Different Title

In the original release of the game, the title read Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods. This title makes sense since the game does talk about the triforce, which is essentially a gift of power from the gods to the people in the game. It’s the symbol of ultimate power.

However, religious representation in entertainment in America can be a little tricky. As a result, Western versions of this game changed the title so that no issues with regarding religion would come up. In this case, the Western release of the game decided to take out the “Gods” part, to avoid any issues with religious symbolism, naming, etc. They also thought that the American audience would like the title A Link to the Past better. It seems a little ridiculous, but you can’t really blame them for being too careful.

17 You Can Fight Agahnim With The Bug-Catching Net

In a battle towards the end of the game, you are facing off against Agahnim, a powerful sorcerer that is trying to bring Ganon back. This is the result of everything that you’ve been fighting for, so you know that Agahnim will be tough. Part of this battle with the dark wizard involves you having to dodge and deflect magical projectiles that he shoots at you. If you deflect them back to him, it weakens him, letting you move in to attack.

Normally, you would use the Master Sword to deflect these projectiles. However, gamers have discovered that you can use the Bug-Catching Net, a fun, but non-essential item in your inventory. Since the net acts in a similar swiping motion that your sword does, you can use them to deflect the Agahnim’s attacks.

16 This Was The First Game To Introduce Cuccos

The Cuccos are a surprisingly useful animal that Link has often used to get to unreachable places, and a great source of hilarity. The best thing about the Cuccos was their special move. If you had Link attack a Cucco enough times, the Cucco would call out to its friends for help, and then you were bombarded by countless Cuccos. They would keep hurting you until you either ran out of health and died, or you managed to escape inside a building. This is both a hilarious and slightly creepy element of the game.

What you may not know is that A Link to the Past was the first game to introduce the Cuccos to the franchise, as well as the Cucco Revenge Squad. Thanks to this game, we can attack Cuccos however much we want.

15 There Are Three “Invisible” Enemies In The Swamp Of Evil

Have you been in the Swamp of Evil and have gotten hurt, but found there were no enemies nearby? You were likely hit by one of the three “invisible” enemies in the swamp.

There are three enemies in the swamp that do not properly load in the game, essentially rendering them invisible. These enemies are Ku, which you can find in the dungeon located in the Swamp of Evil. While you can’t see them, they can still hurt you if you come into contact with them. The glitch likely happened due to these types of enemies were only programmed to function in deep water, which likely means the terrain was different during development, or the enemies were replaced. This glitch in the game makes for an interesting experience in the Swamp of Evil.

14 The Game Was Originally Going To Have A Party System

It’s strange to think about it, since most Zelda games have you only playing Link throughout the game (some games, like Wind Waker and Spirit Tracks, have you temporarily switching to another character, but you primarily play Link still). But did you know that wasn’t originally going to be the case in A Link to the Past?

Miyamoto had originally planned on having you play other people in the game rather than just Link. Throughout the game, you would have a party system, where you would switch between three characters. The characters would have been an elf, a girl, and a magic user. It’s interesting to think about how things would be if they had continued with this type of gaming. We would likely see the difference in Zelda games in general.

13 There’s A Secret Room Called The Chris Houlihan Room

A Link to the Past has a few secrets, but did you know that there’s a secret room that you can’t gain access to through normal means? It’s known as the Chris Houlihan room. This room appeared as a result of Chris Houlihan winning a Nintendo Power contest and being promised an appearance in a Zelda game. The room contains a telepathy tile and 225 rupees. It was used as an error handler, so if you fell into a hole and the game couldn’t figure out where you’re supposed to go, you ended up in the Chris Houlihan room.

Unfortunately, many of the glitches you could use to get access to this room no longer exist, since they were removed in the GBA port. Any mention of Chris Houlihan was also removed as well. I feel sorry for poor Chris!

12 This Is The First Game Where The Master Sword Was Introduced

This game had a lot of firsts in the franchise, which makes sense since it’s an earlier game before a lot of now common elements of Zelda were established. One of those is the Master Sword. This sword is legendary throughout Zelda and is often featured as Link’s ultimate weapon against evil in many of the Zelda games. With this sword, Link has been able to beat back Ganon, his minions, and even darkness itself.

This sword first showed up in A Link to the Past. It was instrumental in defeating Agahnim and his minions and helped Link to emerge victorious in his battles. What’s also interesting is that Link gets the Master Sword fairly early in the game. In later games, it usually wasn’t until about halfway through the game that you would gain access to the sword.

11 Mario Is In Kakariko Village

Many game developers love to include little references to other games hidden throughout the game. It’s also fun for the gamers to search for and find these great references. And A Link to the Past has one particularly interesting reference that’s fairly easy to spot, if you know where to look.

If you go inside some of the houses of Kakariko Village, you will find a familiar plumber. These houses have paintings hanging in them. If you look closely enough, you’ll see that the paintings are actually portraits of Mario, one of Nintendo’s most iconic characters. It gets even more interesting when you interact with the portrait. Should you pull on the portrait, rupees will fall out for you to collect. It looks like Mario is helping out Link the best he can!

10 Concept Art Showed The Game Was Going To Have Futuristic Elements

Did you know that the original game The Legend of Zelda was supposed to have a futuristic twist? Apparently the Triforce was originally going to be a computer chip, which meant that the Zelda games were originally planned to include both fantasy and Sci-Fi elements.

These sci-fi elements were scrapped in the development of The Legend of Zelda. However, concept art revealed that Miyamoto considered having A Link to the Past take place in both the past and the future, likely using some futuristic designs. The most interesting one was concept art of Princess Zelda in futuristic attire. Unfortunately, this idea also never came about, which is a shame since it would’ve been interesting to see these future elements. Alas it was not meant to be.

9 You Can Get The Magic Cape Early In The Game

The Magic Cape is a coveted item that allows you go invisible. This lets you sneak past enemies and guards unnoticed, but you don’t get it until partway through the game. However, you can sneak past this with the Magic Mirror to get the cape earlier in the game than originally planned. All you have to do is use the Magic Mirror to warp to the area where the headstone covering the cavern where the Magic Cape is stored.

While this doesn’t really change much in the game, it does let you have a fun item for longer than originally planned. It also lets you potentially get into areas you might not have had access to originally. It’s a great trick to help you play the game a little differently than you would originally.

8 A Glitch In The Game Allows You To Walk Through Walls

In most games, you have to go a certain way and accomplish certain tasks in order to complete the game. If you try to go out of order, it usually doesn’t work, and the games usually take hours to finish. A Link to the Past is no exception to this, except when a glitch is involved. And this glitch can help you beat the game in less than 3 minutes!

This glitch lets you walk through walls in certain areas of the game. Gamers have discovered that using this glitch, you can essentially beat the game in 3 minutes by walking through these walls to reach the ending screen. This is a great glitch that makes for an interesting element to the game that gamers can play around with.

7 A Glitch In Kakariko Village Causes Link To Not Catch The Boomerang

In most games in the Zelda franchise, the boomerang was a pretty good weapon to have. The appeal of the boomerang was that it was an item you could throw at an enemy and it would return for you to use it again. It was a great long-range weapon where you weren’t having to constantly resupply ammo, which made it pretty useful to use against long distance enemies, flip switches from far away, and snag items that were hard to reach.

But there’s a funny little glitch that happens when you use the boomerang in Kakariko Village. If you throw the boomerang, Link doesn’t catch it, and just goes across the screen repeatedly. This is more of an amusing glitch rather than a useful one, but it’s a fun one to play around with nonetheless.

6 This Was The First Game To Use The Standardized Logo

The logo for The Legend of Zelda has become iconic. Many of us have grown familiar with the title and most gamers could recognize it easily today. The Legend of Zelda has remained fairly consistent as a title and a logo. But that wasn’t always the case.

Did you know that it wasn’t until A Link to the Past that the logo became standardized? Before, there was some confusion on the title of the game, since the original Japanese title for the first game was Hyrule Fantasy, while the Western version was released as The Legend of Zelda. But in A Link to the Past, the title The Legend of Zelda became the standard title for every Zelda game that came after. It’s great that this logo has lasted all these years.

5 The Missing Master Sword

A lot of games make it impossible for you to do things out of the order they intended. Most Zelda games are notorious for their strict order of events. But sometimes you can skip ahead, which may bring about interesting results.

In A Link to the Past, you are originally supposed to rescue Zelda in the beginning and then go and get the Master Sword. But what happens if you try to get the Master Sword before you rescue the princess? Well, apparently you can get to the area where the Master Sword is, but if you go there before rescuing Zelda, there is no Master Sword in the pedestal. Instead you’ll encounter a glitched enemy that looks like a bouncing head of a villager. It’s a little creepy but interesting glitch.

4 A Link To The Past Is Tied With A Link Between Worlds For The Most Dungeons

Zelda is famous for its dungeons full of puzzles, enemies, and interesting themes. For many gamers, a dungeon was a great test of their skill, another big obstacle for them to overcome.

Well, A Link to the Past is known for having the most dungeons of the Zelda games, coming in with 12 dungeons. For a long time, it remained the only game to have that many. Currently, both A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds are tied with them both having 12 dungeons.

Incidentally, this game was also the first one to introduce dungeons with different themes. That’s an element of the game that’s continued to Zelda games today. If you love dungeons, this game is the best one for you.

3 This Was The First Game To Introduce Pieces Of Heart

Many gamers have enjoyed the different side quests that the Zelda games have produced. Many of those side quests included the prize being a piece of heart. Collect a certain amount (usually four) of pieces, and you had a full heart container, which increased your health. The quests for these pieces of heart ranged from funny to strange, but were always interesting.

But did you know that A Link to the Past was the first game to introduce the concept of pieces of heart to the franchise? It’s because of this game that we were given the chance to increase our health more than just by defeating dungeons. It’s also thanks to this game that we were able to go on many different side quests to find these pieces of heart.

2 The Game Is One Of Only Three Games To Feature A Member Of Link’s Family

In most Legend of Zelda games, not much is known about our main hero Link or his background. He is the mysterious hero who was chosen by the gods, and he was often wandering alone with no family. In fact, there are only three games that actually feature a member of Link’s family in the game. The Wind Waker features his sister and grandmother, The Minish Cap features his grandfather, and A Link to the Past features his uncle.

A Link to the Past is interesting because Link’s uncle dies in the beginning trying to rescue Princess Zelda. He then entrusts Link with his sword and shield to save Hyrule from Agahnim. It’s his sacrifice that helps Link to become the hero that Hyrule needed. While having the mysterious hero is good, it’s also great to have a hero with family willing to help him.

1 Many Popular Music Themes Were First Introduced In This Game

One of the many iconic elements of the Zelda franchise is its music. Whether we love the classic tunes, remixes of them, something a little fresh, or something old and familiar, Zelda has a great many recognizable music that will have you humming along while you play. Many of these tunes have become so popular that gamers that don’t even play the games often recognize them.

What you may not know is that some of the iconic tunes that we all have come to know and love got their start in A Link to the Past. Specifically, the songs Zelda’s Lullaby, The Fairy Fountain Theme, and The Hyrule Castle Theme made their debut in this game. Since then, they’ve remained staples throughout most of the Zelda games.