What this A Link to the Past guide covers.
StartsLink’s house on the stormy night before the castle rescue.
EndsThe ending after Ganon is defeated and Link claims the Triforce.
RouteEvery required dungeon and item, plus practical bottles, equipment upgrades, and travel tools.
Not IncludedAn exhaustive Piece of Heart, chest, cave, shop, enemy, or secret-room atlas.
Useful preparation, kept in proportion
The route collects optional upgrades when they materially reduce first-playthrough risk or prevent an inconvenient return trip. Low-value detours stay outside the completion promise.
From the guide
Collect the Book and Ice Rod Before the Desert
Return to Kakariko’s Library and dash into the bookcase below the green book to knock down the Book of Mudora. Before entering Desert Palace, take the Ice Rod from the cave at Lake Hylia’s southeast corner; it is required later.
Route preview.
- Castle rescue and Sanctuary
- Kakariko preparation
- Eastern Palace
- Desert Palace
- Death Mountain and the Master Sword
- Hyrule Castle Tower
- Dark Palace through Skull Woods
- Thieves’ Town and Ice Palace
- Misery Mire and Turtle Rock
- Ganon’s Tower and Ganon
Spoilers arrive when the route needs them.
Directions reveal the next destination, required item, boss behavior, and reward when each becomes actionable. Later bosses, dungeon identities, and story turns remain out of earlier chapters.
Read the complete route in Retro Game Guides.
- Get Retro Game Guides from the App Store.
- Add The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for Super Nintendo from the in-app catalog.
- The Standard Edition attaches automatically, ready for offline reading.