Glitch Classification

The ALttP community has classified the game's numerous glitches into a few different buckets or tiers. Almost every category has some limitation on the glitches the players can use, so some familiarity with this system is useful for understanding the different routes through the game.

No restrictions

This is the tier where anything goes, and this includes powerful glitches like out-of-bounds misslotting which can activate arbitrary code execution (ACE) or arbitrary memory writes.

ACE is of course extremely powerful. Outside of true Any% and categories that explicitly use ACE, these techniques are either banned or under heavy restrictions.

Major glitches

Major glitches or MG is a classification of glitches that includes the techniques that are banned in No Major Glitches speedruns. Most of these are techniques that would seriously break the logic and flow of "intended" gameplay. One example is exploration glitch, which can be used to reach the end of the game in less than 3 minutes.

MG speedruns tend to involve heavy sequence breaking and unusual routes through the game given all the capabilities the player has. Most MG runs ban out-of-bounds misslotting because it can lead to ACE and arbitrary memory writes. These techniques render almost any goal meaningless as the player can just glitch and dupe whatever items into their inventory or set flags for defeating bosses, etc.

Major glitches include:

• Ancilla misslotting
• Clipping and out-of-bounds
• Door state extension
• Exploration glitch
• Teleports
• Transition glitches (in all forms)
• Wrong warp

No EG

No EG rules are a subset of MG runs with additional restrictions: exploration glitch and glitches that create a similar effect to exploration glitch are banned. All other MG techniques are allowed.

The other techniques that are banned:

• Plaid world
• Swim EG

Restricted Major Glitches

Restricted major glitches or RMG is a ruleset that allows major glitches but bans some of the most powerful underworld glitches. This results in a runs that have a style between full MG runs and NMG runs.

The glitches that are banned in RMG include:

• EG and glitches adjacent to EG (plaid world, swim EG)
• Underworld transition glitches
• Wrong warp
• Misslotting

Other glitches are allowed, including teleports, clips, overworld transition glitches, and overworld EG.

No Major Glitches

No Major Glitches or NMG is a glitch classification system that bans all major glitches. And a major glitch is categorized as something that's disallowed in NMG. Yes, this definition is circular.

But runs under the NMG ruleset have been ALttP's most popular runs over the years. Players are drawn to its style of gameplay, which is adjacent to the experience of playing the game "normally." Glitches that allow the player to clip, go out of bounds, or heavily sequence break the game in some way are banned.

However, NMG does not mean glitchless, and there are a few glitches that are allowed. None of them have serious game-breaking consequences, and they generally either allow the player to do an individual room slightly faster or have no significant effect at all. A glitch that is allowed in NMG is known as a minor glitch.

Minor glitches include:

• Ancilla overload
• Big bomb dupe
• Big bomb and purple chest dashing
• Block push items
• Bonk prize pre-grab
• Boomerange
• Bunny glitches
• Damage overriding
• Enemy out-of-bounds
• Fake flippers
• Fake items (powder, bow, mirror, etc.)
• Item dash
• Heart and fairy duping
• Hovering
• LSD Blind
• Magic cape cheapskate
• Magic overflow
• Medallion cancel
• Mirror block erase
• Prize on the eyes
• Remote purple chest
• Sanc & Quit
• Slippery stair clip
• Spooky Action at a Distance
• Superspeed
• Torch glitch
• Waterwalk

Glitchless

Glitchless is a subset of NMG that bans minor glitches as well as a few grey area techniques such as bomb jumping.