Bastard Doors

A bastard door is a door that will slow Link down if he moves in them using diagonal inputs.

Technical overview

Bastard doors are doors that slow Link down from his usual 1.5px/frame to 1px/frame if diagonal inputs are used while inside the doorway. Obviously, the player will want to exclusive use cardinal directions to avoid this slowdown, though it can sometimes be counterintuitive to do so. Because it requires using diagonal d-pad inputs, players should also avoid door pumping inside of these doorways.

Bastard doors may seem to randomly occur, but there's a logic to them. They are all east/west facing locked doors on a subtile boundary. For example, the door in Eastern Palace that moves from the dark switch room to the catwalk above the cannonball highway is not a bastard door. Although it is a locked east/west door, it is on a supertile room boundary and not a subtile one. This means the player can freely hold while they're moving in it.

Bastard door conditions aren't permanent. If Link unlocks a bastard door, leaves the supertile it's in, and returns to the door later, the door will no longer behave as a bastard door. This can be relevant in situations where the player is backtracking through rooms they've already visited.

An additional quirk of bastard doors is that if you get the slowdown, the game will allow you to use items inside the doorway. This saves time in one instance in Any% NMG.

Any% NMG Bastard Doors

Compass room popos in Desert

This is the first bastard door encountered in the run. It seems like you want to use to go after the leftmost popo, but this will give Link slowdown in the doorway. It's faster to use until Link is completely clear of the doorway, and then go to to attack the first popo.

Notably, this door is backtracked through after getting the big key. In this situation, the door will not function as a bastard door. The player can doorpump if they want, and on the other side, they can hold without slowdown.

Dark fast knights in Castle Tower

This is the doorway directly after dark maze in Castle Tower. You can opt to dash right from this doorway, which is a little easier, but walking is faster if done correctly. If you do walk, you should be avoiding the bastard door slowdown. Don't hold until Link is clear of the doorway.

2 Zazaks 1 Firesnake in Thieves'

You can't hold without getting speed reduction in this doorway. Use until Link has cleared the doorway before moving up and dashing left through the room.

Moth hole in Skull

This is a bastard door, but it's generally recommended that you accept the slowdown and hold or while in this doorway. If you try avoiding the bastard door, it can be easy to do the room too quickly and get damaged by the moving spikes while on the way to the pit.

Torch tile room in Mire

Don't hold in this doorway. Use until Link is clear of the door, and then you can go to diagonal to walk towards the south door.

Spike warp room in GT

Use to get out of this door before pivoting to to get around the crystal switch. This can be a bit difficult to do well because the switch is placed close to the door and can be easy to get Link stuck against it if the movement is not well-timed.

Conveyor bombwall in GT

Here is the one instance in the Any% NMG run where you want to leverage the items-in-doorways mechanic. By intentionally holding or , the player will be able to place the bomb while inside the doorway. Because your time in this room is gated by how quickly you can get the bomb to blow open the cracked wall, placing the bomb ASAP is more important than Link's walking speed being slightly slowed down in the doorway.