Bomb Jump

A bomb jump is a trick that enables Link to cross short gaps by using the recoil he's given from bomb explosion damage.

It's generally not thought of as a glitch, and it's allowed under the No Major Glitches ruleset.

Jumping a two-tile gap cardinally

Some bomb jumps require specific setups and considerations, and they aren't generalizable to other bomb jumps (such as Hammerjump, Ice Palace bomb jump, or Spectacle Cave bomb jump). But bomb jumps that cross a two-tile gap (or shorter) in a cardinal direction all share some similar basic mechanics. There are a few places where these can be used (in Tower of Hera to reach the Moon Pearl, in Skull Woods to reach the Fire Rod, in GT Firesnakes room to reach the small key chest without the hookshot, etc.).

There are two main techniques players use for executing these bomb jumps.

Bonking

With this method, the player aims to be in the bonk recoil animation when the bomb explodes. When timed successfully, Link's position can be anywhere from 1 to 6 pixels from the edge of the pit, and the bomb will boost Link across it.

If the player lands from their bonk recoil before the bomb's explosion has started (from dashing too soon), they'll be in the same situation as the "no bonk" state (i.e. Link will fall unless he's 1 or 2 pixels from the pit when the bomb explodes). If the player dashes too late, the bomb will explode before Link has bonked. This will result in Link taking damage from the bomb and being sent into the pit.

A bonk jump is usually going to lose a small amount of time to a successful bonkless jump. This is because:

1. Link will often be positioned lower when the bomb explodes, and as a result of this, he won't be recoiled as far onto the other side of the pit.
2. Link won't be boosted across the pit until after he's landed from the bonk recoil, and unless the player is really pushing it, that's unlikely to perfectly coincide with the first frame of the bomb's explosion. On a bonkless jump though, Link is immediately boosted across as soon as the bomb's explosion begins.

Because of the expanded window for where Link stands, this method was once considered the most beginner friendly technique for these jumps. However, the discovery of edge spins has made a bonk approach less and less popular over time, even among novice players.

Bonkless

If Link is not in a bonk recoil, he'll need to be either 1 or 2 pixels from the edge of the pit to get boosted across. This is a tight window, but there are a couple of techniques players can use to make it easier.

Edge spin

Edge spins are a technique used to quickly align Link one pixel from the edge of a pit without needing to rely on 1 frame adjustments to Link's position. This is useful for bonkless jumps because they'll position Link right against the edge of the pit, and they can be comfortably performed within the time of a bomb's fuse.

Whenever Link walks within a half tile of a pit (8 pixels), he enters a "slipping" state where the game sucks him towards the pit at 1px/frame. If the player holds the d-pad away from the pit before Link has drifted 8 or more pixels towards it, Link can safely walk back to solid ground without falling. Also, Link will not enter a spin attack animation while he's slipping. Combining these two mechanics, we can form an edge spin:

1. Slash and hold B until Link has a fully charged spin attack.
2. Approach the edge of the pit until Link is slipping.
3. After Link is slipping, the following two steps can be performed in any order:
   • At some point before Link slips more than 7 pixels towards the pit, begin holding the d-pad away from the pit. So for a pit that's above Link, the player would walk up until he's slipping, and then use to get back to solid ground.
   • At some point before Link makes it back to solid ground, release B. This can be done any time after Link starts slipping, including before the player has begun holding the d-pad away from the pit.
4. If the above steps were done correctly, Link will move back out of slipping into the pit and release a spin attack on the first pixel of solid ground (i.e. the closest position to the pit that doesn't activate slipping).
5. Before the spin attack animation completes, the player needs to stop holding the d-pad away from the pit or else Link will continue walking away from the pit after he's finished spinning. The spin animation lasts for 34 frames, so there's plenty of time to release the d-pad.

When doing this for a bomb jump, it's often faster to place the bomb first and then execute the edge spin. This optimizes the time spent waiting on the bomb's fuse by combining it with your edge spin actions. If you do this, it's important to know that you must get Link back to solid ground before the bomb explodes.

At the cost of a small amount of time, the player can opt to take the edge spin more slowly and, after confirming that they did it successfully, dash turn away from the pit before placing the bomb.

Coyote time

Normally if the player is within 8 pixels of a pit, he'll enter a slipping state. If Link is damaged by the bomb while he's slipping, Link will just finish slipping into the pit rather than getting recoiled across the gap.

But if Link is holding a dash charge while within 8 pixels of the edge of a pit, the bomb will apply its normal recoil to Link. This can be leveraged to make buffering into position for a bonkless jump easier.

Applications

• Dinosaur jump
• GT Firesnakes bomb jump
• Hammerjump
• Hera bomb jump
• Ice Palace bomb jump
• Skull Woods bomb jump
• Spectacle Cave bomb jump