Ocarina of Time
Zora's Domain
Unfreeze King Zora without Blue Fire
With this trick, you can get the Zora Tunic and complete the trading sequence without obtaining a bottle or entering ice cavern.
Trade Item Method
- Face away from the steps and backwalk up the steps until a little past half way
- The ceiling becomes visibly very dark at this point, which is a good visual cue
- Use the trade item
- Check to see if King Zora is loaded (he should still be frozen). If not, turn around and back up the steps further before using the trade item.
At this point, King Zora will be unfrozen as soon as he is reloaded. The fastest way is just to walk a bit down the stairs so he unloads again, then go back up.
Sign Method
The following setup will not work if King Zora has already been moved by using the Ruto Letter.
- At the bottom of the hallway to King Zora (while he's unloaded), start sidehopping along the wall up to the top.
- Scoot left so you can barely read the sign (this position is actually very loose).
- Read the sign.
- Unload and reload King Zora to unfreeze him.
Eyeball Frog Early
Discovered by Jarvitz
This trick allows you to skip most of the Adult trading sequence. This trick is commonly known as "Hold R". This trick only works on versions 1.0 and 1.1, and requires shield. It is particularly useful in 100% and Ganonless.
When you talk to him to receive the Zora Tunic after unfreezing him (also see Unfreeze King Zora without Blue Fire above), just hold R and he will give you the Eyeball Frog instead of the Zora Tunic.
Enter Lake Hylia shortcut
Adult - Ladder Clip
In Zora's Domain, you can clip out of bounds using the ladder next to Zora River entrance. As an Adult, this clip can be used to reach both the Lake Hylia shortcut and the Zora Shop.
from above
This clip is possible with a sidehop or backwalking, but the position required is fairly precise.
» Cutscene initial position setup (sword) (click to expand)
1. Press target and B and hold right to slash rightward
2. Interrupt the slash; this can be done by shielding, or releasing target mid-slash but continuing to hold right and B so Link turns right and begins charging a spin attack (don't finish charging it)
3. Turn right if you didn't already as part of step 2
4. Sidehop left and continue holding A from the sidehop for the ledge drop
5. Backwalk to clip and drop
» Cutscene initial position setup (itemless) (click to expand)
Setup by JavaScript.
1. Sidehop right
2. ESS turn all the way right
3. Sidehop left and continue holding A from the sidehop for the ledge drop
4. Backwalk to clip and drop
» No cutscene initial position setup (itemless) (click to expand)
Setup by Skater. You must enter the loading zone with *full speed*.
1. Wait until Link stops moving (can be holding A from load in preparation for ledge drop)
2. Turn right
3. 1x ESS turn left
4. Backwalk to clip and drop
» Non-initial position setup (itemless) (click to expand)
Setup by bakeneko.
1. Climb up the ladder
2. Sidehop and sideroll left, releasing target during the sideroll
3. 1x ESS turn right
4. Sidehop right and continue holding A from the sidehop for the ledge drop
5. Backwalk to clip and drop
from below with hookshot
- Hookshot the top-right side of the ladder and hold neutral (Link should automatically grab the ledge and clip)
- Wait a small bit for Link to be fully inside the wall
- Press A to drop down, and immediately press B to jumpslash to the ice floor below
- Make your way to the shortcut exit (see tutorial below)
Child - from King Zora (no scale)
Uses Bombchu clip near King Zora. Demonstrated halfway through the video below. Can be used to quickly reach Lake Hylia as Child without doing the diving game for the Silver Scale.
Enter Zora Shop without Blue Fire
- Perform the Ladder Clip
- Once out of bounds, jump into the invisible water just past the edge of the ice
- Turn to face where the Zora Shop entrance is and swim along the edge of the ice and underneath the pathway in front of you.
- Once you swim past the pathway, turn left to clip back on top of the ice
- Make your way toward the entrance of the Zora Shop to further clip back in bounds, then enter the shop.
Diving minigame
HESS off sign at Zora's River entrance
This video shows one setup for this HESS and documents frame data for timing the roll and target + shield inputs.
King Zora skip
There are several methods that can be used to head to and from Zora's Fountain without talking to and moving King Zora, allowing you to skip the Ruto Bottle.
Adult - Jumpslash clip KZ skip
- Target the diagonal wall
- Jumpslash in the corner to acute angle clip; to stay clipped, you need to interrupt end of the jumpslash animation by holding a direction, shielding, etc.
- Walk up-left a little bit and then sidehop left to the water underneath the upper area; if you go too far and fall out of bounds, steer Link towards that water using the minimap
- Float up
Child - Ledge Cancel KZ Skip
Ledge cancel can be performed with a bombchu or bomb, then you can walk through him. You must sidehop or backflip off the small ledge near King Zora because ledge cancel will be canceled if you jump normally.
bombchu torch setup
- Pull a bombchu (prevents climbing) and target the low wall roughly in front of the torch; the positioning isn't precise, but being too far to the side will make ledge cancel fail
- Hold up and either press A and shield on the same frame (faster) or wait a second or so and then press only shield (slower) so Link climbs and drops the bombchu at the same time
- Continue holding target and shield, but release the control stick to get ledge cancel
- Navigate around and through King Zora: move forward a little, sidehop left three times, backwalk to the wall, sidehop left four times with a slight delay to avoid falling off the short ledge, which would get rid of ledge cancel)
using a bomb
Child - Shield bombchu KZ skip
Discovered by Kazooie
By crouching and shielding an explosion, Link gets pushed backwards a bit. By setting this up so that you are at the acute angle in Zora's Domain, you will be pushed through it and end up in Out of Bounds water. From here you can simply swim past King Zora and head to the Fountain.
Other King Zora skip methods
These are essentially obsolete. They are listed here for posterity.
Mega Sidehop Clip
Discovered by JetlagJad
It's possible to stand on the very corner of the platform in front of King Zora and do a mega-sidehop (similar to a Megaflip) to clip out of bounds and swim past King Zora. You will need to jumpslash immediately after you clip so that you don't just keep going backwards out of bounds.
Hover Over King Zora
Discovered by Acryte
By setting up a Bomb Hover, you can hover over King Zora in about 5 explosives. Note that this method is slower than the others and requires more explosives, so it is rarely used.
Reverse King Zora skip
Child reverse KZ weirdslide
Bomb and bombchu are very similar, both shown in the video.
- Target the fence (0x0) at the position shown in video (somewhat lenient)
- X coordinate works from 510 to 529, so it is fairly lenient
- Sidehop left; then if using bomb: instant shield drop bomb now
- Backflip
- Dry roll; then if using bombchu: shield drop chu now
- Roll within a 5 frame window
- For both bomb and bombchu, the window ends at 1 frame before explosion (big red for bomb)
Adult reverse KZ with Blue Fire
From the back, dump Blue Fire onto the frozen King Zora, then hold the control stick directly towards him. While the ice is melting, there is a window where his collision is missing, and you can just run through him (rolling also works but running is safe).