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This page is a list of glitches from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.

Bad Map

To activate this glitch, Link must:

  1. Start a new game file.
  2. Get Link's shield back from Tarin.
  3. Pause the game without Link leaving the house.

The location pointer will indicate that Link is somewhere in the mountains at the top of the map. Once Link leaves the house this will fix itself.

Big Time Thief

  1. Go to the Raft Shop and rent the raft from the owner.
  2. Board it and sail two screens left.
  3. Warp to the third screen and the raft will appear on land.

Link can now sail anywhere on land with it. It can even become scrambled if Link brings it to certain areas.

Bottle Grotto Glitch Dungeon

First, warp Link behind the entrance to the Bottle Grotto, and walk into the entrance backwards. Link will be in the dungeon, but there is only one explorable screen, as the bottom cannot be entered and the left leads to an unpassable pit that is covered with invisible spikes.

Bow-Wow Follows/Item Warp

  1. Go to Madam MeowMeow's house.
  2. Warp in any direction.
  3. Bow-Wow will be there.

Bow-Wow goes wherever Link warps from there, and so on.

This will work with any living thing (such as Cucoos, People, and Monsters).

Bow-Wow Forever and Magic Stick

  1. Beat Level 2, the Bottle Grotto.
  2. Instead of returning Bow-Wow to Madam MeowMeow, go to Kanalet Castle as normal.
  3. Since Kiki fights Bow-Wow to prevent progression, Link can just screen-warp to get over the gap.
  4. Link can continue to get the Golden Leaves as normal. Using screen warp methods, Link can then manipulate the game screens to obtain the Slime Key, thus enabling him to beat the Dungeon.

So long as Link does not speak again to Madam MeowMeow, he will be able to keep Bow-Wow for the rest of the game. Also, if the game is otherwise beaten normally, Link will magically have the stick when Tarin asks for it, even though Link never actually obtained it. Asking Marin to follow Link to the Walrus while having Bow-Wow causes her to become a glitchy version of him. If Link enters a building and exits, the real Bow-Wow will be gone. Talking to Madam MeowMeow turns Marin back to normal and returns Bow-Wow to his post.

Cheap Cheat

  1. Go to the shop and pick up an expensive item.
  2. Take it to the counter and buy it.
  3. As soon as the game starts to take Link's money press Start + Select + A + B and choose Save & Quit.
  4. Reload the game.

Link will have the item, and the money that has not been deducted when the game saved will still be his.


  1. Go into the Mysterious Forest.
  2. Find any lower left corner of the solid areas the trees are on (like the one below Link in the first screenshot).
  3. Equip the Power Bracelet.
  4. Use the Power Bracelet to pick up the corner.

Link will pick up the corner as a stone and underneath will be revealed the top left part of a doorway.

Double Item

  1. Go to the screen in the Forest from where Link got the Mushroom.
  2. Enter the cave on this screen.
  3. Warp to the right.
  4. Walk to the right, Link will appear in a room with a number of enemies in it.
  5. Walk up to the next screen.

Link is now on the screen where he gets the Magnifying Lens, except if he has not yet finished the trading sequence the Lens will not be there, and instead the item Link has will be. If Link has not yet started the trading sequence, the Yoshi Doll will be there.

Do not pick up this item though; if Link does, the Magnifying Lens will not be there once he completes the trading sequence.

Double Shovel

  1. Buy the shovel, but do not buy the bow yet.
  2. Trade the shovel for the boomerang.
  3. Return to the shop. Where Link was able to buy the bow (since he bought the shovel), he now has to buy the shovel again to be able to buy the bow.

Having the bow, shovel, and boomerang consumes an extra space in inventory. If Link does this, he will have to exhaust his supply of powder (or possibly bombs or arrows) in order to make space in the inventory. The magic powder is not vital until towards the end of the game, so it is easy to miss the error (which results in the game becoming ALMOST unbeatable. It is technically possible to beat the first Nightmare with only the sword, though it will take a very long time).

If Link goes to the beach and trade back, and if he has bought the shovel since trading his first one for the boomerang (to unlock the ability to buy the bow), he will now have two shovels.

Dungeon Destroyer

  1. Enter any room in a dungeon where tiles fly out of the floor.
  2. Warp to another room so that the tiles follow Link as well.

Now when they come out of the floor, they will remove whatever wall or pit they happened to be on when they followed Link. In other words, the tiles are virtually destroying their own dungeon.

Extra Seashell

  1. Go to the screen to the right of Marin and Tarin's house.
  2. Cut down bushes until Link finds the Secret Seashell. Do not collect it.
  3. Go to the top right corner of the screen and warp up.
  4. The seashell should have warped up with Link, collect it.
  5. Go back to the previous screen and cut down the bushes, the Secret Seashell will still be there and Link can collect it again. However, this cannot be performed in the same screen twice, as the game codes that an item has already been collected on that screen. Therefore, the item disappears when warping if this is tried on the same screen twice.

Extra Small Key

  1. Go to Angler's Tunnel.
  2. Go to the bottom-right corner of the room before the boss.
  3. Do a diagonal jump with the Roc's Feather.

Link can then make it to the floor. This method is far faster than going around the other way, and Link will bypass the Key Block completely, resulting in an extra Small Key.

File Corruption

  1. Choose a save file to delete (it may be wise to make a copy of an existing save file to do this to), one with as much of the game done as possible is preferable.
  2. Choose to delete the game and as soon as A is pressed to delete it turn the Game Boy off.

Now turn the Game Boy back on, if the save file is gone, the Game Boy was turned off too late. If the file is still there load it up and check Link's items, some of them may have been corrupted or deleted. Also check the map, all the squares may have become blank as though Link had never visited the areas. If anything has happened then explore Koholint Island, the game will probably have "rolled back", that is, it thinks Link has just started a new game or is partway through a game, but he may still have all his items.

NOTE: The reason why the items are gone because when delete is pressed, it will delete the file one item, Square, etc at a time. WARNING: Turning the Game Boy off while it is saving data or doing anything to saved data could potentially delete or corrupt all saved games.

Fisherman's World

Saving in a glitch world is unadvised. Doing so may cause data corruption. To escape without saving, die and choose to continue.

  1. Get 10 Rupees and go to the Fishing Pond.
  2. Select warp down a screen.
  3. The Fisherman should warp down too and be sitting in a tree (if he is not, keep trying, as the warping may not always carry sprites the right way.
  4. Talk to the Fisherman and choose to fish.

Link is now in the glitch world.

This glitch world can be accessed in the DX version by performing the Kennel World glitch after killing two enemies.

This can also be done by warping up from one screen south of the fishing hole. If Link is near him, talk. If not, remember where he is, restart, and try again.

Above, it is mentioned that saving in the glitch world is unadvised. If the game is saved in the glitch world, go to the screen above the first one and Link will be in the shop. If the game was saved, quit, and then resumed, the shop will become solid and Link can exit into the normal world again.

Get to Turtle Rock Early

This exploit allows Link to sequence break, and get to Turtle Rock before Eagle's Tower without needing the Mirror Shield, which can be useful for obtaining the Magic Rod early. Link will need the Secret Medicine to do this. Travel West through the Tal Tal Mountain Range, until Link enters the cave where the Flames shoot out of the wall.

Normally Link would need the Mirror Shield to get by them, but if he runs repeatedly into the flames until he runs out of Life Energy, the Secret Medicine will automatically take effect, allowing Link to become temporarily invincible as his hearts refill. Quickly run through the flames, and Link can continue onward to Turtle Rock.

However, remember that to actually get into the Dungeon itself, make sure Link has the Frog's Song of Soul with him before he goes. Also, if Link activates the Warp Hole on top of Turtle Rock and uses it to exit the dungeon, he can obtain another Secret Medicine and use the Warp Hole to return easily, without having to use it to get past the flames again.

Also, by using screen warping, Link can get to Turtle Rock before he obtains a sword.

Heart Freeze

  1. Link will need to have the boomerang and three pieces of a heart container.
  2. Now go into an area from which Link can exit the screen relatively quickly and that has a Piece of Heart.
  3. Throw Link's boomerang at the Piece of Heart and try to catch it precisely as Link exits the screen.

If timed right, Link will collect it as he is going to another screen. The game will start going berserk at this point. The music will go haywire, the graphics will mess up, and the game will freeze up. Link will not even be able to hit all buttons to reset or save.

Doing the glitch when Link does not have three Pieces of Heart already results in an immediate crash.

The glitch can also be done in the Mysterious Forest in a different way, and it works no matter how many Pieces of Heart Link has. Go to the screen just outside the forest with a Piece of Heart surrounded by holes. Go one screen to the left; two arrow-shooting enemies are there. While on the right side of this screen, warp to the right. If Link "snaps" to the left, or if no graphical changes are seen during the warp, it was not done correctly. If he snapped to the left, he collects the Piece of Heart normally. If nothing happened as he warped, the enemies are stuck in the holes and the Piece of Heart is gone. What should be seen when warping is the enemies will zoom to the left. If so, exit the map and hold Right as the game screen returns. If Link collects the Piece of Heart normally, the Right directional button was pressed too late. (It should be pressed and held before the game screen returns.) If all goes well, Link will scroll screens as the Piece of Heart is collected, and the fanfare music gets messed up, and the graphics get buggy and turn white. At this time, if all buttons are repeatedly mashed, the game will reset without crashing.

Invisible Shield

  1. Start a new game and go down to the beach where Link's sword is.
  2. Warp left or right so that Link's sword follows him into the next screen.
  3. Pick it and return to the previous screen.

The original sword will have turned into a level zero shield. This shield works just as well as the L-1 shield, except that it is invisible.

WARNING: If Link picks up the L-0 shield after collecting the Mirror Shield, the latter will be gone forever.

Item Pick up Glitch

  1. Equip the Power Bracelet.
  2. Pick up an object such as a rock.
  3. Right when Link is about to pick up the object, press the opposite button on the

D pad.

  1. Link will pick up the object as if it were behind him, but it is really in front of him.

Kennel World

Saving in a glitch world is unadvised; doing so may cause data corruption. To escape without saving, die and choose to continue.

  1. Decide which rendition of the glitch world desired to enter and kill the appropriate number of enemies (if Link kills none he will be taken to Gopongo Swamp in the DX version or Yarna Desert in the original version of the game).
  2. Go to the screen with Madam MeowMeow's house.
  3. Stand above the kennel, touching the roof.
  4. Hold down.
  7. Link will now be standing next to the kennel but will be further "into" the kennel than he can normally be.
  8. Hold down and left.

Link will enter the kennel door from behind and will appear in the glitch world (unless he killed no enemies). Which rendition of the glitch world Link appears in is decided by the number of enemies he has killed since loading the save file. Worlds 10 - 31 (10 enemies to 31 enemies killed) are for the most part completely useless, as they cannot be navigated. World 32 is the same as world 1, world 33 is the same as world 2 and so on.

When Link first appears in the glitch world he will not be able to be seen, hold up and left to move the screen up then hold left to move the screen left where Link will be able to be seen and moved (this screen Link moves up and left to is the screen which is used use as the starting screen, not the one first seen upon entering the glitch world). Or, if immediately after entering the glitch world, tap up (but do not move the screen) and then use the Pegasus boots and Link will skip down 3-4 screens.

NOTE:The Kennel World uses the same map as bottle Grotto. If Link is to go up the stairs, it will lead to bottle grotto.

Lucky Fish

  1. Get at least 15 Rupees and go fishing.
  2. Catch the runt nearest the surface to get it out of the way.
  3. Catch the lunker closest to the bank.

The Fisherman says he will give Link 20 Rupees but he will receive 32 instead.

Marin Follows

  1. Marin must be by the windmill in Mabe Village
  2. At Marin's house, use the screen warp glitch north.

Marin will be in a different spot than usual.

NOTE: The game will have to be restarted because after warping, Link will be in the wall, unless he was all the way over on the left side of the screen.

Marin Forever

  1. Complete Level 3.
  2. Go to Animal Village and warp past the sleeping Walrus.
  3. Get the key here in the desert area.
  4. Warp back past the Walrus.
  5. Go and get Marin.

Marin will now follow Link forever. Later on in the game when Link normally sees Marin up in the mountains, he will not. If Link goes swimming, she will walk on water behind him. After Link beats level 4 and the ghost starts following him, Marin's sprite will look like a ghost too; to return her to normal, get rid of the ghost, then take her back to her house. To get rid of Marin, take her and wake up the Walrus.

Master Stalfos Key Glitch

In Catfish's Maw, while fighting the Master Stalfos fight #1, #2, or #3 and Link knocks him down, he can use Bomb Arrows to damage him beyond the maximum amount of health to obtain an extra key.

Moldorm Glitch World

  1. Get the flippers if Link does not already have them.
  2. Then in Tail Cave, go to the boss' room.
  3. Have the Roc's feather equipped and fall into the hole.
  4. While Link is falling, hold Up and the Feather button, until Link jumps off the top of the screen Link appears.

The screen will fade and Link will appear in an alternate glitch world. Do not climb up the ladder. Instead, go through the floor. Link can now wander around in the glitch world.

Link can use this glitch to access the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th dungeons. Every chest Lunk opens will first yield a Power Bracelet, and then the Level 2 Power Bracelet. This glitch can also be used to bypass the extra work needed to get into the 3rd and 4th dungeons.


After obtaining the Hookshot from Level 5, Link must stand a certain distance away from the edge of a screen or wall, use the Hookshot and hit the edge or wall and then, right away, head the diagonal opposite direction from where he is standing. If done correctly, Link should be pushing the air while walking backwards.

This can also be achieved by holding a wall using the power bracelet and pushing in a diagonal and letting go of the wall.

No Fishing

  1. Go to the Fishing Pond.
  2. Pay to play then catch a fish or let one get away.
  3. When the Fisherman asks if Link wants to cast again say "Not now".
  4. He will say something about having more passion, as soon as this message disappears press A + B + Select + Start to bring up the "save and quit" or "continue" screen.
  5. Choose to continue.

Link will appear back at the fishing pond, but he can now walk around as though it were a normal area. If Link has the flippers he can swim to the left and appear in the Raft shop, or he can go right to appear in Bow-Wow's kennel.

On the Spot Running

  1. Equip the Pegasus Boots and the Shovel.
  2. Hold the button the Pegasus Boots are on to start "charging" up for a run.
  3. While Link is still "charging" press the button for the Shovel and immediately release both buttons.

Link will run on the spot until there is control input.

Screen Warp Glitch


NOTE: This glitch has been fixed in the DX version and in some later revisions of the GB cart.

Note: Link can change sprites with Screen Warp and make so many enemies appear, the game slows. Also, try doing the glitch on the screen with Marin and Tarin's house, at the bottom of the screen. Link will be in some trees. Go down and three Grandma Ulrira enemies are walking around. Save and Quit, and watch the preview. Grandma is there instead of lightning, and the next screen will have Grandma there instead of the sparkly spot.

Shield-Eating Bow-Wow

While walking Bow-Wow, find a Like Like, and let it take Link's shield. Wait for Bow-Wow to eat the Like Like. The Like Like will not drop Link's shield and there will be no way to retrieve it.

Stupid Monkeys

  1. Go through the trading sequence until Link has the Bananas.
  2. Go to the right side of Kanalet Castle where Kiki the Monkey is.
  3. Warp left or down, make sure Kiki comes with Link.
  4. Now give him the Bananas.

He will call the other monkeys and they will build the bridge in the middle of nowhere. If Link picks up the stick he leaves behind and returns to where the bridge is supposed to be built, he will find a second stick waiting for him there.

Warrior Woman

  1. Go to the Phone Booth in Mabe Village.
  2. Warp right.
  3. Immediately walk right before Link falls into the water.

There will be Grandma Ulrira who will attack Link with her sword.

Warrior Woman II

  1. Go to Tarin and Marin's House in Mabe Village.
  2. Warp right.
  3. Walk right through the trees.
  4. Go down a screen.

There will be Marin who will attack Link with her sword.

Warrior Woman III

  1. Go to the left most side of the screen below the Fishing Pond.
  2. Warp up.
  3. Link will be on the trees at the top of the screen, move up into the next screen (The second step may have to be done a number of times before Link gets far enough into the trees).

Instead of a Moblin, there will be Grandma Ulrira running around shooting arrows.

Warrior Woman IV

  1. Go to the bottom of the screen with Marin and Tarin's house.
  2. Warp down.
  3. Link will be on the trees at the bottom of the screen, move down into the next screen (The second step may have to be done a number of times before Link gets far enough into the trees).

Instead of Octorok sprite on the beach, they will all be replaced with Grandma Ulriras, and the rocks will be Link sprites when he is holding up a new item or Rupee.

Walk Backwards

  1. Equip any item.
  2. Activate it.
  3. As soon as it is activated, go a diagonal direction opposite of the way you are facing.
  4. If done correctly, Link will walk backwards if held down.

This can also be done by pressing an opposite diagonal direction as you deselect the start menu. This can actually be useful if you want to use an item on the move while facing backwards .

Useful Select Warp Spots

  1. Mysterious Wood (Lvl 2 bracelet + bird key):
  2. Town (Access to Face Shrine):
  3. Eagle Tower (Mirror Shield):
  4. Eagle Tower (Unlock):
  5. Turtle Rock (Overworld Warp):
  6. Turtle Rock (Magic Rod):
  7. Roc's Feather:

Unlock Eagle Tower (#1 & #4) before entering (#3) or else link will not be able to exit.
