Fairy Fountains and Grottos

See the Alternate Exit page for more information and a map of the grotto scene.

─── Grottos ───

Swamp Gossips grotto alternate exit to back Deku Palace grotto

As this alternate exit is one of the most useful in speedruns, there are many variations on the way the trick is performed. The trick can be broken down into the root hover and the hover to the alternate exit.

This tutorial shows a straightforward setup for both parts of the trick.

More root hover options

Peahat grotto alternate exit to Deku Palace bean grotto

Day

This setup involves the heart piece chest and thus is suitable for 100%. The setup is extremely precise.

  1. Get ISG while opening the chest (if failed, use a bomb afterwards)
  2. Target the front of the chest (moving left or right does not matter)
  3. Backwalk for at least 5 frames, then roll forward and bonk (z-pos 0x441D3800 hex/628.875 float)
  4. Turn left (tap left for 1-3 frames or ESS turn)
  5. Begin holding target (hold to step 8)
  6. Hold up to run towards the wall (must have been targeting for 5+ frames before holding up to go straight)
  7. Roll to bonk the wall (x-pos 0x45934F00 hex/4713.88 float)
  8. Release target and turn left (ESS recommended, as tap would need to be exactly 1f)
  9. 1 ESS turn left (facing angle 0x709 or 0x708)
  10. Begin holding target (hold to step 14)
  11. Input up + shield + bomb on the same frame (shown buffered in video)
  12. Release shield after 3+ frames to successfully shield drop bomb
  13. 14 frames after the first bomb press, press bomb again and release the control stick to neutral (shown buffered in video using Link's boots as visual cue)
  14. Only release target after 4+ frames so Link has fully stopped moving first
  15. Turn left (ESS recommended) and begin holding target (hold through end of trick)
  16. Pause buffer to the first frame of the first fast red bomb flash (the frame after the red square on this chart) - this is after four slow red flashes and is distinguishable because the two frames preceding it are full red -> full blue
  17. In the unpause lag, input down + A + shield to backflip and hover off the first bomb; down must be held for 5+ frames to get a full backflip, and shield must be held for 6+ frames to avoid taking damage from the first bomb
  18. Release shield and hold up of up-left to make Link walk up-left (up-right also works, it doesn't matter)
  19. Release the control stick to neutral for 2 frames to make Link stand facing straight (pause buffered in video)
  20. Hold down to make Link turn around (pause buffered in video)
  21. Input left + shield + bomb on the second explosion frame of the second bomb or either of the two frames following that (3 frame window; shown pause buffered in video)
  22. Continue holding left until landing in the bean grotto
  23. Exit the bean grotto by sidehopping right 9 times and backwalking

Original video by Imbued showing position and angle data, as well as some other minor frame data notes

Night

At night, the peahat is asleep, so the chest cannot be used for a setup. The video below demonstrates the setup (see video description for written instructions), and this tutorial walks through the setup step by step.

Generic grotto alternate exit to Lens cave

This version is 3b12c. See video description on YouTube for detailed instructions. There is also a 4b12c version that does not rely on any diagonal notches.

Biobaba grotto

Strat demo

─── Fairy Fountains ───

Great Fairy cutscene skips

It is possible to skip the cutscenes for receiving Great Fairy Mask, Great Spin, and Great Fairy Sword by clipping out of bounds and hitting the cutscene trigger while voiding out. If done correctly, black bars will appear at the top and bottom of the screen just before the screen goes black. This clip works the same way in all fairy fountains, but the cutscenes for Double Magic and Double Defense can't be skipped the reward is put in the inventory partway through the cutscene instead of at the beginning.

  1. (The spin attack is not part of the setup - it just demonstrates that Link does not have Great Spin yet)
  2. Superslide roughly towards the dark corner of the doorframe; this is not very precise
  3. Once stuck in the corner, hold ESS left to begin an extended superslide
  4. On the last frame before Link clips or the 1st frame after he clips (shown in video), switch to holding down-right; if you paused on the 2nd frame after the clip, begin by holding down-right and then switch to down

Woodfall fairy fountain alternate exit to Snowhead fairy fountain

with Zora and megaflips (3b4c)

  1. Keep entrance angle (if lost, target wall and turn at right angles to find it again)
  2. Walk forward into corner, slash fins, then jumpslash onto ledge
  3. C-up to aim, then press up and A on the same frame to jump and grab
  4. Zora slash once to the right, transform human, and slash once down
  5. Turn up, use a bomb to get ISG, and hover once
  6. 3 chu hovers and unlock the camera, turn just up of right, and retarget
  7. 2 megaflips with a chu to stop the first one
  8. Sidehop or backwalk right to load zone

with Zora and sidehop hovers (1b8c)

This method is good if you can spend chus and want to preserve bombs.

  1. Keep entrance angle (if lost, target wall and turn at right angles to find it again)
  2. Walk forward into corner, slash fins, then jumpslash onto ledge
  3. C-up to aim, then press up and A on the same frame to jump and grab
  4. Zora slash once to the right, transform human, and slash once down
  5. Turn up, use a bomb to get ISG, and hover once back-left
  6. 3 chu hovers back-left
  7. 5 chu sidehop hovers up-left
  8. Sidehop once into the Snowhead fairy fountain and then once more to clear the obstacles
  9. Backwalk to the exit

with a long hover and megaflips (4b9c)

This method doesn't get close enough to the center of the fairy fountain to trigger the Great Fairy cutscene.

  1. Get ISG and do the first hover from just past the beginning of the tiled floor
  2. 7 chu hover and unlock; bending rightward isn't required but does make the alternate exit more lenient
  3. Turn left, then hover once more with 1 bomb and 1 chu (unlock and retarget to prevent weird camera)
  4. 2 megaflips with a chu hover in between
  5. Back up a little bit and then sidehop to the load zone

with a long hover and megaflips (4b9c with staircase)

Original video

Last updated 09/22/2024 – bewildebeest