Early Boss Fights

Description

When entering a boss room in TP, there is always a cutscene before the fight starts, either immediately after entering or tied to a trigger. Skipping a cutscene often reloads the area with a fadeout in order to avoid bad-looking transitions. However, this could create an issue: Since the area is reloaded, it would be treated as though the cutscene never played, and, as a result, the cutscene would end up playing again (either immediately or through the trigger). This would create an endless loop that couldn't be broken except by not skipping the cutscene.

To avoid this, the programmers used flags for breaking out of this loop. When skipping the cutscene, while the area still reloads, it also sets a flag to a high number and quickly counts it down to zero. When the area reloads, the cutscene that wants to play checks the flag, and if it's nonzero, then the cutscene will not play again. This starts the fight immediately, breaking out of the loop. This flag is also used in the same way if the player voids during the fight to avoid the same issue.

The bug that exists in this flag's use is that when the player resets, the flag stops counting down and is therefore held at a nonzero value. As the reset fails to clear the flag either, we can therefore reset after the flag is set to a nonzero value before it returns to zero and keep it. This is the basis for all of the Early Boss Fights (EBF) used in TP.

As a note, while this flag is mainly used for boss introduction cutscenes, it does have uses elsewhere. The Sacred Grove uses the flag as a binary check. When the Skull Kid chase in either Grove 1 or Grove 2 begins, it sets the flag to 1, and voiding or dying in the Grove will reset the flag to 0, forcing the player to start the sequence again. However, the game fails to clear the flag once the player clears the Skull Kid chase, thus leaving the flag at 1. And as with the boss fights, resetting while this flag is 1 will retain its value.

Ways to Activate

King Bulblin 1 fight

Faster method

Resetting such that the introduction cutscene is skipped after the reset begins but prior to the reset fully taking effect will stop the boss flag's value from reaching zero.

In the video below, the number displayed on the right side of the game screen is the boss flag value. The video begins after performing Back in Time (it doesn't matter where this is done). Then, Back in Time Equipped (BiTE) is done using a previously made valid BiTE save. When loading into the King Bulblin fight, X and start are held pre-emptively. Once the camera shifts to the portion of the cutscene that is skippable, B is held for long enough to initiate a reset. Then, before the screen fades to black, start is mashed to begin skipping the cutscene (see that "Skip S" appears at the top of the screen multiple times). The boss flag's value, which began decrementing from 39 when the cutscene skip began, freezes at 27 when the reset is complete (the exact value frozen here just depends on reset + cutscene skip timing). This value is retained on the title screen and would stay set after loading any file normally, at which point it can be used for any of the uses listed at the bottom of this page.

To execute this method on Wii versions, wait until the cutscene is skippable, reset the console through either the HOME menu or the console's reset button, then mash - to skip the cutscene.

Slower method

Resetting while voiding during the King Bulblin 1 fight will also give the flag a high value.

In the video below, the number displayed on the right side of the game screen is the boss flag value. The video begins after performing Back in Time (it doesn't matter where this is done). Then, Back in Time Equipped (BiTE) is done using a previously made valid BiTE save. The intro cutscene is skipped and the fight begins. Link then rides to the nearest map edge (any void works) and voids out. The game is reset while Link voids, and the boss flag is set and frozen at 49. This value is retained on the title screen and would stay set after loading any file normally, at which point it can be used for any of the uses listed at the bottom of this page.

The timing for resetting while voiding is very lenient. In the demonstration video, the game is paused before the Start+X+B reset combo is input so that the Start input doesn't pause the game and prevent Link from voiding out. It is faster to instead use the physical reset button on the console while jumping into the void, as this does not require pausing the game; however, the video was made on emulator, so this was not feasible.

Sacred Grove

In Sacred Grove 1 (before defeating Skull Kid to access the Master Sword), howl at the howling stone, skip the two cutscenes, then reset. Skipping the cutscene sets the boss flag's value to 1, and resetting does not unset it. The reset does not need to be immediate. This is method shown in the video below. Speedrun routes that use this method of setting EBF often make a save file in the Sacred Grove on the way to the Master Sword, then load the save (often after savewarping when entering Lakebed Temple in preparation for Deku Toad) just to set EBF.

This can also be done in Sacred Grove 2 (after beating Snowpeak Ruins). Hit the cutscene trigger in the first area, skip the cutscene, then reset. This method also sets the boss flag's value to 1.

Uses

Early Monkeys in Forest Temple

To save memory, the game uses the boss fights flag to check how many monkeys the player has saved. Using the King Bulblin 1 fight for EBF will set the flag's value high enough to get four monkeys from the start (as four is the maximum), which allows the player to swing over to Ook when visiting the outside area for the first time. Note that skipping the cutscene will reduce the flag's value by 4, so the flag's value needs to start high enough that there are still at least 4 monkeys afterwards.

Early Deku Toad

The Deku Toad miniboss fight also checks the flag. EBF skips the entry cutscene where the vault shuts behind Link and the tadpoles drop, allowing the player to trigger the fight from anywhere in the room (including the exit) by looking up at the ceiling in first person, as Deku Toad is already on the ceiling due to the vault door cutscene having been skipped. Any form of EBF will work here, as the flag only needs to be nonzero in this case. Note that on the USA Wii 1.0 and the PAL Wii versions, having EBF set prevents the player from entering the room via the normal entrance as the vault door is closed. This behavior was fixed for all other versions of the game, including all GCN versions.

Anti-Uses

Having EBF set in a few cases can be a detriment, as some things fail to play out as intended due to the EBF flag being nonzero. Some examples:

  • Diababa normally functions fine with EBF set (the fight starts without having to skip the cutscene), but if EBF is exactly 1, the baba heads will be submerged underwater and impossible to get bombs into as a result. Pausing and unpausing the game during the fight will make the heads emerge, though.
  • Having EBF set to a nonzero value will despawn the suits of armor in Snowpeak Ruins, as all of the suits of armor check the EBF flag due to the two in the Darkhammer room disappearing when the fight is triggered. Ironically, entering the Darkhammer room with EBF set will cause the fight to be activated with the suits of armor present. Since the room's doors lock during the intro cutscene that is skipped, the doors are already open after defeating Darkhammer, shortening the post-fight cutscene.

In addition, some fights ignore EBF entirely.

  • Ook ignores the EBF flag. This is may be due to the monkeys using the flag.
  • Both the Darknut miniboss and Armogohma in Temple of Time ignore the EBF flag. This is likely due to an issue with the Sacred Grove 2, as beating Grove 2 will not reset the flag from 1. Casually, this flag is cleared harmlessly by the Aeralfos fight in City in the Sky, as that fight only triggers when Link is in the lower arena portion of the room.
Last updated 09/15/2024 – bewildebeest