Ocean

─── Great Bay Coast ───

Mikau walking cutscene skip

For all methods, it is useful to know that Mikau's walking cutscene begins when he touches the shore. Because of his rising and falling animation in the water, it is possible for him to be in a position where the cutscene hasn't triggered yet but will trigger when he reaches a low part of his animation.

Timestop and superslide method

  1. Push Mikau and count Link's grunts
  2. Right as Link grunts for the 16th time, stop pushing Mikau and get onto the shore
  3. Get bomb timestop with roughly the angle shown in the video below to make backwalking easy with the timestop camera
  4. Push Mikau a little bit more so that he's in a position where his cutscene will activate before Link leaves the area
  5. Backwalk to Zora Cape
  6. Return to Great Bay Coast
  7. Superslide back to Mikau and play Song of Healing

Song of Double Time method (Eng)

On the English version, playing SoDT while Mikau is in a position where he will touch the shore at the bottom of his rising and falling animation will start the walking cutscene as the game fades for the SoDT cutscene, skipping the walking cutscene.

Tutorial on audio cues for SoDT method by SampleName

Goron method

Marine Lab tank jump

This jump is slightly faster than climbing the ladder. Jump onto the middle/back right side of the step at close to a perpendicular angle, then roll left and hold towards the upper ledge.

New Wave Bossa Nova cutscene skip

Between pulling out the ocarina to learn NWBN and the song staff appearing, there is a 1f window for any input, and additional frame afterward when it's still possible to pause. NWBN is already in the inventory by this point, so to skip the cutscene, either

  • press the ocarina button on the first of the 2 frames, or
  • press start on either of the 2 frames, then press the ocarina button during unpause lag

and then soar away. Because this is larger than a 1f window, many runners choose to mash start or start + ocarina rather than timing the input. The video below demonstrates mashing start and shows that NWBN is in the inventory after pausing.

Fish HP

The first of the two tank fish to eat four bottled fish will eat the other tank fish and spit out the heart piece. (Strat info needed.)

Start torch minigame from ice

Rather than taking the canoe as intended, it is faster to get to the torch minigame by shooting an ice arrow nearby and jumping straight to the minigame platforms. Note that human Link can only grab the edges of the platforms when jumping off ice near the peak of its bobbing cycle, and Zora Link can't climb onto ice from the water.

The fastest way to start the minigame is to shoot an ice arrow so close to the central platform that the fisherman will start the minigame (when Link is human) as though Link were on the real platform. This saves time because jumping from the ice to the minigame platforms takes place while the minigame timer is counting down, and the timer needs to run all the way down for the minigame to end anyway. This is shown in the second example in the video below. Note that jumping from the ice near the bottom of its bobbing cycle will make you lose the minigame even if Link grabs the edge of the torch platform.

One approach to shooting the ice arrow in a good place is to aim normally and use one or more visual cues. Another approach (demonstrated in the video below) is to aim horizontally towards the central platform, hold target, and flick the control stick up for one frame before releasing to neutral. As the camera recenters itself, there is a 2-frame window where shooting on the first of the two frames puts the ice near enough the closest torch platform to jump to it as Zora, and shooting on the second frame puts the ice near enough the central platform to start the minigame early as described above. If Link is standing roughly where the second pot is (after breaking the pot), then the ice for the second frame shot will not overlap the central platform very much, making it easier to land on the ice.

In the case of shooting on the first of the two frames, it is about a second faster to shoot a second ice arrow right next to the central platform and still start the minigame from the ice than to jump to the central platform as Zora before starting the minigame as demonstrated in the video.

Cliff HP long jump

Hookshot to the top of the target to grab and climb. Pull a bomb and shield drop it near the far side of the hookshot target. Target walk left before the bomb explodes to the edge of the platform. Once the bomb explodes, hold up-left to long jump to the next platform. From there, a recoil flip can easily reach the heart piece platform.

Cliff HP Zora jump

For Song of Storms to make the magic bean grow, it must be played a minimum of 17f after regaining control of Link, which is when the leaves land in their more horizontal position for the 4th time in their bouncing animation.

─── Oceanside Spider House ───

Hookshot clip to first floor

Use the torch to hookshot clip, then hold down and roll to get to the door to the mask room. This is useful for getting to the heart piece if the skulltula tokens aren't needed.

Bookcase jump

This skips climbing the bookcase as intended. A tap backflip from the wall will not quite make it onto the shelf, so either hold down for at least one more frame or back away from the wall slightly before tap backflipping. Then, if Link is sufficiently far from the back edge of the shelf, rolling will make him jump.

Mask room bomb strategy

Place a bomb where shown to kill three skulltulas at once. If the bomb explodes before the painting cutscene ends, it won't kill the skulltulas.

Mask code skip

This grants access to the heart piece without the mask puzzle being solved.

Zora roll recoil method

  1. Jump and jumpslash onto the mantel
  2. Sidehop onto the upper portion
  3. Shield drop a bomb
  4. Transform Zora
  5. A to climb and target (targeting keeps the bomb visible)
  6. Turn to face the room
  7. Roll on a HESS frame, holding down for a maximum of 3 frames (any more will make Link jump off)
  8. If you failed to roll on a HESS frame, backwalk towards the room to get a ledge grab and land back on the mantel to try again

For a similar method that requires a frame perfect shield input but does not need to be careful with the control stick input for the roll, see this video (instructions in video description).

Recoil flip method

Jump onto the mantel as shown. Use a bomb to get ISG, then hover once and backflip onto the blue mask. Shield momentarily to get rid of ISG. Recoil flip from near the top of the mask and hold right to curve Link's trajectory left into the stairway.

─── Zora Cape ───

Leever superswim

Superswimming to Zora Hall is faster than swimming and can be done using a leever that spawns at night. Aim a backwalk just left of the Zora Hall tower to get hit by the leever, backwalk a few more steps, then recoil flip when it attacks to land in the water and begin superswimming. The superswim can be directed to the front or back of Zora Hall.

to the back

Turtle cutscene skip

It is possible to skip the cutscene of the turtle rising by pause buffering one frame at a time between playing New Wave Bossa Nova and reaching the load zone for Zora Hall.

  1. Target the wall close enough to the entrance that two tap sidehops will let Link play New Wave Bossa Nova for Lulu
  2. Tap sidehop left twice; tap sidehops move Link forwards so that only 3 frames of movement are needed in step 8
  3. Turn left and pull out the ocarina (if the jingle plays when the ocarina comes out, the song will count)
  4. Play NWBN
  5. Pause frame perfectly (see below) to begin pause buffer cutscene skip
  6. On buffered frame 1, target
  7. On buffered frame 2, input up and A to begin an inverted sidehop
  8. Buffer for 3 frames of Link visibly moving (no inputs)
  9. Unpause to enter Zora Hall

The first pause in this cutscene skip is frame perfect, as there's only one frame for input between playing the song and the cutscene beginning. One way to time this start press is watching the song textbox and reacting to one of its elements disappearing. The c-button notes disappear on one frame, then the textbox disappears on the next frame.

Pirate cutscene skip

Timestop method (any version)

This method works on both JP and English, but as it is slower than the Song of Double Time method that only works on English (see below), runs done on English typically do not use this method.

Hookshotting the turtle's left tree far enough to the left side will cause Link to land in an area that doesn't trigger the cutscene of going to Great Bay Temple. From here, we can skip the cutscene by activating timestop, touching the cutscene trigger, deactivating timestop near the load zone for Zora Hall, and then pause buffering to enter Zora Hall to prevent the cutscene from triggering. This skips not only the cutscene of the pirates' shipwreck but also some of the cutscenes of the turtle leaving Zora Hall and arriving at Great Bay Temple that usually play on the first visit to the dungeon.

Setup for hookshotting tree

As seen in the video above:

  1. Exit Zora Hall as Zora at full speed
  2. Turn or shield turn left without moving
  3. 6 targeted single slashes (first one can start untargeted as long as targeting begins by the end of the slash)
  4. Transform (if zora shield turn moved slightly, do one untargeted slash as human after transforming)
  5. Turn or shield turn right without moving
  6. Stab to edge
  7. Shoot hookshot when tree starts moving up

This alternative setup doesn't use sword or fins.

Explanation of cutscene skip by SampleName

See video for full explanation.

  1. Get bomb timestop on the turtle
  2. Move Link between the trees to hit the cutscene trigger
  3. Move to the spot on the ground near the Zora Hall load zone as shown in the video and face the wall
  4. C-up
  5. Pause 2f later (c-up sound will play)
  6. Buffer target + A on the next frame
  7. Buffer target + A + down on the next frame to sidehop

Song of Double Time method (Eng only)

This method is faster than the timestop method but only works on English and only with a SoDT transitioning from day to night.

This video shows 2 setups, with 2 examples of the second setup shown, all of which are explained below. The premise for each example is that the pirate cutscene only activates once Link has been standing in the trigger for 3 or more frames, so standing in the trigger and then pulling ocarina before the cutscene activates allows you to activate the cutscene while SoDT triggers an area reload.

From the landing, it is possible to hookshot the left face of the tree collision or the front face. It can be difficult to tell which face the hookshot will latch onto when fired because the turtle is moving, but it is possible to tell once it latches on, and the cutscene skip is possible either way:

  • Hookshotting the front face will put Link in the cutscene trigger; in this case, mash to pull ocarina (video example 2)
  • Hookshotting the left face will put Link outside the cutscene trigger; in this case, walk into the cutscene trigger and pull ocarina before the cutscene activates (video examples 1 & 3)

Once you've pulled the ocarina out, Link will not move up and down with the turtle if he is in the cutscene trigger. If Link is vibrating or noticeably moving up and down while the ocarina is out/during the song, he is not in the cutscene trigger and the song will not skip the cutscene. If this happens, simply cancel the ocarina pull (or song if you've already played it) and walk further towards the cutscene trigger before trying again.

Setup 1 (faster; video example 1)
  1. Exit Zora Hall as Zora at full speed
  2. Roll up-left
  3. Tap target to lock onto the turtle mid-roll; this orients the camera well for aiming
  4. Aim for the left side of the tree
Setup 2 (slower; video examples 2 & 3)
  1. Transform human
  2. Target the wall in the Zora Hall entrance
  3. Turn right
  4. Roll forwards
  5. Tap sidehop left
  6. Roll/run forwards to the edge of the landing
  7. Aim up

The hookshotting setups listed above for the timestop method also work for this method, but since the timestop method requires not hitting the cutscene trigger and the SoDT method can hit the cutscene trigger, the setups listed for the timestop method are safer and may be slower.

Ledge grab to fairy fountain

This Zora high ledge grab saves time reaching the fairy fountain. If you fail this, you can climb onto this platform with a Zora transform ledge grab.

See additional notes from Imbued.

─── Zora Hall ───

Lulu HP with Goron pound

Target the wall around the spot shown in the video, then punch. Goron pound to pop up to the heart piece.

─── Pinnacle Rock ───

Blind dolphin dives to deep pythons ("yolo dives")

Without following the seahorse, it is still possible to get to the eels by following the invisible path. This can be done by following the signs underwater, but dolphin dives are faster.

Demonstrations by Imbued

First two deep pythons

Demonstration (see video description)

Clip to void out ("Marco Clip")

The fastest way to leave Pinnacle Rock is to void out, and it is faster to do so by clipping through the wall near the final eel rather than swimming up and into the fog. Facing roughly into the wall, swim slightly up-right untargeted until the camera bumps. Before it bumps again, press and hold A. If done correctly, Link will bonk once and then swim through the wall.

Video comparison

Last updated 03/30/2025 – bewildebeest