Any% NMG (beginner)

Route by Cubex, ninazuu, and Feli

Demonstration run by Cubex

"This is a beginner-friendly route designed for newcomers who want a more accessible way to complete runs while focusing on the core mechanics of the game. The route eliminates punishing obstacles like swamp gossips AE or Woodfall Temple boss key skip, making it easier to get to know the game better and finish runs. A major advantage here is that bomb and chu count will never really be an issue, as the route saves a lot of explosives (specifically chus) due to easier strats to progress through the dungeons." This means that runners have the option to add in faster movement options such as superslides and HESSes where desired.

This route is for English Wii VC. The object of this category is to beat the game without using SRM, ACE, or Text Overflow.

This route may make some use of bomb tricks such as hovers, HESSes, long jumps, and megaflips, so you may want to familiarize yourself with those techniques first via the links under "Techniques" on the left sidebar. Some setups also use these fundamental movement techniques.

Equips are notated as (e.g.)

  • || || () -- [Deku Palace]

where the location in red text refers to the map point set for the next Index Warp, and the item in parentheses shows which slot the item before it is equipped over (here, ocarina is equipped on the bow slot). Bomb, bombchu, and rupee counts are notated as [b, c, r] where relevant. See Common Terms and Abbreviations for other acronyms.

First cycle


  • Watch Clock Town cutscene
  • Enter ECT and take flower to inn upper door
  • Listen to Granny's overnight story twice (bottom text option) to advance to Day 3
  • Go to WCT (via SCT)
  • Enter trading post and speak to scarecrow (bottom text option) to advance to Night 3
  • Go to ECT (via SCT)
  • Use flower to catch stray fairy
  • Get 2r from boxes [2r]
  • Backwalk past guard to TF
  • Collect 68r+ rupees from bushes [70r+]
  • Enter NCT and get magic from fairy fountain
  • Go to WCT (via SCT) and deposit 70r in the bank
    • To reduce menuing, deposit a larger multiple of 10r if you have enough
  • Go to SCT and gainer or twisted backflip to Clock Tower door
  • Enter Clock Tower after midnight cutscene

  • Shoot Skull Kid with a bubble
  • Pick up Ocarina of Time and learn SoT
    • || blank || blank
  • Play SoT in Clock Tower and console reset after pressing A to confirm (top text option)
  • Load file and enter lower Clock Tower doors
  • Speak to Happy Mask Salesman to get Deku Mask and learn SoH
  • Exit Clock Tower

Bottle and Sonata of Awakening

  • Go to ECT and get 100r chest [99r]
  • Go to WCT (via SCT) and enter bomb shop
  • Buy bomb bag and 10 chus [20b, 10c, 9r]
    • || ||
  • Get ISG talking to banker
  • Withdraw 70r from the bank [20b, 10c, 79r]
    • To reduce menuing and make buying chus easier, withdraw a larger multiple of 10r if there are enough in the bank
  • Hidden Owl hover (1b10c sidehop method) [19b, 0c, 79r]
  • Hit owl statue and void out
  • Buy 10 chus [19b, 10c, 39r]
  • Exit to TF by talking to guard

If you want to get the Moon's Tear, go to the Astral Observatory to do so here. You can read about the route implications of getting the Moon's Tear in the Addenda. The remainder of the main text of this route document assumes you do not get the Moon's Tear.


  • HESS (or superslide, or backwalk) to gossip stone near swamp entrance [18b, 10c, 39r]
  • Get ocarina timestop and enter path to swamp
  • Go to Woods of Mystery as Deku [18b, 10c, 40r]
    • Collect at least one rupee from a bush at some point
    • Do not get a deku stick or deku nut, as doing so will make it impossible to equip swap ocarina later unless you got Moon's Tear
  • Woods of Mystery day 1 (LRR, SLL)
  • Talk to Koume twice as human
  • Exit WoM
  • Get bottle from Kotake in potion shop as human
  • Transform Deku and exit to lilypads
  • Head left and pick up both blue rupees on the flowers [18b, 10c, 50r]
  • Big octo skip (long jump method) [17b, 10c]
  • Enter Deku Palace
  • Hover and fly to Sonata [17b, 10c]
  • Learn Sonata of Awakening
  • Exit Deku Palace
  • Ledge popup and learn Song of Soaring
    • [Deku Palace], no equip

Zora Mask

  • Soar to Mountain Village
  • Get bomb drop from snowball [20b, 10c]
  • Superslide to Twin Islands [19b, 10c]
  • Traverse Twin Islands and enter Goron Village to get map point

Woodfall Temple

  • Soar to Woodfall
  • Play Sonata to raise WFT and use flower to enter
  • Kazooie flip and fly to door
  • Hover and megaflip to torch and enter door [15b, 10c]
  • Enter dinofols room
  • Dinofols with Kokiri sword for Hero's Bow
  • Return to previous room
  • Equip swap ocarina over bow and bow over ocarina
    • () || () ||
  • Jump to flower platform and shoot eye switch
  • Fly to Gekko door
    • () || () ||
  • Kill Gekko for boss key [12b, 10c]
    • () || () || and transform Deku right after the fight
  • Return to central room
  • Use bow to light central torch and raise rotating platform
  • Kill baba on lower west side of room for a deku nut
  • Kill baba up the wooden ramp at the south side of room for a deku stick
  • Jump to rotating platform to light torch and open north door
  • Enter north door
  • Jump to platform on the right
  • Shoot right dragonfly or both dragonflies
  • Shoot crystal switch
  • Fly to boss door (drop deku nut midair)
  • Odolwa with Kokiri sword
  • Pick up remains normally and Heart Container if desired for safety
  • Learn Oath to Order and watch Tatl apology cutscene

Hookshot

  • Roll out of dungeon
    • () || ||
  • Soar to Great Bay Coast (no map point)
  • Transform Zora
    • Begin holding A during transformation and continue holding it until diving off the platform to get a dive rather than a jump
  • Swim to Pirates' Fortress
  • Swim and roll to land on west side
  • Hover and megaflip into PF [9b, 10c]
  • Equip swap bow over ocarina
    • () || () ||
  • Shoot guard at bottom of ladder, then climb ladder
  • Shoot guard on bridge
  • SoDT to Day 2 outside upper hookshot room door
  • Enter upper hookshot room door
  • Shoot beehive without triggering cutscene
    • () || ||
  • Transform Zora, drink potion at door, and exit
  • Sidehop down and enter hookshot room through lower door
  • Get hookshot from chest
  • Roll jump from chest to tank
  • Get Zora egg from tank
    • If you accidentally press the egg bottle button and make Link hold it up and show it to the camera, Light Arrow GIM in Great Bay Temple will crash the game. If you have made this mistake, then before entering Great Bay Temple, go upstairs in Zora Hall, talk to the Zora who wants a pictograph of Lulu, and try to give him the Deku Mask instead.
  • ESS OI to soar to Great Bay Coast
    • If you're worried about accidentally showing the egg (see note above), surface and play ocarina normally instead

Getting to Snowhead Temple

  • Enter lab
  • Climb tank
  • Equip swap Zora Egg over ocarina x6
    • Do not equip over the ocarina on the c-buttons from here until Great Bay Temple
    • () || () || x6
  • Dump real egg
    • () || || -- [Clock Town]
  • New Wave Bossa Nova cutscene skip and soar to Milk Road

  • () || || ()
  • Slash grass for fairy and catch fairy in bottle (ocarina slot)
  • ESS dupe bottle over nut
  • Enter racetrack
  • Buy milk for 50r
  • Equip swap full milk over ocarina slot
    • () || || () -- [Romani Ranch]

  • Soar to Snowhead
  • Get bomb drop from snowball [17b, 10c]
    • If you have 0 arrows, break snowball south of owl statue for arrow drop, as action swap in Snowhead Temple will crash with an empty quiver
  • Lullaby Skip (Zora slash hover method)
    • After drinking milk, pause on the first possible frame and equip the empty bottle (nut slot) over the half milk
    • () || || ()
    • Climb mountain and Zora slash into Snowhead Temple
    • () || || ()

Snowhead Temple

Great Bay Temple

  • Soar to Zora Cape
  • Get bomb and arrow drops from pots [18b, 9c]
  • Turtle Cutscene Skip
    • If you accidentally pressed the egg bottle button and made Link hold it up and show it to the camera, Light Arrow GIM in Great Bay Temple will crash the game. If you have made this mistake, then before entering Great Bay Temple, go upstairs in Zora Hall, talk to the Zora who wants a pictograph of Lulu, and try to give him the Deku Mask instead.
  • Pirate cutscene skip (SoDT method, only works during day)
    • If night, hookshot onto turtle to watch cutscene and enter dungeon

  • Equip swap full milk over ocarina slot
    • () || || ()
  • Enter waterwheel room, then return to first room
  • Hookshot jump to skip yellow pump
    • Alternatively, skip the milk stuff and turn the underwater yellow turnkey to cross the room in the intended way (~20s slower than doing the hookshot jump fast)
    • || || ()
  • Zora swim to upper red pipe tunnel and cross to next tunnel with biobabas
  • Kill biobabas and climb to chest
  • Equip swap full milk over ocarina slot
    • () || || ()
  • Remote hookshot GIM on biobaba fairy chest for ocarina
    • It is slower but safer to swap the order of the two GIMs (Light Arrow before ocarina) so that you can still equip swap milk for both GIMs; as written here, if you fail the second GIM, you cannot retry it as you have drunk your real milk
    • || || () during buffer
  • Surface under lilypad for quick item get
  • Open door to compass room
  • Hookshot compass chest and get rid of real bombchu
  • Remote hookshot GIM on compass chest for Light Arrow
    • || ||
  • Soar to dungeon entrance
  • Boss key skip [11b, 9c]
  • Gyorg cutscene skip with bow extension
  • Gyorg (English)
  • If low on health and confident in the trick, Songless Remains Escape and deathwarp with bombs
    • Otherwise, pick up remains normally and watch giant cutscene
    • Can pick up Heart Container for safety on Twinmold and Majora if not doing Remains Escape

Getting to Stone Tower Temple

  • Get bombs and arrows from pots [16b, 9c]
    • || () || -- [Goron Village]
  • Catch fairy from pot in nut bottle
    • Can equip swap fairies over ocarina at Majora
    • If you plan to use fairies at Twinmold, reload the area, drink the rest of the milk in the real bottle, and catch a second fairy from the pot
  • Soar to Stone Tower
    • || ||
  • Invert Stone Tower Temple from owl statue
  • Enter Inverted Stone Tower Temple

Inverted Stone Tower Temple

  • Enter east door
  • Light arrow sun block
  • Cross updraft room as human or as Deku
  • Recoil flip to eyegore [15b, 9c]
  • Eyegore with 2 bombs [13b, 9c]
  • Enter newly opened door
  • Boss key skip [12b, 9c]
  • Twinmold with light arrows and normal arrows
  • Pick up Heart Container for safety on Majora if desired
  • Songless Remains Escape and deathwarp with bombs [11b, 9c]
    • If at high health, superslide or backwalk to edge of map to void instead of deathwarping [10b, 9c]

Majora

  • Exit dungeon
    • || || -- [Woodfall]
  • Bomb ISG and hover into Clock Tower [10b, 6c]
  • Play Oath to Order
  • Superslide or backwalk to Majora child to enter fight
    • || ||
  • Majora
    • Equip swap fairy over ocarina if needed to avoid dying

─── Addenda ───

Getting Moon's Tear

Getting the Moon's Tear costs a few minutes, but since Zora eggs can be duplicated over it instead of over the ocarina, it makes it nearly impossible to accidentally equip over the ocarina between Woodfall Temple and GIM in Great Bay Temple and make the ocarina unusable. Equip swapping Zora eggs over Moon's Tear also has the benefit of removing the required frame perfect pauses during remote hookshot before and inside Snowhead Temple.

To incorporate the Moon's Tear into the route:

  • After activating the hidden owl, use the Deku flower to enter the observatory
  • Use the telescope and get the Moon's Tear
  • Use a bomb and bombchu to hover out of the observatory and continue with the route
  • In Woodfall Temple, do not equip swap ocarina over bow or bow over ocarina
  • To learn New Wave Bossa Nova, equip swap Zora egg over Moon's Tear instead of ocarina
  • For remote hookshot before and in Snowhead Temple, equip swap milk over Moon's Tear instead of ocarina, and equip the empty nut bottle instead of ocarina (this makes the frame perfect pause unnecessary)
  • In Goht's room, equip swap ocarina over Moon's Tear, equip swap milk over ocarina, and drink the equip swapped milk to remove the ocarina from the inventory (this makes the Tatl text appear for action swap)

(⮤ return to route)

Last updated 03/31/2025 – bewildebeest