Randomizer Tips

Have a Good Tracking Method

• There are lots of options for tracking, just make sure you use one. A great resource for this is zhelper by questwizard

Helpful Hint Caves

• If hint caves are in a good position to your starting location, it’s most times worth saving, checking the hints and retrying to get your money back

10 Counts

• Building up 10 counts to force bomb drops is very useful to prevent strained resources - you can also do this to get a 5 rupee
• To force a bomb you must kill 9 enemies in a row without getting hit, then kill the last enemy with a bomb - using a sword or wand will make a 5 rupee drop
• If the enemy doesn’t normally drop items, the bomb/rupee will then instead be “stored” and the next dropping enemy killed will drop the item IF you don’t get hit

Mark Down Key and Bomb Shops

Make sure to mark where key and bomb shops are, you never know when you’ll need to get some in a pinch

Efficient Routing

• Routing is always going to depend on the start screen, but heading towards the northeast early is, a lot of the time, a good strategy, as it has quite a few open caves and also three of the five armos screens that could contain a free item
• Do your best to clear full areas at a time, as backtracking for a cave or two costs a lot of time, though this can be hard to do if bombs aren’t dropping or you can’t find a candle

Take Any Caves and Bomb Shops

• Building on the previous note, while hearts are tempting to get to that Magical Sword, unless you’ve seen an early candle shop (that’s cheap at that), it nearly always worth taking a candle from your first Take Any Cave to minimize backtracking
• In the same vein, if you have early rupees and run into bombs, it’s probably worth buying bombs if you run into a shop in order to minimize backtracking as well

The Player Reset Button

• Zelda 1 is hard and Zelda 1 randomizer is arguably harder, so, when frustration sets in (and at some point it will), take a moment to reset and refocus so that you don’t chain bad decisions together and make it worse than it needs to be. It’s a game and games are meant to be fun, right?

Grave IS a Feat of Strength

• The gravestone IS considered a Feat of Strength, so if you find a hint for that, there is a possibility that the Power Bracelet may not be required

Exit Levels to Respawn Enemies

• If you find a level with bomb dropper outside of it, you can clear out all the enemies, enter the dungeon and then exit to respawn them all

Need Bombs or Keys? Subscribe to the Retry Button

• If you are low on keys, or in a dungeon that you need to find the “bomb hole”, consider saving, so that if you use all your resources and make no progress, you can retry and give it another shot. While this may cost you time, chances are, it’ll be much less than trying to regain the resources you lost.

You And Me Baby, We’re Stuck Like Glue

• Early game, you want to make a plan and stick to it. Yes, eventually, you’ll need to adapt your plan to what the seed has thrown at you, but being indecisive early on can cost you a lot of time. Pick a plan and execute it