ALttP Randomizer Hints Explained

in more detail than you thought you needed

Last updated on 2018-11-03, for v30.2

The hints in ALttP Randomizer (also called "ALttPR", "Zelda 3 Rando", or "Z3R") are cute, but you might not always know what they mean, and some of them provide more information than they sound like in subtle ways.

Hints are found on the "telepathic tiles" that provided hints in the original game. This doc by Merc249 shows you where the hint tiles are located.

This is too long, just tell me the surprising things

When an item "requires" another item, it's in a location that always requires that item to access, in every mode. It doesn't depend on the seed you're playing.
An item that "requires the bow" is definitely on the Palace of Darkness boss.
An item that "requires the gloves" is definitely in Spike Cave.
If an item is described as "in Misery Mire" or "in Swamp Palace", it's not in one of the two leftmost chests that are a pain to check. Those have a more specific hint.
Same with "is in Tower of Hera": it's not behind the tile room unless it says it needs fire.
Gloves are "unique items", but swords, shields, and armor aren't.

Useless hints

Some hints are just there to waste your time. The completely meaningless hints are in green text and have a trolly Link face on them. They say things like "There's money in the banana stand" or "10th enemy has the bomb".

Pay no further attention to these.

Locations

First some place names that the rando community uses, which you should know:

Hype Cave: the cave with five items in the dark world, just south of the big bomb shop
Paradox Cave: the cave with 7 items in east Death Mountain, in the light world, where you paradoxically fall from the bottom entrance to the top one
Superbunny Cave: the Dark World equivalent of Paradox Cave, so named because you can open the chests as a bunny if you come in from the bottom

Hints that tell you where an item is can describe one or more places. Some of these may be pretty obvious, I'm just reassuring you that they're not a trick.

Locations can be described as requirements instead, such as "Fire rod requires the hammer". This doesn't refer to the specific logic of the seed. "requires the hammer" is still just a particular list of places, as you'll see below.

...awaits in the waterfall: Waterfall Fairy
...can be bought: Bottle Merchant or King Zora
...can be dug up: Digging game, or the flute spot in the grove
...can be forged: Blacksmith
...can be found on a stump: the dark haunted grove
...is above the Poes: Graveyard Ledge
...is fire locked in Misery Mire: one of the left two chests in Mire
...[is] held by someone friendly:
- Blacksmith
- Bottle merchant
- Catfish
- Hobo
- Hype Cave guy
- King Zora
- Link's Uncle
- Magic Bat
- Mini-Moldorm Cave guy
- Old Man
- Sahasrahla
- Sick Kid
- Stumpy (in the haunted grove)
...is held by an old man: the Old Man on Death Mountain. (Who knows how old Saha and Aginah are.)
...is held by the Kakariko village elder: Sahasrahla gives it to you for the green pendant
...is held with a grumpy fish: Catfish or King Zora
...is held with the fishes: Catfish or King Zora
...[is] in a chest requiring a specialist to unlock: Purple Chest
...is in a sage's closet: behind Sahasrahla
...is in Misery Mire: anywhere in Mire except the left two chests
...is in plain sight:
- Desert Ledge
- Desert Palace torch
- Floating Island
- Ganon's Tower torch ("Bob's Torch")
- Lake Hylia Island
- Library
- Lumberjack Tree
- Maze Race
- Pyramid
- Spectacle Rock, or the cave below it
- Tower of Hera: Basement Cage
- Zora's Ledge
...is in Swamp Palace: anywhere in Swamp except the left two chests
...is in the castle: the three chests in Hyrule Castle on the way to Zelda's cell, not the sewers or tower
...is in the dark:
- Agahnim's Tower: dark maze (in keysanity)
- Old Man's item
- Palace of Darkness: dark maze or dark basement
- Castle sewers: the dark cross-shaped room
...is in the dark village: any of the three single chests in the Village of Outcasts
...is in the Lost Woods: Mushroom spot, hideout, or the pedestal
...is in the sewers: The sewers connect Hyrule Castle to the sanctuary. This hint could refer to the dark cross-shaped room, or the bombable room later with 3 chests.
...is in Tower of Hera: anywhere in Hera except behind the tile room
...is near a water switch: the dam chest
...is near Misery Mire: the Mire Shed
...is near the haunted grove: the cave south of the grove that you mirror to, sometimes called "Cave 45"
...is near your uncle: Secret Passage chest
...is on a boss: one of the 10 dungeon bosses, there's no trick
...is on a tablet: Ether Tablet or Bombos Tablet
...is under a bridge: Hobo
...is under some rocks: Pegasus Rocks (west of the sanctuary)
...is under water:
- Catfish
- King Zora
- The sunken treasure near the dam
- Swamp Palace: the two flooded chests in back
- Waterfall Fairy
...is with a great fairy: Pyramid Fairy or Waterfall Fairy
...is with a hermit: Aginah's Cave
...is with the chickens: Chicken House
...needs fire in Tower of Hera: the chest behind the tile room
...requires a bomb:
- Aginah's Cave
- The back of Blind's Hideout
- The back of Kakariko Well
- "Randomizer room" in Ganon's Tower
- Hype Cave
- Ice Rod Cave
- Mini-Moldorm Cave
- "Upper" Paradox Cave (the part with 2 chests)
- The second chest in Swamp Palace
...requires a green pendant: Sahasrahla (not the pedestal)
...requires the book: Ether Tablet or Bombos Tablet
...requires the boots:
- Desert Palace torch
- Ganon's Tower torch ("Bob's Torch")
- King's Tomb
- Library
- Lumberjack Tree
- Pegasus Rocks
...requires the bottle: Sick Kid
...requires the bow: Palace of Darkness boss. That's the only location that always requires the bow in every mode.
...requires the Cane of Somaria:
- Ganon's Tower: the five chests on the right path
- Misery Mire boss
- Turtle Rock compass chest (the one at the start with a laser above it)
- Turtle Rock roller room
- Turtle Rock boss
...requires the cape: Bumper Cave
...requires the gloves: Spike Cave
...requires the hammer:
- Ganon's Tower: the ten chests on the left path
- Hammer Pegs
- Ice Palace: the two chests to the right, or the boss
- Palace of Darkness boss
- Spike Cave
- Swamp Palace: all but the first two chests
- Thieves' Town: big chest
...requires the hookshot:
- Ganon's Tower: Moldorm's chest ("Validation Chest")
- Hookshot Cave: the three top chests
- Swamp Palace: the three back chests or the boss
...requires the mushroom: Witch's Hut
...requires the shovel: Flute spot in the grove
...sleeps in the tomb: King's Tomb

Items

Many hints about items just name the item. Here are the ones that aren't 100% clear:

A boomerang: the red boomerang
A [dungeon name] key: not the big key
A unique item:
- A single arrow (trololol)
- Book
- Boomerang (blue or red)
- Boots
- Bow
- Bug net
- Cane of Byrna
- Cane of Somaria
- Cape
- Fire or ice rod
- Flippers
- Flute
- A glove (even though there are two)
- Half (or quarter) magic
- Hammer
- Hookshot
- Lamp
- Magic powder
- Medallion (Ether, Bombos, or Quake)
- Mirror
- Moon Pearl
- Mushroom
- Shovel
- Silver arrows
The best boomerang: the blue boomerang
The big key of evil's bane: the Ganon's Tower big key
Something sharp: a sword

Contributing

See something that's wrong, unclear, or needs to be updated? Open an issue for this page on GitHub.