My near miss with the game ending Zelda bug.

By Stephen Munn | April 6, 2007

Holy shnikeys.

I can’t describe the horror I felt when I found myself in the exact situation described in the well-publicized game-breaking bug in Twilight Princess, and the cold realization that I had just saved my game set in. Let me give you a description of the circumstances of the bug, because I think I can do it without spoilers. And then, perhaps most importantly, I’ll tell you how to keep from having to start your game over if you do get bitten.

I found out about this bug right here on Aeropause from James (thank you for that) and was on the watch for it. I had seen little clips, but you need to be aware that if you don’t do the research, you might not be ready when this hits you. I had kind of glanced at the issue and figured as long as I was cautious and did not do a save and quit when I saw this guy, I’d be fine. It turns out the bug has longer arms than originally thought, but they lack their grip if you’re far enough away. OK, enough metaphor.

The bug happens when you enter a certain room in the game and then save and quit without performing the task in the room. There is a guy standing in the room, and you need that guy to leave before you can perform the task. Talking to the guy is all you need to do to make them leave, but if you save and quit, then reload, the guy goes back to the place where they were before you enter the room, but you still can’t perform the task because the game thinks they’re still in the room. There’s no way to talk to him because he’s not there, and there’s no way to leave the room because when you try to leave, you get a cutscene telling you that you can’t leave yet.

I reached the point where I opened the way to the room, and started to descend the steps into the room. Realizing what was in the room (but not its significance as relates to this bug), I backed out and headed off to talk to the guy who was not yet in the room. I saved the game, then I spoke to him repeatedly, thinking he would enter the room with me, but he just kept going through parts of his dialog as if we were in the room, reacting to the object in the room. Abruptly the game dropped me in the room with no transition (obviously a bug) and once I realized I was in the room and the guy wasn’t there, I freaked out. Here I was, trapped in the room in exactly the situation I had read about, and I had just saved the game. The bug had gotten me, despite my not saving and quitting, then reloading.

I ran around the room a few times, trying lots of things and reading online a lot, until I finally came upon an unsatisfactory solution. Knowing I had an imperfect solution if I needed it, I reset the game.

And appeared in safety, well outside the room. What a relief.

So here’s my word of warning. You will open a passageway in the game and enter a room at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Continue immediately into the room, triggering a cutscene where the guy joins you in the room. Do not save your game until you complete the events in the room and end up back on the surface. I was lucky, and you may not be so.

4 Responses to “My near miss with the game ending Zelda bug.”

1. D on April 6th, 2007 at 11:02 am Says:
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   Thankfully I didn’t encounter that bug. I did, however, experience a bug that made me want to see if the Wiimote had wings. In the desert temple I was in a room that had areas of sand that you would sink into if you weren’t fast enough. Not too bad, right? Yeah well, when you’re walking on solid ground and Link is walking around like he just pudding’d his undergarments it becomes a little obnoxious. So couple the fact that Link is walking around on solid ground as if he’s in the sinking sand with a timed rush for a door and you have one hell of a challenge ahead of you. I did it though and now I can say I’m a seasoned pro.