The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is one of the most popular SNES games and is widely considered to be one of the greatest video games ever made. There have been “HD Remakes” of the game by fans, as well as having the world of Hyrule recreated in Dragon Quest Builders II.
A Link to the Past is also very popular in speedrunning circles, and the game has been dissected so runners of the many categories A Link to the Past offers can optimize their time. Some of the quicker categories have the game being beaten in 11 minutes.
It’s worth noting that there’s an even quicker way of beating the game. The simplicity and quickness of this particular method means it’s not used for speedrunning purposes. But if you want to leave someone dumbfounded, here’s how to beat A Link to the Past in under three minutes.
Beating ‘A Link To The Past’ In Under 3 Minutes
A great guide for this glitch was made by the YouTuber Scykoh. Basically, after starting a new save file, you’ll use a glitch involving the “Save & Quit” option that will set you up for another glitch where an enemy knocks you out of bounds. After some maneuvering out of bounds, you will move upwards through a series of rooms (some of them quite buggy/glitched out) and eventually will hit a spot that triggers the end game credits. And just like that, A Link to the Past will be cleared within three minutes.
For a more detailed guide with a video of how it’s done, check out Scykoh’s tutorial:
This may not be the most satisfying way to beat the game, and because of its relatively limited scope and skillset usage, it’s not used in recognized speedruns of the game. Still, it’s a neat trick to learn, it’s very easy to pull off and it gives you the bragging rights of beating A Link to the Past in three minutes tops.
If you want to see someone beat the original Super Mario Bros. in under five minutes, check out this article here. Or if you’d like to see even more glitches in old school video games, check out the Minus World!
