Level 2 (Moon) — Finding the entrance. The dungeon sits dead center in a graveyard square, but pushing tombstones gets you nowhere. Push the leftmost stone in the middle row (second from top). This is Zelda’s first “push everything” exam; skip systematic tile-checking here and you’ll hit the same wall at Level 7’s entrance.
Level 4 (Snake) — The raft dead-end. You clear the dungeon, grab the raft, exit to the overworld, and discover you’re landlocked — no water tiles near the exit. The raft works from any shore, not just dungeon-adjacent docks. Walk to the eastern coastline (Screen H8 or nearby), step onto a dock tile, and the raft auto-triggers. The game never explains that key items work contextually across the entire map; this is the most common sequence-break confusion in the campaign.
Old Man “Grumble, Grumble” caves — wasting rupees. Multiple caves feature an Old Man who says “Grumble, Grumble” and offers nothing. These are bait rooms. Leave exactly 30 rupees on the ground (drop from inventory if needed), exit, and re-enter — the door you came through is now a one-way passage to a new area. The Grumble rooms in Screen S7 and Screen H8 both lead to rupee-farming chambers. The manual hints at “leaving offerings” but doesn’t specify the mechanic; players who don’t experiment with intentional rupee drops never see these rooms.
Level 9 (Skull) — The Wizzrobe gauntlet before Ganon. The final approach to Ganon’s chamber is a narrow corridor flooded with teleporting Wizzrobes. The Red Ring (quarter-damage) is mandatory here unless you’re frame-perfect with sword beams. If you skipped Level 8’s Red Ring, backtrack now — Ganon is functionally unkillable at full damage scaling. Use the doorway as a chokepoint: stand in the threshold, let Wizzrobes materialize, strike, retreat. The AI won’t follow across the transition boundary.
