14 ms·

Zelda: Link's Awakening: Kennel Glitch

170 points by Ivoah 10y ago

gdk 10y ago
> This glitch can permanently ruin a game file and, in the extreme case, possibly even erase or damage your cartridge. How can this glitch erase the ROM in a cartridge?
- stormbrew 10y ago
  I doubt it's implying that. It's maybe possible that you could glitch the save data in a way that the game would crash or misbehave just from trying to read it, though, with no way to fix it short of discharging the save data somehow (I don't recall if gameboy games used battery backup or some kind of flash).
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - MrFoof 10y ago
    Game Boy games used a CR2016 or (later on) a CR2025 battery to maintain save data. These are soldered in place, which makes replacing batteries rather annoying, though they're replaceable if you put in the effort.
    - leggomylibro 10y ago
      Unfortunately that trend didn't continue with the GBA, whose games tended to use semi-volatile memory chips that will die after enough time or read/writes. Many of my old GBA games won't hold a save longer than a day or two anymore, without any viable way to repair them. Too bad, so sad.
      - wazanator 10y ago
        But hey on the bright side emulators for GBA and GBC are seemingly perfect and run on anything. If someone makes a Gameboy advance micro clone for emulators that is decent I would buy that in a heartbeat.
        ihartley 10y ago
        If you already have a GBA Micro, or other GBA, you can just get a Everdrive GBA: http://krikzz.com/store/home/42-everdrive-gba-x5.html http://krikzz.com/store/home/42-everdrive-gba-x5.html
      - TD-Linux 10y ago
        IIRC many of them use SPI flash or EEPROM, which you should just be able to pop off and replace with a similar part.
    - alex_duf 10y ago
      I actually did replace the battery of a zelda cartridge on GameBoy when I was a kid. The battery wasn't even the right size and barely fitted inside it, so I had to use some tape to hold it together. That day my older brother treated me like a genius. (That day only)
  - fenwick67 10y ago
    It's actually really easy to accidentally erase Link's Awakening save data by just flipping the power switch off and on too quickly (I have done this a few times). So I presume this would fix a glitched save.
  - JoshTriplett 10y ago
    > It's maybe possible that you could glitch the save data in a way that the game would crash or misbehave just from trying to read it, though Exactly. Most console games tend to treat saved game data as non-hostile, because they assume that only their own code will write it; buggy loaders that crash on corrupted data are not uncommon. (This has changed with more recent consoles, after multiple cases of saved game exploits used for jailbreaking; see, for instance, http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Category:Homebrew_exploits http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Category:Homebrew_exploits .) Memory-corruption bugs in games can overwrite saved games in ways that lead to such issues.
dec0dedab0de 10y ago
I played links awakening last year, and I hit this glitch by accident. I just turned my gameboy off though.
AdmiralAsshat 10y ago
Am I the only one who read the title as "Kernel Glitch"?
- tastythrowaway2 10y ago
  No, you are not. I also stumbled into Kennel Gulch before I actually figured out how to read again.
- oneshoe 10y ago
  That is exactly what I thought it said until I just read your post -=o|
- ryao 10y ago
  No. I did too.
- ryao 10y ago
  No. I did too.
- planteen 10y ago
  No, and I took it a step further by thinking "There's no operating system kernel on original Game Boy games - they are bare metal with an executive loop!"
muterad_murilax 10y ago
Video showing "worlds" 0-2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjOO2pkN9KU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjOO2pkN9KU
stormbrew 10y ago
You can actually use this glitch for an ending warp to finish it in minutes: http://www.speedrun.com/run/9me9l88z http://www.speedrun.com/run/9me9l88z
- Bahamut 10y ago
  I was wondering whether that would be brought up - that link is actually to a friend's run, as far as I know he still holds the record for fastest finish of that game, although I don't think he actively tries to defend it anymore.
  - pikzen 10y ago
    It still is the world record for Any%, yes. I'm surprised that a speedrun on an emulator is accepted though, but it seems most of the GBC runs are ran on an emulator.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - artemisbot 10y ago
      Game capture from a gbc/GBA is not possible, without using a game boy player for the GameCube - hence the emulator is used so they can actually capture the run. Speedrun.com distributes the allowed emulators on their site so everyone is on a level playing field.
Lawtonfogle 10y ago
Is there any similar writeups of the fishing glitch where you get the fisherman to sit on the tree and then go fishing? That's one of the two I found as a kid. The other gave me some super item but I never could recreate it.
- ZenoArrow 10y ago
  Didn't know about the fishing glitch, take it you mean this one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocEh8PzoUOg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocEh8PzoUOg
bananicorn 10y ago
Does anyone know if this works on virtual console?
- alex_duf 10y ago
  I think most emulators have to simulate all the hardware, including the glitches as some game rely on them in order to work. I wouldn't be surprise if most glitches discovered were also working on an emulator.
  - jfktrey 10y ago
    The useful features of hardware are emulated. The quirky edge cases, unused opcodes, and more esoteric features are often left out. The programming oversights in the game logic will remain, but the behavior can sometimes vary when you get to the glitches that play around with memory in a way that they normally wouldn't.
    - DSMan195276 10y ago
      I'd only add that for the GB there really aren't tons of quirky edges cases that you can avoid handling. The GB was around in the time when developers pretty much abused the hardware to get what they wanted, and the GB doesn't have tons of logic to emulate in the first place. That said, what you've described is 100% true about more advanced emulators.
- DSMan195276 10y ago
  I would assume so. I've written a simple GB emulator and this glitch worked on it, and mine isn't nearly as true to the hardware as Nintendo's VC emulator is.
mcphilip 10y ago
Back in 1993 when this was released, in the pre gamefaqs era, I found a glitch where pausing the game while transitioning to then next screen would warp you all the way to the same position on the next screen. E.g. Leave screen on the left side, appear on next screen all the way to the left instead of the right side of the screen. This allowed you to break the game in all sorts of fun ways :) I assume the internets have known about that glitch for a long time but it was really fun to feel like I had some secret trick as a kid that no one else had found.
- 1wd 10y ago
  Same here! :) I first assumed this article was about that glitch, but apparently that one is known as "the Select Glitch" (because you press the select button to pause / open the map).
  - ZenoArrow 10y ago
    Yeah, I remember discovering the select glitch too. One other thing, that wasn't a glitch but was a hidden feature, if you equipped the bow and arrow and bombs at the same time you could make arrows that exploded on impact. Oh and the thing where you could steal from the shop, I don't remember how I found out about that, probably from a friend showing me.
    - loup-vaillant 10y ago
      > Oh and the thing where you could steal from the shop, But if you do that they call you THIEF… :-( The same happens if you hit a chicken so many times its buddies come and take revenge on you.
      - ZenoArrow 10y ago
        >"But if you do that they call you THIEF… :-( " Why the frowny face? The title of THIEF is deserved! >"The same happens if you hit a chicken so many times its buddies come and take revenge on you." Ah yeah, forgot about the chicken revenge thing! Does your name change after that too? IIRC the chicken revenge thing happens in other Zelda games as well, I believe I saw it in Ocarina Of Time at least.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
cafebabbe 10y ago
Found accidentally another glitch near the end of game, in the dungeon where you carry a big heavy metal ball you can throw around. It ended up stuck on a wall, completely glitching the game. Reloading didn't help. My save was dead. I was devastated at the time :)
- freehunter 10y ago
  I got all the way to the end where you are supposed to open the egg, did the thing to open the egg, and it didn't open. I spent days going back through every dungeon to try to trigger it but never could. I couldn't bring myself to replay the game and hope it worked this time. I got the game the same year it came out and still have never beaten it because of that. Sounds like it was just a super glitchy game.
notadoc 10y ago
Vaguely related, I'm surprised Nintendo doesn't update the graphics on these games and re-release them for iOS, Switch, etc

170 points by Ivoah 10y ago

gdk 10y ago

> This glitch can permanently ruin a game file and, in the extreme case, possibly even erase or damage your cartridge. How can this glitch erase the ROM in a cartridge?

stormbrew 10y ago
I doubt it's implying that. It's maybe possible that you could glitch the save data in a way that the game would crash or misbehave just from trying to read it, though, with no way to fix it short of discharging the save data somehow (I don't recall if gameboy games used battery backup or some kind of flash).
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- MrFoof 10y ago
  Game Boy games used a CR2016 or (later on) a CR2025 battery to maintain save data. These are soldered in place, which makes replacing batteries rather annoying, though they're replaceable if you put in the effort.
  - leggomylibro 10y ago
    Unfortunately that trend didn't continue with the GBA, whose games tended to use semi-volatile memory chips that will die after enough time or read/writes. Many of my old GBA games won't hold a save longer than a day or two anymore, without any viable way to repair them. Too bad, so sad.
    - wazanator 10y ago
      But hey on the bright side emulators for GBA and GBC are seemingly perfect and run on anything. If someone makes a Gameboy advance micro clone for emulators that is decent I would buy that in a heartbeat.
      - ihartley 10y ago
        If you already have a GBA Micro, or other GBA, you can just get a Everdrive GBA: http://krikzz.com/store/home/42-everdrive-gba-x5.html http://krikzz.com/store/home/42-everdrive-gba-x5.html
    - TD-Linux 10y ago
      IIRC many of them use SPI flash or EEPROM, which you should just be able to pop off and replace with a similar part.
  - alex_duf 10y ago
    I actually did replace the battery of a zelda cartridge on GameBoy when I was a kid. The battery wasn't even the right size and barely fitted inside it, so I had to use some tape to hold it together. That day my older brother treated me like a genius. (That day only)
- fenwick67 10y ago
  It's actually really easy to accidentally erase Link's Awakening save data by just flipping the power switch off and on too quickly (I have done this a few times). So I presume this would fix a glitched save.
- JoshTriplett 10y ago
  > It's maybe possible that you could glitch the save data in a way that the game would crash or misbehave just from trying to read it, though Exactly. Most console games tend to treat saved game data as non-hostile, because they assume that only their own code will write it; buggy loaders that crash on corrupted data are not uncommon. (This has changed with more recent consoles, after multiple cases of saved game exploits used for jailbreaking; see, for instance, http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Category:Homebrew_exploits http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Category:Homebrew_exploits .) Memory-corruption bugs in games can overwrite saved games in ways that lead to such issues.

dec0dedab0de 10y ago

I played links awakening last year, and I hit this glitch by accident. I just turned my gameboy off though.

AdmiralAsshat 10y ago

Am I the only one who read the title as "Kernel Glitch"?

tastythrowaway2 10y ago
No, you are not. I also stumbled into Kennel Gulch before I actually figured out how to read again.
oneshoe 10y ago
That is exactly what I thought it said until I just read your post -=o|
ryao 10y ago
No. I did too.
ryao 10y ago
No. I did too.
planteen 10y ago
No, and I took it a step further by thinking "There's no operating system kernel on original Game Boy games - they are bare metal with an executive loop!"

muterad_murilax 10y ago

Video showing "worlds" 0-2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjOO2pkN9KU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjOO2pkN9KU

stormbrew 10y ago

You can actually use this glitch for an ending warp to finish it in minutes: http://www.speedrun.com/run/9me9l88z http://www.speedrun.com/run/9me9l88z

Bahamut 10y ago
I was wondering whether that would be brought up - that link is actually to a friend's run, as far as I know he still holds the record for fastest finish of that game, although I don't think he actively tries to defend it anymore.
- pikzen 10y ago
  It still is the world record for Any%, yes. I'm surprised that a speedrun on an emulator is accepted though, but it seems most of the GBC runs are ran on an emulator.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - artemisbot 10y ago
    Game capture from a gbc/GBA is not possible, without using a game boy player for the GameCube - hence the emulator is used so they can actually capture the run. Speedrun.com distributes the allowed emulators on their site so everyone is on a level playing field.

Lawtonfogle 10y ago

Is there any similar writeups of the fishing glitch where you get the fisherman to sit on the tree and then go fishing? That's one of the two I found as a kid. The other gave me some super item but I never could recreate it.

ZenoArrow 10y ago
Didn't know about the fishing glitch, take it you mean this one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocEh8PzoUOg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocEh8PzoUOg

bananicorn 10y ago

Does anyone know if this works on virtual console?

alex_duf 10y ago
I think most emulators have to simulate all the hardware, including the glitches as some game rely on them in order to work. I wouldn't be surprise if most glitches discovered were also working on an emulator.
- jfktrey 10y ago
  The useful features of hardware are emulated. The quirky edge cases, unused opcodes, and more esoteric features are often left out. The programming oversights in the game logic will remain, but the behavior can sometimes vary when you get to the glitches that play around with memory in a way that they normally wouldn't.
  - DSMan195276 10y ago
    I'd only add that for the GB there really aren't tons of quirky edges cases that you can avoid handling. The GB was around in the time when developers pretty much abused the hardware to get what they wanted, and the GB doesn't have tons of logic to emulate in the first place. That said, what you've described is 100% true about more advanced emulators.
DSMan195276 10y ago
I would assume so. I've written a simple GB emulator and this glitch worked on it, and mine isn't nearly as true to the hardware as Nintendo's VC emulator is.

mcphilip 10y ago

Back in 1993 when this was released, in the pre gamefaqs era, I found a glitch where pausing the game while transitioning to then next screen would warp you all the way to the same position on the next screen. E.g. Leave screen on the left side, appear on next screen all the way to the left instead of the right side of the screen. This allowed you to break the game in all sorts of fun ways :) I assume the internets have known about that glitch for a long time but it was really fun to feel like I had some secret trick as a kid that no one else had found.

1wd 10y ago
Same here! :) I first assumed this article was about that glitch, but apparently that one is known as "the Select Glitch" (because you press the select button to pause / open the map).
- ZenoArrow 10y ago
  Yeah, I remember discovering the select glitch too. One other thing, that wasn't a glitch but was a hidden feature, if you equipped the bow and arrow and bombs at the same time you could make arrows that exploded on impact. Oh and the thing where you could steal from the shop, I don't remember how I found out about that, probably from a friend showing me.
  - loup-vaillant 10y ago
    > Oh and the thing where you could steal from the shop, But if you do that they call you THIEF… :-( The same happens if you hit a chicken so many times its buddies come and take revenge on you.
    - ZenoArrow 10y ago
      >"But if you do that they call you THIEF… :-( " Why the frowny face? The title of THIEF is deserved! >"The same happens if you hit a chicken so many times its buddies come and take revenge on you." Ah yeah, forgot about the chicken revenge thing! Does your name change after that too? IIRC the chicken revenge thing happens in other Zelda games as well, I believe I saw it in Ocarina Of Time at least.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

cafebabbe 10y ago

Found accidentally another glitch near the end of game, in the dungeon where you carry a big heavy metal ball you can throw around. It ended up stuck on a wall, completely glitching the game. Reloading didn't help. My save was dead. I was devastated at the time :)

freehunter 10y ago
I got all the way to the end where you are supposed to open the egg, did the thing to open the egg, and it didn't open. I spent days going back through every dungeon to try to trigger it but never could. I couldn't bring myself to replay the game and hope it worked this time. I got the game the same year it came out and still have never beaten it because of that. Sounds like it was just a super glitchy game.

notadoc 10y ago

Vaguely related, I'm surprised Nintendo doesn't update the graphics on these games and re-release them for iOS, Switch, etc