And so it comes down to this: the final episode of this The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past randomizer run, featuring the only version of Link that leaves dead mice at Zelda's doorstep. Like a piece of uncooked spaghetti (or an erection, I guess) Garflink's journey has been long and hard, and if you have no idea what I'm talking about then I would suggest that you start here to experience the greatest Zelda game that technically never was.

When I left you all last week, Garflink had plundered the ridiculously well-stocked Tower of Ganon and had batted projectiles at Agahnim for the final time. Now all that's left is Ganon himself. Well, him, and my own obsessive-compulsive tendency to collect everything, which may well be a more terrible "final boss" if we're talking metaphorically about my life.

It's time to tackle some loose threads: the only thing more tantalizing to a cat than laser pointers and surreptitiously shitting in a closet.

Side-Note: The Ether Medallion is normally obtained at the Death Mountain tablet, and is one of three magical medallions that produces a powerful screen-clearing effect when you use it. Its ice magic is strong enough to freeze the rainclouds above Misery Mire permitting access to the dungeon, but the randomizer made it so we need Quake instead. Kind of a surplus item, then, but I'm glad to complete the Medallion set at least.

Side-Note: The Mushroom is an item found lying around the Lost Woods, though generally not on the Master Sword pedestal, and is used to create the Magic Powder bag. It's a super valuable item to get as soon as possible, but due to the randomizer it's highly probable that you'll find the Magic Powder first. At any rate, it's the last inventory item on our list, and at this point certainly the least.

There's no real reason for a status update given that we found everything, but the above is what a completed tracker looks like. At the time I felt fortunate to find the Hookshot and Hammer as quickly as I did: both are essential to exploring the Dark World, however, so they tend to show up relatively early in randomizer runs regardless. The Moon Pearl took longer to acquire, as the single most valuable item for Dark World exploration, and this seed was super cagey about the armor upgrades (which you can theoretically get as early as the first dungeon), the sword upgrades, that damn Lantern, and the Book of Mudora. However, I did like having to sneak into the Desert Palace through the back entrance, and I hope the next time I play this randomizer I'll have to rely on a bunch of alternative methods to proceed. And, taking to heart what a few people have told me, I'll never try to navigate another dark room without the Lantern: it'll mean some backtracking, but that's better than running into a pit or a grue every five seconds.

With that, the Adventures of Garflink draw to a close. Thanks to everyone who joined me on this Gar-field trip, and good luck with your own ALTTP randomizer runs in the future. Just so happens that this LP Blog also kinda works as a guide for where to go to find stuff, so refer back to earlier episodes (via the handy table below) if you're missing a secret cave somewhere. Not that I regularly remembered to say where any of these places were... actually, you'd probably be better off finding some resources elsewhere, there's a lot of useful visual aids and checklists out there that speedrunners have put together. Not that I ever used them. *Cough.*

Next Time, on A Randomized Link to the Past: Garflink's journey may be over, but tomorrow we might have ourselves a little ALTTP Randomizer bonus episode...