“Minus World” Discovered in The Legend of Zelda for NES
Posted on January 03 2019 by Rod Lloyd
One of the most well-documented glitches in the original Super Mario Bros. is a hidden stage referred to as “World -1”, an ever-looping water level that can only be reached by glitching through a wall in World 1-2. While players were never intended to access this “Minus World,” it has become something of a curiosity from the NES era. Well, it would seem that the Super Mario wasn’t the only tent-pole NES title that contains a glitched Minus World. As recently discovered by SKELUX on YouTube, a Minus World can actually be accessed in the original Legend of Zelda as well.
The phenomenon which has come to be known as a Minus World, such as the one popularly discussed from Super Mario Bros., is actually a hidden depository for in-game data. Apparently, several games for the Nintendo Entertainment System contain their own Minus Worlds, and SKELUX has made it his mission to explore as many of them as possible.
The first Minus World on SKELUX’s list was found in The Legend of Zelda. Using a cheat device to allow Link to walk out of bounds and finding a clever way around grid-based barriers in the game’s code, this glitch sleuth was able to fully explore Zelda‘s “Minus World.”
In The Legend of Zelda‘s Minus World, everything from the environment, to the enemies, to the NPC’s appears distorted and glitched out. I mean, what would you expect from a glitch level never intended for gameplay? SKELUX spends quite a bit of time exploring the Minus World, so be sure to check out his video above to see all the trippy sights.
I’ll always be amazed by how much there is left to discover in these classic games. What are your thoughts on The Legend of Zelda‘s Minus World? Let us know in the comments!
Source: SKELUX (via Go Nintendo, Kotaku)
Rod Lloyd is the Editor-In-Chief at Zelda Dungeon, overseeing the news and feature content for the site. Rod is considered the veteran of the writing team, having started writing for Zelda Informer in 2014 as a Junior Editor. After ZD and ZI officially merged in 2017, he stepped into the Managing Editor role and has helped steer the ship ever since. He stepped up to lead the writing team as Editor-In-Chief in 2023.
You can reach Rod at: rod.lloyd@zeldadungeon.net
