Mask and Skulltula run

A Mask and Skulltula run is a particular kind of speedrun through The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

In 2005, videogaming scorekeeping authority Twin Galaxies offered a selection of cash bounties for various videogaming feats. One of these, #90, was for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the N64:

Bounty (90) – Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Bounty Prize: $100.00) for Nintendo 64-bit (N64)

• Challenge Rating – 4 (out of 5)
• Challenge - fastest completion of game while accomplishing BOTH of the following tasks...
  1. obtain all 100 "Skulltulas", and
  2. complete the "Mask" quest.
• Rules and Settings – player must start game from a new file; completion of other non-essential quests and tasks, as well as finding non-essential items, is not required.
• Special Rules – player is not allowed to use "Fayore's Wind" to skip the boat sequence in the "Shadow Temple."
• RULE CLARIFICATION - all 100 different skulltulas MUST be found; using the trick to whack the same one multiple times is BANNED.
• Bounty Prize - $100.00 Bounty
• Payable Date - January 31st, 2006

TG scorekeeper Robert Mruczek had offered this bounty mainly because he had never managed to obtain either all the Skulltulas or the Mask of Truth himself while playing the game.

The bounty was eventually claimed by Sam Hughes with a time of 8 hours 17 minutes (PAL system, TG rules) which translates to 6 hours 54 minutes NTSC (see Timing OoT). As this is a highly irregular challenge (being neither an any%, 100% or low% run) it is unlikely anybody will attempt a similar run again.

External links

• Sam's route and discussion
• Twin Galaxies discussion thread #1
• Twin Galaxies discussion thread #2