ALTTPR Inverted Mode: What Flips and How to Route It

Inverted starts you in Link's House, and Link's House is in the Dark World. Walk out the door and you are standing where the Bomb Shop normally sits, in your own shape, in the half of Hyrule that is supposed to turn you into a rabbit.

That one screen is the whole mode. The A Link to the Past Randomizer's Inverted world state keeps the item shuffle and flips the map's rules: the Dark World is home, the Light World is the hostile one, and the items that carry you between the two work in the opposite direction. The options page on alttpr.com calls Inverted games "really difficult" and suggests starting with another world state, and our ALTTPR beginner guide gives the mode a single line and the same warning. This is the rest of it.

Most of what follows comes from two places. One is alttpr.com itself: that options page, plus the site's update notes, which list v31.2.1 from September 2023 as the current release. The other is the generator's source code on GitHub, the rules it fills seeds against, test suite included. When this guide says "the logic", it means that code's No Glitches rules.

What Inverted actually changes

The options page lists six headline changes, plus a batch of map edits that make them work. Here they are side by side with Open:

The supporting edits are the ones that change your routes. Light World terrain has been reworked so it stays reachable without mirroring out of the Dark World. The Death Mountain caves are rebuilt so you can climb to Dark World Death Mountain from the Dark World mainland, and new stairs up there lead to Ganon's Tower's old spot and to the east side of the mountain. Ice Palace is reachable straight from the Dark World, and Turtle Rock can be entered by jumping from its tail.

One small detail from the same page: if you set a crystal requirement to Random, the signs that tell you the number stand outside Hyrule Castle in Inverted, not where you would look for them in Open.

The eleven overworld checks you can open with nothing

Two overworld regions have no entry rule at all in the Inverted logic: the south and the north-west Dark World. Every other overworld region asks for something. That leaves eleven overworld item locations you can clear on an empty inventory, and the generator's own test suite marks every one of them reachable with no items.

The bombable walls count as open because the generator's bomb check returns true unconditionally, the same rule the beginner guide describes for Open. The contrast with Open is the Light World side. In Open, Kakariko Well and Blind's Hideout are part of the free opening sweep. In Inverted, every chest in both buildings lists the Moon Pearl.

Two dungeons are also open at the door. Skull Woods and Thieves' Town both sit in the north-west Dark World, and on Advanced item placement the logic asks for nothing to walk in. The test suite marks nine of their chests reachable on an empty inventory: five in Skull Woods (the Big Key, Compass, Map, Pot Prison and Pinball Room chests) and four in Thieves' Town (the Big Key, Map, Compass and Ambush chests). On Basic placement it first wants a sword, seven hearts and a bottle, the same bar it sets for Palace of Darkness and Swamp Palace. Getting in is not the same as getting through, though: Skull Woods' bridge room and its boss both want the Fire Rod.

The Pearl, the Mirror and the flute all point the other way

The Moon Pearl is now a Light World item. Without it you are a rabbit on the Hyrule side of the map. The options page adds the part that keeps a bunny useful: bunny Link can still use the Book of Mudora, talk to people and pick up freestanding items. The logic turns that into a short list, which is further down.

The Magic Mirror now takes you from the Light World to the Dark World. The vanilla move of mirroring out of trouble in the Dark World runs backwards here. The portals are the other half of the same flip. They only run from the Dark World to the Light World, so the Mirror is how you get back. The vanilla layout is covered in our Dark World guide if you want to see what is being flipped.

The flute only works in the Dark World, and it still has to be woken at the weathercock in Kakariko. Kakariko is in the Light World, and that is the catch. The generator only counts the flute as usable once you hold the Moon Pearl and have a way into the Light World: a dead Agahnim, the Magic Hammer with a Power Glove, or the Titan's Mitt. Once it is awake, the flute takes you to Misery Mire's swamp and onto Dark World Death Mountain without the climb. The vanilla flute quest, and why the weathercock matters, is in our Light World guide.

The ways into the Light World

The logic's entry rule for the Light World is the gate to learn first. Kakariko, Hyrule Castle, the desert and Lake Hylia all hang off it. Light World Death Mountain has a rule of its own. The Light World rule has three practical routes:

There is a fourth line in the rule: a flute that is already active, plus the Titan's Mitt. An ordinary flute cannot be woken without one of the three routes above, so in practice that line only matters on a seed that hands you a pre-activated flute. The v31.1 release notes record that case being added to the Inverted logic.

What a bunny can still take

If Agahnim is your way in and the Moon Pearl has not turned up, the logic still lets you collect these Light World checks without it:

The code comments the pedestal line itself: the bunny can pull it. Everything else in the Inverted Light World logic, the dungeons included, lists the Moon Pearl. That covers the Kakariko buildings, King Zora, the Waterfall Fairy chests, the Library, the Maze Race and Lake Hylia Island.

Agahnim is the early exit

Agahnim's Tower stands on Dark World Death Mountain in Inverted, where Ganon's Tower normally is, and the way up runs through the rebuilt caves. The logic's rule for the west side of Dark World Death Mountain is an active flute, or the Power Glove with the Lamp. That is the same pair Open's logic asks for to climb the Light World side.

At the tower door, the logic wants something that kills most enemies: any sword, the Cane of Somaria, the Bow, the Magic Hammer, the Fire Rod, or the Cane of Byrna backed by extra magic. Clearing the tower adds its two small keys, the Lamp for the dark maze and a sword for Agahnim himself.

What is missing is the rule that gates this tower in Open. There, the generator will not send you in without the Cape or the Master Sword, and the beginner guide's gate table lists that requirement. The Inverted tower has no such line. A Fighter's Sword, a Power Glove and the Lamp, together with the tower's own two keys, make a complete Agahnim kit.

A dead Agahnim then counts as Light World access on its own. On a seed that has not given you the Moon Pearl, that can be the first real door.

Where every dungeon door went

This is the entry rule only, from the No Glitches logic with Advanced item placement. Each dungeon still has its own requirements inside.

Two things in that table are worth reading twice. Ice Palace no longer needs the Titan's Mitt: the logic's route is the Flippers from the Dark World side, not a rock on a Light World island. And the east side of Light World Death Mountain, which Tower of Hera and Turtle Rock's side doors both depend on, opens either with the Titan's Mitt from the Dark World side of the mountain or with the Moon Pearl and the Hookshot from the Light World side.

On Basic item placement the generator also holds dungeons back until you look ready. Palace of Darkness, Swamp Palace, Skull Woods and Thieves' Town wait for a sword, seven hearts and a bottle. Ice Palace, Misery Mire, Turtle Rock and Ganon's Tower wait for the Master Sword, twelve hearts, and either two bottles or a mail upgrade.

The endgame lives at Hyrule Castle

Ganon's Tower sits on Hyrule Castle in this mode, and Ganon waits underneath it. Both need the Moon Pearl. The tower wants the crystal count set in the options, seven by default. The logic's Ganon wants his own crystal count, Agahnim's second defeat unless the goal is Fast Ganon, a Master Sword or better, and a way to light the two torches in his room. That means the Lamp, or the Fire Rod with enough spare magic from bottles or half magic. The v31.1 release notes record that torch requirement being added after the Inverted logic had missed it.

The Pyramid Fairy is still in the Dark World, but the Super Bomb that opens her wall is sold at the Bomb Shop, which now stands in the Light World where Link's House used to be. The logic asks for the Moon Pearl and crystals 5 and 6 to buy it. It then pairs the bomb with the Magic Mirror, the item that moves you from Light to Dark in this mode, for both of the fairy's upgrades. The sword upgrade also wants a sword, and the bow upgrade wants a bow.

If you want the settings screen explained (world states, keysanity, accessibility, goals), the beginner guide covers it. Everything else we have written about the game is on the A Link to the Past coverage hub.

Quick Action Checklist

• Clear the eleven free overworld checks first: Link's House, the five Hype Cave checks, Stumpy, the Digging Game, the Brewery, the C-Shaped House and the Chest Game.
• On Advanced placement, walk into Skull Woods and Thieves' Town early. On Basic, the logic waits for a sword, seven hearts and a bottle.
• Treat the Power Glove and the Lamp as a mountain pass. Together they open Dark World Death Mountain, and with any real weapon, Agahnim's Tower.
• Kill Agahnim early if you can. The logic counts it as Light World access by itself, and it asks for no Cape and no Master Sword.
• Hunt the Moon Pearl hardest. Outside a list of eight checks, the whole Light World logic lists it, and so do Ganon's Tower and Ganon.
• Reverse your Mirror instincts. It takes you from Light to Dark now, and the portals only run Dark to Light.
• Wake the flute in Kakariko as soon as you have the Pearl and a way into the Light World. After that it only works in the Dark World.
• Bring the Flippers and the Fire Rod, or Bombos and a sword, for Ice Palace. No Titan's Mitt needed.
• Buy the Super Bomb in the Light World and bring the Mirror for the Pyramid Fairy.