The Story of Zelda's 'Top Secret Room'

What is the "Chris Houlihan Room" in Zelda: A Link to the Past? What is it for, why is it there, and who was the man himself?

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[gyromurphy]

When I was about 10, I wrote to Nintendo about discovering "Links Attic." Back then, you could write to Nintendo, and they'd reply back with a typed letter... for those of us too poor for a Nintendo Power subscription on top of pre internet days, this was the only way we could get answers when a game stumped us. Anywho, I wrote them about being in a room filled with 5 rupee coins in Link's attic because exiting the room dropped you off outside Link's house. They replied saying they had no idea what I was talking about and to write back with pictures of my screen if I ever encountered that room again. It only took almost 20 years for me to watch a video about Chris Houlihan room and figure out what the heck I encountered years ago

[aratherbritishdinosaur]

The funniest part is there’s a very real possibility that Chris Houlihan wasn’t a Zelda fan, and never bought ALttP when it released. Maybe he doesn’t know about the room’s existence to this day.

[EarthboundBenjy]

Two more facts about Houlihan:
1) While the GBA version doesn't let you enter the room naturally any more, it is still programmed into the game files. In this version, the telepathic tile is absent, so it only contains rupees and nothing more.
2) Cadence of Hyrule contains an error-handling easter egg. If you somehow enter a map screen that is out-of-bounds (due to the random generation creating terrain that lets you hop over the boundary wall) then you will enter an area with a small house. Inside the house is a character named "Error Houlihan" who introduces himself by saying "I AM ERROR". This character is a reference to both Zelda II and Zelda ALttP as I'm sure you know. Error Houlihan will reward the player with Boots of Speed, a powerful item that otherwise isn't actually in the game normally.

[balaam_]

The dude kindly asked for you to keep it a secret and you go and tell everyone.

[jlczped]

Fun fact: Did you know that Chris Houlihan is referenced in Cadence of Hyrule? If you manage to glitch out of bounds in certain areas of that, you can meet a hidden character called "Error Houlihan".

[ChaoticHoly]

I stumbled into the Chris Houlihan room twice. The first time I collected all the rupees and left without a thought, but wasn't able to find my way back (from the top of the Pyramid of Power). My friends didn't believe me at all. The second time I found it I think was from the well in Kakariko Village...and there were no rupees. 😥

[lordnaarghul]

The Chris Houlihan room was acknowledged in an old player guide of ALttP, saying you could get it through by going into some caves at not exact angles. In one playthrough, I actually managed to trigger the room going into the cave under the bush at the very beginning of the game. I also got it entering a fairy fountain. I've even actually seen it once in the GBA game; it happens, it's just less likely to trigger, and it doesn't mention Chris Houlihan.

A note about WarMECH: on tbe NES, it had a 1/64 chance to appear on the long bridge before the battle with Tiamat in the Flying Fortress. It was a terrifying encounter, because it almost always ambushed you and it's first turn was usually a partywide unaspected damage attack called NUCLEAR that was almost guaranteed to murder one of your mages. Its normal attack could also kill one of your mages. It regenerated HP every round, had more health than any boss except the final boss, and basically resisted everything. In fact, WarMECH was a nastier fight than the boss you were literally about to fight. It was by far the scariest single enemy random encounter in the game; only a random encounter with a group of dark elves was scarier.

It was one of the first examples of a superboss in RPGs. It also started a trend of random encounters usually late in the game that were more frightening than even the final boss sometimes.

[KingTaltia]

When you think about it, Chris Houlahan literally has the priveledge to be a part of Zelda forevermore as long as no one finds him. Because after all; "It's a secret to everyone!"

[TheRawketLawnchair]

i remember calling the tip line back in the 90s and got told of this secret room. the person told me to spawn at links home and dash to the hole next to castle. if i get in the hole within x seconds from spawning. it would take me to that room. it worked for me a few times.

[SAHGolem]

Love hearing about old video game rumors and fun facts. Even when I've heard about something before, it's always interesting to me because there always seems to be new tidbits of information. In this case, I didn't realize just how much ambiguity there was around Chris Houlihan. Maybe I'm misremembering past videos I've seen about him and the secret room as it has been a while seen I've seen or heard anything about it, but until now I thought it was all fully solved and confirmed with no mystery left. Great video!

[mlpfanboy]

This is am important room for randomizers, it allows you to buy bombs quickly and effectively at the start.

[ckay]

I'm surprised that zeltik didn't mention the Nintendo Power Alttp Guidebook. I remember reading about Houlihan's room in that, and I'm like 90% sure I still have the book somewhere.

I'll update this comment if I find my copy

[CarbuncleMotha]

It can still be accessed in the GBA release, I'm pretty sure I did it during a timeframe where I only had access to the GBA version, and some French tips and cheats websites posted a fairly reliable way to trigger it (accessing one of the graveyard tombs during a falling animation - either from a bomb, or bumping into something) and it still serves as a crash handler.
It lacks Chris' name though, much like the European versions at the time.

Fun fact: According to tcrf, the gigaleak has work-in-progress French scripts that added a mention to someone called "Chris Anthème" - a pun on chrysanthemum, the flower, by the French localizer who thought it was an NPC name. That first line extra to the English version was deleted in the final French version and later from the English GBA version.

[michaelt]

Nintendo misspelled their own name as ‘Nintando’ in their own magazine

[roberthazelby]

I’ve heard this story several times over the years but the way you told it is by far the best I’ve seen. Fantastic work!

[JoshArtisticGenius]

Future video idea for you: Relationship ranking The Legend of Zelda, for Valentine’s Day?❤
Basically measuring the Intimacy levels specifically between Link and Zelda from each game of the series
Possible Scale from 1 to 10? Similar to your strength ranking of the different Links and Ganons etc.
Ranging from total strangers, acquaintances, friends/ childhood friends, siblings, one sided crush, romantic lovers, practically married, soulmates? Or some variation. I know this already has a lot debate, especially with Tears of the Kingdom, but I wanted to hear your take on it, with your famed raking of strengths of past videos.

[Frosted_flames]

I could have sworn there was a specific bush with a hole under that would also always lead to this room...

[Aqueous]

Amazing to see a mention of Club Nintendo in this one. We miss you, Gus!

[randomguy-cymz]

I wish that Nintendo would add some kind of hidden Easter egg like this in the next open world Zelda it would be so fun to see it’s a secret to everyone again

[ShadowWarriorLuke]

Whoever Chris Houlihan is or was, maybe he wants to keep the mystery going and keep his identity a secret to everybody.