Your First Cycle

Your first three days

You start as a Deku Scrub with no Ocarina and 72 in-game hours before the moon falls. The goal of the first cycle is simple: reach the top of the Clock Tower at midnight on the final night, take the Ocarina back from the Skull Kid and travel back to the dawn of the first day. As a Deku Scrub the guards will not let you leave Clock Town, so everything below happens inside town.

1. Get magic from the Great Fairy

1. Find the Clock Town Stray Fairy. During the day it floats in the Laundry Pool; at night it moves to East Clock Town.
2. Carry it to the Great Fairy Fountain in North Clock Town. As a Deku Scrub you receive magic power.
3. Magic lets you shoot Deku Bubbles (hold and release the B button). You need them for the final step.

2. Learn the Bombers' secret code

1. In North Clock Town, talk to the Bombers and play their hide-and-seek game. Catch all five within the time limit.
2. They teach you their five-digit code. It is different on every save file, so note it down.
3. On N64, Jim, the gang leader, gives out the Bombers' Notebook through this game.
4. Go to East Clock Town and tell the code to the Bomber guarding the tunnel. Follow the tunnel to the Astral Observatory; the chest in the hideout is worth opening on the way.

3. The Moon's Tear and the Title Deed

1. In the observatory, ask the old man to let you use the telescope and look at the moon. Something drops from it into Termina Field.
2. Leave through the observatory's back door and pick up the Moon's Tear right outside.
3. Back in South Clock Town, trade the tear to the Business Scrub standing on the flower. You get the Land Title Deed and his Deku Flower is now yours to use.
4. Launching from that flower reaches the high ledges in South Clock Town, including the Piece of Heart on the Clock Tower entrance ledge.

4. Pass the time

The Clock Tower only opens at midnight at the end of the third day. Until then, a few things are worth doing as a Deku Scrub:

• Beat the record at the Deku Scrub Playground in North Clock Town on all three days for a Piece of Heart.
• Tingle floats around North Clock Town with a balloon. Pop it with a Deku Bubble and buy the Clock Town map.
• Talk to people and learn their routines. Most side quests depend on who is where at what time.

5. The Clock Tower rooftop

1. At midnight on the final night the stairs of the Clock Tower unfold. Climb them to the rooftop.
2. Shoot the Skull Kid with a Deku Bubble. He drops the Ocarina of Time; grab it.
3. A memory of Princess Zelda returns and you relearn the Song of Time. Play it at once to return to the dawn of the first day.

6. Back to normal

1. The Happy Mask Salesman is waiting inside the Clock Tower. He teaches you the Song of Healing, which frees you from the curse and leaves behind the Deku Mask.
2. You are human again and the guards now let you leave town.
3. Activate the Owl Statue in South Clock Town with your sword so you can warp back later.
4. Return the Clock Town Stray Fairy as a human for the Great Fairy's Mask; the fairy reappears every cycle.

Where next?

Head south through Termina Field to the Southern Swamp. Your next goals there are a boat ride with Koume, the Deku Palace and the Sonata of Awakening, which opens Woodfall Temple. Before you leave, read the guide on the three-day cycle so you know what you keep when you reset.