Chris Houlihan: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox Character
{{Infobox Character
|image= File:ALttP Chris Houlihan room.png
|image= [[File:ALttP Chris Houlihan Room.png]]
|caption= Chris Houlihan's secret room
|caption= Chris Houlihan's top secret room
|pronunciation=  
|pronunciation=  
|title=  
|title=  
|alias=  
|alias=  
|race=  
|race=  
|gender=  
|gender= Male<ref name= "Club Nintendo"/>
|game= {{ALttP}}
|game= {{ALttP}}
|other=  
|other=  
|era=  
|era= {{Term|Series|Era of Light and Dark|link}}
|family=  
|family=  
|voiceactor=  
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}}
{{Term/Store|Chris Houlihan||Series, ALttP}} is a character in {{ALttP}}.<ref>{{Cite|My name is Chris Houlihan. This is my top secret room. Keep it between us, OK?|Chris Houlihan|ALttP}}</ref>
{{Term/Store|Chris Houlihan||Series, ALttP}} is a character in {{ALttP}}.<ref>{{Cite|My name is Chris Houlihan. This is my top secret room. Keep it between us, OK?|Telepathy Tile|ALttP}}</ref>


==Origin==
==Biography==
During September and October of 1990, [[Nintendo Power]] held a contest in which a randomly selected winner would get their name programmed in a future [[NES]] game. The requirements were to take a photo encountering the enemy Warmech in ''{{wp|Final Fantasy (video game)|Final Fantasy}}'' and then send it to Nintendo Power by October 15, 1990.<ref>{{Cite Book|quote= Have you ever imagined yourself in a NES game? Well, this is your chance! If you meet Warmech, snap a photo of him and send it to the address below by October 15, 1990. One winner will be randomly selected, and his or her name will be programmed into a future Nintendo game!|book= Nintendo Power Volume 16|publisher= Nintendo Power|page= 13}}</ref> The winner of the contest, as the story goes, was one Chris Houlihan, whose name appears in his own secret room in {{ALttP|-}}.
{{Term|ALttP|Chris Houlihan}} is only mentioned through a {{Term|ALttP|Telepathy Tile|link}} found inside a secret room which also contains 45 {{Plural|ALttP|Blue Rupee|link}}. The room is a failsafe that the game sends {{Term|ALttP|Link|link}} to when it detects an error in his Y coordinate. Five different methods can be used to access it,<ref>{{Cite Web|quote= |author= MaddHatts|published= February 15, 2010|retrieved= October 6, 2015|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7i2AHjvPMg|title= 5 Different Entrances to the Chris Houlihan Room|site= YouTube|type= video}}</ref> all of which use the  
{{Term|ALttP|Pegasus Shoes|link}} and some of them {{Plural|ALttP|Bomb|link}}.


This explanation has been circulating since at least December 1994, when it was mentioned in the Mexican ''Club Nintendo'' magazine.<ref>{{Cite Book|quote= |book=Club Nintendo (Mexico), Year 3, Number 12, Dec. 1994.|publisher=Editorial Samra |page= 3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|quote= |author= |published= |retrieved= December 22, 2020|url=https://issuu.com/7ifra/docs/club_nintendo_-_a_o_3_no._12__mexic |title= |site= |type= }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|quote= |author= |published= |retrieved= December 22, 2020|url=https://www.youtube.com/post/UgwEQ_6PfSzR_pE71L94AaABCQ |title= |site= |type= }}</ref> However, certain facts cast doubt upon it. Nintendo Power never announced the winner of that contest. No information about Chris Houlihan was ever found, and he never came forward to tell of this experience. Moreover, there was a very small timeframe (two months) to complete a rather difficult task (Warmech is a rare enemy, found only in a brief section of the game, so players could beat the game and never see it). This leads to the conclusion, albeit speculative, that the contest had no winner, and Chris Houlihan might not even be a real person.<ref>{{Cite web|quote= |author=GTV Japan |published=December 18, 2020 |retrieved= December 22, 2020|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilk-EBGbRRA |title=Why Can't Chris Houlihan From The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Be Found? |site=YouTube |type= }}</ref>
The {{Term|ALttP|Telepathy Tile}} mentioning {{Term|ALttP|Chris Houlihan}} was removed in {{ALttP&FS}}.<ref>{{Cite Web|quote= |author= Triforce Legend|published= October 9, 2013|retrieved= October 6, 2015|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgodbyBYz6w|title= Salle de Chris Houlihan dans A Link to the Past (GBA)|site= YouTube|type= video}}</ref>


===Chris Houlihan Room===
==Trivia==
Chris Houlihan has a secret room that contains 45 [[Blue Rupee]]s scattered on a shining blue floor and a [[Telepathy Tile]] on the back wall. While the room exists in the {{ALttP&FS}}, the Telepathy Tile is not there.<ref>{{Cite web|quote= |author= Triforce Legend|published= October 9, 2013|retrieved= October 6, 2015|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgodbyBYz6w|title= Salle de Chris Houlihan dans A Link to the Past (GBA)|site= YouTube|type=}}</ref> The room is not an intended part of normal gameplay, but rather a crash prevention measure. It is a failsafe room that the game sends [[Link]] to when it cannot determine which room he should be sent to.
*{{Term|ALttP|Chris Houlihan}} is only mentioned in the English version of {{ALttP|-}}. Other languages simply state that it is a secret room.<ref>{{Cite|ここは、秘密の部屋だよ~ん。みんなにはないしょだよ~ん。|Telepathy Tile|ALttP}}</ref><ref>{{Cite|Dies ist mein ganz geheimes Zimmer. Das bleibt aber unter uns, ja?|Telepathy Tile|ALttP}}</ref><ref>{{Cite|C'est ma pièce la plus secrète. Que cela reste entre nous, ok ?|Telepathy Tile|ALttP}}</ref>
 
*It is believed that {{Term|ALttP|Chris Houlihan}} was the winner of a [[Nintendo Power]] contest held during September and October of 1990, where the winner would have their name programmed into a future NES game.<ref>{{Cite Magazine|quote= Have you ever imagined yourself in a NES game? Well, this is your chance! If you meet Warmech, snap a photo of him and send it to the address below by October 15, 1990. One winner will be randomly selected, and his or her name will be programmed into a future Nintendo game!|magazine= Nintendo Power|issue= 16|date= September/October 1990|publisher= |page= 13}}</ref> This was first stated in the December 1994 issue of Club Nintendo, the official [[Nintendo]] magazine for Latin America,<ref name= "Club Nintendo">{{Cite Magazine|quote= {{Exp|Déjanos decirte, que tú y Luis Alberto Moya nos pusieron a buscar como locos; Luis nos dijo que el cuarto de Chris aparecería arriba de la pirámide y nosotros, al tratar de ver de qué se trataba este cuarto dedicamos mucho tiempo y nada más no conseguimos conocer el cuarto secreto. Pensamos que podía haber sido alguna especie de bug pero al recibir otra carta mencionando este cuarto en otro lado y tampoco encontrarlo, decidimos dirigirnos directamente con quien hizo el juego, así que le preguntamos a nuestros cuates de Nintendo y nos informaron que es un cuarto que sale totalmente al azar y hay cartuchos en los que nunca saldrá. Chris Houlihan es el nombre del niño que ganó un concurso de Nintendo Power y con él ganó también el derecho a tener su nombre programado en el juego de Zelda-A Link to the Past.|Let's say that you and Luis Alberto Moya made us seek like crazy; Luis told us that Chris' room would appear on top of the pyramid and, when trying to see what this room was all about, we spent a long time [searching] and did not get to see this secret room. We thought that it could have been a type of bug, but when we received another letter mentioning this room somewhere else and [we were] still unable to find it, we decided to talk directly to whom created the game, so we asked our friends at Nintendo and they informed us that it is a room that appears randomly and there are cartridges where it will never appear. Chris Houlihan is the name of the boy that won a Nintendo Power contest and with it he also won the right to have his name programmed in the Zelda-A Link to the Past game.}}|magazine= ''Club Nintendo'' |date= December 1994|publisher= Editorial Samra|page= 3}}</ref> and later by Nintendo Power itself in its February 1998 issue.<ref>{{Cite Magazine|quote= In 1992, NP contest winner Chris Houlihan secured his place in gaming history by having his name featured in a hidden area in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.|magazine= Nintendo Power|publisher= Nintendo of America Inc.|volume= 105|issue= |date= February 1998|page= 7|url= }}</ref> However, Chris Houlihan has never been confirmed to even be a real person.
====Access====
There are five different ways to access the room.<ref>{{Cite web|quote= |author= MaddHatts|published= February 15, 2010|retrieved= October 6, 2015|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7i2AHjvPMg|title= 5 Different Entrances to the Chris Houlihan Room|site= YouTube|type=}}</ref> One of the most well known methods involves a series of dashes using the [[Pegasus Boots]], starting from the [[Sanctuary (A Link to the Past)|Sanctuary]] all the way to the [[Sewer Passageway]]'s entrance. If executed correctly, Link will fall in the underground room. If Link exits the room, he will find himself outside of [[Link's House|his house]].
 
====Technical Information====
The bug occurs when the game detects an error in Link's Y coordinate. It is known to happen 2 different ways:
#By using a [[Bomb]] to knock Link into the lowest few pixels of the screen. Link can also use the Pegasus Boots to knockback himself backwards. Next, using the Pegasus Boots facing downwards into a screen transition, finding a hole, and dropping into it.
#Going into certain rooms (like the Sanctuary or the cave northeast of the [[Lost Woods]]) and dashing out of it. As Link leaves the room, the camera shifts down slightly. Then, Link must find a hole and stand next to it, setting a Bomb down and allowing the blast to knock him into the hole.
 
==Nomenclature==
{{Nomenclature}}


{{Ref}}
{{Ref}}

Latest revision as of 15:10, 18 September 2023

Chris Houlihan is a character in A Link to the Past.[2]

Biography

Chris Houlihan is only mentioned through a Telepathy Tile found inside a secret room which also contains 45 Blue Rupees. The room is a failsafe that the game sends Link to when it detects an error in his Y coordinate. Five different methods can be used to access it,[3] all of which use the Pegasus Shoes and some of them Bombs.

The Telepathy Tile mentioning Chris Houlihan was removed in A Link to the Past & Four Swords.[4]

Trivia

  • Chris Houlihan is only mentioned in the English version of A Link to the Past. Other languages simply state that it is a secret room.[5][6][7]
  • It is believed that Chris Houlihan was the winner of a Nintendo Power contest held during September and October of 1990, where the winner would have their name programmed into a future NES game.[8] This was first stated in the December 1994 issue of Club Nintendo, the official Nintendo magazine for Latin America,[1] and later by Nintendo Power itself in its February 1998 issue.[9] However, Chris Houlihan has never been confirmed to even be a real person.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Let's say that you and Luis Alberto Moya made us seek like crazy; Luis told us that Chris' room would appear on top of the pyramid and, when trying to see what this room was all about, we spent a long time [searching] and did not get to see this secret room. We thought that it could have been a type of bug, but when we received another letter mentioning this room somewhere else and [we were] still unable to find it, we decided to talk directly to whom created the game, so we asked our friends at Nintendo and they informed us that it is a room that appears randomly and there are cartridges where it will never appear. Chris Houlihan is the name of the boy that won a Nintendo Power contest and with it he also won the right to have his name programmed in the Zelda-A Link to the Past game." (Club Nintendo, Editorial Samra, December 1994, pg. 3)
  2. ↑ "My name is Chris Houlihan. This is my top secret room. Keep it between us, OK?" — Telepathy Tile (A Link to the Past)
  3. ↑ MaddHatts, 5 Different Entrances to the Chris Houlihan Room , YouTube (video), published February 15, 2010, retrieved October 6, 2015.
  4. ↑ Triforce Legend, Salle de Chris Houlihan dans A Link to the Past (GBA) , YouTube (video), published October 9, 2013, retrieved October 6, 2015.
  5. ↑ "ここは、秘密の部屋だよ~ん。みんなにはないしょだよ~ん。" — Telepathy Tile (A Link to the Past)
  6. ↑ "Dies ist mein ganz geheimes Zimmer. Das bleibt aber unter uns, ja?" — Telepathy Tile (A Link to the Past)
  7. ↑ "C'est ma pièce la plus secrète. Que cela reste entre nous, ok ?" — Telepathy Tile (A Link to the Past)
  8. ↑ "Have you ever imagined yourself in a NES game? Well, this is your chance! If you meet Warmech, snap a photo of him and send it to the address below by October 15, 1990. One winner will be randomly selected, and his or her name will be programmed into a future Nintendo game!" (Nintendo Power no. 16, September/October 1990, pg. 13)
  9. ↑ "In 1992, NP contest winner Chris Houlihan secured his place in gaming history by having his name featured in a hidden area in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past." (Nintendo Power vol. 105, Nintendo of America Inc., February 1998, pg. 7)
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