Most every small community will eventually create its own jargon and abbreviations for things naturally out of the desire to communicate more quickly. Ocarina of Time and the Randomizer which was built for it is no different. Below you'll find an alphabetized list of both terminology and abbreviations commonly used in both the Ocarina of Time speedrunning and randomizer communities. If you join the discord or a stream chat and are curious what something means, but don't want to ask, this is the place for you.
A
ACE
- Arbitrary Code Execution. Allows the player to write data into the game's memory and have it executed as code. This is one of the most powerful glitches any video game can have as it theoretically allows you to rewrite the entire game into something else using nothing but the game itself.
AD
- An abbreviation for All Dungeons. In randomizer this can refer to both a setting which requires all of the dungeons to be beaten, but often it is refering to a seed where it was not required by the settings to beat every dungeon yet the item placement and ruleset combination forced it. This is also a speedrun category where the goal is to beat every dungeon and reach the credits.
All Locations Reachable
- A setting available as part of the randomizer which ensures that you can reach every location in the game under your current logic setting.
ALR
B
BA
- Bottle Adventure. A glitch which allows the player to write an arbitrary value to their B button.
Bait
- A term used to describe an item, location, or hint that may be unnecessary if the player knows a way to circumvent it.
Barren
- A synonym for Foolish.
Beatable Only
- A reference to turning the All Locations Reachable setting off which can logically lock off entire sections of the game, based on an older name for this setting.
BGS
- Biggoron's Sword.
Bingo
- A game mode where you generate a 5x5 board of goals to complete. When you've completed a goal you check it off the board. There are many sub-variants of bingo which change how it is played. The most common ways to play, however, are standard bingo (any 5 in a row, column, or diagonal), blackout (complete all 25 goals), and lockout (only 1 person can complete any goal, person who has the most wins).
BK
- Boss Key.
BK Mode
- A commonly used phrase in Multiworld games describing the situation where a player can no longer do any checks due to their lacking of items. Stands for "Burger King Mode" after a player actually went to Burger King to get food while their teammates gathered items.
Blue Potato
- A nickname for the Ocarina of Time, due to its color and shape.
BotW
- Bottom of the Well. This is also used as an abbreviation for the game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Normally it is clear from context which is meant, however this shared abbreviation is often used in jokes.
BQ
- Beta Quest. A romhack which randomizes shuffles the entrance table completely randomly. Items remain in their vanilla areas, but those areas can be anywhere.
Burning Kak
- Alternative name for the Nocturne of Shadow check, requiring the Forest, Fire, and Water Medallions and then walking into Kakariko Village.
C
Check
- A location in the game where you can receive a randomized item.
Chest Size Matches Contents
- A setting in the randomizer which changes the appearance of every chest to be in line with what's inside of it.
Co-op
- Often written as simply "coop", this can be referring to a couple things. "Local coop" is where multiple people play the same seed separately, but share information. "Online coop" refers to a separate emulator setup that allows multiple people to play in the same game as the same time.
CSMC
- Chest Size Matches Contents.
Culling
- The act of moving the camera or Link far enough away from an actor so that it ceases updating every frame. This can be used glitchlessly to hold actors in place, most useful for Keese. If glitches are allowed, then it can be used to ignore some collision as well.
D
Damage ESS
- An alternative name for a FESS.
DC
- Dodongo's Cavern.
DDR
- Dungeon Door Requirement. A ruleset for racing which allows more glitches than Standard.
DMC
- Death Mountain Crater.
DMT
- Death Mountain Trail.
DoT
- The Door of Time. Openable with just the Song of Time. One of the oldest glitches in Ocarina of Time is the DoT skip, allowing the player to become adult without first obtaining the Song of Time.
DT
- Deku Tree. An uncommon abbreviation.
E
Egg
- Can refer to either the Pocket Egg or the Weird Egg.
Entrance Randomizer
- A setting which shuffles the entrances in the world giving it an entirely new geography.
ER
ESS
- Extended Superslide. However, this acronym is most commonly used in reference to the region on the control stick in which the game recognizes minimal input. Link will turn in place at a constant angle per frame, which is exceedingly useful for setups. You will almost never see this written out.
ESS Turns
- Using ESS position in small increments to turn specific angles. Often seen in discrete amounts such as "3 ess turns right" or "3 ess right."
F
FESS
- An abbreviation for Forward Extended Superslide. Also known as a Damage ESS, this is a method of failure when attempting a HESS. This is almost never seen typed out fully.
Flame Storange
- A glitch which allows you to remotely light a Deku Stick on fire, allowing you to carry it a longer distance.
Foolish
- Used to describe a region of the game which is devoid of logically useful items. Hints will say that searching the area is a "Foolish Choice."
Freestanding
- This is used to describe checks which are not in a chest and instead just items on the ground to be picked up. In randomizer, they will take on the appearance of the item which you will receive as in vanilla they are all Heart Pieces, Heart Containers, and small keys. Be careful of ice traps!
Frog Song
- After playing the 6 white note songs for the frogs in Zora's River, you can prompt them to play a bug catching game. The goal of the game is to press the button of the corresponding frog when the bug is over their head. However, the order of this song never changes. It is always: A < > v < > v A v A v > < A
FW
- Farore's Wind
G
GBK
- Ganon's Boss Key.
GC
- An abbreviation for either Ganon's Castle or Goron City. This is used inconsistently, but is usually clear from context.
GF
- Gerudo Fortress.
GIM
- Get Item Manipulation. A glitch which allows the player to modify the item which is queued to be given to them.
GJ
- Groundjump.
GK
- Giant's Knife. This is a very uncommon abbreviation. Can refer to both the check and the item itself.
Glow Mode
- The point in a randomizer game when you only need to gather the Light Arrows to proceed to the end of the game.
Go Mode
- The point in a randomizer game when you either have or know the location of every item you require to beat the game.
Greg
- A nickname for the "Rupee (1)" item, standing for Green Rupee of Eternal Glory.
Groundjump
- A glitch that allows the player to cancel a backflip or sidehop, effectively giving Link the ability to jump slightly higher.
GS
- Gold Skulltula.
GT
- An abbreviation for Ganon's Tower. This is not very commonly used.
GTG
- Gerudo Training Ground.
GV
- Gerudo Valley.
GY
- An uncommon abbreviation for the Graveyard.
GZ
- Our practice tool, also known as the Practice ROM.
H
HBA
- Horseback Archery. Refers to both the 1000 and 1500 game in the Gerudo Fortress that in vanilla rewards a Heart Piece and Quiver upgrade, respectively.
HC
- Heart Container/Hyrule Castle.
HESS
- Hyper Extended Superslide. A glitch which allows the player to move backwards at the highest sustainable in-game speed. This is almost never seen typed out fully.
HF
- Hyrule Field.
Hookshot Extension
- A technique which allows the player to fire their hookshot, longshot, bow, or slingshot from slightly in front of where it would normally fire, allowing you to hook on to things a little bit easier and even shoot through some walls.
Hover
- In a glitchless context, refers to using the Hover boots to cross a gap. In glitch contexts, can also refer to using ISG and a damage source to literally hover in midair.
HP
- Heart Piece. Also commonly referred to as PoH or Piece of Heart.
I
IC
- Ice Cavern.
IM
- An umbrella term for the three glitches: RBA, BA, and GIM. Stands for Item Manipulation.
ISG
- Infinite Sword Glitch; a glitch which results in your weapon being in a constant attack state.
J
Jabu
- Jabu Jabu's Belly. Sometimes referred to as JJB, although this is exceedingly rare.
K
Kak
- Short for Kakariko Village.
KD
- King Dodongo.
KF
- Kokiri Forest.
Know Mode
- Exclusive to restreams, this is a point in the randomizer whereby the audience knows the location of every item required to beat the game through the means of watching multiple players at once.
KZ
- King Zora.
L
LACS
- Light Arrow Cutscene. In randomizer, this mainly refers to the location where you would normally receive the Light Arrows in vanilla.
Ladder
- A type of randomizer race where a pool of racers are ranked on one leaderboard where rank is determined by a pairing of many 1-vs.-1 races. Please see their website for more details.
Lensless Wasteland
- The act of crossing the Haunted Wasteland without the Lens of Truth. The path is always the same, so memorizing it removes the need for following the Poe.
LH
- Lake Hylia.
LLR
- Lon Lon Ranch.
LW
- Lost Woods.
M
Megaflip
- A glitch which allows the player to backflip with maximum sustainable speed to extend its distance.
Megasidehop
- A glitch which allows the player to sidehop with maximum sustainable speed to extend its distance.
MoT
- Mask of Truth. Refers to both the item and the check from showing it in the Deku Theatre.
N
Naked Wasteland
- The act of crossing the Haunted Wasteland, although more specifically the quicksand on the Gerudo Fortress side of the Wasteland, without the use of any items. This can be achieved with a well-aimed backwalk.
NL
- Nayru's Love.
No IM/WW
- A ruleset for racing.
No Logic
- A setting that will place items into the world completely at random without checking that the game is beatable. Ocarina of Time has many glitches, so most seeds will still be beatable but often may require use of very advanced tech.
O
Ocarina Minigame
- The minigame in Lost Woods in which you repeat back a series of ocarina notes to two skull kids.
OGC
- Outside Ganon's Castle. Refers to the area where the Rainbow Bridge spawns, the Gold Skulltula there, as well as the Fairy Fountain reward.
Online
- Refers to the ModLoader64 emulator and setup which allows multiple people to play in the same game at the same time. Sometimes abbreviated OoTO.
OoT
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Also commonly used to refer to the Ocarina of Time item or location.
Out of Logic
- Obtaining an item or performing an activity outside of the intended order determined by the program's logic.
P
Path of Gold
- A type of hint describing an area which contains an item logically required to collect every Triforce Piece in the seed. Appears only when Triforce Hunt is enabled.
PCS
PG
- Phantom Ganon.
Pocket Egg
- The first item in the adult trade sequence, ultimately resulting in the Biggoron's Sword.
PoG
- Path of Gold.
PoH
- Piece of Heart. Also commonly referred to as HP or Heart Piece.
Potato
- A nickname for the Fairy Ocarina, due to its color and shape.
Power Crouch Stab
- The damage value used for crouch stabs is the last attack used with a sword/hammer/stick. Most often used in conjuction with a jumpslash to "store" a high damage attack in order to deal damage more quickly. This technique is known as Power Crouch Stabbing. When no sword/hammer/stick has been used since entering the current area the crouch stab will take the damage value of a regular Kokiri Sword slash.
Q
QPA
- Quick Putaway. A glitch which allows the player to store a glitched Power Crouch Stab value.
R
RA
- A common abbreviation for the emulator Retroarch.
Reverse Wasteland
- The act of traveling the Haunted Wasteland from the Colossus side to the Fortress side. This is considered Out of Logic by default, though can be enabled via the Tricks menu.
RBA
- Reverse Bottle Adventure. A glitch which allows the player to write values into memory. It is extremely powerful, but very limited.
S
SFM
- Sacred Forest Meadow.
Skull Mask
- This refers to both the item itself which is part of the Child Trade Quest, as well as the check in which the mask is shown off in the Deku Theater.
SoA
- Stone of Agony.
SoS
- Song of Storms. Can refer to both the song itself and the location you would normally find it in vanilla.
SoT
- Song of Time. Can refer to both the song itself and the location you would normally find it in vanilla.
Spheres
- Spheres are a conceptual explanation of how more things become available to you as you collect more items. It is the "intended path" as written by a computer, but you will likely never actually go from sphere to sphere while playing. "Sphere 0" is what you can get as soon as you boot up your game without collecting anytime else, such as Mido's house and the freestanding Gerudo Valley HPs. What you've collected in Sphere 0 enables what you have access to in Sphere 1. Under normal settings, you get an Ocarina from Saria in Sphere 0. So, whatever you get from Ocarina Minigame is acquired in Sphere 1. Let's say that reward is a Scale. If you receive a Scale in Sphere 1, then anything it unlocks is part of that seed's Sphere 2. Let's say you find a Bomb Bag at the Ruto Bottle check. That Bomb Bag is in Sphere 2, and everything it directly unlocks becomes part of Sphere 3. Keep radiating outward as you collect more unique items that unlock more unique locations until you are able to defeat Ganon.
The description above details how Spheres work for the Playthrough in your Spoiler Log. Colloquially, for example when discussing a race seed, a slightly different variant is also used, where non-randomized checks and events that are the same every seed don't increase the Sphere count. The Ocarina Minigame is placed in Sphere 1 in the above example, whereas in this variant it is counted in Sphere 0 because you can always immediately get the Ocarina if it is unshuffled. Same goes for events such as unlocking Time Travel. Usually only Sphere 0 is discussed this way, because figuring out which check is in which Sphere can get very convoluted and can change over the course of the seed as players find more items.
Spoiler Log
- A document created by the randomizer which lists all the settings, item locations, hints, etc. This will not open automatically or give you any extra information. It simply serves as a resource in case you get stuck or if you really wanted to know what was in that one chest you forgot.
SRM
- Stale Reference Manipulation. A glitch which allows the player to take advantage of free but uncleared memory to do a variety of things including but not limited to calling arbitrary functions, redirecting pointers, and Arbitrary Code Execution.
Standard
T
TH
Three Song Route
- A common opener for the Standard weekly races that involves checking all 3 child song locations - Zelda's Lullaby, Epona's Song, Saria's Song - in quick succession.
ToT
- Temple of Time.
Trials
- Another way to refer to entirety of Ganon's Castle and Ganon's Tower.
Triforce Hunt
- An alternative game mode where pieces of the Triforce are spread throughout the world and you must collect a certain number to win.
U
V
W
Way of the Hero
- A hint which describes an area which contains an item that is logically required to beat the game.
Weird Egg
- The first item in the child trade series, ultimately resulting in the Mask of Truth.
Weirdshot
- A glitch which allows the player to fire first person weapons from underground.
WOTH
X
Y
Z
ZD
- Zora's Domain.
ZF
- Zora's Fountain.
ZL
- An abbreviation for either Zelda's Letter or Zelda's Lullaby. It is often clear from context which is meant. It can also refer to the vanilla location of Zelda's Lullaby to refer to it as a check.
ZR
- Zora's River.