You remember that sound. That rhythmic, rising chime when Link holds a translucent red container over his head. It’s arguably the most satisfying sound effect in gaming history. But getting all the Ocarina of Time pieces of heart isn't just a nostalgia trip; it’s a grueling test of patience that sends you into every damp corner of Hyrule. Most players finish the game with maybe 14 or 15 hearts, thinking they’ve seen it all. They haven’t.
There are 36 pieces hidden in this game.
Collect four, and you get a full heart container. Simple math, right? Except the developers at Nintendo decided to hide some of these in places that feel genuinely mean. Some require you to wait for a digital sun to rise and set multiple times, while others demand you play a mini-game involving a very hungry dog in the middle of the night. It's a lot. If you're going for a 100% run, you aren't just playing an action-adventure game—you’re basically a freelance investigator working for the Royal Family.
Why the Heart Hunt is Actually the Best Part of the Game
In most modern games, side quests feel like busywork. Fetch 10 herbs. Kill five wolves. In Ocarina of Time, searching for heart pieces is how the game teaches you to actually look at the world. You start noticing things. Why is there a random hole in the ground near the entrance to Great Fairy Fountain? Why is that cow sitting in a cage in Lon Lon Ranch?
The hunt forces you to engage with the time-travel mechanic in ways the main story doesn't always demand. You’ll plant a Magic Bean as a kid, wait seven years, and then ride a floating leaf as an adult to reach a ledge you’ve walked past fifty times. It's brilliant. It makes Hyrule feel like a living, breathing place rather than just a map connecting dungeons.
Honestly, the rewards aren't even about the health. By the time you reach Ganon’s Castle, you’re so overpowered that having 20 hearts is almost overkill. The real "reward" is the mastery over the environment. It’s knowing that you beat that annoying Dampe digging game in the Graveyard. It's the pride of finally catching that 10-pound lunker in the Fishing Pond after forty-five minutes of wrestling with a N64 joystick.
The Absolute Worst Pieces to Track Down
Let’s talk about the ones everyone hates. We have to.
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Top of the list? The "Gravedigging Tour" piece. You have to go to Kakariko Village as a child, between 18:00 and 21:00 in-game time. You pay Dampe 10 Rupees to dig in a random spot. It’s pure RNG. You can spend 500 Rupees and get nothing but green gems, or you can get it on the first try. It’s frustrating because it’s not based on skill. It’s just luck.
Then there’s the Frog choir. Deep in Zora’s River, there are some frogs sitting on a log. You have to pull out your Ocarina and play every single non-teleportation song for them. But that’s just the start. After they all grow big, you have to play a "Simon Says" style mini-game where you trigger specific frogs by hitting buttons. If you mess up the rhythm once, you start over. My thumb still hurts thinking about it.
- The Lakeside Laboratory Dive: You need the Gold Scale. This means catching a massive fish as an adult. Once you have it, you dive in the lab’s pool to touch the bottom. The scientist gives you a heart piece.
- The Treasure Chest Shop: In Hyrule Castle Town (as a child at night). This is basically impossible without the Lens of Truth. You have to guess which chest has the key to move to the next room. If you do it blind, you're a legend. Or just lucky.
- Gerudo Fortress Archery: You have to get 1,000 points while riding Epona. It requires precision that the N64 hardware wasn't really built for.
The Hidden Logic of Kakariko and the Graveyard
Kakariko Village is the densest area for Ocarina of Time pieces of heart. If you’re stuck, you probably missed one here. There’s one inside a windmill that you can only get by using the Longshot or a very well-timed jump from a platform as an adult. There’s another one inside a literal crate on a rooftop. You have to use the Man on the Roof to get the Hookshot up there, then roll into the crate.
The Graveyard is equally packed. Most people get the one from the "Sun's Song" tomb, but did you know there's one hidden behind a Longshot target high up on the wall? Or the one you get for racing Dampe’s ghost a second time and finishing in under a minute? It’s these layers of secrets that keep people coming back to the game decades later.
Even the crates matter. In the back of the Kakariko potion shop, there’s a window. If you enter from the side of the mountain as an adult, you can drop down and find a heart piece just sitting on a ledge. It’s easy to miss because who thinks to go behind the counter of a shop from the outside?
Hyrule Field and the "Secret" Grottos
Hyrule Field seems empty, but it's a Swiss cheese of hidden holes. If you have the Stone of Agony (which vibrates your controller), you’ll find grottos everywhere. One specific piece is located near the entrance to Lake Hylia. You blow up a circle of stones, drop down, and have to fight a business scrub or use a golden scale in a small pond.
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There's another one near the entrance to Gerudo Valley. Behind a tent, or inside a crate, or tucked behind a waterfall—the game rewards you for being a destructive nuisance. Breaking every crate you see isn't just a habit; it's a strategy.
Pieces You Can Only Get as an Adult
The time jump changes the topography. As an adult, you have the Hookshot and the Longshot, which are essential.
Take Death Mountain Crater. As a kid, you’d burn to death. As an adult with the Goron Tunic, you can climb down the wall inside the crater to find a piece tucked in a small alcove. Or look at the Ice Cavern. There’s a piece trapped in "Red Ice." You have to find a blue flame, bottle it, and bring it back to melt the ice. It’s a puzzle within a mini-dungeon.
Most players forget the one in the Fire Temple. It’s in a room with a lot of fire traps and a "Like Like" enemy. You have to use the Scarecrow’s Song to summon Pierre, then Hookshot to him. If you never talked to the scarecrows at Lake Hylia as a kid, you can’t even do this. The game expects you to remember a conversation you had ten hours ago.
The Master Checklist Strategy
If you're serious about getting all 20 heart containers (the 8 from bosses plus the 9 you build from 36 pieces), you need a system. Don't just wander. Hyrule is big, and backtracking without a plan is how people burn out on this masterpiece.
- Childhood Sweep: Before you pull the Master Sword, get every piece in the Market, Lon Lon Ranch, and the Graveyard. Use the Boomerang—it can grab pieces that are out of reach, like the one on the spinning structure in the Zora’s River.
- The Magic Bean Investment: Buy all the beans from the guy at Zora’s River. Plant them in every soft soil patch you see. These are your elevators to heart pieces in the future. No beans, no 100%.
- The Gold Skulltula Connection: You need to kill 50 of these spiders to get the Piece of Heart from the cursed family in Kakariko. It sounds like a lot, but if you listen for that scratching sound, you’ll find them.
- The Biggoron Sword Detour: While not a heart piece, having the high-damage sword makes the combat challenges for certain pieces (like the Gerudo Training Ground) much faster.
Misconceptions About 100% Completion
A lot of people think you need to beat every dungeon to get all the heart pieces. You actually don't. You can get a huge chunk of them as soon as you get the Hookshot. You also don't need to finish the "Big Poe" hunt or the Mask trading quest for heart pieces, though those give you other rewards like the Fourth Bottle or the Mask of Truth.
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Another common mistake? Thinking a piece is "glitched." Usually, if a piece isn't appearing, it's because of the time of day or a specific trigger. For example, the dog in the Market (the white terrier) only gives you a heart piece if you return him to the lady in the back alley at night. If you try it during the day, nothing happens.
Actionable Next Steps for Your Run
If you’re staring at your save file and seeing 18 hearts and three quarters, you’re missing one. Just one.
Start by checking the most forgotten spots. Did you get the one at the very bottom of the well in Kakariko? Did you use the Iron Boots to sink to the bottom of the lake in Zora's Domain? Did you play the Song of Storms for the 2-for-1 secret grotto in the Lost Woods?
Go back to the Fishing Pond. It’s the most common "missing" piece. You have to catch a specific weight fish as a child to get the piece, then a different one as an adult to get the scale. If you skipped the child version, that’s your culprit.
The beauty of Ocarina of Time pieces of heart is that they make you an expert on the world. You’ll know every tree, every grotto, and every weird NPC’s schedule. By the time you find that 36th piece, you won't just have a full health bar; you'll have a map of Hyrule burned into your brain that will stay there for the rest of your life.
Grab your Ocarina, check your inventory, and head back to the Temple of Time. There’s a world out there waiting to be picked apart, one red fragment at a time. High-completion runs are the only way to truly respect the level design Nintendo poured into this 64-bit universe. Go get that last quarter.