Sploosh Kaboom! The Wind Waker’s Squid-Hunt Mini-Game Has Been Solved
Posted on May 22 2020 by Heather Beard
If you’re familiar with The Wind Waker, then you’re probably familiar with the Squid-Hunt mini-game. The Squid-Hunt game is run by a man named Salvatore inside the the lighthouse on Windfall Island. The game is very similar to the classic board game Battleship; Link is given an 8×8 grid and 24 cannonballs, and he must destroy three randomly hidden squids on the game board. The squids are different lengths, and Link must destroy all of them in order to receive a prize!
Squid-Hunt can be a fun challenge for players who locate the squids early. But at the cost of 10 rupees per attempt, the game can likewise be frustrating to many players who waste time and money on seemingly random chance. The Squid-Hunt mini-game has become infamous among players in the Zelda community for its near-impossible RNG (random number generation) which randomizes the board every time the game is played. It makes the game an especially frustrating task for speedrunners and players trying to 100% the game… But not any more.
After years of hard work, the passionate Wind Waker speedrunning community has finally found a way to solve this infamous mini-game. As described in an in-depth video by runner Linkus7, the process of reaching this solution involved understanding the way the game generates its randomization and then finding a way to anticipate it. All of this hard work has resulted in a “Sploosh Kaboom Probability Calculator”, which has been uploaded to GitHub. Be sure to check out the video above for a more in-depth explanation of the tool’s development and execution by Linkus7, main developer Peter Schmidt-Nielsen, and other members of the speedrunning community.
This new tool works on all versions of The Wind Waker, including the Wii U versions. It should be super handy for players wanting to 100% the game and for speedrunners as well. What do you think of the recent finds? Will you be using the new tool to help destroy some squids? Sound off in the comments below.
Source: Linkus7 (via Zelda Universe)
Hi I’m Heather! I’m Senior Editor and Art Director at Zelda Dungeon and I’ve been a member of the ZD team since 2019. I am a graphic designer, artist, and nerdy mom to an awesome little boy. When my nose isn’t in a book, working on my novel or watching anime you can find me curled up with my cats Mandy-Lynn and Daisy Mae.
