Near the shore of Lake Hylia, there’s a cave with a rock wall blocking the entrance, and a sign warning, “Do Not Enter! Do Not Blow Up Wall! Very Strange Creature Inside!” Of course, Link knows that means something cool is inside, so he blows up the wall and goes in. The very strange creature is Mother Maiamai, who’s lost her babies – 100 of them – and asks Link to find them for her. She gives Link a map with Hyrule divided into regions, and each region indicates the number of Baby Maiamais Link has yet to find in that region. There’s only 50 on the map, so even if I didn’t know there was a second world coming, that would be a big hint. Maiamais chirp when Link’s near, so it’s easy to tell if one’s close.
So now that Link has a mostly-full arsenal and the basic tools of the trade, the world’s opened up, and it’s time to go exploring and collecting. (There are a few Maiamais around the world that seem to be under rocks too big for Link to lift just yet – I can hear them chirping, but they’re nowhere to be seen.) Since Link’s already in the Lake Hylia region, that’s where to begin. There’s a Maiamai on the wall right near Mother Maiamai’s cave; Link can’t pull it off, but can knock it off by merging onto the wall, then unmerging where the Maiamai is. (The Maiamais chirp along with the Item Get! jingle. Cute.) Link can get three of the four other Maiamais in the area: two underwater (Link collects them by diving), and one under a tile Link can lift with the Tornado Rod near the House of Gales.
On a plateau near the cave where the Golden Bee and Ice Rod were in A Link to the Past, there’s a man who challenges Link to run to his brother, behind Rosso’s house in the northwest (i.e., all the fscking way across Hyrule), in 75 seconds or less. (Calling Irene is cheating and disallowed.) I had a lot of trouble with this at first, and of course 75 seconds is the easy run for rupees. The real one requires going in 65 seconds or less for a heart piece. It’s actually easy when you know a good way – through the swamp, by Link’s house and the castle, then mostly due north – I made mistakes that added at least 5 seconds to my time and still made it comfortably. (Fortunately, you can teleport back to the start point by talking to the guy at the end.)
In the Great Swamp, Link can get all three Maiamais. One is underwater near the watergate and another on a pillar that needs to be knocked off by charging. The third is in a cave that’s opened by bombing; the cave has a second exit that leads to a heart piece. The desert is blocked off; at least one in the region seems to be in the way that leads to the desert but under a rock, and any in the actual desert will have to wait until Link can get in. In central Hyrule, Link can find seven of eight Maiamais (four in trees, two under tiles, and one on the north wall of Link’s house) and two heart pieces (one by merging around to the back wall of the Blacksmith’s house, one where the entrance to the passage into Hyrule Castle was in A Link to the Past.
The Eastern Palace and surrounding areas have six Maiamais. One is in the river leading to Lake Hylia, near the bridge where a guy gave Link a bottle in A Link to the Past, and wouldn’t you know it, the same thing happens here. The Pegasus Boots come in handy for three more, hidden in trees and atop a rock. A fifth needs to be knocked off the wall. Near where the sixth is chirping, Link can hammer some pegs to get a heart piece, and there’s another in a cave a little to the north. The next region is Northeast Hyrule (Not Counting Death Mountain), covering Sanctuary, Zora’s Fountain, and points inbetween. Link can get six of seven Maiamais here: four on walls (one in the potion shop) and two underwater. The seventh is on a wall Link can’t get to yet. There are two heart pieces in this area, one in a cave behind the waterfall, the other on a platform in the passage between the Graveyard and Sanctuary Link couldn’t reach before but can now with wall-merging.
Kakariko Village has five Maiamais, and I found four. One was under a bush, one was on a rooftop, and one was in a tree. The fourth is on a wall in a minigame area: Link is given 30 seconds to grab as many rupees as he can, but he has to keep track of the time himself (it’s not displayed on screen) and report in before it runs out; otherwise, he forfeits all the rupees he got. For a high enough score, he can get a heart piece. There’s another heart piece in the well. The fifth Maiamai is frustrating; I can hear it chirping, but there’s no big rocks nearby and nothing else seems to work. The Lost Woods area has eight Maiamais, and Link can get seven: two under a rocks, two on walls, one in a tree, one under a bush, and one in a small pond. I can see the eighth, but can’t get to it. There’s a heart piece in a small secluded area of the woods Link can reach by wall-merging.
Next: That leaves one last region.
