"Gossip Shop" is a mistranslation (or, at least, a confusing translation) from the original Japanese dialogue. In the original SNES version of A Link to the Past, the fortune teller says "Abracadabra alakazam! The gossip shop in the Dark World has treasure for the asking..." and in the GBA version "Abracadabra alakazam! Inquire about chests at the gossip shop in the Dark World..." However, as explained by Clyde Mandelin at Legends of Localization, a more accurate translation of the original Japanese dialogue would be "Ask the informant/tipster living in a Dark World cave about the treasure chest."

In other words, the "Gossip Shop" is not a place, but a person that you buy gossip from. Specifically, it is the hand-shaped Storyteller in a cave in the Lake Hylia area of the Dark World. This cave is in the same location as the Good Bee cave in the Light World (which is next door to the cave where you can get the Ice Rod). The Storyteller in the cave in the Dark World will sell you information about the master locksmith who is hiding in the desert, which is a clue about how to open the locked treasure chest.

If you lose your shield, try to defeat the enemy that stole it before it can steal anything else, and it will drop the shield. If it steals something else after it steals your shield, you won't be able to get the shield back by defeating it. However, there are four shops in the Dark World that sell Fighter's Shields (the original blue shield) for 50 rupees. After you buy this shield, you can throw it into the Waterfall of Wishing in the Light World to have it upgraded to the Red Shield. The locations of the shops that sell the Fighter's Shield are as follows:

• Where the Witch's Hut is in the Light World
• Where the eastern Fortune Teller's Hut is (northwest of Lake Hylia) in the Light World
• Where the Lumberjack's House is in the Light World
• In a house blocked by purple posts in the Village of Outcasts (where Kakariko Village is in the Light World)

In the GBA version, it is possible for the Mirror Shield to be stolen by Like Likes. The only way to get it back is to buy it from the Dark World Shield Shop, which is east of the Village of Outcasts.

The Chris Houlihan Room, known as the Top Secret Room in non-English versions of the game, is a hidden room in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. In the SNES version of the game, it is reached by falling into a hole from the south edge while moving quickly north, such as with the Pegasus Boots or by placing a bomb south of you and being knocked north into the hole by the explosion. The developers of the game created the secret room as a failsafe if the correct destination is not found for a given hole. The game uses your current coordinates and area to determine the destination of the hole that you fell into, and since you are placed above the screen after you fall into a hole so that you will be shown falling from the top edge of the screen, you can cause your Y-coordinate to go farther up than expected by quickly moving north into the hole. (For more details, read "Houlihan" by Spanda.) In the GBA version of the game, the secret room cannot be entered this way, and can only be accessed using cheat codes or glitches.

One method of entering the room is to go to the different-color tree near the lumberjacks' house in the northwest Light World (the tree changes color after you obtain the Master Sword). First, enter and exit the cave north of the lumberjacks' house. Then dash against the tree from the north to remove the leaves, then stand on the south edge of the tree, and place a bomb south of you so that it knocks you into the hole. You may end up in the Chris Houlihan room.

It is speculated that Chris Houlihan's name appeared in the game as a result of The Warmech Challenge in the September/October 1990 issue of Nintendo Power Magazine.