Bed Trick, Death Trick and Fadeout Trick are three different ways to trigger the same glitch in Back in Time. They differ by their activation method, but the results and applications are identical between the three of them.
When performing one of these tricks, you will be able to load your file in the area it was saved at, but you will load at your last entrance instead of at your save point. This has various uses, such as teleporting a file to another files location, triggering cutscenes early, or loading the incorrect entrance in places that have several rooms. All of these are explained below.
Continue Trick is another glitch that can sometimes be perfomed by starting your file too early for all three tricks above. The resulting glitch is different however, and it is generally considered less useful.
Bed Trick is a glitch that can be performed with beds in Back in Time. By sleeping in a bed in BiT from day to day (or from day to night, but that is riskier) and starting your file in a frame perfect fashion, you can load your file in the area it was saved at but you will load at your last entrance instead of at your save point.
This table shows the various results that can happen when you start a file in BiT, and which ones cause bed trick. This only applies to files saved at Bird Statue, and not Save Prompts.
Sleeping in a bed | Load your file very early | Load your file early | Load your file frame perfectly |
Day to Day | Reverse BiTWarp | Continue Trick | Bed Trick † |
Day to Night | Reverse BiTWarp | Reverse BiTWarp | Bed Trick † |
Night to Day | Reverse BiTWarp | Reverse BiTWarp | Loads file normally † |
Night to Night | Reverse BiTWarp | Continue Trick | Loads file normally † |
Cutscene | Entrance | Corresponding entrance(s) |
Skyloft (Room 0) | ||
Obtain the Sailcloth | Entrance 10 | Landing at the Behind the Temple Statue, Landing at the Ancient Harbour Statue, Landing at Skipper's Retreat Statue, Landing at the Shipyard Statue, Landing at the Pirate Stronghold Statue, Sky Keep Power Room after Triforce of Power, Sky Keep Courage Room after Triforce of Courage, Lanayru Gorge after fighting a boss in Boss Rush, but always crashes |
Meeting Zelda Cutscene | Entrance 13 | Going to the sky from the Eldin Pillar, but always crashes |
Cutscene after diving into circle with Sailcloth | Entrance 25 | Always crashes |
Groose Cutscene | Entrance 40 | Always crashes |
Rescuing Loftwing Cutscene | Entrance 42 | Always crashes |
Beating the Wing Ceremony Cutscene | Entrance 47 | Always crashes |
Open Sky Keep | Entrance 51 | Landing at the In the Woods Statue in Faron Woods, but always crashes |
1st Part of the Sky Keep beaten cutscene | Entrance 54 | Always crashes |
Title Screen Cutscenes | Entrances 55 & 56 | Always crashes |
2nd Part of the Intro Cutscene | Entrance 57 | Always crashes |
3rd Part of the Intro Cutscene | Entrance 58 | Always crashes |
Goddess Statue (Room 0) | ||
Hero's Tunic Cutscene | Entrance 2 | - |
Cutscene before Goddess Sword | Entrance 3 | - |
Cutscene after Goddess Sword | Entrance 5 | - |
Link's room in the Knight Academy (Room 1) | ||
Cutscene after Zelda fell to the Surface | Entrance 1 | Go back to Initial Fire Sanctuary Room through first locked door (Save at First Magmanos Statue with BiTWarp), Go back to inside Fire Sanctuary through third locked door (Save at First Magmanos Statue), Leave Ghirahim 2 boss room (Save at First Magmanos Statue with BiTWarp), Catch Plats in Fire Sanctuary after RBMing the heart piece chest (Save at First Magmanos Statue with BiTWarp), Free second trapped Mogma after RBMing the map chest (Save at First Magmanos Statue), Load after Horde Cutscene |
Horwell Cutscene after the Hero's Tunic | Entrance 2 | Entering the Sealed Grounds Spiral from the Sealed Temple Door, Map Chest appears in Fire Sanctuary (Save at First Magmanos Statue), Heart Piece Chest appears in Fire Sanctuary (Save at First Magmanos Statue with BiTWarp), Landing at Inside Fire Sanctuary Statue (Save at First Magmanos Statue with BiTWarp), Free first trapped Mogma after RBMing Mogma Mitts Chest (Save at First Magmanos Statue), Leaving the Scervo fight in Sandship (Save at Scervo Statue, forced layer 1) |
4th Part of the Intro Cutscene | Entrance 4 | Load after cutscene near Sealed Temple Door in Sealed Grounds Spiral, Entering the Sealed Grounds Spiral with the Statue of the Goddess from Behind the Temple |
Thunderhead (Room 0) | ||
Learning the Song of the Hero (spawns Levias) | Entrance 8 | Lower Waterfall Cave exit on Skyloft, Failing the minecart minigame in Shipyard |
Isle of Songs (Room 0) | ||
Learn Farore's Courage | Entrance 2 | - |
Learn Nayru's Wisdom | Entrance 3 | - |
Learn Din's Power | Entrance 4 | Leaving the Lower Academy Left Door to Skyloft, Going to the Sky for the Wing Ceremony, Load after the Sky Keep intro cutscene, Leaving the Great Tree by the lower exit (not the water), Entering Volcano Summit from Eldin, Leaving the lower grotto in Eldin (save at Volcano Entry), Leaving the Lanayru Silent Realm, Exiting Molderach 2 in the Shipyard through the upper door, Healing the Thunder Dragon, Leaving the upper grotto in Bokoblin Base (save at Volcano Entry, forced layer 1) |
Sealed Grounds Spiral (Room 1) | ||
Cutscene near Sealed Temple Door | Entrance 3 | Mogma Mitts chest appears in Fire Sanctuary (Save at First Magmanos Statue), Leaving the Captain's Cabin in the Sandship (Save at Scervo Statue, forced layer 1) |
Cutscene after beating Imprisoned 1 part 1 (load into Sealed Temple layer 2) | Entrance 5 | Landing at the Sealed Grounds Statue with the Statue of the Goddess, Load after Sandship Introductory Cutscene (Save at Scervo Statue, forced layer 1) |
2nd Part of the Sky Keep beaten cutscene | Entrance 6 | Load after beating Ghirahim 3 in Hylia's Realm |
Landing for the first time in Sealed Grounds | Entrance 8 | Landing at the Sealed Grounds Statue |
Sealed Grounds Spiral with Statue of the Goddess (Room 1) | ||
Final Cutscene (credits but no load at the end) | Entrance 1 | Go back to Initial Fire Sanctuary Room through first locked door (Save at First Magmanos Statue with BiTWarp), Go back to inside Fire Sanctuary through third locked door (Save at First Magmanos Statue), Leave Ghirahim 2 boss room (Save at First Magmanos Statue with BiTWarp), Catch Plats in Fire Sanctuary after RBMing the heart piece chest (Save at First Magmanos Statue with BiTWarp), Free second trapped Mogma after RBMing the map chest (Save at First Magmanos Statue), Load after Horde Cutscene |
3rd Part of the Sky Keep beaten cutscene | Entrance 3 | Mogma Mitts chest appears in Fire Sanctuary (Save at First Magmanos Statue), Leaving the Captain's Cabin in the Sandship (Save at Scervo Statue, forced layer 1) |
Behind the Temple (Room 0) | ||
Groose Cutscene (forces layer 3, Groose only appears with harp however) | Entrance 7 | Upper Waterfall Cave exit on Skyloft, Leaving the Gree Tree from the water exit, Leaving the Thunder Node in Lanayru Desert, Landing at Volcano Ascent (Save at Volcano Entry), Landing at Temple Entrance (Save at Volcano Entry) |
Sealed Temple (Room 2) | ||
Raise the Gate of Time (forces layer 2) | Entrance 4 | Leaving the lower grotto in Eldin (save at Volcano Ascent), Leaving the upper grotto in Bokoblin Base (save at Volcano Ascent/East, forced layer 1) |
Open the Gate of Time (Does not actually open it, load into Hylia's Temple) | Entrance 5 | Leaving Din's Silent Realm (save at Volcano Ascent, forced layer 2), Leaving the upper grotto in Eldin (save at Volcano Ascent) |
4th Part of the Sky Keep beaten cutscene (sets Sky Keep beaten flags) | Entrance 6 | Landing at Volcano East (save at Volcano East), Groosenator Launch to Thrill Digger (Save at Volcano Ascent) |
Cutscene after beating Imprisoned 1 part 2 (forces layer 2) | Entrance 9 | Impossible |
Zelda and Impa reunion cutscene (credits warp) | Entrance 13 | Impossible |
Hylia's Temple (Room 2) | ||
True Master Sword cutscene (gives the TMS) | Entrance 4 | Leaving the lower grotto in Eldin (save at Volcano Ascent), Leaving the upper grotto in Bokoblin Base (save at Volcano Ascent/East, forced layer 1) |
Fi Farewell Cutscene (credits warp) | Entrance 5 | Leaving Din's Silent Realm (save at Volcano Ascent, forced layer 2), Leaving the upper grotto in Eldin (save at Volcano Ascent) |
Hylia's Realm (Room 1) | ||
Horde Cutscene | Entrance 0 | - |
Entering Ghirahim 3 Cutscene | Entrance 2 | Hero's Tunic Save Prompt, Entering the Sealed Grounds Spiral from the Sealed Temple Door, Map Chest appears in Fire Sanctuary (Save at First Magmanos Statue), Heart Piece Chest appears in Fire Sanctuary (Save at First Magmanos Statue with BiTWarp), Landing at Inside Fire Sanctuary Statue (Save at First Magmanos Statue with BiTWarp), Free first trapped Mogma after RBMing Mogma Mitts Chest (Save at First Magmanos Statue) |
Ghirahim 3 Defeat Cutscene (Parts 1 & 2) | Entrances 4 & 5 | Load after cutscene near Sealed Temple Door in Sealed Grounds Spiral, Entering the Sealed Grounds Spiral with the Statue of the Goddess from Behind the Temple, Landing at the Sealed Grounds Statue with the Statue of the Goddess |
Faron Woods (Room 0) | ||
Cutscene after Tadtones (doesn't set flags) | Entrance 49 | Load after talking to Owlan in the Academy for the Spiral Charge |
Deep Woods (Room 0) | ||
Skyview Entering Cutscene | Entrance 12 | Going to the Sky from the Faron Pillar, Landing at the Lanayru Gorge Statue |
Floria Waterfall (Room 0) | ||
Ancient Cistern Entering Cutscene | Entrance 4 | Leaving the Lower Academy Left Door to Skyloft, Going to the Sky for the Wing Ceremony, Load after the Sky Keep intro cutscene, Leaving the Great Tree by the lower exit (not the water), Entering Volcano Summit from Eldin, Leaving the lower grotto in Eldin (save at Volcano Entry), Leaving the Lanayru Silent Realm, Exiting Molderach 2 in the Shipyard through the upper door, Healing the Thunder Dragon, Leaving the upper grotto in Bokoblin Base (save at Volcano Entry, forced layer 1) |
Note: The cutscenes triggered using this glitch almost always look broken because the cutscene is loaded in an unusual layer.
Bed Trick, Death Trick and Fadeout Trick can be used in some scenarios to warp to entrances you are normally not able to access. To do so, you must first trigger an entrance in some room. Then you need to change room without triggering any entrance, and save in another room. The saved entrance value will still be from earlier, and performing the trick will now load you in the room you were saved at but with the last entrance value triggered. This causes you to spawn at entrances you've never been before.
One use of this is to spawn near the Ancient Cistern Boss Entrance. Go into the Ancient Cistern Basement by going down the rope first. This is entrance 2 in room 4. Then, use the main statue to climb back up to the main room, which is room 0, and save at the entrance statue. Now performing bed trick/death trick/fadeout trick will load entrance 2 of room 0, which is near the boss.
Note that you cannot die to respawn in another room, as otherwise the game will grab back the entrance value used to enter that room.
Furthermore, if you load an entrance normally locked by a small key, then you can use that door even without it. In short, you can use this glitch to skip small keys.
This does not work with Death Trick.
After a bed trick or a fadeout trick, the game will load you at your last entrance, but without setting your respawn coordinates and angle properly. This means that dying after a bed trick will make you respawn at the coordinates of the statue you saved at before the bed trick, but with the animation of the entrance used to enter the area in the room you saved in if an animation exists (because the story flag for being saved at a statue got unset).
This does not work with all entrance animations, such as the landing at a statue animation. Landing at a statue does not work because if you die after landing at a statue you respawn at the statue without the animation playing, contrarely to dying after entering a dungeon door entrance for exemple. Thus it only works with entrances that play an animation when you respawn at them after a death. The following entrance animations are known to work:
Some of these entrance animations make Link be in a no-clip state, which allows him to clip though walls: most notably lifted door entrances (like in Sky Keep) or the Ancient Cistern rope entrance.
Swinging doors have an interesting effect: after the death, you should respawn at the statue, but because the game tries to play the swinging door animation, you are immediately teleported to the closest swinging door, and that animation plays. In the next video, this is used to get Out of Bounds in Behind the Temple.
Note: This glitch also works with Continue Trick (non-death method), making it easier, and also allowing it in more places as it means you will not need to perform the glitch in a corresponding room ID like you normally do with Bed Trick or Fadeout Trick.
Continue Trick is a trick that can happen with both beds and deaths, and that is generally considered less useful. It is however much easier to perform.
There are two ways to trigger this glitch:
The results is that the file you loaded will warp to the respawn location that was set during BiT, and BiT is ended. This can also be combined with a File Dupe. After pressing continue, or after sleeping in the bed, you will see the Title logo for a split second before your file loads. Simply open the Title Screen during the split second you see it during that loading transition in order to File Dupe file 3 over the file you started.
Note: If no respawn location has been set before the death (i.e. you died with out entering an new Area or saving during BiT), you'll crash and get a black screen. That is why you should save at a bird statue if you wish to do it on Skyloft Outside right after activating BiT.
If you die after performing a continue trick, you will respawn at the last statue you saved at before performing the trick.
If you try to do a Continue Trick using the Death Method when the game has to change the layer during the load, and if the load is long enough, you will be performing a Continue Trick RBW: this time you will load your file in the area loaded in BiT and respawn with the X, Y and Z coordinated saved on your file, exactly like a normal Reverse BiTWarp.
However, this time the Save Prompt effect does NOT occur: this allows one to respawn with save prompt XYZ coordinates into any map accessible in BiT. Below is the list of the save prompt coordinates that are useful to this:
Prompt | X | Y | Z |
New Game/Hero Mode | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Loftwing Tutorial Prompt | 861.865417 | 0.309706509 | 5257.47119 |
Emerald Tablet Prompt | -822.545776 | 94.2758484 | -2719.94702 |
Skyview Temple Prompt | -110 | 1133.43005 | 650 |
Earth Temple Prompt | -300 | 13800 | -25000 |
Harp Prompt | -38000 | 50 | -4750 |
Ancient Cistern Prompt | -10114.7939 | 270.519989 | -5000 |
Sandship Prompt | -2550 | 70 | 0 |
Fire Sanctuary Prompt | 0 | -500 | -11475.0625 |
Sky Keep Prompt | 0 | 7599.99023 | 8935.83008 |
Save Prompt at the end of Hero Mode | -13.132597 | 0.870000005 | 2021.47632 |
In reality there is a major difference between this trick and a normal Reverse BiTWarp: a normal Reverse BiTWarp spawns you at the coordinates where you saved, whereas this trick puts you at the respawn coordinates saved on your file (the coordinates where you should respawn in case you die). Normally those coordinates are never different since saving at a statue or at a save prompt also updates respawn coordinates. There are a few exceptions though: it is possible to perform a Continue Trick RBW to respawn at Bokoblin Base Entrance Coordinates if you save at any Bokoblin Base statue. Saving at such a statue does not save new respawn coordinates and keeps the ones from before the save, due to the fact that a death in this area loads an entrance into the Jail Cell anyway.