Chest Type Matches Contents
We've compiled a list of known peeks for Chest Type Matches Contents (CTMC) for easy reference. This document is by no means comprehensive but serves as a good reference for seeds under the current S4 settings (plus or minus a few settings here and there).
What is CTMC?
CTMC stands for Chest Type Matches Contents. The setting changes the appearance of a chest depending on what's inside. This setting employs three chest types: wooden, key, and metal. Progress items appear only in metal chests. A progress item is an item that can have logical implications for the current seed's settings. For example, Tingle Statues can only be found in metal chests if and only if Miscellaneous is on. You can find the internal list of initial progress items here. Dungeon keys usually appear in key chests. Key chests use a custom texture based on the game's Big Key chest. In race mode, dungeon keys for unrequired dungeons will be found in wooden chests instead. Finally, non-progress items and consumables appear only in wooden chests. It's also important to note that transparent chests, such as the one in Angular cave, also reflect their contents.
The core idea behind CTMC is that the player can see whether or not a chest is important by simply looking at it. Of course, CTMC does not affect all checks in the game, such as Free Gifts. However, for the checks for which CTMC does apply, the player can look at the chest at a glance and know whether they should open it. In addition, CTMC speeds up the game, cutting out many "item get" animations. More importantly, it allows the player to look at long-to-get or out-of-logic checks. This document lists instances where the player might employ such strategies.
What is a peek?
A peek is effectively the act of looking at the check before opening the chest or picking up the item, in the case of freestanding checks (such as Dragon Roost Cavern - Bird's Nest). The simplest example is looking at the chest before opening it; this is the fundamental strategy in CTMC. Another strategy is to use the camera to look at a check as you pass by it. For example, look at the Wind Temple - Chest at Top of Hub Room chest as you leaf up to the Seven Armos room. We'll go over some such strategies in this document, in addition to including more complex strategies such as looking at chests from far away, using precise angles for peeking, and getting the camera out of bounds to see through walls.
General Strategies
- Use freecam to look at chests before you approach them.
- Transparent metal chests are discernible by their spikes. Transparent wooden chests are discernible from transparent key chests, but the differences can be hard to spot.
- Assume you don't need the chest as it spawns in. For example, in combat caves, move toward the exit after defeating all the enemies. If the chest is metal, then get the chest. However, statistically, it's more likely to be wooden, and you can exit the cave slightly faster.
- Opening no wooden chests can result in low-health seeds. However, if you need the extra health, it might not hurt to open a few wooden chests when convenient in hopes of getting Heart Pieces or Heart Containers.
- Take advantage of the camera panning to spawning chests to peek at them.
- You can use the Picto Box or Telescope to peek at certain checks from farther away.
- You can safely savewarp after storing a wooden chest without unloading it, as it is guaranteed that you will not require the item. Similarly, you only need to check what item you stored if you stored a metal chest.
Overworld
Crescent Moon Island
- You can peek at the Submarine chest by shooting a Fire Arrow at one of the skull torches on the wall to reveal the chest.
Windfall Island
- You can peek at Jail - Maze Chest by sidling behind the open jail door, crouching, and looking out of bounds at the chest (video, credit: gymnast86).
- You can peek at the House of Wealth Chest from either the top or lower floor.
- You can peek at the Transparent Chest at night by sailing up to the small island.
Pawprint Island
- By sidling on top of the left boulder in the cave and climbing on top, you can peek at the Chuchu Cave - Behind Left Boulder and the Chuchu Cave - Scale the Wall chests.
Dragon Roost Island
- You can peek at the Chest on Top of Boulder without first blowing up the boulder.
- If you get underneath the island (i.e., using a Wind Waker dive), you can peek at the Fly Across Platforms Around Island chest from below.
Flight Control Platform
- With a very precise shot from below, you can shoot a Fire Arrow at one of the two skull torches inside the area where the chest is to reveal and peek at the Submarine chest.
Greatfish Isle
- You can peek at the Hidden Chest from the boat by being just below the alcove.
Six-Eye Reef
- You can peek at the Submarine chest upon entering the submarine.
Needle Rock Isle
- You can peek at the Chest on the island through the flame ring.
Private Oasis
- You can peek at the Chest at Top of Waterfall as you're sailing toward the island.
Bomb Island
- You can peek at the Cave chest through the flame ring. This peek is hard to do without getting to the part of the cave where the two magtails are.
Diamond Steppe Island
- You can peek at the Warp Maze Cave - First Chest (the lower one) from below, on top of the ship with four warp pots on it.
- You can peek at the Warp Maze Cave - Second Chest (the upper one) as you jump out of the warp pot leading to it. You can also peek at the other chest from this upper area.
Ice Ring Isle
- You can peek at the Frozen Chest without dethawing the ice surrounding it.
Forest Haven
- You can peek at the Small Island Chest from either the entrance to Forest Haven or either the western or southern exits. This chest can be hard to see without slightly leafing over to it. Additionally, you can peek at this chest by sailing (7 to 9 sail pumps) toward Cliff Plateau Isles from the Forest Haven warp and look toward the chest using Telescope. (credit: CrystalBellis, Tubamann)
Cliff Plateau Isles
- You can peek at the Cave chest in the cave through the vines.
- Just before entering the cave, you can peek at the Highest Isle chest from outside.
Headstone Island
- You can peek at the Top of the Island freestanding check from the boat. Certain items can be tricky to see, and this strategy is more manageable with either Picto Box or Telescope.
Angular Isles
- You can peek at the Peak chest as you're sailing toward the island.
- You can peek at the transparent Cave chest without pushing a single block. You can use this peek to mitigate the risk of dipping Angular Isles with Mirror Shield.
Five-Star Isles
- You can peek at the Submarine chest by shooting a Fire Arrow at the torch on the other side to spawn in the chest.
Dungeons
Dragon Roost Cavern
- You can peek at the Boarded Up Chest through the boards.
- You can peek at the Chest Across Lava Pit through the boards without crossing the lava pit first.
- You can peek at the Rat Room Boarded Up Chest through the boards.
- While not necessarily a peek, you can use CTMC to know which chest you can store in the rat room for SK skip, and which chest is a key (if any). However, there's always a chance that the key is the Big Key.
- You can peek at the freestanding Bird's Nest item by looking below the Kargaroc.
- You can peek at the Dark Room chest through the boards when doing DRC backward.
- You can peek at the Mini-Boss chest through the bars without entering the mini-boss area. If the chest is not required, you can either void or leaf back down.
- You can use the camera pan to peek at the Under Rope Bridge chest as it spawns in without jumping down.
- You can peek at the Big Key Chest though the flame ring.
- You can peek at both the boss stairs chests from the other side of the lava pit.
Forbidden Woods
- Several chests in Forbidden Woods have flowers on them that you must first destroy before opening the chest. Peeking at the chest lets you skip this if the chest is unimportant.
- You can peek at the Inside Hollow Tree's Mouth chest from the ledge on which you enter the room.
- You can peek at the Hole in Tree chest when you enter the room. Move forward to where the Boko Babas are if it's hard to see.
- You can peek at the Morth Pit chest as you jump/leaf over the pit.
- You can peek at both chests in the vine maze through the boards if you stand by the nearby tree.
- You can peek at the Mothula Mini-Boss Room chest through the bars without having to first defeat the mini-boss.
- You can peek at the Chest Across Red Hanging Flower as you enter the room.
- You can peek at the Chest in Locked Tree Trunk through the bars.
- You can peek at the Big Key Chest through the bars.
Tower of the Gods
- With chest storage, you can peek at the Shoot Eye Above Skulls Room Chest by standing into the wall where the chest is and crouching (video, credit: ofc2000alex).
- Shoot the eye switch above the door upon entering the floating platforms room. Use the camera pan to peek at the Top of Floating Platforms Room chest. You can also peek at the Floating Platforms Room chest from here.
Forsaken Fortress
- You can peek at the Chest Inside Lower Jail Cell through the jail bars without first opening the door.
Earth Temple
- You can peek at the Transparent Chest In Warp Pot Room without revealing the chest.
- You can peek at the Transparent Chest In First Crypt without revealing the chest.
- You can peek at the Chest Behind Statues from the steps below without destroying a statue.
- You can leaf to the coffin with the freestanding item in the second crypt to open it and peek at the item. You can then leaf back and use the Boomerang or an L-slide with the Hookshot to get the item without jumping down. This jump can be done without the Leaf, though it is more precise.
- You can peek at the Stalfos Mini-Boss Room chest from below. This can be done upon entering the room.
- You can peek at the Chest in Third Crypt before voiding if you are doing a chest storage route through Earth Temple. If the chest is unimportant, you can save having to get chest storage again.
- You can peek at both the Many Mirrors room chests without revealing them.
- You can peek at the Big Key Chest through the bars without first defeating the enemies.
Wind Temple
- You can peek at the Tingle Statue Chest by throwing a bomb down first and letting it spawn in.
- You can peek at the Chest Behind Stone Head through the fence.
- You can peek at the Big Key Chest through the bars without first defeating the enemies.
- You can peek at the Chest In Middle Of Hub Room from above through the fan gate. You can also peek at it during the fan-opening cutscene.
- You can peek at the Spike Wall Room - First Chest upon entering the room.
- You can peek at the Chest at Top of Hub Room as you're leafing up to the Seven Armos room.
- You can peek at the Chest Behind Seven Armos through the bars without first defeating the Armos.
Ganon's Tower
- You can peek at the transparent Master Sword Chamber chest before triggering the Mighty Darknut fight.
