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Rupee

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(Redirected from Big Blue Rupee)

A gem that is the unit of currency in Hyrule and other lands.

Contents

Description

Overall

The Rupee is the main currency used in Hyrule, Termina, Labrynna, Holodrum and Koholint Island. As a matter of fact Rupees appear in every Zelda game with the exception of AoL and FSA. The latter of the two has Force Gems instead, which have almost exactly the same properties although they are used to boost the power of the Four Sword. Rupees come in many different varieties and therefore the table below shows what types of Rupee each game uses. This table excludes the Yellow Rupee Shard and the Black Rupee, because these two types have different purposes rather than raising your money funds.

Value Table

Type LoZ ALttP LA(DX) OoT MM OoS/A FS TWW TMC
Green 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Big Green 50 50
Giant Green 500
Blue 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Big Blue 100 100 100
Red 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
Big Red 200 200 200
Orange 100
Purple 50 50 50
Yellow 1 10
Silver 5 100 200
Huge 200 200

Legend of Zelda

YellowRupee LoZ.gif
BlueRupee LoZ.gif
YellowRupeeS LoZ.gif
BlueRupeeS LoZ.gif
The name of the money in this game seems to have been mistranslated (See Translations section). In the manual these valuable stone are referred to as Rubi, and to make matters more complicated the Game's text these valuable stones are called a RUPY (at least Rupy sounds like a Rupee).

Link can find only two types of Rupee in this game. First we have the Yellow Rupee, that is worth 1 Rupee and second there is the Blue Rupee worth 5 Rupees. Yellow ones (they look like they're orange) are found in various places and are commonly dropped by enemies, whereas the rarer Blue Rupee is a harder to find.

The most important reason to collect Rupees is to buy several good items like for example the Blue Ring for 250 Rupees or Arrows sold for 80 Rupees. In this game it is also possible to find several very simple gambling games that can earn you more Rupees.

A Link to the Past

RupeeGreen ALttP.gif
RupeeBlue ALttP.gif
RupeeRed ALttP.gif
Rupees are used as the main currency for both the Light World and the Dark World. According to the manual Rupees are precious stones that come in three different kinds: Green, Blue and Red. They are worth 1, 5 and 20 Rupees respectively and can be found all over the game, but huge Rupee treasures are to be found in the Dark Palace near the entrance of the Boss' Room and also in the Top Secret Room.

The most costly items Link has to buy in this game are the Flippers for 400 Rupees at King Zora's. Other than that there are not many purchases needed, although the useful Blue Potion is also quite expensive. In this game the number of Rupees Link can collect is limited to the maximum amount displayable with three digits: 999.

In the GBA version of the game you can get some hidden Rupees if you try to pull a Painting of Mario from the wall in one of the houses. This only works 1 time, however.

Link's Awakening (DX)

RedRupeeArt.jpg
BlueRupee LA.gif
On Koholint Island the main currency is also the Rupee, there are again in three variaties a small green Rupee, a medium blue one and a large red rupee (colors apply only to the DX version). Apart from that there are 4 other kinds of Rupee treasures Link can obtain from the chests in this game: 20, 50, 100 and 200 Rupees to be exact.

There are not that many shops around so the few of the uses of the Rupees in this game is buying the Bow and Arrow set for a ridiculous amount of 980 Rupees, only 19 Rupees less than the maximum Link can carry in this game. You can also learn the Frog's Song of Soul from Mamu for 300 Rupees.

Ocarina of Time

RupeeGreenField OoTMM.jpg
RupeeBlue OoTMM.jpg
RupeePurple OoTMM.jpg
RupeeHuge OoTMM.jpg
Again the same kind of currency is used in Hyrule from (ALttP), but now it is extended with Purple (50) and Huge (200) Rupees. Link's initial wallet can only carry up to 99 Rupees. After two upgrades from Adult's Wallet to Giant's Wallet this can become 500 Rupees.

On the long term this is still not that much, for there are so many Rupees hidden in this game that the counter gets to 500 in no time at all. Also this game features some special invisible Rupees that are located on some interesting places:

  1. Walk up the Hyrule city's drawbridges' chain links.
  2. Use the Scarecrow's Song at Zora's Fountain on the big rock sticking out of the water next to where Lord Jabu-Jabu was in the past. Then use the Hookshot to find some rupees, while walking over that rock.
  3. Shoot a Deku Seed with the Slingshot on Mario's Painting in Hyrule Castle's Courtyard

In OoT there is also another type of Rupee; the so-called Silver Rupee and it's worth 5 Rupees. If you come across a room where these Rupees are found you need to collect all of them, in order to complete a certain objective that may vary per location.

Majora's Mask

The Rupee currency is also used in the world of Termina. For this game the sprites of OoT's Rupees were reused, apart from the Silver Rupee that is now worth 100 Rupees and has no special use anymore. Moreover even the Wallet system is copied from OoT making this game very similar (what Rupees concerns). The only big difference is that all the Rupees in your wallet will disappear if you go back to Day 1. The only way you can save you money permanently is by storing in at Clock Town's Bank.

Oracle of Ages / Seasons

GreenRupee Or.gifRedRupee Or.gifBigBlueRupee Or.gifBigRedRupee Or.gifFive types of Rupee exist in both Holodrum and Labrynna. If you manage to collect a total of 10,000 Rupees in either OoA or OoS Vasu will give you the Rupee Ring. Another Rupee connected Ring is the Gold Joy Ring, equipping this will increase the probability you will find a random Rupee, when you cut a bush or kill an enemy. Last method of finding many rupees is excavating every square of the screen with the Shovel. You have a very small chance of finding a Big Blue Rupee earning you 100 Rupees in one go. The Big Red Rupee however is a very uncommon rupee only to be found in 3 or 4 locations in both Oracle games, possibly in the Hero's Grave.

In the OoS there is also a Subterranean world called: Subrosia. The people around here use Ore Chunks as the standard currency, unfortunately it is not possible to exchange Ore for Rupees and vice versa, so Link has to collect the Ore Chunks seperately if he needs something from the tribe of the Subrosians


Four Swords

In this game it is your secondary objective to collect as many Rupees as possible. There are 6 types of Rupee in this game and as the chart table shows the most valuable Rupee is the rare Green Rupee.

Black Rupee

A black rupee causes a player to lose some of their own rupees.

Rupee Shard

A piece of a golden rupee. Four shards gives the player and their team 500 additional rupees.

The Wind Waker

Template:Section-stub Description here please

The Minish Cap

RupG TMC.gif
RupB TMC.gif
RupR TMC.gif
BRupG TMC.gif
BRupB TMC.gif
BRupR TMC.gif
This game uses exactly the same Rupee set as FS. There is nice item in this game called the Yellow Picolyte. If you use this item about 90% of all the bushes you cut, places you dig and monsters you slay will result in finding a random Rupee. Although this Picolyte costs 300 Rupees it easily pays off to buy this, because if you use it in the right situation you can collect over 500 Rupees.

Miscellaneous Notes

NES' 255 Rupee Limit

In LoZ Link can only carry up to 255 Rupees. This may seem odd, but it can be easily explained if you know how the NES keeps track of its variables. In order to keep this readable for our non-technical audience it is most easily explained as following: The NES uses internal registers of size 1 byte (8 bits) to keep track of all the data values in the game. 1 bit is either a 0 or a 1 so we have a total of 2 possibilities, thus 8 bits gives 28 possibilities = 256 possibilities. This still leaves 256, does it? However we also need a value for 0, hence we have a range of 0 to 255.

Quick Rupee Trick (ALttP SNES only)

In the SNES version of ALttP Link can obtain a lot of money in a very short time span using the following method. This method works in both SNES and GBA versions, but on the GBA you can only do this one single time. Go to the Forest where the Flute Boy is, equip the Pegasus Boots and dash into the trees on the upper right screen. This will cause 2 Red Rupees to fall out, giving Link 40 Rupees. If you rinse and repeat this process you can easily get all the money you could ever need.

FSA Rupee

Originally in the early development stage of FSA the screenshots that were released back then clearly show that Rupees were used at the beginning. Take a look at these two identical screenshots (for the early development of the game and the released version):

Development Release
FSA Rupee.jpg FSA ForcGem.jpg

In the latter the Rupee is replaced by a Force Gem. Any particular reason for game developers to make this conversion is unknown to me.

Rupee as a real-world currency

The Rupee is a real currency invented in India. It is used in many different Asian countries. See Wikipedia.

Relevant Quotes

Legend of Zelda

The Manual about Rupees (called Rubies in LoZ):

"Rubies are the money used in this kingdom. They sometimes appear when Link disposes enough of the enemy. If Link collects enough of them, he can buy treasure from the merchant. Blue Rubies are worth five times more than yellow ones. In all, Link can own up to 255 yellow rubies, and he may use them in any way he likes." (US manual pg.21)

A Link to the Past

The manual about Rupees:

"The people of Hyrule use precious stones called Rupees as currency. There are three different kinds of Rupees:
Green Rupee = 1 rupee
Blue Rupee = 5 rupees
Red Rupee = 20 rupees"

Sign in front of Hyrule Castle:

I will give 100 Rupees to the
man who finds the descendants
of the wise men. THE KING

Signs in Village of Outcasts

This is the Village Of Outcasts.
People without Rupees are not
welcome here.

King Zora Monologue when buying Flippers:

Wah ha ha! But I don't just
give flippers away for free.
I sell them for 500 Rupees a
pair.
What do you do? Pay 500 Rupees Quit after all

Sign near the Pond of Happiness:

--POND OF HAPPINESS--
Throw some Rupees in and your
wishes will surely come true.
Do you want to throw Rupees? Throw a few Don't feel like it

Link's Awakening

The guy in the near the Raft center:

Want to go on a 
raft ride for a 
hundred Rupees? 

Shopkeeper in Mabe Village after showing him the Bow and Arrow Set:

Bow & Arrow Set 
Only 980 Rupees!

Various Treasure Messages:

  You got 20   
    Rupees!    
     JOY!
   You got 50  
     Rupees!   
   Very Nice!
  You got 100  
    Rupees!    
 You're Happy!
  You got 200  
    Rupees!    
You're Ecstatic!

Ocarina of Time

After opening a chest with a Rupee in it:

You got a Green Rupee!
That's one Rupee!
You got a Blue Rupee!
That's five Rupees!
You got a Red Rupee!
That's twenty Rupees!
You got a Purple Rupee!
That's fifty Rupees!
You got a Huge Rupee!
This Rupee is worth a whopping
two hundred Rupees!

After giving the Bunny Hood to the guy running on the field:

It's a 50-Rupee mask, but he paid
you a crazy amount of money for
it--more money than you can 
count!
(Link gets his Wallet completely filled)
Go back to the Mask Shop and pay back just 50 Rupees of this money.

Majora's Mask

After opening a chest with a Rupee in it:

You got a Green Rupee!
That's worth one Rupee!
You got a Blue Rupee!
It's worth 5 Rupees!
That's not too shabby...
You got a Red Rupee!
It's worth 20 Rupees!
That's pretty nice!
You got a Purple Rupee!
It's worth 50 Rupees!
Your face is beaming!
You got a Silver Rupee!
It's worth 100 Rupees!
You're pretty happy!
You got a Huge Rupee!
Just one is worth 200 Rupees!
That's a big deal!

Oracle of Ages / Seasons

After opening a chest with a Rupee in it:

You got
1 Rupee!
...
You got
5 Rupees!
You got
10 Rupees!
You got
20 Rupees!
That's not bad.
You got
30 Rupees!
That's nice.
You got
50 Rupees!
How lucky!
You got 100
Rupees! I bet
you're thrilled!
You got 150
Rupees!
Way to go!!!
You got 200
Rupees! That's
pure bliss!

Oracle of Seasons

Talking to the Wise Man inside the Hero's Grave (if Link doesn't have enough Rupees):

You've done well
to make it this
far, but there
is a final trial
for the true
hero. It costs
60 Rupees.
Will you try?
Even a hero has need of money. Save up, then return.

?:

Inside a Gasha
Nut? More than
anything, you
find Magic
Rings, but
sometimes you
find Rupees
or Hearts.

The Minish Cap

After opening a chest with a Rupee in it:

You got 1 Rupee. It's green! Don't
spend it all in one place!
You got 5 Rupees! That's kind of nice.
You got 20 Rupees!
That's great.
You got 50 Rupees!
You must be very happy!
You got 100 Rupees!
How exciting!
You got 200 Rupees!
Your face is beaming!

After getting a Yellow Picolyte:

Oh, that Yellow Picolyte makes it
easier for you to find Rupees!
It practically pays for itself!
Care to buy it?

?:

Nonsense! Maybe we need it now more
than ever before!
Fusing Kinstone pieces can bring
people happiness!
This is the true motive for fusing, my
friend! Not Rupees, but happiness!


Translations

Country Name
Japanese ルピー (RUPĪ)
English Rupee
French Rubis
German Rubin
Spanish Rupia

The German translation calls a Rupee more like a Ruby. This is similar to the English LoZ mistranslation of Rupee into "Ruby" and "RUPY". This was corrected in ALttP to Rupee and has since been used in every Zelda game this gem appears.

See Also