How are passwords determined in the Legend of Zelda Oracle games?

I was curious how the passwords are generated between The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Ages games. I have done some limited research on it, and have discovered that what you name your character and the newborn in the main town have an impact on it, as well as some predetermined game ID, but I was also interested how those were involved and how so much other data was compacted into the twenty character string. I found this out using a guide from IGN and a password generator executable.

Solution 1:

The password is based on several factors.

• Your character name.
• What you name the child in town.
• What animal partner you pick.
• Your progression in the game (including game completetion tag on/off)
• What items you have unlocked.

As far as the exact algorithm, that I have no clue about.