Breath of the Wild has been dubbed one of the best and most beautiful games ever made by quite a few people. That's one of the leading reasons why Zelda fans are so eager to get their hands on its sequel, the launch of which was recently pushed into 2023. Most BOTW players likely enjoy taking their time in the game, experiencing everything it has to offer. Speedrunners want quite the opposite, and a few days ago, someone managed to smash BOTW's Any% world record.
That someone is a streamer known as Player5, reports Nintendo Life. A run they completed on May 15 means the world record run in BOTW is now 24 minutes and 15 seconds. That's a full 34 seconds faster than the previous record set by Koroks just two weeks ago. Player5 attributes the much faster run to time saved in paraglider loads and the castle. There's one other neat trick they mentioned, though.
Changing the language of BOTW's dialogue. Player5 claims having the dialogue appear in French rather than English shaves about four seconds off a run. That's certainly feasible. Super Mario Odyssey speedrunners have been switching the dialogue to Japanese for a while as it seems to have a similar effect. Since the run falls into the Any% category, Player5 was also able to utilize any and all glitches available to them.
As for what's next, Player5 is firm in the belief that an Any% BOTW run can be completed in less than 24 minutes and ten seconds. However, they add that getting the record under 24 minutes will require runners to take some bigger risks. As for the ultimate goal, speedrunning site Best Theoretical Time states BOTW can be completed in 21 minutes and 20 seconds. The site combines all of the best times for every segment of the game, a formula that likely includes quite a few efforts from Player5.
Speedrunners have been achieving some pretty remarkable feats so far in 2022 as we move closer to this year's Summer Games Done Quick. Elden Ring's speedrun record appears to have settled at just under six minutes, and the Mario Kart 64 speedrunning scene remains as dramatic as ever. There are also those for whom regular speedrunning isn't enough, leading to someone completing Super Mario Bros. in less than five minutes using just one hand.