We didn’t know you could fly, Link, but Breath of the Wild speedrunning may well have just changed forever thanks to a new glitch.
Now, the Legend of Zelda franchise needs no introduction since it is one of the most enduring and beloved gaming series of all time and one of Nintendo’s hottest properties of all. Titles like A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time have been mainstays of Best Games of All Time lists for decades, and rightly so. They’re wonderful, magical adventures, and they’ll always captivate Nintendo fans.
Is Breath of the Wild the greatest Zelda game ever? Well, that’s one heckola of a personal question. As with any beloved franchise, everyone has their favorites that they’ll always clutch to their gamer-bosom. Is it the most ambitious? That’s all relative, but it’s certainly an expansive title. Remember the streamer who played for almost 100 hours before discovering the combat tutorial?
Breath of the Wild was Zelda’s big foray into the open-world gaming arena. While it’s no Red Dead Redemption 2 in terms of scope, it’s replete with all the exploration, survival elements and hidden challenges you could want. It’s a game to be savored, to get lost in for hundreds of hours, not to hurry through the storyline taking on nary a sidequest.
Still, speedrunners gonna speedrun, as they say. Now, thanks to a newly-discovered glitch, they might have a powerful new tool at their disposal. What we’re dealing with here is an infinite jump glitch, which allows Link to… well, fly in the air, essentially, in a hilariously awkward-looking fashion. It’s a feat for experienced players, because, as Kotaku explains, it first requires the implementation of other glitches: the so-called "Hold Smuggling,"(which allows Link to hold items in his hands in scenarios when he usually couldn’t), "Walk on Horse," and "Moonwalking."
Essentially, Link will stand on top of his horse, dispatch the horse, perform some shenanigans with his glider and then be able to… well, not jump infinitely, but darn close. It’s super awkward and tricky to pull off, and not especially useful in a lot of situations, but it might well prove to have some utility for skipping certain sections. It’s a new tech that hasn’t really been explored yet, so we’ll see how useful (or otherwise) it proves to be going forward.
A player known only as Melissist is credited with its discovery, but who’s going to put it to its best use? Who knows.