The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, has had its Any Percent world record smashed once again - 23 years after release. The fasted time that a player has got to the end of the game is now just six minutes 53 seconds and 950 milliseconds, which is 33 milliseconds shorter than the previous record.
The record may not last long, as the one it beat was only set earlier that day, and the one before that just a week ago. As you can see from the video, this is a highly optimised run where every millisecond counts. Ocarina of Time has been a popular speedrunning title for years now, so all the tricks and skips have to be executed to perfection to beat the record.
As is obvious from the ridiculously short time, the Any Percent category doesn't involve playing the game normally at all. In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it move, speedrunner PaintSkate8 warps from the Kokiri Forest... all the way to the final cutscene with adult Zelda.
What makes this run possible is a glitch known as "Wrong Warping". As the name would suggest, this is where you leave an area, and end up in one the developers didn't intend. The simple explanation of this incredibly complex bug is that players can perform certain actions that influence the values in the game's memory, which then changes where the game puts you when you walk out of a location. In the case of this run, runners have found a way to get from the very start of the game, right to the end.
If you're in the market for a slightly longer run, there's a No Wrong Wrap category. The record for this currently sits at 20 minutes 53 seconds.
Amazingly, this wasn't even the only bit of Ocarina of Time speedrunning news we got this week. Just days ago, runner Savestate beat the Ocarina of Time "Masterpiece Demo" which was included with Super Smash Bros. Brawl in under five minutes. This was also accomplished with Wrong Wrapping, as one of the demos pre-loaded save files comes with all the items needed to pull the trick off.