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Another day, another video game record shattered.
Another day, another video game record shattered. Last year, a player who goes by the handle Cosmomade a name for himself by beating Nintendo’s classic adventure game, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time , in 18 minutes, 10 seconds. It was amazing. Nobody would ever beat that, right? Well…
As it turns out, Cosmo’s moment in the sun only lasted for a few months. Last winter, a player named Jodenstone challenged Cosmo’s record, and shaved three seconds off of the record time, reducing Link’s epic journey to 18 minutes, 7 seconds. That was good enough to secure the Any% world record for the fastest run through(Any% is short for “anything goes,” meaning that players can use glitches to get through the game). Unfortunately for Jodenstone, his accomplishment didn’t last, either.
A new video making the rounds shows a player named skater82297 absolutely decimating Jodenstone’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time record, finishing the game in an unprecedented 17:47 – twenty seconds faster than the previous run.
To break the record, Skater used the Japanese edition of Ocarina , running on the Wii Virtual Console. Text moves faster in the Japanese version of the game, giving speed runners a few extra seconds. In addition, Skater uses a glitch that relies on a so-called “emulation bug” (meaning that it doesn’t appear in the original version of the game, when it runs on its native hardware).
The Virtual Console is a crucial factor in Skater’s success. Cosmo set the record playing Ocarina of Time on a Chinese device called the iQue Player, which has quicker load times and faster text than the original Nintendo 64. However, the glitch that Skater uses to get the in-game bottle crashes the game on the iQue; using the Virtual Console guarantees that Skater can use this glitch, and still the game.
By the way: skater82297 is only seventeen. Breaking a world record will look pretty good on those college applications – assuming that he got any school work done during his 1,567 previous attempts at the title.
Speedrunning has always been a popular, if niche, activity in the video game community, and it’s only getting more popular thanks to the rise of YouTube and video game streaming sites like Twitch. Speedrunning isn’t just about glory and ego, either: a few months ago, a bi-annual speedrunning event called Awesome Games Done Quickraised over $1.5 million for charity.
Skater’s Any% achievement is just one of many The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time speedrunning records. The fastest time for a “glitchless” run, 3:44:24, was set by Makai just last month. Makai also holds the record for a glitchless 100% run – finish the game and collect all of the available items, using no glitches – with a time of 5:57:38.
Source: Nintendo Life