Remember the days when you’d settle down in front of the monitor on a Friday night with a bag of chips and root for your favorite speedrunner on livestream? Those days are still alive and well for the speedrunning community when it comes to The Wind Waker. In fact, several new glitches have been recently discovered in the Japanese version of the original copy. Renowned speedrunner Linkus7 demonstrates how each glitch works in his entertaining YouTube video.
In the video, Linkus7 explains the first glitch, which is an improvement of the famous Barrier Skip trick that first conquered Ganondorf’s barrier at Hyrule Castle. What’s notable this time is that unlike the original Barrier Skip, the new trick can be done at the halfway point during Link’s first trip to the underwater kingdom. It is performed by positioning Link through a complex button sequence of movements and pause screens that essentially tricks the barrier’s pixels into clipping him through. Next thing you know, Link is now on the other side heading straight for Ganon’s Tower.
Another glitch he covers is a much-welcomed improvement to an infamous trick, the Zombie Hover. For those of you who don’t know, the Zombie Hover takes advantage of Link’s knock back from an explosion to climb the air in order to quickly get to higher points. Speedrunners have commonly initiated this by “launching” Link into the air with a bomb followed by button codes to keep him hovering. If you wanted to break records and avoid getting the Grapple Hook, the Zombie Hover has been the only way for speedrunners to ascend Puppet Ganon’s room to get to Ganondorf at the top. But the Zombie Hover has one serious catch. If you don’t have a healing item, Link instantly takes the bomb damage when he lands. For a tiny three-heart health bar, that means he dies. Thus, the only way a speedrunner could make it alive to the top of Ganon’s Tower would be to catch a fairy in the air from one of the pots in the rafters by happen chance in the middle of their deadly ascent. Talk about high stakes for a speed hero.
This new improvement of the Zombie Hover is a game changer. Linkus7 demonstrates that it utilizes the Tingle Tuner technology to remedy the health crisis. To do this, Linkus7 opens up the Tingle Tuner shop with his nose to buy a red potion while he Zombie Hovers in order to survive the landing. Yes, you read it right. Sometimes the answer to your problems is at the tip of your nose – literally!
Now that these new improvements are discovered, speedrunners are feverishly clamoring for the world record of beating the original version of The Wind Waker at Any% once again. At the time of this article, the current world record holder goes to Aloakirby at 45 minutes and 8 seconds. Linkus7 is currently in fourth place at 48 minutes and 27 seconds. He is attempting to beat the world record on his Twitch channel and he will be demonstrating a speedrun of The Wind Waker at Awesome Games Done Quick 2025. You can watch the glitches in full action for yourself above.
