Speedrunners have unearthed an exploit in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that could dramatically change how the community plays the game — and its follow-up, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, which is already seeing new world records.
The glitch allows players to equip any item they want at any period of Ocarina of Time, no matter how old Link is. That means that adult Link can wield the Deku Stick, for instance, while young Link can use the Hammer item — both impossibilities in the unaltered game.
Exodus uploaded the video above to show how the “unrestricted equipping” trick works, requiring some extreme precision to input a code on one particular frame. Once you’ve nailed that down — it’s all described in the video — Link will be able to start using whichever item he wants.
The ability to use late-stage items early on should open up new routes to run through the game, as excited Redditors pointed out. There aren’t a ton of recorded speedruns using the trick yet, although one player’s testing it out on Twitch. Below, Zfg1 nails the frame-perfect glitch after some effort:
Where we’re really seeing this glitch take effect is with Majora’s Mask. It has a different function in the latter game, although it’s applied the same way; in Majora’s Mask, the exploit duplicates Zora Eggs. Being able to cut back on fetching these collectible quest items is huge, speedrunners say, making this one of the biggest time savers possible in the game.
There’s already a new world record for Majora’s Mask that uses the exploit, and the speedrunner — TrevPerson — predicts more players will best his time soon. The record in the Any% category is now set at one hour, 22 minutes and 57 seconds, thanks to a new route that the duplication glitch creates.
Pulling off this exploit may be frustrating for inexperienced speedrunners, but it’s a cool development for those who have been following these communities over the years. That there are still secrets buried in these nearly 20-year-old games is fascinating — especially big ones like these.