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After eight years, the original Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker has finally overtaken its HD remake counterpart on speedrunning leaderboards.
The original GameCube version of Wind Waker is a famously broken game, so it may come as a surprise to you to learn that the HD remake, which patched out most of the glitches, has had a faster speedrun time for so many years.
Part of the reason is the game was sped up in a number of ways for casual audiences, as Linkus7's video details. You can skip certain cutscenes, text and sailing speed are both increased, and the whole Triforce quest is shorter. So, even though there are more skips in the original version, the remaster has enough consistent time-saving features that it's eked out ahead of its predecessor.
The GameCube version was ahead of the remake until 2016 due to how much optimization had been done on its speedrunning route, but then a glitch called Item Sliding was discovered for the HD version which changed everything. It allowed super swimming and opened up strategies for new skips and enabled the remake speedrun to get 20 minutes ahead of the original.
Over the next couple of years, a series of new glitches and optimizations were found for the original version which helped bring the two times back on par with each other, but it took some serious experimenting and dedication from the GameCube runners to even stand a chance. They attempted to skip the Puppet Ganon boss using a technique that had previously only been done in a tool-assisted speedrun (TAS). It requires frame-perfect inputs and happens right at the end of the game, so the pressure is on.
By September 2020, the GameCube record was just a minute behind the Wii U's. But in 2022, an exploit using a Wii U pro controller was found which let HD players skip more cutscenes in the game, setting them far ahead of the GameCube runners again.
All hope seemed lost until earlier this year when two glitches were discovered on the GameCube version of the game that allowed two skips to be set up more quickly and consistently than before, closing the gap on the two speedrun times once again.
These changes combined with a new strategy for clearing the Forsaken Fortress dungeon made it just about possible for GameCube runners to get ahead of Wii U players again, and a new record was set November 10, 2024, eight years since the last time the original was faster than the remake.
While I don't speedrun myself, I love the competitive and collaborative spirit that emerges when game communities take on these challenges – it's a joy to watch it all unfold.
As well as a new speedrun, we could be getting a Wind Waker film as the Sonic 3 writers set their sights on Link's sea-faring journey.
You should check out the best speedruns ever if you want to see more games getting broken.
