-
CultureWind Waker Speedrunners Finally Pull Off Legendary ‘Barrier Skip’ Trick On GameCube
For years, the “Barrier Skip” was the holy grail of speedrunning tricks. The trick, which would allow passage through a seemingly impenetrable barrier in The Wind Waker, became a reality in the HD version in 2017. Meanwhile, the trick still couldn’t be performed in the original GameCube “SD” version. A new glitch has finally made…
By Heather Alexandra Published July 9, 2019 -
CultureBreath Of The Wild Players Discover An Infinite Jump Glitch
A new glitch in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is setting off a flurry of testing and exploration from speedrunners and glitch hunters. The complicated trick allows Link to jump infinitely, making it possible to explore the upward bounds of Hyrule and completely skip shrine puzzles. Exploration and experiments with the new…
By Heather Alexandra Published July 8, 2019 -
Wait, There’s A Wind Waker Village In Breath Of The Wild?
Somehow, despite the game being out for over two years now, it’s taken until July 2019 for us to find out that there’s an entire village from Wind Waker that has been replicated at the edge of Breath of the Wild’s map. While playing, John from GameXplain was walking around Lurelin Village when he noticed that…
By Luke Plunkett Published July 4, 2019 -
A Wishlist For The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Sequel
How do you improve the seeming perfection of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Breath of the Wild took everything that was great about the Zelda series and made it grander and more epic. Like the clever puzzles that make up their dungeons? How about 120 shrines that distill them into their purest…
By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019 -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryWhy I Left Breath of the Wild Unfinished
Some time before I actually finished The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I stopped playing. It wasn’t because I got carried away by other games, and it wasn’t because I was tired of it. I just stopped. New Zelda games are rare things that only come once or twice a console generation, and…
By Joshua Rivera Published June 17, 2019 -
ReviewsSwitchCadence of Hyrule: The Kotaku Review
Cadence of Hyrule feels like a french fry dunked into a milkshake. There’s two distinct flavors at play—the deep exploration of a Zelda game with the bouncy pace of a rhythm game—and they mix together into something greater than the initial pitch. In combining two addictive yet contrasting gameplay styles, Cadence of Hyrule crafts a…
By Heather Alexandra Published June 14, 2019 -
Zelda Fan Creates Their Own Tabletop RPG
Nintendo’s idea of role-playing is pretty light, so if fans want something with a bit more substance, it’s up to them to make their own fun. Like Elemental Knight has with Reclaim The Wild, a complete RPG system they’ve created so that folks can have their own adventures through Hyrule. While it’s based mostly on…
By Luke Plunkett Published June 4, 2019 -
Breath Of The Wild Gets Its First Custom Dungeon
The latest Zelda didn’t include traditional dungeons (no, shrines don’t count), but that hasn’t stopped HailToDodongofrom building one and getting it working inside the emulated PC version of the game. Seeing as it’s only been two weeks since the tools (which HailToDodongo also made, hence the speed) to allow this were first released, this is…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 28, 2019 -
Breath Of The Wild Now Supports Custom Dungeons And Maps (On PC)
The emulated version of Breath of the Wild has all sorts of weird and wild extras the actual Switch edition doesn’t, but until now these have mostly been cosmetic in nature. A new set of tools changes this dramatically, by allowing for custom levels to be built and imported into the game. As seen in…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 19, 2019 -
Zelda: Skyward Sword Speedrunning Has Been Stale For A While, But A New Trick Might Change That
It has proven difficult to find big glitches in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which is why speedrunners haven’t yet figured out how to complete the game in less than five hours. Other big Zelda games, like Ocarina of Time, are far glitchier and therefore far easier to speedrun. But a new discovery, which…
By Heather Alexandra Published May 10, 2019 -
CultureSpeedrunner Shows Off What A ‘Perfect’ Ocarina of Time Run Looks Like
Most players take at least a few days to complete The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, especially if they’re collecting everything. Speedrunners do it in a few hours, using tricks and glitches to rush through the game. Every game has its limits, though: a peak of what’s possible for a human to perform. The…
By Heather Alexandra Published May 7, 2019 -
Breath Of The Wild First-Person Mod Kicks All Kinds Of Ass
Since time immemorial, Zelda fans have wanted to journey through Breath of the Wild’s gargantuan exploration paradise in first-person. But they’ve especially wanted to do that since the all-too-memorable time of last week, when Nintendo debuted a lackluster Labo VR mode for the timeless adventure. Now they can. Like other Breath of the Wild upgrades, alterations,…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 29, 2019 -
Back In The Day, Japanese Gaming Magazine Showed Link As A Girl
In 1986, Japanese magazine Shonen Captain did an article on the newly released Legend of Zelda. Instead of depicting Link as a boy, the article shows the character as a girl. As Yakyusoku points out, Twitter user Kazzycom discovered the article and its accompanying art, which can be seen below. The story behind this art…
By Brian Ashcraft Published April 12, 2019 -
CultureMajor Speedrunning Hub Forced To Roll Back Rankings After Security Breach
The most popular speedrunning website, Speedrun.com, has reverted all its rankings to their April 1 state after a security breach left many leaderboards at risk of tampering. After a similar issue in November 2018, the site’s owner is considering strengthened security measures to prevent future breaches. Speedrun.com is the place to go for a game’s…
By Heather Alexandra Published April 5, 2019 -
Ocarina Of Time Is Now Playable In Co-Op
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time is one of the quintessential singleplayer video game experiences. But now, thanks to the work of some modders, it can also be played with another Link there to fight alongside you. Beginning development last year, OoT Online is an effort by a small team of fans to transform…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 18, 2019 -
Legend Of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Looks Weirdly Gritty Without Cel-Shading
Two years after its release, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild remains a near-perfect game. It’s also still easy on the eyes, thanks to a cartoony style that’ll stand the test of time for years, if not decades to come. So what happens when you strip away that candy-colored exterior? It looks pretty grim,…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 11, 2019 -
Everything That Happened In Today’s Nintendo Direct
The long-awaited first Nintendo Direct of 2019 hit today, and as expected, it was packed full of news sure to please Switch owners looking for more Fire Emblem, Mario, and even Zelda. Here’s everything we learned. Super Mario Maker 2 is coming to Switch—with slopes!—in June 2019. Freaking finally. We can now create our own…
By Chris Kohler Published February 13, 2019 -
Zelda’s ‘Black Sheep’ Is My Favorite In The Series
Because it changes up so much of what we’ve come to consider the traditonal Zelda formula, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is often considered the black sheep in the series. But I loved the switch to a side-scrolling action RPG with towns and NPCs. The story of how I played Zelda II is closely…
By Peter Tieryas Published February 9, 2019