Speedrunning is one of those things where people are always gunning for new and impressive ways to display their craft. Completing a game in record time might feel mundane to some, so they throw unique challenges at themselves – do it blindfolded, do it without key items, heck why not do it without taking any damage.
But what about completing a version of a game that isn’t out yet, on a console that doesn’t come out for a few more months?
That is what Zelda speedrunning god Ikaboze has managed to do – attending a Nintendo Switch 2 showcase event, to enjoy some hands-on time with the console.
…Where he then managed to defeat The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s end boss around 15 minutes later.
Ikaboze is a self-described ‘RTA hardcore’ player, meaning that he does his speed runs without any tool assistance – just his hands, a controller and some hellishly skilled in-game tricks. At the event players were allowed a 20 minute window to experience what the Switch 2 can do with Breath of the Wild running on its hardware – where Ikaboze then put his skills to work and smashed through the game with time to spare.
It is worth mentioning that the save file for the game did not put players at the very beginning of the game – observers mentioned that the Divine Beasts were unlocked, so it’s not a full playthrough, but still enormously impressive.
Keen-eyed Breath of the Wild speedrunning fans have also made mention that some of the strategies employed by Ikaboze were on the risky side, but he is such a brilliant player that when his attempts failed he would rapidly pivot to a safer trick to continue.
It’s pretty amazing stuff to witness – even for the sake of demonstrating just how well the original Switch game players on the updated hardware. While the video itself is in Japanese, that doesn’t stop it from being a a visual treat as you watch Ikaboze drop his unreal skills in real time.
Are you not entertained? How balls-y is it demonstrating a dozen different game glitches right in front of Nintendo staff? Do you think Nintendo owe Ikaboze his very own Switch 2 on release for such a feat? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
Known throughout the interwebs simply as M0D3Rn, Ash is bad at video games. An old guard gamer who suffers from being generally opinionated, it comes as no surprise that he is both brutally loyal and yet, fiercely whimsical about all things electronic. On occasion will make a youtube video that actually gets views.
