Gaming News 30 years after the release of this iconic Zelda game, a player sets a new world record and we’re sure you’ve never seen the techniques he uses
The Legend of Zelda Link’s Awakening, a true masterpiece of the Game Boy, Nintendo’s monochrome console with interchangeable cartridges, has just revealed new secrets. Yes, it is possible to do it… in 40 minutes!
The Zelda of a whole generation
For anyone who owned a Game Boy in the early 1990s, the portable console was often presented as an interesting alternative to home consoles, albeit with less impressive games than on a television. This impression did not last. In addition to Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, which went much further than its predecessor, the reveal came with The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. This cartridge, which rivals Link’s adventures on a home console, was a real slap in the face to those who thought the Game Boy couldn’t have games worthy of the Super Nintendo. This is all the more amusing because this title came about almost by accident…
It was a Nintendo employee who started testing outside of work hours to create a prototype. The visually very clear and promising prototype caught the attention of his supervisor (who surprised him when he looked at the prototype) and the project was started. It was precisely in 1991 that management approved the project and the original plan was to create a Zelda port for the Super Nintendo. Then a few Nintendo members got together to form a small club of sorts and the concept evolved into a Zelda game inspired by the Twin Peaks series. Parallel to its insane production and fabulous design, The Legend of Zelda Link’s Awakening is exciting in the sense that it is a Zelda adventure that has emancipated itself from the usual lore of the franchise. The developers thus convey the image of a kind of “Zelda parody”. Full of brilliant details and mixed with humor, “Link’s Awakening” is a little gem!
A child prodigy! It’s ready in 40 minutes!
One of Link’s Awakening’s great strengths is its longevity. When the game came to the Game Boy in a small cartridge, many feared that the game would end quickly. It is not so. For an average player, the adventure will take 8 to 12 hours, depending on whether you complete all the side quests or not. Well, hold on tight, a speedrunner has managed to finish the Dreamfish epic in… 40 minutes ! It seems completely crazy when you think about the density of the map and the different dungeons and areas you have to traverse. And yet from the video posted by the person concerned on February 1st it is clear: the game is over in exactly 40’41’97. There is no need to advise you to watch the video as it is hypnotic.
To achieve this “warpless”, i.e. completing the game without using teleports to get from one section to another, the user used various strategies. The 40-minute video shows the journey that allowed him to reach the end of the game and it is simply amazing. In addition to playing with saved games and stealing items from the village shop, he manages to trigger “glitches”, meaning that the program does not become invincible in certain sections or manage to jump onto normally inaccessible walls. To give an idea: He reaches the first dungeon in 4 minutes! In less than ten minutes he has already completed two dungeons without having to defeat the boss. He sometimes literally derails the game until he exploits every mistake with surgical precision. The video is definitely worth watchingSo if you have about forty minutes to spare, don’t hesitate!
