The Legend of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom finally makes the titular princess the playable star of the show. After a short prologue as Link, players leave the hero of time behind and experience a completely new Zelda adventure. However, a player recently discovered that there is a way to continue playing as Link, and the bug behind it raises questions about how much of the game can be defeated as an elf-like warrior.
Japanese speedrunner Ikaboze uploaded proof that the error was possible earlier this week and YouTuber ZeldaMaster published a practical English-language guide on how to do it (via IGN). The trick is to play around with menu screens and save files. When it works, it kind of breaks the game, but it’s worth it for speedrunners who want to test the limits of what’s possible with the latest Nintendo Switch Zelda.
As ZeldaMaster explains, the first part of fixing the error is quite simple. Once you have control of Link during the prologue, perform a manual save. From then on, do not save again until you control Zelda, after the map has opened and can be explored if necessary. At this point, get the Character Echo and head to the Eternal Forest. From this point on things get difficult. The next step is to place a sign as close as possible to where the forest leads you back to the starting point. The goal is to stop and enter the save screen at the exact moment Zelda has read a sign and begins transporting.
If successful, she can continue to move while the menu is displayed on the screen. Next, the goal is to load the existing manual save while Zelda is dying. To do this, you need to find some enemies nearby and let them drain their health. If you go back to the menu screen the second she dies and “Game Over” appears, the game will glitch and from there you can select “Retry” while loading the original save, which will revert Zelda back to Link Overworld near the forest. The game state will deteriorate and certain gameplay features will be locked again, but Link has his gear and can freely explore the map.
It’s a nice mistake because people love Link, but it opens up the interesting possibility of whether the entire game can be won with him. He does not have the magical staff that allows Zelda to create echoes, effectively preventing him from solving any of the game’s puzzles and progressing to the end as the developers intended. But what if he could get the Tri Rod and start crafting it while retaining all of his other abilities? If players can swap out an entire character model, I’m sure they can find a simple item.
Finally, Zelda Speedrunners are them The same people who figured out how to save the Unbreakable Master Sword from the beginning The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Whether it takes a dozen or a hundred weird glitches on the menu screen, I have a feeling they’ll find a way.
