A new Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time speedrun world record has been set during a late-night game-streaming session. Legendary streamer Cosmo Wright just beat the Nintendo 64 classic in 18:29, besting the previous record by 22 seconds.
Speedruns are the art of beating a game really, really fast. They’re usually performed by people who are able to truly understand the mechanics and build of a game and exploit it to their advantage. The combination of these skills allows for some fascinating videos.
Cosmo pulled off what’s considered to be an “any percent” speed run. This is when the core game must be beaten as fast as possible, regardless of side objectives.
Exploiting a certain kind of glitch, known as warps, Cosmo was able to move through the game’s environment quickly. Finding Link in one part of the map, he used a series of expertly landed jumps to land at a completely different part of the game world.
The run started a little rough for Wright, and he actually complained about his play at the beating. Obviously, he recovered well enough. And amazingly, Cosmo was able to reach the final fight as Young Link—no small feat.
