Records are made to be broken. But usually, they last longer than a couple of days.
Popular streamer Cosmo Wright smashed the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time speedrun world record he set just a few days ago with a time of 18:10, better than the previous mark by 19 seconds. That’s a full 40 seconds ahead of the next fastest player, an accomplishment that brought Cosmo to tears.
“I feel emotional now,” Cosmo said later that night, laughing awkwardly while trying to hold back tears. “I didn’t think this was going to happen.”
Speedrunning is like turning video games into a track meet. Players exploit the mechanics of the game, and their own individual skill at playing them, to complete a game in as little time as possible.
Cosmo’s Zelda record was an “any percent” run, which means beating the game by any means possible—including skipping large portions of it. The Nintendo 64 classic is notorious for glitches that allow players remarkable freedom, if the player can execute them just right. In this run, Cosmo took advantage of a warp glitch discovered in 2012 that skips the entire adult Link portion of the game.
The only mistake Cosmo made was pausing the game two extra times, costing him a couple of seconds.
“It’s over. Ocarina of Time is over. Any% is done. That’s it,” said an ecstatic Cosmo, moments after completing the run. “I don’t think I could beat this time. I really nailed almost everything.”
He would return later that night, spending some sentimental moments with his fans on his Twitch stream.
Cosmo had a pensive look on his face as he considered his accomplishment, reminiscing on what he called an “eight-year journey” to get there.
“It’s the best run I’ve ever done.”
