Image: Nintendo
As many fans begin to wrap up their first play sessions of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Switch 2, more attention is slowly shifting to the game’s speedrunning community.
During the Zelda Direct, Mr. Aonuma noted how child Link’s new “dash” ability had been introduced in the remake because many players in the original game would often roll from one point to another. While it is definitely a faster option than walking, it turns out rolling is still a slightly quicker way to get to your destination (at least as Young Link) in the remake.
Speedrunners have now time-trialled Young Link dashing and rolling across Hyrule on the Switch 2, and if you roll about, you should arrive at your location sooner. And hey, every second counts when it comes to speedrunning!
Zelda speedrunning channel ‘Kethnaldo’ took a closer look, and between running (dashing) and rolling, the real winner here is the technique referred to as “forward hop roll-cancelling”, which in one demonstration sees the player run from Koriki Forest to Hyrule Castle and arrive at the castle roughly four seconds earlier than other methods.
“After you front hop, you can roll immediately and get rid of that end lag…so all you’re doing is target forward hopping to get that insane momentum, rolling immediately to get rid of all of the end lagging, and then front hopping again as soon as possible to maximise that front hop speed, and you just chain them together as best as you can…you will mess up, but even with mess ups…it’s about roughly four seconds faster than running.”
Images: via YouTube channel Kethnaldo
So if you want to speed things up when you’re on foot as Young Link, rolling is still recommended. And if you can nail the other technique, you’ll be shaving quite a bit off the adventure. Of course, keep in mind, this isn’t the original Zelda: Ocarina of Time, so there’s always a chance Nintendo could make subtle or major adjustments to game mechanics in future game updates.
Do you roll about Hyrule? Are you planning to speedrun this game, or at least the bosses? Let us know in the comments.
[source kotaku.com]
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Liam is a news writer and reviewer on Nintendo Life. He’s been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of many iconic video game characters.