Daily Debate: Has Speedrunning Changed Your Relationship with or Opinion of Any Zelda Games?
Posted on April 11 2024 by Sean Gadus
Speedrunning is a part of the Zelda community that I do not have a lot of experience with. The first time I paid any attention to speedrunning was in Spring 2019 when I attended my first Zelda Dungeon Marathon. Even getting into the mindset for speedrunning (let alone doing very well in my runs) is very challenging because it requires me to play Zelda games at a pace that is different from how I usually play Zelda games. I enjoy taking my time and exploring every inch of a dungeon or area, so playing the games as fast as possible is not my forte. Overall, I am always impressed with how intricately many speedrunners know specific Zelda games, and the way speedrunners use different strategies and tricks to shave time off of their runs.
Because speedrunning requires players to engage with a video game in a different way from most traditional playthroughs, speedrunning has the ability to affect how players perceive a specific game. With this in mind, has watching or completing speedruns changed your relationship or opinions about any specific Zelda games?
My experience speedrunning A Link Between Worlds has been an incredibly positive experience, and I appreciate the game even more after practicing the game for the Zelda Dungeon Marathon. The ability to play the Lorule dungeons in any order adds an interesting wrinkle to speedruns, and players can change the ordering of the dungeons to avoid feeling too bored in subsequent speedruns. Additionally, the ability to speedrun A Link Between Worlds in four or less hours means that the game is always ending before I get too fatigued. Similarly, while Breath of the Wild is not my favorite Zelda game, I find Breath of the Wild speedruns engaging to watch. There so many interesting choices that players can make when deciding their route across the world. For example, which Divine Beasts do players complete first, or how do players find the best weapons across the world? There are a lot of interesting factors to consider when speedrunning the 2017 game.
What do you think? Has watching or completing speedruns changed your relationship with or opinion of a Zelda game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Sean Gadus is a Senior Editor at Zelda Dungeon. His first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time, and he loves all of the 3D Zelda games from 1998-2011. The final battle of Tears of the Kingdom is one of his favorite final battles in the entire series. He wants to help build a kinder, more compassionate world. You can check out his other written work at The-Artifice.com.
