Easy Allies’ Game Sleuth: Can You Beat the Running Man in Ocarina of Time?

In a new segment from YouTube channel Easy Allies, Game Sleuth, a spiritual successor to “Pop Fiction,” tackles game glitches, mysteries, and theories. This first episode takes on the task of getting to the bottom of one of Ocarina of Time’s oldest questions: is it possible to beat the Running Man? Game Sleuth takes the game’s history and the work of previous players and lays it all on the table to come to a conclusion.

In any copy of Ocarina of Time to date, the Running Man is technically impossible to beat. No matter the method, you always lose to him by one second. There have even been many hacks and cheats via the way of ROMs, but this still proves to be the case. However, in 2009, YouTuber “RustySporks” posted a video that showed Link winning the Running Man’s race using a method that involves waiting while seven years pass by in the game’s real time. As the video concludes, this is impossible and RustySporks most likely used a ROM with editing options. RustySporks also has a video showing the supposedly long-lost Sky Temple, but this is deemed impossible, too.

Although most of the hard evidence in this episode of Game Sleuth points to the fact that you can’t beat the Running Man, it’s interesting to know just how long players have been talking about and trying to get to the bottom of this question. Videos like these may also spark interest in younger Zelda fans that may not know the past history of older titles. Hopefully this will not be the last Zelda themed episode of Game Sleuth — there are a lot of things they could cover! To stay up to date on future episodes, click through the video to subscribe to Easy Allies. Do you agree with Game Sleuth’s conclusion about the Running Man, or do you have your own theory? Let us know in the comments!