Three Classic Zelda Games Showcased During Wild Relay Race at AGDQ 2020

There are several things I can always count on to start a new year: first, the bitter cold of the American Midwest; second, Hockey season in full swing. And finally, I have a full week of gaming speedruns to watch! The AGDQ 2020 speedrunning marathon has come and gone, having raised $3.16 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Among many notable runs, one of the highlights was the Legend of Zelda relay race. Nine runners went head-to-head, trying to finish The Legend of Zelda, The Adventure of Link, and A Link to the Past as quickly as possible. As with many speedruns, there were some close calls, some heartbreaks, and ultimately, triumph.

The race kicked off with Cantaloupeme (representing Team Peahat), Greenmario (representing Team Pro_TGMH), and RCDrone (representing Team Sittin’ Sidewayz) starting up The Legend of Zelda. Speedruns for the series’ first title rely on two major mechanics. First, a screen scroll trick, where you can make Link walk off the screen in one direction, and appear on the other side. This makes horizontal movement on the overworld much faster, and allows you to skip some of the game’s more difficult screens. Second, the runners use item drop manipulation. By counting the number of consecutive enemies killed, and not getting hit, runners can control what items they receive from certain monsters. This is essential in collecting bombs and rupees, both necessary items to speedrun the game.

Each runner used these tricks well from the get go. When entering Spectacle Rock, there was only a 35 second difference between the leader and the final runner to enter. However, it was here that the first major hit came to one of the runners. Just as RCDrone and Greenmario were entering the Ganon fight, Cantaloupeme hit a string of bad luck. Just a few screens away from Ganon, he fell in a room of Wizzrobes and Blade Traps. As he tried to make up time, his gameplay became a bit riskier, and he died a few more times. As a result, the other teams had built a huge lead moving on to The Adventure of Link. Unfortunately, Cantaloupeme did not complete the game, before the team moved to their next runner, already six minutes behind.

The Adventure of Link is a whole new beast in speedrunning. Already a very difficult game, runners will often not pick up the candle early on, instead navigating all caves in pitch darkness. However, this particular run was a 100% run, so all items were required. Justinman114 (Team Peahat) had some time to make up, while Pro_JN (Team Pro_TGMH) and Rezovayix (Team Sittin’ Sidewayz) held a comfortable advantage.

Playing in the lead after The Legend of Zelda, Team Sittin’ Sideways fell to second place after a mistimed jump by Rezovayix led to a game over. This allowed Pro_JN to pull ahead and be the first runner to enter the Great Palace. The lead increased when Pro_JN blasted past Thunderbird and Shadow Link. Being the only runner to finish Thunderbird on his first try, Team Pro_TGMH built a 3:30 lead and never looked back.

When playing A Link to the Past, speedrunners tend to use the Japanese 1.0 version of the game. Aside from the text being faster, there are certain glitches exclusive to that version. One such glitch is known as superspeed. By timing a sword spin and a dash at just the right timing, you enter into a glitched state where your regular movement speed becomes the same as your dash speed.

The runs were a sight to behold, as each runner played through without any major setbacks. In the end, the lead built up by Team Pro_TGMH was too much to overcome, and runner TGH_sr brought the race to an end. Although JoshRTA (Team Sittin’ Sidewayz) did what he could to make up time, he could only finish within 2 minutes of first place. BluntBunny (Team Peahat) played admirably, and helped his team salvage a respectable finish in the end.

One of the best parts in Any% runs for A Link to the Past is the Ganon fight. In this run category, runners will often abandon the silver arrows, forcing a final battle with only Link and his sword. The strategy takes precise timing and positioning in the final phase of the fight. By charging your sword and waiting until just before Ganon teleports, the spin damage will replace silver arrow damage. It’s a difficult strategy used to save quite a bit of time in higher-level runs.

In the end, each team finished within three and a half hours. It was a fun way to spend a quiet Tuesday evening, watching three of my favorite games of all time, one after another.

For each team, the final times were as follows:

Team Pro_TGMH – Greenmario – 30:15, Pro_JN 1:17:37, TGH_SR – 1:27:41. Total – 3:15:33
Team Sittin’ Sidewayz – RCDrone – 30:06, Rezovayix – 1:21:18, JoshRTA – 1:27:41. Total – 3:17:33
Team Peahat – Cantaloupeme – DNF/~36:00, Justinman114 – 1:18:54, Blunt Bunny – 1:26:18. Total – 3:21:12

If you enjoyed our play-by-play here, you can read even more about AGDQ 2020 and Zelda speedrunning in general in our reoccurring speedrunning feature Zelda Runners.

Did you watch this race, or any other games during GDQ week? What were some of your highlights? Let us know in the comments below!