While we have been having a wonderful time with The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom over the past week, there's no denying there are certain parts which are a little broken. Speedrunners have already uncovered a way to polish off the latest adventure in under an hour, and now, a new glitch has been found which lets you explore Hyrule as Link.
As demonstrated in the above video from YouTube account alyo, the glitch utilises a similar Sign Echo loophole that has the speedrunning community all excited. By creating a save file in the opening section of the game (where you play as Link as standard), and then beating the first dungeon, a well-placed Sign will cause all sorts of havoc, including, it seems, sending the titular princess to the subbench.
alyo provides a full rundown of the glitch, but we have done our best to break it down into the following steps:
- Start a new game and create a save file when playing as Link in Suthorn Ruins
- Complete the first dungeon as normal while playing as Zelda
- Find the Sign Echo and visit the Eternal Forest east of Kakariko Village
- Walk on the treetops and find the furthest point you can enter the fog without being warped out (roughly between the second and third rows of trees)
- Create a Sign Echo, read it and attempt to open the game menu at the same time — if successful, you'll still be able to move behind the menu
- Using the minimap, move Zelda off the treetops and into combat with a nearby enemy
- Let the enemy defeat Zelda and reload the initial Link save file when presented with the 'Game Over' screen
- While the screen is dark, press A and up
It's a fiddly process, but, as alyo's video demonstrates, it lets you roam Hyrule as Link, fully equipped with his sword, bow and bombs.
Neat, right? Well, almost. Naturally, the game doesn't love being broken, and will frequently jump back to the Eternal Forest area whenever Tri has something to say. You'll also be unable to get all that far with Link's limited skillset because, spoiler, the Trirod and Echo-summoning abilities are pretty crucial in most of the game's puzzles.
It seems a little cruel to immediately glitch Zelda out of her first mainline starring role, but it's a fun little novelty to see Link run around for a while — just don't expect to get all that much done with him. Besides, we'd imagine Nintendo will patch this one out before long.