Even with a game as sprawling and varied as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, players will still come up with their own myriad of weird and wonderful ways to complete it. That is, after all, part of the fun of The Legend of Zelda games, be they open world epics or not. These little twists on gameplay can be as uncomplicated or as outrageous as each individual chooses.
Some gamers set themselves small personal goals to achieve within their own playthroughs of a game. This could be a simple case of getting round Mario Kart’s Rainbow Road without falling off once or not using any power up items for the duration of a particularly arduous level. For others, though, the bigger the challenge, the better.
Some Nintendo fans have taken The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and turned the gameplay totally on its head. Streamers have shared a cacophony of ways to play the latest title in the series since the game’s release four years ago. While these attempts are not always successful, they are nonetheless incredibly gripping and amusing to watch. Here are some of the stranger ways that Zelda fans have spiced up their Breath of the Wild gameplay.
SmallAnt vs Breath of the Wild – The No Weapons Run
Streamer SmallAnt decided that weapons were too mundane for taking on the various blights and enemies found within Breath of the Wild, so, they decided to do without them. Forgoing the use of swords, spears, bows, and bombs, the streamer made it all the way to Ganon with a creative use of magnetic blocks, glitches, and stampeding horse hooves.
Unfortunately, when Calamity Ganon takes his final form of Dark Beast Ganon in Breath of the Wild, a bow and several arrows are required to vanquish the game's final foe. This means that a full no weapons run is ultimately unattainable. However, despite this one instance of bow use, this is still an impressive and amusing run from SmallAnt.
Kleric Vs Breath of the Wild – Beating Eventide Island Without Touching The Ground
While others have tested themselves to complete Breath of the Wild with their own unique spin on the gameplay as a whole, some like Kleric have instead honed into one specific area of the game and then added an intriguing extra layer to the challenge presented. In this case, Kleric turned their focus to Eventide Island.
Eventide Island is a shrine quest found in the Necluda Sea area of Breath of the Wild. As soon as Link sets foot on this island, he is stripped of his armor, weapons, and food, and then presented with the task of returning 3 orbs to their pedestals. However, Kleric managed to complete this shrine quest without technically setting foot on the island (thus keeping all of their equipment and resources). This was achieved by using a raft, a lot of octo balloons, and a clever use of physics. This is not a Legend of Zelda challenge for those who lack any smidge of patience.
SmallAnt Vs Breath of the Wild – The No Stamina Run
SmallAnt makes the list for a second time with their No Stamina run of Breath of the Wild. And, perhaps, this is actually more impressive than completing the game without weapons. No Stamina in Breath of the Wild means no spin attacks, no climbing, no swimming, and no paraglider.
Incredibly, even without the use of stamina, SmallAnt managed to complete Breath of the Wild in a pretty swift time of 4h 13 minutes. A lot of outside the box thinking had to come into force as SmallAnt set up to make their final and fatal blow on Dark Beast Ganon, as usually this devastating strike requires the use of stamina in bullet time. However, with a convoluted use of bombs, item removals, and parrying, SmallAnt achieved their goal. They saved Princess Zelda and all of Hyrule from their malice-ridden trappings, all without breaking a sweat.
PointCrow Vs Breath of the Wild – No Turning Left
Possibly the most bizarre of the challenges on this list, PointCrow decided to complete Breath of the Wild without turning left. The streamer even taped a strip of carboard across their controller to limit the motion on their joystick.
As would be expected, there is a lot of pivoting in this particular Breath of the Wild run. For every instance where a left corner was encountered, PointCrow had to turn almost 360° to the right before being able to progress further. Every time they forgot, they had to go back to a previous save and try again. They were ultimately successful in their goal, however, and defeated the blights and Ganon with right turns only.
JoeDun Vs Breath of the Wild – The No Damage Run
No doubt the hardest of all the Breath of the Wild challenges out there; In a truly epic feat, JoeDun managed to complete a 100% playthrough of Breath of the Wild without taking any damage. That's right; not one single hit, fall, shock, or provoked cucco assault befell the streamer.
JoeDun completed their no damage run of Breath of the Wild after several (100 +) attempts and six months of trying. Their climactic and eventual success saw the streamer collect every spirit orb, side quest, heart container, Korok, and more without being hurt once in a staggering playthrough that lasted 31h 58 minutes. Now that is dedication!
Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way to play Nintendo’s open world Hylian epic. It can be as straightforward or as diverse as a player chooses. The Breath of the Wild community has more than proven this with their incredible range of strange, but no less wonderful, gameplay techniques.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is available now for the Nintendo Switch.
Sources: SmallAnt (1), Kleric, SmallAnt (2), PointCrow, JoeDun