Zelda speedrunner beats Tears of the Kingdom in 94 minutes on release day

Less than 24 hours after its official release, a speedrunner by the name of gymnast86 posted a 94-minute run of Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Ganon trembles in fear knowing how fast this was done already.

Speedrunners have a reputation for finding ways to complete games insanely fast. Whether it be glitches that allow them to skip vast swathes of the intended path for players or discovering methods for one-shotting bosses, the ingenuity of players knows no bounds.

However, Breath of the Wild was a game that sort of dared players to speedrun it. It put the big bad front and center and let the player choose how much of the world they explored.

Tears of the Kingdom has much the same format, and, due to the immense skill of a runner by the name of gymnast86, the much-anticipated Zelda title has already been beaten in less than 2 hours.

Zelda speedrunner finishes Tears of the Kingdom at breakneck pace

While the any% speedrun for Breath of the Wild has evolved over the years to involve bizarre map-spanning movement tech and a specific route for the best possible items, it’s always been a game that can be beaten in a matter of hours.

However, the game was designed for the player to be almost unable to complete it so early. The point was to rally your friends, craft the best armor, and get enough weapons and supplies to prepare for the task ahead of you.

Tears of the Kingdom looks to have a very similar format, one that players have enjoyed so much that it’s already one of the highest reviewed games of all time. Dexerto’s review agreed, giving the game perfect marks across the board. However, one player decided to discard most of that content in favor of beating the game as fast as they could.

gymnast86’s final time of 1:34:33 (end game spoilers in the linked video) has certainly drawn some mixed reactions from the community, but, at the end of the day, the game is designed around player freedom and being able to take on Ganon whenever you want. gymnast86 used that freedom and decided to take on Ganon the moment he could pick up a sword.

Without getting into spoiler territory on the run, he didn’t use any glitches or unintended mechanics to get through the game. Just pure skill.

While it’s expected that players will find ways to top his time, gymnast86 may have the unique achievement of speedrunning a speedrun before other speedrunners.