The Japanese speedrunner “Ikaboze” had the opportunity to test the Switch 2 during an event in Tokyo. He used his 20-minute slot to quickly defeat Ganon in Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
What kind of player is he? Ikaboze is a Japanese speedrunner dedicated to the Zelda series. At a Nintendo event in Tokyo, he had the chance to try out Breath of the Wild on the Switch 2. The professional made the most of his 20-minute slot by completing the game.
Player drops equipment, runs straight to the boss
How did he do it? Ikaboze selected from a series of predefined save files and started with a save that let him begin right in front of Hyrule Castle. Before getting started, the player first said goodbye to a large portion of Link’s equipment.
After that, Ikaboze climbed the castle and initiated the final battle against Ganon in just over 2 minutes. Overall, the player needed less than half of his allocated time: after about 7 minutes, he defeated the boss and was rewarded with the credits.
While this is not a complete playthrough, it likely wouldn’t have been feasible within the 20-minute time slot. Currently, the record for Breath of the Wild on Speedrun.com stands at 22 minutes and 58 seconds, about 3 minutes more than Ikaboze had available.
In speedrunning, it often comes down to just a few seconds – beating the record by a full 3 minutes while also competing under less-than-ideal conditions at a convention is almost impossible. However, this also highlights just how impressive the player’s performance is.
Here you can watch the run in the original Japanese audio:
When the Switch 2 launches in June, Japanese players like Ikaboze will have a choice between two versions of the console. A survey shows a clear favorite. You can find out more about this here on MeinMMO: In Japan, there are two models of the Switch 2, but less than 3% want our version
