The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has only been out for a little over a week, but dedicated players have already discovered a glitch that allows them to play as Link instead of Princess Zelda. Japanese speedrunner Ikaboze found the exploit and shared a guide on performing it. The glitch involves some tricky menu manipulation and precise timing.
First, players must manually save while controlling Link in the game’s prologue section. Then, they must avoid saving again until they gain control of Zelda after the world map opens up. Next, players must get the Sign echo ability and head to the Eternal Forest.
There, they must place a sign right at the spot where the forest warps Zelda back to the beginning. The key is to open the menu and pause right as Zelda finishes reading the sign and starts to warp. If done correctly, she can still move around with the menu screen up.
Finally, players must let enemies drain Zelda’s health.
Players discover Link glitch trick
The instant she dies and the “Game Over” screen is about to appear, they need to open the menu again.
Then, they can select Retry and load the original manual save at the same time. This will swap Zelda back to Link at the current overworld location near the forest. The glitch resets some game progress and locks certain features.
But Link keeps his gear and can explore the map freely. However, without Zelda’s magic rod for creating echoes, Link can’t solve the game’s puzzles as intended. It remains to be seen if speedrunners can find a way to let Link use Zelda’s abilities to actually beat the game.
Dedicated Zelda fans are known for discovering new ways to bend the games to their will. Time will tell what other secrets they uncover in Echoes of Wisdom. But it seems likely that with enough persistence, players will figure out how to complete the adventure as Link, one way or another.
