Speedrun

A Speed Run is a playthrough of a game with the intention of completing it in the shortest amount of time possible. Unlike the Three Heart Challenge, optional upgrades are acceptable but are generally ignored if the amount of time they save is less than the time it takes to obtain them. Most speedrunners attempt to break record times by using a variety of glitches to save time. Additionally, many speed runners prefer to play with the NTSC version of the game over the PAL version as it usually runs faster (60Hz versus 50Hz). Japanese versions are also frequently used for Zelda games due to having less text to wait through. A video of the gameplay is usually required to verify that a record was truly broken. Most record breaking takes place on streaming services in recent years.

Speed Runs prove to be difficult challenges for the players involved with no reward other than the Community-related bragging rights.

Aside from Four Swords Adventures, all runs listed are single-segment/real-time attack, meaning the run was completed in one take from start to finish.

Current RTA/SS Speed Run Records for the Zelda Series

Game	Time	Performer	Date	Notes
The Legend of Zelda	34:23	Darkwing Duck	April 10, 2012	Any% (Quest 1) - No Up+A warps or deaths
	31:37	Rodrigo Lopes	June 12, 2006	Any% (Quest 1) - Used Up+A warps
The Adventure of Link	1:07:45	Kristian 'Arctic_Eagle' Emanuelsen	2012	Any% - No Up+A warps or deaths
	57:45	Kristian 'Arctic_Eagle' Emanuelsen	2012	Any% - Used Up+A warps and deaths
	1:15:26	solarflair	2012	100% - No Up+A warps or deaths
A Link to the Past	1:26:06	Kryssstal	October 8, 2011	Any% - No savewarps, deaths, or out of bounds
	1:46:54	Kryssstal	July 3, 2011	100% - No savewarps, deaths, or out of bounds
Link's Awakening	1:15:00	ExoSDA	February 23, 2012	Any% - Used savewarps
Ocarina of Time	21:45	ZFG	May 8, 2012	Any%
	2:24:45	sva	April 19, 2012	Medallions/Stones/Trials
	5:52:44	Runnerguy2489	March 20, 2012	100%
Majora's Mask	1:49:33	Steven 'ingx24' Brown	March 12, 2011	Any%
	6:06:26	ZeldaFreakGlitcha	June 29, 2012	100%
Oracle of Ages	2:56:38	Samura1man	April 30, 2011	Any%
Oracle of Seasons	1:56:49	Paladrima	May 2, 2012	Any%
The Wind Waker	5:56:34	Cosmo	May 16, 2012	Any% - Used tuner
Four Swords Adventures	3:02:45 (Total)	Each level was done separately by different people. The fastest times of each can be seen [here]
The Minish Cap	2:13:19	Wesley 'SD2' Bester	June 24, 2010	Any% - Used deaths and Ocarina glitch
Twilight Princess	3:41:45	ingx24	February 21, 2012	Any% - Used savewarps
	8:04:50	Pheenoh	May 11, 2012	100% - Used savewarps
Skyward Sword	5:39:56	Parax	April 28, 2012	Any%

See Also

• 100% Completion
• Three Heart Challenge
• Challenges