Zelda Fan Clears Breath of the Wild Using Only His Feet

Yesterday's Nintendo Direct might not have had much to say about the impending sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but fans are still finding ways to wring plenty of content out of the original game. Hot on the heels of his recent 100%, no-damage speedrun of the game, Twitch streamer joedun has managed to set another unique record.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has spawned numerous challenge runs over the years since its release, perhaps unsurprisingly considering the wealth of content available in the game and the expansive and thorough systems at play in this iteration of Hyrule. From speedruns to three-heart challenges and more, few players have been quite so prolific and creative as joedun who, not satisfied with his records for 100% and 100% no-damage runs, decided to try something a little different: completing the game using only his feet.

The run, in which joedun vanquishes all four Divine Beasts before taking on Calamity Ganon himself, clocks in at a respectable 8:18:33, significantly less than the 32 hours of his perfect, no-damage run. Using a regular Switch Pro Controller with a couple of different key bindings (the lower shoulder buttons would presumably have been too difficult to comfortably reach, so their functions were mapped onto the left and right sticks), joedun used nothing but his toes and soles to send Link to the four corners of the world to cleanse each Divine Beast before returning to Hyrule Castle to confront the final boss.

On paper, it might sound like significantly less work: he could take damage or die, he didn't have to collect the 900 Korok seeds or upgrade every piece of gear, and he only had to follow the game's critical path. But even after the months of effort he put into his perfect no-damage run, this particular challenge still had him on edge. As joedun put it in an email to Polygon: "When 100% was a test of skill and endurance, the feet run was a giant test of patience. I would take the test of skill any day honestly."

This was certainly a unique run for Breath of the Wild, but the game's fandom is no stranger to creative self-imposed challenges. Recently, a player took it upon themselves to take a selfie with every NPC in the game, while other speedruns have popped up requiring challengers to pet every dog in the game or gather the ingredients for bread as quickly as possible.

Zelda fans are still waiting on news for Breath of the Wild 2, but some news of the franchise did come out of last night Nintendo Direct. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD was confirmed to be coming to Switch later this year, with updated visuals and a pair of exclusive Joy-Cons. The ever-insatiable joedun will no doubt be thrilled to hear that the game's controls have been revamped too. Presumably even he would have had trouble trying to use motion controls with his feet.