Hijacked Jump Button, Infinite Height, and 90% Dungeon Skips: How Speedrunners Broke the Zelda: Ocarina of Time Switch 2 Remake in Hours
It took the global speedrunning community mere hours to tear apart the brand-new physics engine of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo Switch 2. While a standard playthrough takes roughly 20 hours to complete, veteran glitch hunters led by ZFG, gymnast86, bradyONE, and Dead Cartridge have already pushed early Any% runs well below the 4.5-hour mark.
By rebuilding the 1998 classic from the ground up for its new hybrid hardware, Nintendo and Bandai Namco Studios scrubbed away decades-old Nintendo 64 and 3DS memory exploits. Yet even after the rollout of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Update 1.1.1 on Switch 2, the very quality-of-life upgrades added to modernize Link's movement have opened the floodgates to a wild new generation of sequence breaks.
Actor Jump and Chest Clipping: How the New Jump Button Launches Link Into Space
The biggest gameplay overhaul in the remake is the removal of the original contextual auto-jump in favor of a dedicated jump button and a sprint mechanic borrowed directly from Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. To prevent manual jumping from trivializing classic 1998 puzzles, the developers rewrote collision boxes around interactive environmental objects, known internally as actors. Speedrunners immediately turned that new physics layer against the game.
Dubbed the Actor Jump (or Actor Bouncing), the breakout exploit occurs when standing on or against movable environmental objects such as treasure chests, Kakariko Graveyard headstones, or Magic Bean platforms. By pulling out a free-aiming weapon like the Fairy Slingshot or Bow, holding target-lock (ZL) through the sheathing animation, and pressing the dedicated jump button on the exact frame the animation ends, the engine stacks collision vectors and launches Link violently into the sky, clearing massive invisible walls and loading zones in a single bound.
Runners also uncovered Chest Clipping. By standing directly inside the collision box of an opened treasure chest and triggering a bomb blast or sudden movement input, Link clips straight through solid ceilings to reach upper dungeon floors without keys.
Jumpslash Cancel, Infinite Floating, and Skipping 90% of the Spirit Temple
Even more destructive to traditional dungeon routing is the Jumpslash Cancel infinite height glitch documented by 3D Zelda runner gymnast86. By executing a jump attack with a two-handed weapon (such as the Deku Stick as Child Link or the Megaton Hammer as Adult Link) while manipulating quick-menu inputs to perform mid-air item swapping, players cancel downward gravity and stack vertical momentum indefinitely.
Combined over launch weekend, these discoveries have already rewritten progression across the remake, whose files recently revealed hidden Master Quest mirrored world code on Switch 2:
- Shadow Temple Early: Using the vertical launch from an Actor Jump off Kakariko Village gravestones, Link vaults straight over the upper graveyard ledge without the Hookshot or standard story triggers.
- 90% Spirit Temple Skip: Infinite vertical scaling from the Jumpslash Cancel and ceiling Chest Clips let runners float directly into the upper chambers of the Desert Colossus dungeon, bypassing nearly every puzzle room.
- Early Adult (Puberty Skip): Sequence breaks that force Child Link into Adult Link's dungeon states ahead of traditional Master Sword milestones, creating unstable but routable world states for Any%.
- Roll Canceling Beats Sprinting: Despite Nintendo adding a dedicated sprint button, chaining a target-hop forward into a quick-attack-canceled roll still matches or exceeds sprinting speed for Child Link across Hyrule Field.
Comparison: Patched N64 Classics vs. New Switch 2 Remake Glitches (v1.1.1)
Here is how classic 1998 speedrunning tech compares against the new exploits uncovered on Nintendo Switch 2 version 1.1.1:
| Glitch / Technique | Switch 2 Status (v1.1.1) | New Remake Replacement Tech |
|---|---|---|
| Infinite Sword Glitch (ISG) | Patched (rebuilt shield crouch collision) | Jumpslash Cancel via quick-menu two-handed swap |
| Bombchu Hover | Patched (updated blast physics) | Mid-Air Item Swapping for infinite vertical climb |
| Megaflip / Superslide | Altered by new knockback physics | Actor Jump (skyward launch off chests and graves) |
| Classic N64 Seam Clips | Patched across rebuilt geometry | Chest Clipping (ceiling clips inside open chests) |
| Fast Backwalking | Challenged by native sprint button | Target-Hop Roll Cancel (faster than Child sprint) |
My Take
Watching ZFG and gymnast86 turn Nintendo's shiny new jump button into a literal space program less than 72 hours after launch is peak speedrunning magic. By giving Ocarina of Time the fluid movement controls of Tears of the Kingdom, the developers accidentally handed glitch hunters a brand-new physics playground. Instead of a sterile remake that simply patches out classic N64 tricks and kills competitive routing, the Switch 2 engine has birthed a wildly broken, fast-paced Any% category of its own.
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SEO consultant for over 20 years and digital entrepreneur, Charles "Grimtag" is the founder of Pro-Gamer.gg, Retrocharting.com, and Gamescharting.com. A competitive gamer, streamer, and retro game collector, he has worked in the video game industry for over 15 years, notably as a consultant for leading game price comparison platforms. Passionate about real-time performance data and gaming technology, he analyzes competitive esports, gaming hardware benchmarks, and creator workflows on Pro-Gamer.gg with an authentic player perspective.
