As incredible as it may seem, considering the game originally released in 1998, a new glitch has been discovered in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that could have a direct impact on the speedrunning community.

First reported by GameRadar, the glitch was shared on Twitter by Ocarina of Time speedrunner ZFG, who described it as a “really cool glitch.”

The exploit involves using a bottled item at the exact moment a hitbox disappears to “overwrite damage values,” allowing players to defeat certain bosses without the items normally required to fight them. So far, two major applications have been found: defeating Volvagia without the Megaton Hammer and taking down Ganondorf without Light Arrows.

In a separate post, ZFG provided more details, explaining that since the glitch involves loading and unloading memory data, specific setups and prior actions may sometimes be required, depending on the situation. However, combining Link’s Magic Spin Attack with the use of a bottled fairy appears to be fairly consistent.

The glitch also works in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. Using the Magic Spin Attack followed by spring water generally results in “powder keg damage,” which can be used to reach the Goron Racetrack and Romani Ranch more quickly, although some preparation is required.

ZFG expects the discovery to have an impact on several speedrunning categories, though not necessarily all of them.

“Although this seems like something obviously very useful on the surface, there’s actually a bunch of minor details that makes it not as simple to just be an automatic timesaver in runs,” the speedrunner explained.

For example, the All Dungeons category currently skips obtaining the Slingshot and magic, with one of these being necessary for the glitch to work. Speedrunners are experimenting with a method to obtain the Slingshot and potentially defeat Volvagia more quickly.

The category that appears to benefit most immediately is No Wrong Warp. According to ZFG, the glitch could eliminate the lengthy process of obtaining magic, requiring only the Slingshot instead and potentially saving several minutes.

Randomizer runs are “definitely the biggest winner” thanks to the possibility of defeating Volvagia without the Megaton Hammer.

While this discovery may not change much for casual players, it’s fascinating to see new exploits continue to emerge nearly three decades after the original game was released. Anyone interested in trying it out can do so in both the Nintendo Switch Online version and the original cartridge release.

In other The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time news, Nintendo released a new trailer for the game’s remake this morning. The title launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5. In case you missed it, you can check out our full coverage here.