Tears of the Kingdom’s Duplication Glitches Were Harming Nobody, So Why Remove Them?

In mid-May, the Ascend ability for The Legend of Zelda: Kingdom of Tears was revealed. This allows Link to dive into solid surfaces overhead and emerge onto the ground or platform above. It actually originated as developer debugging code. This shortcut was originally designed to allow escape through the roof of the cave without having to backtrack all the way from underground. In short, it was a cheat code.

Game director Hidemaro Fujibayashi explained, “When you were exploring the cave, you would reach your destination, confirm it, and then just use the debug code to reach the top.” polygon. “And I thought, ‘This might work in a game.'”

According to Fujibayashi, Eiji Aonuma, a veteran “The Legend of Zelda” producer, also admitted at this time that Link’s path to underground exploration was “painful to go back.” Thus, Link’s Ascend skill was born. A behind-the-scenes workaround has been approved as an official in-game ability. This was an effective solution to what even the developers themselves found annoying.

“To be frank and honest, cheating can be fun sometimes, which is why we decided to throw it in there,” admitted Fujibayashi.

I wholeheartedly agree with that.cheating in video games teeth fun. No, I’m not talking about cheating to gain an unfair advantage over your opponent in an online shooter or the like. Let’s be realistic, if I start revisiting my thoughts on esports-oriented combat, think of it as a coded message to everyone that I was kidnapped. Rather, I’m talking about cheating in single player games, the code and cracks that have brought countless generations of enjoyment to some of the greatest games ever made. is.

Scammers always thrive.

The story of Tears of the Kingdom’s Ascend ability and its transition from developer hack to official feature is an interesting one, but (assuming you’re old enough) there are tons of cheats you might remember. A range was born under similar circumstances. In other words, they are code intentionally placed in the game to aid development and streamline playtesting. God mode, infinite ammo, unlocking levels, whatever. In the final dash to the finish line, developers sometimes forgot to pull out code like this. In other cases, I deliberately left them in to avoid digging deep into the code to remove it at the last minute, and the tried-and-tested game broke in another, unexpected way. You may.video games Nothing, if not a wobbly monolith held together by glue and goodwill.

I remember collecting and trading cheats like currency as a kid. I remember stuffing most of my game cases with notes pages for specific cheats. I used to buy whole cheat magazines. Somehow, when I entered the media industry 20 years before him, editing magazines became part of my job. But then cheats became unpopular. Games in general became so complex that creating stupid cheats required a team rather than an individual impulsive effort, which was costly. Add to this the arrival of achievements and trophies, and these trendy but largely meaningless measurement systems have become a new priority. Performing all these tasks will give you digital cookies that were included. Press this series of buttons to explode Lara Croft. Even basic cheats were sacrificed at the “honesty” altar of achievements and trophies, leaving little room for invincible gamers and bottomless ammo bags in this new climate.

As a result, cheats have become an almost extinct novelty in today’s video games. There are a few studios that still care about the fun they bring to their games, but there are very few of them. For the most part, the only thing the code issuer currently wants plugged into the game is his CVV on the back of his credit card.

It’s a big pile of cheats.

Now, a belated confession, I’m not much into high fantasy or games like The Legend of Zelda. Realistically, I’m the type of gamer who kills cars, cowboys, and Nazis. Mainly meathead. But I’m a sucker for physics puzzles, delicately woven systems, and the amazing, emergent gameplay that Tears of the Kingdom seems to overflow with at first glance, so give it a try. . have Despite my overall lack of interest in the Legend of Zelda genre, this work was a fascinating introduction to the world of The Legend of Zelda.

But here’s the second confession. deceiving like crazy. Like the East German Olympians, they’re cheating. I’m cheating like that woman who took the subway to win the Boston Marathon. Cheating like Tiger Woods.

Well, maybe not as much as Tiger Woods.

But you gave the glitch a name, so I used it. Weapon duplication glitch? You better believe The day I discovered the existence of the Weapon Duplication Glitch, I discovered my first Hylian Shield. 4 pieces were eaten in 2 minutes.

Problem with item duplication? Yes absolutely. First, it attaches to the arrow and then drops the entire bow. Then, while gliding or pausing while jumping on a shield, there’s also one that allows him to spawn an additional 5 items at once. I’ve carried enough salmon to sink a small ship, I’ve laundered countless diamonds through a strange man with a triangular muppet nose, and a great many in my backpack. Loaded with bombflowers, I won’t fight anymore. committing war crimes.

It smelled like victory.

Unbreakable Master Sword from Prologue? yes. There is one. Of course, I know the weapon durability system has been the subject of a lot of discussion in Breath of the Wild (and I’m way too late to join here), but yes. i hate it. Even the weapons that you have collected are meaningless if they are broken unnoticed. It’s hard to get excited about finding new ones when you know you’ll run out of thousands as soon as you start using them. On his son’s advice, I flew to the Suspended Castle to obtain what he claimed were a few mighty swords and a bow. They all broke after a few encounters. Collecting them was a complete waste of time and to be honest the thought of having to put up with this system was exhausting me and the fuse system couldn’t salvage it. In a game that currently only interests me professionally, I was losing momentum quickly.

The indestructible Master Sword glitch (a combination of item duplication and some sort of savegame sorcery) is a very specific multi-step process.can’t even begin to understand why can. All I know is that it completely saved my Tears of the Kingdom playthrough. Now you can focus on exploring and simulating to see what counterattacks, instead of frustrating the detailed management of an arsenal that appears to consist of weapons made out of corn chips and PVA glue. can.

not found? Well, let’s agree to disagree.

Strictly speaking, these are not cheats. Not in the traditional sense. They are glitches and exploits. However, spiritually speaking, they are imposters at heart. Clone a few fairies and you’ll be virtually invincible. Why not jump around for a few seconds? You have unlimited items. I broke the game! You’re playing it wrong! Hey, I’m having more fun this way than I started, and what I do in my Tears of the Kingdom playthrough has virtually no effect on anyone else. That’s where the discussion begins and ends. I’m totally indifferent to what the single player purist thinks about his approach to the game. I’m a big fan of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. I wouldn’t mind if there were people out there who beat each of them with the help of cheats that Rockstar openly incorporates. In fact, I never had that thought. It crossed my mind until I wrote this paragraph.

Unfortunately, as of the latest update, Tears of the Kingdom’s most credible glitch has been fixed. Nintendo nukes them. New methods are emerging, but none seem to be as useful or profitable as those that are disabled. I have the Switch in airplane mode with auto-updates turned off, so it was fine in my home. I still cheat like a three-armed poker player, and so does my youngest son, who is obsessed with Zelda. In fact, I think the flaws we’ve been teaching each other have inspired him more than I have.

To be honest, we have a lot of fun.

But my question is, why remove them in the first place?

When Hidemaro Fujibayashi found it boring and tedious to rush back out of the cave, he tricked him into magically teleporting him to the surface. When I realized that the weapon degradation system was so frustrating that it literally prevented me from enjoying the rest of the game, I followed some instructions to fix the problem. Ultimately, I don’t know the difference. Sure, one is treated as an official technique and the other is a game-changing exploit, but both are solutions to boring problems.

Perhaps there is a desire to protect the purity of the experience the developers intended, but on the other hand, where’s the harm? Tears of the Kingdom is not an online game. No multiplayer component. Players who use glitches are not doing so to gain an advantage over other players. they do it for fun. Realistically, is there a big difference between duplicating some resources in Zelda and switching to creative mode in Minecraft? If you’re worried about tearing Tears of the Kingdom’s long-term appeal by getting through the game faster than normal, then look at Minecraft, there are roughly two reasons why that might not be true. You can see that there are 150 million of them.

If Nintendo wants to become Nintendorks and police how people enjoy their games, so be it. We have no say in how developers want their games to play. But no matter how you look at it, fun is subjective, and removing what makes a game fun is the exact opposite of what it is. Instead of bogging down and working for hours, don’t mess around with duplicating a few items. It’s completely different from breaking through the roof to save the trouble of walking.

Luke is a senior editor and part of the IGN review team. GTA: San Andreas had the biggest cheat code ever. You can tell him it’s right on Twitter @LukeReilly.