Wind Waker speedrunning's scene had humble beginnings with insigificant runs in the early 2000s after its release. The game began gaining traction in the speedrunning world in the mid-2000s with the earliest foundational glitches quickly being found. Early achievements boosted the community's drive to push the game until groundbreaking glitches such as "storage" and "zombie hovering" were discovered.
Following the release of the original game, the HD version continued to push the community with its release in 2013 allowing for more categeries and glitch exploration. Runners now had the option to compete in the original Gamecube version and HD remaster.
Today, Wind Waker speedrunning continues to thrive with a passionate community and multiple world records, with events like Games Done Quick showcasing top runs and discoveries. The history of Wind Waker speedrunning continues today as players continue seeking ways to break the game.
December 13 2002: The Wind Waker was released on the nintendo Gamecube. It sold 4 million copies.
January 30 2005: David “Marshmellow” Gibbons submitted the first ever recorded Wind Waker Speedrun for a time of 7:08:32.
June 22, 2010: KlydeStorm discovered “storage” using Forest Water (aka Wet Storage) as well as the “super swimming” glitch using camera Lock
June 15 2010 - Runner Cerpin discovered the glitch “Zombie Hovering” and was reproduced by Klyde Storm.
May 2012: Narcissa Wright (formerly known as “Cosmos”) begins running Wind Waker as optimized as possible and popularizes the game.
Sept 3 2012: An important glitch known as “dry storage”using the wind waker dives was discovered by Abahbob and recreated by Narcissa Wright making super swimming a realistic strategy.
Sept. 20 2013: The Wind Waker HD is released and the first speedrun is completed in 6:20:33 by Dunham.
April 2013: AGDQ began a Wind Waker Speedrunning craze and introduced iconic runners of Linkus7, gymnast86, Mr. Alberto, etc.
April 2017: A glitch called barrier skip for WW HD was found using item sliding.
July 5, 2018: Demon completes a 3:48:17 run using manual super swimming cutting out the tutorial portion of the game.
May 2020: Reverse engineering eliminates RNG for the Sploosh Kaboom Mini game for the 100% route.
Feburary 2020: Barrier skip using bomb clips was discovered and Demon Completed the first sub 1:00 run.
Oct 19, 2024: A new barrier skip method was discovered without using bombs cutting the pirate ship section out of the game.
Sept 26, 2024: A new puppet ganon boss skip strategy was found using the tingle tuner.
