Just under 25 years after the initial release of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Maska player did the impossible: making the blue dog win the race without cheating or using glitches. In this single Zelda title, Link can participate in a series of races through the Doggy Racetrack. The idea is to bet on which dog will win, and although there are tips available, the outcome is largely random. But not all dogs are created equal: unfortunately, the blue dog is less likely to catch it first, to the point where it was long considered impossible.
But the pessimists were proven wrong when a speedrunner named Falkush finally managed to make the blue dog win a race without using glitches or cheats last August. The winning race itself is available via Falkush YouTube channelbut a full recap of the effort to achieve a blue dog victory, as well as the mechanics involved in achieving it, is detailed in a new video from Vidia James.
Blue Dog In Majora's Mask Romani Ranch minigame got a win
Why it took 25 years for the blue dog to arrive first
The mechanics of the Doggy Racetrack minigame are surprisingly complex and are detailed extensively in the video above. The basics state that each dog has a set base speed, which fluctuates randomly throughout the race, and players can read their thoughts using the Mask of Truth to determine which one is most likely to win. But the golden dog's base speed is by far the fastest, while the blue dog's is the slowest. This means that the gold dog is most likely to win any race, the blue dog is the least likely, and everyone else is almost tied for second place.
Dogs whose dialogue starts with “Ruff” are statistically more likely to be closer to the front.
Speedrunners have long been dedicated to achieving a blue dog victory, and At least one had already achieved this before Falkush – but they only achieved this with the help of a rare glitch. This glitch causes the race results to be released early, so even though the blue dog is doomed to lose, if he is at the front of the pack when the glitch is triggered, he will still be considered first. place winner before crossing the finish line.
But that wasn't enough for Falkush, who wanted to see the blue dog win a legitimate victory. He first orchestrated a situation in which the blue dog's pre-race conditions were as good as possible and all the other dogs' conditions were poor. He then used custom code in BizHawk, a versatile speedrunning tool, to simulate race after race until the blue dog finally won. He expected the project to take much longer, but After just three days, he managed to make the blue dog win.
Our opinion: The Legend Of Zelda will never cease to surprise other fans
This probably isn't the first time the blue dog has won; With millions of players around the world, it's likely this has happened at least once before. It's just that the odds are so low that all these other blue dog victories went unnoticedor at least, unregistered. And it's certainly not the first time a player has achieved such an unlikely result. Zelda occurrence after several years of attempts. Of A link to the pastthe ghost's inexplicable failure to TOTK secrets that remained hidden for a year after launch, the Zelda the series is full of rare discoveries.
This, coupled with the carefully selected sequential progression of its games, makes The Legend of Zelda the perfect series for speedrunning. Its speedrunning community has demonstrated nothing but resourcefulness, creativity, and dedication over the years, whether it's discovering a new limit breaker that shaves an hour off a 100% run or simply helping an unlikely dog win a minigame in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
Sources: falkush/YouTube, Vidya James/YouTube