When The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (BotW) launched alongside the Nintendo Switch in March 2017, it was already a masterpiece. Over the next two years, Nintendo carefully curated a series of patches. Most were minor bug fixes, while the 1.3.0 and 1.5.0 updates laid the groundwork for the Champion’s Ballad DLC.
The community is currently split. There is a "1.6.0 Any%" category that is essentially a brand new game, and a "1.5.0 Legacy" category that will live on in emulation. The first 1.6.0 Any% world record was set four hours ago: 4 hours, 12 minutes. That is almost three hours slower than the old record. Hyrule just got bigger again.
Ultimately, Version 1.6.0 was the final major beat in the game's lifecycle before the community shifted its full attention toward the whispers of a sequel, which would eventually become Tears of the Kingdom. botw update 1.6.0
: Unlike some VR experiences that only offer mini-games, the entirety of Breath of the Wild is playable in this mode. Nintendo Support Hidden Performance Boost: Faster Loading
Faster Travel: Loading a save or fast-traveling between Shrines is significantly quicker. In some tests, wait times dropped from 26 seconds down to just 14 seconds. 🛠️ Stability and Glitches The Final Journey: A Deep Dive into The
Note for Wii U owners: The final patch is also 1.6.0, but due to Wii U eShop closure, you must have downloaded it before March 2023.
Actor Metadata: Most actors (objects and enemies) were updated to require a larger instance heap, suggesting a core code update. The community is currently split
Speed Comparison: Tests showed that loading a save file or teleporting between shrines became roughly 30-40% faster compared to Version 1.5.0.