19 weeks ago, Arcus set his goal time for Zelda 1 to any time below 30 minutes. His grind started off really tough, with nearly every minute saved being a new milestone in his journey. Just in recent days he had many runs inching close to a sub 30, but they just didn’t make it for one reason or another.
There are just so many variables in a run of Zelda. From manipulating enemy movement, health management can gain or lose plenty of time at the end of each dungeon, keeping track of your enemy kill count, of course many elements of RNG, switching between multiple routes depending on what is made available during the run itself… it makes for lots of ways to succeed, but so many more ways to fail.
This was the run. 31.4 seconds ahead out of level 5 may have been his best pace ever. That was a good clunk. After he found his groove, he was nearly unstoppable.
“I didn’t just squeak by. I smashed the sub 30.”
His run improved from here a bit, up to 44 seconds ahead at the end of level 6 putting him 31 seconds ahead of his goal. You could feel his nerves kick in immediately after he looked at his timer. That feeling of “This is it. This is the run.” can really get the heart racing.
Levels 8 and 9 took a small loss in time, but it wasn’t enough to take down Arcus’ momentum. In the final dungeon, we have never seen Arcus this nervous. It’s doubtful even Arcus has seen himself this nervous!
So many good bzzzaps, good clunks, and good bleeps. This new time puts Arcus in 8th place on the leaderboard, which is a great spot to hold for such a noteworthy, competitive game. Our favorite moment during the run is during this final dungeon when he looks at his splits and questions “Am I really that far ahead? Am I just seeing things, or am I really that far ahead?” with a look of pure concern on his face.
Speaking of expressions, just look at the joy he experiences when he finally nails this amazing 29:45 run after an intense 19 week grind. This is the kind of a joy a person deserves when they dedicate themselves to a goal and work really hard to achieve it! We can’t help but smile and laugh along with him!
Be sure to check out Arcus87 on Twitch! His next focus game will be Zelda 2, and he always keeps things fresh with new games you can vote on for his Fresh Fridays! Arcus is said to be the Bob Ross of speedrunning with his reoccurring catchphrases, calm demeanor, family friendly content, and all around good attitude towards life. From all of us, we really appreciate your streams, and you as an individual. Keep up the great work!
Well, as always, have fun and godspeed. HUA!
