Popular games always attract speedrun attempts, and the Zelda series is obviously no exception.
2003's Zelda: Wind Waker has been subject to speed run attempts for years, but an interesting schism in the community occurred when Nintendo released the HD version for the Wii U in 2023.
This update not only spruced up the visuals, but it also fixed many of the glitches that were present in the original version. That meant that players had to find other ways to bring that time down, and they did – so much so that at one point, the speedrun record for the HD version was several minutes less than the GameCube original.
What's amazing is that, rather than admitting defeat, the GameCube speedrunning community knuckled down and began to find ways to chip away at the gap between the two editions – and after eight years, the GameCube version of Wind Waker has finally been completed in a faster time than its HD sibling.
You can watch a good summary of the entire history of Wind Waker speedrunning in the video below.