A The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom player has harnessed the power of a handy glitch to create the game’s first perpetual flying machine, which makes use of zero batteries or despawning parts.
Following the release of Tears of the Kingdom, the Zelda community has watched in awe as the most creative-minded have bent Link’s newfound Ultrahand building ability to their will in order to create technological marvels that would make Purah herself turn green with envy.
So far the Ultrahand arms race has given rise to the creation of fully functional Gundams, tanks, classic cars, and some of the most questionable stick men you’ll ever see. However, many of these creations come with one major drawback: they are prone to burst into nothingness the moment their zonite components exceed their all too short shelf lives, or be rendered useless when Link’s batteries run dry.
This is one of the craziest creations in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 🤯
No battery perpetual flight with no despawning parts!
Credits: u/LunisequiouS pic.twitter.com/BWCqW2I0Tv
— ThePhoque (@TruePhoque) July 4, 2023
Thankfully, one Tears of the Kingdom creator has struck a blow against this creative curse by inventing the game’s first perpetual flying machine, the creation of which relies on zero zonite parts or batteries. In other words, its a construct that could theoretically fly forever. Reddit user LunisequiouS recently posted a video of the machine to the r/HyruleEngineering community.
LunisequiouS began by travelling to the Riverside Stable. There, they made use of a glitch tied to a side quest to create what they described as an ‘infinite electricity engine’, which is essentially a zonai emitter that has been bugged to provide an unlimited supply of energy without drawing on Link’s batteries.
They then attached this technological sin to a shield, and used a separate exploit, known as Zuggling, to transfer the equipment to an earlier save file. This process appears to meld the device to Link’s character model, allowing its to persist over area transitions and save reloads, and would also allow a player to create the engine all over again using the side quest glitch.
The final step was to create a flying machine from found parts that could be powered by Link’s infinite electricity engine. “You could fly around the whole map in a circle and beat the Light Dragon for speed,” wrote LunisequiouS. “It has fantastic manoeuvrability, with a patent-pending Variable Ascencion Rotor design that allows the pilot to control precisely whether they wish to ascend, fly straight or descend by simply adjusting the control stick.”
LunisequiouS’ has since posted a guide that walks players through the steps needed to create their own infinite electricity engine. The inventor has also promised a step-by-step guide to the perpetual flying machine will also be gracing the r/HyruleEngineering community soon.
For help with everything Tears of the Kingdom, take a look at our Tears of the Kingdom Walkthrough and Guide about making your way through Hyrule. In fact, you can start here:
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer