‘Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2’ Patents Reveal New Details About Link’s Skydiving Mechanics

In most Legend of Zelda games, Link tends to drop like a rock with very little grace. However, Nintendo introduced a skydiving mechanic in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. In the E3 BOTW 2 trailer, it seemed to return. Looks at patents Nintendo has filed for the sequel have revealed new details about the skydiving in Breath of the Wild 2.

‘The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2’ patent shows Link’s skydiving mechanics with a bow

In Breath of the Wild, Link enters a bullet-time when he uses his bow and arrow in mid-air.

BOTW speedrunners used this to great effect, like exploiting Mario‘s hat throw in Super Mario Odyssey. It made casual players feel like a real ace archer that could give Hawkeye a run for his money.

However, Breath of the Wild 2 might shake things up with some new skydiving mechanics based on some Nintendo patents.

Gamereactor.eu dug into some Nintendo patents, finding some interesting images. They show Link failing through the air with his bow and arrow, but he positions his body differently depending on the direction he faces.

The dynamic poses include “State A,” where Link aims his bow straight down, and “State B,” where he aims down at an angle. With Nintendo paying attention to the smallest details in the first Breath of the Wild, who knows how these could factor into gameplay.

The ‘Breath of the Wild 2’ patents show off skydiving mechanics, rewind feature, and more

The Breath of the Wild 2 patents showing new skydiving mechanics remains exciting. While the first game’s bullet-time allowed for some incredible trick shots, the other Nintendo patents offer looks at more abilities Link used in the E3 trailer.

“In the trailer, we see Link go through the bottom part of a platform and emerge out of the top via a portal,” Nintendo Life notes. “When conditions allow (and of course when the game makes it accessible), Link may theoretically be able to do it with any surface.”

The images show that Link can only burrow through mostly level surfaces. The game will also prevent Link from burrowing into a space too small for him to do anything.

A third patent reveals the ‘rewind’ mechanic. It gives a glimpse into how the game calculates reversing an object back through time. With Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, players used the game’s flexibility to solve puzzles. The new skills open up thousands more opportunities to solve obstacles creatively.

The images tease even more dynamic abilities for players to use

The Breath of the Wild 2 patents, trailer, and skydiving mechanics helped fan fears. Many worried that BOTW 2 might feel like DLC with a $60 price tag. With Nintendo planning to reuse models and the BOTW Hyrule map, how unique could it feel?

However, Nintendo intends to make Link and Princess Zelda’s next adventure totally different.

And the Breath of the Wild 2 patents reinforce that.

With so many new abilities, players are bound to have hours of fun exploring everything new Nintendo crams into the sequel to Breath of the Wild.