When it comes to the unused content in the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, weapons and items are some of the hardest ones to test out. That’s because with a few exceptions, the majority of them can’t just be edited into your save file via the online editor, or gotten via glitches like Inventory Slot Transfer. Instead, you need to modify existing items in real-time to use any of them, with the caveat that reloading your save file or collecting them from a weapon stand will delete them for good.

But, if you can use cheats or glitches to get them, there’s a whole treasure trove of neat things to play around with. From the Old Man’s Lantern to Champion weapons, giant Goron tools to Link’s own fists, the game has a plethora of interesting unused or otherwise unusable items that Link can typically not play around with in the vanilla game.

So today, we’re gonna go through all of them, and explain all the neat properties they have in store. Check out the video below if you prefer to hear our thoughts in audio form:

Or keep reading to learn more about them here instead. Let’s go!

Alternate Master Swords

Starting with some otherwise unusable Master Sword variants found in the files. These are the broken Master Sword found in cutscenes, as well as various demo versions based on the powered and unpowered ones respectively.

And they’re an interesting bunch to say the least. The former has a unique design and unsheathing sound effect, plus a lot of similarities to the Broken Master Sword from Tears of the Kingdom. It’s mostly useless in game due to its low attack power and durability, but it looks damn cool on a weapon stand, and otherwise has every animation you could hope for.

The latter two on the other hand are a tad strange. The unpowered one, is basically just a normal version of the Master Sword with low attack power and durability. It functions as expected in game, except you can delete it from existence by throwing it away or display it on a weapon stand like any other item.

Meanwhile, the powered up one seems to have the icon, but we’ve had no luck getting it to actually appear in game. It’s clearly equipped and present, but the model is missing entirely, with the game crashing outright if we try to jump attack or do anything interesting with it.

Cutscene/Character Weapons

There are also some cutscene specific weapons too, as well as a few unique to various NPCs.

Like say, the Old Man’s Lantern. This one actually has an icon in the inventory, plus a light that turns on at night. It’s a pretty neat weapon appearance wise, but with some weird animations due to its one-handed weapon classification, and the complete inability to actually interact with anything.

There are also various Korok stick weapons too. Again, these have no collision, but they do seem to be properly animated in game, and display well on a weapon stand as well.

Unfortunately, they’re also a tiny bit weird in other areas too. For example, if you jump attack with one, the game will usually crash…

While throwing them will leave them stuck in mid-air, gravity and physics be damned. So, they’re very unfinished/janky, to say the least.

What aren’t unfinished or janky on the other hand, are the Champion weapons. These are the Lightscale Trident used by Mipha and the Great Eagle Bow used by Revali respectively, and they function mostly the same as their regular counterparts.

However, while Mipha’s Lightscale Trident is also visually identical minus the missing menu icon, Revali’s Great Eagle Bow is another story. This one is way bigger than its standard counterpart, to the point it looks ludicrous in the inventory. This doesn’t affect its functionality per se, since it still has the same attack power and multishot features as the normal Great Eagle Bow…

But it does make it worth messing around with nonetheless, just for how ridiculously oversized it is.

Speaking of ridiculously oversized, there are also the tools Gorons use as well. These include a giant hammer and pickaxe, both of which are at least as large as Link himself.

And they’re absolutely awesome in game. They look great on a weapon stand, clip through the floor and other objects all over the place, get stuck in mid-air when thrown and take up so much of the camera view it looks ridiculous. So, as far as visuals and gags go, they’re well-worth playing around with.

Sadly, that hilarity doesn’t extend to the gameplay. Like the lantern and Korok sticks, these tools have no collision, and hence can’t actually damage enemies or objects. Sorry folks, you won’t be able to fight a Lynel with a 6-foot sledgehammer this time around!

Maz Koshia also has a few of his own weapons too. These are a modified Guardian Sword ++ and Phrenic Bow respectively, and get used in his boss fight.

Unfortunately for us though, they’re basically identical to their normal counterparts. Okay, they don’t have an icon in the menu, and disappear when collected from a weapon stand…

But other than those typical unusable weapon properties, they’re just a standard Guardian Sword ++ and Phrenic Bow. Eh, moving on.

Monster Horns

To some monster horns. No, not the Fuse materials from Tears of the Kingdom. The ones they use to alert their comrades into camps.

And there are three types of these. The Bokoblin and Lizalfos ones used in game, plus an unused Moblin variant that (probably) gets used in Tears of the Kingdom.

All of these can be equipped by Link as weapons and look hilariously goofy indeed. He basically spins around with them when attacking, they hang at the bottom of the weapon stand rather than on it, and get stuck to his face when sheathed rather than his bag. Talk about a weird selection of items…

Goron Knuckle (Aka Punch-Out Zelda Edition)

Either way, onto the funniest unusable item in the game. Weapon_Goron_Knuckle, or the punch attack that Gorons use to defend themselves.

Yes, this is actually classified as a weapon internally, and Link can ‘equip’ it. What’s more, it also has a damage value and full collision too.

So, not only can Link ‘equip’ his fists, he can beat the living daylights out of everyone and everything with them too. Enemies, Korok puzzles, trees… if it can be broken by a sword, Link can punch it into oblivion too.

This results in some truly hilarious combat encounters. Like say, Link taking out a Gold Lynel with a well-timed punch to the jaw. Or heck, Link beating the everloving hell out of the Blights, Calamity Ganon or Maz Koshia like he’s in a Punch-Out match.

What makes it even better is that weapon bonuses (like attack up ones added by the Weapon Modifier Corruption glitch) remain on the unused weapons after you transform their original counterparts into them.

So, if you modify a weapon with a few hundred attack power into the Goron Knuckle one, Link can throw out right hooks with the power of an oncoming freight train. Or heck, if you used an ISU modified weapon with a few million attack power, he can hit hard enough to throw Ganon into orbit. *

* Not literally. Any enemy hit with an attack of a few million attack power or more will just drop dead, not fly over the horizon Team Rocket style.

Interestingly though, despite the punch being a Goron’s natural defence mechanism rather than a weapon, it still has durability. So, while Link can indeed beat up his enemies bare-handed with this weapon, he’ll still break his fists from punching too much here. Huh, guess even Hylian skeletons and limbs are made of glass in this game…

Conclusion

Either way, those are all the unused and otherwise unusable weapons in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. They’re an interesting bunch for sure, and some of the craziest things we’ve seen in a Zelda game, so it’s well-worth trying them out if you have the means to do so. You can find the cheats for them on the page linked below if need be.

Breath of the Wild Unusable Weapon Cheats

Still, what do you think about this stuff? Are any of these weapons interesting to you? And what other games should we investigate unused content in next?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below, on social media, or over on our Discord server today!

Source:

The Crazy Unused & Unused Weapons of Breath of the Wild (YouTube)