Much like any other open-world game, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was bound to ship with a few bugs and glitches. While most of these were harmless graphical oddities, there was one glitch that fans were able to repurpose into an easy way to farm Rupees.
Dubbed the “duplication glitch,” this exploit allowed players to take advantage of Link’s fuse ability to duplicate resources like Rubies, Amber, Sapphire, and Topaz early in the game. It was a great way to farm these precious resources, which are otherwise quite hard to find.
However, Nintendo recently released an update for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, primarily aimed at removing this duplication glitch. But for those who still want to experience it, there is a way to revert to an older version of the game.
How to Downgrade to an Older Version of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on the Nintendo Switch
First things first, if you have a digital copy of the game, unfortunately, you’re out of luck. The version rollback can only be done if you have the physical edition.
The digital version always downloads the latest version of the game, so it’s not possible to revert to an older version once you’ve already updated to version 1.1.2.
However, if you have the physical edition, here are the steps to easily revert to the release version of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on the Nintendo Switch:
- Remove the game’s cartridge from your console.
- Delete the game from your console by hovering over its icon on the home screen, selecting the option (press “+”), and choosing “Delete Software.”
- Once you delete the game, restart your console.
- After your Nintendo Switch reboots, go to options and disable the internet by turning on “Airplane Mode.”
- Once you make sure your console is offline, insert the game’s cartridge.
Starting the game with “Flight Mode” enabled will allow you to play the day-one version of the game without being forced to update it to version 1.1.2.
It’s important to note that the day-one version of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom does have a few visual bugs as well as performance issues.
With the day-one version, you can utilize the duplication glitch as long as the console is disconnected from the internet. However, as soon as you disable Airplane Mode, the game will force an update to the latest version.
It should also be noted that in some cases, save files from the most recent version may not work with the older day-one version. In such scenarios, creating a new user profile might be necessary. Additionally, we recommend backing up your save file on the cloud (requires Nintendo Switch Online subscription) before downgrading your game to the older version.
Note: This method of downgrading may not work on the Nintendo Switch Lite, OLED, or version 2 (Red Box Switch). Furthermore, having the Switch updated to the latest firmware might also prevent you from downgrading to the previous version of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
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