You Can Fly Without A Paraglider In Breath Of The Wild

We're taking to the skies once again with Nintendo's Zelda series, but this time, it's not for the lofty ambitions of Skyward Sword. Like riding a horse in Ocarina of Time, sailing around in the King of the Red Lions for Wind Waker, or riding the train in Spirit Tracks, using your paraglider to swoop down on Hyrule is a major part of Breath of the Wild. 

While we can't imagine our quest to the Divine Beasts and toppling Calamity Ganon using the Master Sword being the same without the paraglider, one loyal Link has found a way to traverse this doomed realm without the help of his signature wings. 

How can you fly without the paraglider in Breath of the Wild?

The now-infamous paraglider is effectively a remodelled version of the sailcloth that first appeared six years earlier in Skyward Sword, but with Breath of the Wild being a much bigger experience than our trip to Skyloft, we used the paraglider a lot more. If there was a different way to get around the skies above Hyrule, we'd like to hear it.

This latest discovery comes courtesy of redditor u/PrestigiousBat3220. Posting on Reddit, they showed an ingenious way to fly without having to unpack your paraglider. Basically, it all involves some questionable morals of kidnapping a poor chicken. You either love 'em or hate 'em, but either way, those frantic Cuccos are as much a part of Zelda lore as Koroks and Zoras. 

In the clip, Link takes himself to the very edge of a cliff face and prepares to initiate the glitch. Here, they jump off the cliff while holding the Cucco and then immediately swap to the bow and arrow. The game clearly thinks Link is still holding onto the chicken - which means you can gently glide to your next destination for as long as your stamina bar holds out. 

What have players said about the paraglider glitch in Breath of the Wild?

Although the video cuts out before the OP reaches safety, we imagine they ran out of stamina and eventually plunged Link to his eternal doom. We don't know why you'd find yourself in a situation where you'd want to use a chicken instead of your paraglider, but as all good glitches do, this one involves our feathered friend. 

Enjoying this seemingly random bit of trivia, others were suitably impressed by the find. One wrote, "Link is a plane now. Sequel to spirit tracks", while another added, "That’s falling with style". A third concluded, "The old man scammed us and u out here telling we only need a cucco?!?!" This is in reference to the opening quest, where a mysterious man tasks you with collecting spirit orbs in return for the paraglider. You can't continue past this point until you have it. Well, unless you have a Cucco. 

With people questioning how useful the Cucco caper could be, the redditor responded back to fans and confirmed, "It seems that its actual functionality isn't that good. I'm pretty sure you fall if you put your bow away, so that pretty much rules out most things. plus it takes up stamina. i haven't tested it in an updraft yet so I might try shooting a bomb/fire arrow to create one and see what happens."

Zelda fans finally know that Breath of the Wild 2 will be coming out next year, but we'll have to wait and see whether Cuccos replace the paraglider as Link's preferred mode of transportation. Either way, we feel like chicken tonight.