The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time · Nintendo 64 · 1998 · Speedrun Staple · Discovered by Community
Using the Deku Nuts while performing certain sword animations leaves Link's sword in an extended hitbox state between frames — effectively creating a continuous sword attack that damages anything in range without further input.
The Infinite Sword Glitch exploits a frame-state inconsistency in Ocarina of Time's combat system. Link's sword attack animations have distinct phases: swing, contact, and recovery. The Deku Nut stun item, when used during specific frames of the sword animation, interrupts the recovery phase while leaving the sword's hitbox active in an extended state. The game's collision system continues checking for sword contact against enemies while the animation is frozen mid-swing, producing ongoing damage without the player needing to continue attacking. Speed-runners use the ISG to bypass combat entirely by entering boss rooms with the glitch active, dealing damage to bosses during their vulnerability windows without executing normal attack sequences. The technique also enables passage through certain puzzles and obstacles that normally require specific items. Multiple extensions of the core ISG — including interactions with various items and environmental objects — have been documented and integrated into different speed-run categories. The glitch works across the game's N64 releases.
Ocarina of Time's animation system tracks which frame of each animation the character is currently in and uses that frame index to determine what hitboxes are active. The sword's damage hitbox is active during the contact frames of the swing animation and inactive during recovery. The Deku Nut's interrupt effect, when applied at the precise transition point between contact and recovery frames, halts the animation state in a location that the hitbox code interprets as an active contact frame — keeping the sword's damage detection live without advancing the animation.
The hitbox remains active until another action clears the animation state. Movement, additional item use, or entering certain rooms will dismiss the glitch, which means maintaining it through a dungeon requires careful navigation. Speed-runners treat ISG management — keeping the hitbox active while moving to the next required position — as a core skill in routes that depend on the technique.
The Ocarina of Time speed-running community is one of the most extensively documented in gaming, with sub-categories defined by which glitches are permitted, which version of the game is used, and how many key items are collected. The ISG appears in many categories, while glitchless categories exclude it as one of several defined restrictions.
Runners specify which version of the game they use, because several glitches and timings differ between the Japanese and Western releases and their revisions. The Infinite Sword Glitch is not one of the differences that splits the community: it is available across the N64 versions, which is part of why it became such a fundamental tool.