Publication date of the original Japanese article: 2021-11-19 09:12 (JST)
Translated by. Nick Mosier

It looks like a “Gorilla Link” phenomenon has taken hold in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild community in Japan. But what is Gorilla Link? As the name suggests, it’s where Link slouches over and puts his arms out in front of him like a gorilla. It really only amounts to a funny pose in the end, but the look is bizarre enough that some fans are having a lot of fun with it.

If you sprint or do anything to change Link’s stance, he will return to normal, but it’s possible to do standard running and jumping in the Gorilla Link pose. Twitter user flower christened the name, likely because Link puts his arms out and is hunched over… like a gorilla.

ゴリラリンク pic.twitter.com/trF8kULtaL
— ▴はな▴ (@hanabelink) November 15, 2021

Recreating it is simple. From the menu, activate Revali’s Gale and draw your sword in that state. After your sword is out, jump and crouch. Before Revali’s tornado move is unleashed, hold the ▶ button to put away your sword. When you do that, Link will put his arms in front of him striking the silly pose.

Try referencing the above tweet from flower and this one from ZeldaNeko to see the sequence in action. I tried it myself, and it doesn’t seem possible with the shield equipped. It can be done with one-handed and two-handed swords, though, so unequip your shield, and give it a try.

Being Gorilla Link doesn’t change any of the actions you can do. It just makes Link look like a gorilla. But seeing our brave, cool hero running around in such a peculiar way is pretty funny. YukinoSan’s video in particular seems to be being especially well received.

As for why this glitch occurs, it’s not totally clear. Gorilla Link’s upper body looks similar to when he’s crouching, so maybe the irregular crouch state of charging Revali’s Gale combined with the motion of putting a weapon away causes Link to stand up with his arms forward.

But it doesn’t look like Gorilla Link was just discovered. Another player by the name of Nohozarashi pointed out that, “Gorilla Link has been around for a while.” When you consider how easy it is to pull off, it’s not unlikely that it has already been discovered. It’s probably garnering attention now thanks to flower’s catchy name and interesting content from players like YukinoSan.