Crucially, this update is . You do not need the Master Trials or Champion’s Ballad DLC to install it, though the patch does include compatibility fixes for the DLC content.
The implementation retains the traditional third-person camera perspective. Rather than seeing through Link's eyes, you control the camera with your head movements, acting as an omnipresent observer following Link through the valleys and peaks of Hyrule. Technical Performance and Visual Trade-offs
The headline feature of the 1.6.0 update was the introduction of . This allowed the entire kingdom of Hyrule to be viewed through the lens of the Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit . For the first time, players could step inside Link’s boots in a semi-immersive way. The implementation was unique:
: Internal flags like Ichigeki_Pedestal_Appear (referencing the One-Hit Obliterator) were added or adjusted. botw update 1.6.0
If you saw "1.6.0" somewhere, could you share where? If it's from a (e.g., firmware 16.0.0), that's different — BOTW itself wasn't updated.
Beyond content, the “general stability” line is doing heavy lifting. On the original 2017 Switch hardware, Breath of the Wild famously dropped to 20 FPS in Korok Forest. Post-1.6.0, the forest runs at a locked 30 FPS.
When entering a loading screen (such as fast-traveling or entering a Shrine), the Switch CPU temporarily overclocked from its standard 1.02 GHz to 1.75 GHz. Crucially, this update is
Crucially for the community, popular environmental navigation exploits—such as and the Bow Lift Smuggle Slide (BLSS) —were left untouched by Nintendo in version 1.6.0. Because the code adjustments focused heavily on hardware loading sequences rather than patch-fixing emergent engine physics, the game remained a playground for the speedrunning community.
Enabling the VR features introduced in version 1.6.0 requires no hidden unlocks or save-file progress. You can turn it on at any point during your adventure.
While Nintendo's official patch notes were characteristically brief, the update introduced several critical settings to the game's main menu: Rather than seeing through Link's eyes, you control
Players can choose between using the Switch's internal gyroscopes for motion-controlled head tracking or sticking to the right analog stick to move the camera. Gameplay Adjustments and Quality of Life
This is overt cross-game pollination.
Press the or - button on your controller to open the options menu. Select Software Update . Click on Via the Internet to fetch the latest version.