Botw Update 160 Direct
If you thought your Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild journey was officially over, think again. Nintendo recently dropped Update 1.6.0, and while it might not add a brand-new story chapter, it is packed with quality-of-life changes, vital bug fixes, and some highly requested tweaks.
Whether you are a casual explorer or a hardcore speedrunner, here is everything you need to know about the BOTW 1.6.0 update and how it affects your Hyrule adventure.
Before we dive in, make sure you actually have the update.
Does Update 1.6.0 add Tears of the Kingdom content? No. This update is strictly for Breath of the Wild. It does not add Ultrahand, fuse mechanics, or sky islands.
Will this update delete my save file? Absolutely not. Your save data is safely stored on your Switch console or in the Cloud. The update only alters the game's software, not your personal progress. botw update 160
I already completed the Xenoblade quest years ago. Do I have to do it again? If you downloaded the original DLC quest back in 2017/2018 and completed it, the armor should already be in your inventory or at the Great Fairy. If you never got around to it, now is your chance!
The most interesting fan theory surrounding BOTW update 160 is that it secretly lays the groundwork for save-data bonuses in Tears of the Kingdom. While Nintendo never confirmed this, data miners found a new, empty string in the executable named TOTK_BONUS_FLAG. When the update dropped, this was dismissed as a placeholder. However, after Tears of the Kingdom launched in 2023, players who had completed Breath of the Wild on the same console received stable-registered horses and a photo of the Champions. Update 1.6.0 was almost certainly the mechanism that tagged your save file as "eligible" for that transfer.
This only applies to the (now discontinued) Wii U version of BotW. Update 1.6.0 corrected a rare memory leak that caused the GamePad screen to stutter when switching between TV mode and Off-TV play.
Ironically, while 1.6.0 fixed some DLC progression issues, it introduced a bizarre new bug for a small subset of physical cartridge users. If you thought your Legend of Zelda: Breath
Players who purchased the Explorer's Edition cartridge (which included the DLC download code on a paper insert, not on the cart) reported that after updating to 1.6.0, the game occasionally failed to recognize that the DLC was installed.
Fix: If you run into this, do not delete the software. Simply go to System Settings > Data Management > Software > BotW > "Check for Corrupt Data." The Switch will re-verify the DLC tickets and fix the handshake with 1.6.0.
So why all the noise around "BotW update 160" on forums like Reddit and GameFAQs? Because the timing was strange.
By late 2019, Nintendo was deep in development for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (then known only as "BotW 2"). Data miners discovered that Ver. 1.6.0 didn't just fix bugs; it replaced the game's graphics API hooks. Does Update 1
In technical terms, Nintendo appears to have used this update to standardize how Breath of the Wild talks to the Switch hardware. Why? Two theories dominate:
If you want to verify your version for modding or troubleshooting:
On Nintendo Switch:
On Wii U: