TLDR: The cutscenes have audio glitches and some in-game sound effects glitch out the first time playing them. The save file was started the day the game came out, on 1.0. The glitched audio on the same save file occurs on the latest version 1.4.3. I made a video showing the glitch and am really hoping someone can help me fix the game. The glitches happen system wide, so not even deleting the save data from my System Settings will fix the game. I can't "Redownload" either, as I'm playing physically and did not purchase from the eShop. I've compiled a video demonstrating the glitch with both the in-game SFX and the in-cutscene audio, here: https://ody.sh/X8sxXDh787
Can anyone please help me out, and does anyone know if there is a fix for this glitch? I'm playing on the original Nintendo Switch, not a Switch 2.
I started a save file in 2023 on the games version 1.0, the day Tears of the Kingdom released. I played 72 hours worth of the game over the next 2 and a half months, and recorded all the footage for my playthrough channel.
Unfortunately I had to put the game on hold for an unforeseen amount of time, after the HDMI port on my monitor randomly decided to die. So I was no longer able to play the game until I got a replacement monitor.
The problem was: I didn't have money. And I didn't finally get a new replacement monitor until 2025, and I haven't been able to get back to my playthrough until finally now, in 2026, over 3 years after starting.
Early this year, after updating the game to version 1.4.2, I played a bit of TOTK on an entirely separate Switch profile (which of course is a different save file entirely). I was only casually playing a bit of the Sky Island in the beginning though.
The problem was, I was experiencing strange audio glitches and audio-delays that ONLY happened during important pre-rendered cutscenes.
I didn't know why this glitch was occurring, and an internet search did not provide answers. I ended up deleting the save data from that Switch profile entirely from the console from the System Settings. Unfortunately, not even this solved it. It would consistently have bad audio in the cutscenes.
Skip ahead nearly 9 months, to late September 2026 (today). Today I meant to finally come back to my original save file and continue it at long last.
There was an update available, so I updated from 1.4.2 to 1.4.3. After updating, I first launched the game on my second profile to see if there were still audio glitches. Unforunately... there were 🫤. But this time it was not only in the cutscenes (which is a dealbreaker on it's own), but I'm now also experiencing audio glitches upon the first time the game plays some sound effects. The first of note is the sound effect that plays when you pick up an item for the first time. Fortunately these audio glitches only occur the first time the game tries to play the sound effect. But it's still annoying, and isn't good for my future playthrough viewers. I still held onto the hope that this might not occur on my original Switch profile, but I couldn't know until I tried.
So after this, I began my gameplay recording (which I'm still doing for my channel), and loaded my previous save data, which was last saved July 27, 2023.
Everything loaded fine. But as soon as I opened the Purah Pad's map, the opening sound effect got cut-off mid-playing. That's annoying. The very next thing I did was open the memories tab and started rewatching the beginning cutscene with the mummified Ganondorf in the cave beneath Hyrule Castle. The audio played fine in this cutscene, which was promising.
But then I tested the one Zelda memory that I've unlocked, specifically the one titled "Where Am I?". Annoyingly, I had the same glitched/out-of-sync audio in that cutscene as I had with the Ganondorf cutscene at the beginning of this year.
So that means that even on my original save file, which I NEVER had any issues with in 2023 on the games version 1.0: the audio is STILL GLITCHED in both cutscenes and upon the first time the game loads some gameplay sound effects.
To demonstrate the issues, I've compiled a video so you can see just two examples of the glitched audio. The first part of the video shows the sound effect glitch I had opening the Purah pad, the second part of the video shows the "Where am I?" Zelda memory playing with correct audio, and the third part of the video shows the same part of the cutscene playing with the glitched audio.
After watching any cutscene once, the audio glitches are automatically cleared up. The example I've given is a less severe example compared to the issues I had earlier this year, but I still don't want it ruining my first experience with the rest of the cutscenes I've never seen yet in the game.
The video: https://ody.sh/X8sxXDh787
I haven't tested that. After spending 2 hours today thoroughly re-testing in docked by playing through the whole Great Sky Island up until reaching Lookout Landing, I would have to do all of that again plus more in order to definitively prove whether or not it happens in handheld mode too, unfortunately.
No. I've never experienced this in other games before.
Thanks. After reading your comment I gave it a try. I think the reason I didn't test deleting it back when I first had the issue in January was that I didn't have Nintendo Switch Online at the time, and my save data was not backed up to the cloud. So even though I know the save data is not supposed to be wiped if you delete the game data, I was scared by the small chance I might accidentally delete my 72-hour save.
I have Switch Online now and have the save data on the cloud, so I just gave your suggestion a try.
After deleting the data and re-updating the game, I started my original save file again. The cutscenes were playing fine... but that doesn't necessarily mean it's fixed... because as I mentioned, once the game has loaded that cutscene once, It's fixed for all future playback.
So to double-check, I decided to do a very long test. I started the game on a completely fresh profile, and let each cutscene play out without skipping them. I needed to get far enough into the game to find a scene that the game hasn't yet loaded since updating. In this case, that was the scene where you first meet Ruaru outside of the Temple of Time. Everything seemed fine, and there were no glitches in that scene. However, I wasn't satisfied yet to know it's definitely fixed, because it was not a pre-rendered cutscene like the ones I've had the most issues with. So I spent 2 hours trying to rush through all the shrines on the Great Sky Island so that I could play the next 2 cutscenes with Zelda. Specifically the one where you see Zelda inside the Temple of Time, and the one where she receives Link's broken Master Sword right before you skydive to the mainland of Hyrule below. Over those 2 hours, I didn't experience a single audio glitch in gameplay. By the time I'd watched the second Zelda scene, I was 99.9% sure the audio was finally fixed. All I needed to do now was quickly rush to Lookout Landing to meet Purah, where I would play the last cutscene before turning off the game.
I reached Purah, and the in-engine cutscene that played was perfectly fine. Unfortunately though, once the pre-rendered cutscene; the one where Purah recaps everything that happened to Link up until that moment in time played, the cutscene immediately began having audio issues!
They were only minor, but as I mentioned earlier, sometimes they are minor, and sometimes they are extreme. Back in January there were not only audio-delays, but also rough audio-popping.
I recorded all the footage again. I took the part of the video where the glitched cutscene happens, and made the word "GLITCH" pop onto the screen every time an audio glitch occurs, just to make it a bit easier for you to tell when it happens. Here it is: https://ody.sh/CzUj40fCnv
I don't believe the problem is with my HDMI port. This is a new monitor I only purchased 1 and a half years ago in early 2025. The HDMI port issue I mentioned in my main post only applies to my old monitor which I was playing on in 2023.
I also don't believe the issue is with my capture card. If the audio delay was caused by my capture card, it wouldn't only be the sound effects that glitch in the cutscenes. Notice how in the first video I sent you, it is only the sound effects of Zelda jumping backwards, away from Ruaru and Sonia, that are out of sync. The actual voice lines are still perfectly in-sync with their mouths. If this was an issue with my capture card, ALL audio would be out of sync including voice lines. But they are not. I would also be experiencing the de-synced audio everywhere in gameplay, in all my games and on all my consoles. But it's only Tears of the Kingdom on the Switch 1 that has the issue.