https://artreview.com/the-glitch-art-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom/
In this context of speed and avatar movement, it's fitting that the word
glitch should derive from German or Yiddish words meaning 'to slide' or
'to slip'. It was subsequently popularised in the 1950s and 60s by
employees at NASA, coming to mean 'a spike or change in voltage in an
electrical circuit'. And now in video games and other digital media,
glitches tend to to produce moments of horror, disruption and
incongruence, by virtue of interrupting whatever reality principle has
been established. This is partly why the similarly hyped but bugridden Cyberpunk 2077
was panned by some critics and players at the time of its 2020 release.
Nathan Wainstein, writing in the LA Review of Books, described Cyberpunk's
glitches as "bald" in two distinct ways: "in their transparently
unintended nature" and also their "surreal puncturing of reality
itself". They broke immersion in a game that was intended to represent
the apex of modern graphical prowess. By leaning into stylised,
decidedly cartoonish graphics and animations, Nintendo's game operates
according to a different reality principle, one that is ultimately more
forgiving.
