Items

This is a sub-page of Development:The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Item Graphics#

Get Item Icons#

Super Donkey

Menu Item Icons#

Side-by-Side Comparison#

zel0.lst	SD Proto	ITEM.CGX	4t-4x.CGX (JP3)	4t-4x.CGX (PAL EN)

• The palette used for zel0.lst is the inventory/HUD palette found at 0xF610D in super_donkey_1.bin. However, the Super Donkey proto likely post-dates zel0.lst by at least a couple months, meaning it's not a perfect match.

zel0.lst:

• Swords: 3
• Shields: 3
• Lacks: Mushroom, Pendant, Map/Letter
• Has: Bread, Fairy, Triforce, Coins, Crystals
• Mysterious "Push A-Button" Text
• No key icon for HUD.

zel_bg3#

The source code contains files called 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_bg3.asm and 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_bg30.asm. The former is an earlier version of the latter.

A section of the files called "Yamamoto Data" pertains to item-related information, such as inventory icons and item names. (Yuichi Yamamoto is the name of one of the programmers.)

The subsection of Yamamoto Data that relates to item names is referred to in a comment as "BITEM NAME". This is a holdover from a prototype version of the SNES controller in which the Y button was called the B button. The subsection's data is also still present in the Super Donkey proto, which is from June 11 or 12, 1991.

Some differences between the versions include item names who differ in terms of spacing, layout, and whether they're written in hiragana or katakana. More substantial changes are noted below.

zel_bg3.asm
Label	Icon	Name	Translation
RITEM01			Bow
RITEM02			Boomerang
RITEM03			Hookshot
RITEM04			Bomb
RITEM05			Mushroom
			Magic Powder
RITEM06			Fire Rot
RITEM07			Ice Rot
RITEM08			Bomber
RITEM09			Thunder
RITEM10			Earthquake
RITEM11			Lantern
RITEM12			Hammer
RITEM13			Schop
RITEM14			Ocarina
RITEM15			Cane of Solomon
RITEM16			Mushroom
RITEM29			Bottle
RITEM30			Water of Life
RITEM31			Water of Power
RITEM32
RITEM17			Cane of Solomoso
RITEM18			Cane of Nlomoso
RITEM19			Cape of Hiding
RITEM20			Letter
			Mirror
			Triforce
RITEM21
RITEM22
RITEM23
RITEM24
RITEM25
RITEM26
RITEM27
RITEM28
RITEM37
RITEM39
RITEM41

Item Lists#

To do: Someone who remembers ALttP better should further compare and contrast these lists with each other and the final game.

20 Item List#

The files 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_bg3.asm, 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_bg30.asm, and 日本_Ver3\asm\z00_bg30.asm have an identical section titled "item NO." which contains a very old list of items.

BOMBER      EQU 001
BUMERN      EQU 002
YUMIYA      EQU 003
HANMER      EQU 004
ROD001      EQU 005
ROD002      EQU 006
HUEEEE      EQU 007
SCOPUU      EQU 008
LAMPUU      EQU 009
KONAAA      EQU 010
BIN001      EQU 011
BIN002      EQU 012
BIN003      EQU 013
HUKUUU      EQU 014
SBOMBE      EQU 015
STHAND      EQU 016
SGISIN      EQU 017
SOROMN      EQU 018
KAKURE      EQU 019
TRAIFS      EQU 020
;
HARTMAX     EQU 020

Bomber
Boomerang
Bow & Arrows
Hammer
Rod001
Rod002
Whistle
Shovel
Lamp
Powder
Bottle001
Bottle002
Bottle003
Tunic
Special Bomber
Special Thunder
Special Quake
Solomon
Hiding
Triforce
;
Maximum Hearts

Bomb
Boomerang
Bow & Arrows
Magic Hammer
Fire Rod
Ice Rod
Flute
Shovel
Lamp
Magic Powder
Bottle 1
Bottle 2
Bottle 3
Mail
Bombos Medallion
Ether Medallion
Quake Medallion
Cane of Somaria
Magic Cape
n/a

Missing Items:

• Shield
• Pegasus Shoes
• Power Glove
• Zora's Flippers
• Moon Pearl
• Hookshot
• Mushroom
• Bug Catching Net
• Book of Mudora
• 4th Bottle
• Cane of Byrna

Notes:

• The item names are all 6 letters long. The final letter is repeated if the word is less than 6 letters. (For example, "HUE" (WHISTLE) turns into "HUEEEE" (WHISTLEEEE).)
• There are no apparent item upgrades, but it's unclear whether they would have been reflected in this list if they existed at the time.
• There's no usable Triforce item in the final game, but there are graphics for one in the Mid-1991 Overdump.

39 Item List#

The files 日本_Ver3\asm\z00_char.asm and 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_char.asm have an identical section called "Item char. buffer set". The items contained within this section predate the final game.

;************************************************************************
;*      Item char. buffer set           (ITMCBFST)  *
;************************************************************************
ITMCPTD     EQU $
;              bin       bomb*3     ya*3        life
        WORD    00018H*68H,00018H*02H,00018H*04H,00018H*06H
;              fuku      yumi        ken       tsue
        WORD    00018H*08H,00018H*20H,00018H*21H,00018H*22H
;            buw-gun      lot      nummer      kona
        WORD    00018H*23H,00018H*24H,00018H*25H,00018H*26H
;              fue      tebukuro      hon       key
        WORD    00018H*28H,00018H*2AH,00018H*2CH,00018H*2EH
;            buumeran     ashi     kagami      bomb
        WORD    00018H*2FH,00018H*40H,00018H*42H,00018H*44H
;              lamp      kakure    jisyaku     tama
        WORD    00018H*46H,00018H*48H,00018H*4AH,00018H*4CH
;             sp-ken     skope    sp-thunder  sp-fire
        WORD    00018H*4EH,00018H*4FH,00018H*60H,00018H*62H
;            sp-jishin  kara-bin    kiniko     kusuri
        WORD    00018H*64H,00018H*66H,00018H*6AH,00018H*00H
;              tate      letter     sp-key    pendanto
        WORD    00018H*0AH,00018H*6CH,00018H*6EH,00018H*0EH
;             rupy1      rupy2      rupy3
        WORD    00018H*40H,00018H*41H,00018H*42H,00018H*0EH

Notes:

• "bow gun" is misspelled. It may refer to the Hookshot.
• "rod" and "hammer" are egregiously misspelled.
• "feet" refers to the item that became Zora's Flippers.
• "hiding" refers to the item that became the Magic Cape, which consumes magic but hides Link from enemies.
• The "sp" prefix means "special". While "sp-thunder" must equate to the Ether Medallion, "sp-fire" to the Bombos Medallion, and "sp-quake" to the Quake Medallion", it's unclear to what "sp-sword" and "sp-key" refer.
• The Japanese word for "mushroom", "kinoko", is misspelled as "kiniko".

To do: Is this message unused? Does it relate to the early letter item? "サマンサパパから手紙をあずかった 神父にとどけよう！" (You agreed to take the letter from Samantha's dad. Deliver it to the priest!) If so, document it somewhere and link or make a note of it here.

57 Item List#

There are also two files called 日本_Ver3\asm\z00_char0.asm and 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_char0.asm that seem to be updated versions of the files above. (It seems the developers just added a zero on the end of their filenames to differentiate them.) These files also have an identical section called "Item char. buffer set" with items that predate the final game, but now with more entries.

;************************************************************************
;*      Item char. buffer set           (ITMCBFST)  *
;************************************************************************
ITMCPTD     EQU $
;              bin       bomb*3     ya*10        life
        WORD    00018H*68H,00018H*02H,00018H*04H,00018H*06H
;              fuku      yumi        ken       tsue
        WORD    00018H*08H,00018H*20H,00018H*21H,00018H*22H
;            buw-gun      lot      nummer      kona
        WORD    00018H*23H,00018H*24H,00018H*25H,00018H*26H
;             okarina   tebukuro      hon       key
        WORD    00018H*62H,00018H*2AH,00018H*2CH,00018H*2EH
;            buumeran     ashi     kagami      bomb
        WORD    00018H*2FH,00018H*40H,00018H*42H,00018H*44H
;              lamp      kakure    jisyaku     tama
        WORD    00018H*46H,00018H*48H,00018H*4AH,00018H*4CH
;             sp-ken     skope    sp-thunder  sp-fire
        WORD    00018H*4EH,00018H*4FH,00018H*60H,00018H*62H
;            sp-jishin  kara-bin    kinoko     kusuri
        WORD    00018H*64H,00018H*66H,00018H*6AH,00018H*00H
;              tate        map      sp-key    pendanto
        WORD    00018H*0AH,00018H*6CH,00018H*6EH,00018H*44H
;             rupy1      rupy2      rupy3       ami
        WORD    00018H*40H,00018H*41H,00018H*42H,00018H*43H
;             polygon   L1-yumiya  L2-yumiya yousei-bin
        WORD    00018H*45H,00018H*49H,00018H*47H,00018H*4BH
;           hachi-bin  small-tate miror-tate heart-kakera
        WORD    00018H*4DH,00018H*4FH,00018H*64H,00018H*60H
;              bomb10     haert   smalltubo       ya-1
        WORD    00018H*28H,00018H*66H,00018H*67H,00018H*68H
;             rupy100     rupy50    rupy300     rupy20
        WORD    00018H*69H,00018H*6BH,00018H*6DH,00018H*40H
;               kutsu
        WORD    00018H*42H

Notes:

• "bow gun" is still misspelled. It may refer to the Hookshot.
• "rod" and "hammer" are still egregiously misspelled.
• "whistle" has been changed to "ocarina".
• "feet" refers to the item that became Zora's Flippers.
• "hiding" refers to the item that became the Magic Cape, which consumes magic but hides Link from enemies.
• The "sp" prefix means "special". While "sp-thunder" must equate to the Ether Medallion, "sp-fire" to the Bombos Medallion, and "sp-quake" to the Quake Medallion", it's unclear to what "sp-sword" and "sp-key" refer.
• "letter" has been changed to "map".
• The spelling of the Japanese word for "mushroom", "kinoko", has been corrected.
• The items from "net" onward do not appear in the older version of this section.
• It is unknown what "polygon" could be.

Item Table List 1#

The file 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_ram00.asm contains the following list of items. Normally, in this game's source code, files with 0 or 00 suffixes are later revisions of files without, but this list seems to be earlier than the list in zel_ram.asm below.

ITMTBL      EQU GDSTBL+(8*4*2)  ; [ITMTBL~]
ITMTBL0     EQU ITMTBL      ;
ITEMR01     EQU ITMTBL      ; yumi
ITEMR02     EQU ITEMR01+1   ; buumeran
ITEMR03     EQU ITEMR02+1   ; fuck-shot
ITEMR04     EQU ITEMR03+1   ; bomb
BMBCNT      EQU ITEMR04     ; bomb
ITEMR05     EQU ITEMR04+1   ; magic kona , kinoko
ITEMR06     EQU ITEMR05+1   ; fire lot
ITEMR07     EQU ITEMR06+1   ; ice lot
ITEMR08     EQU ITEMR07+1   ; sp-bomber
ITEMR09     EQU ITEMR08+1   ; sp-thunder
ITEMR10     EQU ITEMR09+1   ; sp-jishin
ITEMR11     EQU ITEMR10+1   ; kantera
ITEMR12     EQU ITEMR11+1   ; hanmer
ITEMR13     EQU ITEMR12+1   ; skope
ITEMR14     EQU ITEMR13+1   ; okarina
ITEMR15     EQU ITEMR14+1   ; soromon
ITEMR16     EQU ITEMR15+1   ; bin-1
BINCT0      EQU ITEMR16     ;
ITEMR17     EQU ITEMR16+1   ;    -2
BINCT1      EQU ITEMR17     ;
ITEMR18     EQU ITEMR17+1   ;    -3
BINCT2      EQU ITEMR18     ;
ITEMR19     EQU ITEMR18+1   ; kakurenimo
ITEMR20     EQU ITEMR19+1   ; warp
ITEMR21     EQU ITEMR20+1   ; power grove
ITEMR22     EQU ITEMR21+1   ; jisyo
ITEMR23     EQU ITEMR22+1   ; ashi hire
ITMTBL4     EQU ITEMR23+1   ; tama
ITMTBL5     EQU ITMTBL4+1   ; kagami
ITMTBL6     EQU ITMTBL5+1   ; ken
ITMTBL7     EQU ITMTBL6+1   ; tate
ITMTBL8     EQU ITMTBL7+1   ; fuku
ITMTBL9     EQU ITMTBL8+1   ; key
ITMTBLA     EQU ITMTBL9+1   ; hari
LFITCT      EQU ITMTBLA+1   ; LIFE basic mater counter
LFNWCT      EQU LFITCT+1    ; LIFE now
MPNWCT      EQU LFNWCT+1    ; MP
CONCNT      EQU MPNWCT+1    ; coin   counter-low
CONCNTH     EQU CONCNT+1    ;               -hi
UPLFCT      EQU CONCNTH+1   ; up life counter
UPMPCT      EQU UPLFCT+1    ;    mp
UPCNCT      EQU UPMPCT+1    ;    coin
UPBMCT      EQU UPCNCT+1    ;    bomb
UPAWCT      EQU UPBMCT+1    ;    arrow
ITEMR40     EQU UPAWCT+1    ; yousei
ITEMR41     EQU ITEMR40+1   ; tokei
ARWCNT      EQU ITEMR41+1   ; arrow
ITMTBL1     EQU ARWCNT+1    ; [A]   do
ITMTBL3     EQU ITMTBL1+2   ; force coin
MPLVFG      EQU ITMTBL3+1   ; magic level
MPITCT      EQU MPLVFG+1    ;

; 
;
; bow
; boomerang
; hookshot
; bomb
; bomb
; magic powder, mushroom
; fire rod
; ice rod
; sp-bomber
; sp-thunder
; sp-quake
; lantern
; hammer
; shovel
; ocarina
; solomon
; bottle-1
;
;    -2
;
;    -3
;
; hiding nimo
; warp
; power glove
; dictionary
; feet fins
; orb
; mirror
; sword
; shield
; tunic
; key
; needle
; LIFE: basic meter counter
; LIFE: current
; MP
; coin   counter-low
;               -hi
; increase life counter
;    mp
;    coin
;    bomb
;    arrow
; fairy
; clock
; arrow
; [A] action
; force coin
; magic level
;

Notes:

• The Shovel and Ocarina are separate entries.
• There is no entry for the Bug-catching Net.
• There are only 3 bottles, one less than the final game.
• The "hiding mino" has a typo.
• There is only one entry for the Power Glove, as the Titan's Mitt is missing.
• Several entries are in different spots compared to the list in zel_ram.asm.

Item Table List 2#

The file 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_ram.asm contains the following list of items.

ITMTBL      EQU GDSTBL+(8*4*2)  ; [ITMTBL~]
ITMTBL0     EQU ITMTBL      ;
ITEMR01     EQU ITMTBL      ; yumi
ITEMR02     EQU ITEMR01+1   ; buumeran
ITEMR03     EQU ITEMR02+1   ; fuck-shot
ITEMR04     EQU ITEMR03+1   ; bomb
BMBCNT      EQU ITEMR04     ; bomb
ITEMR05     EQU ITEMR04+1   ; magic kona , kinoko
ITEMR06     EQU ITEMR05+1   ; fire lot
ITEMR07     EQU ITEMR06+1   ; ice lot
ITEMR08     EQU ITEMR07+1   ; sp-bomber
ITEMR09     EQU ITEMR08+1   ; sp-thunder
ITEMR10     EQU ITEMR09+1   ; sp-jishin
ITEMR11     EQU ITEMR10+1   ; kantera
ITEMR12     EQU ITEMR11+1   ; hanmer
ITEMR13     EQU ITEMR12+1   ; skope okarina
ITEMR14     EQU ITEMR13+1   ; ami
ITEMR15     EQU ITEMR14+1   ; jisyo
ITEMR16     EQU ITEMR15+1   ; bin-select
ITEMR17     EQU ITEMR16+1   ; soromon
ITEMR18     EQU ITEMR17+1   ;
ITEMR19     EQU ITEMR18+1   ; kakurenimo
ITEMR20     EQU ITEMR19+1   ; warp
ITEMR21     EQU ITEMR20+1   ; power grove
ITEMR22     EQU ITEMR21+1   ; power grove
ITEMR23     EQU ITEMR22+1   ; ashi hire
ITMTBL4     EQU ITEMR23+1   ; tama
ITMTBL5     EQU ITMTBL4+1   ; free
ITMTBL6     EQU ITMTBL5+1   ; ken
ITMTBL7     EQU ITMTBL6+1   ; tate
ITMTBL8     EQU ITMTBL7+1   ; fuku
BINCT0      EQU ITMTBL8+1   ; bin-1
BINCT1      EQU BINCT0+1    ; bin-2
BINCT2      EQU BINCT1+1    ; bin-3
BINCT3      EQU BINCT2+1    ; bin-4
CONCNT      EQU BINCT3+1    ; coin   counter-low
CONCNTH     EQU CONCNT+1    ;                -hi
CONPRT      EQU CONCNTH+1   ; coin print(l)
CONPRT1     EQU CONPRT+1    ; coin print(h)
ITMTBLA     EQU CONPRT1+1   ; hari
KEYCNT      EQU ITMTBLA+2   ; KEY TOKUSYU
MAPCNT      EQU KEYCNT+2    ; MAP TOKUSYU
ITEMR43     EQU MAPCNT+2    ; megami coin cnt
ITEMR44     EQU ITEMR43+1   ; tokei
LFITCT      EQU ITEMR44+1   ; LIFE basic mater counter
LFNWCT      EQU LFITCT+1    ; LIFE now
MPNWCT      EQU LFNWCT+1    ; MP
ITMTBL9     EQU MPNWCT+1    ; key
ITEMR49     EQU ITMTBL9+1   ; coin   counter-low
ITEMR50     EQU ITEMR49+1   ;               -hi
UPLFCT      EQU ITEMR50+1   ; up life counter
UPMPCT      EQU UPLFCT+1    ;    mp
ITEMR53     EQU UPMPCT+1    ; nekres
UPBMCT      EQU ITEMR53+1   ;    bomb
UPAWCT      EQU UPBMCT+1    ;    arrow
ARWCNT      EQU UPAWCT+1    ; arrow
ITMTBL1     EQU ARWCNT+1    ; [A]   do
ITMTBL3     EQU ITMTBL1+2   ; force coin
MPLVFG      EQU ITMTBL3+1   ; magic level
;MPITCT     EQU MPLVFG+1    ;
;;;;;;      EQU MPITCT+1    ;

bow
boomerang
hook-shot
bomb
bomb
magic powder, mushroom
fire rod
ice rod
sp-bomber
sp-thunder
sp-quake
lantern
hammer
shovel ocarina
net
dictionary
bottle-select
solomon
    
hiding nimo
warp
power glove
power glove
feet fins
orb
unarmed
sword
shield
tunic
bottle-1
bottle-2
bottle-3
bottle-4
coin   counter-low
               -hi
coin print (l)
coin print (h)
needle
KEY SPECIAL
MAP SPECIAL
goddess coin count
clock
LIFE basic meter counter
LIFE current
MP
key
coin   counter-low
              -hi
increase life counter
   mp
necklace
   bomb
   arrow
arrow
[A]   do
force coin
magic level

To do: Notes...

Full Item List#

The file 日本_Ver3\asm\item.txt contains a table of items, with its columns unlabeled. The table was split in half and the two halves put side-by-side, likely just to make it take up less vertical space. A recreation of the table, with translations, is presented below:

Bottled Item List#

The file 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_bg3.asm is an earlier version of the file 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_bg30.asm, and thus contains an earlier list of bottled items.

;kinoko
;kara
;red
;green
;blue

;kinoko
;kara
;red
;green
;blue
;yosei
;hachi
;KIN hachi

mushroom
empty
red potion
green potion
blue potion
fairy
bee
GOLD bee

Early Names#

• Book of Mudora: The Book of Mudora is referred to internally as a "jisho" or "jisyo", meaning "dictionary", which it is - but also in 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_enmy2s.asm as a "vible", an erroneous romanization of "Bible". Additionally, it's known as the Book of Kalbi in an item get message (00be) found in an early script file.

• Cane of Byrna: The file 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_bgwt.asm refers to this item as "nazare no tsue", meaning "Rod of Nazareth" - another Biblical reference.

• Cane of Somaria: As mentioned above, the Cane of Somaria is referred to internally as the Cane of Solomon.

• Power Glove: The Power Glove is referred to in 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_enmy2s.asm as a "grouve blue", an erroneous romanization of "blue glove". In the final game, it's grey rather than blue.

Items with Altered Functions#

Lamp#

To do: Add info about how this used to just illuminate things.

Magic Powder#

To do: Add info about how this used to set things on fire.

Mushroom#

To do: Add info about how this used to be a bottle item.

Rods#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Analyze the code and explain how they worked, exactly. Go into detail about the DTM values in zel_enmy.asm and the DOT code in zel_exst.asm.

It used to be possible to charge up the Fire and Ice Rods to unleash devastating attacks similar to the medallion spell effects. The graphics for this magic still exist in the final game, but go unused.

C_2V0
C_2V1

There are also sections of commented-out code that pertain to these earlier abilities. The game would check if the player was holding the Y button, then check whether they had 32 MP in order to unleash the spells. There were several stages for charging up the rods, tracked by a section of data called DTMCDT (ドット貯めカウントデータ), which translates to "dot charge count data":

DTMCDT      EQU $
        HEX 000,003,006,009,00C,00F,012,015,018

(For some reason, the rods are referred to by many monikers and non-standard romanizations in the code, including "dot," "rot," "lot," and "rodo.")

The charged attacks would have paused the action like the medallion spell effects do.

The flag that tracked whether the player was charging the rods was called TMDTFG (貯めドットフラグ), which translates to "charge dot flag." This flag later became USAGFG (うさぎフラッグ), which translates to "rabbit flag" and keeps track of whether Link is in his Dark World bunny form.

Unused Items#

To do: Elaborate, investigate.

Clock#

The clock item is only mentioned in RAM list files such as 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_ram.asm. There's still a sprite for it in the final game.

tokei

CRYS1 - Crystal#

The nature of this item drop is currently unclear.

CRYS1

FOOD - Food#

日本_Ver3/asm/zel_enmy.lst indicates that there were four food items, listed below. Interacting with them would change the Y button (previously the "perform action" button) mode to "Eat".

FOOD1
FOOD2
FOOD3
FOOD4

Jump Boots#

There exists disabled code for a "Jump Boots" item which, when re-implemented and linked to a Y-button item (here the Lamp), lets you jump by using Y.

NIKU - Meat#

A number of files refer to these meat items. ("NIKU" means "meat".) Sprites for these are still in the final game.

NIKU1
NIKU2

According to 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_enmy.lst, NIKU1 replenished 10 health, while NIKU2 replenished 20.

KINOK - Mushrooms#

The final game only has one type of Mushroom, which can be exchanged with the Witch for Magic Powder. However, the "KINOK move & init" (Mushroom Move & Initialization) section of 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_enmy2s.asm (an earlier version of zel_enmy2.asm) contains a portion of code related to selecting the "KINOKO SYURUI" (mushroom type), of which there are 4.

According to the values in "KINKCOL" (mushroom colour), two of them were colour 08, one was colour 04, and one was color 06. Since the colour of the mushroom that survived the purge uses "8", it can be assumed that this is the rust-coloured mushroom of the final game. However, its colour value may have been changed when its shroomy brothers were purged, so it's unclear if two of the mushrooms would really have looked identical.

KINKCOL        EQU $
        BYTE    008H;,004H,006H,008H
KINOK00_I   EQU $
;       LDA ENXPSL,X
;       LSR A
;       LSR A
;       LSR A
;       LSR A
;       AND #003H
        LDA #000H
        STA ENCHPT,X    ;KINOKO SYURUI(0 - 3)
        TAY
        LDA KINKCOL,Y   ;COLOR SET
        ORA ENCLOR,X
        STA ENCLOR,X
;

In accordance with the above, the early script file 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_msge.asm contains "get item" messages for obtaining four different types of Mushrooms.

In the same file, the Witch also has messages for trading the player a Bottle for a Mushroom, as well as making powder or potions using Mushrooms supplied by the player. In the final game, the Witch doesn't give Link a bottle, and only creates Magic Powder in exchange for Mushrooms he brings.

Lending further support to all this is that the "MAJOO move" (Witch Movement) section of zel_enmy2s.asm has code relating to trading the Witch a Mushroom for a Bottle.

;;MJKNKC1DT EQU $
;;      BYTE    040H,020H,010H
;;MJKNKC1       EQU $
;;      PHX
;;      LDA >ITEMR16
;;      TAX
;;;
;;;     LDA >BINCT0-1,X     ;BIN 1 KINOKO
;;;     CMP #001H
;;;     BNE MJKC140
;;      LDA #002H
;;      STA >BINCT0-1,X
;;;
;;      PHX         ;POTION FLG SET
;;      TXY
;;      MEM8
;;      IDX16
;;      REP #00010000B
;;;
;;      LDX #ROOM_POTION*2  ;ROOM NO * 2
;;      LDA >DJNTBL,X
;;      ORA MJKNKC1DT-1,Y   ;POTION 2
;;      STA >DJNTBL,X
;;;
;;      MEM8
;;      IDX8
;;      SEP #00110000B
;;;     LDY #018H       ;BIN 2
;;;     JSL >ATMSIT     ;PL. DEMO SET
;;      PLX
;;      PLX
;;      LDA #001
;;      STA ENSTAT,X
;;;
;;      LDA #LOW  MS_0091   ;MSGE NO
;;      LDY #HIGH MS_0091   ;MSGE NO
;;      JSL >ENMSGSL    ;MSGE SET
;;;
;;MJKC140       EQU $
;;      STZ SCLSFG      ;SCROL FLG CLS
;;      RTS
ROOM_POTION EQU 00109H

The code above references three of the following potion types.

• 80: Potion 1 (Magic Powder)
• 40: Potion 2 (Green)
• 20: Potion 3 (Blue)
• 10: Potion 4 (Red)

It also mentions room 109, which is the interior of the Witch's Hut.

To do: What else is going on here? Some ASM enthusiast should take a look and explain it better.

Finally, there are also four mushroom entities loaded in Light World map square 116 (the exterior of the Witch's Hut) by the early entities-by-area list 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_endt3.asm with the comment "TEST".

SPES - Special#

The nature of these item drops is currently unclear. They're also suffixed with the letters R, Y, and B.

SPESR
SPESY
SPESB

OPTN1 - Stolen Goods#

Stealing is a gameplay mechanic that appears in Link's Awakening released two years after ALttP, but it appears to have been planned for this game, as well.

OPTN1

The "nusuto" (thief) action associated with this item drop was commented out in the files 日本_Ver3/asm/zel_bms1.asm and 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_exst.asm. The code reveals that Link would have been able to steal "coins", arrows, and bombs.

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Are "nusuto" and OPTN1 really related?

TRYF - Triforce#

TRYF: Triplicate Version#

The R, Y, and B on the end may indicate the colours red, yellow, and blue.

TRYFR
TRYFY
TRYFB

Rupees are also referred to using these letters in 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_enmy.asm.

RUPY1       EQU RUPYR
RUPY5       EQU RUPYY
RUPYO       EQU RUPYB

Link's Awakening, released two years after ALttP, has two item drops called Piece of Power (a red triangle that increases Link's damage and speed) and Piece of Protection (an internal name for the Guardian Acorn, which halves the damage Link receives). These may be later implementations of the same concept.

TRYF: Singular Version#

There are various suggestions in the code that the warping function of the Magical Mirror was originally created for the singular unused Triforce item.

For starters, even in the final game, the item slot which holds the Magic Mirror is actually a table that contains three items: the Letter (unused), the Magic Mirror (used), and the Triforce (unused).

The contents of this slot are documented in item.txt:

Item slots that hold multiple items are used for items that are exchanged for each other, such as weapon upgrades, the Mushroom -> Magic Powder, and the Shovel -> Ocarina. This suggests that the developers planned for the player to obtain the Letter, later exchange it for the Magic Mirror, and finally exchange the Mirror for the Triforce.

In 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_bg30.asm, the WITEM20, ITEMR20, and RITEM20 labels, which correspond to the slot, are preceded by the comment "W--P SET", with the omitted letters presumably "WARP".

;                   ;W--P SET
        LDA #WITEM20    ;TFR SAKI
        STA <WORK0
        LDA >ITEMR20    ;NO. SET
        AND #000FFH
        STA <WORK2
        LDA #RITEM20    ;TFR MOTO 
        STA <WORK4
        JSR SETITEM     ;SET ITEM

In addition, the section of code that handles Link warping with the Magic Mirror in the final game is called traiforse move shori (TRIFMV)" in the source code file 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_play.asm. Among other things, this section contains code for displaying message 0457 when the player tries to warp when Kiki the monkey is following them.

Ki ki?  What are you doing?
I don’t want to go there!

The same file labels the player state that corresponds to Link warping with the mirror "[14] tryfose BG check demo".

ROD003 - Flower Rod#

The file 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_bg3.asm mentions three types of rods. The first and second are the Fire Rod and Ice Rod, while the third is more mysterious.

ROD001
ROD002
ROD003

日本_Ver3\asm\zel_play.asm has a commented-out entry in the "player B push sub[routine]" that might relate to it.

BKT50       WORD    DOTMV0      ; [5] lot move shori 0 (FIRE)
BKT60       WORD    DOTMV0      ; [6] lot move shori 1 (ICE)
;;;;;;;;        WORD    DOTMV0      ; [8] lot move shori 2 (FER)

It's not certain what "FER" means, but it may be short for "flower," as there's a "flower" following "fire" and "ice" in a list of magic spell effects in the "Spacial OBJ character change" sections of zel_char.asm and zel_char0.asm.

spoj0       EQU 001H        ; reset
spoj1       EQU 003H        ; fire
spoj2       EQU 005H        ; ice
spoj3       EQU 007H        ; flower
spoj4       EQU 009H        ; thunder
spoj5       EQU 00BH        ; bomber
spoj6       EQU 00DH        ; jishin
spoj7       EQU 00FH        ; "GAME OVER"
spoj8       EQU 011H+1      ; tori
spoj9       EQU 013H        ; 'Nintendo presents'

There's also a graphic file called flower.CGX.BAK, a palette called flower.COL, and animation files called flower-1.OBJ and flower-2.OBJ in the NEWS workstation backups.

flower-1.OBJ:

flower-2.OBJ:

The Japanese word for "firework" is 火花, meaning "fire flower", a fact which may be related.

TUBO3 - Magic Jar#

This entity's name translates to "Jar 3." TUBO1 is the entity for the small magic jar and TUBO2 is the entity for the large magic jar. Apparently there was once a third one as well. Unfortunately, the only remnants of this item are mentions in the external dependency lists of the three versions of the entity placement file: zel_endt.asm, zel_endt2.asm, and zel_endt3.asm, so nothing more is known about it.

Item Drops#

The following three RAM addresses related to enemy item drops are unused.

7E0ADE    EIPONT    ; enemy out item pointer
7E0AE4    EICBFP2    ; enemy out item char. buffer 2
7E0AE6    EICBFP3    ; enemy out item char. buffer 3

EIPONT is referenced in a commented-out snippet of item initialization code in zel_enmy.asm.

;=========ITEM INITIAL =====================
;;ITCSMP        EQU    $
;;        BYTE    0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,4,2,2,2
;;        BYTE    0,0,0,0,0,0,0
;----------------------------------------
YOSEIIT        EQU    $
        JSL    >RNDSET
        AND    #001H
        STA    ENWRK0,X
        EOR    #001H
        STA    ENMUKI,X
;;        BRA    ITEM1IT
ITEM1IT        EQU    $
;;        LDY    ENMYNO,X
;;        LDA    ITCSMP-HART1,Y
;;        STA    EIPONT

EICBFP2 and EICBFP3 are referenced in commented-out code in zel_main.asm, which was removed on 1991.07.03.

;// 03.07.03 //        LDY    !EIPONT
;// 03.07.03 //        LDA    EIDPNT,Y
;// 03.07.03 //        CLC
;// 03.07.03 //        ADC    EICPTD1,X
;// 03.07.03 //        STA    !EICBFP2
;// 03.07.03 //        CLC
;// 03.07.03 //        ADC    #00040H*9
;// 03.07.03 //        STA    !EICBFP3    ; 4x4 

This snippet contains the only reference to a section of data in the same file called EIDPNT (Enemy Item Data Pointer), rendering it unused.

EIDPNT        EQU    $        ;                POINT
;                coin          sankaku      ball
        WORD    EICHBF+0C0H*1,EICHBF+0C0H*2,EICHBF+0C0H*3

EICHBF is defined in zel_ram1.lst as below.

7EB280          EICHBF              EQU     WTRCHBF+20H*20H*3 ; enemy out item character data buffer

This is what is located at RAM address 7EB280:

In the CCBFIT (Change char. buffer initial set) section of zel_char0.asm, an older version of zel_char.asm, the identifier for graphic file C_4P0 is loaded before a reference to EICHBF.

;---------------------------------------- enemy out item char. buffer set
        MEM8
        IDX8
        SEP    #00110000B    ; memory,index 8bit mode
;
        LDY    #C_4P0
        JSR    CADWKST2    ; Obj. char. address work set
;
        MEM16
        IDX16
        REP    #00110000B    ; memory,index 16bit mode
;
        LDA    <WORK0
        LDX    #EICHBF-CNGCHBF
        LDY    #00003H
        PHA            ; (A) push
        JSR    CCBIS420    ; enemy out item(rupy) char. buffer set
;
        PLA            ; (A) pull
        CLC
        ADC    #00180H
        LDY    #00003H
        JSR    CCBIS420    ; enemy out item(rupy) char. buffer set
;
;
        MEM8
        IDX8
        SEP    #00110000B    ; memory,index 8bit mode

In the Super Donkey overdump prototype, C_4P0 contains the following:

The code in zel_char0.asm that would have loaded item graphics other than the rupee into EICHBF was commented out 1991.07.03.

;// 03.07.03 //;// 02.10.23 //        LDY    #C_2T0
;// 03.07.03 //;// 02.10.23 //        JSR    CADWKST        ; char. address work set
;// 03.07.03 //        LDA    #BANK MPCHBF
;// 03.07.03 //        STA    <WORK2
;// 03.07.03 //        STA    <WORK5
;// 03.07.03 //;
;// 03.07.03 //        MEM16
;// 03.07.03 //        IDX16
;// 03.07.03 //        REP    #00110001B    ; memory,index 16bit mode & CLC
;// 03.07.03 //;
;// 03.07.03 //        LDA    #MPCHBF
;// 03.07.03 //;// 02.10.23 //        LDA    <WORK0
;// 03.07.03 //        ADC    #00018H*3
;// 03.07.03 //        LDX    #(EICHBF-CNGCHBF)+20H*6
;// 03.07.03 //        LDY    #(2*3)*3
;// 03.07.03 //        PHA            ; (A) push
;// 03.07.03 //        JSR    CCBIS420    ; enemy out item char. buffer set
;// 03.07.03 //;
;// 03.07.03 //        PLA            ; (A) pull
;// 03.07.03 //        CLC
;// 03.07.03 //        ADC    #00180H
;// 03.07.03 //        LDY    #(2*3)*3
;// 03.07.03 //        JSR    CCBIS420    ; enemy out item char. buffer set

Items that Used Magic#

DTMGPT      EQU $
;            L1  L2  L3
        HEX 010,008,004 ; dot magic point
        HEX 020,010,008 ; special magic point
        HEX 008,004,002 ; kona magic point
        HEX 008,004,002 ; okarina magic point
        HEX 008,004,002 ; soromon 1 magic point
        HEX 010,008,004 ; soromon 2 magic point
        HEX 004,002,002 ; kantera magic point
        HEX 008,004,002 ; YA magic point
        HEX 010,008,004 ; soromon baria magic point

rod magic point
special magic point
powder magic point
ocarina magic point
solomon 1 magic point
solomon 2 magic point
lantern magic point
ARROW magic point
solomon barrier magic point

.cost
#_07B070: db $10, $08, $04 ; rod
#_07B073: db $20, $10, $08 ; medallion
#_07B076: db $08, $04, $02 ; powder
#_07B079: db $08, $04, $02
#_07B07C: db $08, $04, $02 ; somaria
#_07B07F: db $10, $08, $04
#_07B082: db $04, $02, $02 ; lamp
#_07B085: db $08, $04, $02
#_07B088: db $10, $08, $04 ; byrna