Opening & Ending

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

Title Screen#

Early Version#

The file zel_title.asm contains code for the title screen. A commented-out version of the "TILBGD" label in the section below has a barebones early version.

;************************************************************************
;*      Title  BG. data             (TILBGD)    *
;************************************************************************
;;;TILBGD       EQU $
;;;     BYTE    060H,0E8H,000H,021H
;;;     WORD         00965H,0094EH,00960H,0094EH,00967H,0094DH,00988H,00968H,0094FH
;;;     WORD         00988H,00983H,0094EH,00965H,0094DH,0094AH,00988H,00943H
;;;     BYTE    061H,008H,000H,021H
;;;     WORD         00975H,0095EH,00970H,0095EH,00977H,0095DH,00988H,00978H,0095FH
;;;     WORD         00988H,00993H,0095EH,00975H,0095DH,0095AH,00988H,00953H
;;;     BYTE    0FFH

The screen would have been loaded on the BG3 layer. In the final game, the title screen code doesn't load the needed palettes or graphics for BG3, but it does still set the VRAM location of the BG3 tilemap to C000. The final version also loads E000 for the name entry and file select screens. This crunches the font data into an 8x16 space, and the tile values in the commented-out section line up with the positions of the English letters in the font, generating the text for the game's provisionary title in the image above.

Localization Logo#

The file NEWS_04\home\arimoto\tomita\a.CGX contains two versions of the Master Sword: One quite similar to the version that appears on the final international title screen, and one very similar to the version used on the international box art. (The latter design was also incorporated as a prop in an American commercial for the game.) Despite there being a palette called a.COL in the same folder as the CGX, the two don't work well together. As such, NEWS_04\home\arimoto\zelda\m\title.COL is used instead. The white background of the palette has been edited to black for easier viewing.

Title Screen (EN)
a.CGX Sword 1
Box Art Logo (EN)

Prologue#

The NEWS tape artist workspace backup files contain three different versions of the game's prologue. opening-demo.CGX and d-b.CGX were manually reassembled by opening them along with opening-demo.COL in SCad, exporting the result as .BMPs, and importing them as tilesets in Tiled. (However, it would also be possible to reassemble them using SCad.)

Because zel0.lst doesn't work very well with the palette file, it was combined with the second row of opening-demo.COL in Zarby's homebrew CGX Viewer and exported as a .PNG. The white divisions between tiles were removed in the open-source image editing software Gimp, and then the .PNG was exported for reassembly in Tiled.

opening-demo.CGX#

Appears to be the final prologue sequence, or something extremely close to it. It works very well with opening-demo.COL, a palette file found in the same folder. Its internal date stamp is S-CG-CADVer1.23 901226, while its last-modified date is 1991-10-15, quite close to release.

d-b.CGX#

A slightly earlier version of the opening sequence. Its internal date stamp is S-CG-CADVer1.23 901226, and its last-modified date is 1991-07-16. It also seems to work perfectly with opening-demo.COL.

d-b.CGX (Early)	opening-demo.CGX (Final)

zel0.lst#

The earliest and most interesting version of the opening sequence is found in a file called 日本_Ver3\char\zel0.lst, which is found in the game's source code. It isn't a native graphics file, and in order to view it, it has to be converted from text form into hexadecimal.

It's viewed here with the same palette file as the two other versions of the prologue above for lack of a better option, but it doesn't work perfectly with it.

Due to its odd format, the file lacks the header information and date stamp that's normally present in .CGX files. Additionally, the source code files are all dated 2016-05-12, meaning that whatever its actual last-modified date was has been lost. However, in addition to the opening graphics below, it also contains some early menu item icons which match items such as the Lamp seen in screenshots distributed to Family Computer Magazine at Shoshinkai in late April 1991. As such, it may date from this time or earlier.

While the menu item icons are arranged and displayed in a way that's similar to the final game, the dimensions of the opening tiles are unusual, being 11×8 pixels in height. Each vertical row of tiles is separated by a 5-pixel band of emptiness. In the final game, these tiles are 8×8 and no such bands exist.

The design of the building at the top-left has column supports that resemble suits of armor, as well as crenelated towers and nibs on the roof. Such design elements are seen in earlier versions of the castle like the ones below, suggesting it may be the same building.

Ending#

Unsurprisingly, the file zel_ending.asm pertains to the game's ending.

Uncredited Staffer#

Between the names of Yoichi Kotabe and Hideki Fujii, who are credited for "Printed Art Work", is a commented-out name, Minoru Maeda. Maeda was credited as an artist on a handful of Nintendo games from the late 1980s, as well as for illustration support on Ocarina of Time.

STAF058        EQU    $
        BYTE    009H,13*2-1
        BYTE    D_Y,D_O,D_I,D_C,D_H,D_I,SPA
        BYTE    D_K,D_O,D_T,D_A,D_B,D_E
;
;;;;STAF059        EQU    $
;;;;        BYTE    00AH,12*2-1
;;;;        BYTE    U_M,U_I,U_N,U_O,U_R,U_U,SPA
;;;;        BYTE    U_M,U_A,U_E,U_D,U_A
;;;;;
;;;;STAF060        EQU    $
;;;;        BYTE    00AH,12*2-1
;;;;        BYTE    D_M,D_I,D_N,D_O,D_R,D_U,SPA
;;;;        BYTE    D_M,D_A,D_E,D_D,D_A
;;;;;
STAF061        EQU    $
        BYTE    00AH,12*2-1
        BYTE    U_H,U_I,U_D,U_E,U_K,U_I,SPA
        BYTE    U_F,U_U,U_J,U_I,U_I

Unused Text#

The following commented-out portion appears below the final line of the credits, "AND THE MASTER SWORD SLEEPS AGAIN... FOREVER!"

;;;;        HEX 062,044,000,02D
;;;;        BYTE    E_T,E_H,E_U,E_S,SPA
;;;;        BYTE    E_P,E_E,E_A,E_C,E_E,SPA
;;;;        BYTE    E_H,E_A,E_S,SPA
;;;;        BYTE    E_R,E_E,E_T,E_U,E_R,E_N,E_E,E_D
;;;;;
;;;;        HEX 062,08B,000,011
;;;;        BYTE    G_T,G_O,SPA
;;;;        BYTE    G_H,G_Y,G_R,G_U,G_L,G_E
;;;;;
;;;;        HEX 062,0E5,000,029
;;;;        BYTE    U_T,U_H,U_A,U_N,U_K,SPA
;;;;        BYTE    U_Y,U_O,U_U,SPA
;;;;        BYTE    U_F,U_O,U_R,SPA
;;;;        BYTE    U_P,U_L,U_A,U_Y,U_I,U_N,U_G
;;;;        HEX 063,005,000,029
;;;;        BYTE    D_T,D_H,D_A,D_N,D_K,SPA
;;;;        BYTE    D_Y,D_O,D_U,SPA
;;;;        BYTE    D_F,D_O,D_R,SPA
;;;;        BYTE    D_P,D_L,D_A,D_Y,D_I,D_N,D_G

It would have looked like this:

THUS
PEACE 
HAS 
RETURNED

TO 
HYRULE

THANK 
YOU 
FOR 
PLAYING

Additionally, commented-out text reading "THE END" appears after the name of Shigeki Yamashiro, the last person credited under Special Thanks. (A graphical "The End" is shown after the "TOTAL GAMES PLAYED" count.)

;;;STAF082        EQU    $
;;;;        BYTE    00CH,7*2-1
;;;;        BYTE    U_T,U_H,U_E,SPA
;;;;        BYTE    U_E,U_N,U_D
;;;;;
;;;;STAF083        EQU    $
;;;;        BYTE    00CH,7*2-1
;;;;        BYTE    D_T,D_H,D_E,SPA
;;;;        BYTE    D_E,D_N,D_D
;;;;;