October, 1998

Actions#

Prototype	Final

There were some changes to how Gold Skultulla drops behaved. The release candidate build has an item cutscene, focusing on the Gold Skultulla, like any other important item. The text box is not colored blue, instead it's grey like regular text boxes are.

Prototype	Final

Link being warped to Desert Colossus. Nothing is out of ordinary in the map itself, but the camera code when using a warp song was changed, using a camera identical to the Ocarina camera.

Prototype	Final

The area's title card didn't appear when using the Warp Song.

Prototype	Final

The Z-Target camera when using a bow or hookshot is zoomed further out.

Prototype	Final

For some reason, the action button changed to "Grab" around small healing fairies.

Prototype	Final

The action button is "Grab" when carrying Princess Ruto, even though it should be "Drop" or "Throw."

Magic beans were still equipable as an Adult Link.

Prototype	Final

Link's expression is neutral, instead of happy.

Navi remained active when talking.

Animation#

The game, prior to October 1998, showed Link having more animations than what the final game ended up having. This is apparent when Link turns around: in the final game he just snaps to face the other direction. It's also apparent in how his sword didn't automatically slash when drawing it. Naoki Mori, who worked as a Cinema Scene Director, claimed that responsiveness was a higher priority than how good the animation looked.

In another interview, this time with Shigeru Miyamoto. He explains the removal of certain animations to make it easier for the player to understand Link's controls.

It's worth to mention that, while a lot of this animation work didn't make the cut, a lot of these removed actions returned in future Zelda instalments. Many unused animations exist for Link in the released game as well as the leaks have mentions for animation names that were removed from the final product altogether.

Interface#

Pause Menu#

Prototype	Final

The Skulltula icon that appears when you've collected every Skulltula from an area used to be larger.

Game Over#

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

The placement of the Game Over texture and text was slightly different.

Text Box#

Prototype	Final

The item icons were placed closer to the text.

Horse#

The C-buttons on the interface are completely hidden in the final game when on horseback.

Cutscenes#

Title Screen#

Prototype	Final

Hyrule was almost met with a terrible fate in Ocarina of Time.

Revisited - Link's Nightmare#

Sep. '98	Sep. '98 / Oct. '98	Oct. '98	Final

New eye textures for a more shocking reaction, but the camera angle wasn't finalized yet.

Kokiri Forest Opening#

Prototype	Final

The Kokiri Girl NPC was adjusted to be in her final location just before release for the Kokiri Forest opening cutscene. What's interesting to note is that she was in her final location in the regular gameplay setup already in May 28th, 1998 E3 1998 demo.

Learning Zelda's Lullaby#

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

xxx

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Learning Saria's Song#

Prototype	Final

The camera is higher above the ground in final.

Giant Dead Dodongo#

Prototype	Final

The camera was placed higher up, so the bridge would be in view.

Revisited - Pulling out the Master Sword#

Prototype	Final

Link's looking-down eye texture was significantly improved before release. In the final game, the Kokiri Sword disappears from the sheath, which is likely caused by a change in Display Lists.

Kakariko Village on Fire#

Prototype	Final

This cutscene setup environment still had the stone circle placed which was a remnant of Mid '98 Kakariko Object placement work. It was removed for the final release though. v1.2 revision made the tree match that of the regular gameplay setup.

Prototype	Final

xxx

Items#

Red Potion#

xxx

Story#

The only difference is that this line is center-aligned in the Japanese final script.

The only difference is the color coding that is absent in the final script.

Kokiri's Emerald Localization#

Prototype	Final

In the Japanese version of Ocarina of Time, Kokiri's Emerald is called Kokiri's Jade. When localization work was finished it was renamed to Kokiri's Emerald.

Navi Text (Gohma)#

Prototype	Final

A change was made to Navi's information text to refer to Gohma in plural because of her larvas.

Zelda's Lullaby#

xxx

Saria's Song#

xxx

Prototype	Final

Navi used to fly higher above Link when talking to her or Saria. In final she's locked in a lower position.

Characters#

Revisited - Saria#

Revisited - Child Zelda#

June 1998	Oct. 1998	Final

This message, ID 70DF, is still in the final game, albeit unused. The first thing Zelda says when she sees you is message 702E, the Final Script one shown above.

Revisited - Impa#

Prototype	Final

Impa's chest got some more polygons.

Revisited - Ganondorf#

June 1998	Oct. 1998	Final

The guards behind Ganondorf now have their final designs.

Revisited - Rauru#

xxx

Kokiri Kid#

xxx

Cursed Skulltula People#

Revisited - Medigoron#

September 1998	October 1998	Final

For some reason Medigoron's target spot was altered between September 1998 and final.

Effects#

Prototype	Final

Navi's outer color when interacting with NPCs and signs etc. was green and not blue.

Environments#

Revisited - Link's House#

xxx

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Link's records didn't appear to exist near release. Navi isn't pointing it out and a pot was placed in front of it.

Revisited - Kokiri Forest#

Prototype	Final

The gossip stone near the trunk leading to Lost Woods was moved closer to the ledge.

Prototype	Final

As shown by older screenshots, her headband was lighter green.

Nintendo Power's November 1998 issue reported about a Piece of Heart above the Kokiri Shop roof. They later confirmed on the web page that it was moved to a better hiding place.

Excerpt from the said web page and a link to it:

This Piece of Heart was reported about in numerous magazines who received a copy of the game for reviewing. This naturally brought confusion to people who read strategy guides, and here's Expert Gamer calling it the "First Heart Container".

Farore's Wind is a dungeon only item. Why and how it is being used in this screenshot is a mystery. The cursor is indicating that the last exit would've been from the Deku Tree. Seemingly the mouth actor wasn't used in the Adult scene here and was put there just before the deadline hit.

Prototype	Final

Mido only requiring Link to equip his shield. This is due to a late addition of the Kokiri Forest crawlspace and you started the game with Kokiri Sword.

Prototype	Setup 04

This screenshot is a peculiar one. Link is holding a Deku Shield above the Kokiri Shop next to the Shop Girl whose fairy can be seen behind him. Alternate Scene Setup 04 has a shield in this exact location. The location of the crawlspace on the minimap got some changes as well.

xxx

Revisited - Kokiri Shop#

Prototype	Final

The Kokiri Girl looks at Link in the pre-release screenshot, hinting that her target range was adjusted afterwards. There used to be a green debug arrow indicating the hidden blue rupee. If debug is enabled, there is no arrow there in the retail build.

Revisited - Know-It-All Brothers' House#

Prototype	Final

Both Know-It-All Brothers are standing on their stools. One of them is in a fighting stance. In the final game, near the crawlspace leading to the maze with the Kokiri Sword, there's a Kokiri NPC in the same fighting stance teaching you the basics of combat, so it's possible this was once taught in Know-It-All Brothers' house.

Revisited - Inside The Deku Tree#

Prototype	Final

The ladders in the Slingshot room do not have the Navi hint spot.

Prototype	Final

No small chest for the Recovery Heart.

Revisited - Hyrule Field#

Iwata: You were also in charge of Hyrule Field. The reason you made such a vast world was so Link could gallop around on a horse, right?

Miyanaga: Right. It created quite a fuss when I first made that field. People were like, "You can't make it that big!" (laughs) Even riding a horse, it was so big that you would get bored riding around it, so we had to add something. Then lots of people took a hand in it, having enemies appear and putting holes here and there.

Aonuma: We went around the field looking for places where there wasn't anything and put something at each one.

Miyanaga: We'd be like, "This area's a bit empty, so I'll make a hole and put something in it." (laughs)

Iwata: In other words, you made Hyrule Field as a basis for everyone to build their ideas upon, and that's how it turned out to be that kind of space.

Miyanaga: Right. We made Kakariko Village that way, too.

Expert Gamer received an early copy of the game. As their focus was on strategy guides and tips, it included a Hyrule Field with item locations. This map lacks some of the grottos, which were added sometime before the final release.

Missing Grotto 1#

Prototype	Final

A grotto is missing. In the final game, it has a tree standing beside it, hinting at its location. This grotto contains a Piece of Heart, which was likely moved from somewhere else.

Missing Grotto 2#

The Business Scrub selling a Piece of Heart must've been found somewhere else.

Missing Grotto 3#

Two grottos with just a rupee as a reward were added close to Lake Hylia.

Missing Grotto 4#

Revisited - Lost Woods#

Prototype	Final

As other screenshots in this October 1998 section show, Many of Navi's hint spots were placed in the last days of development.

Prototype	Final

The target score color was modified in the Lost Woods Slingshot minigame. This color is one of the colors seen in Gerudo's Fortress' Horseback Archery mini-game when scoring on a target, because for some reason only the score for that is multicolored.

Revisited - Sacred Forest Meadow#

Nintendo Power's December 1998 issue was written using a near complete build of the game. Still, some smaller things were changed at the last moment, like this boulder hiding the Fairy Fountain. A boulder is still listed in the scene's object list, as removing the actor from the actor list was enough.

Expert Gamer magazine's guide also has an explosion mark drawn over the Fairy Fountain grotto.

Revisited - Forest Temple#

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Some minimap changes are apparent for the "balcony room".

Revisited - Bombchu Bowling#

Prototype	Final

Diving in Bombchu Bowling? For some reason the text meant to be shown for starting the diving mini-game was shown for starting a round of Bombchu Bowling.

Revisited - Shooting Gallery#

Beyond the HUD differences as noted before, this appears the same as final.

Revisited - Temple of Time Exterior#

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Revisited - Guard House#

Prototype	Final

Even in October, some changes to the Guard House's object layouts were made. Here, pots replaced boxes.

Prototype	Final

Some pots were removed to make a clear pathway to the Soldier, and to the box containing a Gold Skulltula.

Revisited - Potion Shop (Child)#

Prototype	Final

The Bug and Deku Nut items switched places.

Revisited - Death Mountain Trail#

Prototype	Final

This awkwardly placed boulder was removed.

Prototype	Final

The flagpole was placed closer to the sign. It's possible there was no Big Fairy spot there, as the flag marks the spot for one.

Prototype	Final

There's no Red Tektite here in the finished game.

Revisited - Goron City#

Prototype	Final

A sign can be seen in front of the Goron Shop. Unused text exists for it. Navi's hint spot was fixed to be closer to the Goron's Ruby stand.

Prototype	Final

The sign seen in previous screenshots was removed. Two additional Bomb Flowers used to be on the floor alongside the bomb wall, but they were removed to encourage the use of a burning Deku Stick.

Prototype	Final

A boulder was removed where Darunia's Son rolls around.

Apparently the only way to get Goron Tunic would've been to buy it from the Goron Shop.

Prototype	Final

This area of Goron City was filled with more boulders.

Revisited - Fire Temple#

Prototype	Final

This room of Fire Temple used to have three killer doors. There are none here in the final game.

Revisited - Lake Hylia#

Prototype	Final

In October 1998, nearing the game's release, Nintendo sent out review copies of the game to several game magazines such as EGM, GamePro and some of Japanese origin. EGM's other imprint, Expert Gamer, which focused more on Strategy Guides, reported that originally three of the game's bottles were located at Lake Hylia. For the final release the bottle containing Ruto's letter was kept, but the other two were moved to other locations in the world. The only bottle that wasn't found at Lake Hylia was the bottle you'd get from Talon for completing the Super Cucco mini-game.

The Fishing Pond's and Lakeside Laboratory's bottles were moved to Kakariko Village and the Market. In the final game, Kakariko Village's bottle is a reward for returning all the Cuccos to the Cucco Lady's pen, but Expert Gamer noted you would've received a Piece of Heart instead. The Market's bottle is a reward from the Poe Collector after capturing and giving all ten of the Big Poes located in Hyrule Field, but it's unclear if another reward would've been given here earlier in development.

Fire Arrows were given to you by Darunia after finishing the Fire Temple, rather than firing up an arrow at the sun when it's sunrise at Lake Hylia. The actor for shooting the sun was added July, 30th, 1998 and is also used for other things in the final game.

Swordless Link. Caused by a patched glitch perhaps?

Water Temple#

Several late pre-release screenshots for the game show room timer present in the Dark Link room and outside it. The purpose of this timer is unknown and what's seen could've been nothing more than a bug.

Revisited - Castle Courtyard#

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Revisited - Chamber of Sages#

xxx

xxx

Revisited - Ice Cavern#

xxx

Prototype	Final

One Freezard enemy was removed from the middle ice platform.

Forest Training Area#

xxx

Talon's House#

xxx

Prototype	Final

The amount of time you had to finish the Super Cucco Minigame was shortened from 45 seconds to 30 seconds.

Revisited - Hyrule Castle Town#

Prototype	Final

The blue and purple dress wearing lady, the one who stands beside the potion shop and tells you about Lon Lon Ranch, was placed "last minute."

Revisited - Kakariko Village#

Prototype	Final

This Skulltula was moved to be below the window of the Skulltula House more.

Prototype	Final

The minimap was shorter near the gate area. This would make it seem like the warp to Death Mountain Trail was placed closer to the gate.

Prototype	Final

The Dog Lady NPC used to be closer to the entrance of this house. She was moved closer to the beds and the fireplace.

Revisited - Kakariko Graveyard#

Tips & Tricks Magazine's Ocarina of Time Guide wrote that only one of the tombstones as Child Link had something of interest to discover. A grave where a ReDead is protecting a chest containing the Hylian Shield. In the released version of the game, this shield is instead found from another grave that holds a hidden healing Fairy Fountain inside and this grave has a Piece of Heart once you play Sun's Song to spawn the chest.

Prototype	Final

The text for Sun's Song's slate was changed to explain more of the backstory.

Prototype	Final

The player in this screenshot from the Nintendo Power Strategy Guide had just warped to the Graveyard via Nocturne of Shadow. The weather wasn't stormy as it always is unless you play Song of Storms on your Ocarina in a specific spot on the map. In the case here it's impossible that would've been the reason, it's likely the weather settings were altered in some form.

Prototype	Final

This Skulltula was changed from Adult to Child only. The condition was also changed from day to night.

Prototype	Final

Royal Family's Tomb lacked a Navi hint spot mark.

Kakariko Potion Shop#

Prototype	Final

An unknown item stored inside a bottle can be seen top left on the left shelf. It's placed above the standard bottled Poe and the substance looks like it could have been for a Big Poe. Unused text for this exists. In retail to fill the slot for this they put a Deku Nut for sale.

Nintendo Power Player's Guide mentions how there would've been nobody home in the Kakariko Potion Shop when Link visited it as child. In the released game you can find a carpenter blocking your way to the fenced off area in Kakariko Village.

Revisited - Windmill#

Prototype	Final

The building interior still used more of the wood texture.

Skulltula House#

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

Many experiments regarding what lighting setting the Skulltula House should use were made. An unused copy of the map from the leaks was found with close fog settings to the first screenshot.

Expert Gamer magazine's issue 54 reported about an old Skulltula rewards list, which they wrote using a prototype copy of the game received for review purposes. Most notable change is how Giant's Wallet used to be the last reward you'd get. To let the players have the Giant Wallet without finding all the Gold Skulltulas, it was moved to take the 30 tokens slot. Two Piece of Hearts are on the list as well and the other was moved somewhere else. This magazine mistakenly confused Heart Containers with Pieces.

• Adult's Wallet - 10 Tokens
• Stone of Agony - 20 Tokens
• Giant's Wallet - 30 Tokens
• Bombchu - 40 Tokens
• Piece of Heart - 50 Tokens
• Huge Rupee - 100 Tokens

Revisited - Zora's River#

Prototype	Final

Actor debugger is turned on, no message ID is displayed and the interface is not hidden in Ocarina mode.

Revisited - Zora's Domain#

Prototype	Final

Can't have too many bushes.

Expert Gamer guide's drawn map shows the Piece of Heart by the ledge near the waterfall was somewhere else before, and that a grotto used to be close to its location.

Revisited - Zora's Fountain#

Prototype	Final

Prototype	Final

The two fences around Jabu-Jabu were shortened to avoid the ice platform clipping into them in the Adult Link environment. The pots are placed differently and seem to be identical to the artwork of this area.

Revisited - Gerudo Valley#

Prototype	Final

One gray boulder was removed from Gerudo Valley's Child Link setup.

Gerudo's Fortress#

Magazine reports around the game's release talked about a Piece of Heart in Gerudo's Fortress which didn't make it to the release version. The map showing the location it used to be here comes from Expert Gamer magazine's Ocarina of Time guide. Expert Gamer was not the only magazine bringing this up and another mention of it exists in Game Informer. Game Informer makes it clear they had two Piece of Hearts around and the one from the chest was kept.

Revisited - Iron Knuckle's Lair#

Prototype	Final

Iron Knuckle's Lair boss door was same as Forest Temple's. It was replaced with a slightly modified texture afterwards.

Ganon's Castle#

Prototype	Final

The exit pointer on the minimap was further away from the actual entrance.

Navi's hint spot is missing from the rock blocking the way to the Fairy Fountain, where you get Double Defense.

Enemies#

Revisited - King Dodongo#

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Revisited - Barinade#

September 1998	October 1998	Final

Between September and the final build, Barinade's lighting color was white.

Freezard#

xxx

Revisited - Morpha#

Link was still able to cut Morpha's tentacle with a sword.

Morpha had a homing attack that is not present in the final game.

Iwata Asks

Iwata: My own impression is that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time firmly established the "essence of Zelda."

Aonuma: That's right. That's why it's been hard to make anything ever since! (laughs)

Aonuma: Something I always think as I work on the series is how hard it was to make The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but it was also a great time. As mentioned earlier, we were making something unprecedented.

Iwata: There wasn't anything you could compare it to.

Aonuma: As we went through a process of trial and error and watched it take shape each day, it was really fun working on it. Each day we said, "Oh, look at what we did!" and that built up.

Kawagoe: For example, we were really impressed when the sword was able to cut a sign.

Aonuma: Yeah. Miyamoto-san put that in when everyone was exhausted. (laughs)

Koizumi: (Kazuaki) Morita-san17 at SRD programmed that. You don't just cut the sign, but float it in the pond. When Miyamoto-san saw that, he burst out laughing and said, "Now that's The Legend of Zelda!"

Iwawaki: Yeah, he said that. (laughs)

Koizumi: I remember it clearly.

Iwata: Aside from cutting the signs, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was a game with lots of forms of gameplay that players were experiencing for the first time and that must have made them think, "What's this?" and "What's going on here?"

Kawagoe-san, why do you think you were able to make a game like that?

Kawagoe: In some ways, I think it was because of a certain fearlessness on the part of the staff. We were just getting acquainted with the Nintendo 64 hardware and began development in a state of excitement over all the possibilities. As a result, our feelings and behavior packed a lot into the game out of a sense of "Well, if we can do this, then let's do that, too!"

Kawagoe: Put another way, it's like we were plunging into a pathless, misty expanse and thinking, "I'm sure we can do this!"

Iwata: I think that fearlessness was indeed a big factor. You were a group of people who hadn't learned before you began how hard it could be or how long it could take. (laughs)

Aonuma: We really hadn't.

Iwata: The group believed that anything was possible with the Nintendo 64 system, plunged ahead, discovered a lot of interesting stuff, omnivorously adopted it, and threw it all together in a way without any friction, resulting in a dense concentration of material.

Kawagoe: But as with the moon sliding into view, which came up earlier, a lot of things fell into place by chance.

Osawa: We'd be feverishly working away at it and all of a sudden be like, "Oh, we did it!"

Aonuma: We'd get a lot done that we hadn't even imagined.

Kawagoe: I feel like we encountered a lot of such happy chance occurrences.

Iwata: So the developers could get excited about the daily discoveries.

Osawa: Almost every day, I was like, "You made that?! Well then, I'm gonna..."

Aonuma: Each day, I experienced the reward of seeing the practically empty world that I had first designed with only squares and triangles rapidly become a realer one as various people added their input. I was incredibly happy about that.

Kawagoe: I suppose we could do that because we were all young.

Iwata: Koizumi-san, I think you're the youngest among the team members here today. How old were you when you made The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time?

Koizumi: I was about 26 or 27. How about you, Aonuma-san?

Aonuma: I was in my thirties without doubt.

Koizumi: (looking serious) I was the youngest among those of us here, so I was ill at ease (laughs) and couldn't really say what I wanted.

Aonuma: Huh? No way! You always said the harshest things! (laughs) Everyone: (laughs)

Koizumi: Did I? (laughs) I think it will show up in the next session of "Iwata Asks," but the designers (Yoshiki) Haruhana-san and (Satoru) Takizawa-san were in their early twenties then, and they kept up their enthusiasm. The development period was two and a half years.

Iwata: And it was a particularly intense two and a half years.

Koizumi: When it's that long, you should run out of breath, but we never did.

Koizumi: It wasn't hard at all for me to work until or past midnight every day.

Kawagoe: Yeah, we were all young. (laughs)

Osawa: It was fun how each day was different.

Koizumi: It sure was.

Iwata: We raced along for two and a half years, experiencing immense changes each day.

Aonuma: That's right.

Koizumi: Work is generally fun, but that may have been the most satisfying time. I was able to make a lot of selfish demands, so I think we caused everyone trouble…but it was fun.

Aonuma: We weren't selfish—we were dedicated.

Osawa: I think if the same team ever had to make the next The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, it would probably be fun.

(That's the joke!)

References

Index