The Legend of Zelda is a series that graces the Mount Rushmore of video games. Link’s face is up there with the likes of Super Mario, Solid Snake and Master Chief. Aside from the unusual games on the Phillips CD-I console, there’s rarely been a “bad” game in the series in over thirty years, a claim only a handful of other franchises can make.
The games have given players thousands of hours of enjoyment over the years through the care, attention, and expertise that went into designing every boss fight, dungeon, and puzzle. But what about the stuff that the games didn’t make it to? From Triforce guitars to a playable Zelda, there are a lot of cool things Nintendo left out for some reason.
10/10 Starfox used Kokiri Forest as a hangar
Link’s has fought many enemies over the years, but few are as cool and confusing as the little Arwing in the starting area of Kokiri Forest. The Arwing isn’t just some random thing lying around in the game’s files, but is a full-fledged enemy. Accessible by manipulating the game’s files or using a Gameshark, the Arwing has its own introductory cutscene. It can be targeted, take damage and deal damage to Link, fly through the area and fire its lasers and have a defeat animation.
In an Iwata Asks interview, art director Satoru Takizawa explains how the Arwing was used to recreate the move of dragon boss Volvagia. After the logistics worked out, the spaceship was swapped out for the creature, but the Arwing’s code remained in the game’s files.
9/10 The URA Expansion for Ocarina Of Time
When the Nintendo 64DD was still in the prime of Nintendo’s vision, they had plans to use the N64DD’s additional technology for many games, including Ocarina of Time. “Zelda 64” was going to be the champion of the 64DD, but after more than a year of development, it was decided to use a ROM cartridge instead of the 64DD’s magnetic disks. However, in 1998, in an IGN interview, Miyamoto spoke about an expansion for the 64DD called “URA Zelda”.
This expansion was named to add post-game content for players, such as quests and additional dungeons. While technically finished, the 64DD was a commercial failure and many games simply never got released, including: URA Zelda. It is thought that the Master Quest version of ooT on the Nintendo Gamecube is the spiritual successor of URA Zelda.
8/10 Fire bars and water boots didn’t make it
Depending on the submission, Link has a number of items at his disposal. Among things like Hookshots, Master Swords, and Bows, there were some tools that were changed because of story conflicts or were left out altogether. In Wind Wakerthe iron boots had a corresponding item called the water boots which had the same function as the iron boots in ooT. They can be found in the files with a placeholder image that reads “Water Boots” in Japanese.
The Minish Cap would also have a Fire Rod as an item, as described by Ice Wizrobe’s trophy, indicating they can be damaged with that item, and it has its own detailed retrieval text.
7/10 Modern, Minish and Music
Before Link got his blue robes we know him from Breath of the Wildhe looked very different. Detailed in the book Creating a Champion, a behind-the-scenes/development diary of botWIn his early drafts, Link wore a zip-up hoodie and track pants. He also played a gold electric guitar called the Tri-Caster with a Triforce pick to play with.
Equivalent to Majora’s mask, he would gain access to other instruments such as Din’s Drum and Nayru’s Keyboard. In the same book, Link was seen with a wolf/dog companion (captioned “Wolf Spirit?”), and a Picori Champion using a whip is also seen among the Champion’s sketches.
6/10 The original Armogohma was terrifying in a different way
There have been several enemies over the years that haven’t quite made their way to the LoZ games, from gun-wielding soldiers to moblins armed with axes. One of the most visually intimidating was the giant ogre originally conceived for the Wind Waker, which towers several meters above the Hero of Time. It would use two nail clubs to attack, which it would combine into a roller to try to squash Link.
As for the boss Armogohma, instead of fighting him directly in a claustrophobic arena, the Game Developer’s Conference 2005 trailer showed him being relentlessly chased by a giant one-eyed spider.
5/10 Two links are better than one
The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes had some more unique elements due to the multiple playable characters, but some things, while creative, weren’t feasible to include. While the totem mechanic stayed put, there was originally an idea to merge two Links into one. The problem lay in the fact that Link would only move if both players were moving in the same direction.
So unless players had mutual coordination and agreement on where they wanted to go, it became a frustrating experience that only slowed down the game and annoyed players in the process.
4/10 Zelda’s “Second Adventure”
Princess Zelda’s character got her first playable outing in the infamous series of LoZ games on the Philips CD-I console. However, the plan for Skyward Sword was to bring back this element of controlling hair in different sections. In the book “The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia”, the development team seriously considered making these parts playable as the princess herself. However, the focus remained on Link and Zelda’s story was told through cutscenes instead.
Skyward Sword would also have a “Remote Boomerang” that Link could use to maneuver around certain areas. This idea was soon abandoned as the player could miss important items and gave the developers a headache when trying to properly guide the player.
3/10 Sunken Hyrule would be much bigger
Wind Waker had a good amount of content that never saw the light of day, but the biggest and potentially most disappointing was the lack of actually being able to explore the land of Hyrule under the Great Sea.
There could possibly be a mechanic where Link could travel between two overworlds by grabbing a fishhook in Sunken Hyrule to be teleported back to the surface. Players have also found a crack/door in the mountain wall and a hidden area in the Sunken Hyrule area to further expand this.
2/10 The Canceled Twilight Princess Sequel
After 2006 Twilight Princess received a fantastic reception from fans and critics (par for the course for a Zelda game), work began on a direct sequel shortly after. This would follow in the same vein as the duo of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s mask are closely linked. However, Nintendo got impatient and managed to deliver another sublime LoZ would take a lot of time.
In the meantime, Nintendo wanted to release a subseries game developed by a smaller secondary team. so we have Link’s crossbow training instead of. Unused ideas for the Twilight Princess sequels were either resolved into what became Skyward Swordshelved for later games, or scrapped altogether.
1/10 The True Triforce Story
Something that has become almost legendary among fans of the series and of Ocarina of Time especially the original story to ooT was something distinctly different. The ability to get the Triforce was a mythical story in video games, similar to: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas‘Bigfoot and’ Super Mario 64s Luigi.
This rampant rumor mill is due to the Spaceworld 1996 trailer for the game in which Link opened a large chest revealing the Triforce. The developers have clearly gone in a completely different direction. However, for players who really want to see the real story of Ocarina of Timewatch Summer Games Done Quick 2022 TASBot speedrun.
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