Zelda 64 Beta
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Zelda 64 refers to the beta version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a critically acclaimed action-adventure video game released by Nintendo in 1998 for the Nintendo 64, and the first game in the Legend of Zelda series to use fully 3D graphics. Zelda 64, which was originally being developed for the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive add-on, was much more ambitious in scope and scale than the final game, but the game's transition to a standard cartridge release led to much of this content being cut or altered.
Zelda 64 was first revealed to the public at the Shoshinkai (also known as Space World) video game trade show in 1995, with a tech demo featuring the protagonist Link fighting a metal knight.[1] It was originally intended to be a sequel to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.[2] Development began on the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive (64DD), a then-unreleased add-on for the Nintendo 64 that read magnetic disks which had greater storage capacity than the standard cartridges, while also boosting the console's capabilities. Director Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to utilize this power to give the game a persistent world: footprints would stay in the sand, smashed boxes would stay broken, dug holes would remain there until they were covered, etc.[3][4]
In March 1997, Nintendo confirmed that Zelda 64 would be a cartridge release.[5] This eventually necessitated content to be cut to accommodate the weaker hardware and smaller storage space. However, Miyamoto planned to revisit some of those unrealized ideas[6] with a 64DD-compatible expansion, Ura Zelda. This too was ultimately scaled back; titled Master Quest outside Japan, it became a remixed version of Ocarina of Time which rearranges the dungeons to be more challenging. With the failure of the Japan-exclusive 64DD, Nintendo withheld the release of Master Quest until the 2002/2003 release of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for the GameCube, where it was included in a special Ocarina of Time bonus disc for those who had pre-ordered the game.
Zelda 64 went through several iterations, most noticeably seen in the heads-up display. Originally, only the sword and a secondary item could be equipped on the A and B buttons, respectively. This was followed by having secondary items equipped to the C-buttons, with the B button instead being reserved for context-sensitive actions. For almost a year afterwards, the sword would remain on the A button before being swapped to the B button, as in the final game.
Character designs and overall visuals were simpler and more cartoon-looking, similar to Super Mario 64, which Zelda 64 borrowed elements from. Despite this, the character animations are much smoother than the final game, with Link performing flourishing sword swings which seamlessly flow into each animation. Unlike the final release, Link could manually jump forward, and his jump slash was different, with him doing a body flip before slashing. The trails on his spin attack were red instead of blue. Great Fairies had a much different design, with a blue-white, angelic appearance as opposed to the more humanoid appearance.
Taking advantage of the 64DD's enhanced capabilities, several environments were much larger and more detailed, while other areas were still in the early stages. Hyrule Field had great, rolling hills, with its river having two branches instead of one path. The entrance to Castle Town had a big gate. Lake Hylia had a differently designed house, with one screenshot of it featuring an unknown woman whom fans have nicknamed Aria. Kakariko Village had a more simple layout, with houses placed along a path. The inside of the Great Deku Tree had a more complex layout, with the lobby containing a large central tower, and rooms being more spacious. The arena for the boss Volvagia had designs on the periphery reminiscent of a coliseum. There was an intricate cave system that was not in the final game.
The Medallions, the main collectibles needed to beat the game, originally let Link use a magic spell based on the corresponding Medallion. The Soul (or Spirit) Medallion let Link become his fairy companion Navi,[7] similar to his fairy ability in Zelda II.
The game's early plot synopsis had Link set out in a coming-of-age ceremony in the Maze Woods, finding a mortally wounded fairy who tells him to stop Ganondorf (incorrectly spelled "Gannondorf" by Nintendo Power), the king of the thieves, from possessing the sacred Triforce, which is hidden in the woods.[8]
Zelda 64 has never been publicly released, with no available ROM image. "Beta restoration" projects have been attempted, such as one by Team Beta Triforce, which was never completed.[9] Space World '97 Beta Experience, led by Ocarina of Time modder Zel, is a hack that aims to recreate the Space World '97 build by using assets from the F-Zero X overdump as well as the July 2020 Gigaleak.[10][11]
On January 19th, 2021, video game preservationist Forest of Illusion dumped an F-Zero X development cartridge, obtained from a former Nintendo employee. The cartridge contained graphic and map data from the Space World 1997 build of Zelda 64. Fans quickly converted the old map data to be playable within Ocarina of Time.[14][15]
One fan creating a new fantastic-looking romhack for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time appears to have learned the right lessons from past fangames, as this developer has chosen to stay anonymous for now.
Zelda 64 is an Ocarina of Time romhack intended to replicate the features seen in the game's pre-release materials. While the final version of the game was certainly more graphically impressive - at least by Nintendo 64 standards - the early beta versions of the game included a host of enemies and environments that were either cut or substantially changed for the final version. (You can get loads more detail on all this over on The Cutting Room Floor.)
This romhack looks to be turning everything we've seen in those screenshots and tiny bits of footage into a full game that includes the missing features. That means there are loads of brand-new environments, redesigned enemies, and more connective tissue to bring it all together - it even has the slightly-janky looking UI of the early game versions.
The trailer above was pulled from prolific romhacker Kaze Emanuar's F3 2023 presentation, a 45-minute showcase of various fangames and mods. While most other modders in the show were credited, Kaze Emanuar says that the creator of Zelda 64 "asked to stay anonymous."
Given the historical fate of many fangame projects, anonymity seems like the smarter path to pursue at this stage of development. After all, if nobody knows who you are, Nintendo lawyers have nowhere to send a cease and desist letter, right? While more fan projects survive the lawyer lottery than not in the end, this seems like a smart way to stack the odds in your favor.
Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator."}), " -0-10/js/authorBio.js"); } else console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); Dustin BaileySocial Links NavigationStaff WriterDustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.
Experience a rare behind-the-scenes look at one of the most beloved games of all time! This is a mod of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that aims to recreate the demo that attendees of Nintendo Space World in 1997 would have experienced. From areas to dialogue to textures, the beta of Ocarina of Time has been carefully and accurately recreated.For the readme and source code, see here:
Unused content is a sector of gaming that focuses on the unreleased, scrapped, or otherwise removed content of a game only obtainable through hacking, pre-release demos, or through other unlicensed means. It includes, but is not limited to, content from beta releases, a specific prototypical stage of development.
In respect to the Zelda franchise, unused content ranges from enemy prototypes to early landscape blueprints, from entire projects to the original design of certain items. While this content is most often removed from the final publication of games, sometimes its influence can still be seen in the title in final builds. For example, in Ocarina of Time, the Forest Temple and Medallion were supposed to be the Wind Temple and Medallion. Although the forest design for the temple was chosen, the Medallion and insignias placed in Ganon's Tower and around the Forest Temple are still reminiscent of the windmill-like symbol relative to the pre-release Wind Temple.
Because of its popularity, Ocarina of Time has been hacked many times to create mods or just to look into the game's assets. Along the way, much unused content was found hidden within the cartridge data. Early previews of the game also provide insight into unused content.
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