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The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

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Title Screen

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Also known as: Zelda no Densetsu: Daichi no Kiteki (JP)
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo DS
Released in JP: December 23, 2009
Released in US: December 7, 2009
Released in EU: December 11, 2009
Released in AU: December 10, 2009


AreasIcon.png This game has unused areas.
GraphicsIcon.png This game has unused graphics.
ModelsIcon.png This game has unused models.
MusicIcon.png This game has unused music.
DebugIcon.png This game has debugging material.
RegionIcon.png This game has regional differences.
PiracyIcon.png This game has anti-piracy features.


DCIcon.png This game has a Data Crystal page

Spirit Tracks is the sequel to Phantom Hourglass and uses a modified version of its predecessor's engine. Yes, Zelda really is a spirit, and she's even playable for the first time since The Wand of Gamelon and Zelda's Adventure ever in the Zelda series!

Hmmm...
To do:
The files are organized by abbreviations internally, making it difficult to see what object is what. Someone needs to go through these one by one and find any leftover Phantom Hourglass models, or any other unused data. [/MapObject and /Npc done. What remains to be done is to crawl through all the native Models in the Map files to find any interesting level geometry. It's unlikely that there's a lot though, since unlike with Phantom Hourglass, with Spirit Tracks they knew from the get-go that they'd use MapObjects for a lot of these locations.]

Sub-Pages

CodeIcon.png
Course List
A list of all the stages in the game. And maybe some that aren't?
NotesIcon.png
English Translation Differences
(Contains spoilers!) The US and European translators can't seem to agree with each other.

Unused Models

Hyrule Town House Models

There are a number of placholder models for the houses in Hyrule Town. They carry the name of the building they're supposed to represent on their front.
They all look the same, so only one of them is shown here.

Zelda ST Hot0.png

Train Wagon

This is an early model that shows the train wagon.

Zelda ST Rmbl.png

Dark Realm Temple Station Platform

DSDK is a temple station platform that is not used in the game. This platform was meant for a dungeon in the dark realm, which was cut.

(Source: Hyrule Historia)
Zelda ST dsdk.png

Temple of the Ocean King

DNGN.nsmbd ("DNGN" stands for "Dungeon") is the Temple of the Ocean King's outside entrance, specifically a 3D model of it, which goes unused. In the final game, Link does get to visit what could be considered a homage to the temple, but he is teleported there instead via a statue in a remote island. It is not clear that this is in any way related to this model however.

Zelda spirit tracks ph temple.png

Early Sand Temple Exterior

Early version of the Sand Temple Exterior view. (sand_temple internally.)

Zelda ST tmde.png

Salvage Minigame (Leftover from Phantom Hourglass)

Model for the Phantom Hourglass Salvage Arm map.

Zelda ST vcsl.png

Hyrule Castle Town Train Station Model

This is a leftover from before the entire Hyrule Town map was implemented using one MapObject.

Zelda ST fsct.png

Ciela the Fairy

Loz spirittracks ciela.gif

Ciela the fairy was ported over to Spirit Tracks with only one animation: bouncing. She is named NAVI internally, like she was in Phantom Hourglass. This is the lower-resolution model of Ciela used as a stylus pointer, not the cutscene model.

Map Models

Train Fight

Early train fight sequence interior.

Zelda ST fttr.png

Final Battle

Early final battle level geometry.

Zelda ST rmb2.png

Water Boss v0

This is a very early, rough version of the Water boss arena. It only contains rough geometric shapes and crude textures, and is usually the first step in creating a map from a piece of concept art.

Zelda ST rmbw.png

Water Boss v1

This is a different version of the Water Temple boss arena. Differences include the arcs surrounding the central structure having different, jagged shapes and more natural textures compared to the final one.

The platforms Link uses to climb towards the pool at the top of the central structure where he fights the boss are also slightly different, and the entrance to the map is part of the platforms and not the central structure, as can be seen by the lack of an entrance in the unused model screenshot above.

Top of the Tower of Spirits

Early Top of the Tower of Spirits level geometry.

Zelda ST rmn5.png

Tower of Spirits Staircase

Early Tower of Spirits staircase interior. There are 4 versions of this, bottom, two middle ones, and the top. They all look the same though, so they're omitted here.

Zelda ST rmk0.png

Hyrule Town

Early model of Hyrule Town. There are three other versions of this.

Zelda ST town.png

Hyrule Town 2

Different version of Hyrule Town. There are three versions of this, TRGE, TRDA and TRBF. They all look identical, so only one is shown here. (From the abbreviation, it can be deduced that some of those were used as placeholders for stations on the train map.)

Zelda ST trge.png

Byrne Fight

Early version of the Byrne Fight Arena. (Called 'b_tower2' internally.)

Zelda ST inbd.png

E3 Overworld Map

Early version of the overworld forest map from the E3 Demo.

Zelda ST e3train.jpg

This corresponds to this minimap:

Legend-of-Zelda-Spirit-Tracks-E3-Demo-Map-train.png

Note that there is some geometry outside of the area shown in the minimap.
The various odd missing surfaces are due to this being supposed to be viewed from a train perspective, not a birds eye view.

Unused Music

Hmmm...
To do:
Compare the updated versions with the old versions.

Two unused music tracks from Phantom Hourglass were carried over to Spirit Tracks. They both use slightly different instruments and echo effects, hinting that these updated versions were meant to be used.

The Boss Battle theme is sandwiched between the Cole/Possessed Zelda battle music, and the "Protect Zelda from Possessed Cole" battle music, so it may have been meant to play for one of those battles, or in an entirely separate part of the final boss.

Boss Battle

Great Sea

Unused Graphics

Byrne's Mouth

Byrne has a fully textured mouth, but the player can never see it since it's always covered by his scarf.

Zelda ST deagnoScarf.png

Placeholder Textures

A bunch of placeholder textures were left over in the MapObj folder.

Legend-of-Zelda-Spirit-Tracks-YorozuyaT.png
Found in HOT0.nsbtx, the Japanese text translates to 'Merchant'.

Zelda ST tekiyaT.png
Found in HOT1.nsbtx.

Zelda ST minkaT1.png
Found in HOT2.nsbtx.

Zelda ST l1clr.png Zelda ST l2clr.png Zelda ST l3clr.png Zelda ST l4clr.png
All of these were found in DRMC.nsbtx. The Kanji symbols translate to 'Forest', 'Snow', 'Water' and 'Fire' respectively. Presumably, these were used as placeholders for the realm symbols.

Debugging Leftovers

DebugFont

Legend-of-Zelda-Spirit-Tracks-Debugfont128.png

A debug font that is similar to the font used in the FDS version of The Legend of Zelda.

Unused Text

Alongside the debug font, there is this odd-looking text file.

//-----------------------------------------------------


// This file was generated by g2dcvtr.exe converter.


// Avoid editting this file.


// creation date ==> 02/16/09.


//-----------------------------------------------------


#define    NANR_DebugFont_CellAnime0    0 // コメント未設定

Unused Placeholder Minimap

The Demon Train map has a placeholder minimap.

Zelda ST demon train minimap.png

E3 Demo Leftovers

The demo presented at the E3 convention had three modes: a train section, a dungeon section, and a battle with the first boss.

Unused Graphics

UI/Textures

The E3 version used a small red flag on the map to show the target (the Castle City in the demo). Its graphics are still in the final, just unused.

Legend-of-Zelda-Spirit-Tracks-E3-Title-BG.png Legend-of-Zelda-Spirit-Tracks-E3-Thanks-BG.png

Legend-of-Zelda-Spirit-Tracks-E3-Blank-BG.png Legend-of-Zelda-Spirit-Tracks-E3-Buttons.png

Graphics for the title screen, mode select, and ending screens are still present, as well, plus Mic Test menu graphics. Oddly, only the English versions of the graphics are present, although there are multiple language files for the demo text.

Maps

Hmmm...
To do:
Comparisons for the dungeon maps if possible.
E3 Final
Legend-of-Zelda-Spirit-Tracks-E3-Demo-Map-smount.png Legend-of-Zelda-Spirit-Tracks-E3-Demo-Map-smountFINAL.png
E3 Final
Legend-of-Zelda-Spirit-Tracks-E3-Demo-Map-train.png Legend-of-Zelda-Spirit-Tracks-E3-Demo-Map-trainFINAL.png

Leftover E3 map images for the touch screen. These cover the E3 dungeon, boss room, and the outdoor tutorial area.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Dungeon

The E3 dungeon is roughly a compilation of many puzzles from other dungeons in the game in a fire setting, but it's still present in the final. It can be accessed in the European version by using an Action Replay code to delete the current save file and replace it with one that triggers the E3 dungeon when opened (start a new game, hold L + R while saving, quit, then reload). The code is:

(M)
00000000 00000000
00000000 00000001
00000000 04000136

E3 Dungeon (overwrites gamesave)
94000130 000000ff
02262060 00000052
02262064 00000000
02262068 00000000
0226206c 002b0000
02262074 00000052
02262078 00000000
0226207c 00000000
02262080 002b0000
d2000000 00000000
92265340 00005544
92265322 fffd0000
da000000 02265322
d4000000 00000002
d7000000 02265322
d2000000 00000000

There are some oddities with the dungeon, though, alongside glitches not present in the E3 demo:

  • The text said by Zelda at the beginning is unused in the final, and is fully translated in other languages.
  • When entering a new floor, Zelda exhibits a strange behavior: instead of entering first then Link coming after her, she tends to enter with him at the same time, which causes her to partly clip with the walls. She is also not supposed to be playable outside the Tower of Spirits.
  • The stairs leading to the lava pools are untextured and often have glitchy behavior.
  • Some triggers are non-functional: the shortcut door at the right side of the entrance opens prematurely, before its switch is pressed. The big chest holding the Whirlwind item appears before the enemies are defeated. Same goes for the big chest holding the heart piece in the miniboss room, which is there even before the miniboss is defeated.
  • The dungeon is totally disconnected from any other rooms from the main game.

Unused Text

Hmmm...
To do:
  • Confirm that this text was indeed used in the demo.
  • Check the remaining text in the file for other unused text.
  • Find the used equivalents of the last two text lines.

In addition to the unused dungeon text documented above, the English/Message/train_extra.bmg file includes unused text that was likely used in this demo. Note that this text refers to "Link" directly, rather than using a control code to refer to the player's inputted name.

Demo Final
Listen up! I'm going to
tell you how to drive
this train!
You've probably got all this
down, but humor me while I
tell you again.
This is the Gear Box!
Touch the lever and
slide it to adjust speed.
This here is the gearbox.
Slide the lever up and
down to change speed.
Flip it to [v] to go in
reverse or hit the brakes
if the train is moving.
Slide to [v] to go in
reverse. You can use it as
an emergency brake too!
This is the whistle.
Touch the rope and give
it a good pull!
This is the whistle. Touch
it and give it a good pull
to blow the train's whistle!
To look around, touch
and hold your stylus
on the screen edge.
Oh, and you can look
around by touching in the
direction you want to look.
Touch up, down, left,
and right on the screen
to keep an eye out.
Good engineers are always
aware of their surroundings,
you know!
Got that?
-Yep!
-Huh?
So, you catch all that?
-Yes.
-Not quite.
Fine. I'll explain it again! All right, all right. Here it
is one more time!
Slide the lever on the
Gear Box to [^] to
go faster.
Now set the gearbox lever
to [^] to ratchet up the
speed.
There's an animal on the
tracks! Blow the whistle!
Moink on the tracks! Blow
the whistle to scare it off!
Hey! There's something
blocking the tracks!
Moink on the tracks! Blow
the whistle to scare it off!
The train can't take much
more! Link! Do something!
Unknown
Stick with it, Link! Unknown

Regional Differences

Hmmm...
To do:

The American and European versions of Spirit Tracks, like many other Nintendo games, contain two different English translations, due to being localized simultaneously yet independently by Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe. In most cases, the American translation generally takes more liberties, while the European one has more literal dialog. Some sentences with grammatical errors found in the American version were fixed in the European version. They also have different names for many of the characters, items, and locations.

The French and Spanish scripts, while being present in the American version, were completely redone by NoE down to some of the names, due to subtle differences between the European and the Quebec/Latin American dialects.

While the American and European versions have the text aligned to the left, the Japanese version has the text centered.

Also, the Japanese version made the Tower of Spirits slightly easier. On the fifth visit, two puzzles were shortened significantly and on the sixth visit, the final floor is now entirely optional.

Anti-Piracy

The game removes the train control UI if it detects that it's been pirated. The player will not be able to use the gearbox or whistle, and the timer for getting to Zelda's castle will also be removed. The train whistle specifically is required to make progress in the train's tutorial, as it is used to scare a pig off the tracks early on. Without the whistle, the player will simply run into the pig, stopping the train completely with no way to start moving again. Even though the timer is invisible, the time limit is still effective. Once the slated 300 seconds run up, the player is kicked out of the train tutorial like normal and greeted with the same dialogue for running out of time.

Interestingly, when the player hits the pig with the train, as well as when the pig gets mad and runs into the train itself, the train's health does not decrease. This indicates that it is impossible to actually lose health during the train tutorial, which the player cannot observe under normal circumstances due to the train's health bar being hidden during the tutorial.

Original Pirated
LOZ-Spirittracks-apoff.png LOZ-Spirittracks-apon.png