User:GlitterBerri/Prerelease:The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/A + B

=October, 1996=

Shoshinkai
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In October of 1996, the second Zelda 64 trailer debuted at Shoshinkai, a trade show held in Japan by Nintendo. Unlike the technical demo of 1995, this footage featured actual gameplay from the developing title.

It was considered so impressive for its time that it prompted skepticism and disbelief from editors at Nintendo Power and N64.com (a website under the IGN umbrella). However, Miyamoto confirmed in his interview with Nintendo Power that the scenes shown in the video were running on an actual Nintendo 64.

"I couldn’t believe that those amazing characters were in the actual game. I thought images like those were possible only with development equipment." ~ Pg. 66 - Nintendo Power #89, Oct. 1996

"It was not known if the footage shown was generated by a Nintendo 64 or was just a CGI mock-up." ~ Zelda 64 Details Revealed! - N64.com, Nov. 21st, 1996

"By the way, some people thought that the demo scenes at Shoshinkai were playing on development equipment, but they were actually playing on the N64." ~ Pg. 66 - Nintendo Power #89, Oct. 1996

64DD
The title was originally planned for the then-unreleased 64DD, a disk-drive add-on for the Nintendo 64 that starting selling in Japan on Dec. 1, 1999 and was discontinued less than a year later on Aug. 29th, 2000 due to poor sales. It never saw a US release.

"Nintendo [...] confirmed that the game would be shipping for the 64DD." ~ Zelda 64 Details Revealed! - N64.com, Nov. 21st, 1996

Story
According to information obtained by N64.com, the game was slated to fit after Adventure of Link in the Zelda timeline.

"The game takes place after Zelda 2, and Link looks a little older." ~ Zelda 64 Details Revealed! - N64.com, Nov. 21st, 1996

Interface
The first instance of a graphical user interface (GUI) for Ocarina of Time mimicked the A + B interface standardized in The Legend of Zelda and Link's Awakening.

GUI: Only the A and B buttons are displayed on the screen. The letter is written in white on each button's icon.

A Button: Link's sword is equipped to A.

B Button: 99 bombs are equipped to B.

Hearts: Link has ♥♥♥ hearts, which appear at the top left of the screen.

Rupees: The rupee counter is found on the bottom left and reads 0123.

Sword
Link's sword.

Bombs
Link's bombs.

Camera
When questioned by Nintendo Power about what differentiated Zelda 64 from Mario 64, Miyamoto was quick to mention the camera system. Further statements indicated that the staff was still playing around with the camera, trying to figure out the best way to display their new title.

"Scenes in the final version will be quite different from those in the video," he said. "But you will still see some scenes from the same angles that you saw in the video. We aren’t sure if it’s the best angle for actually playing. It’s possible to make demo scenes from that angle - they aren’t difficult to create."

Link’s Appearance
The squat, super-deformed version of Link that appeared in the Space World tech demo was reminiscent of the simplicity of Link’s design in the first two Legend of Zelda games. In the Shoshinkai trailer, his look had been updated to appear less cartoony and more mature, setting the tone for the realistic nature of Ocarina of Time’s graphics.

Link's coffee-colored hair had turned strawberry. The tights had disappeared, and brown sleeves covered his arms. His shield, formerly a flashy, metallic silver, now featured a simple Triforce design.

Nintendo evidently experimented with a variety of designs for this new, mature Link before deciding which to model. One of these illustrations, seen in the middle, was revealed in the official Nintendo-endorsed Zelda encyclopedia Hyrule Historia.

Environments
Though brief, the Shoshinkai trailer gave fans a glimpse of the variety of environments Nintendo was crafting for their brand new game.

Triforce Dungeon


This dungeon is characterized by a blue-tiled floor. It appears that the concept of Link looking back in surprise as the dungeon door shuts behind him had been around since early development as shown here.



Link battles against a couple of early Stalfos using some snappy sword slash effects. The Stalfos appear to bleed a blue spray of blood when hit.



Link opens a glowing blue chest containing the Triforce in a water-filled room.

Stalfos Miniboss Room


This room is called ちゅうスタロフォスベや (Stalfos Miniboss Room). Though this room wasn't seen in the Shoshinkai trailer, the interface indicates that it belongs in the same batch of screenshots. This blue and brown-tiled chamber has light streaming through the windows and a raised dais at the far end of the room, along with a non-functional double door textured into the wall. The chamber shares the background music ambiance for the "Inside the Deku Tree" dungeon.

Though it was removed from the released version of Ocarina of Time, it was re-added to the leaked Ocarina of Time: Master Quest Debug ROM, in which can be accessed using the map select menu. The Debug ROM build of the room does not contain any Stalfos.

Boss Stalfos Room


This room is called ボススタロフォスベや (Boss Stalfos Room). This red-carpeted hall that is lined by stone columns has a tiled floor and a raised dais at the far end of the room, along with a non-functional double door textured into the wall. A blue post-boss warp that sits in the center of the room drops Link in Hyrule Field, right in front of Hyrule Castle Town's drawbridge. No background music can be heard.

As with the Stalfos Miniboss Room above, it was removed from the released version of Ocarina of Time, but was re-added to the leaked Ocarina of Time: Master Quest Debug ROM by the developers, and can be accessed using the map select menu. The Debug ROM build of the room does not contain a Stalfos.

Mountain Area


Link stands in a bare, early mountain area.

Town


The trailer offers only a glimpse of Link running through a town with no skybox texture. Fortunately, the town was shown in greater detail in media released in January of 1997.

Sky Area


A mysterious sky area with whirling grey clouds. The ground uses the same texture as the walls of the second room in the unidentified dungeon above.

Enemies
When Nintendo Power expressed amazement at how good the enemies looked, Miyamoto expressed how irksome the kinks in their artificial intelligence (AI) programming were at that time.

"You might have noticed the soldiers stop for a moment just before making a move, such as just before swinging a sword. Their action didn’t look natural because of those brief breaks. We need to adjust this problem in the final version," he noted.

Stalfos


Link vies against a Stalfos.

=January, 1997=

Interface


GUI: As before, A + B are used for equipping items. The letter is written in white on each button's icon.

A Button: Link's sword is equipped to A.

B Button: 99 shields are equipped to B. The fact that the design on the shield icon is identical to the shield Link carries is more apparent when zooming in on the screenshots.

Hearts: At the top left of the screen, Link has thirteen full ♥'s.

Rupees: The rupee counter has moved from the bottom left to below the hearts and still reads 0123.

Sword
Link's sword.

Shield
Link's shields.

"Aria"


There is not a lot of official information about this woman, the first human character to debut aside from Link. Because she appears in at least 3 different locations in the early town, and because her character seems to vary in size, she may have been a generic human NPC that the developers were experimenting with.



Nicknamed "Aria" by fans, she appears in multiple locations and screenshots from this time. She is seen again in April 1997, wearing a green dress.

Mountain Area


Link shows off some sword slashes and fancy acrobatics in the mountain area from before. In the background, a cave enters the side of the mountain.



The lighting of the area appears to change from blue and bright to pink and shadowy.

Mountain Cave


Link battles a Stalfos inside the mountain cave.

Tiled Cave


A Iron Knuckle flourishes its sword in a cave room with a tiled floor.

Town


The large town glimpsed in the 1996 Shoshinkai trailer is now depicted with a skybox. From the several screenshots available of this town, it is seen to be composed of blocky houses surrounded by a big stone wall with a gate.



In the background, a spiked tower is visible rising above the rooftops.

Stalfos


A Stalfos wielding an orange blade, unlike the white blade the creature carried before.

Iron Knuckle


An enemy later confirmed to be the Iron Knuckle in Nintendo Power #94 peers at Link with cat-like eyes.

=March, 1997=

Specifications & Release Date
In March, N64.com reported that Zelda 64 would be released in cartridge format on the N64 in late 1997.

Its size was estimated at 12 MBs, and it was stated that the game would use more of the N64 hardware than Super Mario 64, which only made use of around 60% of the system's power.

"N64.com's Japanese correspondent today confirmed that a complete and finished cartridge-based version of The Legend of Zelda (a working title) will arrive Nintendo 64 late this year [...]" ~ Zelda Officially Goes to Cart - N64.com, Mar. 7th, 1997

"The long-awaited action-based RPG [...] is believed to contain as much as 12 MBs. It's also believed that Zelda will utilize more of the N64 hardware than Super Mario 64, which used approximately 60% of the system's power." ~ Zelda Officially Goes to Cart - N64.com, Mar. 7th, 1997

64DD
With Zelda 64 no longer being a 64DD exclusive, N64.com speculated that players might be less likely to invest in the N64 add-on.

However, the site went on to note that a 64DD-based version of the game would be released soon after its cartridge debut, which would have more back-up capabilities and work simultaneously with the cart. Further details on the 64DD version were unclear.

"Recent N64.com polls show that gamers are more likely to buy 64DD with Zelda [...]" ~ Zelda Officially Goes to Cart - N64.com, Mar. 7th, 1997

"[...] a relative majority aren't sure whether they're willing to shell out even more cash for a hardware peripheral that lacks a killer app like Zelda." ~ Zelda Officially Goes to Cart - N64.com, Mar. 7th, 1997

"A future disk-based version of Zelda is said to appear on 64DD with more back-up capabilities, working simultaneously with the cart." ~ Zelda Officially Goes to Cart - N64.com, Mar. 7th, 1997

Story
Unfortunately, Nintendo Power wasn't able to share much about the game's story. Nintendo would only disclose a bare-bones summary at this point in time. "'As for the story, Mr. Miyamoto’s team isn’t saying much at this time, but the action takes place in Hyrule and the Triforce and Ganon also will play roles.'"

Link's Appearance
The March issue of Nintendo Power also included a little bonus. In the words of the editors: "'The Zelda development team at EAD also sent wire-frames of the Stalfos and Link in battle positions.'"

This provides a glimpse of how Link's second-earliest model appeared in wire-frame form.

Stalfos
The Stalfos wire-frame from the March issue of Nintendo Power is notable in that it differs from any Stalfos model depicted in screenshots before or since.

=April, 1997= April brought another set of screenshots distinguishable via additional interface redesigns.

Interface
GUI: As before, A + B are used for equipping items. The letter is written in white on each button's icon.

A Button: Link's sword is equipped to A. The icon has changed from a small, dagger-like blade to a sword with a proper hilt.

B Button: 77 bombs are equipped to B. The bomb icon is larger than the one that appeared in the screenshots from October, 1996. The item counter font is smaller and no longer italicized.

Hearts: Link now has ♥♥♥♥♥♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ hearts, instead of a full thirteen.

Rupees: The rupee counter is still positioned below the hearts, and numbers 0123. However, the font for the numbers is smaller.

Sword
Link's sword.

Bombs
Link's bombs.

Bow
Link's bow.

Link’s Appearance
Come April, Link was shown with a new design, now bearing blond hair from strawberry brown. Gloves adorned his once-bare hands, and his sleeves changed from light brown to an orange color. The rims of his boots changed from gold to orange, and his legs were covered by matching orange tights.

His sword transformed to a dark-hilted blade to a light brown, and its icon was updated accordingly.

Finally, his shield received an extra flourish, also visible in early concept art released in Hyrule Historia.

Navi


April marks the first appearance of Navi, seen hovering over the heads of Link and his enemies. She doesn't appear to change color at this point in time.

"Aria"


Aria appears once more, this time in a green dress of a similar design to the white one she was wearing before. Though she didn't make it into the retail version of the game, her broken model can still be found within the Debug ROM's files. There have been several attempts by fans to restore this broken model, to varying degrees of success.

Castle


The design of this castle-like room brings to mind the interior of Peach's Castle in Super Mario 64. According to Miyamoto, in the beginning "There was only Hyrule Castle. You couldn’t move around much, and I was thinking about making a game without a lot of space. Mario was mostly created in that image."

Lake


An lakeside environment with a primitive-looking house and a dock.

Dodongo's Cavern


A striking, monstrous head at the entrance to Dodongo's Cavern. The giant head's design was revised and moved inside the dungeon in the final version.

The fact that his head belongs to Dodongo's Cavern can be ascertained by the fact that the brown brick texture of the structure to the right of it is used in later shots of the dungeon. In addition, the texture on the head is the same as the texture on the Dodongo's Cavern ceiling pictured below.



Dodongo's Cavern appears to be one of the earliest created dungeons that made it into the final version of Ocarina of Time. This is evidenced by the fact that it is the first area to appear ROM's file listing, which seems to follow a rough chronological order that reflects when each scene file was added to the game.

Link is seen fighting a Dodongo and Keese in this dungeon in the enemy section.

Forest


Unlike the Lost Woods that appears in the final version of Ocarina of Time, the trees here are modeled in 3D. Interestingly, 3D tree trunks can still be found in the Master Quest Debug ROM, though they are not identical to the ones here.

The Zelda development team would continue to experiment with the creation of 3D forests, leading up to Twilight Princess as well, as evidenced by the 3D woods that can be seen in early trailers for the game.

Pebble Valley


An outdoor area with a large man-made entrance and a stone texture for a floor.

Hallway


A torchlit corridor snakes around a bend.

Orange Dungeon


Link slashes at a Stalfos in a torchlit orange-hued dungeon. The Stalfos now bleeds red upon being hit.

Enemies
Up until now, only Iron Knuckles and Stalfos had appeared in screenshots. In April, however, a number of new enemies were added to the roster, all Zelda series standbys.

In the words of Nintendo Power, "we’ve also noticed more familiar foes from the original NES Zelda games, enemies such as the bomb-eating Dodongo, Wallmasters with grasping hands, Iron Knuckle the knight, and rock-splitting Octoroks."

Octoroks


Though ground Octoroks were ubiquitous to earlier Zelda games, these red, rock-spitting enemies only appeared in one screenshot and did not make it to the release version of the game. Instead, they ended up being replaced by water Octoroks.

Dodongos


Link battles a Dodongo in the central pit of Dodongo's Cavern. He can be seen standing on the edge of this pit in a screenshot in the environment section.

Wallmaster


A Wallmaster with a bluish glow.

Keese


A Keese swoops down to attack our hero.

Poe


Link uses his bow on an early Poe. The combined button configuration here appears to indicate that Link could use either A or B to fire his weapon.