The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the 3D adventure game featuring Link saving Zelda from the clutches of evil Ganondorf... HEY! LISTEN!

Language Mode
All versions have a byte which stores what language to use during play, but in the Japanese/US releases the language cannot be changed. GameShark code will play US 1.0 in Japanese, or  for Japan 1.0 in English.

Debug ROM
The greatest find probably has to be the leaked Debug ROM of Ocarina of Time, which contains a large amount of debugging code and unused content not found in the released versions. Some of the debug functions, such as the inventory debug and map select can still be enabled in the released versions with GameShark codes.

64DD Test Maps
The map select in the retail version differs from the Debug ROM in that it contains two entries at the end which were presumably used for testing the Nintendo 64DD extension. They're called 64DD TEST n64dd SetDiskVersion and 64DD TEST2 n64dd SetDiskVersion respectively. 64DD TEST n64dd SetDiskVersion can be loaded if you have a 64DD attached, at which point it will display this message:

If you insert a disk, the following message appears:

64DD TEST2 n64dd SetDiskVersion cannot be loaded either way, and if you try to do so, nothing happens. These 64DD entries do not appear in the retail version of Master Quest.

Save File
One relic of the planned Nintendo 64DD extension of Ocarina of Time is the existence of N64DD Save Files. They can be created on a real N64 by slowly pulling out the left side of the cartridge while copying a file. Files created this way have a "Disk" tag attached to it and cannot be opened, as they're grayed out. Trying to copy or delete such files crashes the game.

Version 1.2 clears this flag before displaying the menu, so the tag can't be seen.

Error Messages
JmLRgNkA5d4 Another relic is the existence of error messages that indicate the wrong 64DD disk inserted, which were even translated to English. With a 64DD plugged in, and the bytes at  changed to  in a decompressed US ROM (or at  in RAM), the error messages will show. Changing the bytes kills the infinite loop the N64 would otherwise enter as it checks the region of the 64DD connected, which would always be Japanese due to the overseas non-release.

Disk Titlescreen
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By modifying the bytes at  to another 64DD disk's identifier and using that disk with the Japanese version, a different logo appears and the aforementioned 64DD "Disk" save files are able to be chosen. However, the game crashes after that, possibly due to trying to load a non-existent file from the disk.

Crash Debugger
The crash debugger is the tool that was used by developers to figure out exactly what went wrong whenever the game would crash.

It is present in all Nintendo 64 versions of the game. To trigger it, you first need to crash the game in some way, either by tilting the cartridge or by exploiting one of the game's various glitches. A yellow bar should then appear in the upper left corner of the screen. Now, you need to type in the following key combinations one-by-one, by holding down all of the buttons on a line at once, letting go, and moving to the next line:


 * 1) L + R + Z
 * 2) D-Pad Up + C-Down
 * 3) C-Up + D-Pad Down
 * 4) D-Pad Left + C-Left
 * 5) C-Right + D-Pad Right
 * 6) A + B + Start

You will need to type in the entire sequence pretty quickly. The game is really picky, and you usually won't manage to do it on the first try.

Due to the differences between the Nintendo 64 and the GameCube, the crash debugger does not work on the GameCube Ocarina of Time or Master Quest. It does not work on emulators, either, as they don't redraw the screen after the game has crashed.



Both Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask use the same first screen. This is the most important one, as it provides the most basic information concerning the status of the system at the time of the crash. Most (if not all) of the information shown comes from a register, either on the System Control Processor (top), the main CPU, or the Floating-Point Unit (bottom).

The Ocarina of Time debugger has several additional screens beyond the standard screen listed above. Most of them, however, aren't very helpful.



Segment Map - Shows the base address of each memory segment. The Nintendo 64 GPU treats memory as several independent regions (segments); this table shows where each segment lies in memory. Typically one segment contains polygon vertices, another contains texture graphics, etc.


 * 2 - Stores the offset to the current Scene file data in ram.
 * 3 - Stores the offset to the current Map file data in ram.
 * 4 - Stores the offset to the gameplay_keep file in ram.
 * 5 - Stores the offset to the gameplay_field_keep (outside of dungeons) or gameplay_dangeon_keep (inside of dungeons) files in ram.
 * 6 - Stores the offset to the current object being processed by the game engine.



ROM Debug - This screen is not exciting in the final versions of Ocarina of Time, since all values are set to zero. During testing, however, the developers may have set these values to reflect the contents of certain variables during gameplay. This way, if the program crashed, they may be able to figure out what went wrong from these variable settings.



Stack Dump - This screen shows the contents of the Stack, a section of memory used to hold temporary data. The left column shows the address in memory, and the other columns show what's actually there. The farther down you go, the older the information.

‎ ‎

PC Dump - This screen shows the code being executed at the time of the crash. Somewhere on the screen is the instruction that failed (pointed to by the Exception Program Counter). This screen is displayed the same way as the previous one.



Actor List - This appears to be a list of the actors currently in memory. Actors are all objects that are not structurally part of the level, such as enemies, moving platforms, or Link himself.



Version Info - Finally, the most famous screen from the debugger. The "I LOVE YOU" message is on here, as well as a bunch of zeroes. The date of compilation is also on this screen, helpful in determining the version of the ROM you have. The known compilation dates together with the respective game version are listed below:


 * 98-10-21 04:56:31 = JPN/US v1.0
 * 98-10-26 10:58:45 = JPN/US v1.1
 * 98-11-10 14:34:22 = E v1.0
 * 98-11-12 18:17:03 = JPN/US v1.2
 * 98-11-18 17:36:49 = E v1.1

Early Prologue Cutscene
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Using the GameShark code (v1.0) and starting a new file triggers an early version of the prologue cutscene of Link's nightmare, which is rather different from the cutscene of the final game. Much of the same content is present, but it's clearly unfinished in comparison to the final. Also, the following cutscene of Navi making her way to Link's house is omitted, simply leaving her to drift into Link's house right after the nightmare.

Early Triforce Cutscene
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The game contains an early rendition of the cutscene where Princess Zelda talks about the Triforce. This cutscene appears to be from a very early stage of development: for one, the cutscene isn't part of the map like other cutscenes are, but actually coded entirely inside the Zelda actor. As such, all the objects that appear in the cutscene, including the Triforce itself, are actually loaded inside the Castle Courtyard and made visible specifically by the cutscene's coding, even though they're never used under normal circumstances.

Unused Spiritual Stones Cutscenes
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Using the GameShark codes (with "??" being, , or ) on loading the game, it is possible to play a cutscene related to the Kokiri Emerald, Goron Ruby, or Zora Sapphire. Interestingly, after any of these cutscenes play, it appears as if a follow-up cutscene may have been intended to play: the Kokiri Emerald takes you to the Sacred Forest Meadow, the Goron Ruby takes you to Death Mountain Crater, and the Zora Sapphire plays Lake Hylia cutscene 0 (the "restoration of Lake Hylia" cutscene).

Perhaps at one point, it was intended for the Spiritual Stones to hint toward where the first three temples were located?

Boss Room Exits
Aside from the Deku Tree and Dodongo's Cavern Boss rooms, you cannot turn around and head back into the main dungeon. However, every boss room has a fully functional exit leading back to the main dungeon, as well as a mockup map (Map 0 for every boss room) for returning back to the dungeon.

Barinade Boss Room
9PAhzQVzTUc The design of this room seems to be similar to the Deku Tree's, where the player would start in a short hallway, and on entering the main area of the boss room the door would close behind them, rather than having the fight start immediately like in the final version. At the back end of the hallway is a sliding wooden door, but it is not level with the floor. Just behind this is an exit that puts you in the middle of the dungeon, suggesting that the level design was significantly altered.

Bongo Bongo Boss Room
The mockup map for this room is different from the final game. There are two lines of skull torches down the path towards the entrance of the opposing room. Also, while there is an exit index that places you on the other side of the boss door back in the Shadow Temple, the boss room uses a different exit index, which results in a crash.

Triforce Transition
SZUoXA6D4xw There's a very cool Triforce transition in the game, however, it is not used anywhere. You can force the Triforce transition to appear with the GameShark code (U v1.0).

Alternate Elemental Arrows
Using Gameshark codes, you can equip the individual elemental arrow icons to the C buttons, rather than having the magic combine with your bow.

Ice Arrow:

Fire Arrow:

Light Arrow:

Beam Blade Attack
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In prerelease screenshots like the one at right, Link is seen using a beam blade attack similar to the one he is able to use when his hearts are full in previous Zelda games. While this attack never made it into the final version of the game, remnants of it still exist in the code. The beam blade can be partially restored in the game using these leftovers.

Unused Animations
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In addition to the Beam Blade attack, a number of other early and unused animations still exist within the game's files. These include:


 * Link blocking using his sword
 * Link unsheathing his sword while holding his shield
 * Link taking out both his sword and shield while crouching down
 * Link stabbing downward
 * Link unsheathing and moving with his two-handed sword
 * Link reaching back or tossing something
 * Link's early jump strike attack in which he flipped before stabbing downwards
 * Link losing his balance
 * Link lying prone & holding on to something
 * An early shield animation
 * Link throwing things
 * Link waving his hand as if presenting something
 * Link climbing onto something and falling in head-first

Dark Link Behavior
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Dark Link may be the enemy with the most extensive coding in the game, and the programmers certainly considered all options. He reacts to the player casting Nayru's Love, which will cause him to shield a lot and generally get out of the way, even though you cannot normally get that item before defeating Dark Link as the Longshot, gained from defeating him, is needed to cross the desert, which is a requirement for obtaining Nayru's Love.

Seeing as the Dark Link actor is just a shell which inputs buttons to the Link actor, Dark Link can also swim and dive in water, as well as climb ledges. If you are Young Link, Dark Link can also use crawling holes. However, because Dark Link has no animation for getting hit while swimming, it will instead cause him to slowly float to the sky.

Iron Knuckle's Head
In the pre-boss room before Twinrova in the Spirit Temple, Link fights a brainwashed Nabooru inside an Iron Knuckle's armor. If you position the camera so that it clips into this Iron Knuckle's model, you will see Nabooru's head. If you do the same to any other Iron Knuckle in the game, you will also see a head that looks similar to Nabooru's with the same textures, but has significantly different structure and design. The head is wrapped in chainmail, which covers almost everything below the nose. Also, due to the way the head is modeled, the head has no eyebrows.

The most interesting differences are that the earrings are texture-less gold hoops and that the design of the head ornament is different. This other head model is either an earlier version of Nabooru's head, or it was meant to be directly revealed in the same way as Nabooru's, showing that all Iron Knuckles are Gerudos.

Either way, regular Iron Knuckles disappear when defeated, so their true face is normally never shown. The head itself was removed in the 3DS remake, although some skin is still shown under their heavy armor once they are damaged enough.

Enemy Damage Charts
Every enemy in the game has damage charts, which is a sequence of bytes determining how much damage an enemy will take from a particular attack. Certain bytes in the damage charts are set, but not normally used.

For one, after the three Magic Arrows, there are three unused bytes, presumably for three more Magic Arrows, which can be hacked into the game. They don't have any coding present so they default to using the Fire Arrow graphics. None of the arrows need any magic to use.

As well, after the Din's Fire byte, there are two more bytes which are never used. It is unclear what the first one might have been as the damage charts don't show any obvious pattern. The second one might have been a light spell as it does damage only to "dark" enemies like Floormasters, ReDeads and Dark Link.

Shop Data
Every item that can be sold in a shop has basic data that determines the item/equipment you will receive, as well as the price. There are 50 entries in the list, of these, the following items are not sold in any shop:


 * Giant's Knife (1,000 rupees)
 * Lon-Lon Milk (100 rupees)
 * Weird Egg (100 rupees)
 * Lon-Lon Milk (10,000 rupees)
 * Weird Egg (10,000 rupees)
 * Big Poe (50 rupees)

As well, there are three shops which are not used at all:
 * Hylian Shield (80 rupees), Bombs x 5 (25 rupees), Deku Nuts x 5 (15 rupees), Recovery Heart (10 rupees), Arrows x 10 (20 rupees), Arrows x 50 (90 rupees), Deku Stick (10 rupees), Arrows x 30 (60 rupees)

This is almost identical with the Bazaar, the only apparent difference being that the Bombs cost 25 rupees, as opposed to 35 rupees in the final version.


 * Lon-Lon Milk (100 rupees), Deku Nuts x 5 (15 rupees), Deku Nuts x 10 (30 rupees), Recovery Heart (10 rupees), Weird Egg (100 rupees), Deku Stick (10 rupees), Recovery Heart (10 rupees), Recovery Heart (10 rupees)

Unsure what this was to be. It is of note that Lon-Lon Milk is not sold in any shop in the final game. Given the duplicate Recovery Hearts, this probably wasn't finished when it was dropped.


 * Lon-Lon Milk (10,000 rupees), Lon-Lon Milk (10,000 rupees), Lon-Lon Milk (10,000 rupees), Lon-Lon Milk (10,000 rupees), Weird Egg (10,000 rupees), Weird Egg (10,000 rupees), Weird Egg (10,000 rupees), Weird Egg (10,000 rupees)

This hasn't even been started yet, with its contents being just placeholders.

Text Sound
At in RAM (version 1.0) is code that plays a sound effect every time a character of text is drawn. However, it plays sound effect 0, i.e. no sound. Presumably this was originally intended for an effect similar to that used in Link to the Past. No sound effect ID that would be appropriate for this has been found.

Early Statue Room
As a way of conserving memory, not all rooms that are visible to the player are completely loaded until either getting closer to them or entering the area itself. A low-polygon copy of the room-to-be is created in the room the player is currently in to create the illusion. In the Spirit Temple, the room with the giant statue is visible from the room above it &mdash; the room from which a platform descends from the ceiling that allows the face to be burned away for access to the boss room. The actual statue room (Room 06) and the statue room as seen from the room above it (Room 26) are slightly different.

There are several differences between the preview version of the room and the normal version:
 * The hands of the statue are further from the platform.
 * There are no handrails on the stairs.
 * The floor texture is slightly strange.
 * The pad where the chest containing the map is normally located does not appear.
 * The snake's face was stretched in the final version.
 * There is no Triforce symbol on the statue's left hand.

Forgotten Wood Collision


There is an area of the collision surface in the first room of the temple that is set to "wood". You can use the Moon Jump code to hit it with your sword, which gives a wood collision effect.

Strange Collision Atop a Tree Trunk


In the first room of the Forest Temple, atop the trunk that boasts a chest with a key, there is a small collision barrier that serves no purpose.

Misplaced Doors


Near the end of the game, while escaping the collapsing Ganon's Castle, you cross a short bridge with a single ReDead on it in the castle's second to last room. As the room is a modified version of the one which contained the barrier protecting Ganon's Tower, you'll be able to see the doorways leading to the castle's mini-temples in the distance, but missing the actual doors. However, if you let Zelda open the gate to the final hallway and then manage to leave it without letting the game reload the previous one (for example, by means of the Debug ROM's free-movement mode), you'll find the missing doors floating in the void.

The positions of these non-interactive doors match up perfectly with the door frames in the previous room, making it likely to have been a goof by one of the level designers.

Duplicating Beams
The six energy beams actor in the central room of Ganon's Castle remains loaded even when the player leaves the room. As such, a new copy of the beams actor is loaded each time the player subsequently re-enters the center room. The effect only becomes apparent after several repetitions.

Once the beam count reaches high enough, other objects will fail to load due to lack of memory. Falling out of bounds or watching the sage freeing cutscenes will reload the scene, removing the copies.

Hidden Pot in Twins' House
The collision model for the Twins' House in Kokiri Forest actually contains two pots, whereas the prerendered background only shows one next to some planks of wood leaning on the wall. While technically invisible in-game, Link can still try to roll in between the two pots, which will result in parts of him disappearing behind the background where the missing pot should be.

Hidden Pot in Carpenter's Hut
There is a type of pot on the other side of a collision wall. The model is diferende the rendered image and can not reach it.

Rock Patches
While normally invisible, some emulators will reveal somewhat-convincing patches of rock that cover up the entrances to the crater and Great Fairy's Fountain, as well as the first little alcove at the bottom of the trail. These patches have no effect on collision and don't really match up with the surrounding wall.

Removed Hookshot Targets
In the twisty cave room with the river and whirlpools, there is a section where the player must use the Longshot to reach a treasure chest before the gate closes. While the wall behind it looks like an ordinary solid stone wall, the structure of the room's model reveals that a square patch, the same size as the Hookshot targets seen elsewhere in the temple, is located directly behind the treasure chest. The patch of stone is even defined separately from the rest of the stone around it, further indicating that this was once a Hookshot target panel.

It was probably removed due to being redundant, as the Longshot can simply hook onto the treasure chest itself. There is a similar odd patch in the tunnel room connected to the main room, with the stone block, but it is at the top of the wall and not tall enough to fit a target. Two more patches can be found in the room with the rolling boulders, this time on the ceiling above the ledges at each end of the room. Having targets here would have made it easier to avoid the flowing currents and boulders when crossing the room.

Missing Keese
There are two disabled Keese roosting in the first room of the Water Temple. They are placed outside of the room boundaries, and fit with room #6, the room with the waterfall.

Missing Pots
There are 3 pots located outside of room #11 in the Water Temple, the room with the timed water geyser. They are not loaded because they are outside the collision area. The pots line up with the wall on the floor above, hinting that the room was redesigned at some point and the pots were left out.

Missing Spikes Collision
There is a corridor with spikes on the second floor to the right side of the map of the Water Temple. Outside this corridor is a forgotten piece of collision of a spike. If you touch this area, Link will take damage equal to the spikes of the corridor. The wall collision can be viewed using the Memory Editor in the Debug ROM or with a level editor. This oversight appears in all versions.

Ice Cavern
In the room with the spinning blade, there is a Navi pop-up spot. It's placed underneath the steps leading into the room, making it so that it never triggers. Its placement suggests that the steps were added in after the actor was added into the room.

Lost Hookshot Targets


There are two disabled Hookshot targets in the first room of Dodongo's Cavern. They are placed outside of the map, and fit with room #3, the room with the stone staircase puzzle.

Early Wall Texture Leftover


The room that holds the compass in Dodongo's Cavern uses a texture from an earlier design of the dungeon. It was most likely overlooked when retexturing the rooms, as it is only used on the narrow square above the door. It is stretched beyond recognition, and the only way to tell it apart is the narrow band of red pixels facing the player.

Misplaced Bushes


Several of Hyrule Field's scene setups contain two groups of small bushes (actor number, variable ) buried near the entrance to Gerudo Valley. As the objects spawned through this actor attach to the nearest collision surface beneath it, and because these two actors are not placed above any collision, they will not spawn any bushes. If they are moved above ground, the actors will work properly.

Zora's River


There is an Player Spawn at the top of the waterfall in Zora's River. This might indicate that at one point of development the fence (the one which blocks the road to the waterfall) from Zora Fountain wasn't always there, and it would serve as a shortcut to Zora's River. This exit has been restored by a fan in this YouTube video.

There is an unused exit programmed in Zora's Fountain that leads to the top of the waterfall at Zora's River. Using it will cause Link to drop down from the top of the waterfall. (Input 0, Index 0199)

Goron City Secret Passage


This can be seen by going to Darunia's room in Goron City and looking up. This may have been used as adult Link, while the door was locked and when Darunia was kidnapped so the room would be empty.

It has no use and acts much like the alcove in Zora's Domain. Both anomalies are present in the 3DS remake.

Zora's Domain Alcove


In Zora's Domain, there's an alcove hidden deep in the water which contains nothing at all. The catch is that you're never able to see this alcove, because it's too deep for you to dive to as a kid, and as an adult Zora's Domain is frozen over.

Though it is built in a way to suggest it had some purpose, it is not the right depth or shape to be an exit and may have instead contained an item, such as a Heart Piece or treasure chest.

It has no use and acts much like the hole in Darunia's room. Both anomalies are present in the 3DS remake.

Invisible Walls in the Chamber of Sages
The Chamber of Sages has invisible walls around the platform, despite the location only appearing in cutscenes. Either Link was intended to walk around there at some point, or the level designers were just covering all the bases.

Stretched Platform in Dodongo's Cavern


On the second floor of the cavern, there is a platform that has been painstakingly stretched, so it juts out a little further. If it hadn't been stretched, Adult Link would have been able to jump across, Child Link would find it difficult to do so. This betrays the fact that the dungeon was originally designed with Adult Link in mind, before Child Link was implemented.

Hidden Magic Jar
In the Gerudo Training Ground, landing on top of the large four-eyed statue in the round room will give the player a large magic jar. However, it doesn't actually replenish any magic. This is the only instance of a hidden magic jar in the game. It was removed from the 3DS version.

Shadow Temple Sun
Whether intentional or not, the sun is present in the Shadow Temple, although, of course, it is never seen. In certain emulators, it is possible to see a very faint lens flare when looking in its direction.

Graphics Behind Doors
The pre-rendered backgrounds used in Hyrule Market include doors on the buildings, which are covered up with the 3D doors seen elsewhere. Some of the buildings don't have doors underneath: the Bombchu Bowling Alley, Happy Mask Shop, and dog lady's house have nothing but blank walls with no visible entrances.

The Treasure Chest Game has an X across its door, but it's uncertain whether this is part of the door design or whether it's meant to signify something.





Hyrule Castle Town's Location
The entrance to the Market is at the northernmost end of Hyrule Field, while most other Zelda games place it near the center of the world. What is interesting about this is that the center point of the Hyrule Field model is located inside the Market area, past the entrance, while all other location models have the centers defined at the middle of the room or near the entrance.

These two facts together indicate that at some point, Hyrule Castle Town was going to be at the center of Hyrule Field, and thus the center of the world.