The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker depicts the land of Hyrule after global warming. Link must sail between the few remaining masses of land to beat Ganon once again.

Map Select Menu


The Map Select menu in The Wind Waker is very similar to that of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. It has a large map selection screen, plus the ability to watch any cutscene and see the end of the game. It can be enabled using one of the following codes, depending on the version you have:

Press Y when loading a room to activate the Map Select in the game.

Press X on the Map Select to disable the Map Select in the game.

Debug Mode
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When the Debug Mode is activated in the Japanese and US versions, the bottom of the screen will display bars of different colors. Their exact purpose isn't known but they were probably used to show audio and graphics activity. The European version does not have this feature for some unknown reason but it isn't too surprising since it was the last version of the game to be released.

Similar to Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, this game also has a crash debugging screen that will display various information. Unlike in those games however, no button combinations are required to access it. This feature can only be seen on a real console. A video of this feature, as well as the color display bars, is shown to the right.



This game also has a debug console. It will display various information such as the memory being used. It will also display the internal name of a room that is currently being played.

To activate the debug console screen, press Z on Controller 3. The console box itself can be moved around the screen by holding down L+R+X+Y and by moving the analog stick.

Whether the debug mode is activated to begin with depends on the byte "00" at offset 0x07 in the ISO file. When that byte is between 0x00 to 0x80, the debug mode will be disabled. When that byte value is between 0x81 to 0x90, the debug mode will be enabled on development consoles. A byte value equal to or higher than 0x91 will always enable it.

A simple way to enable the debug mode is to use the AR code below:

Debug Mode Font


This is the font used for the debug display.

Debug Tingle Tuner Client
The file client_ud.bin in the US version is a debugging version of the normal Tingle Tuner data that runs on a Game Boy Advance. It features the ability to view all the text within the client, but not much else. Text that is meant to start events in the game itself doesn't have any effect when displayed.

client_ud was most likely used during localization to aid in formatting the English dialogue; as such, there are versions of this debug client for all the languages in the PAL version of the game.

Unused Code
The Wind Waker supports decompression of YAY0- compressed files, which are known as .szp archives. However, the only compression type found on the disc is the later (and more efficient) YAZ0. YAY0 compression has not been used since Luigi's Mansion.

Unused Music/Sounds
E3 Title Theme



The E3 title theme was found amongst all the other music tracks (or "streams" as we call them) within the ISO.

Makar's Awakening

There are two versions of the Wind God's Aria that plays during the cutscene in which Link conducts Makar for the first time. The one used, d_31_01, has an audience clapping at the end; the duplicate, m_31_01, lacks this clapping.

Jabun's Audio Bank

Stored in the bank that contains Jabun's voice clips are these two rather hellish files. The first file seems to have been intended for Jabun appearing, considering the laugh near the end. The last one... sounds like a howl of pain. In the final build, Ganondorf does try to kill Jabun, and only succeeds in destroying his island; perhaps Jabun would have been injured in an earlier version, or was to be killed somehow. Strangely enough, a faster version of the second file is actually used in-game on the ghost ship and it plays after collecting the Triforce chart. It is unknown if the sound below is sped up for that scene or if there is a another file with the sped up sound. The real purpose of these two clips will probably never be known.





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This sequence file is located with the other sequences files in JaiSeqs.arc. It's paired with meet_tetra, which is the sound effect played when Link first enters the forest on Outset Island and sees Tetra dangling from a tree. It seems that this would have been played in place of the stream used in the final game. The upbeat nature of the music suggests that the scene was going to be more humorous or adventurous than it is in the final version. It bears quite a few similarities to the pirates' theme used in the final version of the game, including instrumentation and general mood.

Unused Text
Then hang on tightly!

This appears after the end of the cutscene in which Link goes to Hyrule for the first time. Right before this, the King of Red Lions asks "Are you ready, ?" The unused line was most likely meant to follow this question. It might have been cut because it didn't fit the mood of the scene.

Anchors aweigh!!! Hold the tiller steady!!! As for our destination... The wind will guide us!

Tetra speaks these lines in the US version's FMV of the epilogue, but watching the movie with an external player reveals that they're already included in it. Thus, this version is never used by the game. They are used in the European version, though.

Language Selection English French Italia Espanol Deutsch

While "Language Selection" is found with the pause menu options, the language names are scattered throughout the text file. Since the US version doesn't have any language other than English, these go unused.

Text Drawing Leftovers
The following snippets of text are not contained in the main text bank, but are instead found in an archive called msgres, which holds the layout files for the different text boxes.

フォントの表示テストです. ウィンドウに対して置かれる文字の位置はこのテキスト配置を参考にして下さい.

"This is a font display test. Please refer to the placement of this text when positioning characters in the window."

風のタクトダンスを踊った！

"You danced the Wind Waker dance!"

BGM Map Names
GanonF GanonG GanonH GanonI

In the game's main executable, start.dol, there's a list of all the maps in the game that seems to allow background music to be assigned to them. The four map names above are found in this list, but they are not present on the disk; GanonA-E exist, but the map names skip to J-N after that. It seems that Ganon's Tower was to have more sections than it ended up having. Swapping the names of the nonexistent maps with ones that do exist seem to show that these rooms were assigned the BGM of the Tower's hub room as a placeholder.

Furigana Test
The following text is found in the files of an unused map called VRTest. The strings are in separate files, and are stored in a weird format where the Shif-JIS is actually rendered in ASCII. It appears to be left over from a furigana testing function. The Wind Waker was the first Zelda game to feature furigana. These small hiragana denote the reading of the Chinese characters that precede them, which younger Japanese players might not know how to read.

This snippet of dialogue is originally spoken by the Garo who sits at the entrance to Ikana Canyon in Majora's Mask. You can see in the side-by-side comparison above that, while the text is the same, Majora's Mask does not feature pronunciations in brackets following the kanji.

Interestingly enough, the furigana contains two errors. The bracketed hiragana after 者 should read (もの) instead of (も), while the bracketed hiragana after 魂 should read (たましい) instead of (のたましい). In addition, the word 未練 is written using kanji in The Wind Waker version of the lines, despite being written in hiragana in Majora's Mask.

A second instance of dialogue from the Majora's Mask Garo, also with the addition of furigana. No mistakes or differences here.

This line isn't used in any Zelda game.

This text is very similar to the signs in A Link to the Past, which read "この先　ハイラルのお城", using the polite word for castle.

I haven't found a source for these lines in any previous Zelda game.

Likewise for these ones!

Developer Credit
// Coded by Kawasedo

At offset 0x398389 in the .dol executable hides this comment. There doesn't seem to be a "Kawasedo" in the game's credits, so the name is most likely a pseudonym.

Place Namecards
When the player is formally introduced to a new area, a namecard will pop up at the top of the screen to give the player its name. The following images are unused.

There is no "Fairy Atoll" in the final game. It could perhaps be referring to the Mother and Child Isles, where the Fairy Queen lives.

Hyrule exists in the final version of the game, but it is never identified as such - especially since the first time the player sees the kingdom, its identity is kept secret.

Dungeons and benign locations have unique swirl graphics that frame the text. This version of the Tower of the Gods' namecard is shorter than the one that is used, and also uses the benign swirls. The reason for this is unknown.

Tetra in the Forest
In E3ROOP's Stage.arc is an earlier version of the cutscene in which Link meets Tetra for the first time. It is nearly identical to the final version, but this one ends just after Tetra actually falls from the tree. This cutscene was most likely used to end a segment of a demo - possibly even the E3 one.

Unused Cutscene Objects
A cutscene object is an entity within a cutscene, such as a character, particle effect, or sound. In the code are three unused object types - ambient lighting, lighting, and fog. These would be represented in a cutscene file by the names JABL, JLIT, and JFOG, respectively. However, none of the cutscenes in the game make use of them. Therefore, they (and their effects) go unused.

Further investigation has revealed these objects have been dummied out somehow, and aren't functional within the game.

Outset Island - （７）Ｒ２Ｃ実験 - R2c Test


By using the Map Select, it's possible to play on Outset Island with a somewhat unique setup. There is an extra palm tree by Link's house, two mailboxes, a few jars, and several Keese flying near the suspension bridge at the top of the island.

It's possible that these objects were used for old cutscenes, or simply older remnants of a different object setup. The other islands don't seem to have any changes.

Outset Island - （６）プロロ島負荷チェック用 - Used for Outset Island Load Check


Like "（７）Ｒ２Ｃ実験", the only difference being that the suspension bridge is not present. Otherwise, it's like the final Outset Island.

Debug Room - （テトラデモ）リンク - (Tetra Demo) Link


There is another alternate setup in the debug room, I_TestM. Tetra is present, as is a large red flower floating on water.

Hyrule Castle
Hyrule Castle has some very low-polygon architecture not seen during typical gameplay. It's possible that this is a remnant of a larger Hyrule Castle area, as this kind of low-poly modeling is found in other maps - namely, Dragon Roost Island and the Tower of the Gods, to show the outside portions of their respective dungeons.

This geometry is located on the sides of the castle, and is hidden by both foliage and oddly-placed pieces of the castle itself.



Mountain Cave


The surrounding geometry of the top of Ganon's Tower includes a small cave nestled in the mountains. This isn't normally seen because the camera angles never allow for it, and the only time you have control of Link is when the tower is surrounded by waterfalls.

It may have been that the path to Ganon's Tower was originally longer and, rather than enter directly into the tower, the cave near Hyrule Castle led to another part of Hyrule where the tower was located.

Doorway in Ganon's Tower


This door is, logically, where characters would exit to the top of Ganon's Tower. It's normally impossible to see due to the cutscene that immediately plays upon spawning into the map. This is also the case during the fight with Ganondorf, where the door seems to have disappeared (possibly because the waterfall graphics cover it up).

The inclusion of the door may have been so that the developers could easily distinguish the sides of the tower.

Top of the Forsaken Fortress Tower
There are two versions of the inside of the Forsaken Fortress' tower: one seen in the cutscene before Link meets the King of Red Lions for the first time, and one where Link battles the Helmaroc King. The cutscene-only model actually has spikes all around the rim of the tower, which would make the fight more difficult because Link would be trying to avoid the Helmaroc King and stay in the center of the tower.

You can only see this by using the map select.

Triangle Island from atop the Tower of the Gods
After defeating Gohdan, Link is transported to the top of the Tower of the Gods where he is supposed to ring a bell. Through glitches, one can go from the top of the Tower to a Triangle Island, which is normally obscured by the Tower's walls. This island, along with the three Goddess Statues sitting on it, are actually used for the cutscene in which the Tower of the Gods rises.

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Molgera Boss Room


Within the boss room of the Wind Temple there is a collision platform that is hidden underneath the room. It is shown near the bottom of the picture below. It is invisible in-game and is normally unreachable. One way to reach the platform is to load this room with the map select menu and select starting point 1 for Link.

Missing Flag Post


Near the entrance to Ganon's Tower in Hyrule sits some odd collision data. There is no model to go with it, so it can never be seen. The data appears to represent a flag post, like the ones seen on the bridge from Hyrule Castle's island to the mainland. But interestingly, if you shoot an arrow or use the hookshot right in the place the flagpost should be, you can hear a wood collision sound, meaning that it was intended to be added.

Jabun's Room


Jabun's room has two points of interest and the picture above demonstrates this. It is a top down view of the collision in Jabun's room where the normal entrance is at the bottom. To the left and outside of the main room, there is a small square piece of collision. On this piece of collision there is a spawn point for Link represented by a small orange dot and can be seen more clearly if you click the image to enlarge it. The other point of interest is that there is a spawn point for the KORL as well. It is located in the northwest part of the larger collision area just outside the main room and is represented by a purple dot. Again, it is best if you click to enlarge the image to see it.

Dragon Roost Cavern - Room 0


The first room of Dragon Roost Cavern has a wooden barrier misplaced in the lower left.

Forbidden Woods - Boss Room


In the Forbidden Woods' boss room, there are two pieces of grass outside the room and to the right.

Graphical Changes
Some graphics were changed in localization. One known example is the compass when changing the wind's direction, which was redesigned to eliminate the kanji and stylize the existing font.

Audio Differences
Some minor sound effects are either different (most notably Salvatore's voice acting) or missing in the Japanese release.

Treasure Locations
In an effort to rebalance rewards, a fair amount of the Heart Piece and Treasure Chart locations were moved around, with some minor collectibles shuffled as well. This change is evident right at the beginning of the game, as the chest under Grandma's House contains a Heart Piece in the Japanese version. For America and Europe, this Heart Piece was moved to the bottom of the Savage Labyrinth, which previously held a rather insulting 10 rupees; the chest under Grandma's House contains 100 rupees instead. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD retained most of these changes, but moved a few more items. In addition, larger Rupee amounts are more rare in the Japanese version. For example, the large pot that can also be revealed with the Tingle Tuner on Outset Island was also originally a respawning Rupee worth twenty; this was changed to a respawning on with a value of one hundred. Another instance is the sliding puzzle mini-game, in which the original prize for winning a puzzle was thirty single Rupees in the Japanese version; four blue Rupees were added to make the total fifty, and the total given for the sixteenth completed puzzle was 56 rather than 200.

Hyrule Alterations
Among the minor glitch fixes are the invisible walls preventing the player from ever climbing the bridge railing or accessing the fields in Hyrule. But because they were so low on the Japanese version, it was nevertheless possible to access those areas by using the Deku Leaf. More invisible walls were added on top of the already existing walls from the Japanese version.

In addition to this, the scene in which Link shatters the barrier to the final dungeon happens differently. In the Japanese version, the game fades to black as Link approaches the bouncy shield, and the action occurs automatically. In International versions, one final "puzzle" was added before the path can be cleared, in which Link must slash at it before the cinema suddenly cuts in.