This is a sub-page of Development:The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Introduction

The NEWS tape artist workspace backup files contain a small number of .OBJ files, which can be combined with .CGX sprite sheets and .COL palette files to play animations. However, these don't always play nicely with SCAD, the 2003 version of Nintendo's in-house graphics creation and editing tool for the Game Boy Advance, which was designed with backwards compatibility with the Game Boy and SNES in mind. (This may be because the .OBJ format underwent changes during the course of its development, rendering some or all of the A Link to the Past object files incompatible with the final format used by SCAD. See here for details.)

Fortunately, a user named TheLX5 has created a homebrew tool that can be used to view these animations. This tool was used in conjunction with a screen recorder to capture the blue background .GIFs below.

Link

The following are some animations showcasing a prototype version of Link swinging his sword. The speech bubble in the DELDA version of "2-1: Animation 0" says "Daa" (だあ), suggesting that Link is shouting after finishing his attack. Link does not have any voice in the final game, but does in later Zelda games, including the GBA port of A Link to the Past.

2-1.OBJ

There are two versions of this file. One can be found at NEWS_04\home\arimoto\zelda\2-1.OBJ, while the other can be found at NEWS_04\home\arimoto\DELDA\2-1.OBJ.

CGX: NEWS_04\home\arimoto\zelda\2.CGX.BAK
COL: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\thunder.COL

2-1: Animation 0

zelda Version	DELDA Version

2-1: Animation 1

zelda Version	DELDA Version

2-2.OBJ

There are two versions of this file. One can be found at NEWS_04\home\arimoto\zelda\2-2.OBJ, while the other can be found at NEWS_04\home\arimoto\DELDA\2-2.OBJ.

CGX: NEWS_04\home\arimoto\zelda\2.CGX.BAK
COL: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\thunder.COL

2-2: Animation 0

zelda Version	DELDA Version

Alternate zelda capture	Alternate DELDA capture

(Source: Delda (The two alternate animated Link sprite captures))

2-2: Animation 1

zelda Version	DELDA Version

Objects

ishi.OBJ

CGX: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower.CGX.BAK
COL: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower.COL
OBJ: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\ishi.OBJ

ishi: Animation 0

kusa.OBJ

CGX: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower.CGX.BAK
COL: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower.COL
OBJ: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\kusa.OBJ

kusa: Animation 0

Various

mizu.OBJ

There are two versions of this file. One can be found at NEWS_04\home\arimoto\DELDA\mizu.OBJ, while the other can be found at NEWS_05\home\watanabe\WATANABE\mizu.OBJ. The last-modified date of the latter is 1990-07-26.

CGX: NEWS_04\home\arimoto\zelda\4mizu.CGX.BAK, NEWS_05\home\watanabe\WATANABE\mizu.CGX.BAK
COL: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\thunder.COL

mizu: Animation 0

Arimoto Version	Watanabe Version

mizu: Animation 1

Arimoto Version	Watanabe Version
128px

mizu: Animation 2

Arimoto Version	Watanabe Version

mizu: Animation 3

Arimoto Version	Watanabe Version
128px

mizu: Animation 4

Arimoto Version	Watanabe Version
128px

mizu: Animation 5

Arimoto Version	Watanabe Version

mizu: Animation 6

Arimoto Version	Watanabe Version

mizu: Animation 7

Arimoto Version	Watanabe Version

mizu: Animation 8

Arimoto Version	Watanabe Version

mizu: Animation 9

Arimoto Version	Watanabe Version

mizu: Animation 10

Arimoto Version	Watanabe Version

flower.CGX.BAK

Reconstructing this enemy or enemies to exactly what the developers originally intended is still somewhat difficult, as currently the animations do not appear to encompass all graphics found in the sheet.

flower-1.OBJ

CGX: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower.CGX.BAK
COL: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower.COL
OBJ: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower-1.OBJ

flower-1: Animation 1

flower-2.OBJ

CGX: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower.CGX.BAK
COL: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower.COL
OBJ: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower-2.OBJ

flower-2: Animation 0

musi-1.OBJ

CGX: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower.CGX.BAK
COL: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower.COL
OBJ: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\musi-1.OBJ

musi-1: Animation 0

musi-2.OBJ

CGX: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower.CGX.BAK
COL: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower.COL
OBJ: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\musi-2.OBJ

musi-2: Animation 0

obj.OBJ

CGX: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower.CGX.BAK
COL: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\flower.COL
OBJ: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\test\obj.OBJ

obj: Animation 0

obj: Animation 1

obj: Animation 2

Spells

bomber.OBJ

CGX: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\bomber.CGX
COL: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\bomber.COL
OBJ: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\bomber.OBJ

bomber: Animation 0

bomber-1.OBJ

CGX: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\bomber.CGX
COL: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\bomber.COL
OBJ: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\bomber-1.OBJ

bomber-1: Animation 0

ice.OBJ

An animation that appears to be a concept for part of a medallion spell animation.

CGX: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\ice.CGX (1991-10-16)
COL: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\ice.COL (1991-10-16)
OBJ: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\ice.OBJ (1990-08-01)

Graphics for this animation remain, unused, in the Japanese version of the game. In the source code, the file containing it is called 2r-2w.CGX.

ice: Animation 0

(Source: Delda (Animated Object Graphics))

thunder.OBJ

A final or near-final version of the Ether Medallion spell animation.

CGX: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\thunder.CGX
COL: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\thunder.COL
OBJ: NEWS_05\home\watanabe\ZELDA\thunder.OBJ

thunder: Animation 0

thunder-1.OBJ