Proto:The Legend of Zelda

This page details one or more prototype versions of The Legend of Zelda.

A first-party Nintendo prototype? It's a secret to everyone.

Lots of neat differences inside. It's safe to say this was fairly late into development, as most of the tweaks to the first quest are for difficulty.

Sub-Pages

Overworld Rooms leading to different rooms. Yep.

Levels 1-4 The start of the adventure.

Levels 5-8 Attack of the Wizzrobes.

Level 9 Ganon is a chump.

Gameplay Changes

General

• The prologue and item list are not in the prototype.
• When a candle is used in a dark room, the game does not pause while the room lights up.
• It's not possible to hit the old men in the prototype.
• The Magical Sword requires 8 hearts in the prototype and 12 in the final build.

Bugs

• Hitting a 4-directionally animated enemy (Like Moblins) with a Boomerang causes their animation speed to increase dramatically. This was fixed in the final version.
• There's an exploit involving the Patra that was removed from the final build. Destroying a mini-Patra and then exiting/re-entering the room will kill the main Patra.
• There are some stairways that have bombable walls. Their appearance seems to be arbitrary, not intentional. They don't lead anywhere, and once the player exits and re-enters the room, the cracks will disappear.

(Source: BrYaN55)

Enemy Changes

• Armos Knights take much longer to come to life in the prototype. The waiting time was reduced from 128 frames to 60 frames.
• Moldorm has 1 HP per segment in the prototype, but 2 in the final version. Likewise, the Blue Wizzrobe got its health buffed from 8 HP to 10 HP.
• Both Wizzrobes' beams do less damage in the prototype. The Blue Wizzrobe's beams went from 1 Heart to 2 Hearts of damage, and the Orange Wizzrobe from 2 Hearts to 4(!) Hearts.

Unimplemented Objects

• The hungry Goriya hasn't been coded yet, and its text is not in the ROM.
• The first 2nd Quest-exclusive Old Man ("IF YOU GO IN THE DIRECTION OF THE ARROW") has been coded, but has no text. The other Old Man ("LEAVE YOUR LIFE OR MONEY") isn't present in any form.

Item Drops

A variable exists (RAM 0050) that tracks how many monsters you've killed without getting damaged. When hit, this value is set to 0. Once the variable reaches a certain value and an enemy is killed, a Blue Rupee will drop, and the variable is set to 0.

In the final version, this caps at 10, but the prototype's variable stops at 6. This makes it easier to accumulate a lot of rupees.

The different item groups were changed as well (except Group A.) All of the changes alter Blue Rupee drops to regular Rupees. Item differences are in bold.

Group B

Drop Variable	Prototype	Final
0	Bomb	Bomb
1	Blue Rupee	Rupee
2	Clock	Clock
3	Blue Rupee	Rupee
4	Heart	Heart
5	Bomb	Bomb
6	Blue Rupee	Rupee
7	Bomb	Bomb
8	Heart	Heart
9	Heart	Heart

Group C

Drop Variable	Prototype	Final
0	Rupee	Rupee
1	Heart	Heart
2	Rupee	Rupee
3	Blue Rupee	Blue Rupee
4	Heart	Heart
5	Clock	Clock
6	Rupee	Rupee
7	Blue Rupee	Rupee
8	Rupee	Rupee
9	Blue Rupee	Blue Rupee

Group D

Drop Variable	Prototype	Final
0	Heart	Heart
1	Fairy	Fairy
2	Blue Rupee	Rupee
3	Heart	Heart
4	Fairy	Fairy
5	Heart	Heart
6	Heart	Heart
7	Heart	Heart
8	Blue Rupee	Rupee
9	Heart	Heart

Other

Killing a Dodongo when it is smoke-stunned will always make the Dodongo drop bombs in the final version. This hadn't been coded in the prototype yet.

Shop Changes

Every shop type had its inventory tweaked for the final version.

Shop Type A	Item	Price	Item	Price	Item	Price
Prototype	Shield	160	Bomb	20	Candle	60
Final	Shield	160	Key	100	Candle	60

Shop Type B	Item	Price	Item	Price	Item	Price
Prototype	Shield	130	Bomb	30	Arrow	80
Final	Shield	130	Bomb	20	Arrow	80

Shop Type C	Item	Price	Item	Price	Item	Price
Prototype	Shield	90	Bomb	10	Heart	10
Final	Shield	90	Meat	100	Heart	10

Shop Type D	Item	Price	Item	Price	Item	Price
Prototype	Key	80	Blue Ring	250	Meat	160
Final	Key	80	Blue Ring	250	Meat	60

Money Making Game

All but one of the Money Making Game's rupee values were changed for the final version. The only one not changed is the +50 Rupee prize. These changes make the Money Making Game much more of a risk.

Prototype	Final
-20 Rupees	-40 Rupees
+1 Rupee	-10 Rupees
+10 Rupees	-10 Rupees
+30 Rupees	+20 Rupees

Sprite Changes

There are a few sprite changes in the prototype. Three of them are used in-game, while the other two are earlier designs left in the ROM.

Used

Prototype	Final

Stalfos' raised foot was redrawn for the final version. Its head also has a couple of minor changes.

Prototype	Final

The Wall Master enemy is missing its spots in the prototype.

Prototype	Final

Pols Voice doesn't have whiskers in the prototype. The color used for its eyes was assigned to the whiskers in the final version, turning the eyes from Link's tunic color to brown. He's also invulnerable to arrows in the prototype.

Prototype	Final

Ganon's defeated palette is different in the prototype.

Unused

Prototype	Final

A simpler design for the boulders. Note that there's only one frame for this design, not two.

Prototype	Final

The Ghini looks angrier in the prototype, and has two spectral legs instead of a tail.

Curiously, this earlier design made its way into the Japanese strategy guide!

Audio Differences

Music

Prototype
Final

The Game Over theme is simpler and shorter in the prototype.

Other changes:

• The Title, dungeon, and ending tracks are not yet in the game.
• All dungeons use the Level 9 dungeon track.
• Ganon's jingle does not play when you encounter/destroy him.
• The dungeon music cuts out when entering basement rooms.

Sound Effects

• All items (besides rupees) use the same sound effect. It's the sound used for picking up hearts in the final build.
• Moldorm and Patra don't use the standard boss sound effects (No sound ambiance or screaming when hit)

It's a Bribe to Everybody

Prototype	Final

The "It's a Secret to Everybody" Moblin has a different line of text in the prototype, translating to "Overlook it just this once!"

(Source: Tongueman)

Second Quest

The Second Quest has barely been started in the prototype. The overworld is identical to the one in the First Quest, including dungeon locations. The only major difference is in the dungeons, which consist of a random unplayable assortment of mish-mashed rooms. Though the dungeons themselves are not finished, their associated maps are. All of the dungeons, except Level 7, have map differences.

Complete Maps

The second quest is still using the first quest's palette schemes. The palettes for the L & E dungeons were swapped, as were the two spiral dungeons.

Level 1

Prototype	Final

The prototype's design was moved to Level 3 in the final version, though the prototype is missing the two rooms on the left.

Level 2

Prototype	Final

This design moved to Level 1 in the final version.

Level 3

Prototype	Final

Moved to Level 2 in the final version.

Level 4

Prototype	Final

Design moved to Level 5.

Level 5

Prototype	Final

The last of the letter-shaped dungeons, this appears in Level 4 of the final build.

Level 6

Prototype	Final

Three rooms were cut from the final version: One to the left of the starting point, and two from the tail end of the dungeon.

Level 8

Prototype	Final

The two inner-most parts of the spiral were deleted from the final version.

Level 9

Prototype	Final

Two rooms on the left and right of the bottom section were taken out of the final release's level design.

Ending

Prototype	Final

The staff list is different in the prototype. Shigeru Miyamoto, Toshihiko Nakago, Yasunari Soejima, and I. Marui all go by their real names here. They decided to use pseudonyms in the final version.

Prototype	Final

The copyright line is positioned lower in the final version.

Prototype	Final

The Second Quest's ending text was rewritten for the final build. The prototype doesn't display the player's death count, though there's space allocated for it.
The prototype is also missing the "Legend of Zelda 1 'End'" text.

Download

Lost Levels release thread

• FDS image
• NSF rip