The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Nintendo 64 Released in JP: November 21, 1998 Released in US: November 22, 1998 Released in EU: December 11, 1998 This game has unused areas. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused cinematics. This game has unused items. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences. This game has a notes page This game has a prototype article This game has a bugs page This game has a prerelease article

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

Subpages

Unused objects Anything from normal items to insane blocks.

Unused scene setups Unused area setups hidden in ordinary cutscenes.

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.

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. They cannot be loaded, if you try to do so nothing happens.

DEBUG ROM	RETAIL

N64DD 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 right side of the cartridge while copying a file. Alternatively, the Gameshark code 8022EA48 0001 (Debug ROM) will turn the first save file into a N64DD save 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. This renders a save file permanently useless, so try this at your own risk.

Version 1.2 clears this flag before displaying the menu, so the tag can't be seen. (Todo: does version 1.1?)

Triforce Transition

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 8011B9ED 0001 (U v1.0).

Unused behavior

Dark Link may be the enemy with the most extensive coding in the game, and the programmers certainly considered all options. He has a behavior for when you cast Nayru's Love, which will cause him to shield a lot and generally get out of the way - but you cannot 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.

Unused animations

Certain Link animations coded into the game are never actually used, and are likely remnants from an earlier version. Using the Gameshark code 813F4442 ???? (Debug ROM), you can modify the jumpslash attack to any animation you wish.

• ID 2A60 is an unused alternate jumpslash attack. In this attack, Link does a forward flip and then slashes with his sword. It looks quite cool, but was likely cut because it looks weird on sloped terrain when Link lands on his head.

Early prologue cutscene

Using the Gameshark code 8135A7D6 2340 (OoT v1.0) and starting a new file triggers an early version of the prologue cutscene, which is rather different from the cutscene of the final game. It plays during sunset instead of night and features some rather different camera angles.

Unused text

All offsets mentioned are for US v1.0 unless noted.

You can't use a Big Poe here! 
Sell it to the man at the Hyrule 
Castle Town gate!

This message doesn't appear at all in the game, no matter what you do. Trying to use the Big Poe just gives the standard "This item can't be used here" message. (offset: 90F88C)

All right, you're done! 
Please wait outside while I set 
up your next challenge!

Even though there are a number of mini-games in OoT, none throw you out after you've played. (offset: 911033)

WHAAAT!? Look at all those flags! 
Can you figure out which ones are 
real?

Appears among the Navi text. Fits into the Haunted Wasteland the most, seeing as that's a place with lots of flags. However, fake flags may have made the level simply too hard. (offset: 913001)

Those who find a Small Key can 
advance to the next room. Those 
who don't can go home!

This text can only really refer to the Treasure Box game, no idea why it wasn't used. (offset: 915088)

This door is currently being 
refurbished.

Dunno. Could have fit in Hyrule Castle, where there are many doors you can't open. (offset: 915401)

This is not the correct key. 
The door won't open!

This is very strange, since nowhere in the game do you have a choice between keys, there's only really one type of key throughout the dungeons. (offset: 9154D6)

Forest Temple

There is no sign in the normal game that uses this text. Note, however, that one of the unused scene setups actually has this sign (albeit in a rather random location). (offset: 91609D)

I have you now! 
In this gap between dreams and 
reality, soon all that will remain 
of you will be your dead body!

Found among the Forest Temple text. Maybe Phantom Ganon was intended to talk to you. In the final game, except for Koume and Kotake none of the bosses talk to you. (offset: 91DC3D)

Mmmm...mumble...mumble...
Huh? Yeah, I'm awake!
What?
Hey, it's you! Welcome!
Awww... That was rough!
Malon yelled at me for a long
time!
You took care of us, so I'm proud 
to give you this milk! You can 
keep the bottle for yourself.

Obviously spoken by Talon. It seems unlikely he gave you two bottles, it's more likely that originally the Super Cucco game did not exist and you had to do something else to earn the bottle. (offset: 9215E1)

Oh no... He's not breathing...
Link!?

Possibly intended for the game over screen or the encounter with the dying knight in Hyrule Castle Town's Back Alley. (offset: 921E0C)

Link...Can't hold... 
anymore...I can't hold
it any longer...
Get out of here!!

Found among the Fire Temple dialog. Maybe there was a special room where you could only survive for a limited time. (offset: 928D80)

Hoot hoot! Link, you look like 
you're getting more comfortable 
in your role as adventurer. 
I think Princess Zelda is 
waiting for you to visit her again. 
You already have the Goron's Ruby, 
don't you?

Apparently, you were meant to visit Zelda a second time after you got the Goron's Ruby. In the final game you only visit her once, because the second time you see her she's fleeing from Ganondorf. (offset: 92B690)

The Entrance to the Past
The Entrance to the Present
The Entrance to the Future

This is likely very very old, and does not fit at all into the present game. No idea what they intended with this, either. (offset: 935983)

Link!
Finish him off with the sword of
time, the Master Sword!

Oh sealed door opened by the 
Sages... Close forever with 
the Evil Incarnation of Darkness
within!!

These appear to be remnants of an early ending. They're not used by Zelda or Rauru in the final game. (offset: 93CD98)

You have guts--I like you. 
Follow me.

I won't have anything to do with a
coward like you!

Ah, you are not as good as you 
claim. Maybe next time.

You did well.
For today, I admit I lost. 
It seems I have a lot of room for 
improvement.

Found among the Gerudo Fortress text. Apparently there was another game that was removed, or a Gerudo went alongside you into the training grounds. (offset: 935C8C)

It's out of the question if you 
don't have a horse!

Possibly intended to show up if you talked to the horseback archery Gerudo without a horse, but in the final game, she does not appear if you don't have Epona yet. (offset: 935CB4)

Using a Gameshark code, you can make the following Japanese text appear on the Item subscreen:

風のメダル
氷のメダル

These two read "Wind Medallion" and "Ice Medallion", respectively. This of course suggests that there were two temples corresponding to these medallions. There are some subtle hints that they existed at some point, the most prominent one being the Ganon's Castle Trials where the Forest Trial uses wind puzzles which do not appear in the Forest Temple, and the Water Trial is actually an ice puzzle like in the Ice Cavern.

Crash Debugger

The Crash Debugger, also known by the word salad title VideoGamerX Debug Code, 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 N64 versions of the game. To trigger it, you first need to crash the game in some way, either by using Crooked Cartridge or with 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. Control pad UP + C-DOWN
3. C-UP + Control pad DOWN
4. Control pad LEFT + C-LEFT
5. C-RIGHT + Control 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 N64 and the GCN the crash debugger does not work on the GCN version of OoT or Master Quest. It does not work on emulators either, because they don't redraw the screen after the game has crashed.

It looks like you just kicked your N64 out of fit of frustration, mate!

Both OoT and MM 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).

Zelda OoT's debugger has several additional screens beyond the standard screen listed above. Most of them, however, aren't very helpful.

Segmented like an earthworm

Segment Map - This screen shows the base address of each memory segment. The N64 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.

You get 0 out of 0 for crashing the game

ROM Debug - This screen is not exciting in the final versions of OoT, 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.

What did you do? Nothing?

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.

It looks like the previous one...‎ ... squint and you shall see it‎

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.

Who crashed the game? Fun debug action from ages 00 to FF

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.

Wi-W-Wi-Wi- Wild Copper‎! I love you! (If you don't get the reference then watch the Wild Copper Megalo demo for Amiga)

Version Info - Finally, the most famous screen from OOT's 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 = US v1.0
• 98-10-26 10:58:45 = US v1.1
• 98-11-10 14:34:22 = E v1.0
• 98-11-12 18:17:03 = US v1.2
• 98-11-18 17:36:49 = E v1.1

Program revision differences

Ocarina of Time has multiple versions: the Japanese one, US v1.0, US v1.1, US v1.2, and the Gamecube (Collector's Edition) version.

Japanese version

This is the original version.

US v1.0 version

The "enemy near" music will no longer play inside Ganon's Tower and during the escape. This gives the area a better atmosphere.

US v1.1 version

Swordless Link

The famous "Swordless Link" bug was fixed. In the Ganon fight, he knocks the Master Sword out of Link's hands. If you then saved and restarted the console, you would end up in the Temple of Time with no sword on B. This causes multiple bugs, the most well-known of them being the fact you can use all items on Epona. In 1.1, the Master Sword will be automatically re-equipped when you save and quit, which makes this bug no longer possible, but using an alternate method, you can still get Link swordless in the newer versions.

Steal the Rod

The "Steal the Rod" bug was fixed. If you were to equip the Hover Boots in the Fishing Pond and cast the rod while hovering, you could walk around freely with the rod cast. You could even leave the Fishing Pond and take the Fishing Rod with you. This allowed for a great number of glitches, like putting Deku Sticks or Bottles on B. It was fixed in 1.1 by preventing you from casting the rod while you are hovering.

Ice Mound

The "Ice Mound" bug was fixed. After you kill a set amount of Leevers, a big purple one appears. If you kill it by repeatedly shooting Ice Arrows at it (it takes a lot of them), the Ice Block would stay there even after it dies. In 1.1 the Ice Block vanishes like it's supposed to when the purple Leever dies.

Text changes

• When you talk to the blue guy in Kakariko Village before having beaten the Water Temple, the dialog had an erroneous extra line break in it which was removed in this version.
• Darunia called Link a "brother" in 1.0. Since there is no genetic relationship between Link and Darunia (hopefully!) it has been changed to "Brother", i. e. capitalized.

US v1.2 version

Fire Temple chanting

The original Fire Temple music included a chanting noise. A popular rumor stated that the chanting was Islamic and the Muslim community was offended, but apparently this revision was made prior to the game's release.

US v1.0
US v1.2

Blood

All blood in this game save for the stains in the Shadow Temple was changed from red to green so the game could keep its E rating. This affects most notably Ganondorf puking after you beat him and the blood you can see when Link kills Ganon with the Master Sword.

US v1.0	US v1.2

Text changes

Most changes to the text that were done in this version were made in order to make the text a bit closer to the Japanese text.

US v1.0	US v1.2
You received an Odd Potion! It may be useful for something... Hurry to the Lost Woods!	You received an Odd Potion! You don't know what's going on between this lady and that guy, but take it to the Lost Woods!

The original Japanese text had a subtle hint that there's some kind of relationship between the hag and the weird guy. This got lost with the translation, so the text was altered in US v1.2 to re-add this information.

US v1.0	US v1.2
Now that we're all back together, building a bridge over the valley was a piece of cake.	Building a bridge over the valley is a simple task for four carpenters.

Again the text was changed to be in line with the Japanese original. However, in the Japanese version, it says "five carpenters" because apparently the boss is counted too.

US v1.0	US v1.2
Do you want to try again for 20 Rupees? Yes No	Do you want to try for 20 Rupees? Yes No

It was a bit pointless for the Gerudo to ask you if you want to try again even if you've never played the game before. Therefore, it was changed in 1.2.

US v1.0	US v1.2
Princess Ruto has gone to the temple of Lake Hylia and has not come back... I'm so worried...again!	Princess Ruto has gone to Lake Hylia and has not come back... I'm so worried...again!

In the original Japanese version, King Zora only knew that Ruto went to Lake Hylia. For US v1.0 he seemingly engaged secret agents who told him Ruto is in the Water Temple. This has been changed, again to be in line with the Japanese version.

Gamecube version

Crescent and star

The game used the crescent and star symbol a lot. However, it is actually a religious symbol of Islam, so Muslims were offended about it. Therefore, it was changed to a new symbol. This affects, most notably, the Mirror Shield, all movable blocks, and the overhead signs found for example in Gerudo's Valley.

In case you were wondering, the symbol was not made from scratch as some people believe, but taken from the Gerudo symbol used in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. (Image:MM_GerudoSymbol.png)

N64	GCN

Text changes

N64	GCN
Use this key to continue to the next room. Select a treasure chest and see how lucky you are!	Use this key to continue to the next room. Select a chest and see how lucky you are!

No idea really why they bothered to change this. It does not really change anything, so it was essentially a waste of time.

N64	GCN
Shabom If you try to cut it, it will bounce off your blade!	Shabom If you cut it, it will burst open and knock you back!

Shaboms are the bubbles you can encounter for example in Jabu Jabu's Belly. The previous description was just plain wrong, since the bubbles never bounce off your blade, they simply burst. Therefore, the description was changed for the Gamecube version.

N64	GCN
Well Come!	Welcome!

This is the greeting the carpet merchant in the Haunted Wasteland uses. In the Japanese version, it had lots of tildes (〜〜〜) which usually indicates some strange talking. He also talks in Katakana in the Japanese version which indicates foreign speech. Sadly, this has been changed in the Gamecube version.

Oddities

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. There have been multiple rumors about this seemingly useless alcove, saying it originally led somewhere. 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. If anything, it would have contained an item, such as a Heart Piece or treasure chest.

Misplaced doors in Ganon's Castle

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 a goof on part of one of the level designers likely.

Hidden Pot in Twins' House

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

Death Mountain 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.

Leftover Early Texture

The room that holds the compass in Dodongo's Cavern makes use 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.