The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Also known as: Zelda no Densetsu: Kaze no Takuto (JP) Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Platform: GameCube Released in JP: December 13, 2002 Released in US: March 24, 2003 Released in EU: May 2, 2003 Released in AU: May 7, 2003 Released in KR: 2003 This game has unused animations. This game has unused areas. This game has unused code. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused items. This game has unused music. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences. This game has a prototype article This game has a prerelease article

To do: Replace any images that are not at native resolution.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker depicts the land of Hyrule in the aftermath of global warming.

Debug Content

Map Select

Map Select A guide to the Map Select menu.

Miscellaneous

Debug Content Even games need a crash test dummy.

Unseen Content

Alternate Scene Setups Double the postboxes, double the fun!

Misplaced Objects Weed-whacking in the void.

Hidden Level Features Hyrule's architects must be handsomely paid.

Unused Content

Animations

Unused Link Animations Just keep swimming, just keep swimming~

Unused NPC Animations Perhaps this Poe died of boredom.

Cutscenes

Unused Cutscenes Tetra, tangled in the treetops.

Maps

Unused Rooms Test maps out the wazoo. Oh, and some regular unused maps, too.

Resources

Unused Items You can't squeeze water from a stone, but can you play tunes with it?

Unused Models Saria and psychedelic parrots.

Unused Sounds & Sequences Jabun! NOOOOOOO!

Unused Text Curiosity killed the cat...

Unused Textures Never give Tingle a crayon.

Data

Unused Functions The forecast said that there'd be fog...

Regional Differences

To do: There's a lot more, as discussed here and here.

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 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 20; this was changed to a respawning one with a value of 100. Another instance is the sliding puzzle mini-game, in which the original prize for winning a puzzle was 30 single Rupees in the Japanese version; four blue Rupees were added to make the total 50, and the total given for the 16th completed puzzle was 56 rather than 200.

Item Locations

Japan	US/Europe

Another example is the location of triforce chart 5. In the international version you obtain the triforce chart from sinking the golden ship of the shore of Needle Rock. In the JP version you have to obtain a chain of charts to get the triforce chart at Headstone.

Bombs

Bombs behave a little bit differently between game versions. On the Japanese/NTSC-J version hitting the button you have bombs equipped to while holding a bomb will make Link place the bomb down as if you hit R. On the English/NTSC-U version (and European/PAL) of the game the button you have bombs equipped to will cause Link to throw a bomb as if you hit A. On the Japanese version you can not equip and unequip Iron Boots while holding a bomb. On the English and European versions you can.

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.

Japan	US/Europe

Japan	US/Europe

Japan	US/Europe

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 the 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.

Tetra's Name

In certain regional releases of Wind Waker, Tetra is called Dazel, an anagram of Zelda.

Build Date

To do: A possible Japanese demo in one of the discs from October to December 2002 1. Need more information. Japanese name: 月刊任天堂店頭デモ 200?年?月号

The file COPYDATE contains a date and time for when the game was compiled.

JP	US GC Demo Feb 2003	US	EU GC Demo Apr 2003
02/11/27 01:19:56	02/12/06 16:54:20	03/02/19 11:43:53	03/02/28 17:45:27
EU	US ZC Demo	EU ZC Demo	JP ZC Demo
03/03/17 19:33:15	03/09/08 16:30:56	03/09/26 16:45:37	03/10/31 17:54:53

Developer Credit

// Coded by Kawasedo

Present at offset 0x398389 in the .dol executable. This comment matches a string found in the Game Boy Advance Bootstrap ROM, so it is safe to assume that the .dol contains a copy of the GBA Bootstrap for use with the Tingle Tuner and it is not otherwise related to The Wind Waker.