The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Wii Released in JP: December 2, 2006 Released in US: November 19, 2006 Released in EU: December 8, 2006 Released in AU: December 7, 2006 This game has unused areas. This game has a hidden developer message. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused items. This game has unused music. This game has debugging material. This game has a notes page This game has a prototype article This game has a prerelease article

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is Nintendo's answer to people wanting a second Ocarina of Time after getting disappointed with Wind Waker. Afterwards, those same people complained about the game being too similar to Ocarina of Time... hypocrisy much?

Debugging Features

Debug Mode

With the activation of debug mode, you can see the debug sound directly at the bottom of the screen with bars of different colors.

It is also possible to see the debug console of the game.

Shows the memory of the game and creates new lines of code as and when changing the measurement room. The most visible is the technical name of the room being played.

To activate the debug console screen, press Z on a controller in controller port 3.

The debug mode is activated by this method: The byte "00" at offset 0x07 in the ISO file. Versions 0 to 0x80 disable debug mode. Versions 0x81 to 0x90 enable debug mode on development consoles. 0x91 and higher always enable it.

The other method is easier by simply using the code below:

Version	Code
All Versions	04000004 30310091

(Source: Treeki (method), Dark Linkaël (code))

To do: Need more detail about the Debug Mode!

Unused Music/Sounds

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess contains three leftover streams from early Electronic Entertainment Expo builds and demos:

TitleLogoE3

TitleLogoE3 was featured in the early E3 2005 demo build of Twilight Princess, the year in which the game was first revealed.

TitleLogoE3_2006

TitleLogoE3_2006 is the title theme featured in the 2006 E3 demo. It bears a striking resemblance to TitleLogoE3, yet remains distinctly different, with different instrumentals and reverbed howl.

stageselect_e3_2006

Stageselect_e3_2006 is the exact same Hyrule Field theme showcased in the final game. This particular copy of the stream, however, was featured in the 2006 E3 demo as a stage selection menu theme.

demo32A-120 (unused portion)

File:LozTP demo32A-120 unusedportion.ogg demo32A-120 contains a piece of unused music from Ocarina of Time. It is a slightly remastered version of the music played during the escape from Ganon's Castle.

Unused items

Green Chu Jelly

This game is one of the few Zelda games which does not feature a magic meter. However, due to a programmer's oversight, you can still get a green potion in the Wii version. In the Cave of Ordeals, in the room with several Chu Chus, it is possible to make a blue and a yellow Chu Chu merge together, which then become a green Chu Chu (this color doesn't appear anywhere else in the game). Killing it awards you a green potion, which is supposed to refill your magic meter, similar to several other Zelda games. However, Twilight Princess has no magic meter. As a result, it has no effect, nor text. Green Chu Jelly still exists in the GameCube version's data, but you cannot obtain it in any way. Merging Blue and Yellow Chus will instead create a Purple Chu in the GameCube version.

The back of the Wii version's cover has a screenshot depicting a magic meter on the HUD, much like in other Zelda games. (image)

Fire Arrow

A possible placeholder item is obtainable through Gecko codes, but it doesn't do anything. It's item no. 53.

Surf Leaf

Another placeholder item; the Surf Leaf is item no. F7

Unused Rooms

Group name	Room info	Images
D_MN11B	Twilight Princess has only one unused room. It is in the part with the mini-boss room of Snowpeak Ruins. Instead of having one room like other mini-boss rooms, this one has two rooms. (R49_00.arc)

R49_00 Details and Textures

The room contains 2 Clawshot targets and an invisible object in the middle. Outside of the map there is a door, a switch, and several suits of armour. Moon jumping to a certain position outside of the map will activate the mini-boss.

D_MN11 (Dungeon)
R00_00.arc
R01_00.arc
R02_00.arc
R03_00.arc
R04_00.arc
R05_00.arc
R06_00.arc
R07_00.arc
R08_00.arc
R09_00.arc
R11_00.arc
R13_00.arc
STG_00.arc

D_MN11A (Boss Dungeon)
R50_00.arc
STG_00.arc

D_MN11B (Mini-Boss Dungeon)
R49_00.arc (Unused)
R51_00.arc
STG_00.arc

(Source: Dark Linkaël)

Group name	Room info	Images
S_MV000	It is the last room of the list and with a name very different from other "S_MV000". This room does not contain much, only two locations starting point for Link. Otherwise, there is no collision and no model BMD.

(Source: Dark Linkaël)

Unused Enemies

There are two unused enemies still coded in this game.

• The first is a large humanoid creature that attacks by smacking you with its hands. It was an early version of the Armos (which looked drastically different in Twilight Princess), known as Armos Titan. A few well-placed hits to its crystal will disable it for a while. Judging from its appearance, it is possible that it appeared in the Temple of Time or the Palace of Twilight.

• The second is a giant golem made of a collection of Gorons. The group wanders around aimlessly, at first, but once you come near it, they morph into the golem and try to attack you. The golem has no collision, so it was possibly cut earlier than other cut enemies.

Early Shadow Beast

This creature of the twilight is possibly an older version of the Shadow Beast. It is viewable on a trailer from Game Developers Conference 2005 when Link defeats one in a forest. It is still present in the game data as a model. It uses more or less the same movements as the Beast Shadow of the final version. Given its face and the fact that it is only seen in said forest, it may actually have been a shadow Bokoblin.

Unused Models

Wind Waker Leftovers

"itemmdl.arc" contains models of 21 items from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker which suggests Twilight Princess uses the Wind Waker engine.

Bomb Flower

Bomb Flowers are not normally found in Twilight Princess, but they do exist in the game files. Either it's another leftover from Wind Waker, or they were actually planned to appear in the game somehow.[1]

Strange giant with glasses

215px

This character is a large giant with white and purple lines. The face is yellow and wearing glasses. The character serves no function, and could be presumed to be a placeholder. Given it's tremendous size, and the fact that various models in the game match up heights to the stripes, it might actually have been a height reference.

Early ghost soldiers

It is possibly an older version of ghost soldiers, presumably predating the Game Developers Conference 2005 trailer.

(Source: Dark Linkaël)

Developer messages

Hidden in Sample.arc is a few .txt files, one of which is a somewhat lengthy discussion between two programmers.

file0.txt - file1.txt - file2.txt

(Source: Kargaroc)

To do: [2] Get full translation and update. Add the other translations in the Talk page of the game.

Unused text

Please select a stage.
PAUSE
SELECT STAGE
Select
Back
OK
Start
Thank You for Playing the Demo
START
Demo 2:Meeting Ilia
(take [Link]'s horse to the spring)
Demo 4 (First half):Enemy appears at spring
[Link] in the darkness

These appear to be remnants of a demo version of the game.

Epona Rodeo strategy (Rescue Epona)
Flag 56 has been turned ON.
Saw the demo where Colin is abducted.
Flag 53 has been turned ON.
Saw the demo where Colin is saved.
Flag 85 has been turned ON.
Saw the demo of Prince Zora being saved.
(Convory sucessful)
Flag 68 has been turned ON.
North south bridge mirror space big small mysterious shield
test 20060713 22:11pm
The darkness has been in Kakariko
Village has been lifted.
Flag 61 has been turned ON.
Carriage convoy game start
Flag 66 has been turned ON.
Lava fusion event temporary demo 
Please end the dark cargo (big) event
(Event flag 84 = please turn it ON)
After seeing the lava fusion on Death Mountain
Flag 65 has been turned ON.
(Condition: Even flag 84 has been turned ON)

Some debug text, it seems.

There is a save file for this game on
the Memory Card in Slot A. Would you
like to transfer this data to the Wii?
Unable to find Memory Card in Slot A.
In order to copy save data from a
Memory Card, please start over.

Apparently, there was once planned to be a feature to transfer saves between the GameCube and Wii versions of the game.

You don't have any magic power...
You know you can't turn into a
beast without it!

Now this is interesting! It proves that in an early version of the game, magic power was a requirement to transform into Wolf Link! This suggests that the game was once planned to be very different.

Unused icons

These icons are found in the game files, but never actually used by the game.

Most of these appear to be simple leftovers from Wind Waker, like the Hookshot or the Elixir Soup. The demon Tetra icon may have been a placeholder until Midna's design was finalized.

The Mirror Shield icon is the most interesting, because it's obviously modeled after the Ocarina of Time icon, but is not a straight port! Twilight Princess is one of the few Zelda games with no Mirror Shield, but there may have been plans to include this item in the game.

Miscellaneous

Linker .map files

The US version ships with a folder containing the complete symbols for the game binary. These files would have helped the developers figure out how the game would crash, to make debugging easier.

They were used not only to understand the game itself, but was an aid in understanding the APIs involved in Wii development.

(Source: Kargaroc)

Two Test Models

In the file "Sample.arc" folder "bmdr" contains two test models with no textures. One of the two models is a horse, which could be a basic version of Epona or Ganondorf's steed.

(Source: Kargaroc)

Strange model "M_TetsuSaku00A"

In Sample.arc, there is a file simply called a. It seems to be in the same format as the R_00 Hyrule Castle model from The Wind Waker. It is dated October 14th, 2004.

The model itself is the same box model as the DZB collisions in the same archive are.

(Source: Kargaroc)

Sample.arc Detail File

/bck
test.bck (Test model animation)

/bmdr
file1.bmd (Unknown model)
file2.bmd (Horse model)

/dir
file0.txt (Text file)
file1.txt (Text file)
file2.txt (Developer messages)

/dir5
a (M_TetsuSaku00A)

/dzb
file2.dzb (Test model collision)
file.dzb (Test model collision)

/evt
event_list.dat (Test file event)

(Source: Kargaroc)

Revision differences

The initial Wii version has some bugs; these were fixed in the GameCube release and all later Wii versions. Most infamously, a bug related to saving in the original revision made the game unwinnable.

• If you go to the room with the cannon and save your game inside, once you reload your saved game you won't be able to warp out or leave. The game thinks Shad, who isn't around to see you, is still there even though he's nowhere to be seen. This leaves you stuck in the room forever.

• As mentioned above, if a Blue Chu and Yellow Chu merge, they will become an unique Green Chu in the Wii version, something not possible in the GameCube version.

• If you were to try to warp underwater the same moment Link is about to drown, the game would get stuck on the Game Over screen eternally. Fixed in later versions by not allowing you to warp underwater.

• On Snowpeak, by standing next to Yeto and hitting the tree with the Ball and Chain at a specific point, Yeto would talk to you automatically, which caused the game to freeze right as the race started.

• A debug routine in the Cave of Ordeals was left in the game. Putting out the torches on one floor with the Gale Boomerang would open the door in the next floor down, allowing you to easily traverse the whole Cave of Ordeals without having to fight most of the monsters.

Build Date

The file COPYDATE.txt in the GameCube version. has a date and time for when the game was possibly completed.

2006/11/06 18:16

The Wii version of this file, however, says earlier.

2006/10/10 20:35