Unused Content

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An unidentified enemy, possibly an earlier version of the Shadow Beast, from Twilight Princess

This article gives an overview on unused or unreleased game information. See Hacks and Glitches for information and abilities gained by using cheating devices and by exploiting programming faults, respectively.

Unused content is a sector of gaming that focuses on the unreleased, scrapped, or otherwise removed content of a game only obtainable through hacking, pre-release demos, or through other unlicensed means. It includes, but is not limited to, content from beta releases, a specific prototypical stage of development.

In respect to the Zelda franchise, unused content ranges from enemy prototypes to early landscape blueprints, from entire projects to the original design of certain items. While this content is most often removed from the final publication of games, sometimes its influence can still be seen in the title in final builds. For example, in Ocarina of Time, the Forest Temple and Medallion were supposed to be the Wind Temple and Medallion. Although the forest design for the temple was chosen, the Medallion and insignias placed in Ganon's Tower and around the Forest Temple are still reminiscent of the windmill-like symbol relative to the pre-release Wind Temple.

A Link to the Past

The Cannon Soldier, an unused enemy Soldier variation that still remains in a working state in the game's code.

Ocarina of Time

File:Unused Magic Medallions.jpg

Equipped Medallion

File:Unused Great Fairy.jpg

Restoration of an early Great Fairy

File:Red Ice Beta Block.jpg

Unused Red Ice block in the Ice Cavern

Because of its popularity, Ocarina of Time has been hacked many times to create mods or just to look into the game's assets. Along the way, much unused content was found hidden within the cartridge data. Early previews of the game also provide insight into unused content.

A Sword Beam can be seen in screenshots and early trailers.
The Arwing, the famed Star Fox starfighter, makes an appearance in Ocarina of Time as a flying enemy. It was likely used to test the Z-targeting system as well as projectile weapon usage. This unusual enemy can only be loaded through the use of a cheating device.
An early model for Fado exists within the cartridge data.
In early builds of the game, Medallions worked differently. Medallions can be seen equipped in various early screenshots. Several early screenshots depict Link with the Forest Medallion (then known as the Wind Medallion) equipped, as the Medallions were the original method of warping through Hyrule instead of using the Ocarina of Time.^[1] In a November 1997 interview by Famimaga 64, Shigeru Miyamoto explained that the Medallions, known as "Magic Medallions", were supposed to have been used in conjunction with Link's bow and arrow. There were to be six types of Magic Medallions, including fire, wind, darkness, and light, meaning that they might have been used instead of the Fire, Ice, and Light Arrows that turned out in the final, released version of the game.^[2] The Forest Medallion and Water Medallion were originally the "Wind Medallion" and "Ice Medallion", but their names and corresponding dungeons were changed during development.^[3] Two icons relating to these original medallions are still present in the game's code.^[4]
Early screenshots show a Stalfos different from the current Stalfos design.
A Wind Temple and Ice Temple were originally planned. They were eventually replaced with the Forest Temple and Ice Cavern (or possibly The Water Temple), respectively.
Zora's Fountain originally had an exit to Zora's River in early versions of the game.
A different Jump Attack animation can be seen in early previews. This was replaced with the current animation in the final build.
- Also in early previews, Link can be seen doing front flips - this move does not exist in the final game. The animation still exists and can be hacked in, however.
- In some early Japanese previews, the B button was labelled ジャンプ (Jump). In order to streamline the gameplay, this was removed in favor of the Autojump.^[5]
The game includes Nintendo 64DD-exclusive programming, remnants of an early period of development. Ocarina of Time was originally going to have an expansion disk released for the 64DD, but after the 64DD failed in Japan, the expansion disk was canceled. However, through the use of a cheating device, one can force the game to mark an existing save file as one intended for use with the (nonexistent) expansion disk. This file, once modified, cannot be loaded.
Link's Hylian Shield and Master Sword had a different design in earlier versions of the game.
An Ocarina Pedestal, similar to the Medallion pedestals, was modeled but never used in the final game. It can be found in an unused cutscene taking place in Zora's Fountain.^[6]
During the development of Ocarina of Time, the Great Fairies were not the same ones that appeared in the final version of the game, for they had more of a crystal appearance with long, white wings. Their crystalline appearance is similar to the appearance of the Great Fairies from The Wind Waker. The early Great Fairy, surprisingly, shares the same model file as the in-game Great Fairy.
Gold-rimmed Treasure Chest models, similar to those used in Majora's Mask can be seen in some pre-release screenshots.^[7]
The later discovery of a Master Quest debug ROM (used for testing) reveals even older remnants, including character models and unused rooms not found in the final game. This includes test rooms and an older version of the Hyrule Castle courtyard.
Concept art had Link with an attire similar to incarnations prior to Ocarina of Time.^[8]
By using cheats, a block of Red Ice can be found inisde the Ice Cavern in the White Wolfos chamber. It was probably used to cover the Treasure Chest containing the Iron Boots. It was later used in Master Quest.

Majora's Mask

File:CT adultlinkmask.jpg

Adult Mask and Fairy Ocarina in Majora's Mask

A mask resembling Adult Link from Ocarina of Time was to make an appearance, with speculated effects that were meant to transform Young Link into Adult Link. However, Young Link can use weapons he could not as a grown up; seemingly rendered useless, it was, in turn, replaced with the Fierce Deity's Mask which slightly resembles Adult Link. Concept art of an Adult Link in Majora's Mask appears in Hyrule Historia that further suggest this.^[9]
- There also exists a "Hylian" mask (a mask resembling Young Link's face), with speculated effects suggesting it was meant to return Link to his Hylian form. Since the masks contain spirits that Link can wear to assume other forms, it would rather be impossbile to wear his own form; this idea was cut, and Link instead can take off the mask to return to his human form.
The Fairy Ocarina was replaced by the Ocarina of Time. The original ocarina can be seen in the screenshot with the Adult Link Mask.
The Hylian Shield was meant to appear as both Young and Adult Link's shield, likely to be used instead of the Hero's Shield.
- Also, Link's other weapons were shown to use their design from Ocarina of Time.
Link's instruments while transformed are separate items which can be found and used in the game's coding. They may have been intended to replace the Ocarina of Time while transformed.
Blue Fire can be obtained through the use of a cheating device. However, it has no description on the item subscreen and acts as a bug in a bottle when used. A Hyrule Loach can also be obtained, but it doesn't have any actions associated with it. Its description was never translated from the original Japanese text.
Link originally had a Deku Shield, as shown in early screenshots.
The Boomerang, as a standalone item, was also to be in the game. The Boomerang functionality was replaced with Zora Link's Double Cutters.
The Megaton Hammer was another item replaced. Before punching with Goron Link was introduced, Goron Link could be seen with the Megaton Hammer on the B button in pre-release screenshots.
The game was originally named Zelda: Gaiden, which translates into English as "Zelda: Side Story".
In very early builds of the game, Link's model was identical to the one used for Young Link in Ocarina of Time. The model was later modified to reflect Link's physical growth.
The Gorman Brothers were originally one Ingo, as seen in early images.
Major landscape remodels took place between the earlier versions and final release. Modified landforms include the Stone Tower and Termina Field.

Majora's Mask 3D

Unused models of Sheik, Impa, and Ganondorf can be found in the game's files. Their file names make reference to a fisher man, suggesting that they were probably planned to appear inside the Fishing Holes.

Oracle Series

Concept art of a human Ganondorf is included in Hyrule Historia.^[10] In the final games, Ganon appears only in his beast form.

The Wind Waker

HH TWW Scrapped Islands — Stovepipe Island and GC Island

An older form of Link was sketched, but never modeled. Link was to physically grow during the course of the game (at a more subtle rate than in Ocarina of Time), but implementing this idea was too difficult, so it was scrapped.^{[citation needed]}
The Skull Hammer was confirmed to have a different name and design during the development phase.^{[citation needed]}
Link's clothes were to have the same color scheme as his clothes from the original The Legend of Zelda. This was only changed to the final color scheme late into development.
As seen in the SpaceWorld 2001 trailer for the game, Link originally had a sneaking function, possibly created to be used in the stealth sequences of the Forsaken Fortress. This was replaced with hiding in barrels. In the same trailer, Link's voice from Majora's Mask was used as a placeholder voice, as the final voices had not yet been recorded.
Hyrule Historia contains concept art of two islands that were never included in the game:
- Stovepipe Island was planned to be a volcanic "island of steam and smoke" with a hot spring lake and a valley of magma. Link would have potentially entered the volcano's crater, as with Fire Mountain in the finalized game.
- GC Island was intended to resemble a Nintendo GameCube. This concept was later used in the game's direct sequel—Phantom Hourglass—with Dee Ess Island.
Ice Ring Isle and Fire Mountain were possibly going to be the locations of full dungeons,^{[citation needed]} given that they are marked on the full map of the Great Sea. Otherwise, the map only includes islands that host dungeons or are plot-significant.
The E3 2002 trailer showed a different layout for Dragon Roost Cavern.
A mysterious item, marked only by Japanese text translating to "Water Boots", can be loaded and used through hacking. However, no model appears, and the animation for putting the boots on and off is the same as that of the Iron Boots. It is therefore possible that the Water Boots were, in fact, Iron Boots with different functions, such as sinking into water (as evidenced by the item name).^[11]
Until surprisingly late into development, the A button was mapped to the sword, with B being the roll command.
- Enemy swords can be picked up and used in the final game. In earlier builds, however, the sword button icon changed to reflect the enemy weapon Link was using.
Two extra sails were found on the game disk: the Zora Sail and the Tingle Sail. No information is known as to why these sails were removed, but Aonuma has stated that they originally intended to have a swift sail in The Wind Waker, but because of hardware limits they had to remove it.^[12]

The Minish Cap

The Fire Rod was slated to be included, but was replaced by the Flame Lantern. However, a reference to the Fire Rod can be seen in the figurine description for Ice Wizzrobes in the European version of the game. Hacking the game reveals that the Fire Rod still exists, but oddly functions as a debug tile editor item. With the editor, one can modify the various landscapes within the game; however, changes cannot be saved.

Twilight Princess

Characters

As seen in her concept art, Ilia was designed with pointy ears, like a Hylian.
Beth's concept artwork showed her with a toy attached to her back.
Louise was initially meant to accompany Darbus. This can be seen in early concept art where she rests on his shoulder.^[13]

Enemies

The Armos Titan

The {{{2}}} looks like a traditional Armos, but have no weapons and attack with its hands. Unlike other Armos, it has a gem on its chest and can be successfully hit by shooting three Arrows or one Bomb Arrow at it.
An enemy resembling a Shadow Beast can be seen in the E3 2004 and GDC 2005 trailers.
Goron Golem, the massive conglomeration of Gorons, packed together as an alleged enemy.
Meter Giant, most likely a placeholder used for measurements.
Moblin, removed from the game, was seen during an early trailer in an equally unknown indoor area.
Gohma, replaced by Armogohma, was to chase Link through a cave. This can be seen in the GDC 2005 trailer.
Kargaroks, originally planned to be in the Twilight, but were replaced by Shadow Kargaroks.

Geography and Surroundings

Hyrule Field contained many dead trees, which can be seen in the early trailers.
Beta Forest, the alleged extra forest region in Twilight Princess, contained a giant ancient statue and an area full of cats, both viewable in the GDC 2005 trailer.
A canoe can be seen in Ordon Village in the E3 2005 trailer.
The twilight was originally black and white, rather than full-color with a muted color scheme. This grayscale Twilight Realm can be seen in early trailers.
A wholly unused room with a Moblin in it was shown in the E3 2005 trailer. It doesn't resemble anything from the final game.
A single test room still exists in the data; it is an early version of the Darkhammer miniboss room. Apart from early textures, object placement reveals that the area was once a much larger, hexagonal room, instead of the narrow corridor in the final version. Possibly changed to make the fight more difficult.

TP Link fishing scrapped — Link in a scrapped fishing area

In early trailers of Twilight Princess, a fishing hole, much unlike the current Fishing Hole in Hena's pond, was demonstrated. Since Link can be seen wearing his Ordon outfit, it is assumed that this fishing zone was possibly near Ordon Village. Further proof of this is that in the first playable demo of Twilight Princess, Link can use the canoe to explore the village.

Miscellaneous

A Magic Meter can be seen in some of the early screenshots and even on the back of the Wii version's boxart. It was presumably used for the Magic Armor and the removed Fire Arrows. Unused text left in the game reveals that another function would be to transform Link into wolf form and vice versa.
Items such as black Chu Jelly, bottled Blue Fire, Fire Arrows, Ice Arrows, and Surf Leaf were slated to be included but never were.^[14] Fire Arrows possibly used the Magic Meter. The surf leaf was probably the leaf used for snowboarding from Snowpeak Top. The Japanese internal name for the surfing item was "Shield Surfing", indicating that Link would snowboard on his shield.
Green and Black Chu Jelly were originally designed to be normally accessible types of Chu Jelly. However, their programming was left unfinished. The Green Jelly can only be found in the Wii release. Though technically an unused item, it can be found by normal means; the jelly is produced by allowing a Blue and Yellow Chu to merge. The Green Jelly does nothing when consumed (it was probably meant to fill the Magic Meter), and its details are completely missing. The Black Jelly, on the other hand, can be found in both releases, though it can only be accessed by hacking. The Black Jelly has intact details and descriptions; it is essentially complete. When consumed, Link takes one heart of damage similar to Nasty Soup.
Midna had orange-blue hair, which was later replaced with her current orange-yellow style. This can be seen in early screenshots and the E3 2005 trailer.
The game originally had a different transformation cutscene when Link first enters the twilight. This can be seen in the E3 2005 trailer.
Link originally could perform a spinning back slash, as seen in the E3 2005 trailer.
Link had a placeholder voice from Ocarina of Time, like how Wind Waker once used Majora's Mask voices.
It is likely that Midna once had the ability to tattle on enemies, the same way as Navi, Tatl, Tingle, and Fi. An early video shows a prompt to press Z for a hint when Link targets an enemy.
In earlier builds, the Hyrule Castle spirit soldiers were more abundant in the sewers. The final release has fewer soldiers.
An icon and design of an unused Ordon Shield can be seen within the game files. Colin and Talo can be seen with this model of the shield.

Spirit Tracks

The title screen had a different font compared to the final.
The cutscene in which Link is given his engineer certificate was different. Additionally, the castle throne room had a different design.
Link's voice clips were reused from Phantom Hourglass as a placeholder for his newer voice clips.
A trailer in 2009 shows a demo in an early version of the Tower of Spirits, which went through some drastic redesign
It seems that Zelda was never planned to join Link on his quest.
- Link was shown the ability to command a Phantom (a feature kept in the final build). Some differences apply; they made no voice when attacking, and had more of a green, masculine theme than the pink, feminine theme (used to match Zelda's overall theme when she possessed the Phantom). Rather than a pink helmet, the Phantom icon was a rather gray helmet, and to call it a whistle icon was put rather than a swirl.
- More evidence pertaining to this is in Anjean’s statement about the Phantoms, “Though they look quite sinister, they won't harm anyone with a good heart.” Judging by this, Link would have gained the ability to possess a Phantom himself without using any magic. In the final build, they serve as enemies (as in Phantom Hourglass) and can only be possessed when using Zelda's soul.
The train tracks seen on the fields of New Hyrule had different routes. Also, Link always used the Wooden Train as his default train.
The forests had a darker design, and as the player travelled the background straight ahead appeared inward
Trees seen in the Snow Realm were originally seen in the Forest Realm.
Some unused music exists, notably the boss theme from “Phantom Hourglass.” It appears it was meant to be used somehow, as evident in that the Ghost Ship battle theme is used when fighting Dark Link at the end of Take ‘Em All On!
The Whip had a different design, which was changed as it was deemed too similar to Rope Snake from “Mother 3.”

Skyward Sword

The Hylian Shield, as seen in the E3 2010 trailer, had the design of the Hylian Shield from Twilight Princess.
Moldarach originally had a smoother design, as seen in E3 2010 and pictures. Its boss arena was also in an area that looked like the Great Tree which was most likely a placeholder.
The Whip was originally designed with a skull and was dubbed the "Skull Whip". Other characteristics include a different icon and tip.
The Loftwings had a more cartoonish design, as seen with Eagus's unfinished Loftwing.
The Black Stone, an unused asset, was potentially a counterpart of the White Stone or Sealing Spike.
As seen in Hyrule Historia, various different designs of locations and characters - such as Zelda, Impa, Fi, and Ghirahim - were considered and ultimately rejected.

A Link Between Worlds

Zelda scrn05 — The original green Energy Gauge

The Energy Gauge was originally green instead of purple.
The Shield was originally blue instead of orange.^[15]
The action icon on the bottom-right corner of the top screen was translucid gray instead of having a wood finish.^[15]
Link would originally go to the Tower of Hera after obtaining the Master Sword instead of prior.^{[verification needed]}
In the game's reveal trailer, Link had his The Wind Waker voice.^[15]

Hyrule Warriors

The game's official artbook contains designs for a female version of Link called Template:Japanese.^[16]
Lana and King Dodongo in his Ocarina of Time design originally appeared during "The Armies of Ruin".
Lizalfos originally used their Skyward Sword design.
The HUD in the top-left corner of the screen was originally modeled differently.
In an early English version of the game, Proxi was simply referred to as, "Fairy."
There is an unused voice clip of Zelda singing her theme. This can be heard by using the Summoning Gate as Zelda via the Skin Swap Glitch.^[17]

Gallery

For concept art and unused designs appearing in Hyrule Historia, see Gallery:Hyrule Historia.

Early Octoroks from Ocarina of Time
Early Moblin from Twilight Princess
Metergiant.jpg

Meter Giant from Twilight Princess
Sizeomparison.jpg

Meter Giant alongside a Goron and Armos Titan from Twilight Princess
Unused fishing area in Twilight Princess
Unused forest in Twilight Princess
Magic Meter in an early version of Twilight Princess
Black and white Twilight from Twilight Princess
Black Stone.png

Black Stone from Skyward Sword
Unused Majora's Mask 3D models
Linkle concept art from Hyrule Warriors
HW Developmental Lizalfos.png

Lizalfos early design from Hyrule Warriors