Screenshots & Footage – 1998

Media kindly provided by Lavacopter.

1998

January 6th

Yellow Navi appears to denote a friend rather than an enemy in this shot.

“I am from the cheerful Goron tribe. I haven’t seen you around before, but I’m sure you’re a good guy, goro.”

“The pretty grass at my feet is an alpine plant known as a Bomb Flower, goro. It’s a specialty of the area, goro.”

The Door of Time is headed by an upside down Triforce and barred by a green shutter.

A different version of the Light Medallion pedestal sits in the Temple of Time.

A primitive, non-detailed version of the dungeon minimap.

February 4th

The fabled Unicorn Fountain, possible early version of the fairy fountains in the final game. Why the design was changed to include shrieking harpies, the world may never know.

We don’t see those lamp posts in the final game. Perhaps they were considered too advanced for Hyrule?

A new type of sign.

An early chest. This design was later reused for Majora’s Mask.

March 11th

A strange P-shaped mark on a Deku Tree door.

A far more detailed minimap denoting chests and the current floor.

Not an enemy normally seen in the Deku Tree. Also, a very good view of Navi’s early pointed wing design.

There aren’t normally any torches on this floor of the Deku Tree.

The Deku Tree of the final game doesn’t have windows.

A strange fence spans Hyrule Field.

April 2nd

April 27th

The spiritual stones have lost their colour.

Grass not normally seen in Kakariko.

Link uses the reed whistle to call Epona, an item later revived in Twilight Princess. Its model is still present within the game.

A grassy texture not normally seen at Hyrule Castle.

May

June

The writing on the gravestone here only goes halfway down rather than filling the stone as we normally see.

A strange spiral pillar rises from Zora’s Domain.

June 10th

Zelda’s ears are far longer than normal.

June 12th

July 3rd

Our first glimpse of an English translation.

“Who are you…?”

Adult Link with the Fairy Ocarina.

An unused beam blade attack. Looks like your hearts didn’t need to be full to use this one.

July 27th

“I’m sure my dad’s off messing around somewhere. What a troublesome grown-up. Hehehe.”

I’m raising magnificent horses so Lord Ganon will recognize me!”

The “Faster” button used to read “Whip”, a direct translation of the Japanese むち.

A blue-eyed Shiek. Normally she has red eyes, further obscuring her identity.

“Link… let’s meet again!”

“Link, we meet again…”

The door in this scene is another example of the texture that appears in the area resembling a castle in early shots and can be found in the Wet Dry World of Super Mario 64.

Early 98 NCL

An early Ocarina of Time logo.

interface5Pre-Release

z5e3ign.mov is missing due to a duplicate video somewhere on YouTube. 🙁

September

The sword has switched places to the B button.

The first time Navi is shown turning yellow around enemies, with a modern-looking version of the minimap.

September 2nd

September 4th

September 8th

October 1st

October 30th

“Once it hits the water, wiggle the lure with the 3D stick. Weirdos can also do it with B.”

“Link… we are now the only ones who can protect Hyrule!”

“Okay!! This here’s a place for adults to play! The famous Hyrule shooting gallery!”

The Kokiri Sword’s stone has changed colour from green to red.

“My children and I were turned into this shape as a result of the spider’s curse.”

The Ocarina of Time has lost its gems.

A yellow Z-target.

“Bulls eye!!”

“If you play the ocarina here, you’ll be able to speak with the spirits of the forest.”

“A guy with a scary face ran off in a big hurry.”

“I am Impa of the Sheikah Tribe. I am the protector of Lady Zelda. Everything is as the princess just told you.”

“Take a look at that mountain. That is the home of the Goron Tribe, where the spiritual stone of fire rests… Death Mountain.”

“Can the fate of Hyrule really depend on such a lazy boy…?”

Navi’s wing design is no longer as angular.

“Remember this song.”

November 10th

“First of all, it is said that you must obtain 3 spiritual stones.”

“While you slumbered, Hyrule became a land infested by monsters.”

Our first look at the final Master Sword design.

“Brave boy… you begin a new journey.”

“My duty is to teach a melody to the emissary from the forest.”

“My name is Rauru. I am one of the sages who created the Temple of Time and watched over the Sacred Realm…”

“Therefore your spirit continued its slumber for 7 years…”

“Play with A and C.”

This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. James

    Brilliant feature! It never ceases to amaze me how much work and tweaking went into making this masterpiece of a videogame over the years – even in 1998 there’s been plenty of refinement present.

  2. James

    Brilliant feature! It never ceases to amaze me how much work and tweaking went into making this masterpiece of a videogame over the years – even in 1998 there’s been plenty of refinement present.

  3. MedicalNerd

    One interesting thing is that in one of these pictures it clearly shows young Link in front of the Hyrule Castle guards, being able to speak with them since the action button says “Shaberu” = “Talk”.

    Also, in one of these IGN-movies Link sounds like he has a different voice actor.

  4. MedicalNerd

    One interesting thing is that in one of these pictures it clearly shows young Link in front of the Hyrule Castle guards, being able to speak with them since the action button says “Shaberu” = “Talk”.

    Also, in one of these IGN-movies Link sounds like he has a different voice actor.

Comments are closed.