We only have fractions of the Hylian legend ...

Wow. Ever since I saw a blurb on a Zelda fan site about the "Ocarina of Time Beta Project," I've been trying to find out more about it. At first I thought it was just some attempt to make a debug ROM playable or something, but when I read the blurb and saw that it was about the discovery of the graphic for a sword-beam (a classic ability never used in a 3D Zelda except for the Fierce Deity's Mask in Majora's Mask), I realized that there were some big possibilities hidden in the game's data. "But what exactly are these people chasing after?" I thought.

I can't be entirely sure, but I believe that this is the answer. The N64DD (see my previous post) would have been able to do some pretty unthinkable things had it not been a failure. A lot of the N64 games out there were initially being developed for it but were later moved to regular cartridge releases, including Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. In fact, the two Zelda titles were originally going to be a single one; and if you gathered all the stuff that got thrown out, you'd probably have a third game! I haven't been able to find much direct info on the "Beta Project," but it's probably an attempt to unearth everything buried in the ROM and eventually piece together the original Zelda game in its full awesomeness.

A couple of quick notes about the page I've linked to:

1. The writing is pretty bad as far as grammar goes. It's followable, but it looks like the person(s) who wrote it was either tired or slightly drunk.
2. At the end there are some tidbits about Master Quest, under the heading "Zelda: Master Quest on the GameCube." These are about Master Quest, NOT Ura Zelda (the original project), even though the writer says a couple of things like "I’m probably about 50% to 60% of the way through Ura Zelda, and to this point, the -only- changes are inside the dungeons. The overworld stuff is all exactly the same as in Ocarina of Time." Let's face it: he couldn't write well to begin with, so he could have gotten mixed-up pretty easily. With that in mind, there may be other areas where he got the two confused, but none jump out at me (perhaps the bit about Miyamoto commenting, in 2000, that "Ura Zelda has been completed for some time now," but that may very well be accurate).

Ocarina of Time Cameo: Arwing

There are a good number of beta objects in a variety of games, and any video game fan should already know of the great abundance of cameos -- that is, appearances in a game of something, such as a character, from a different game. By far, though, this is the most intricate one I've ever seen. With a gameshark code (81242E66 000981242EF4 013B81242F02 0000) you can unveil the presence of a fully functional arwing that flies around and shoots at you. This may be a cameo that was never made use of in the final production (a beta object), but the thing that really raises questions is the fact that it's so complete. The level of interaction, the sound effects used nowhere else, and the special camera attention given when you enter the forest make this a cameo you'd never expect to see. (As a side note, what the code does is replace an existing object with the values for the arwing, which probably include the "instructions" for the camera coverage. The proof of this is a bush that you cannot cut, lift, or do anything to -- namely, the bush that a Kokiri child is trying to pick up. The kid is gone; guess where he went!)



While I'm talking about Ocarina of Time, I'll mention something else: Ocarina of Time: Master Quest, the more difficult and puzzling version released on the GameCube is still an N64 game. The Master Quest, as well as the GameCube ports of OoT and Majora's Mask, are technically emulated on the GameCube. As a result, Master Quest has been successfully dumped as an N64 ROM and is fully playable on an N64 emulator.

SM64 Codes

Ever wanted to ride a spiney, put the camera on any object, move the trees where you see fit, play as a rabbit, control the race timer, or create coins when you pound the ground? This is the place for you. The creator of this site has made all of the above and even more possible in Super Mario 64. He has such an extensive knowledge of the game's programming, he can change the graphic or behavior values of practically anything. Want Mario's ground pound to shake the screen like a thwomp? No problem! How about throwing a risk factor into collecting red coins by having them spawn chain chomps instead of displaying the number you got? Sure thing! With the codes this guy has made, the game has never been more fun.

He also has loads of neat information, from how to do things like he is to the beta* objects he has uncovered. Even my friend Zoron Maro, the Mario buff, didn't know that the lava-dwelling creature called Blargg was originally going to be in the game; thanks to our code-writing friend, you can now put Blargg into action! Or what about the use of the Boo-related key that is buried in the game's unseen data? We may never know. But we wouldn't know this much if there weren't people like this, exploring games' innards and writing codes to bring them to surface.

*Things that were worked on but then never put into the final game are known as "beta" things: objects, graphics, etc. from the game's beta stages of production.