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).

N64 Add-on -- Changed plans

This sure explains things. Ever wonder why Ocarina of Time: Master Quest was made in the first place? Why the later Final Fantasy games went solely to the PlayStation? Why Metroid was never seen until the GameCube? Why Nintendo never pulled through with so many projects, now the objects of internet rumors or attempted fan recoveries? Take a peek at the list of intended games after reading the article.

By the way, I've made a small update to my arwing cameo post.

Update: I'm here, just pretty busy ...

It's been a while since I last posted, but I'm not just sitting around doing nothing. I finally got an opportunity to beat Megaman 9, and I have a long post on it waiting to happen, but I haven't had the time. The other day my dad asked me when I'd blog about something besides video games. I actually found non-game material that day and wanted to post on it, but I couldn't get on the computer, and I'm too preoccupied to do it now. I've had many ideas swirling through my head lately, between philosophy class, game ideas, an idea for another blog, and a piano piece I'm writing from an NES game called Shadowgate. I've felt that if I managed to snag enough time to post on even one of these things, it would sort of do an injustice to the others that I'd have to confine to my thoughts for longer; hence this general post.

Bad Megaman Art

Looks like the box art for the first Megaman game has finally met its match.

Why can't they draw Megaman as a robot? And Dr. Wily is not Dr. Weil (from the Megaman Zero series), but this will make fans go all over that idea again.

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.

Ike's Suicidal Final Smash

It's a pity I can't post a pic or, better yet, the video I took of this on Super Smash Bros. Brawl (well, I could, but it wouldn't be worth the effort). I was wondering what would happen if you designed a stage with a wide enough gap in the middle that Ike has nothing to land on when he executes his final smash. So I built just that. I recorded a 1-stock battle of myself, as Ike, fighting a CPU Marth. I got the smash ball and hit Marth with the Great Aether; they soared up to the top of the center of the stage, Ike clobbered Marth, and then down they shot, straight to their deaths, at exactly the same time! This is one of the very few occasions (and definitely the easiest) in which you will ever get sudden death on stock mode.

Solar Jetman hack: Spaceman Spiff

This is a hack I am working on, as of a few days ago. I got the idea some time before, but never sat down to experiment with it. Now I have Spiff's graphics completed, including palette changes, and am working on his ship. It's very time-taking to redraw every frame of the ship turning 360 degrees and sort of flipping upside-down in the process (if you've played the game you will know what I'm talking about), especially with a saucer as opposed to the original egg shape of the pod. What's more, I can't get as 3D a look as I'd like, because the ship and the spaceman share the same color palette; having only 4 colors per sprite to work with in the first place, the ship can only have one color other than yellow, blue, or transparency, all of which are needed for Spiff. This means that the saucer must be a solid red instead of the 3D shading you can see in the screenshot.

This will take a long time to complete, especially since I won't be spending all my time working on it. Technical issues may arise and ideas for the game may change, but I don't intend to abandon this endeavor. Eventually this should join the ranks of fan creations as "Spaceman Spiff: The Hunt for the Flying Tiger!"