Mysteries that have plagued The Legend of Zelda fanbase for decades have been answered today, as an early build of Ocarina of Time has been discovered within an old F-Zero X development cartridge. There have been a number of Nintendo leaks over the past few years, starting with the Pokémon Gold & Silver Space World '97 leak from 2018.
All of the leaks over the past few years were the result of a single Nintendo Gigaleak, where content was illegally taken from Nintendo's servers. The Pokémon leaks were just the tip of the iceberg, as we've seen bizarre early prototypes for games like Super Mario Kart and Super Mario World. These offer fascinating glimpses into the development of these classic games, with Nintendo slowly stripping away ideas over the course of their production. The Legend of Zelda series is no exception to these leaks, as we've seen a 3D model of Link using the Super FX hardware, and some incomplete builds of The Ocarina of Time.
There has been another Ocarina of Time leak, but this one comes from a new source. According to the Forest Of Illusion Twitter page, this new build was discovered within the files of an F-Zero X development cartridge. The build is believed to be the version of the game that was shown at Space World '97. Fans have had a chance to dig through the files of the game, and they've already made some fascinating discoveries.
A ton of beta maps have been discovered, some of which match old screenshots that fans have puzzled over for years, including the beta graveyard and an early version of the Deku Tree dungeon. Ocarina of Time was originally going to have more connections to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, with a landmine weapon based on the Myu enemies from that game. Ocarina of Time was originally to have a more in-depth magic system, with each of the Sages giving Link a different spell. Link would have been able to transform into Navi, which references the Fairy spell from Zelda II. Mido (the jerk who prevents Link from leaving the village at the start of the game) was intended to be the original Shadow Sage, and his spell would have allowed Link to temporarily turn invisible. It seems that the tunnel that goes nowhere in Zora's Domain that drove fans crazy for years could be the original entrance to the area, as the layout of the world map was different, and the text files suggest Link was meant to enter through an underwater passage.
These are just a few of the changes present in this old Ocarina of Time build. It's fascinating to see how Hyrule could have turned out, and one wonders what other mysteries are still hiding in this early version of the game.
Source: Forest Of Illusion/Twitter