Generation Classic – Zelda64 Documentary (Part 1)

January 10th, 2012 by Mases

Ever wonder what exactly happened during that massively long development cycle of the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time? Well, YouTuber HappehLemons is creating a three-part documentary going into an astonishing amount of detail about the developmental process. He talks about the origins, taking us all the way back to initial concept ideas talked about before the Nintendo 64 was even released. The video touches on the first reveal of the Zelda tech demo for the Nintendo 64 and the first two builds of the game. If you are a fan of Beta Zelda or just like seeing these mysterious come to life, then you certainly must watch this video. Make the jump to check it out.

Parts 2 and 3 are presently in development and should be available in the near future. Stay tuned as we’ll be reporting on them as soon as they become available.

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Category: Ocarina of Time
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Wiehan

Intresting!! Nice Article!!

Superlink

When Navi hovers over an enemy, she is red instead of yellow

Heriod77777

I think OoT is a fine game, must of been difficult to make it.

pho

honestly, I knew most of this stuff already, but its nice to see someone collaborate and put all the facts together in a video. Looking forward to part 2 and 3.
GF

I’ve never thought about the process to make OoT because it’s been so long since it’s been released! Really, really interesting! I can’t wait for parts 2 and 3!
Anonymous

Im so glad Oot turn out the way it did, although it would be interesting to hear about all these things taken out of the game.

Swordmasterbluelink

There is a team (gamernet, I think) that is trying to reconstruct everything taken out of the game (they’re basically restoring Ura Zelda). The place with the columns is the Temple of Light, and to prove it, GamerNet even found the soundtrack for the area. The Sky Temple was supposed to be either a child version of Ganon’s tower (Not sure) or a the inside of Hyrule Castle (you had to sneak it by the side wall, jump up some pillars and climb in a window. One of those palace areas eventually became the forest temple and time travel, in the original build, wasn’t supposed to occur. GamerNet has done a fine job a restoring Ura Zelda and they’re at 56% done. I’m not. Sure if GamerNet is really their name but you can Google it.

Swordmasterbluelink

*correction, it’s Zeth64

Victor Hugo

Very Nice
Anonymous

I love Ocarina of Time so much, and I was completely oblivious to the games existence at the time and completely missed out on the hype leading up to the release. It wasn’t until my best friend showed me that I was completely hooked and I finally owned the game about a year after it came out. So it’s really neat to see some of these videos and screen shots leading up to it’s release. ; w; The documentary is so well done, and there was a lot I had never seen before too. A sky temple! Q_Q How cool would that have been?
Anonymous

Very in-depth and detailed. This video does make me wonder as to how OOT would have been, if it was entirely in first-person? How would the dungeons even work?

MegabusterLegends3

Lol can you say SKYRIM! Bethesda totally ripped that idea off!

Tyler Way

halos for babys go ZELDA you xbots

Mrgaful

hell no! i love zelda but Halo is a good game! i grew up with those things!

zelda_geek

This was nice to watch! Seeing as I was still an infant, there was no way I knew anything about OoT when it was developing… But of course, I didn’t have to grow much before I picked that remote up.
Anonymous

AWESOME ZELDA IS AWESOME EVEN IN BETA
Bullen2

why cant nintendo release the demo versions with the game… just for fun /=3

Nerion

I know, right!
PetrifiedDeku

they’ll do like a ocarina 25th anniversary version for Wii U Mii in 2020 or something and we’ll get it then. well…that’d be cool anyway.

REMAKEOCARINAINHD

this was interesting, funny how most of the music on this video does not resemble zelda music at all! and am i the only one who is extremely ANNOYED of having an overview camera when in hyrule castle town market!! makes the game look smaller in my opinion, they had that view in ocarina of time and twilight princess. seems like they had first planned to have a 3rd person view in the market. oh well. man judging by all these early pics…obviously it was the beginning but it goes to show how much (the final product) ocarina of time is a MASTERPIECE
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005S0W0MS/?tag=signalpublis-20 Thareous

TL;DW

But what I did see amazed me. We’re sure to gain a lot of understanding on how OoT was made, and how long it takes games to develop in general.
Nerion

The early footage for OoT was… scary…. in a way.. Very hard to explain……

But, I think it would be very interesting if they made a game similar to this. If not even a demo/”bonus game” with this type of graphics, maybe, that version of Hyrule Market, the Sky Temple, and all that stuff. It would be cool if they added a very, very, very, very, very, very hard way to find the Triforce! Maybe from the blue fairy, or in the Light Temple, or something new!

Please don’t judge me for my ideas and opinions. They are my opinions, all right? If you don’t agree, don’t bother argue with me!Thank you.
ArualMR

This is really interesting. I had seen some stuff about the beta OoT but nothing compared to the info gathered in this video… I can’t wait to watch the next parts
http://twitter.com/LordRyuujin Doug Morey

The second beta for the game seemed more interesting (despite being thought to take place entirely in Ganondorfs castle). I wonder at point they decided to include the annoying Navi?
ZeldaPony

The idea that Young Link wouldn’t have been in the game is interesting to me…It kinda gives the idea of ‘What would the story have been like then?’. Just food for thought, really…
Love the video though! So glad that it’s here on ZD
Keaira

Well, that’s a lot of very interesting information. I gotta say, as a movie, it’s not made especially well, but ignoring the weak construction, it’s a lot of cool stuff to know! I’m glad they expanded it beyond Ganon’s castle, and I’m super glad they didn’t use a first-person perspective.
Anonymous

Apparently Fado the Kokiri was supposed to play a much larger role in the game than she did in the finished version.
Elizabeth the bathog

The reason way they had in mind to have first-person is Miyamoto was impressed whit Goldeneye 007 and wanted the game to be first-person adventure game. I read all of this info in a Swedish game magazine that is a special collection magazine for Zelda 25 anniversary. I still haven’t read everything in it so must info in one magazine!
Link17

I saw this before but if Nintendo remakes OOT again this is what I want not a slighty upgraded version like OOT3D was.

Dreiko

remakes are pretty much the same game but with some upgrades, like graphics, music and some extra content, if they change the whole game then it wouldn’t be a remake, but a different one

SwordsAndSpears

Well, yes, but since OOT is such a classic -many people would actually play it in the future even if they didn’t own the console (via certain methods)- and since it was released for the gamecube in a special edition and available in the virtual console for the Wii, it would make sense that there was no need for a remake. The younger generation and those who never played it before would be able to find ways to play it.
Now, Nintendo wanted to release a remake. No problem. The 3DS graphics are quite good and the 3D a nice addition. The controls were improved.
But, they could have added a second quest (or even a re-mastered master quest edition – the one from the special edition for the gamecube) that could at least include things from the Ura Zelda or from the beta version of the game, such as dungeons, secrets etc. At least for me, the master quest edition that was implemented in OOT3D, the mirrored quest, wasn’t very satisfying.
While it wouldn’t be exactly a remake, as you correctly stated, it would please the people that have bought it for the wii (virtual console), the people that have played it many times, those who were interested in exploring aspects of the game that never made it to the final version and the ones that have never played it again for all these years. Of course it would also attract new players.
And of course fans would enjoy OOT even if they had played it a hundred times before, but it wouldn’t hurt nonetheless.
I’m sorry for my bad English

Rinku

they should remake Ocarina of Time for WiiU with the same graphics shown on the e3 2011 demo! adding some depth to the story, characters, sidequests etc etc… it would be so beautiful but hey! thats just my thinking

Guest

OoT must rest now lol. the 3ds remake is enough. BUT id love to see a new TP esque game like you mentioned, since its so similar to OoT.
Dreiko

i love ocarina of time but it would be pointless to remake the same game a third time just to upgrade the graphics, why not make a new zelda with fresh ideas ? , i’m not against remakes as they are good for those gamers who never got the chance to play them before, but making to many remakes isn’t good either

Rinku

I know right? if we are gonna wait three years they better get us a new zelda! hahah…… it’s just kinda sad sometimes listening to some of the new gamers going like: “omg i played twilight princess and its the best zelda game ever!” without ever playing the classic ones just becouse of the graphics that just sucks!

mysteriousLink

I love learning about Ocarina of Time beta! Has anyone hear herd of Zeth64 on youtube, he’s doing some project on making Ura Zelda, it’s looking really cool! XD

mysteriousLink

^ZethN64
http://profiles.google.com/kristin.laflin Kristin Laflin

I used to follow his Ura Zelda project, unfortunately it’s not really going to be a Zelda game anymore, as he’s replacing Link with his own character and such…

SwordsAndSpears

I was watching some videos in his channel, but I didn’t quite understand, is he bringing the Ura Zelda, as it was, to life ( the 3D town, unicorn fountain, extra dungeons) or is he creating Ura Zelda as he thought it would be?
If what you say is true, then he probably is making a different game altogether.
Thank you very much in advance for your reply.

fused_shadows

What I thought was very interesting is that it said Miyamoto wanted to make the game happen entirely in Ganon’s Castle, with no overworld. I wonder if a game like that would be better or worse than one with an overworld. Interesting idea fo rthe future.

Guest

id say worse
i remember hearing that, infact miyamoto was going to base OoT on mario 64 entirely. im glad they took the long development time and made such a great game, just like they did with SS now

LinksDestiny

I really like the way OoT turned out. It’s good to see all the stages it went through till it became the final game.
Guest

cool back in the day i wasnt a hardocre gamer. never payed any attention to development cycles. i remember going to the store and basing my purchases on how the cover looked and the ads in the store. ah the first time i played OoT i was pretty young and it was freakin amazing, it changed the way i saw gaming forever.
Anonymous

I heard BanjoKazooie Music!!!!

Dreiko

me too, good memories, really good memories

Philip Matich

If there was a sky temple, then I reckon that they should’ve kept it.
Alysssa

I’d like to play the beta version. He looks like a 3D version of Link in the first 4 games (because he probably WAS) I like his final design. Every other Link (excluding toon) was heavily based on that design. But, I like toon Link the best!
Walter Bomba

I absolutely love it when people talk about the Beta versions of Zelda games, it’s so interesting, I honestly can’t wait to see the next several parts of this.
http://profiles.google.com/kristin.laflin Kristin Laflin

I’ve actually looked up a lot of Zelda 64 stuff and never saw this much. Kudos to this guy for making such a detailed video. Can’t wait for the other parts.

Bengrf4

no

triforce of courage

There was actually an article on ZD a while back talking about the Zelda 64 Beta and somebody who actually worked on the project talked about it. The first thing they did was make the first temple from the original LoZ in 3D to see how Zelda would work as a 3D game. The triforce scene that everyone talks about was actually from that test run.
Anonymous

At 3:12 you see the Hero’s Shield from Majora’s Mask!!!
Anonymous

It would have been awesome for a beat-boxing theme while fighting!
Enroe

At 14:30, I think that picture was an early version of Mido’s house!
markasscop

the legend of zelda aucarina of time
Hannah

That was an awesome video! Being an aspiring game designer, I love reading about design processes and everything that happens during the development cycle. This is awesome and I can’t wait for the next parts!

Dreiko

same here, this proves that making videogames is a very deep and serious process, where anything can change, it’s also interesting to hear the original concept for the game, like the first person view that miyamoto originally wanted

Shmuga9

Very interesting and informative. I look forward to see the other parts.
http://twitter.com/juvnal lane hayrdo

Is it me or does the image at 14:28 resembles a bit the structure of the room inside the Goddess Statue in Skyloft?

In that part they speak about the possible Sky Temple, and well it came to my mind…
A_LINK_IN_TIME

To believe what the game actually became…a pure classic.
Dreiko

really interesting, i really can’t wait to see the rest, i actually love seeing this kind of videos about development of games, it shows that making videogames is a serious process, this beta videos of ocarina of time show some really interesting level desing as well as some really good gameplay ideas, that’s the funny thing about betas, some ideas for the game looks so good that you actually expect them to be in the final version, for example, in the earliest trailers of twilight princess, link is shown running in a forest with the oil lamp, personally that not only looked so cool but also something that actually feels very zelda like, similat to what miyamoto did when he was a kid, or the spider chasing link, anyway i can’t wait to see the other parts
Bengrf4

ok…aswell i am going to pause the video again so I can tell you for the 43029672103498y60138947502347602938467y0234897620348908963427089562750893247632-87 time that this area was cut from the final game