Ocarina of Time Beta Content - A and B

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Images from the "A and B" development period. (52 images)

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The "A and B" development period was the first stage of the actual game development and spanned from around mid 1996 to mid 1997.

At this time the development team would probably have been focusing on getting the game engine to run properly and programming enemy AI and the like.

At this time child Link was not part of the game; you would have played as only adult Link.

This development period is actually split into three parts, the first of which has three hearts, the rupee counter at the bottom of the screen and no Navi.

Part 1

Three hearts, the rupee counter at the bottom of the screen and no Navi.

	Death Mountain Trail.
	Link appears to be running down an alleyway here, more than likely in Hyrule Town Market.
	Link being chased by enormous Stalfos in what looks to be a Temple, the tiles on the floor look similar to those in the Ice Cavern, so perhaps this is an Ice Temple?
	It even has what looks like the ice blocks that you push around, but...
	Zelda Power's Nintendo insider says that originally Nintendo recreated the first dungeon from the original LoZ in 3D, they weren't planning to keep it in the game but for some reason did it (to help get to grips with the sort of things they needed to be able to do maybe?).
	Anyway, this makes sense, the first dungeon in LoZ contains three rooms with tiled floors, large numbers of Stalfos, blocks, square doorways and a blue-grey colour scheme.
	Those Stalfos certainly cast huge shadows, and Link has a circle one instead of the two "teardrops".
	A doorway visible here.
	Fighting a Stalfos in what looks very much like some sort of temple, possibly the Temple of Time?
	I have no idea what this is, it appears to be made of metal though.
	Link battling two Stalfos, the lighting from the window looks rather cool. A lot of people say that this is obviously just testing enemy AI routines, it's possible, I don't know.

Part 2

Stage two of this development period, Link now has 13 hearts and the rupee counter has moved to the top of the screen. Also in this period he always has and shield and sword equipped, whereas in the above stage he always had bombs and a sword.

	Door of the above room.
	Onto Death Mountain Trail again.
	The sword swipe is very angular, and there appears to be a cave entrance in the background there.
	I'm pretty sure this is still on DMT, though the ground texture seems different.
	The wireframe was printed over the picture in the magazine this has been scanned from.
	This definitely is DMT though.
	Hyrule Town Market. According to Zelda Power's Nintendo Insider, once again, this girl's name is Aria and she was somewhat like Navi, talk to her if you're stuck and she'll give you hints on what to do. Interesting that Aria easily becomes S-aria isn't it?
	The Market at this stage is amazingly big. Zelda Power's Nintendo Insider says that the market was going to be fully 3D, and that you would be able to enter every house and chat with the inhabitants.
	Obviously this area was scaled down, as I doubt the N64 could actually run an area this large, with more complex buildings(the ones shown here are textured boxes), a whole load of NPCs and various other bits and bobs.
	Link's model here is based off the original Link, the tunic stops at the shoulders and a brown shirt continues down the arms, he has no gloves on and his hair is brown.
	This looks like Aria again, but the she appears to be somewhat shorter and fatter. Also there is a guard tower at the far end of the town wall.
	A shiny gold Iron Knuckle, the same rock texture from the DMT, but a stone tiled floor.
	The large Stalfos in the Temple again, now his sword is bronze coloured rather than grey, interesting that if you increase the brightness on the dark side of his shield, you'll see that it isn't the same as the other side as you might expect.

Part 3

Navi finally comes.

	This looks exactly like one of the winding corridors from Ganon's Tower, but surely at this point it wouldn't have been in the game, would it? Maybe. More importantly though Navi is here! Showing that they wanted her in the game right from the beginning. This marks the beginning of the third part of this development period.
	What appears to be Ganon's Tower again, though, Zelda Power's Nintendo Insider says that originally when you started the game you woke up in your uncle's house in the Market, you then went to the Castle for some reason (very similar to A Link to the Past), which at the time was a multi level dungeon, quite possibly what we see here.
	Dodongo's Cavern, or what was to become it, the Bat model is, as far as I can tell, exactly the same as the firebat model in the final version.
	A very nice view of DC, and you can see how much it resembles the final version.
	Down in the lower level of DC, the bridge above Link is, I think, the same one on the left of the above shot.
	A large Dodongo, which unsurprisingly bears great resemblance to those in Majora's Mask, why not surprising? Because MM borrowed a number of ideas from both beta OoT and URA Zelda.
	The wall textures would have you believe that this is still in DC, though if it is it's certainly not in the main room. One clue as to what this might be is in this report from IGN64: "...all the landmarks of Hyrule seem to have made the jump from 16 to 64-bit, including Turtle Rock, Hyrule Castle, and even Death Mountain." Could this be the entrance to Turtle rock? Possibly.
	Onto the Forest, Zelda Power's Nintendo Insider says that the Poe we see here (in the Lost Woods) led Link through the woods to the removed Skulltula Temple, which apparently was eventually to turn up as the two Skulltula houses in MM.
	Most interesting this, the bow takes two buttons to work, but why? Seahorse45 says probably because the bow takes two hands to use. Misael Magana suggests you may have had to equip both the arrows and the bow and combine them.
	The early Poe model.
	Lake Hylia, though it probably didn't have a name at the time. A completely new character and a pier visible in the background.
	A mysterious entrance, although it doesn't really resemble it that much this reminds me of the warp to Goron city in the Lost Woods.
	Octoroks, they look exactly like the ones from the original Zelda.
	What looks like the recreation of LoZ's first dungeon once again, the Wallmaster Maze.
	Link enters the Dungeon, casting a fantastic looking shadow.
	Looks left...
	Looks right...
	And sees something he doesn't like the look of. What? We'll probably never know, in the LoZ dungeon there isn't anything there.
	He may actually be surprised by the shutting of the door behind him and be looking around to see.
	And opening the chest which in LoZ contains an eighth of the Triforce...
	But here contains the whole shebang!
	Also, apparently the dungeon's boss (a Dragon) wasn't included in the recreation (too difficult to waste time on perhaps?).