Back in the olden days when we first played The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, there were theories going around that the Triforce--the iconic three-part symbol of Power, Courage and Wisdom from the series--was actually a collectable item in the game. It's one of those gaming myths that has become legend over time, but despite years of searching, nobody has ever got their hands on the sacred artefact of the gods.
However, dataminers working on the recently (and illegally) leaked Nintendo development materials have uncovered another nugget of information that may shed some light on this potent urban legend.
As detailed by Gaming Reinvented, dataminer MrCheeze_ on Twitter has uncovered an image in a folder that clearly shows the Triforce icon. The data was found close to the image data for the medallions that Link collects in the game, and it's suggested that the name of the file may indicate Nintendo's intention at some point during development for the divine trinket to be obtainable:
However, before we all go throwing our tinfoil hats in the air like it's graduation day at Conspiracy High, it should be noted that the file holds no colour data and that the icon looks almost identical to the final in-game ''carved' version found in the pause menu, as noted by Mr Cheeze:
Elsewhere, MrCheeze notes the names of extra elemental arrows not present in the final game, including 'Dark' and 'Soul' arrows (yep!), and also points out that the internal dev name for the Spirit Temple was the "Giant Evil God" dungeon.
So, is this Triforce business some great and grand revelation of the truth, or a bit of a stretch? We've definitely seen some fascinating discoveries over the past few weeks, even if some had been confirmed by the developers years ago. Let us know your thoughts on this one below.
[source gamingreinvented.com]
Comments 42
I honestly don't know what to do with this information lol.
Nintendolife needs a direct even more then we do.
@Yanina
lol
this comment worth gold!!!!!!!!
OMG! My life is now complete with that info. 🤦♂️
Oh cool, hackers found what a GameShark Pro could have told you back in the day. Also, that dev is a scrub; All the medallions but no skulltulas? For shame.
There’s a Triforce Hunt mode in the Randomizer, it’s pretty good. Those devs know the game better than Nintendo at this point.
I got the US version of OoT basically day one back then.
And some day, I played some random notes on the ocarina. I played and played and played and suddenly, a song registered as a legit song (played alone with the typical pop-up "You played this-and-this song), BUT it was no regular song and therefore nothing happened.
At least, that's how I remembering it. Did anyone else here heard about this or maybe experienced it him-/herself?
I collected the triforce in my heart the minute I first started playing Ocarina of Time.
I understand this Borgesian obsession for reading into a text (of code) and imagining the texts that could have been, but I also can't help but think any creative process is filled with false starts and abandoned drafts, so I'm not entirely sure what we're left with after all these revelations other than: "Stuff happens on the way to the final game."
It is also well known that there was a cut adult link dungeon as well.
I wonder if NL is not going to talk about the new GI Joe game announced a couple of days ago?
Or AVICII Invector game that was announced on Nintendo of America Twitter page?
That would certainly be more interesting than this kind of article.
The hits keep comin! The giga leak is like the Galapagos of video game history
If I'm going to guess, I'd wager that the Soul Arrows were going to instantly dispatch the undead/ghosts and the Dark Arrows were going to put out torches and perhaps undo eye switches.
That would have been too much forced magic hijinks for puzzles (think DmC's Angel/Devil weapons) and a bit unfitting thematically for Link to have, so, kudos to whomever nixed them. It's kind of reassuring to see all of this cut content (like a human pilot in Starfox 2 getting dropped) and know that the showrunners of Nintendo's franchises generally do know what they're doing.
Thank you NintendoLife for not saying you supported the leaks, while saying you don't support them at the same time, and therefore becoming a hypocrite.
cough*polygon*cough
Sorry, they made me mad.
@MrBlacky sure it's not the Scarecrow's song you're thinking of...?! lol
As for the article, pessimistic view perhaps, but I think it's pretty clear the asset in question relates to the indent of the tri-force and there was never any collectable associated with it. The file name is little more than indicating the asset is located near the medallions.
Nintendo beta leaks > 5 nintendo directs
Where's Conspiracy High, and is there a college variant?
@nocdaes
I am sure it wasn't the scarecrow's song. Man, I wish I just could remember even a part of the songs name, but after over 20 years...
I'm still hoping that dungeon in the right screenshot of the first tweet is hidden somewhere in all the files they now have. I'd really like to have seen what that dungeon was about. Of course it might just be an early version of the Deku Tree as it does seem to be using very similar textures.
This is so very old news. We already knew the TriForce was already in the game at one point. We've all seen the original trailer.
We also have seen, years ago, the TriForce room from the cartridge hack.
Giant Evil God Dungeon. The fact that it's not named that is just flat out depressing.
From a story perspective it wouldn't make sense. Since Link, nor Zelda, nor Ganondorf are balanced enough to collect the whole triforce, the triforce will always split. However, the king in Windwaker could touch the triforce and the triforce didn't split. Maybe he was balanced enough?
Is Ocarina of Time the only game where the Triforce is fully assembled in one place and used?
@Nintendofan83
The Wind Waker and Skyward Sword, as far as I can remember. And I believe A Link Between Worlds to.
@Tyranexx Conspiracy University is currently not accepting applications for the 2020-2021 school year.
@MrBlacky you probably just keyed in the scarecrow song my friend. But more likely than that is that your Nintendo 64 was sentient and attempting to establish a line of communication.
This is not conspiracy, just like Switch lite never was. The triforce was shown as collectable in early previews - it was simply given the chop - just as Luigi was 3 months before Super Mario 64 went gold as confirmed by Miyamoto on more than one occasion 🙄🙄🙄
The first course at conspiracy university “ZEL101 - Triforce is real”. Where do I sign up?
@Snakesglowcaps
Like I said, it definitely wasn't the scarecrow's song.
@Knuckles Wait, what?! I demand to speak with the admissions office! There's clearly something going on here.... 🤔
@Tyranexx Surely. In order to speak to someone at Conspiracy University (CU) about this issue, first you must prove that such an office exists, and it's not just a conspiracy. CU is strict on privacy, and has rigorous policies. The current rumor has it that you must create and defend your own conspiracy theory in order to graduate. If it is disproven, well tough luck.
CU later!
@Knuckles Sounds difficult, but I'm up to the challenge! I'll start by scouring 4chan and the Dark Web for evidence of CU, all while crafting my tinfoil hat for my conspiracy theory presentation. I have the whole web at my fingertips; almost nothing is out of my reach.
@Tyranexx Nice touch on the tinfoil hat. If such an admissions office does exist, I imagine they would appreciate the touch.
I remember reading this back in... 2004? I feel old...
@Knuckles Thanks! Now to decide if I wanna make the hat ultra-pointy, fedora-style, or just give it a simple Alfalfa touch.... :thinking_face:
@Nintendofan83
No. A Link to the Past also has it intact.
But, Ocarina of Time is pretty much a remake of A Link to the Past, so, no surprise there...
Whether you're for or against all of this data mining, you have to admit it's really interesting.
I still have an old 1998 issue of Nintendo power magazine from before the game actually released with early build screenshots of the game and in one particular scene you can clearly see Link stepping up to a pedestal where the triforce is sitting as if to claim it. There's also a scene of a village that looks nothing like anything that exists in the final game. Probably what eventually became Kakariko village. Not a stretch to believe the triforce was once obtainable.
@Kev_Morrison
I knew a kid back when the game first released who was saying OOT was lame because it's just a remake of Link to the past. At that time i hadn't got my own N64 yet. This kid was trying to talk me into getting a PS1 instead cause the new Zelda was the same old Snes game in 3D and FF VII was brand new. How wrong he was!
Link wakes from sleep
Goes outside
Father figure dies
Rescues Zelda
3 dungeons, 3 gems/artifacts
Zelda lost/captured
7 dungeons, 7 gems artifacts
7 wise men/sages
Fight Gannon
End game.
Want to pick up again, Gannon not dead. Starts over from beginning of last dungeon. Game completely unbeatable.
@Zeldafan79 see my post above. I forgot to tag you in it.
I can't really remember what the screen looked like, but the fact that it's missing the spirit stones you got as a kid to open the door of time (they showed up in the menu even afterwards) leads me to believe that's just some kind of markup from a wishful fan.
It is however true that a lot of content was cut from the finished game because some of it was in the master quest version of the game, even though it was on the collection disc I mentioned in another article, I never actually played it.
This kind of reminds me of those screenshots we saw of link and ganon fighting in that castle hall that was supposedly from the next game but then it turned into wind waker, which I believe was the main reason that game had a hard time being recognized as the great game it actually was when it launched.
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