You learn something new every day, and something new that fans are learning today is the fact that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time originally had teleportation portals that would transport players to different locations across Hyrule. This bit of trivia was originally revealed a few months ago during an interview with a developer who worked at Nintendo in the 1990s, and helped make beloved Nintendo 64 games such as Super Mario 64, Starfox 64, and 1080 Snowboarding. According to Giles Goddard, the former Nintendo employee in question, a very early test build of Ocarina of Time featured floating crystals that acted as portals that would warp Link across the game's world.

As those familiar with the game might know, the final product instead opted for a more open-world approach to exploring Hyrule. However, fans were incredibly curious about what these supposed portals looked like, eager for a glimpse at what one of the world's most famous games looked like early on in development. Goddard was initially reluctant to share further details, but early this morning, he opted to show a GIF of what that original tech demo looked like. You can see it for yourself, below.

pic.twitter.com/wAGkn4abwG

— Giles Goddard (@giles) November 2, 2021

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[Spider_Man]

Probably what one of the fairy magic spells were meant to be.

But i smell nintendo law suit on its way, the way they find any excuse to sue these days.

 

[SkittleDash]

Would have been cool if they kept it i hated traveling around. They should put these in wind waker and get rid of the sailing

But... That's one of the charms of Wind Waker. Just casually sailing the open seas. I find it relaxing. I get the same effect when playing Sea of Thieves too.

 

[Dud]

The crystal portal is cool and all, but I was more entranced by that endless corridor. /hj

 

[CoolMe]

But... That's one of the charms of Wind Waker. Just casually sailing the open seas. I find it relaxing. I get the same effect when playing Sea of Thieves too.

Hmm.. it does get old quite fast for me. I would LOVE to be given the option to choose either to warp to any island whenever i want to, or to sail, specially in the early half of the game (before you get the Ballad of Gales). And even then you can't warp to every island you still need to traverse some distance. I'm not saying sailing should be completely eliminated, it's just becomes really annoying when you're going back & forth to collect shards/treasures/heart containers etc.

 

[eyeliner]

I remember reading about this a while back, about how he regretted not developing the idea on his own. it was quite a while before portal came out. happy to see the visuals tho.

...so what you're saying is that nintendo could have made portal 3 (or portal '0')?

Checkout Prey. The original one. Amazing game.

 

[linkinworm]

wait, i thought this was possible only with the power of the ps5 and its quantum super hyper street fighter alpha storage?

 

[Jonna]

Checkout Prey. The original one. Amazing game.

Thank you, I was just about to make a post pointing out Prey came before Portal.

 

[SG854]

In 1st person view only? Maybe due to technical limitations on the N64, but why this idea was never implemented in any other Zelda is beyond me. It looks basic but it has potential.
@1B51004 I wouldn't say this is Portal like, it's still very basic here, without mentioning not having the ability to open portals at will, no dual portal setup, no puzzles in sight, etc.
But the idea has potential specially in a Zelda game.

Zelda was originally going to be first person view

But Miyamoto changed it to make Link visble because just like Chris Pratt "He is So Cool"

 

[CoolMe]

Thank you, I was just about to make a post pointing out Prey came before Portal.

The 360 one? Well maybe, and i see that it was in development since the mid 90's, but there' was another 2D portal like game for pc in the early 90's but i can't recall the name. And as far as i can recall you can't create portals like in Portal, if it matters.

 

[CoolMe]

Zelda was originally going to be first person view

But Miyamoto changed it to make Link visble because just like Chris Pratt "He is So Cool"

The first one? I imagine it would've been akin to 1st person dungeon-crawlers of that era in terms of gameplay. The series would've taken an entirely different route if they did stick to it..

 

[SG854]

The first one? I imagine it would've been akin to 1st person dungeon-crawlers of that era in terms of gameplay. The series would've taken an entirely different route if they did stick to it..

I meant OOT

 

[CoolMe]

I meant OOT

Oh, i guess the same thing still applies. It does make sense, the use of items like the arrow has that 1st person-y view, but if it was done in sword combat it would've hella clunky, i guess it's all for the best.

 

[raxadian]

Holy shit this came out of nowhere! That transition animation was buttery smooth too. When the camera enters the crystal, it seems to retain the orientation of the crystal, and then slowly realigns itself.

I think the game is better without that kind of teleportation, but it sure looks cool!

No real Nintendo 64 hardware, the demo was made to run on a powerful computer of the time just like Super Mario 64 very early versions. Also notice the lack of anything else in the demo save the portal and the tunnel.

 

[Jonna]

The 360 one? Well maybe, and i see that it was in development since the mid 90's, but there' was another 2D portal like game for pc in the early 90's but i can't recall the name. And as far as i can recall you can't create portals like in Portal, if it matters.

Yeah, portals evolved to be more interactive and work better, but Portal definitely wasn't the first one.

Did some research - Prey wasn't the first one, either. Quake 3 Arena had teleporters that you could see through, so technically a portal, that came out in 1999.

I tried googling terms to find out the 2D game you're talking about, but couldn't find anything.

 

[CoolMe]

Yeah, portals evolved to be more interactive and work better, but Portal definitely wasn't the first one.

Did some research - Prey wasn't the first one, either. Quake 3 Arena had teleporters that you could see through, so technically a portal, that came out in 1999.

I tried googling terms to find out the 2D game you're talking about, but couldn't find anything.

Ikr, i searched for it myself beforehand and couldn't find it either, as i don't recall the name, but i've seen it on a YT video. Sometimes you have to be really specific in order to find anything..

 

[Argonitious]

OK, now that is cool. I would have loved to see a concept like that in a Zelda game.

 

[DiscostewSM]

No real Nintendo 64 hardware, the demo was made to run on a powerful computer of the time just like Super Mario 64 very early versions. Also notice the lack of anything else in the demo save the portal and the tunnel.

Heck, I don't think this would have even been possible on the N64 hardware, given how many separate rendered viewpoints were used within the crystal and how clear it looks when the camera gets close up. Not even Mario Kart 64 could get such clearness or smoothness with it projecting an existing buffered image of the game as an in-game display for tracks like Luigi's Raceway.

 

[raxadian]

Heck, I don't think this would have even been possible on the N64 hardware, given how many separate rendered viewpoints were used within the crystal and how clear it looks when the camera gets close up. Not even Mario Kart 64 could get such clearness or smoothness with it projecting an existing buffered image of the game as an in-game display for tracks like Luigi's Raceway.

It doesn't help Nintendo originally had planed for more powerful hardware then had to scale back due to cost. And even then there was the DD64 disaster.

That makes it hilarious nowadays with Nintendo being stingy to add merely 4 GB of Ram more on a new Switch model when the Switch will be five years old next year.

I mean, developers keep saying they need more Ram and Nintendo keeps playing deaf.

 

[Tac 21]

I like how this is considered big gaming news... lol

 

[raxadian]

I like how this is considered big gaming news... lol

It coincides with the Nintendo 64 games on the Switch and the Wireless Nintendo 64 controller for the Switch.