Unlucky Monkey
The Great King of Apes
- Joined
- May 17, 2011
- Location
- NRW, Germany
I love Twilight Princess. It is one of my favourite Zelda Games. But it looks like the final Twilight Princess is nothing more than a fragment compared to the original planned game.
I've read an interview many years ago in some german Gaming Magazine (I think it was Miyamoto or Aonuma). The developer stated that Twilight Princess will again change the Zelda series (like Ocarina of Time did). The overworld in Twilight Princess will play a much bigger role than in any other Zelda game before. There will be even "Dungeon like areas" in the Overworld. Many of the beta stuff released in 2004 and 2005 shows exactly what the developer promised in that interview. But, looking at the final game, there isn't much left of that concept. Also, Twilight Princess haven't changed much in the history of Zelda. The game feels like a modern Ocarina of Time.
So, again, I would like to talk together with you about the planned Twilight Princess about 2004 and 2005, and the released Twilight Princess at the end of 2006. There were so many changes made. The removal of complete areas and enemys. A whole different design of the overworld. And don't forget to mention some items which didn't made it in the final version.
The big question is, why has Nintendo removed so many great ideas? Like in Ocarina of Time before. Oops! We did it again.
There has to be a reason. But maybe, Nintendo was during this time not capable to create a game with such an enormous content.
Thanks to Unseen64, many of the beta screens were analyzed. The complete article is superb written and very interesting.
Link (The article is split in three parts):
http://www.unseen64.net/articles/zelda-twilight-princess-beta-analysis/
The biggest removed areal was the well known Beta Forest. It seems this areal (maybe localized in the near of Ordon) had connected many other different areals. And it was also most likely that there was a Dungeon (featuring Armoghoma as the Dungeon Boss). An interesting quote from the Unseen64 article:
The Bridge of Eldin also played a much bigger role in the beta. The bridge originally belonged to Hyrule Castle. Hyrule Castle was later completely removed to a different location in the final version.
Yes, I know, I'm talking too much. So I will show you some videos. Pictures and videos have more meaningfulness than any of my words.
GDC Trailer 2005. The video shows footage from the GameCube version. Nearly every scene shown in the trailer, did not appear in the final version. Like the fight against ?Armoghoma thing? in the removed Dungeon. This trailer is the best proof of what Twilight Princess was meant to be:
[video=youtube;wPin8YYV5-c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPin8YYV5-c[/video]
The E3 2005 Trailer. Also GameCube footage. This Trailer is a mix of beta footage and stuff of the final version. But you will notice many significant changes compared to the final version (The Black and White style of the Twilight World looks so great):
[video=youtube;YHu7hvxjdww]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHu7hvxjdww[/video]
The last video. Again, the GameCube version. I've posted this video before earlier this day. It's showing enemy music at the Sacred Grove. But there are no enemies around this place. What's going on? Remnants and leftovers from the beta? A proof that there is more than our eyes tell us:
[video=youtube;0l2rYkTsVOA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l2rYkTsVOA[/video]
If you're not familiar with the whole beta story of Twilight Princess, I highly recommend you to read the article at Unseen64 (or at least, look at the pictures) and watch the videos. It is interesting. It's like there was a whole different game planned. Unfortunately, the archive of material of the Twilight Princess beta is not as big as the archive of Zelda 64 and Ura Zelda. If someone is in possession of new material not featured in this Thread or at Unseen64, please feel free to post it.
My personal statement is, the original Twilight Princess was meant to be much bigger. The Hyrule of the Beta was even much more lively. Look at the final Twilight Princess Hyrule. It really looks sad compared to the Hyrule of the beta.
I've read an interview many years ago in some german Gaming Magazine (I think it was Miyamoto or Aonuma). The developer stated that Twilight Princess will again change the Zelda series (like Ocarina of Time did). The overworld in Twilight Princess will play a much bigger role than in any other Zelda game before. There will be even "Dungeon like areas" in the Overworld. Many of the beta stuff released in 2004 and 2005 shows exactly what the developer promised in that interview. But, looking at the final game, there isn't much left of that concept. Also, Twilight Princess haven't changed much in the history of Zelda. The game feels like a modern Ocarina of Time.
So, again, I would like to talk together with you about the planned Twilight Princess about 2004 and 2005, and the released Twilight Princess at the end of 2006. There were so many changes made. The removal of complete areas and enemys. A whole different design of the overworld. And don't forget to mention some items which didn't made it in the final version.
The big question is, why has Nintendo removed so many great ideas? Like in Ocarina of Time before. Oops! We did it again.
There has to be a reason. But maybe, Nintendo was during this time not capable to create a game with such an enormous content.
Thanks to Unseen64, many of the beta screens were analyzed. The complete article is superb written and very interesting.
Link (The article is split in three parts):
http://www.unseen64.net/articles/zelda-twilight-princess-beta-analysis/
The biggest removed areal was the well known Beta Forest. It seems this areal (maybe localized in the near of Ordon) had connected many other different areals. And it was also most likely that there was a Dungeon (featuring Armoghoma as the Dungeon Boss). An interesting quote from the Unseen64 article:
The other big change Nintendo made was the redesign of the overworld. The overworld showed in early beta stuff and early trailers can be compared to the overworld in the original Legend of Zelda. The areals looked like wastelands. A very creepy and dark look.This forest it is not present in the final game, but it was probably an area of the beta Faron/Ordon Woods. It is worth noting that this forest is similar to the beta Lost Woods of Ocarina of Time.
It is really strange that Nintendo created and removed two times a very similar forest area. It almost seems like that the programmers use this wood to test the first builds of Zelda. But why it is always left out? Maybe it is too boring and confusing to explore, or there are developement issues.
The Bridge of Eldin also played a much bigger role in the beta. The bridge originally belonged to Hyrule Castle. Hyrule Castle was later completely removed to a different location in the final version.
Yes, I know, I'm talking too much. So I will show you some videos. Pictures and videos have more meaningfulness than any of my words.
GDC Trailer 2005. The video shows footage from the GameCube version. Nearly every scene shown in the trailer, did not appear in the final version. Like the fight against ?Armoghoma thing? in the removed Dungeon. This trailer is the best proof of what Twilight Princess was meant to be:
[video=youtube;wPin8YYV5-c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPin8YYV5-c[/video]
The E3 2005 Trailer. Also GameCube footage. This Trailer is a mix of beta footage and stuff of the final version. But you will notice many significant changes compared to the final version (The Black and White style of the Twilight World looks so great):
[video=youtube;YHu7hvxjdww]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHu7hvxjdww[/video]
The last video. Again, the GameCube version. I've posted this video before earlier this day. It's showing enemy music at the Sacred Grove. But there are no enemies around this place. What's going on? Remnants and leftovers from the beta? A proof that there is more than our eyes tell us:
[video=youtube;0l2rYkTsVOA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l2rYkTsVOA[/video]
If you're not familiar with the whole beta story of Twilight Princess, I highly recommend you to read the article at Unseen64 (or at least, look at the pictures) and watch the videos. It is interesting. It's like there was a whole different game planned. Unfortunately, the archive of material of the Twilight Princess beta is not as big as the archive of Zelda 64 and Ura Zelda. If someone is in possession of new material not featured in this Thread or at Unseen64, please feel free to post it.
My personal statement is, the original Twilight Princess was meant to be much bigger. The Hyrule of the Beta was even much more lively. Look at the final Twilight Princess Hyrule. It really looks sad compared to the Hyrule of the beta.
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