Let's go, don't wait, this night's almost over!
Taking a break from Predator Callout series to post some more pointless facts, this time about The Legend of Zelda series. I may have done this one before but screw you, this is my blog and I do what I like on it.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was initially planned to be in first-person perspective, but Nintendo decided third-person would work better. Miyamoto also wanted players to be able to see Link, because "He is so cool-looking!"
Link's design in Ocarina of Time was actually a lot more cartoonish originally, and slightly resembled his design in the Legend of Zelda cartoon series. It was changed to his iconic current design when one of the female employees of Nintendo remarked "All of Nintendo's characters have funny noses. Don't you have any handsome ones?"
Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that he loves Disney, and based Link's appearance on their portrayal of Peter Pan. This could also be why the Kokiri never age, and why Link plays an ocarina, similar to Peter's panpipes.
Princess Zelda was named after Zelda Fitzgerald, the wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Miyamoto thought the name sounded elegant and powerful and wanted to use it for the name of the titular princess.
The late Robin Williams named his daughter Zelda after the franchise, which he was a huge fanof. They appeared together in a commercial for Ocarina of Time's remake on the 3DS.
Speaking of the remake, a lot of the bugs that were present in the original game went unfixed in the remake. According to Nintendo, this was deliberate, and done so that players would have exactly the same experience in both versions of the game.
It's actually impossible to beat the Marathon Man in Ocarina of Time. Nintendo had no idea what to give the player if they won, since all the viable prizes (such as a bigger Bomb Bag, etc.) had already been given elsewhere. Due to this, he always beats you by a time of at least one second. The point of the race is to try to beat your best time. It's also said to be a jab at the sort of gamers that play to beat everything, no matter what.
In the German version of Ocarina of Time, the carpenters are named John, Paul, George and Ringo, a reference to the Beatles.
In Link's Awakening, sprinkling Magic Powder on a Buzzblob will cause it to transform into Cukeman. Talking to this enemy (be careful, as it can still hurt you upon contact) will cause it to say "You know me, I like short names the best" and "It can displays [sic] millions of polygons!" These lines are in reference to the currently-in-development Nintendo 64 console, then known as the Ultra 64.
In the German version, Cukeman's lines are a lot more... suggestive. The German Cukeman says (translated from German) "Not without a condom!" and "Give me your juice, I'll give you mine".
In Link's Awakening, one of the items in the "chain of trades" that has become a Zelda series staple is a necklace, which you must return to a mermaid. When you give it back, the mermaid acts unusually shy and embarrassed. In the original Japanese version, the item was a seashell bra, which explains the mermaid's reaction. Also, the hippo in the game that tells you to go away when you talk to it was originally a nude model posing for a painting in the Japanese version.
In Super Mario Sunshine, Mario is challenged multiple times to a race by a mysterious masked racer known as Il Piantissimo. You never see underneath his mask in the game itself, but hacking the game files and removing the mask shows that Il Piantissimo is actually the Running Man from Ocarina of Time (or the Postman from Majora's Mask, since they're alternate versions of each other and share the same character model).
Ever since the first game, many Zelda games have included references to the iconic line "It's a secret to everybody". Originally, the line was spoken by a Moblin hiding in a cave in the original Legend of Zelda, who offered you a number of Rupees if you found him. The Japanese line translates roughly to "Overlook it just this once" (or "Take this and overlook it"), implying that originally, he was bribing you to keep his hideout a secret.
One of the lines in the original Legend of Zelda that baffled players was the bizarre non-sequitur "10th enemy has the bomb". As most of the lines from the Old Man were hints on how to get to the next dungeon (though made rather cryptic by the translation), this line came totally out of nowhere, especially since the Japanese script says "Look for the Lion Key" in place of it. However, a team of dedicated gamers found that this line isn't all that random, and in fact is referring to the game's coding. It seems the game is programmed so that when the player kills ten enemies in a row without getting hit, and kills the tenth enemy using a bomb, the tenth enemy will ALWAYS drop a bomb upon being killed.
In the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Agahnim is defeated by knocking his energy blasts back at him with Link's Master Sword. However, the Bug-Catching Net can also be used for this purpose. Though this is most likely a bug or a programming oversight, it has been referenced in later games in the series, such as being able to deflect Phantom Ganon's projectiles in Wind Waker with an empty bottle, or using the fishing rod to distract Ganondorf during the final battle in Twilight Princess.
In the German version of Ocarina of Time, when speaking to Princess Zelda while wearing the Keaton Mask, she will remark "What are you supposed to be? Oh, you're one of those small cute Pocket Monsters, right?" referencing the Keaton Mask's similarity to Pikachu from the Pokémon franchise.
There is some rather disturbing subtext in a sidequest in Majora's Mask. On the First Day, going to the Romani and talking to Cremia reveals that aliens keep coming and abducting the cattle, preventing them from delivering the milk to Clock Town for the Chateau Romani bar. If the player successfully prevents the alien invasion, Cremia and her little sister Romani remain at the ranch, and the player is able to buy Chateau Romani, the farm's famous milk, from the bar in Clock Town. The bar is only open after 10 pm and the milk is said to be "for adults", drawing parallels with alcohol in the real world. On the Night of the Final Day, visiting the ranch shows a conversation between Cremia and Romani, where Romani tells Link that her sister is going to let her drink Chateau Romani for the first time tonight, while Cremia tells Romani that she can sleep in her bed tonight. As you leave, Cremia nervously remarks "See you... tomorrow... okay?", while Romani cheerfully says "See you tomorrow!" It seems as though Cremia was giving Romani the drink to dull her senses so she wouldn't feel any pain when the moon came down.
Failing the mission to prevent the alien abduction also results in some disturbing consequences. If the player fails to stop the aliens from abducting the cattle, Romani is also abducted. She is returned the following day, but she seems very out of it and unable to remember what has happened, suggesting she was lobotomised.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was initially planned to be in first-person perspective, but Nintendo decided third-person would work better. Miyamoto also wanted players to be able to see Link, because "He is so cool-looking!"
Link's design in Ocarina of Time was actually a lot more cartoonish originally, and slightly resembled his design in the Legend of Zelda cartoon series. It was changed to his iconic current design when one of the female employees of Nintendo remarked "All of Nintendo's characters have funny noses. Don't you have any handsome ones?"
Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that he loves Disney, and based Link's appearance on their portrayal of Peter Pan. This could also be why the Kokiri never age, and why Link plays an ocarina, similar to Peter's panpipes.
Princess Zelda was named after Zelda Fitzgerald, the wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Miyamoto thought the name sounded elegant and powerful and wanted to use it for the name of the titular princess.
The late Robin Williams named his daughter Zelda after the franchise, which he was a huge fanof. They appeared together in a commercial for Ocarina of Time's remake on the 3DS.
Speaking of the remake, a lot of the bugs that were present in the original game went unfixed in the remake. According to Nintendo, this was deliberate, and done so that players would have exactly the same experience in both versions of the game.
It's actually impossible to beat the Marathon Man in Ocarina of Time. Nintendo had no idea what to give the player if they won, since all the viable prizes (such as a bigger Bomb Bag, etc.) had already been given elsewhere. Due to this, he always beats you by a time of at least one second. The point of the race is to try to beat your best time. It's also said to be a jab at the sort of gamers that play to beat everything, no matter what.
In the German version of Ocarina of Time, the carpenters are named John, Paul, George and Ringo, a reference to the Beatles.
In Link's Awakening, sprinkling Magic Powder on a Buzzblob will cause it to transform into Cukeman. Talking to this enemy (be careful, as it can still hurt you upon contact) will cause it to say "You know me, I like short names the best" and "It can displays [sic] millions of polygons!" These lines are in reference to the currently-in-development Nintendo 64 console, then known as the Ultra 64.
In the German version, Cukeman's lines are a lot more... suggestive. The German Cukeman says (translated from German) "Not without a condom!" and "Give me your juice, I'll give you mine".
In Link's Awakening, one of the items in the "chain of trades" that has become a Zelda series staple is a necklace, which you must return to a mermaid. When you give it back, the mermaid acts unusually shy and embarrassed. In the original Japanese version, the item was a seashell bra, which explains the mermaid's reaction. Also, the hippo in the game that tells you to go away when you talk to it was originally a nude model posing for a painting in the Japanese version.
In Super Mario Sunshine, Mario is challenged multiple times to a race by a mysterious masked racer known as Il Piantissimo. You never see underneath his mask in the game itself, but hacking the game files and removing the mask shows that Il Piantissimo is actually the Running Man from Ocarina of Time (or the Postman from Majora's Mask, since they're alternate versions of each other and share the same character model).
Ever since the first game, many Zelda games have included references to the iconic line "It's a secret to everybody". Originally, the line was spoken by a Moblin hiding in a cave in the original Legend of Zelda, who offered you a number of Rupees if you found him. The Japanese line translates roughly to "Overlook it just this once" (or "Take this and overlook it"), implying that originally, he was bribing you to keep his hideout a secret.
One of the lines in the original Legend of Zelda that baffled players was the bizarre non-sequitur "10th enemy has the bomb". As most of the lines from the Old Man were hints on how to get to the next dungeon (though made rather cryptic by the translation), this line came totally out of nowhere, especially since the Japanese script says "Look for the Lion Key" in place of it. However, a team of dedicated gamers found that this line isn't all that random, and in fact is referring to the game's coding. It seems the game is programmed so that when the player kills ten enemies in a row without getting hit, and kills the tenth enemy using a bomb, the tenth enemy will ALWAYS drop a bomb upon being killed.
In the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Agahnim is defeated by knocking his energy blasts back at him with Link's Master Sword. However, the Bug-Catching Net can also be used for this purpose. Though this is most likely a bug or a programming oversight, it has been referenced in later games in the series, such as being able to deflect Phantom Ganon's projectiles in Wind Waker with an empty bottle, or using the fishing rod to distract Ganondorf during the final battle in Twilight Princess.
In the German version of Ocarina of Time, when speaking to Princess Zelda while wearing the Keaton Mask, she will remark "What are you supposed to be? Oh, you're one of those small cute Pocket Monsters, right?" referencing the Keaton Mask's similarity to Pikachu from the Pokémon franchise.
There is some rather disturbing subtext in a sidequest in Majora's Mask. On the First Day, going to the Romani and talking to Cremia reveals that aliens keep coming and abducting the cattle, preventing them from delivering the milk to Clock Town for the Chateau Romani bar. If the player successfully prevents the alien invasion, Cremia and her little sister Romani remain at the ranch, and the player is able to buy Chateau Romani, the farm's famous milk, from the bar in Clock Town. The bar is only open after 10 pm and the milk is said to be "for adults", drawing parallels with alcohol in the real world. On the Night of the Final Day, visiting the ranch shows a conversation between Cremia and Romani, where Romani tells Link that her sister is going to let her drink Chateau Romani for the first time tonight, while Cremia tells Romani that she can sleep in her bed tonight. As you leave, Cremia nervously remarks "See you... tomorrow... okay?", while Romani cheerfully says "See you tomorrow!" It seems as though Cremia was giving Romani the drink to dull her senses so she wouldn't feel any pain when the moon came down.
Failing the mission to prevent the alien abduction also results in some disturbing consequences. If the player fails to stop the aliens from abducting the cattle, Romani is also abducted. She is returned the following day, but she seems very out of it and unable to remember what has happened, suggesting she was lobotomised.
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