Zelda (episode)

Zelda is the second episode of Did You Know Gaming? and the first episode covering the The Legend of Zelda series.

Transcript
Did you know that when Nintendo first started development on Ocarina of Time, they weren't sure how large of a game they'd be able to make with the Nintendo 64's memory restrictions? Shigeru Miyamoto had even considered structuring the game like Super Mario 64, having paintings as gateways to different parts of the world, with Ganon's Castle being the hub. The Forest Temple battle with Ganon's doppelganger jumping in and out of the paintings was an idea carried over from that period of development.

In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, you have three main masks that are essential to the game's progression: the Goron Mask, the Zora Mask, and the Deku Mask. The Goron Mask holds the spirit of Darmani; the Zora Mask holds the spirit of Mikau. The spirit inside each mask is what defines their abilities, so what spirit gives the Deku Mask its powers? Well at the beginning of the game, you come across this warped, dead Deku-like figure. All that you can gather from this is that this Deku Scrub must have met some terrible fate. What's also worth mentioning that is that the Deku Butler directly states that Link reminds him of his son, and is also seen in the ending credits weeping over this figure. It's likely that this tree is the Deku Butler's dead son and ever since the beginning of the game, this spirit has been with you, lending his abilities to help save the land of Termina.

Majora's Mask has its fair share of depressing stories, but this next one tops them all. During Day 3 at the Romani Ranch, you can trigger a conversation where Romani tells you that tonight is the night she finally gets to drink Chateau Romani. According to the sisters, the properties of Chateau Romani are so potent that children are not allowed to drink it under normal circumstances, drawing parallels with alcohol in the real world. Chateau Romani is also only served in the Milk Bar, where children are not allowed, and is only open at night. The scene at the ranch unfolds with Cremia stating that she acknowledges Romani's adulthood and asks her little sister to sleep in her bed that night. Cremia disheartingly utters "See you...tomorrow...OK?" while Romani cheerfully adds "See you tomorrow!" It seems as though Cremia knows that they're about to die and is giving Romani the drink to dull her senses so that she stays blissfully unaware of their destruction.

In December of 2011, Nintendo released Hyrule Historia, a book featuring the art and history of Zelda. This includes a never before seen official timeline from Nintendo. The timeline shows that there are three variations of events in Ocarina of Time, leading to three separate timelines. Two timelines where the hero is successful in defeating Ganon, split into the long-rumored Adult Link and Child Link timelines and a third that had never been considered where the hero falls and Ganon is victorious. It's no secret that in the beginning of Ocarina of Time, after the first dungeon, the great Deku Tree dies and all that remains is his lifeless husk and a small sprout that will hopefully one day replace him. So why does any of this matter? Well the timeline where Ganon defeats the hero was also where the original Legend of Zelda takes place, and like Ocarina of Time, the entrance to the first dungeon is a giant tree in a small secluded area. In the timeline where Ganon was defeated and Adult Link remained, the Deku Sprout grew into a new Great Deku Tree which we can see in Wind Waker, but it makes sense that Ganon would have destroyed it after he gained control of the land and the husk would have gone relatively untouched and remained for hundreds of years.

In the German version of Link's Awakening, there are some rather crude decisions with regards to translation. In the game there are enemies named Buzzblobs, and when you sprinkle magic powder on them, they transform into a new kind of enemy called Cukeman and start to talk. The German text reads "NIE OHNE KONDOM!" "Gib mir Deinen Saft, ich geb' Dir meinen", meaning "not without a condom" and "give me your juice, I'll give you mine." Wow. This isn't the only raunchy translation piece in the game either. But the next example was in the original Japanese version, and removed from the North American release. Here is the North American sprite of a hippo character in the Animal Village. And here is the Japanese version. Two words: Hippo. Titties. I'm out.

That's all for today but we'll be back with more Did You Know Gaming? soon so make sure to subscribe, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and check out more gaming trivia at DidYouKnowGaming.com. And also, if you click that annotation right there, you can watch yourselves some JonTron. That's a good, that's a good choice.

Games covered

 * The Legend of Zelda (NES)
 * The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (GB)
 * The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
 * The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)