Fun With The Ocarina Of Time Debug ROM: Part 5
Most of this will be from the beta quest. It’s not really a quest or a beta version of the game hidden in the data and only accessible via codes. It simply places you in what would normally be a cutscene, often with weird and amusing results. The exits are not correct most of the time. For instance in beta quest 2 going to Zora’s Domain just takes you to a very strange version of Zora’s Fountain. You’ll see little pre-release content and you can find this stuff on the debug ROM anyway by changing scenes in various maps. But the beta quest is way more fun.
Some of this stuff isn’t from the debug ROM because I was having some issues with the specific things lean code and press R to appear in strange places. These are useful to prevent the game from crashing or freezing up with things at a strange camera angle with Link not present. Although it won’t work in every case. So I used a v1.0 U version of OoT. The debug ROM is Master Quest so it’s not v.1.0. I probably need version specific codes. I might have had different codes and accidentally deleted them. I know I nuked a few on 1964 because I didn’t paste the codes in their entirety. Most of these pics came from Project 64, but a couple might be from 1964.
The beta quest is a lot of fun. But I wouldn’t recommend it to people who haven’t completed the game yet. Just think of it as a neat bonus. Be aware that there are a lot of freezes that can and will occur. You might want to check out a guide if you are having trouble with this or want to avoid most issues.
You don’t see this tree very often in the game. In fact, the only one that I remember is the one in Kakariko village, near the gate. But it’s a normal tree for child Link. I guess it grew up strangely. Maybe Grog was fertilizing it with odd potions or something. I’m not sure why they didn’t use this weird tree more. I wonder what’s up with it anyway? It kind of looks like a tree version of those bushes (which also shouldn’t be in that area). Maybe that’s what those trees originally were going to be. Future versions of the bushes. Anyway, in certain beta quests you’ll see these trees replacing most of the trees in Hyrule field. It seems to be only pine tress that are effected. And that’s what the Kakariko tree is. So it’s probably something to do with the coding of those trees. Also, sometimes when the bushes are leaning because of the code, running through them rights them again. Maybe it’s because of the way they move when they are rustled through? I don’t know.
The infamous ocarina pedestal. It’s non-functional so you can’t play any songs and trigger anything. Also note that it’s an older ocarina design. This is from back when the Spiritual Stones were meant to be inserted into the ocarina rather than taken to the Temple of Time to open the door. It’s sunk into the floor like that because of the lean code. Otherwise the area will not load. This is because for some bizarre reason six Jabu Jabu’s will spawn here. This crashes the game because there are too many polygons on the screen at once. And even with the lean code the area is very glitchy and subject to slowdown and freezes. There is a patched ROM that fixes the area though. This time I had no issues. If you try to enter the Great Fairy Fountain you’ll end up in an endless warp and won’t be able to move. You can go into the cavern from the top but not the bottom. You can enter the Ice Cavern but things don’t load properly. It looks weird.
Check out this video from airikitascave: http://youtu.be/pTYxomIolr8
It looks like you were supposed to open Jabu Jabu’s mouth by playing Zelda’s Lullaby.
Here’s a front view of the earlier version of Zora’s Fountain. Jabu Jabu is further back in the water and there are tektites and octoroks in the water. Although you can’t see the octoroks from here.
It’s Blinky the three eyed fish! I didn’t take a pic of the left side but he’s only got one eye there. If you moonjump under him you can get into his mouth. But there’s no entrance point to the dungeon. Another weird thing is how from the inside it looks like a smaller Jabu Jabu was swallowed. I guess isn’t because one Jabu Jabu is set back a bit, hence the extra eye, fins and flippers.
That’s all from Zora’s Fountain and the land of fat trees. Now for some more beta quest fun.
Nayru’s on Death Mountain! This is accessed from Kakariko in one of the beta quests and is actually part of the cutscene with the three goddesses creating Hyrule and the Triforce. Nayru doesn’t move and eventually the music stops playing and does not start back up. The music and visuals make walking around in this scene rather haunting. If you go into Goron City you spawn in Darunia’s room but he’s not there. Leaving the room takes you to the rest of the city and the gorons will be in odd places. The big jar in the middle of the bottom floor where you get a heart piece will be gone. In fact, I haven’t even seen it on the debug ROM when traveling to the area or going there directly. Maybe it’s an emulation issue?
Here’s Nayru close up. She isn’t solid at all. But I wasn’t expecting her to be.
A very strange Kokiri Forest with rock rings partially in the water and grass in strange places. There are no Kokiri present and most signs are missing. If you go into the water in the deepest places the camera shifts downward and everything glows blue. This is similar to the effect in the Ice Cavern that doesn’t load properly. So I assume that the underwater perspective isn’t loading up right either. I think it looks really cool overall though. I like the rocks in the water and the way the grass grows in odd spots like the beginning of the ramp on Saria’s house.
And here we have a rock on a fence. Because why not? It’s the most interesting oddity on this map. And yes you can pick it up if you stand on the fence.
From part of the ending that’s in Lon Lon Ranch. Notice that the Kokiri girl is wearing green boots like Saria as opposed to the brown boots that style Kokiri usually wears. I’m pretty sure the one next to her had green boots too. I couldn’t enter the area near the corral from the front without freezing and slowdown. Not sure why. The area is unstable. Even once you get inside it can be that way. Maybe because there’s so much going on in there. A lot of characters, a lot of movement. I had to hug the way all the way to the back then moonjump over the fence. None of the characters here are solid and you can walk right through them. But then again there’s no reason for them to be solid. Of course you can’t talk to them. They just dance and dance. Forever. There’s another, more complete scene with all the characters that are supposed to be there. But I always spawn there invisible and immobile. And the appear in strange places code didn’t really help.
Next up is some miscellaneous weirdness that I found.