Even thoughMajora’s Maskhad a tight and restrictive development cycle of a single year, it would be wrong to call the game rushed. While a fair amount of content was ultimately removed fromMajora’s Mask, the game is still a comprehensive & complete vision with no glaring gaps– much likeOcarina of Time.
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BothOcarina of Time&Majora’s Maskhad cut content, but they felt like completeZeldagames– not so forThe Wind Waker. Rushed by Nintendo for a holiday release,The Wind Wakeris home to some of the most interesting cut content in theLegend of Zeldafranchise.
10Link’s Original Tunic
Link’s tunic plays a fairly important role in his arc throughoutThe Wind Waker. Link sees the tunic as little more than a burden early on, even commenting on how uncomfortably warm it looks. It’s in many ways a rejection ofThe Legend of Zelda’s iconography, but it’s also an important part of Link needing to prove himself as a hero– an idea furthered by him being unable to see the tunic in New Game+.
Interestingly, Link’s original tunic was actually designed with theoriginaltunic in mind, rather than theOcarina of Timerevision. AsThe Wind Waker’s narrative is so intimately connected toOcarina of Time, however, the tunic Link ultimately wears makes the most sense.
9The Wind Waker Originally Flipped The A & B Buttons
The A and B buttons have always played consistently defined rolls in 3DZelda. It wouldn’t be untilSkyward Swordwhere that would change even remotely. Link rolls with A, and attacks with B. It’s a tried and true method that works, but it’s one Nintendo experimented with when developingThe Wind Waker.
Worth noting, the A and B buttons were only swapped back to their familiar places fairly late into development. Nintendo of America was already working on a localization before the buttons were switched, suggesting the exchange happened relatively late in development. It makes sense considering how rushedTWWwas.
8Zora & Tingle Sails
Sailing has always beenThe Wind Waker’s most contentious mechanic. Part of the thrill ofThe Legend of Zeldais exploring Hyrule on foot or on horseback, andThe Wind Waker’s analogue to that is sailing. It works and nails that sense of exploration well, but sailing is ultimately very slow. It’s to the point where the HD remake added in a swift sail.
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It makes sense to add a sail that makes sailing faster, but what’s more notable is that Nintendo ignored implemented the illusive Tingle and Zora Sails which were actually already inThe Wind Waker’s data. Considering how much of a quality of life upgradeThe Wind Waker HDis, it’s a bit off the Zora and Tingle Sails were omitted.
7Water Boots
The Wind Waker’s relationship with water is interesting, to say the least. Of course there’s sailing, but Link’s ability to swim (along with a stamina meter) seems to suggest more would have been done with the mechanic. More notably, the Iron Boots' inclusion would suggest they would be used to dive underwater, but that never happens.
Along with Hyrule being semi-explorable underwater, the inclusion of a “Water Boots” inThe Wind Waker’s data raises some interesting questions. The Water Boots can be equipped through cheats, but they don’t have a defined model, suggesting they were cut fairly early in development.
6Sneaking Mechanics
The Forsaken Fortress serves asThe Wind Waker’s opening, for better or worse. While depriving Link of his sword for a mini-dungeon is a memorable way of opening the game, the Forsaken Fortress' emphasis on stealth– something which ends up getting little to no play for the rest of the game– makes potential replays a bit of a drag.
Nintendo actually conceived a far more involved Forsaken Fortress, complete with Link outright having stealth mechanics.The Wind Waker’s Link is far more agile than the Hero of Time was, so it’s not a stretch to imagine Link would have had dedicated sneaking mechanics at some point. In-game, they’re replaced by the barrels Link hops into.
5Stovepipe Island
It goes without saying that some islands were likely cut before final release, but Nintendo has actually gone out of their way to confirm a few removals themselves. Of the two notable cut islands, Stovepipe has a fairly interesting design suggesting it would either be a dungeon or a town area. With hot springs and an emphasis on steam, Stovepipe even shares some superficial similarities with the Goron Mines fromTwilight Princess.
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Geographically, it’s hard to tell where Stovepipe would go on the Great Sea. Putting it too close to Valoo would be a poor move, but it also can’t be near Fire Mountain without there being too much overlap. Somewhere between Outset Island and Forsaken Fortress on the western side of the Great Sea would suit it well.
4Jabun’s Dungeon
ConsideringThe Wind WakerfollowsOcarina of Timeon a structural level to a T for its opening hours, it is extremely jarring when Forest Haven is followed up not by another dungeon, but a series of story events. With the destruction of Greatfish Isle,The Wind Wakereven seems to be setting up a dungeon centered around Jabun– the third mythical beast, rounding out Valoo and the Great Deku Tree.
In the end, Jabun just gives Link Nayru’s Pearl. Jabun’s dungeon, likely to have been located at Greatfish Isle, was ultimately a casualty ofThe Wind Wakerbeing rushed for a holiday release. Had it been included,The Wind Wakerwould have resembledOcarina of Timeeven more.
3GameCube Island
Along with Stovepipe Island, GC Island was also cut fromThe Wind Waker. GC Island would have been a tongue in cheek island designed to look exactly like a Nintendo GameCube. Unlike Stovepipe Island which has a fairly detailed design to speculate off of, there’s not much to glean from GC Island, even if it does have the more complete piece of concept art.
Although GC Island would more than likely have been little more than a cute Easter egg, the concept was revisited forPhantom Hourglass,The Wind Waker’s narrative sequel on the Nintendo DS. In the game, Link can sail to a DS Island, which in retrospect was clearly inspired by GC Island.
2A Third Sage Dungeon
Jabun’s dungeon wasn’t the only major casualty ofThe Wind Waker’s rush to release. Nintendo has been fairly candid in the past aboutThe Wind Wakerhaving lost two dungeons. Logically, the only other place whereThe Wind Wakerwould have room for another dungeon would be during the Sage sequence before the last act. It’s certainly more climactic to power up the Master Sword three times.
This does beg the question of who the third sage would be, but there’s no reason thar role couldn’t have gone to either Aryll or Tetra as Zelda. Both characters more or less spend the second half completely absent, so it’s not out of the question to believe there may have been more planned for them.
1Link Was Supposed To Age
WithMajora’s Maskalways intended as a smaller title comparatively,The Wind Wakerwas in many respectsOcarina of Time’s first “real” follow-up. To recapture the epic scope ofOcarina of Time, Nintendo even planned for Link to age over the course of his journey, physically growing up. Concept art reveals he’d go from a young man, to a teenager, to a proper adult by journey’s end.
WhileThe Wind Wakerdoes callback toOcarina of Timequite often, the final story is more a rejection of the franchise’s traditions and iconography in favor of the series forging a new path forward. Still, it’s fun to think what could have been withThe Wind Waker.
NEXT:A History of Ganondorf Leading up to Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2
