10 Last Minutes Changes Made In The Legend Of Zelda Series
What if the Legend of Zelda had aliens?
The Legend of Zelda is one of the most celebrated and consistent video game sagas of all time. Because the standards for the series are so high, Nintendo take painstaking measures to try and make each game top the last one. The Legend of Zelda franchise is so meticulously crafted, you would assumed the company has each entry planned out from the get-go. And nothing could be further from the truth.
Some of the most definable traits in the series were concocted on the fly in the eleventh hour of development. These changes could be the insertion of a character, the removal of a mechanic, or the plot in general. If you had to compare each game's core concept with the finished product, you would swear you weren't even talking about the same game.
Would you believe that entire levels were cut from Wind Waker? Could you picture Breath of the Wild's story originally revolved around aliens and flying saucers? Did you know the controls of Twilight Princess had to be completely changed months before its release?
The only thing crazier than these changes was how Nintendo made the decision to tweak, insert, or remove elements in these games at the last moment.
10. The Theme Song Was Devised Just Before The Original Game's Release
A lot of die-hard Nintendo fans know the theme song for The Legend of Zelda was devised in a matter of minutes. But a lot of gamers never ask an obvious question: why? Nintendo have a reputation for methodically planning out every factor in their products. Why would they slap together a melody at the last minute to serve as the main theme for a game? When you phrase it like that, it seems quite out of character for the company.
Originally, the theme song was going to be Maurice Ravel's Bolero, composed in 1928. The composer for the game, Koji Kondo, wanted the theme to have an otherworldly tone and thought Bolero would suit it perfectly. He didn't realise until it was too late that the song was not in public domain, meaning it couldn't be used.
If this was any other game developer, Nintendo would have been screwed. Luckily, Kondo was a musical genius. Considering he created all the songs for Super Mario Bros., that should give you an idea how talented he is. Kondo managed to write The Legend of Zelda's theme song the day before it was implemented into the game.