10 Ways Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Was Almost Completely Different

8. 'The Legend Of Zelda: Invasion' & 'Hyrule Wars'

As the mandate across the initial stages of development was really to shake the foundations of what Zelda 'is' as both a franchise and set of gameplay tropes, Nintendo prototyped the idea of an alien invasion, calling it 'The Legend of Zelda: Invasion' (catchy), alongside another modulation where massive beasts and machines would fight with one other as Link scuttled around underfoot.

This take was dubbed 'Hyrule Wars', and developer Satoru Takizawa noted the hulking creations would deploy laser beams and other large attacks for you to avoid and traverse as they fought, adding that in the earlier 'alien invasion' version, they'd also be seen abducting cattle.

Remnants of these ideas can still be found in both the Guardians' devastating laser attacks, and the breathtaking Divine Beasts, who you first render inert through large-scale boss battles, before heading inside.