Legend of Zelda (Creepypasta collection)

Ocarina of Time 3D

Ocarina of Time 3D

When I was a child, one of my favorite games was the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Anyone who's played it can probably figure out why, even if they don't particularly find it their favorite. Naturally, as a very popular game, it spawned a lot of rumors and legends, especially back in the day when communication through the Internet wasn't as common. Most of these legends are false, but sometimes a surprising amount of truth can be found in them.

A while ago, I had read an article about early versions of Zelda 3D (as it was called in development), and apparently these early versions were incredibly different from the released version. It was modeled after the original Legend of Zelda rather than A Link to the Past, and as such was a lot more free roaming and adventurous than the one we got. At the time, it sounded awesome, and I even found myself wondering why they had abandoned the project. I concluded that it was probably due to the technical requirements of such a feat. Still, one thing that especially stuck with me were the pictures. Some were non-descript, nothing special, but one showed a large expansive desert environment. There was a palm tree and a small oasis near a much more primitive-looking Link, as well as some enemies. Past that, however, was just sand, stretching to the horizon. The thoughts of what might lay beyond that desert seemed to stick the image to my mind.

After that we skip several years. The article was only a vague recollection, nothing important. I was hanging out at the local game shop with one of my friends. He's telling me about his day, and tells me how some guy came to sell his missing son's old video games. He showed me them and they were all normal games. A few Wii games, a few Gamecube games, and a lot of Nintendo 64 games. Still, the only one that really caught my eye was a red cartridge with no label, except a piece of tape with the word "ZELDA??" written over it in marker. Naturally, this got me curious. My friend didn't share my curiosity, but he didn't think he could sell the game and just let me take it home for free and indulge myself. Naturally, I did.

The moment the game started, I realized it wasn't the Zelda I was used to. The title screen was nothing but a non-descript "The Legend of Zelda." No subtitles, no fancy font, no music, just those words in black bordered lettering. The background wasn't from OoT or MM either. It was an overhead view of what could only be called ancient ruins. They looked very sinister and grotesque, similar to something from Majora's Mask, only without any hint of the mystical atmosphere that accompanied any Zelda game. They were simply unnerving. Still, this didn't stop my curiosity, it only kept me going.

As soon as I press start, the game begins. It skips over any file screens and dumps a blocky-looking Link into an empty black environment. And when I say black, I mean black. There was nothing separating ground and sky. Just blackness. The only thing that let me notice that the game even worked was a temple in the distance, similar to the one in the opening. Moving still seemed to work fine, suggesting that something probably glitched with the textures of the ground and sky. Still, it seemed strange that nothing happened to any other textures. Entering the temple was my only choice, so I took it.

One thing that is worth mentioning is that the game started with no music, just deathly silence. However, the closer you came to the temple, the more music was available to hear. Well, it wasn't really music. It sounded like moaning, similar to the Re-Deads in OoT, but more tinny and badly recorded. Every once in a while some sobs could be heard, but they were quickly stifled.

Entering the temple made everything seem more like a Zelda game, but something caught me eye. Rather than the textures being worse than those in OoT, they were better. There was more detail in everything, but it was all dingy and rotten-looking. Extra polygons only served to make things look more grotesque. The random blood splatters didn't help anything, either. It didn't take long for me to realize that the entire "dungeon" could hardly be called Zelda-like. Puzzles usually only consisted of pulling a lever or pressing a switch. In fact, there weren't even any sliding blocks. There were no enemies, either, but the blood splatters on the walls soon served to be warnings of booby traps. Some become inescapable, and simply send you back into the darkness again. Others are escapable, but still extremely creepy and...depressing. The dungeon was riddled with the low-poly remains of dead adventurers. and sometimes they even had items on them. The items could be picked up, but the inventory screen seemed unfinished, and the game only auto-equipped the first three items picked up since there was no accessible inventory screen. After several gruesome deaths and retries, I find my way to a door marked with a scratched-on eye, similar to the ones on the Lens of Truth and various other objects. Entering this door revealed a boss battle.