The Mystery Behind Zelda III
By Okibi

Last Updated 5/5/2006 - 21 Updates So Far

Updates To This Page Are At The Bottom, Newest Coming Last

Text in [] are comments that were added after new info was discovered

I know some of you are probably thinking that this article is going to be about Zelda: A Link To The Past, but it's not. It's going to be about the Zelda game that was intended to be the third in the series. This game was never released and was never given a name. In fact, less people have heard about this game [prior to this article] then the population of the town I grew up in, which happened to have been 27. This game is simply refered to as Zelda III.

As far as I know, there is only one copy of this game in existence [2 copies if the cart that was on eBay is real], and yes I have it. The game itself is for the NES. It was meant to come out shortly after Zelda 2, but never was released. [keep in mind that this and other statements on the history of the cart is not fact but merely speculation after looking at all the evidence] After the release of the SNES, Nintendo set the Zelda III project for the NES aside and started over [i now think Nintendo may have ported this game to the SNES, and used it for a base for LA as well], taking some ideas from the game [now thought they used this as the base for ALTTP on the SNES]. This new game they made, A Link To The Past, became the third game in the Zelda series. Awhile later, Nintendo wanted to increase sells of their Game Boy so they decided to make a Zelda game for it. Rather then start from scratch, they took Zelda III for the NES and ported it to the Game Boy. They added some items, changed the story, changed the map, added the menu, and some other various things. The game was tweaked so much it was no longer the Zelda III they started with, but was based of it [now thought they used the Zelda III proto as a base for both LA and ALTTP]. They released this game as Link's Awakening, the fourth game in the Zelda series.

That should tell you what happened to Zelda III for the NES, but what was the NES version like and how far along was it? Well, according to Nintendo Power, the Proto would have been no more then 70% complete, which I'd say is probably correct [not saying it was 70%, rather that it couldn't have been more then that]. The proto I have now no longer works, but it did several years ago, and I played the game a few times. It played like A Link To The Past, but had the feel of Adventure of Link. The graphics also looked a lot like the Legend Of Zelda. The music and sound effects were the same as in the previous Zelda games for the NES. I bet that confused a lot of you out there, how it could be both like ALTTP and AOL. Well, there seemed to be a start of an experience system, not like the one in AOL. I'm not sure how that aspect was to turn out. Anyways, the odd part was that you had the world map much like in AOL, but you didn't walk around on it, but rather you "traveled" to different areas. It's much like how you'd go to a castle or cave in AOL, but the difference was that in AOL, you went to a side-scrolling map. In Zelda III, you went to the top-down view used in LOZ and ALTTP. I really like this aspect as it was easier to travel and it kept the great top-down style that I love. The items you collected were basically the same from the first two Zelda games, so nothing new was added yet.

Now what about the story? Well, it was hard to tell exactly. I don't think the story was even close to finished, but I think they were wanting to do a cross between what they did with ALTTP and LA. What I mean is they had the alternate world thing going on, but not on the level of ALTTP. They didn't have the whole Dark World thing going either, but rather it was like a different or "dream world" like in LA. There also, come to think of it, wasn't a title screen finished. It simply said Zelda III and went to the game. There really isn't much else to say about the story as it clearly wasn't finished.

The most important thing is to remember what happened. Nintendo developed the third Zelda game, but due to the release of the SNES scratched [I now think they really ported it to the SNES rather then scratched it] the idea to start over and to improve upon other ideas they came up with. At this point apparently the Zelda III Proto, near finished and in sample form, was lost [again, I know think they moved the dev from NES to SNES]. They later took this build and ported it to the Game Boy, which became LA. To end this article, I'd like to show you a few pictures to back this story up. Keep in mind that this game was once refered to as Zelda: A Link To The Past 2 and was thought to be a sequel to ALTTP that got canned. While this is that game, it's actually the third in the series as it was intended to be, but later became Link's Awakening [some fans and I now think it became both LA and ALTTP].

Zelda III NES Proto FAQs
Before sending my any questions, please make sure it wasn't already answered on the link above.

This is the scan [from Nintendo Power] of Zelda III for the NES during the process of being ported to the Game Boy [merely thought to be due to the setting of the game is Hyrule and other statements made in the scan] . Notice the graphics, the overworld map (which is Hyrule, not Kohilint), and the sprites. [also note that the game uses sounds from the other 2 zelda nes games]

This is the NES cart for Zelda III Proto. I'm not sure if that label is the original, but it seems to be the same as other proto labels used by Nintendo. This cart is no longer functional. (not for sell)

Update 1: Another NES Zelda 3 Proto cart [totally differnt cart then mine] was seen on eBay. Here is the link to the auction:
Zelda III Proto NES Cart eBay Auction
And here are the images of the supposed cart up for sell:




UPDATE 2: Apparently the eBay auction got pulled. Shortly after, the owner of that cart tested it and is now saying that it is a Zelda III proto cart. He even took a shot of the title screen when he was playing. Keep in mind that this is NOT the same title screen from the real Zelda III proto, but maybe he has a more complete version of the game? Or maybe he has a Zelda hack burned to an NES cart. Here's his image:

UPDATE 3: It was brought to my attention that the title screen in the image from the cart that was on eBay VERY closely resembles the actual title screen of Link's Awakening. Could it be that he does in fact have the Zelda III proto, albeit a strange copy of it? It doesn't make sense to me why his copy is so glitchy, yet has a title screen, while the real one has no title screen but plays fine. Anyways, here's a shot of the title screen from Link's Awakening for comparison:

UPDATE 4: I found some fake images from another site that I'd like for you to see. I'll explain what each picture is below it. Here they are:


Keep in mind this image is FAKE. I'm showing you this image because this is a lot like what the villages looked like. The character sprites are not the same as the ones that were used in the game, nor are the houses and stuff, but this is how the villages were set up. Once again, this image is FAKE.


Keep in mind this image is FAKE. I'm showing you this image because it's how the dungeons (sorta) looked. Those closesly resemble the dungeon walls used in one of the dungeons in the Zelda III NES Proto. The character sprites used were not the ones seen in this image. Once again, this image is FAKE.

UPDATE 5: Well, it seems a lot of forums are talking about the cart that was for sell on eBay and are linking to this article to get more info on it. Well, as I said before this game DOES exist. I'll say it one more time for those that simply don't want to believe. This game does exist. Here's what Nintendo had to say about the proto: (I didn't email Nintendo, some other guy who was curious about the proto did. This is the answer he recieved)

Message(#6851-000468-6491\4686491)

Hello and thank you for contacting Nintendo,

It's hard to determine whether or not the game pak is authentic. However, based on my opinion, it doesn't sound authentic since all we see is just one screen shot of the intro and nothing else.

Sincerely,

Nintendo of America Inc.
Dervin Camden

Nintendo pretty much says that the game does exist [by not denying the existence of the cart], but they can't determine wether or not the cart on eBay was real from just the one screenshot shown of the game. Oh and one more thing, for those of you who are just now reading this article and missed the actual auction, I contacted the seller on eBay to inform him of what his game really was. I told him almost everything that was put in this article. I was even bidding on the game, which is how several other people got in contact with me and made me decide to write this article to inform anyone who's curious of this game. This is just a proto of Link's Awakening [now thought to be a proto of ALTTP, but used to create Link's Awakening as well]. A lot of games are created on one system and then moved to another. Does that mean that the work they did on the old system doesn't exist? No, just that it moved to another platform. I'm not trying to fool, scam, or rip off anyone, or get attention from this either. I'm just trying to inform those who were curious about the auction was to what the Zelda III NES Proto really is [according to the facts and evidence]. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me.

UPDATE 6: Well, an article by TSA over at ZHQ2.com says that A Link To The Past was being developed for the NES, but was switched to the SNES. He also told me I'm wrong in saying that this NES proto became Link's Awakening. Well, I'm not saying he's wrong about A Link To The Past starting on the NES, but this Zelda III Prototype is definitely NOT A Link To The Past [well, I now see how it could've become ALTTP]. It has some things from Link's Awakening, and the shots in the Nintendo Power scan are of this game as well. That tells me that this proto (mine, not the one from eBay) became Link's Awakening. Does this mean that there are two Zelda III NES Protos for two different games? [there is only one game, it's just confusing as to what really happened to it] I'll try to get more info.

UPDATE 7: After more discussing with various fans and collectors, I'd have to say that there is only one Zelda III NES Proto (sure makes sense, doesn't it?), but I'm not so sure as to what game it became. The evidence that it became Link's Awakening still outweighs the evidence that it became A Link To The Past. At this point, though, it's not clear as to what game this became. My latest thinking is that they stopped NES development on the game at this stage for the NES and moved it to the SNES to become A Link To The Past. Nintendo could have later had another great idea and took the proto build and ported it to GameBoy and used their new idea for it. That would explain why the three games so closely resemble each other.

On a side note, the guy who sold the other Zelda 3 prototype cart on eBay says he met with "Knight 7", the guy who supposedly was to buy the proto from him. Apparently, he wrote him a check for just under $3,000. Knight 7, according to the seller, confirmed the authenticity of the proto and is going to dump the rom and distribute it on the net. I'm still not so sure if I believe that guy. He could have made up the buyer to get rid of the cart as an excuse to no longer be proven that his cart was a fake (not that I'm saying it is for sure). Who knows, maybe the trade took place.

UPDATE 8: I had a little chat with someone who is very interested in what happened with this game. Here is a little "graph" of what we think happened, explaination following it: (Z3P = Zelda III Proto)

                  ----ALTTP
LOZ----AOL----Z3P-|     |
                  -------------LA

UPDATE 9: I've read a lot of forums and blogs about my article. I've also received several emails from various people wanting to either flame me or get more info. Apparently no one reads all the information before sending me questions or flames. Let me clear a few things up. I never put up a Zelda III proto cart for sell on eBay. That was someone else who claimed to have bought the cart at a flea market for $20. His cart is also not the cart that I have (obviously) and the cart I have does not say "The Triforce Saga" (the eBay cart does), nor does mine say the beta version or that it's NTSC. The label on my cart is not perfectly white. Actually, it's kind of an off white with some stains. I never showed a picture of the title screen from my cart, that was the guy who was selling his cart on eBay. I know there are probably other things I forgot to mention, but that's all I can think of now. Anyways, I'm getting a cleaning kit from someone over the internet who wants me to try to clean the game to get it working. He's also sending me a security bit to open the case if that's what kind of screws are in there (don't know, haven't looked at the screws yet. never wanted to open it). I'll take some photos of the board while I'm cleaning the connectors and I'll post them here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

UPDATE 10: That sneaky devil. The guy who was selling the cart on eBay is now selling shirts with the cart on it. I guess there's always another way to pofit off something. Anyways, he's selling them for just over $20 and says that if you buy a shirt from him, you'll be one of the firsts to get the rom of the game when he gets it. Now I'm pretty sure his cart was a fake and he's just trying to scam people. Well, one thing good came out of it, it made it clear I needed to write this article. Guess that means there is only one real Zelda III NES proto cart. Let's hope I can get it working again. Anyways, here's a picture of the shirt he's selling (link to shirts):


This is one of the shirts he's selling. The caption reads "I was bidding on the Zelda III prototype and all I got was this lousy t-shirt." According to him, buy the shirt and get the rom before the rest of the community.

I would like to thank everyone who is helping me try to get this game working again. Also, more FAQs were added.

UPDATE 11: A guy who goes by the name Duke Serkol (of BS Zelda fame) pointed out that the title screen from the cart on eBay may have been an earlier version of an image found in the ALTTP manual. Duke was kind enough to recreate [rather hastily] the title screen with the image in the manual. It does kinda look like the title screen from the eBay cart. I'll let you decide for yourself, but here's the image:

UPDATE 12: Well, the eBay cart seller removed the link to the shirts from his site after being called pathetic for selling them. Also, he claims that Knight 7, the buyer of his proto cart, works at Silicon Knights. After several people contacted Silicon Knights, they denied everything about the transaction. Does this mean he lied about the sell? Maybe. Or maybe they just aren't giving out that info to the public. Anyways, it seems that everyone is split in half on this game. Half of you believe it's real, the other half think it's fake. I can assure you it's real.

I've had a couple people willing to donate the security bit screw driver and a cleaning kit to try to get his game working. A few people even offered to pay to get it sent to a repair shop. I'll definitely try cleaning the game first, but if that doesn't work, I'll probably just keep it tucked away forever. I'm not real big on sending it off to get it repaird. I got a feeling it would somehow get lost that way. Anyways, I'll post pictures of the board when I get the security bit in the mail. Stay tuned.

UPDATE 13: Apparently Silicon Knights, the Canadian gaming company that supposedly bought the eBay cart, emailed Joystiq to inform them that Silicon Knights never made a purchase from the guy. Here's the email they sent Joystiq:

We saw your recent posting at http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000470065357/, wherein you imply that Silicon Knights has purchased Zelda III, apparently under the name ?Knight 7.?

I can affirmatively state that our company, Silicon Knights, has made no such purchase, and we would appreciate your correction of the information on your website to reflect that fact.

With respect to the person using the name ?Knight 7,? we are currently investigating whether anyone using that web name is employed by Silicon Knights. Regardless, however, I can confirm right now that no such person was ever authorized by me or anyone else with authority at Silicon Knights to make such a purchase, in the company name or otherwise.

To the extent that some person is using our trademarked company name in an unauthorized manner, we will deal with that directly. In the meantime, we wanted to set the record straight with respect to our corporate activities in view of your article.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions regarding this matter.

Sincerely,

Denis Dyack
President and Founder,
Silicon Knights

What does this mean? It means that the guy lied about selling the game to Silicon Knights. Here's what the guy who was selling his cart on eBay had to say:

When someone approached me and claimed to be part of their little group, it seemed legit. They came forth, they seemed to have a lot of backround information with the games that Silicon Knights are developing and have developed in the past.

Is 'Knight 7' a member of 'Silicon Knights'? I may never know.

Did he sound legit and pay in full, right on time? Yes. What more should I need to know?

Is the letter from Silicon Knights claiming that they had made no such purchase from me a cover-up of a greater plan? Was the letter even written by "Denis Dyack, President and Founder," or was it someone posing as him to make me look bad? Was the purchase made by a member of Silicon Knights, but more for personal matters than business-related? Who knows.

Who cares.
I really shouldn't have to expand on the subject. He flew in from Ontario, we made a swap of cash for cart, and he left clicking his heels. A deal is done.

I now seriously think the guy was a fake. He probably just wanted to get some attention and hopefully make some quick money. Does this actually prove anything? I'll leave that up to you. On a side note, I'm going to open up my proto cart, clean it, and take pictures of the board when the security bit arrives in the mail. Look forward to another update soon!

UPDATE 14: I got the security bit in the mail today! I'm going to open it up and clean it here in a minute, so expect update 15 to have pictures of the board, maybe a video of me opening the cart, and hopefully some screenshots if cleaning it helps the game work. (the video will be posted so people can tell me if I cleaned the connectors properly). I'll post again tonight!

UPDATE 15: Haven't cleaned it yet. I only want to one the cart once, and I want to take pictures of the board when I'm cleaning it. I'll have my camera back tonight, so don't worry you'll still see the pictures tonight. Anyways, to get a better view of the cart, I plugged in my scanner and scanned it. (I can't scan the board because someone said the bright light is bad for the chips.) Here's the better image of the cart (sorry the other one was so blurry):

UPDATE 16: Still haven't cleaned the connectors. I forgot to get rubbing aclohol from the store. I'll try to remember to do that tomorrow. I went ahead and opened up the cart anyways. The board in it is an SKEPROM board that is Copyright 1987 Nintendo. I haven't taken an actual picture of the board yet, I'll do that tomorrow when I'm cleaning the connectors. I did, however, record me opening the cart so you can see the first ever opening of the cart. You can view the video here:

The First Ever Opening of the Zelda III NES Proto Cart - 22MB ASF Video

UPDATE 17: There's a couple of things that need said. First, I'll inform you of TSA's update on The Hylia refering to this cart. He said it's fake because of something that was said in Hyrule Times (by IGN) 3 years ago about the development of A Link To The Past. Here's what the article said:

They didn't know it back in 1987, but Zelda 2 was going to be last Zelda game for the Famicom system. Although Sega's Master System posed no threat to the NES dominance in the '80s, Nintendo knew that it had to come up with something new to continue its console gaming reign in the future. With both NEC and Sega nipping at its heels, Nintendo was busy cooking up the Famicom's successor, a powerful console that it claimed would redefine gaming. Not just a puny little Famicom -- a Super Famicom. Whatever concepts were thrown around for a third NES Zelda game, they were quietly converted into an even bigger project for the Super Famicom: a full-fledged sequel to the original Legend of Zelda called The Legend of Zelda: Kamigami no Triforce (The Triforce of the Gods).

But then we have an eariler post from TSA stating the following:

There was in fact a Zelda III in development for the NES starting in 1988. However, in 1989, Nintendo green-lighted the development of the successor to the Famicom, the Super Famicom. In 1990, the development of Zelda III was switched from a Famicom project to a Super Famicom project.

What does this mean? Well according to TSA, it proves that any cart would be fake because it wasn't developed on the NES. Well, he also said that it was developed on the NES, and so did some NOA Reps a few years ago. Upon discussing issues regarding the cart with TSA, he claimed that the cart must be fake because it didn't become Link's Awakening, but rather A Link To The Past. I'm still not sure what happened during the development (and people arguing with themselves doesn't help). And for those of you who say it must be fake because no Nintendo prototype was ever in an NES cart, check out this link:

Nintendo Prototypes In NES Carts

I also get flames saying that there's no way a proto wouldn't use windowed eproms. Well, I have some links for you as well:

Proto Carts Without Windowed EPROMS (using ROMS and OPTS)

I'm not trying to argue with anyone. I also mean no offense to those who say they know a lot about protos. I would just appreciate it if you did some research and knew what you were trying to say prior to flaming me. Saying carts without windowed EPROMS can't be protos is just idiotic. I'll post more info later today.

UPDATE 18: Well, I think it's time to update again. After some intense cleaning of both the proto cart and my NES, I finally got the Zelda III proto to work again! The thing is, I don't care, and apparently neither do any of you. With all the hateful mail I've gotten recently, there is no need to update further on this. I know that there are several things I could do at this point, but it doesn't matter. There are really only two options; I could spend the next year or so posting stuff trying to convince you it's real, or I could simply stop updating and let you all believe whatever you want. I think I'll go with the latter. This article will no longer be updated and no more comments will be made about it in our forums. For those of you who believe and wanted to see the game, feel free to email me for questions. Hate mail will be deleted. Thanks for showing me how hateful some people can be. To end this, I simply do not care what anyone believes. I know what I have and that's all that matters to me.

UPDATE 19: I intended to stop updating all this a month ago today, which was when update 18 was posted. With the offers received lately along with discussions had in IM's, email, and in our forums, I decided to re-open this article and update again. I'm shooting for 20 updates, at which point this article will be replaced with a new one to suit the info we now have on the development on the game and what it was meant to become. Anyways, once again, the cart isn't working, so I'm thinking either my NES is on the fritz (could be the 72-pin connector) or the EPROM is going out (I don't know if it would cause it to stop working, then work again, then stop again though). Anyways, while it was working I took some screenshots and even a little video clip. The video clip was meant for a friend of mine, but I lose his email address again (yes the same friend who gave me the game). Anyways, as you know some have received screenshots of the game being played on my TV, while others have received exclusive scans of the board itself. The impressive thing is, despite the overwhelming amount of hate mail (which DOESN'T hurt my feelings), I've actually received more positive email the past month. I thought about rewarding them like I did each individual who deserved it, but I thought I'd just post a screenshot here instead. Only one. The thing is, which one? Well, for those who sent positive feedback, I'd like for you to decide. Here are your options:

1) Title Screen
2) Map
3) Village/Dungeon

For those who sent positive feedback, please send me another email informing me which screenshot should be posted here. Thanks! (Screenshot will be included in update 20.)

UPDATE 20: Firstly, let me say HAPPY NEW YEAR! Now, I know I was going to show you a screenshot on Christmas, but the game won't play thanks to my junky NES, which now keeps flashing the title screen on games, if that. I think it needs a new 72-pin connector. Anyways, since I can't take a new shot from the Dungeon (the winning choice by 2 votes), I'll post a shot of the title screen. Keep in mind that the push start text shows up after a bit. I'm not sure why it waits, but it does. Anyways, you'll notice in the picture that it says Zelda III 1990 Nintendo. The ball of light that seems to be there is just the flash from the camera. I took another picture of the NES cables going to the TV for further proof, and it also shows the date a little more clearly. Anyways, you probably don't care about my ramblings and just want to see the image, but I have one more thing to say. Remember, these two images are entirely real and are from the Zelda III Proto NES Cart that is being played on my NES. These have not been altered in any way. I'll try to get ONE screenshot from either a dungeon or a village if I can. I can't promise I'll show it, but that should be ok as I'm already giving you tons of info AND two screenshots. Here are your screenshots:


This is the title screen for the Zelda III Proto NES game.


Shows the cables running from the NES to the TV and shows the date a bit more clearly.

UPDATE 21: The Zelda III proto cart is now being auctioned off. If you'd like to bid on the cart, place your bid here. That is all.