The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Oct 18, 1998 prototype)

On January 19, 2021, a build of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that predated the 1.0 USA Rev 0 release by three days was distributed online by Forest of Illusion.
Some have nicknamed this build version 0.9. At the time of this writing, various members from the Ocarina of Time speedrunning community have been documenting their finds in this Google doc.
==Uncategorized==
*Loading zones only trigger when Link is standing on solid ground. This means that falling down a grave in the Graveyard will not start the transition until Link has reached the invisible ground at the bottom of the hole, and similarly jumping over the fence in Lon Lon Ranch with Epona will only start the transition once Epona lands on the invisible ground behind the fence. In the final game, loading zones trigger if Link is either standing on solid ground or falling downward.
==Bugs==
===Exclusive to the prototype===
These bugs were fixed in later versions of Ocarina of Time.
*The Green Potion and Blue Potion do not check whether you have a Magic Meter before attempting to refill Link's magic. If you drink these potions without a Magic Meter, you will gain magic (equivalent to the upgraded Magic Meter) and can charge up a Spin Attack as well as use the Lens of Truth; quickspins and spells don't work however. The magic disappears after saving and quitting the game.
*The Gold Skulltula in Gerudo Valley above the pond is frozen in place and doesn't rotate.
*Several bugs are present in the cutscene for receiving the Deku Stick upgrade in the Forest Stage:
**There is no proximity check for the cutscene starting, which can lead to a very long cutscene as the Deku Scrub walks very slowly towards Link.
**If you pull out an explosive (a Bomb or Bombchu) right before the cutscene starts, the Deku Scrubs change to become hostile but the cutscene never ends, resulting in a softlock.
**If you pull out a bottle right before the cutscene starts, the Deku Scrubs become extremely glitchy and start moving through the ground, among other things.
*When opening the Royal Family's Grave in the Graveyard, the bright light from the cutscene persists even after it ends. This was fixed in the final.
*When Link holds a Bottle in his hand (from having caught something before), backflipping, pressing the button for the Bottle and then another item button right before Link touches the ground will overwrite the last button pressed with an Empty Bottle. This can be used to get a Bottle on B if done with the sword.
*If Link is hanging off a ledge when a cutscene starts, he will be teleported to the top of the ledge when the cutscene ends.
===Not present in the prototype===
These bugs are present in later versions of Ocarina of Time, but not in version 0.9.
*The floor marker on the map sub-screen will select itself when scrolling through the items in the item sub-screen.
==Items==
*The Boomerang targeting was changed significantly between the prototype and the final:
**Without holding Z, Link's head rotates in accordance with the direction held on the Analog Stick. In the final, Link's head is fixed and the body rotates instead.
**With holding Z, holding Up/Down allows Link to run backward/forward. In the final, Link stays in place and bends up/down instead (like the Slingshot/Bow).
==Enemies==
*Killing a Gold Skulltula plays a short cutscene, similar to the cutscenes that play when events such as hitting a switch occur, showing the Gold Skulltula dying and the token appearing in its place.
*Skullwalltulas drop three Deku Nut collectibles when killed (fifteen Deku Nuts in total).
*Flare Dancer lacks a check to prevent the player from hookshotting it at the same time as it is hit by an explosion. This can be used to create duplicate Flare Dancers.
*Gerudo fighters have an extra check for whether to turn off miniboss music. The additional check looks for other Gerudo fighters within an 8000 unit radius and will keep playing the music if it finds one. This suggests that at some point Link was supposed to battle multiple Gerudo fighters at the same time.
*Deadhand is missing a check that prevents its hitboxes and hurtboxes from activating before it is fully risen from the ground. The added check seems intended to prevent the player from killing it early but does not actually fix the problem.
==Maps==
===Zora's Domain===
*The chest containing the piece of heart falls from above instead of materializing.
===Goron City===
*The final game added an easter egg where you void out if you attempt to jump into the large pot in Goron City. Nothing happens if you try the same in the prototype.
===Dodongo's Cavern===
*In the room with the Spike Traps, the silver block underneath the ladder leading further into the dungeon is fully pushed into the alcove, rather than slightly pulled out as in the final. The alcove also lacks the Recovery Heart that can be found in the final after pulling out the silver block all the way.
===Jabu Jabu's Belly===
*There are two Gold Skulltulas right next to each other in the room where you first encounter Ruto. The final game moved them to the room right below.
*The chest containing the Compass falls from above instead of materializing.
===Forest Temple===
*The chest containing the Bow falls from above instead of materializing. This change introduced a bug in the final game where the chest is floating slightly above the ground.
===Water Temple===
*The pots before Dark Link's room that provide Magic Jars are missing.
===Spirit Temple===
*The chest containing the map falls from above instead of materializing.
==Player Functions==
*It's possible to talk to Navi while still on the ground after being knocked down.
*The animation of pulling out an item can be interrupted by using C-Up to go into first person mode. The final game delays going into first person mode until the animation has finished.
*Pulling sword out and crouching is faster.
==Sounds==
*Getting lost in the Haunted Wasteland plays both the sound for voiding out (when the sandstorm transition starts due to getting lost) and the sound for respawning at the entrance. The final game omits the first sound and only plays the second.
*When the Deku Tree Sprout pops out of the ground in the cutscene after beating the Forest Temple, the Kokiri Forest music does not fade in; it immediately starts at the looping part.
*Nabooru doesn't make the "hmm?" sound when approaching her in Spirit Temple as Child Link.
==NPCs==
*The Hylian beggar uses a different function for taking Link's item compared to the final. The function used in 0.9 can cause the beggar to take contents from the wrong bottle if several bottles have the same contents.
*The trigger area for receiving the Piece of Heart from the man on the roof in Kakariko Village is smaller. The result is that it's possible to talk to him but still be too far away to actually receive the Piece of Heart after the text box closes.
==Text==
*The X that appears when failing to repeat a song during the song learning cutscene is white instead of red.
*Masanori Sato is credited for Package Design in the prototype only. His name was removed from the final game's credits.
==Origin==
File:OOTProtoFront.jpg|Cart front.
File:EsGYM9eU0AUtEe1.jpg|Cart back.