10 Pieces Of Zelda: TOTK Cut Content That Should’ve Made It To Release

Summary Early trailers for TOTK reveal changes in storyline, Zelda's rescue, and Link with Rauru's arm, providing a different perspective.

Unused content in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom includes pieces in dungeons, items, and even entirely different temples, offering hints at what could've been in the final game.

Two cooking effects were cut in TOTK, possibly due to puzzles and boss fight balance.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has a hefty amount of unused content, from items and lines of dialogue to an entire dungeon. Since it's confirmed that there won't be any DLC for TOTK that could add some of this content, it will forever remain unused. Unfortunately, this is common in game development, and there's almost always content that might've made the end product way different but ended up being cut from the final version.

As the direct sequel to Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom was able to reuse a lot of character assets and designs. There are even strings of text still present in-game from BOTW that reference the Divine Beasts despite these strings not being used. However, there's also plenty of content that should've made it into TOTK that isn't leftover from BOTW and would've been interesting to see in play.

Related The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Review - Building Excellence Tears of the Kingdom takes Legend of Zelda into mostly familiar ground, but it remains an excellent, must-play title with plenty of innovation.

10 A Twice Jump Cooking Effect Could've Changed Shrine Solutions

In a lot of shrines, there are chests that could've been obtained and puzzles that could've been skipped if Link was able to jump just a little higher. It turns out that might've been possible if the cooking effect in the game's files for Twice Jump made it into the final cut of TOTK. It wouldn't be surprising if its potential for skipping puzzles ended up being the reason it got cut.

When it comes to this cooking effect, it's not clear exactly how the Twice Jump function would be implemented. While it could've been used to double the height of Link's jump, it could've also been used to allow Link to jump twice in quick succession. Either way, the implications of both possible variations open the potential for plenty of glitches and content skips that let Link get to his goals much faster.

9 Emergency Avoid Could've Saved Link From Several Deaths

Another one of the unused cooking effects in the files of TOTK is called Emergency Avoid. Like the Twice Jump cooking effect that was also cut, there's not an exact description of how Emergency Avoid would be implemented. Judging by the name alone, it would've been a heavily defensive effect that might've been capable of saving Link from a strike that would've otherwise killed him.

Due to the name, it seems likely that food items with Emergency Avoid as an effect would either drastically reduce the damage a strike would've done or possibly nullify an attack completely if it would've resulted in Link dying. It's easy to see how this effect could've been determined as having the potential to be too strong, resulting in it being removed from the final version. However, such a defensive cooking effect could've been a true blessing for boss fights that might cause Link to struggle to survive.

Related Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Where to Find All Memories There are eighteen memories in Zelda TOTK, most of which are collected through finding Dragon Tears in Geoglyphs with a few being from quests.

8 Link Received Rauru's Arm Under Hyrule Castle

This change doesn't come from the game files, but rather from early trailers of TOTK. Early trailers for a game can be different from the final version for multiple reasons. One is to keep the story secret to avoid spoilers early in development, and the other is that storylines might change between the beginning and end of development. In an early trailer for TOTK, Link gains Rauru's arm under Hyrule instead of losing his own to Gloom.

The same trailer shows Link managing to grab Zelda's arm when she falls. As such, it seems likely that this change was made to keep the actual storyline and opening to the game hidden instead of an overhaul to the opening during development. However, such a drastically different start to the game could've been incredibly interesting to explore.

7 Link And Zelda's Exploration Originally Lasted Longer

Like the method for how Link gained his new arm, this change is seen through the differences between early trailers and the final cut of the game. One of the first trailers shows more scenes of Link and Zelda together, including them taking a break from the outfits they wear in the beginning. But again, this could've been used as filler for the trailer to build suspense rather than content that didn't make the cut.

However, these scenes might also indicate a change in storylines, or could indicate that the opening section of TOTK was longer in early versions of the game. It could've been interesting to see what other locations Zelda wanted to investigate after being sealed away for a century, and it would've made sense that more areas could've had secrets revealed after the destruction caused by Calamity Ganon. Instead, the opening is quick and limited to the ruins beneath Hyrule Castle.

6 The Wind Temple Was Slightly Less Cold

The Wind Temple in Tears of the Kingdom requires Level 2 Cold Resistance to prevent Link from losing health to the frigid temperatures of this flying ship. However, this wasn't the case in an early version of the temple. Instead, Link only needed a single level of Cold Resistance to survive on the ship without a nearby fire or ducking inside the limited indoor spaces.

Requiring Cold Resistance for a dungeon with so much outdoor space becomes tedious rather quickly, and since it's one of the first dungeons Link is likely to visit, that might lead to him being unprepared. Additionally, it's easy to forget about the resistance timer while focusing on solving puzzles. In the end, it might've been better and more forgiving to keep the lower resistance requirement for the Wind Temple, especially when it's often the first temple Link will visit in TOTK.

5 The Lower Levels Of The Fire Temple Were Darker

The Fire Temple in Tears of the Kingdom went through changes similar to the Wind Temple, but saw changes to its lighting on lower levels as well. In early versions of the temple, the floor of lower levels is difficult to see due to how dark the area is. As such, it seems likely that this was changed for the sake of practicality, but it could've been used as an extra layer of difficulty.

It's not unusual for games to have a dark area that either requires finding a way to turn lights on or navigating the area using light sources like a torch. This could've been a fun dungeon feature if a puzzle was included to solve the lighting issue. Additionally, since the Fire Temple didn't originally have a Scorching Climate, this puzzle could've brought the climate back if the lighting issue had been solved by adding fire.

Related All Hinox Locations In Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom A Hinox is an ogre boss found throughout Tears of the Kingdom who drops both ingredients and monster parts. Hinoxes are both above and below ground.

4 Unused Rooms Could've Held Treasure Or Resources

Multiple locations have rooms that are completely modeled, but can't be accessed by Link without using glitches. They're found at the top of Hyrule Castle and between Fashion Passion and the Gerudo Secret Club. Ultimately, they likely ended up being cut from the final version simply because they weren't needed. Interestingly, these rooms also exist in Breath of the Wild and again, aren't able to be entered by Link.

However, these rooms could've been used, particularly the room at the top of Hyrule Castle. Putting a valuable item, such as a strong weapon or Fuse material, in those areas but making them difficult to access rather than impossible to enter would've been an interesting puzzle for Link to solve. Plus, if the item were a strong weapon, then heading to the top of the castle would become beneficial.

3 Rauru's Arm Was An Item

Custom Image by Brad Lang

The files for Tears of the Kingdom have a version of Rauru's arm that's a piece of armor instead of a piece of Link. While there are multiple reasons that this could've been a file used for testing purposes, it could also indicate that Link acquired the arm through different methods in early versions of the game. This becomes even more likely when looking at the first trailers.

Like the changes in scenes shown in early trailers, this might indicate that Link wasn't originally going to lose his arm to Gloom. That also might mean that the first version of the storyline is drastically different from the final cut since the opening sets up the entire plot. Of course, it'll never happen, but it would've been interesting to see if this was for testing purposes or the remnant of a story overhaul.

2 There Are Multiple Unused Master Swords

In the game files, there are several versions of the Master Sword that don't have an icon or their own weapon parameters. Additionally, the Master Sword that Link is carrying at the beginning of the game, which never ends up being used as he explores the ruins with Zelda, exists in the game files as a weapon. It can even be acquired using glitches and hacks after the opening of the game, but it's not possible to use Fuse with it.

Related There’s A Reason Zelda: TOTK’s Hyrule Isn’t Rebuilt, But The Game Won’t Tell You Hyrule took a lot of damage from Calamity Ganon a hundred years ago, but there’s a reason it still hasn’t been rebuilt in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Like with Rauru's arm as armor in the game files, it's possible that this was included for testing purposes. However, it also lines up with the early trailers showing a different opening to TOTK, and that version could've included combat before Link lost nearly all of his strength to Gloom. Even if the method for repairing the Master Sword was originally different, it could've been fun to fight with the broken version that's in the game files until they found a way to repair it.

1 The Spirit Temple Received An Entire Overhaul

The early version of the Spirit Temple is far different from the one seen in the final cut of TOTK. Instead of acting as just a boss room, it was a full dungeon like the other temples. It was more like an obstacle course instead of a puzzle, however, and included multiple constructs, along with items that could be used for Fuse.

This piece of cut content is perhaps the most disappointing. Compared to other temples, the Spirit Temple felt lackluster and more like a glorified boss area than a dungeon. While it makes sense that it would be different considering that Mineru is the Sage, it also would've been more satisfying to see what sort of obstacle course she could design over thousands of years to test Link's abilities instead of just giving him a boss fight.

It's common for games to have unused content in their files or major differences between what the trailers show and what's included in the final game. However, there are times when cut content invokes sadness about what the final product might've been if these pieces made it through development. In the end, cut content can only reveal hints at what the first drafts looked like for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.