Recently, we posted about the unused dungeons in Tears of the Kingdom. These are unfinished versions of the main temples and Hyrule Castle, as well as a very early prototype of the Spirit Temple.

However, while that was the biggest find in the game, it sure wasn’t the only one. Oh no, Tears of the Kingdom has a lot of unused content in the files, ranging from weapons to armour to mechanics and locations.

It’s pretty impressive really, and it’s something we haven’t seen too much discussion around online.

So today, we’re gonna show you the rest of it. Here’s the video if you prefer to listen to our discussion instead:

While for those who prefer reading, let’s get started!

Unused Elements in Tears of the Kingdom

Unused Items

Starting with some unused items. Like the other two pieces of the Ancient Hero’s Aspect.

You see, in the final game, this is not your typical armour set. You equip it, and it overrides every piece of equipped armour at once. In other words, it’s a one-piece armour set that completely changes Link’s design.

But this didn’t use to be the case. No, there’s actually data for two other pieces, indicating it’d be equipped like a normal armour set. In other words, it was originally more of a Zonai costume rather than a transformation.

Alas, it’s not possible to see this effect in game. The code for it has been removed altogether.

With the end result being that if you equip one of these pieces in the menu, it acts like the regular Hero’s Aspect does. Well, it does in the game itself. Link looks just look the ancient hero, and that’s it.

In the menu on the other hand, it becomes a glitchy mix of the two. The armour piece you equip unequips any other pieces Link is wearing, while leaving him only half dressed as the ancient hero. So he’ll either have the head and chest piece active, or the trousers active, but not the whole ensemble at once.

It’s an interesting look to say the least:

Ah well, the pieces look cool, and it would be nice to one day since modders bring back the original functionality here.

Still, it’s not just armour that goes unused here. No, other items do as well.

Like this piece of Zonaite (named Item_Ore_N), which resembles a set of ingots rather than a piece of ore. Presumably, it’d have a different purpose in game.

Unfortunately, it too doesn’t have any finished functionality implemented. If you try to mod it into your save file, you’ll just get another piece of Large Zonaite instead.

And that brings us to PlayerRaulHand. This is an unused item that seems to represent Rauru’s arm.

Alas, it doesn’t do anything in game. As it turns out, it freezes the game if modded in normally, and does nothing if you somehow do manage to get it working.

What’s more, while we initially thought it was the ending item (for the part where you fall to save Zelda), that’s not the case either. Nope, that’s actually a combination of Armor_999_Head and Armor_1501_Upper, which restore his BoTW hairstyle and arm respectively, and work fine in game.

There are also some unused versions of the Master Sword too. These are labelled Weapon_Sword_071 and Weapon_Sword_071 _Broken in the files, and have some odd properties indeed.

Especially given the game has no idea how to handle their naming. So, while they’ll appear as the Master Sword by default…
Their name actually changes if you switch to them in the quick select menu, with the new name being based on whatever fuse material the other weapon had attached to it!

So, you can technically have a Silver Lynel, Flame Gleeok or one of the dragons as a weapon, albeit with the Master Sword’s description and in game model of whatever weapon you last had equipped.

It’s hilarious when they get badly damaged, though sadly the message reverts to something more serious when they break.

Prologue Items

Either way, onto the prologue stuff now. This is technically not unused, but it’s so obscure and has so many strange features it may as well be.

And we all know what you’re thinkng here. It’s the MsgNotFound isn’t it? The prologue Master Sword that people have been able to carry into the main game via glitches?

Yeah, that’s part of it.

But it’s not the only interesting item from the prologue. No, Link has other equipment too.

And while most of these are just pieces from the full game (the well-worn hairband to give him his Breath of the Wild era hairstyle, a pair of Hylian Trousers to round out his armour set)…

The tunic he is wears is actually another piece of otherwise unused armour! Also labelled MsgNotFound, this tunic is mostly the same as the final Champion’s Leathers stats wise. Weirdly, it even turns into the Tunic of Memories when upgraded at a Great Fairy Fountain.

But that’s not the only quirk it has.

No, it seemingly gets rid of Rauru’s arm too! Yep, this version seems to restore Link’s arm to normal when active, like it is during the prologue.

Which in turns means that Link technically has Rauru’s arm from the start of the game, and that it’s just covered up by the inability to change clothing. A clever setup for sure, and one that probably does well in avoiding the need for another character model for this small part of the game.

Either way, the oddities don’t end with Link’s gear. No, Zelda’s equipment is pretty interesting too.

Since her torch can also be obtained as a weapon in game via mods. And for a weapon only she uses, it’s got a surprising amount of functionality when equipped by Link!

For instance, it’s got a special icon not shared by any other item in the game:

Plus a few very interesting properties you may not expect. For instance, you can actually fuse items to this one without glitches, unlike with the MsgNotFound. This makes the icon look really funky, since the flame overlaps the fuse material and gets cut off by the border.

And the way the weapon works changes based on how you equip it too. For instance, if you equip it direct from the inventory when a weapon isn’t already equipped, it’ll act like a normal torch. Link will hold it like a sword until its lit on fire or destroyed.

Which looks super funky if anything is fused to it, since it’ll still act like a lit torch regardless of the attachment. So you can have some truly ridiculous fusions (and political statements):

It’s also got a bizarre description too. Since the game doesn’t really know what to do with it here.

As a result, it’ll change based on the items you’ve previously selected in the menu. Selected no items at all?

Then the description only shows the torch’s attack power, plus the name of the fuse material and its attack power:

However, this changes if you’ve selected anything else beforehand. Now, the description lists that weapon as being the base one here, alongside the fuse material as expected.

So, depending on how you equip it, the game might think it’s anything from a Royal Guard’s Claymore to a Magic Staff, with seemingly no logic applied to how it decides on the fact.

It also gets confused when displaying the item’s name in game too. If you break it and there’s no fuse applied, the game will just say ‘Your broke’, in the same way a terrible Engrish translation might say ‘You’re winner!’.

It’s amusing to say the least, though gets fixed if anything is actually fused to the item.

Regardless, the weapon otherwise works as expected in game. It can be displayed in Link’s house and collected as usual, it can be separated from its fuse at the Break-A-Part shop just fine, and you can collect it again if you accidentally drop it from the menu.

And that makes it reliable that a certain other set of weapons you can acquire this way…

Sage Weapons

Since the weapons the sages and their avatars use can also be acquired via save modding, with some very bizarre properties.

For instance, Weapon_Lsword_154 is the Boulder Breaker Yunobo uses as a sage. It’s weaker than the real one with only 33/35 attack power, but it’s identical in terms of appearance.

While Weapon_Spear_150 is the Lightscale Trident Sidon uses. Again, it’s weaker than the final one, but identical in terms of appearance.

There are also Weapon_Sword_152_Main and Weapon_Sword_152_Sub, which seem to be the two Scimitars of the Seven used by Riju. Yes, the way they got around the dual wielding setup was to basically treat one like a shield.

Either way though, it’s also weaker, with 25 attack power compared to the 28 the normal one has.

And all of these weapons are very weird. For starters, they have no icon. As a result of this, they’ll only be be recognisable by their names unless something is fused them via save editing.

Which you’ll need to do here. Like the MsgNotFound, you can’t fuse anything to these weapons by default.

But you also can’t do so with glitches either. If you drop them, they become impossible to pick up again, with the only way to manipulate them being to glue to other objects via Ultrahand.

Hence they’re only fusable via mods, which at least fix their icon and name.

Yet the oddities still don’t stop there. No, the way they’re sheathed is very messed up too.

Since they’re strapped to Link’s back horizontally rather than being attached vertically like any normal weapons are. It looks incredibly weird, and makes for some… interesting screenshots to say the least.

And they have more oddities beyond this too. Namely, you can use them as a shield too!

Yep, if you have Sidon’s Lightscale Trident or Yunobo’s Boulder Breaker equipped, or have Riju’s Scimitars of the Seven active without a shield, Link will use the weapon as a shield instead. He’ll take it out to guard against attacks with in combat.

And it’s not just a visual quirk either! Nope, the extra Scimitar does in fact work like a shield, and can be used to block attacks from enemies. It’s a neat setup, and one we’re surprised didn’t get used in the game in any way.

Using Sage Weapons as Shields

But weapons aren’t the only unused sage equipment you can get this way.

No, Tulin’s bows can be acquired like this too.

With three different versions existing with different levels of attack power.

The first is Weapon_Bow_116, which is a modified Swallow Bow. It has 1 more attack power than the normal one, but is otherwise much the same.

But that’s not the case with Weapon_Bow_128. No, despite looking like a Great Eagle Bow and being labelled as such by the camera…

It’s actually a single shot bow with 26 attack rather than 28! So yeah, if you wanted to know what that bow would be like without the multishot functionality, here you go!

Finally, there’s Weapon_Bow_129, another of Tulin’s Great Eagle Bows. This one is basically a 1:1 copy of the normal bow, with the exact same attack power and functionality.

And when we say 1:1 copy, we mean it. Why? Because if you drop this item, it actually turns into a normal Great Eagle Bow!

Yeah, it’s the only one you can recollect later, since it’s close enough to its normal counterpart to just magically transform into it.

Speaking of transformations, did you know that all these weapons can transform into their regular counterparts?

Yep, if you put them on weapon stands in Link’s house…

They’ll all transform into their normal counterparts! So Weapon_Lsword_154 becomes a Boulder Breaker, Weapon_Spear_150 becomes a Lightscale Trident, and all of Tulin’s bows become their regular counterparts too. Heck, the game will even update their attack power to match the regular versions, while leaving the fuse intact!

It’s pretty bizarre really, and makes us wonder why it even happens. Presumably the game is set to recognise them as the same internally, unlike the MsgNotFound and Zelda’s torch?

Finally, the Break-A-Part shop acts like dropping the weapon does. The weapon itself will become uncollectable, while the fuse will be collectable as normal.

And that brings us to another interesting category of weapons you can find in game…

Ganondorf’s weapons.

Yeah, the demon king has some of his own weapons too. Or at least, his own bow.

Called Weapon_Bow_166_For_Ganondorf (no we’re not making this up), it’s a copy of the Demon King’s Bow in pretty much every relevant sense. It doesn’t have the icon but it functions the same way mechanically, even taking your current health into account.

Other Miscellaneous ‘Weapons’

There are also various other ‘miscellaneous’ weapons you can get via save editing too. These aren’t really unused, but are instead weapons used by NPCs and bosses for their abilities.

For example, Weapon_RaumiGolem_Left and Weapon_RaumiGolem_Right are Mineru’s Contruct’s left and right arms respectively.

And surprisingly, these actually sorta work as weapons for Link. They have the use MsgNotFound name with no description, 38 attack power, and can be swung like a sword despite remaining invisible.

Heck, you can even display them on a weapon stand! You know, in case you want to display invisible Construct arms for whatever reason.

However, they have their issues nonetheless. You can’t drop them at all, they don’t show up in the camera viewfinder…

And if you try to fuse anything to them, the game will just outright freeze.

So, they’re technically a usable alternative to the MsgNotFound Master Sword, if you’re the crazy type.

They’re also mirrored by Weapon_DungeonBossZonau, which are the arms for the Seized Construct boss. Again, same attack power and abilities, same drawbacks.

Meanwhile Weapon_RaumiGolem_Back is the weapon slot for Mineru’s Construct’s back, which can also be wielded as a weapon via save editing.

However, it’s pretty weird even by these standards. It has no attack power displayed, you can’t fuse anything to it, and it can’t be collected from a weapon stand after being placed there. So, you can technically display it, just not pick it up again.

It also has the same weird name issues as the unused Master Sword, copying the name from the fuse material attached to the last weapon you had equipped. Unlike that one though, it also looks like the fuse material too, at least if you don’t unfuse it again. So, it looks like you’ve got a floating horn or claw in your weapon list.

Meanwhile, Weapon_DungeonBossZonau_Front are the weapons fused to the back of the Seized Construct, and these can’t be used in game. The file seems to softlock before loading if have this item in your inventory.

Finally, there’s Weapon_Goron_Knuckle, which is apparently Yunobo’s ability. This one mostly works like a combination of Mineru’s Constructs arms and its backplate, being able to attack but having 0 damage displayed and getting stuck on any weapon stand you display it on.

However, it does have one other weird side effect. If you try to spin attack with it, the game will just freeze. No, we’re not sure why either.

Either way, those are all the unused items and weapons in Tears of the Kingdoms.

Unused Meal Effects

But it’s not just items that go unused here. No there are also meal effects in that situation too.

Most notably, TwiceJump and EmergencyAvoid. Neither have any effect in game, but we’re gonna assume based on the names that they would have let Link double jump and dodge enemy attacks more easily respectively.

There are also other variants of existing effects too. For instance, SwimSpeedUp, AttackUpCold, AttackUpHot and AttackUpThunderstorm can all have level 3 effects, despite it being impossible to cook food that’s powerful enough to activate them.

As far as we can tell, they work as expected.

Similarly, there are also unused weapon properties too…

Unused Weapon Bonuses

Namely, CriticalDamageUp. When a weapon has this property, critical hits will do three times the usual damage rather than being merely twice as powerful.

However, it apparently only works for the last hit in a 3 hit combo, not for when the weapon is about to break, so it’s pretty useless.

Unused Dialogue

Still, onto some unused dialogue now. And there’s not really that much of it, all things considered.

What is there however are messages from Goddess Statues and the Horned Statue for things that impossible to do in game. For example, if you talk to the former with full hearts and stamina you get this message:

You already overflow with life force and stamina. Increasing your power any further may destroy you.

While if you talk to the Horned Statue with no upgrades, you get this one:

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What’s this?

You haven’t received even one more Heart Container or Stamina Vessel?

Such a pity… I was eager to help you with a minor transaction. But not if you have nothing to trade.

Consult a Goddess Statue to improve yourself, and then return here to pray.

This latter one was possible in Breath of the Wild (and featured in our trivia video about the game), but it isn’t possible in Tears of the Kingdom, since you needing at least one health upgrade to open the door at the Temple of Time and leave the Great Sky Island.

There’s also dialogue for getting a Schema Stone without Autobuild too. Unlike the Yiga Schematics (which can be obtained at any time), these aren’t given to you before Autobuild, with the Constructs saying to come back later instead.

Regardless, if you did manage to get one early, it’d have the following description:

A stone etched with what looks like a design schematic. It could be useful…

Still, that’s all there is text wise, let’s move on.

Unused Rooms

To unused rooms in the game. Interestingly, all of these were unused in Breath of the Wild too.

Like this one behind the door at the top of Hyrule Castle. Just like in the last game, there’s no way to enter said room, despite it having an actual interior. Perhaps there were plans to put something in there at one point?

Honestly, we’re surprised they didn’t just stick the Dusk Bow inside and call it a day…

There’s another such room in Gerudo Town too. Namely, right behind this shopfront here.

This is separate from the Secret Club for some reason, and goes entirely unused in both games. Why is it here? Who knows.

However, there is in fact one unused room from Breath of the Wild that DID get used in Tears of the Kingdom!

Yep, inside the Deku Tree, you can Ascend into this tiny room with a Korok and some flowers. It’s part of another sidequest, and a neat little extra in the area.

But did you know it was actually in Breath of the Wild too?

Yep, the whole room existed there as well, with just a few flowers there to indicate its existence. Presumably, the devs realised this area could actually be used for something (especially now Ascend was a thing), and decided to make the most of it!

Conclusion

Either way, that’s all the unused content from the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. There’s not as much to discuss as there was with the dungeons, and most of it is fairly small scale in the greater scheme of things…

But it’s interesting to look at nonetheless, and gives even more of a glimpse into what got left on the cutting room.

So, thanks to Echocolat and the folks at the Tears of the Kingdom Datamining and Research Discord server for their help here…

And thanks to anyone that read this far. If you haven’t seen the video, we highly recommend you check it out, as well as well as check our videos and articles on the unused dungeons in the game too.

Still, what do you think of this stuff? Did you find it interesting to learn about all these unused elements in Tears of the Kingdom? What other games should we do similar deep dives into in future?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below, on social media, or on our Discord server today!

Source:

The Unused Content of Tears of the Kingdom (YouTube)