Someone is making a Zelda 64 mod based on the game's original beta, and this time "someone" really is anonymous

One fan creating a new fantastic-looking romhack for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time appears to have learned the right lessons from past fangames, as this developer has chosen to stay anonymous for now.

Zelda 64 is an Ocarina of Time romhack intended to replicate the features seen in the game's pre-release materials. While the final version of the game was certainly more graphically impressive - at least by Nintendo 64 standards - the early beta versions of the game included a host of enemies and environments that were either cut or substantially changed for the final version. (You can get loads more detail on all this over on The Cutting Room Floor.)

This romhack looks to be turning everything we've seen in those screenshots and tiny bits of footage into a full game that includes the missing features. That means there are loads of brand-new environments, redesigned enemies, and more connective tissue to bring it all together - it even has the slightly-janky looking UI of the early game versions.

The trailer above was pulled from prolific romhacker Kaze Emanuar's F3 2023 presentation, a 45-minute showcase of various fangames and mods. While most other modders in the show were credited, Kaze Emanuar says that the creator of Zelda 64 "asked to stay anonymous."

Given the historical fate of many fangame projects, anonymity seems like the smarter path to pursue at this stage of development. After all, if nobody knows who you are, Nintendo lawyers have nowhere to send a cease and desist letter, right? While more fan projects survive the lawyer lottery than not in the end, this seems like a smart way to stack the odds in your favor.

Maybe the most notable Zelda fangame project going right now is a native PC port of Ocarina of Time with loads of modern quality-of-life features.