Development:The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past/Area Transition Data

This is a sub-page of Development:The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Entrances

The file 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_isub0.asm, which is an earlier version of zel_isub.asm, has a section called "Initial RAM set [Ground]". This section contains various tables that pertain to a selection of interior maps that have exits to the overworld.

For the overworld image that is used for the entrances, an image of the screen in the final game that corresponds to the hex value is used; however, note that the screen may have looked different at this time in development in mid-1991. The indoor cave/house/room images are from the Super Donkey prototype since those are roughly around the same time, mid-1991, as this source data has been identified as belonging to.

Some of the entrance values are also rough and not to be taken as exact gospel. For example, they may have been placeholder values that would roughly indicate to the developers for 05 that "this cave entrance will be in east Death Mountain" or for 1E that "this entrance will be in the Eastern Palace region" without giving the exact screen hex value yet.

Entrances: 1991-05 (Early)

DDPMSRM

Immediately below the previous table is a section called "DDPMSRM" (Dungeon Display Main & Sub Rooms) that was commented out on 1991/05/10. Because some of the map IDs are different compared to those in the table above, it's evident that some interior rooms once were in different locations on the underworld map compared to where they can be found in the Super Donkey proto.

0104
Link's House
0040	0060	0061	0062
Hyrule Castle (Unknown)	Hyrule Castle 1F (Left)	Hyrule Castle 1F (Middle)	Hyrule Castle 1F (Right)
00F0	00F1	0054	0074	0076	0083	0063	00F2
Cave to Death Mountain (Left)	Cave to Death Mountain (Right)	Eastern Palace 2F (Middle)	Desert Palace B1 (Middle)	Desert Palace 1F (Right)	Desert Palace 2F (Bottom-Left)	Desert Palace 2F (Mid-Left)	Mayor's Office (Left)
00F3	00F4	00F5	00F6	00F7	00F8	00E8	00E9
Mayor's Office (Right)	Twins' House (Left)	Twins' House (Right)
00FB	00EB	00FC	00EC	00FD	00ED	00FE	00EE
00FF	00EF	00DF	00F9	00FA	00EA	00C0	0038
						Agahnim's Tower 2F (Middle)	Swamp Palace B1 (Right)
004A	00D2	0048	0057	0058	0056	0039	000E
Eastern Palace 1F (Middle)	Misery Mire 1F (Left)	Skull Woods B1 (Upper-Right)	Skull Woods B1 (Middle)	Skull Woods B1 (Mid-Right)	Skull Woods B1 (Mid-Left)	Skull Woods B1 (Upper-Left)	Ice Palace 1F (Middle)

Entrances: 1991-05 (Later)

DROOMDT

The data under the DROOMDT label is a table of interior map square IDs that dates from around the time of the Super Donkey proto (the first half of June, 1991).

0104
Link's House
0011	0060	0061	0062	FFFF	0090
Sanctuary	Hyrule Castle 2F (Left)	Hyrule Castle 1F (Middle)	Hyrule Castle 2F (Right)	[Nothing]	Agahnim's Tower 8F (Boss Lair)
00F0	00F1	00D9	0074	0076	0083	0063	00F2
Cave to Death Mountain (Left)	Cave to Death Mountain (Right)	Eastern Palace 1F (Middle)	Desert Palace B1 (Middle)	Desert Palace 1F (Right)	Desert Palace 2F (Bottom-Left)	Desert Palace 2F (Mid-Left)	Mayor's Office (Left)
00F3	00F4	00F5	00F6	00F7	00F8	00E8	00E9
Mayor's Office (Right)	Twins' House (Left)	Twins' House (Right)
00FB	00EB	00FC	00EC	00FD	00ED	00FE	00EE
00FF	00EF	00DF	00F9	00FA	00EA	00E0	0028
						Agahnim's Tower 2F (Middle)	Swamp Palace B1 (Right)
004A	00D2	0048	0057	0058	0056	0039	000E
Eastern Palace 1F (Middle)	Misery Mire 1F (Left)	Skull Woods B1 (Upper-Right)	Skull Woods B1 (Middle)	Skull Woods B1 (Mid-Right)	Skull Woods B1 (Mid-Left)	Skull Woods B1 (Upper-Left)	Ice Palace 1F (Middle)
00E6	00E7	00E4	00E5	0055	0000	0000	0000
				Hyrule Castle B1 (Passage)
0180	0181	0182	0183	0880	0881
Master Sword Grove	Beneath the Bridge	Zora Falls	Zora Falls Boss	[Unknown]	[Unknown]

Entrances: 1991-06 (Early)

STRMDT

0104
0104
4LR
Link's House
0011	0060	0061	0062
chapel	shiro-0	-1	-2
Sanctuary	Hyrule Castle 2F (Left)	Hyrule Castle 1F (Middle)	Hyrule Castle 2F (Right)
00F0	00F1	00D9	0074	0076	0083	0063	00F2
doukutu -L	doukutu -R	shinden	desert sindn-0	-1	-2	-3	sontyo-L
Cave to Death Mountain (Left)	Cave to Death Mountain (Right)	Eastern Palace 1F (Middle)	Desert Palace B1 (Middle)	Desert Palace 1F (Right)	Desert Palace 2F (Bottom-Left)	Desert Palace 2F (Mid-Left)	Mayor's Office (Left)
00F3	00F4	00F5	00F6	00F7	00F8	00E8	00E9
sontyo-R	futago-L	futago-R	tunagi doukutu -L	tunagi doukutu -R	3 tunagi doukutu -D	3 tunagi doukutu -UL	3 tunagi doukutu -UR
Mayor's Office (Right)	Twins' House (Left)	Twins' House (Right)
00FB	00EB	00FC	00EC	00FD	00ED	00FE	00EE
tunawatari -D	tunawatari -U	jyogetunagi -D	jyogetunagi -U	otoshianatunagi -D	otoshianatunagi -U	uzumaki-D	uzumaki-U
00FF	00EF	00DF	00F9	00FA	00EA	00E0	0028
migisita-iriguti	migisita-start	migisita-atatri	meganeiwa -LD	meganeiwa -RD	meganeiwa -U	tower of shisai	ura hokora danjon
						Agahnim's Tower 2F (Middle)	Swamp Palace B1 (Right)
004A	00D2	0048	0057	0058	0056	0039	000E
ura shinden	ura numa danjon	ura mori in-1	-2	-3	-4	-5	ura mizuumi
Eastern Palace 1F (Middle)	Misery Mire 1F (Left)	Skull Woods B1 (Upper-Right)	Skull Woods B1 (Middle)	Skull Woods B1 (Mid-Right)	Skull Woods B1 (Mid-Left)	Skull Woods B1 (Upper-Left)	Ice Palace 1F (Middle)
00E6	00E7	00E4	00E5	0055	013D	013E	0000
doukutu2-L	doukutu2-R	Mt.jji house-L	Mt.jji house-R	castle reverse	Mt.tower	machi danjon
				Hyrule Castle B1 (Passage)	Tower of Hera 2F (Entrance)	Thieves' Town B1 (Entrance)	[Empty]
0100	0100	0101	0101	0102	0102	0103
0L	0R	1L	1R	2L	2R	3Ld
Description

STRMD0

STRMD0		EQU	$
;			  3Lu     3R
		WORD	00103H,00103H
;			   5L     5R     6L     6R     7L     7R      8      9 
		WORD	00105H,00105H,00106H,00106H,00107H,00107H,00108H,00109H
;			    A      B     CL     CR    1BL    1BR    1CL    1CR     
		WORD	0010AH,0010BH,0010CH,0010CH,0011BH,0011BH,0011CH,0011CH		
;                        20L    20R     10L    10R     11     12    13L    14L
		WORD	00120H,0020FH,00110H,00110H,00111H,00112H,00113H,00114H
;                        15L    test   test   test   test    1AL    14R
		WORD	00115H,00116H,00117H,00118H,00119H,0011AH,00114H,00000H
;
		WORD	00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H
		WORD	00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H
		WORD	00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H
		WORD	00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H
		WORD	00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H,00000H
;
;			  H1     H2     H3     H4     H5     H6     H7     H8
		WORD	00067H,00068H,00069H,00049H,00057H,00058H,00047H,00055H

103	103
3Lu	3R
Kakariko Village Inn
0105	0105	0106	0106	0107	0107	0108	0109
5L	5R	6L	6R	7L	7R	8	9
Description
010A	010B	010C	010C	011B	011B	011C	011C
A	B	CL	CR	1BL	1BR	1CL	1CR
Description
0120	020F	0110	0110	0111	0112	0113	0114
20L	20R	10L	10R	11	12	13L	14L
Description
0115	0116	0117	0118	0119	011A	0114	0000
15L	test	test	test	test	1AL	14R
Description
[Five rows of 0000 omitted]
0067	0068	0069	0049	0057	0058	0047	0055
H1 ura mori hole-1	H2 -2	H3 -3	H4 -4	H5 -5	H6 -6	H7 -7	H8 castle reverse hole
Description

Map Connections: 1991-06

DMPDNRM

DMPDNRM		EQU	$		; (MPDTNO)
;			  104
		WORD	0002CH
;// 03.05.23 //		WORD	0001AH
;			   11     60     61    62
		WORD	00013H,0001BH,0001BH,0001BH,0000FH,0005BH
;			   F0     F1     D9    74      76     83     63     F2
		WORD	0000AH,00003H,0001EH,00030H,00030H,00030H,00030H,00018H
;			   F3     F4     F5    F6      F7     F8     E8     E9
		WORD	00018H,00028H,00029H,00005H,00005H,00005H,00005H,00005H
;			   FB     EB     FC    EC      FD     ED     FE     EE
		WORD	00005H,00005H,00005H,00005H,00005H,00005H,00005H,00005H
;			   FF     EF     DF    F9      FA     EA     E0     38
		WORD	00005H,00005H,00005H,00003H,00003H,00003H,0001BH,0007BH
;                          4A     D2     48    57      58     56     39     0E 
		WORD	0005EH,00070H,00040H,00040H,00040H,00040H,00040H,00075H
;			   E6	  E7     E4    E5      55
		WORD	0000AH,00003H,00003H,00003H,0001BH,00000H,00000H,00000H
;
		WORD	00080H,00080H,00081H,00083H,00086H,0001EH

DMPDNRM (Map Connections)
0104
Link's House
Hyrule Field: Link's House Exterior	Hyrule Field: West of Hyrule Castle
0011	0060	0061	0062	FFFF	0090
Sanctuary	Hyrule Castle 2F (Left)	Hyrule Castle 1F (Middle)	Hyrule Castle 2F (Right)
Description
00F0	00F1	00D9	0074	0076	0083	0063	00F2
Cave to Death Mountain (Left)	Cave to Death Mountain (Right)	Eastern Palace 1F (Middle)	Desert Palace B1 (Middle)	Desert Palace 1F (Right)	Desert Palace 2F (Bottom-Left)	Desert Palace 2F (Mid-Left)	Mayor's Office (Left)
Description
00F3	00F4	00F5	00F6	00F7	00F8	00E8	00E9
Mayor's Office (Right)	Twins' House (Left)	Twins' House (Right)
Description
00FB	00EB	00FC	00EC	00FD	00ED	00FE	00EE
Description
00FF	00EF	00DF	00F9	00FA	00EA	00E0	0038
						Agahnim's Tower 2F (Middle)	Swamp Palace B1 (Right)
Description
004A	00D2	0048	0057	0058	0056	0039	0E
Eastern Palace 1F (Middle)	Misery Mire 1F (Left)	Skull Woods B1 (Upper-Right)	Skull Woods B1 (Middle)	Skull Woods B1 (Mid-Right)	Skull Woods B1 (Mid-Left)	Skull Woods B1 (Upper-Left)	Ice Palace 1F (Middle)
Description
00E6	00E7	00E4	00E5	0055	0000	0000	0000
				Hyrule Castle B1 (Passage)
Description
0180	0181	0182	0183	0880	0881
Master Sword Grove	Beneath the Bridge	Zora Falls	Zora Falls Boss	[Unknown]	[Unknown]
150px	150px	150px	150px	150px
Description

Warps

Earlier Data

Ground Warps

The file 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_isub0.asm has a section called "Initial RAM set [Warp] (IIT5000)". It contains a list of map square IDs that, judging from the label name, which can be interpreted as "Warp Map Data Number Room", seem to be related to places to which Link would have been able to warp.

WMPDNRM		EQU	$		; (MPDTNO)
		WORD	00003H,0000FH,00018H,0001BH,0001EH,00030H,00037H,0003BH

zel_isub0.asm also contains a section called "Initial RAM set [Danjyon] (IIT1000)". Among the large variety of information found within this section is a list of map square IDs under the label "Ground Warp Check Data". These appear to be directly connected to the list of IDs under the WMPDNRM label above. (A later version of the file, called zel_isub.asm, indicates that the GWPCKD data below was commented out on 1991-07-26.)

GWPCKD        EQU    $        ; ground warp check room
        WORD    000F9H,00182H,000F3H,00040H,00054H,00074H,0010AH,0010BH

Combining the map square IDs from WMPDNRM and GWPCKD results in the following table.

WMPDNRM (Exteriors)
03	0F	18	1B	1E	30	37	3B
Death Mountain: Northwest	Hyrule Field: Waterfall of Wishing	Kakariko Village: Northwest	Hyrule Castle: Northwest	Eastern Palace Grounds: Sahasrahla's Hideout	Desert of Mystery: Desert Palace	Hyrule Field: Southeast Spring	Great Swamp: Shrine Sluice Gate
GWPCKD (Interiors)
F9	182	F3	40	54	74	10A	10B
Spectacle Rock [?]	Zora Falls	Mayor's Office (Right)	Hyrule Castle Unknown	Eastern Palace 2F Entrance	Desert Palace Entrance	Aginah's Dwelling	Great Swamp Sluice Gate

Whirlpool Warps

The file 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_isub.asm, which is a later version of zel_isub0.asm, adds a section called "Initial RAM set [Warp] (IIT6000)". It contains a list of map IDs for overworld map squares that have (or were originally going to have) a whirlpool warp spot.

WPCKRMD        EQU    $
         WORD    0000FH,00035H,00033H,00015H,0003FH,00012H
         WORD    0007FH,00055H

As can be seen in the images below, almost every one of these map square IDs is accurate to the final game, except for 35. It seems that the warp here may have been moved to 3E (the square below the large island in Lake Hylia), as that is the only final game map square with a whirlpool whose ID is missing from this list.

0F	35	33	15	3F	12
Hyrule Field: Waterfall of Wishing	Lake Hylia: Northwest	Great Swamp: North Pond	Hyrule Field: East of the Cemetery	Hyrule Field: Southeastern Falls	Hyrule Field: West of Sanctuary
7F	55
Dark World: Southeastern Falls	Dark World: East of Statue Garden

Later Data

zel_isub.asm has a later version of WMPDNRM with an expanded list of map IDs. In this version, the developers appear to have combined the ground warp data and whirlpool warp data that they had previously defined discretely in WMPDNRM and WPCKRMD, respectively.

WMPDNRM		EQU	$		; (MPDTNO)
		WORD	00003H,00016H,00018H,0002CH,0002FH,00030H,0003BH,0003FH
;
		WORD	0005BH
;
		WORD	00035H,0000FH,00015H,00033H,00012H,0003FH,00055H,0007FH

In this table, a map square ID for the forced Ocarina warp to the top of the Pyramid of Power, unique to this version of the warp data, sits alone on the middle row.

Ground Warps
03	16	18	2C	2F	30	3B	3F
Death Mountain: Northwest	Hyrule Field: Witch's Hut	Kakariko Village: Northwest	Hyrule Field: Link's House	Hyrule Field: South of Eastern Palace	Desert of Mystery: Desert Palace	Great Swamp: Shrine Sluice Gate	Hyrule Field: Southeastern Falls
Special Case Warps
5B
Pyramid of Power: Northwest
Whirlpool Warps
35	0F	15	33	12	3F	55	7F
Lake Hylia: Northwest	Hyrule Field: Waterfall of Wishing	Hyrule Field: East of the Cemetery	Great Swamp: North Pond	Hyrule Field: West of Sanctuary	Hyrule Field: Southeastern Falls	Dark World: East of Statue Garden	Dark World: Southeastern Falls

Comparisons

Finally, let's compare the data in the files above, and also compare it with the warp data in the final game.

Final Ocarina Warps

zel_isub0's WMPDNRM
03	0F	18	1B	1E	30	37	3B
Death Mountain: Northwest	Hyrule Field: Waterfall of Wishing	Kakariko Village: Northwest	Hyrule Castle: Northwest	Eastern Palace Grounds: Sahasrahla's Hideout	Desert of Mystery: Desert Palace	Hyrule Field: Southeast Spring	Great Swamp: Shrine Sluice Gate
zel_isub's WMPDNRM
03	16	18	2C	2F	30	3B	3F
Death Mountain: Northwest	Hyrule Field: Witch's Hut	Kakariko Village: Northwest	Hyrule Field: Link's House	Hyrule Field: xxx	Desert of Mystery: Desert Palace	Great Swamp: Shrine Sluice Gate	Hyrule Field: Southeastern Falls
Final Ocarina Warps
0B	16	19	2C	2F	38	3B	3F
Death Mountain: Southwest	Hyrule Field: Witch's Hut	Kakariko Village: Northeast	Hyrule Field: Link's House	Hyrule Field: xxx	Desert of Mystery: Southwest	Great Swamp: Shrine Sluice Gate	Hyrule Field: Southeast Spring

Final Whirlpool Warps

zel_isub's WPCKRMD
0F	35	33	15	3F	12	7F	55
Hyrule Field: Waterfall of Wishing	Lake Hylia: Northwest	Great Swamp: North Pond	Hyrule Field: East of the Cemetery	Hyrule Field: Southeastern Falls	Hyrule Field: West of Sanctuary	Dark World: Southeastern Falls	Dark World: East of Statue Garden
zel_isub's WMPDNRM
35	0F	15	33	12	3F	55	7F
Lake Hylia: Northwest	Hyrule Field: Waterfall of Wishing	Hyrule Field: East of the Cemetery	Great Swamp: North Pond	Hyrule Field: West of Sanctuary	Hyrule Field: Southeastern Falls	Dark World: East of Statue Garden	Dark World: Southeastern Falls
Final Whirlpool Warps
3E	0F	15	33	12	3F	55	7F
Lake Hylia: Southeast	Hyrule Field: Waterfall of Wishing	Hyrule Field: East of the Cemetery	Great Swamp: North Pond	Hyrule Field: West of Sanctuary	Hyrule Field: Southeastern Falls	Dark World: East of Statue Garden	Dark World: Southeastern Falls

Holes

Rooms with Holes

The file 日本_Ver3\asm\zel_data0.asm has a section called "Hole reset room data". It contains a list of map IDs for underworld map squares in which the player can fall into holes.

HLRMDT		EQU	$
		WORD	00072H,00082H					; rou
		WORD	00040H,000C0H					; shisai
		WORD	00112H
		WORD	00056H,00057H,00058H,00067H,00068H,00049H	; ura mori
		WORD	00098H,000D1H,000C3H,000A3H,000A2H,00092H	; ura numa
		WORD	000A0H						;    "
;;;;;		WORD	00029H
		WORD	0004EH,0007FH,000AFH				; ura mizuumi
		WORD	000F0H,000F1H,000E6H,000E7H
		WORD	000C6H,000C7H,000D6H,000B4H,000B5H,000C5H	; kame
		WORD	00024H,000D5H					;  "
		WORD	000C9H						; omote shinden
		WORD	0002AH,0001AH,0004BH				; ura shinden
		WORD	000BCH,00044H					; machi
		WORD	000FBH						; ura yama nise iriguchi
		WORD	0007BH,0007CH,0008BH,0008DH,0009BH,0009CH	; ura yama no tou
		WORD	0009DH,000A5H,00095H,0001CH,0005CH,0007DH	;       "
		WORD	0004CH,00096H						;       "
		WORD	00120H						; ice rod (hachi no iru dokuthu)
		WORD	0003CH						; urayama futtobashi iwa in
		WORD	00123H						; minna niwa naisyo dayo
;;;;;		WORD	00114H						; jyouhouya D

zel_data0.asm's HLRMDT
Castle Dungeon
0072	0082
Agahnim
0040	00C0
Skull Woods
0112
0056	0057	0058	0067	0068	0049
Swamp Palace
0098	00D1	00C3	00A3	00A2	0092
00A0
;0029
Ice Palace
004E	007F	00AF
Turtle Rock
00F0	00F1	00E6	00E7
00C6	00C7	00D6	00B4	00B5	00C5
0024	00D5
Eastern Palace
00C9
Palace of Darkness
002A	001A	004B
Thieves' Town
00BC	0044
Ganon's Tower: False Entrance
00FB
Ganon's Tower
007B	007C	008B	008D	009B	009C
009D	00A5	0095	001C	005C	007D
004C	0096
Ice Rod (Cave with Bee)
0120
Ganon's Tower Dash Rock Entrance
003C
It's a Secret to Everyone
0123
Information Broker D
;0114

Room 0112 makes little sense until one sees that it looked like this in the era of the Super Donkey proto.

That said, room 0114 is the same hole-less room in the final game as it is in the Underworld maps from both Super Donkey and August '91.

Respawn Points

Respawn Rooms

zel_isub0.asm contains RESTRMDT (Restart Room Data), an earlier list of map IDs for overworld map squares that have a spawn point.

RESTRMDT	EQU	$		; start room no.     <RMXYCT>
		WORD	00104H,00011H,00080H,00055H,00041H

The final data adds a couple more:

RESTRMDT	EQU	$		; start room no.     <RMXYCT>
		WORD	00104H,00012H,00080H,00055H,00051H,000F0H,000E4H

The table below compares the two versions.

zel_isub0's RESTRMDT
0104	0011	0080	0055	0041
Link's House	Sanctuary	Castle Dungeon	Secret Passage	Throne Room
zel_isub's RESTRMDT
0104	0012	0080	0055	0051	00F0	00E4
LINK-HOUSE	CHAPEL	ROU-YA	SHIRO URA-ENTER	GYOKU-ZA	YAMA JIJI	YAMA JIJI HOUSE
Link's House	Sanctuary	Dungeon	Secret Passage	Throne Room	Cave to Death Mountain (Left)	Lost Old Man's Cave