Proto:The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes/E3 Demo Build

This is a sub-page of Proto:The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes.

To do: Gameplay, course and text differences.

Tri Force Heroes was first announced at E3 2015, with a playable demo at the event. The demo was later updated with final code and assets and distributed with download codes for limited online play in mid-October 2015, though the Forest Temple stage was removed likely to reduce download size.

The original demo from E3 was uploaded to Nintendo's retail CDN, and it contains various differences. The demo is dated May 22, 2015 at 11:14:28.

The demo defaults to client mode and requires the following mod on one of the units that makes it into a host instead.

Download Tri Force Heroes E3 Host Patch File: TFH E3 Code Patch.zip (info)

(Host Patch: Kartik & ZeroSkill)

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Notes

General

• The demo features four playable levels: The Forest (Buzz Blob Cave), The Temple (Forest Temple), The Fortress (Bomb Storage) and The Volcano (Hinox Mine).
• Some things like the Energy Gauge and the Wallmaster still use their A Link Between Worlds designs.
• With the exception of an inaccessible castle lobby, no other areas aside from the ones playable in the demo are in the files.
• All the outfits are present in the files.
• Text for NPCs and menus are either untranslated from Japanese or are dummied out with lines saying "Hello". The small amount of English text that was translated is also much closer to the Japanese.

Music Differences

Several themes are still sampled at this point rather than real-life orchestrations.

Title

The title theme has slight changes with the violin.

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Credits

The credits theme adds the boss theme near the middle along with other changes.

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Woodlands

The Woodlands theme has slight changes with the violin.

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Volcano

The Volcano theme has slight changes with the violin and the percussion's volume.

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Model Differences

• The Sword Suit and Sword Master Suit outfits use different sized Master Swords instead of their final designs, likely as placeholders.
• The orb used in challenges is red instead of blue.
• In the final, many outfits were modified to smooth out Link's feet.

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Boomeranger

The only outfit to have its design entirely overhauled, for understandable reasons...

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Dapper Spinner

More detail was added to the scarf, but most importantly Link received a stylish moustache!

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Rupee Regalia

You guessed it: 'stache.

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Graphical Differences

Communication Icons

For whatever reason, the "Let's Go" icon is in a much rougher state compared to the rest. The icon is normally used in the lobby area, which wasn't accessible in the demo. The design of the Links seem to match much closer to the A Link Between Worlds model, as do the unused yawning icons.

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Material Icons

Mystery Jade

The small imprint was made into a full hole.

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Divine Whiskers

The shading was adjusted.

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Crimson Shell

The icon got completely redrawn.

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Fancy Fabric

The coloring was completely changed.

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Vintage Linen

As was this one's.

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Sandy Ribbon

The Sandy Ribbon's icon in the files is named mtrl_black_pearl_bracelet, which doesn't match up with what it looks like in the final game. Turns out the demo still has its original design intact!

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Golden Insect

The icon got completely redrawn along with its shading.

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Carmine Pearl

Named in the files as mtrl_cloud_mass, this material too had its design completely changed like the Black Pearl Bracelet/Sandy Ribbon.

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Mock Fairy

The icon was completely redrawn.

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Aurora Stone

The shading was changed.

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Steel Mask

The icon was redrawn to change the perspective to something cleaner.

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Fabled Butterfly

The icon was redrawn.

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Frilly Fabric

Named as mtrl_purupuru, the fabric was originally...lips?

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Outfit Icons

Many outfit icons received slight adjustments, mainly to adjust their perspective. Some touchups are nearly invisible unless you know exactly what to look for and are fully zoomed-in.

Boomeranger

As with the model, the icon itself was updated.

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Cheer Outfit

The pompoms and skirt were redrawn to more closely match the actual model.

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Cheetah Costume

The collar's position was adjusted and the insides of the boots were touched up.

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Cursed Tights

The hood was redrawn from a different perspective.

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Dapper Spinner

The shading on the hat and feather were adjusted and the scarf got decorated to match up with the model.

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Fire Blazer

The hands were touched up a tiny bit.

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Gust Garb

The bracelets got touched up and moved downwards a bit. The scarf(?) also had its bottom slip adjusted.

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Legendary Dress

The right hand's bracelet was shifted upwards by a single row and had its coloring very slightly adjusted.

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Light Armor

The hands were moved slightly.

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Lucky Loungewear

The top of the hat was redrawn to add some bulk and the left fist was touched up.

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Robowear

The helmet was completely redrawn while the body was given minor touch-ups. Most notably, for reasons unknown, many details were blurred in the final icon, like the metal ring around the red chest light and the leg joints which were both blurred until almost unnoticable.

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Serpent's Toga

The belt and shoes were redrawn to more closely match the model. The model itself is the same between the demo and final game, so the demo's icon might have been drawn from an earlier model or the drawing itself is just rougher like the Cheer Outfit's icon in the demo.

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Showstopper

The hat was redrawn and the shading on the suit was overhauled.

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Spin Attack Attire

The hands and helmet were redrawn.

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Sword Suit

The hat and left hand were redrawn, with the rest of the icon receiving minor touchups.

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Sword Master Suit

The whole icon was completely redrawn.

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Timeless Tunic

The cap and left hand got redrawn from a different perspective, the hands were removed, Link's signature belt buckle was added, and the tops of the boots received slight touchups.

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Tingle Tights

The hood and balloons were redrawn, while the right boot was touched up.

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Tri Suit

The visor's reflection was made a lot more visible.

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Course Icons

While the latter half of courses (with a single exception) and the arena have placeholder icons at this point...

The first half had screenshots taken for them! Some differ greatly, suggesting they may originate from much earlier in development.

Woodlands

• Deku Forest - The geometry is very close to final but the textures are much rougher. The blue rupees on top of the totems are missing and the totems themselves seem to be textured to match the height of the Links.
• Buzz Blob Cave - The camera is in a very slightly different position.
• Moblin Base - The screenshot is of Stage 1 instead of Stage 3. No noticeable differences.
• Forest Temple - The camera is in a very slightly different position.

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Riverside

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Volcano

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Ice Cavern

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Fortress

Bomb Storage was chosen as a stage for the demo. This meant an icon had to be made for it exceptionally. The only visible difference yet again is the slightly different position of the camera.

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Random

The random option has two different icons in the final game, one for the areas and the other for the arena. The demo only has a single icon with a different design.

Challenge Icons

• The orb was red instead of blue, which is reflected in the icons.
• Unusable items are represented with a dark fill in. This was changed into a white outline.
• The "Don't get hit by snowballs!" challenge didn't exist at this point, so there is no icon for it.

Don't break the pot!
The icon was completely redrawn. This challenge might have had a fragile orb instead of a pot to be carried. Curiously the Japanese text in the demo was already updated to "pot".

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Transport the orb quickly!
Only the orb's color was changed.

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Guard the Orb!
The icon was completely redrawn.

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Defeat all enemies!
The monster's eyes were made yellow and its teeth were brightened up.

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Win without using a sword!

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Only Bombs—no swords!

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Only hammers—no swords!

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Defeat all foes sans sword!
The monster icon was updated to match "Defeat all enemies!".

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Clear level only using Bombs!
The icon is completely different. The challenge's internal identifier string refers to this challenge as "item_use_all", so the challenge was something different earlier in development. The challenge seems to have been changed by the time of the demo, as while the rest of the challenge texts are in Japanese, a localizer specifically changed this one into "Clear level only using Bombs.". Sadly, this also obscured what the early challenge was about.

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Clear without any items!

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Don't fall at all!
The icon was edited to include another cliff edge. The motion lines were also straightened and the "X" was removed.

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Clear with halved energy!
The "X2" was made much larger.

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Avoid the volcanic rocks!
The final icon is less blurrier.

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Avoid falling and quicksand!
The icon was completely redrawn.

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Evade the Wallmaster!
The Wallmaster is still using its A Link Between Worlds design.

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Halved attack and defense!
The shield was moved upwards and the green color was reduced to match the sword.

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