Back in 2017 – the same year as the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Wii U and Switch – Nintendo showcased the early stages of the game’s development at a CEDEC conference.
Now, some images of the footage it shared at this event have surfaced online. It shows a map of Japan, Link running around Himeji Castle, and the unused skydiving mechanic – which was apparently lifted from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword but never fully implemented in Breath of the Wild. Take a look:
The team supposedly used a 2D map of Kyoto to help gauge the distance between landmarks in the game and then built up certain locations, such as Himeji Castle, into basic 3D models (thanks, @Pixelpar).
What do you think of these early development screens of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Tell us down below.