Weird Unreachable Areas in Zelda’s Desert

[@SwankyBox]

Wandering around haunted deserts at 2:00am is fun. Highly recommend 👍

[@Ryu_D]

I prefer haunted desserts. Way tastier. XP

[@Off-colorsign]

I cant say i dont agree

[@chompythebeast]

Drink Cactus Juice™!

[@jacobwhite934]

This was really fun to watch, It's inspiring to see how much of OOT we never really knew about, or could even find out about through normal means

[@Defender1876]

2 am must be very cool at that time

[@nerdokiddo8106]

the reason the desert is shaped like that is because it cuts off after the hills start descending, where you would normally never see the sand past that point.

[@ExalinExcels]

11:24 "I'm a very vanilla ocarina of Time player" said the man who spent 24 full hours in a VR version of it

[@anlev11]

It would be cool to see a VR version of majora's mask

[@blueflamethegamergoldfish1252]

@@anlev11 and scary cause the giant moon

[@realmczappa]

@@anlev11 yes, if by “cool” you mean “pants-shittingly terrifying”

[@MetroAndroid]

8:35 Coincidentally, back in March, ZFG actually hookshot to that box and broke it in an OoT romhack that gives you an ultrashot that's twice as long as the longshot. Though it's a romhack, that part of the map is otherwise unchanged. You can see this in his video "How Far Does the Ultrashot Reach?" at 13:10.

[@chompythebeast]

I was just thinking about the Ultrashot! I guess I forgot he actually got to that box with it. It'd be kinda neat to see him get there using standard tools and glitches, just to get video proving its possible. A drip of content for Dry

[@Infindox]

Gerudo Valley was always "mysterious" to kid me. Especially with how the Haunted Wasteland was, and the fact you could go to the dungeon area as a kid but not anywhere else. Much like other weird things in early 3D games, and the internet being newer then, it was rife with mystery.

[@N_0_I_Z_E]

this game has been out for more than 20 years and somehow this man can still find a way to make enjoyable entertaining content

[@Lunix6428]

I don't know why but right after I saw this I decided to do everything in the video I don't know if it's just so entertaining all of your videos are entertaining thanks for everything whenever I'm sad or down I just watch you and it cheers me up like a lot so thank you for being awesome

[@mvpandrew93]

*You aren't alone.*

[@DragonSlicer]

Unless you turn off your monitor then you are alone XP

[@Natef89]

Shut up kid

[@TeamBlueToad]

I always loved the Haunted Wasteland in OoT. There's something about it's mysterious ambience that i just really like.

[@WilfredCthulu]

(Screams in distant desert pyramid). Seriously I didn't even know about the bombchu shop for a while.

[@camwyn256]

Sometimes things are left behind, not because they were forgotten, but because they're integrally tied to something else that they can't be removed, so are moved out of bounds

[@mickkelley3776]

A similar situation to the carpenter's tent thing can occur in the inverse, where Adult Link can enter Jabu-Jabu by walking at a very precise location (it's easier on the 3DS version, but that's not important). The ice is meant to cover the loading zone, but due to an oversight a tiny portion of it is still accessible as an adult.

[@ScAr_wlvrne]

On 64 the loading zone is inside the ice and you have to clip in some way (I think ledge clip or weirdclip work?), but on 3D you can just walk along the edge of the ice. I always do that in the 3D Randomizer lol

[@chocmilk]

This loading zone still exists in OoT 3D. I remember entering Jabu-Jabu as adult Link on my first ever playthrough, but I've never been able to replicate it.

[@while.coyote]

The answer to "why would the developers do this weird collision thing?" is always "they were being rushed for time and didn't notice".

[@XcaliburKurosaki]

This reminds me of the @AnyAustin series where he reviews obscure and not normally seen/observed parts of N64 games such as Ocarina Of Time, Majora's Mask, Super Mario 64, and even Wave Race 64

[@SwankyBox]

I will have to check it out! Sounds like my kind of content!

[@chompythebeast]

@@SwankyBox ​ Austin's channel is an absolute gem, and has managed to fly under the radar for going on a decade now. His style is so sincere and often borderline absurdist, and that's reflected in his editing and his music. I think he even referred to you and your channel several years ago when he was doing a series called Eggbusters, where he used you and Son of a Glitch as examples of shows with a similar premise to Eggbusters but with more polished execution lol

[@Joshi_the_Yoshi]

Your dedication to breaking one crate that's hard to reach amazes me. This is why I love you Swanky.

[@lijahihrig9569]

There is always the Swordless Link glitch. If you perform a glitch where Link's sword is taken, then when adult rides Epona the C button objects are available. Using the hook shot on any object causes the chain to come out, but Link stays on Epona. Upon dismounting Epona, Link is then able to freely "fly" or move in three dimensions until you hit the collision of whatever it is you hookshotted. Search Swordless Link glitches on KZbin, they really are fascinating. It is kind of a way to freecam without cheats on official and unofficial hardware alike. By the way, I haven't really Subscribed to anyone in about eight years or more and your channel broke the record! Love your videos. They always capture that feeling of childhood nostalgia. I know you felt it too, because you convey it so well. You convey that mysterious intrigue and wonder that eluded us and you bring me back, all the way back to when magic was real.

[@Shader1019]

8:01 Well... Seeing Ganondorf being physically dominated by a gerudo was NOT something I ever thought I'd see OR ever thought to ask myself about him... No judgement or anything, we all have our own interests. Keep doing you, Ganon. Just saying, my whole perspective on him is now forever changed... 😅

[@chambeet]

I also have very few memories of the desert as a kid. I just repeat the game as an adult, and even then, I didn’t spend much time here, although I did beat the Gerudo Training Center. By this point of the game, most people are narratively ready to beat Ganondorf and get it over with. Still a 10/10 game.

[@mcmoozack]

This video gave me so much nostalgia. 10 years ago I would spend hours upon hours watching videos on Ocarina of Time Easter eggs, glitches, and hacks. I thought all of OoT had been discovered and dissected, so I'm glad to see there's still stuff left to find. Great video!

[@runnersdialzero1244]

Definitely noticed that box as a kid on my N64, definitely used the moon jump to reach it, definitely smashed it with the Megaton hammer. I was surprised you could even land on something that was so far out of bounds.

[@swishfish8858]

I'd imagine you didn't explore the desert as much because of where it ends up in the game's progression, right near the end of the game. Because it's so far in, you naturally won't have spent as much time there as in all the other regions. And because it's not THE end, you don't go there any time you boot up your savefile to go fight Ganon again. It's remained unexplored thanks to the real estate rule: location, location, location!

[@ComicTail64]

As a fan of nostalgic video game videos, I loved this! I always appreciate your style of taking us back to childhood memories by telling small tidbits of information or story involving past memories of the game. It's fun! And seeing you explore these games now with the knowledge you have as an adult, but the curiosity of your inner child, is awesome. Would love to see more videos like this!

[@bigchungus7870]

It be like ocarina of time irl when you revisit childhood games

[@riahlexington]

I ran into the invisible warp by accident during an entrance randomizer and I was very confused before I figured out what was happening.

[@habitsrabbit]

I was messing around with an emulator and explored the spirit temple as young Link. I got into the giant statue by floating out of the map and back in through the hidden tunnel. It was a fun experience.

[@BLOODY__FATALITY]

I love these kinds of videos because they totally seem like the types of things I'd do as a kid but I didn't play OOT until I was like 15.

[@legitpotato0595]

I really like the new thumbnail style. Great work Swanky!

[@VixYW]

One thing that always intrigued me about the haunted wasteland is that it's a one way road. Meaning that you can't use the requiem of the spirits as a shortcut to the valley or the fortress, unlike all other warp songs in the game. Would be really cool if there was a way to safely navigate back to the gerudo fortress from the colossus.

[@MykelLinden]

Well, if you've got a REALLY good memory, you CAN walk backwards through the Haunted Wasteland, but of course, Child Link can't cross the "river of sand" at the Wasteland's beginning. But if there's any glitch that can let Child Link get over the river, you will find the gate leading out of Gerudo Fortress is, understandably, shut. So you CAN get back to the fortress from Desert Colossus, but sadly, it is a futile attempt. I only know about the shut gate because I once used an Action Replay on the Gamecube version out of curiosity. XD

[@drygnfyre]

The Haunted Wasteland path is fixed so you actually can navigate backwards to the fortress. You can enter normally as an adult. However, if you do this as child Link, there will be a guard on that side who won't let you through.

[@VixYW]

@@drygnfyre In theory you can, in practice you will fail. But it is really funny they bothered to place a guard there "just in case".

[@drygnfyre]

@@VixYW As child link you would need a way to get across the River of Sand. But otherwise it's not hard to get to that point as Child Link, you just need to know the path. I would assume most players just use cheats to get past the River of Sand.

[@VixYW]

@@drygnfyre Knowing the path is what I think to be nearly impossible. Little to no landmarks, reduced visibility, AND the quicksand on top of all that. Ah, and you gotta do it backwards too. Yikes.

[@MuffinTopGames]

The right half of the thumbnail is golden, I want it as a poster. True final boss. Gerudo Patrol Guards The real reason Ganondorf left is because he kept getting arrested haha!

[@williamdrum9899]

"I'm a vanilla Ocarina of Time player" Coulda fooled me lol 😉

[@clay2889]

I love videos like this. There’s something so special about exploring out of bounds areas in open world Zelda games. Currently doing that in BoTW

[@Tacomuch]

In the first circular room in the Ice Cavern, I always remember being able to z-target something under the ice in the center of the room. Drove me nuts trying to figure out what it was!

[@Knightmessenger]

Big fairy?

[@WilfredCthulu]

Really been enjoying the most recent videos a lot more than what was going on for a while.

[@kirbygamer0640]

There’s something so special about SwankyBox just talking about something in an unscripted video. Then again, almost everything SwankyBox talks about is special, especially gaming mysteries like this that are so obscure yet so fun to think about.

[@UltravioletNomad]

I always assumed he was falling down into a white void, I don't know why hed be spinning like a sky diver otherwise..

[@rexellate]

4:13 I can 100% guarantee the reason it is this shape is because they simply deleted triangles (faces, etc) from the geometry of the map and weren’t concerned with making it into any particular shape. Almost like the texture was already laid out, and it would have been more work to move the geo again, so they just deleted what they didn’t need (which means no redoing of UV texture maps)

[@vectra4074]

I can testify that you can tell there is a box in the background. I've only ever played the original N64 version and I obsessed about it a bit. Tried hookshot, bombchus, I think I even tried to light in on fire with an arrow. My game knowledge was not refined enough to get me there. It was still fun to try though. I'm glad you finally did.

[@jakec3172]

This is actually awesome! Before you even said anything about hide and seek for multiplayer, I was thinking the same thing! It reminded me of playing RuneScape with clan mates. You’d get hints from the hider and have to go find them. Or they’d send a screenshot of where they were. Funny how we both came to the hide and seek conclusion.

[@guyfriend7411]

This is a sweet birthday gift for me! Thanks for making an intriguing video, Swanky!👍

[@SirCorn]

I really enjoyed this video. I've spent a lot of time in OoT just wandering around as a teenager and experiencing the vibe that the game put out. There is a lot of unimplied weirdness in that game (further illustrated in sections like this) that provoked thought and exploration without any real narrative payoff. That's one of the reasons these games are so enthralling to me.

[@ArnieMcStranglehold]

I like all of your out of bounds videos because it reminds me of a time when I was still a kid, before I knew the conventional limitations of video games. I would wonder what was out in the distance, if I could ever reach it.

[@MBheARTed]

Hanging off the back of that far off create = best hiding place in the desert

[@yazmenakamura6750]

7:37 Gerudo Guard: Halt! Stay where you are! Link: Nope. (rides off with Epona)

[@chompythebeast]

This was a really fun vid! Someone get ZFG on the horn to reach this Crate Over the Desert Abyss Edit: Was just reminded of the Ultrashot incident! Nevertheless, it'd be neat to see him (or someone) get over there using standard tech

[@khannywanny]

woah so this is what it feels like to have a video released 3 seconds ago

[@ZachAttackIsBack]

Who would have imagined in 1998 that someone a quarter century later would be making videos about some random crate in the desert of Ocarina of Time?

[@phantomhurricane666]

i'm curious about the monument in Goron City. at the top, there's a platform suspended by three ropes. on that platform is a carving that 'used to have something placed there'.

[@alexmoran8281]

It used to hold the spiritual stone of fire

[@dominicbonogofski]

Yeah, it held the Goron's Ruby until Darunia took it and locked himself up in his chamber, since all the Gorons were trying to eat it, and Ganondorf was trying to steal it.

[@stopdont8236]

How did you not put it together that it was meant for the goron's ruby

[@Master1Morrison]

I love the video of you spawning guards to arrest link in odd places

[@DaniloGanzella]

new OOT category, destroy desert crate%

[@SterbiusMcGurbius]

And that's why chasing after some Gerudo tail in the desert will always be one of my Pixel Portals.

[@CyranofromBergerac]

I broke it when I was a kid messing around with GameShark. Levitating was my favorite thing to use.

[@CLxJames]

Swanky: “I’m a very vanilla OoT player” Also Swanky: what if we freeze time to make a giant Stalchild?”

[@amandaggogo]

Your videos never cease to entertain! Always love the OOT ones especially!

[@yazmenakamura6750]

8:00 Well, at least Ganondorf won't be alone in the Void. He'll have someone to satisfy his needs in that Lonely Pit. Ganondorf, you lucky Bastard. 😏

[@MisterM2402]

0:57 - Anyone know how he can move the camera around freely like that? I want to get some footage of the game for a video, but not the actual gameplay, just flying around the map.

[@garrettlamberth9737]

Keep up the great work ! I always enjoy your videos 👍🏻

[@kizuyo2073]

I legit spent the most time in the Gerudo Valley just for the BGM alone lmaoo

[@TimothyHuffGuitar]

Awesome video bro! Praying we'll see more!!!

[@walls_of_skulls6061]

Here's something I've never heard a single person mention: the medallion that zelda wears during the child sections is the same symbol as the red gravity flipping gem in stone tower temple in majoras mask

[@Link_195]

the one thing i remember doing way too much as a kid in this game was becoming a kid and going to the spirit temple and trying to go through the wasteland as a child to see the gerudo fortress as a child, never did complete that

[@HighPriestFuneral]

Interestingly, if you do there is a Gerudo there, though the gate is shut. She's surprised that a kid managed to cross the desert, but rules are rules so aside from some text acknowledgement, not much else of worth in doing so. It is neat they thought of it though.

[@perks6292]

I wonder if that watchtower behind the warp was walkable too

[@llauram3650]

"why would they definitely very intentionally choose (probably after lots of meetings with Miyamoto and Yamauchi) to make this wall walkable and this other wall not." this is just not how game development works...

[@llauram3650]

legit answer is that it was probably disabled intentionally in the fortress as they needed to optimize it, whereas in the desert there's a lot less geometry so they never needed to do an optimising pass.

[@TheCreepypro]

as a person who loves this game and tried to explore the desert this is fun to know

[@Bopperann]

Ganondorf havin' the time of his life.

[@s0r03]

I like this content a lot better then some of the nonesense that was out for the past few years it’s more like your older stuff which was great and what I originally came to the channel for

[@power-backinblack]

I was 18 when the game came out and the internet did have limited rumors. But I found the pyramid and was told it would lead you to the triforce. Spent hours and hours combing that desert, trying to find the triforce. Obviously to no prevail.

[@Sauraen]

The "pyramid" is actually the end of the mountain/wall to the north side of the entrance from Gerudo's Fortress. Because the way the N64 fog works (which is used to create the sandstorm), any geometry farther away than a certain distance is cut off, so you see just the end of the wall and then it stops and looks like a pyramid shape. We showed the "pyramid" during one of the Staff Roll cutscenes of Triforce%.

[@gotsm9959]

Okay the answer to all your questions is that n64 dose not have enough logical power for unique codes for ever asset and most of the scenery is just painted and dose not have any code associated to it directly. The boundaries of the map are invisible wall codes and those 3d models are build out of generic assets and just retextured. Complex codes and unique textures simply did not exist on n64 because the firmware was already hard to code for so Nintendo did not bother to try to code things out of bounds or modify the code since players would not normally reach that area.

[@edfrees]

I would like to see a ROM hack where all areas are replaced with the miniature versions.

[@Postposterous]

Great stuff man!!! I bet I could turn the sand/wind off. Would make things easier to see. Could probably make a fly hack also. Posty loves you.

[@jerome472]

the speedrunner zfg actually broke that box before while he was practicing on stream

[@llauram3650]

The loading trigger for the tent being there as child link isn't a mistake. That's just game development. You can't get there as a child, why would they disable it?

[@chompythebeast]

It's interesting that the room is empty as child, though I guess those guys have flags that move them around already within expected play anyway. You'd think that they'd've removed loading zones alongside assets while they were at it just as a matter of course, but I guess they just didn't for whatever reason, and nobody in the bug crunching phase managed to pull off the trick to get over the gate as child, even though I remember people doing that back when the game was still new

[@vincenthall5908]

@@chompythebeast yup. I was like, 7 playing this game and I got over there and into the nonexistent tent. I think if a 7 year old can accomplish it, its a mistake 😂

[@lpfan4491]

@@chompythebeast Yeah, it is *almost* impossible to just jump over the gate, but not entirely so. So they probably didn't even know it was a thing. Similar to how it is possible to get to the bottom of the well early without glitches by using the angry chicken-cutscene because Link falls through water if he falls into it during a cutscene.(And yes, not a glitch because that is just a limitation to their engine in a similar vain to Doom's infinite tall-entities. It is an early 3d-game, I don't blame them, lol.) Of course, the 3DS remake fixed this by putting a rock there in the daytime-map.

[@Wakish0069]

idk why but I have literally no memory of Gerudo Desert as a kid, I remember every other location but this one is completely foreign to me

[@BrimstoneMoth]

i did loved herudo valley used to explore it a lot, knowing there must have been something else to that wasteland xD

[@awakenedcrowl]

Nobody: Absolutely Nobody: For real tho, NOBODY: SwankyBox at 2am: "So, about this STUPID crate...!" (no offense, jsut found it funny, lul)

[@Hyperion-5744]

On soul reaver 2 and legacy of kain defiance i also use moon jump to explore out of bounds area's. Good video by the way.

[@apieceoffabric294]

6:56 That my friends, is known as a Terrorizer spot.

[@marvelousmaker]

My guess is that the collision was on because it was going to be something else and got scrapped. So they just hid it behind a sand storm. that's why some walls you can walk on some walls or just an unthinking developer. (not everyone is one is on the same page at the same time)

[@bamdad4927]

The desert area is my personal favourite area of the game and my favourite part of the game So happy that i saw this Very cool 👍

[@KateSuhrgirlPlays]

I actually did always think it was the camera facing down like he was falling into a void opened below him. Btw are you still doing super mario minecraft final part?

[@endy9059]

lol I remember being fixated on that same crate as a kid. Even tried the bombachu method.

[@emperortrevornorton3119]

I often thought that the fortress looked completely different from the haunted waistland view and this just proved it wasn't just a simple low detail miniature of what it actually kinda looks like

[@Nintendude.]

Thanks, never like the desert (or levels with this type of setting) but did spend a ton of time in the Archery Training Area and wonder how big was really the desert.

[@nintenster]

"im a very vanilla OOT of player" -moon jumps

[@IndyGibb]

I wonder if the devs leave these things in the hopes that someday someone will break the game, and go to these places, and be very, very confused.

[@Faceplay2]

Loved the video man, gosh I remember as a kid, I always wanted to try to break out of the map area. I know it sounds really stupid but at the time I literally thought if you could figure out how to get out of a map you would end up where the majoris mask area was. Granted at the time I was like six years old lol but yeah.

[@robo3007]

Open the heart piece chest on top of Gerudo Fortress as child Link. You'll be in for a surprise!

[@ByoKora775]

11:54 I realized the box was a box but I was never interested in reaching it

[@DrunkDuckXD]

I wonder if OOT would have felt bigger or smaller if we didnt have loading zones like in BOTW

[@TheAaronRodgersTao]

Would’ve been cool if you got that heart piece in the beginning

[@chancehenderson248]

Love your videos hope one day you'll get to do a video on majoras mask.

[@comet_crash]

Can't wait for the crate% speedruns

[@esotericVideos]

Here's hoping one day we see a speedrun of Crate%

[@NemoracStrebor]

New Speedrun category: crate%

[@7Wolf77]

Game shark code press L to levitate. Always wondered why there was a heart piece way out there.

[@613-shadow9]

i'm kind of sad that the pyramid isn't real or even a background asset.

[@Nixoth]

Ganondorf getting stepped on 🤣

[@fatalwaffle1715]

Cool Video!

[@brian8152]

i love your channel!

[@sanstime]

Cool Zelda secrets very awesome 🙂👍

[@karl4055]

I love oot there's a bunch of stuff that you aren't supposed to get right away I always do like the heart piece on dodongos caver just jump from the corner where you throw bomb flower and you can land on the ledge without flower I get it when I'm kid link always

[@herschie91]

On the original N64 in 240p on a CRT, the crate looks just like three tan scanlines.

[@creationanimationz6363]

Yo ocarina of time is my childhood your a childhood bringer