Giles Goddard discusses portals feature in early Zelda: Ocarina of Time development

Giles Goddard had quite the career at Nintendo. He joined the company at an early age, and one of his first major projects was Star Fox – before moving on to the likes of Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

In an interview with MinnMax, Goddard opened up about working on Ocarina of Time, before there was even a proper game in place. He had a large role in the tech demo that first debuted at Space World (Shoshinkai). Goddard was also involved in R&D for Zelda on the N64 while the project was still in its initial development phase.

Although it never made it into the final game, Goddard said there was some experimentation with Hyrule Castle. It featured portals that players would be able visit other parts of the map, much like Super Mario 64. Goddard discussed comparisons with Valve’s title Portal as you’d actually be able to visibly see the area you’d be traveling to.

In the end we know that Nintendo went with a different approach. Hyrule Castle isn’t really a hub, and players are instead able to venture through Hyrule itself to access new areas.

Here’s the full discussion with Goddard: