Breath of the Wild: Scrapped Concept Art

Written by Dr Lava, December 15 2018

Recently I produced a YouTube video about Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s cut content. In that episode, I spent a lot of time focusing on concept art for BotW that showcased various concepts that were considered by the developers, but didn’t end up in the game’s final build. Most of the artwork came from a Japan-exclusive publication called Breath of the Wild: Masterworks, an art book that included designs for six Divine Beasts and alternate Guardian designs that ultimately went unused. The video also showed off more unused concepts, like a Minish civilization and an alien invasion. But there was more Masterworks concept art that didn’t appear in that video, which we’ll be taking a look at in this article.

Unrealized Concept Art

Masterworks was translated into English and published in the West under its new title Creating a Champion a few months after that video was produced, but for reasons that will become clear in a moment, for this article we’ll still be look at the original Japanese version of the book. The first thing worth highlighting is this early design for the glider.

This early glider design is much larger than the one that ended up in BotW’s final build, though it probably would have performed basically the same function. The long strips of cloth attached to the sides are noteworthy as well. Maybe this was just meant to add some visual flair as it trailed behind you, or perhaps early in the game’s development, Hyrule was meant to have a wind mechanic, like in Wind Waker. If overworld wind had been in the game’s release version, these long strips of cloth would have acted like weather-vanes, allowing you to easily determine the wind’s direction. It’s possible Nintendo scrapped the wind idea, deciding it would take away from the experience of playing the game, rather than add to it. Perhaps rain was another weather effect that could have benefited from that same line of thinking.

This alternate design for the Horse God is certainly a lot different than what we ended up with. The release version’s Horse God was spooky, this design could better be described as flamboyant. I could only speculate as to what the Horse God’s personality might have been if this is the version that made it into the game’s final build.

These appear to be four designs Nintendo was considering for the Wizrobe enemy. Obviously, they ended up going with the one on the left. It’s curious that in this concept art we get a look at the creepy, toothy grin of what lies underneath a Wizrobe’s clothes, but that its true form was never revealed in the game itself. These other three Wizrobe designs are interesting as well, with the one second from the right a little reminiscent of Jawas from Star Wars: A New Hope.

Japan-exclusive concept art

This last one is especially puzzling. Masterworks includes two pictures of what appears to be Link’s family, with the Japanese word for “family” written just above it. The little girl is probably Link’s little sister, and the old man is most likely Link’s father or uncle. Maybe the reason they were never mentioned in the game’s final build is because Nintendo thought the idea of Link’s family dying was just too dark and depressing. After all, if they weren’t killed during the events of the past, they undoubtedly would have perished of old age by the time Link awakens 100 years later.

In November 2018, Nintendo released an English translation of Masterworks internationally for about $30 — now renamed Creating a Champion. But what’s weird is that this picture of Link’s family was mysteriously omitted from the English version of the book! In its place, a copy of the game’s map was included — a map that already appeared on another page.

I can’t think of any reason why an art book that includes scrapped concepts would have cut out some of the art in the English version. Nothing else was removed. Was the omission an accident, or was it intentional? Nintendo hasn’t addressed the issue, and neither has the publisher, Dark Horse Comics. So at this point, your guess is as good as mine as to why this page was removed from the book’s international release.

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