Link's Awakening - "Millions of Polygons" dialogue [Archive]

Ed Oscuro

06-13-2005, 11:00 PM

Addendum: Link's Awakening came out in 1993 (original B&W version), and the PlayStation hit shelves in Japan around December 1994.

Alright, you all know the jelly critters that shock you if you hit them with your sword. Long ago I discovered that using magic powder on them will bring up the following dialogues (they'll change form slightly to resemble...something else...and can still shock you on contact, so be careful):

"Hey mon!"
"You know me, I like short
names the best"
"It can display millions of polygons at one time"
"I definitely need it, as soon as possible!"

Does anybody have an inkling as to what this is a reference to? I wouldn't imagine it's the PlayStation (remember that the N64 wasn't planned to exist at this time, and I'm also not sure about the PS, but that seems more likely as it was supposed to be an add-on to the SNES). The PlayStation, of course, can't display millions of polygons in any but the most carefully engineered of demonstrations (according to Wikipedia and rip-off sites, Sony apparently gave a figure of 1.5 million flat-shaded polygons, or 500,000 texture-mapped and light-sourced polys/second, but this isn't possible in normal conditions).

This is all rather amusing, in any case, given that Link's Awakening, while one of the best of the series' 2D outings, runs on a single, severely challenged Z-80 processor (try taking Bow Wow for a walk while taking out large swaths of grass - the game and sound will slow noticeably).

Jasoco

06-14-2005, 12:59 AM

Well, even though the game came out in 1993, I'm sure Nintendo still had its sights set on the future. All the sites I found via Google say it's probably a reference to the not yet named or designed or finished N64. There really isn't anything else it could refer to. At least the polyon part. I have no idea about the Short Names part.

And yes, seeing as the PSX was originally to be part of the SNES. Could the PSX add-on do polygons? I thought at the time it was originally just going to be Sega CD type FMV games? Also, by then wasn't the deal folded anyway? I would say it came about after Sony's fallout and before the N64 was known about.

I remember back then I didn't even know what a polygon was!

I'm going to safely say it was just a thinly veiled reference to Project Reality. (http://www.ibiblio.org/GameBytes/issue21/flooks/preality.html)

From NintendoLand (http://www.nintendoland.com/home2.htm?n64/n64.htm) [sic]

The N64 was released in June 23:rd 96 and later that year in the US, but the N64project started already in 1993 and was planned to be launched already back in 1995.

So apparently in 1993 Nintendo already had the N64 in development.

NE146

06-14-2005, 01:39 AM

I originally had the jap version and completed that. So when the english version came out I IMMEDIATELY bought it so I could see what the heck all the jap text I had been guessing had been saying... actually said. One of the things was the slime dudes text after the powder. I will say that in it's time, the ONLY thing on my mind that it could have possibly been referring to was indeed.. Nintendo's next generation console. Whatever it was to be called or what it was called in it's time.. I dunno. But what else could it be referring to? It's just hype for whatever they were going to release next.. without anything concrete on the table. :P

poopnes

06-14-2005, 02:59 AM

Well I never noticed the "It can display millions of polygons at one time" line before. I always thought you were getting the little guys high, and then they'd say "I need it mon". My poor little mind.

� Gideon �

06-14-2005, 03:21 AM

LOL. I first beat this game on the GBC, so the N64 had been out for a while; it was the first thing I thought of when that happened.

If it's not the N64, then it might be a parody of something that was lost in translation.

Gemini-Phoenix

06-14-2005, 03:49 AM

Link's Awakening came out way before the N64. The DX version (In colour) came out after the N64 - Which version are we talking about here? (I am assuming the very first original black & white version)

Are these also the only examples of text? Or are there others?

I did notice that in the instruction manual for this game, there is a reference to what would seem like an empty bottle for storing faeries (Like in most other Zelda games) - But in over ten years of playing the game through and through, I have never ever gotten the dialog which appears in the instruction manual...

This is my favourite Zelda and GameBoy game of all time, and one of my top 5 best ever games in total. Yet I can't help thinking that it still holds secrets that I have not yet discovered - Despite having 100 perceted it many times...

Jasoco

06-14-2005, 03:58 AM

Link's Awakening came out way before the N64. The DX version (In colour) came out after the N64 - Which version are we talking about here? (I am assuming the very first original black & white version)Yes, we know, but as I mentioned, the SNES' true 3D successor was already in development by the time Link's Awakening was released. (It was originally supposed to come out in 1995. Too bad it didn't, things might be different now.)

I did notice that in the instruction manual for this game, there is a reference to what would seem like an empty bottle for storing faeries (Like in most other Zelda games) - But in over ten years of playing the game through and through, I have never ever gotten the dialog which appears in the instruction manual...Nintendo Power pointed this out a while ago. Apparently, bottles were supposed to be in the game, but they were removed between the time the screenshots for the manual were taken and the game actually came out. Stuff like that happens all the time. They take shots of beta versions, but forget to NOT use them when the game comes out, or they may have printed the manuals early and well, why reprint them when it's only one screenshot? ;)

One of my favorites is on the back of the Super Mario Bros. 3 box. Remember the non-existant flying buzzy beetles level? They ended up only on one level, in the sky, but the other level that took place on the ground with them in it was taken out. Yet the screenshot remains.

Ed Oscuro

06-14-2005, 03:37 PM

The original B&W version is what I'm talking about (it's in the Mysterious Woods - they're a little bit mysterious - and to the right of this first critter you can pull the trick on you'll find the potion shop where you can turn the mushroom into magic powder (interesting side note: if you get the magic powder another way before picking up the mushroom, said mushroom disappears, and maybe the powder replaces mushroom in your inventory). I'm not sure if this only happens with this one critter, but s/he's pretty conveniently placed as one of the first enemies you can see after getting the powder, and one you can't really kill until later (due to the electric shock).

For some reason I keep confusing Link to the Past's release date with that of Link's Awakening - I think LA came out in 1991 often, dunno why (I know LttP came out first). About time to get that cleared up in my head. That *does* change the issue substantially, since I think that'd be after the time Nintendo broke off from Sony, and probably Philips, too.

Aussie2B

06-14-2005, 03:55 PM

I often get the dates mixed up too, for some reason.

I don't think I've ever seen that dialogue before. Never bothered to try sprinkling them over and over.

Well... Nintendo 64 is a short name for a console. :P And many gamers felt like they definitely needed it as soon as possible, hehe.

Jasoco

06-14-2005, 03:57 PM

It seems to be explained pretty well on this page:
http://www.nintendoland.com/snes/snescdr.htm

As long as that story's actually true. I know rumors like to float around.

What I didn't know was that the "CD" expansion for the SNES wasn't going to be just plain CD's. They were special CD's in a plastic casing that held a memory chip to hold saved games and data. Neato! If it's true.

Boy would I like to get my hands on those prototypes. Working or not, they'd be a Nintendo Fanboy's wet dream.

Ed Oscuro

06-14-2005, 04:06 PM

I often get the dates mixed up too, for some reason.
I've gotten better so you don't have to beat my false impressions out of me in heated forum debate, but yeah, I would've made a much more accurate post had I remembered the date.

I don't think I've ever seen that dialogue before. Never bothered to try sprinkling them over and over.
You only need to sprinkle it once; you just walk up to them and hit your use key. Tricky to avoid swinging your sword and get shocked, just a little.

Well... Nintendo 64 is a short name for a console.
Hmm, at the time LA came out it would've been - if anything - the Ultra. Unless they changed names more than once.

@ Jasoco: Yeah, that's some of the information I've been assuming is true, though I read a different page's version (might have some slight differences). Definitely worth reading to get the gist of it. I need to look up dates for the Sony/N breakup, and the Nintendo/CD-i separation - Nintendo and Philips were pretty much seperated before the CD-i Zelda games came out, though.

Lady Jaye

06-14-2005, 04:16 PM

Like Ed Oscuro said, even if the reference was to what became the N64, it definitely wasn't known as the N64, but rather the Ultra64 (look at vintage Nintendo Power issues, and you'll see references to Ultra 64). It's short indeed...

Jasoco

06-14-2005, 04:35 PM

Back then it wasn't even known as the Ultra64. Remember? It was referred to as "Project Reality". They had no idea what it would be called as it was still in beginning stages.

I don't think the "I like short names" thing even refers to the same thing. For one thing, the "Hey mon" part obviously doesn't, so why should the "Short names" part? As well as the "Need it as soon as possible." These could refer to anything.

Hell, THESE could all just be sound bites from inside Nintendo. I can totally picture the Project Reality team saying each of these things. Maybe there was a Jamacan guy on the team who used to call everyone "Mon". The head of the team could have said the "Soon as possible" thing often to get his team to finish parts of the code. The "Millions" part is obviously one of those tech speak things that came up at the meeting. And "short names", well, maybe his name was "Albert and he wanted everyone to call him, wait for it....

"Al"

Things like these are called "Inside Jokes". The general public will never fully understand it, it's usually just something people on the inside will get. It's like "K-E-I-HOLY CRAP, Z! LOOK OUTSIDE!" None of y'all will get that. ;)

These are my speculations, and I stand by them having just came up with them not two seconds ago. 8-)

MegaDrive20XX

06-14-2005, 06:45 PM

This really makes me want to play Link's Awakening again, just to see these messages and how they relate to other things...

Yet this game was released in 1993 (Zelda Link's Awakening, that is). A word like "Polygon" wasn't really a house hold name at that time...Except for early Virtual Reality concepts

Milk

06-14-2005, 09:09 PM

I took the "short names" dialogue to be a reference to the character limit for your player's name.

Ed Oscuro

06-14-2005, 10:07 PM

A word like "Polygon" wasn't really a house hold name at that time...
Well, in terms of computer programming, no...

Link's Awakening wasn't developed by your average household, was it? Of course Nintendo had been experimenting with 3D quite a bit by this time.

As for "hey mon," well, it could be they spiffed up the Japanese dialogue. Looks like a standard wacky greeting to me.

Push Upstairs

06-15-2005, 12:23 AM

As for "hey mon," well, it could be they spiffed up the Japanese dialogue. Looks like a standard wacky greeting to me.

Or someone just loved that "In Living Color" skit entitled "Hey Mon!" LOL

davidbrit2

06-15-2005, 04:02 AM

Gemini-Phoenix

06-16-2005, 02:58 AM

I'm willing to bet this will all make a little more sense if someone can get us screen grabs of the dialog from the Japanese version of the game. No doubt it'll just be simple Kana. If I can't translate that... Heh.

Why the Japanese version? Does this not occur in US / UK versions?

If it does occur on English versions, I could play the game through right now if you like to the point where such occurances happen, and take some screen grabs of them.

I am assuming at this point that this happens simply by sprinkling magic dust onto a Slime (Or are they Chu's?) - If so, that means it could occur as early as right near the beginning of the game...

More info please

Gemini-Phoenix

06-16-2005, 03:15 AM

Here you go. I have all the examples!

They are from the DX version, but it's still the same I guess.

http://img293.echo.cx/img293/1448/zeldaheymon6zn.th.jpg (http://img293.echo.cx/my.php?image=zeldaheymon6zn.jpg)

http://img63.echo.cx/img63/1418/zeldamillionsofpolygonsi2kp.th.jpg (http://img63.echo.cx/my.php?image=zeldamillionsofpolygonsi2kp.jpg) http://img63.echo.cx/img63/6065/zeldamillionsofpolygonsii7yh.th.jpg (http://img63.echo.cx/my.php?image=zeldamillionsofpolygonsii7yh.jpg)

http://img63.echo.cx/img63/2541/zeldaneediti0kc.th.jpg (http://img63.echo.cx/my.php?image=zeldaneediti0kc.jpg) http://img63.echo.cx/img63/4976/zeldaneeditii4ls.th.jpg (http://img63.echo.cx/my.php?image=zeldaneeditii4ls.jpg)

http://img40.echo.cx/img40/2262/zeldashortnamesi7wk.th.jpg (http://img40.echo.cx/my.php?image=zeldashortnamesi7wk.jpg) http://img63.echo.cx/img63/8710/zeldashortnamesii2jo.th.jpg (http://img63.echo.cx/my.php?image=zeldashortnamesii2jo.jpg)

The-Bavis

06-16-2005, 08:28 AM

Lady Jaye

06-16-2005, 08:56 AM

Yeah, there might have been something lost in translation... heck, the "mon" part may just be a simple typo whereas it shoud have read "man"...

@Davidbrit (or anyone else who can read kana): how about just playing the game in emulation to see what shows up? That's what I'd do if I were at home right now...

Gemini-Phoenix

06-16-2005, 08:59 AM

I was wondering - Is this the only kind of creature which does this? A lot of other enemies catch on fire, so I can rule them out - But are there any others throughout the game who may sprout some random bollocks just like this?

I am thinking that perhaps the dialog is not complete, and there may be more elsewhere in the game which sheds some light on the subject.

I can't imagine Nintendo putting it in there just to not make any sense.

And the "Millions of polygons" sentence is far from plucked out of thin air either. At that point in time, it could only have had limited meanings...

And what is that which the creature turns into? It's bizarre, yet is still fairly hard to talk to it, as it zaps you still if you get too close...

Ed Oscuro

06-16-2005, 09:10 AM

Yeah, there might have been something lost in translation... heck, the "mon" part may just be a simple typo whereas it shoud have read "man"...
Nope, not possible. The quality of the translation and writing for Link's Adventure shows that they'd improved their localization process by quite a bit. This was post-Earthbound, as well, which was one title where Nintendo of Japan realized that they wanted to smooth out the localization process by not having elements (blood or "questionable" religious elements) that would need to be taken out of domestic US releases.

Lady Jaye

06-16-2005, 09:36 AM

It could still be a typo... even good translators can let one pass through unnoticed, sometimes...

Ed Oscuro

06-16-2005, 09:49 AM

Sure.

Gemini-Phoenix

06-16-2005, 10:10 AM

I'll play more of the game later on, and test this out on other creatures - As well as other ones which look the same.

A tip for the rest of you who may be struggling to gt them to talk... It is the ones which electrify you when you hit them. You need to sprinkle some dust on them to make them change into the different shape creature, and then de-select your sword so that you can use the "Talk" command when you are close enough (To minimize the risk of actually hitting it)

Be warned though - They still take away hearts if you get too close...

grayrobertos

06-16-2005, 03:11 PM

some one get on the case of translating the original then im interested now.

Ed Oscuro

06-16-2005, 03:28 PM

some one get on the case of translating the original then im interested now.
Yeah, I thought of that too. You wouldn't have to play too much of it...COME ON, HELP! :p

sharc

06-16-2005, 04:29 PM

i'll be a huge nerd and throw out that the critters that those jelly blobs turn into in link to the past and link's awakening are called potatoheads.

i read a little too much of my lttp guide when i was a kid. :/

anyway, this sounds kind of like the chris houlihan room in link to the past; an obscure reference squirrled away in the depths of the game that the average player would never really run into, and adds nothing to your experience except the knowledge that you've found something few others have ever seen.

it does sound like some ultra 64 advertising hype though. it could be feasible given the timeframe; i think link's awakening came out like 93 and the n64 came out 96? i do remember seeing project reality stuff in nintendo power long before it came out, and it was certainly being worked on before that article appeared. given its lack of any relevance to the rest of the game, that line of dialogue could have been added anytime up to like the day before it shipped. :P

-sharc

The Sage of Sega

06-16-2005, 05:19 PM

The-Bavis

06-16-2005, 06:00 PM

Jasoco

06-16-2005, 06:58 PM

DAN! I loved Dan back in the day! He had the "Ask Dan" column in the mid 90's. And once in a while would put a video of his column on the promo VHS tapes Nintendo would release.

Apparently there was also an "Evil Dan" or something. One reader wrote in once and on the video Dan called his bad writing out. "Dear Dan, you are so eval."

I hope that video's on one of the tapes I have and still works. I really want to get that digitized to DVD. Maybe onto a video file.

BTW: Dan did the voice of "The last metroid is in captivity...the galaxy is at peace" at the beginning of Super Metroid. As well as the "Emergency!" message while the Arwings are taking off in Star Fox.

And according to The place in which fanboys roam (http://forums.nintendo.com/nintendo/board/message?board.id=np_po&message.id=2766948#M2766948), Dan is an Admin at the Nintendo Forums. So venture in there and contact him!
http://forums.nintendo.com/nintendo/view_profile?user.id=205 (Apparently he still is there despite what the thread says.)

Anyway, back on topic. I really gotta try to find the Houlihan room.
http://www.eeggs.com/items/26809.html

@Sage of Sega: Are you using the right game? I just tried the GBColor version of Awakening DX and didn't get that message. I got the reqular messages. Are you talking about Link to the Past GBA?

ubersaurus

06-16-2005, 07:06 PM

Just out of curiosity, I tried the trick on the GBA version and the little weiner-thing said "tra-la-la, look for Sashrala". Obviously if it was a N64 reference they would have omitted it in the modern port, so this makes the theory much more feasible.

That's a port of the SNES one, and that saying is the exact same in that version as well. It's a reference to the character in the game.

Ed Oscuro

06-17-2005, 11:49 AM

I was googling and stuff about this and found that Dan Owsen did the translation for this game. I guess he used to write a Q/A column for Nintendo.com. Maybe someone still knows how to write him and get some input?
Wow, I was wondering if Dan came into the picture somehow! Yeah, I'll have to see if I can't contact him. That'd be great.

Aussie2B

06-17-2005, 02:10 PM

Gemini-Phoenix

06-17-2005, 02:40 PM

Dan is an asshole, so you probably won't get any information out of him. :P He had a nervous breakdown and toasted the entire Nintendo BBS on a whim, and it took him years to finally get over it and create a new forum for the Nintendo site. I'm amazed he's still working for Nintendo.

Is that a fact, or just speculation?

I am sure he could answer our perplexing problem simply enough though... If anything - Breakdown or no breakdown...

poopnes

06-18-2005, 02:30 AM

Dan is an asshole, so you probably won't get any information out of him. :P He had a nervous breakdown and toasted the entire Nintendo BBS on a whim, and it took him years to finally get over it and create a new forum for the Nintendo site. I'm amazed he's still working for Nintendo.

Well if you had to deal with those Nintendo fanboys on a daily basis you'd go crazy too. =)