Games that Never Were: The Legend of Zelda: Mystical Seed of Courage

In 2001, Nintendo and Capcom released a pair of excellent Zelda games for the Game Boy Color. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages were both praised for offering a great deal of exciting combat, difficult puzzles, and many other features that Zelda fans have grown to love. The two games were also special in that they incorporated a password system in that passwords gained from one game could be used in the other to unlock new story elements, items, and more. At one point, the two games were actually intended to be part of a trilogy known in the United States as the Mystical Seed series. The third game, known as The Legend of Zelda: Mystical Seed of Courage, was intended to interact with the other two games before it was canceled in favor of just having two games in the series released simultaneously. Let me give you some information about this unreleased Zelda game.

As Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages had Din and Nayru, respectively, as the oracles who had to be rescued, Mystical Seed of Courage had Farore as the oracle, though it is unknown if she would have likewise been abducted. The game would have involved time travel, and there would be puzzles that could only be solved during a specific time of day. Presumably, the days would not pass in real time similar to the 3D Zelda games. Meanwhile, Oracle of Ages was originally intended to have puzzles based on colors rather than those involving traveling back and forth through time. Following Mystical Seed of Courage's cancellation, Oracle of Ages adapted the time travel feature, but scrapped the idea of solving puzzles at a certain time of day. Meanwhile, Farore would ultimately appear in both Ages and Seasons as a girl who would give Link items when she was given passwords from one of the two games.

Perhaps at an early phase of development, Link was to have gone off to retrieve the eight pieces of the Triforce of Power scattered throughout the land of Hyrule so that he may defeat Ganon and save Zelda once more. Doing this would require Link to find the Rod of the Seasons, which had been hidden in another dimension, as the order of Hyrule's seasons had been altered. Link would have received aid from the Tree of Mystery (perhaps later called the Maku Tree) and the mysterious Uura tribe (possibly another name for what became the Subrosians from Seasons). The storyline would also introduce Ricky the Kangaroo and Maple the Witch, two characters who would appear in the released Oracle games, and mention that the rod would, as in Seasons, be used to uncover secrets in different seasons. Ultimately, many elements from this story were adapted into Seasons and Ages, while a few were not. The Triforce of Power was scrapped as a major plot element, while the Twinrova witches and their associates General Onox and the sorceress Veran replaced Ganon as the main antagonists for much of the series, and Zelda would not actually be abducted until one would play a password-linked version of either game.

While no screen shots of the game exist, it is presumed that the box art would have been green to match Farore's hair, much like the Seasons box art was red to match Din's hair and the Ages box art was blue, which was the color of Nayru's hair. The final name of the game would have been called Oracle of (?), with the question mark symbolizing Farore's unknown title. She would become the Oracle of Secrets in the other two games, though it is unknown if she would maintain that title in the unreleased game or if she would be given a new title. Also, Farore's Book of Secrets would, like the rod from Seasons and the harp in Ages, be a major plot item, but how it would have been used is unknown. The book, which was also called "Farore's Memory," would appear in the released games as a item that would keep track of any passwords that Link had discovered.

As to why the game was ultimately canceled, it was decided early on that the games would be linked somehow so that new features would be unlocked in all three games. When the password feature was adapted, it was discovered that it would be complicated to link the three games together. In order to save themselves, and players, from this potential hassle, they would have to drop one of the three games and release the other two. That way, it would be easier for players to simply link two games together and unlock features in each one. It was because of this decision that Mystical Seed of Courage was canceled, while production on the remaining two games was eventually completed.

From what little information is known about the game, Mystical Seed of Courage was shaping up to be another solid Zelda game. Having to solve puzzles at different times of the day would have been interesting, and presumably many of the features that made the released Oracle games so great would have been incorporated, as well. I could just imagine fighting my way through dungeons, or riding on animal friends, or collecting the elusive rings, all in this unreleased game. I agree that it may have been a bit much to link three games instead of two, though it would have been fun to find out what additional features would have been unlocked in all three games. Unfortunately, Capcom has since stopped developing Zelda games, so it seems that we will never see even a glimpse of what might have been the unreleased Oracle game from them.

Not many Zelda games have gone unreleased, but Mystical Seed of Courage is a notable exception. From its little-known, but fascinating, history, we can see that Nintendo and Capcom intended to make it into a masterpiece. While we will never know exactly what the game would have been like nor will we learn what would result from receiving and using passwords in that game, we can be reassured that it was shaping up to be another wonderful Zelda game. I know I would have wanted to check it out myself, but at least we still have lots of other great Zelda games to check out now and in the future. Now if only Capcom would develop more Zelda games to see what else they can do with the celebrated series...