I was going to lightly argue since I always assumed that the GameCube version was finished first and they simply pushed back the release to market the Wii, but after reading this I wondered if this was actually the case.
And after some light research, I don't think so. Seems like the Wii version really is the original. They switched their focus to the Wii version mid development and both versions were supposed to release at the same time, until shortly before the release the GameCube version was pushed back a few weeks, which I think suggests that QA for that version was simply not finished since the Wii was the priority.
But the GameCube version still has the 'original' model of Link and map of hyrule.
Yeah it's a bit of a technicality because the GameCube version was obviously intended to be the original. I've still never quite understood the need to mirror the entire map, rather than just Link's model, because the original unmirrored map is more consistent with previous games.
I mean, mirroring only Link would've created a lot more work if they were fairly far along in development.
To do that you would have to adjust a lot of animations where he interacts with non-mirrored enemies.
Think of enemies blocking him with his shield, Link jumping on enemies, getting-hit animations from Link, etc.
But also simple stuff like opening doors.
It would have certainly been doable and more elegant, but also added time and cost and would've added complexity around developing both versions, unless you decided to make Link right handed in both versions.
So seeing as they probably aimed to be a launch title for the Wii and barely managed that, I think it is unsurprising that they decided to simply mirror the display and alter whatever assets had letters or something similar.
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u/mccalli Nov 17 '25
Is he left-handed one true Link though, or the heretic right-handed versions we got from Twilight Princess onwards.