Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Cane of Somaria (or Fire Rod) in The Minish Cap

Okay, this is no news at all, but still an interesting story. In the European version of The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap the description text of the Ice Wizzrobe figurine says:

"They're weak against fire, so hit them with your Fire Rod!"

Cool... wait, WHAT?! What Fire Rod? Since I played the European version, you can imagine, that I was pretty confused back then when the game was released, because there is no Fire Rod in the final game. The text was even corrected in the US version, which came out later than the European version (doesn't happen often). However, ZeldaLover122 has a video at Youtube showing us some hacked weapons including the beta Fire Rod:



It creates bugged square sprites. Which looks like it was obviously not supposed to be a simple Fire Rod, but a Cane of Somaria! Like the version in Four Swords Adventures, that was an upgrade for the Fire Rod.

The Cane of Somaria made its first appearence in A Link to the Past, where you could create blocks, that can be picked up and thrown, and sometimes platforms with it. It also shot four magic projectiles in each direction, when you detonated the blocks by striking the rod again. The same version was also used in the BS Zelda Ancient Stone Tablets. The next game using the Cane of Somaria was Oracle of Ages, but here you could only create blocks and not use it as a weapon. The most powerful version of this item, however, was introduced in Four Swords Adventures and was an upgrade for the normal Fire Rod. You were able to use it as a flame thrower by holding the button, but you could also create blocks and platforms and the blocks would send fireballs in all four directions, as soon as the player lets them disappear. So far this was the last time, a Zelda fan got to use this item.

So, it's sad, that the Cane of Somaria didn't make it into the final version of The Minish Cap. Definitely would have been a great addition to the overall very nice collection of items in this game. But a combination of the Fire Rod and the Cane of Somaria could also be an interesting choice for the remaining items in Spirit Tracks.

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