At the end of 1997, readers of the first issue of Nintendo’s official magazine in France received a VHS promoting the Nintendo 64. Titled “Nintendo 64, vous n’en reviendrez pas,” the tape presented footage from several early console games and ended with what it described as the first images of a new Zelda adventure.
The cassette opened with roughly ten minutes of Super Mario 64 footage, followed by clips from games including Wave Race 64, Mario Kart 64, Star Fox 64, Turok, GoldenEye 007 and Yoshi’s Story. At a time when the internet was not yet widely available to the public, the video offered many players a chance to see these titles in motion.
Its closing segment showed a beta version of Zelda 64, later released as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The footage included Stalfos with designs that differed from the final game, an unfinished version of Ganondorf’s castle and blobs that could be split in two. It also showed more numerous and detailed Link animations than those in the finished release.
The tape’s brief clips were not a conventional trailer, but the early real-time 3D footage made a strong impression on players. Zelda appeared again in a later VHS, “le catalogue officiel 98,” which featured a more fully developed trailer. Together, the two videos became an early part of Ocarina of Time’s story for many French fans.
Sources: Jeuxvideo.com.