Beta Forest

The beta forest is an area seen only in the E3 2005 trailer for Twilight Princess (and also certain screenshots released around that time) that never actually made it to the final game. The forest appears to be large and open in some areas, while densely populated with trees in others. It is unknown what the purpose or location of this forest was, or why it was taken out of the game. Perhaps coincidentally, there was also a beta form of the Lost Woods in Ocarina of Time that was also densely populated and radically different from the Lost Woods that made it into the game.

One of the screenshots featuring the beta forest featured a giant that roamed around. Also, in another screenshot Link was next to a hollowed out tree with a pack of cats. There was also another with link with a pack of dogs. This could mean that originally Twilight Princess was meant to be more animal based than the Twilight Princess we play today.

Possible Origins


The beta forest is theorized to be the original Faron Woods. Despite this, many fans have tried searching the game to possibly find a leftover remnant of this forest. These fans look in places you normally couldn’t reach in the game through average play, such as the backgrounds.

Inhabitants
This forest was revealed to contain many common enemies found in the game such as Bulblins, Stalfos, and Lizalfos. A statue, similar to the two found in the Sacred Grove, appeared as an enemy. An interesting note is that, with the use of hacking, the enemy music will play when you float near either of the statue's heads, as seen in the video on the left. A beta version of the Shadow Beast was also shown, looking nothing like the final form. Stalfos were also shown to be able to reassemble as Stalhounds upon destruction in one of the original trailers, which also revealed a beta version of Gohma.