Nintendo 64 Portal Tech Demo

The "Portal Tech Demo" was a 3D demo created by programmer Giles Goddard on the Nintendo 64 hardware. The tech demo was created as part of the R&D process for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Overview


In describing the tech demo, Goddard stated: "Recently, I found an old directory of source code that I sort of backed up and it was [...] Hyrule Castle. I was doing all these experiments, like you could have a portal where you look through, go in, and then you get teleported to a different part of the map. You know, you could see through a door to a different part of the map, and walk through it, and then walk back through it. It was R&D for the game, basically. It was, 'what could we do with the hardware on the N64,' and this was basically a demo of actual portals you could see through to other parts of the map."

The tech demo was developed prior to the release of. It is unknown whether the code written by Goddard was ever utilized in a commercial Nintendo game.

Goddard, who was the programmer that designed the interactive Mario face in Super Mario 64, was also responsible for the programming of the Zelda tech demo shown off at the 1995 Space World event, which he created prior to the Portal tech demo. After his work on the two Zelda tech demos, Goddard went on to serve as the main programmer on 1080° Snowboarding.