The Nintendo 64 was Nintendo's main console at the time the Internet was starting to appear in homes across the world. It's for this reason that many Nintendo 64 games had urban legends spread about their deleted content and secrets that could only be accessed through difficult means.

There are games like GoldenEye 007, Super Mario 64, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that had entire websites dedicated to the fake secrets that had been spread about the game, such as the All-Bonds mode in GoldenEye (though this was based on a cut concept), the presence of Luigi in Super Mario 64, and being able to find the Triforce in Ocarina of Time. 

It turns out that there was more truth to these urban legends than people realized, as the classic games in the Nintendo 64 library are filled with cut content that was never finished and wasn't discovered until years later.

We are here today to learn the secrets of the hidden content within the best games on the Nintendo 64 - from the mystery of the Citadel in GoldenEye 007, to the spaceship that is hidden within Ocarina of Time.

Here are Twenty Amazing Things Deleted From N64 Games (That Would Have Changed Everything)

20 GoldenEye Has A Cut Multiplayer Level That Took Years To Find

via goldeneyeforever

Fans of GoldenEye 007 discovered the name of an unused level within the code of the game. This level was called the Citadel and there didn't seem to be a way to access it through normal means or through cheats.

The people at Pop Fiction broke down the mystery of the Citadel, as fans discovered a way to load it using a cheat device when it was discovered that you needed to load the assets of the level into the Crucible stage.

The Citadel was revealed to be an early test level for the multiplayer that was scrapped by the developers but was left within the code of the game in an unfinished state.

19 Rare Included A Feature Into Several Of Their Games That Would Have Involved Swapping Cartridges

via: rare.wikia.com

Rare was one of the most prominent third-party developers for the Nintendo 64 and they were given early access to the hardware of the system.

The original intention for the Nintendo 64 was that cartridges could be swapped in order to unlock content in different games. Rare planned to include this feature into Banjo-Kazooie, where it was known as "Stop 'n' Swap" and would unlock content in other Rare games.

The hardware of the Nintendo 64 was revised so that cartridge swapping was no longer allowed, but elements of Stop 'n' Swap remained in Banjo-Kazooie and went unused in Banjo-Tooie and even Donkey Kong 64. 

18 Body Harvest Has A Cut Alien Tank

via.NintendoLife

Body Harvest is an action-adventure game that is notable for being one of the earliest games ever made by the people who would go on to create the Grand Theft Auto series.

The story of Body Harvest involved a time-traveler who was sent back to the present day to stop an alien invasion, which meant fighting alien vehicles.

It was intended for the player to be able to ride around in an Alien Tank, which would have had hovercraft capabilities, but it was never fully coded into the game and can only be used in an incomplete state.

17 Banjo-Tooie Had A Cut Multiplayer Mode

via: youtube.com

Banjo-Tooie almost had an extra mode called Bottles' Revenge that would have allowed a second player to join the game.

Bottle's Revenge would allow the second player to possess enemies in the game world so that they could attack Banjo. If they defeated Banjo, then they would take over his body and be able to continue the game, with the other player now being able to possess enemies.

The developers weren't able to finish Bottles' Revenge in time, but it can still be accessed in a mostly complete form using cheating devices.

16 Command & Conquer Has Cut Levels (Some Of Which Were Exclusive To Other Systems)

Command & Conquer And Red Alert Being Remastered By Former Westwood Studios Devs
via Polygon
Command & Conquer And Red Alert Being Remastered By Former Westwood Studios Devs

You would think that the Nintendo 64 would be unsuitable for strategy games, but it received some great ports of Command & Conquer and Starcraft. 

The various ports of Command & Conquer had unique levels in order to entice players to double dip.

It turns out that the Nintendo 64 version of Command & Conquer includes all of the exclusive maps from the PlayStation version of the game and all of the levels from the Covert Operations expansion pack that was only released for the PC version of the game.

15 Conker's Bad Fur Day Showed Pikachu Being Dealt With By The Mob

via: youtube.com

Conker's Bad Fur Day parodied numerous movies and video games, most notably Saving Private Ryan, but there was one cameo that was too much for the people at Nintendo and they forced Rare to remove it from the game.

There was originally going to be a scene where a mobster beats up a Pikachu, which is obscured from view except for its tail. When it runs away, the mobster talks about having to catch them all.

It was believed that this scene had been totally removed from the game, but fans managed to piece it together again.

14 Diddy Kong Racing Was Meant To Feature Sea Monsters

via: youtube.com

Mario Kart has ruled the kart-racing genre for years now, but Rare attempted to challenge the biggest kart-racing franchise on its home machines with the release of Diddy Kong Racing, which tried to feature more vehicle types and more modes than offered by Mario Kart. 

There is an unused model for a sea monster within the files of Diddy Kong Racing, which suggests that they were planned for one of the Sherbet Island stages.

13 Donkey Kong 64 Has Unused Bonus Games

Via legendsoflocalization.com

One of the main complaints about Donkey Kong 64 is that there are far too many bonus games and collectibles to find, as well as numerous backtracking with different characters.

Donkey Kong 64 almost included even more unnecessary content, as there are unused variants of all of the bonus games hidden within its filesThese maps may have come from an earlier stage in development, as some of them include varying difficulties of the stages that appeared in the game, so they may have been used for testing purposes.

12 F-Zero X Has All Of The Content From The Disk-Drive Expansion

Via fzerocentral.org

The Nintendo 64DD was an add-on for the system that was intended to be able to expand the content of the Nintendo 64 library. The failure of the system in Japan led to the demise of several games, most notably the original version of Mother 3. 

F-Zero X had a 64DD add-on game called F-Zero Expansion Kit, which had new vehicles and a track creator.

Fans have discovered that all of the new content from the F-Zero Expansion Kit was already included in F-Zero X and all the Expansion Kit did was enable it.

11 GoldenEye Has A ZX Spectrum Emulator Built Into It

via: youtube.com (zxspectrumgames4)

The ZX Spectrum was a popular home computer in the UK that also had the capacity to play games. Rare used to be called "Ultimate Play the Game", and they developed multiple titles for the ZX Spectrum.

One of the developers at Rare wanted to know if the Nintendo 64 could emulate the ZX Spectrum (possibly for some sort of game collection in the future) and managed to build one into GoldenEye 007. The emulator is fully functional but games can only be added through homebrew methods.

It's impossible to access the ZX Spectrum emulator in GoldenEye through normal means, but it can be loaded with the aid of a cheating device.

10 Conker's Bad Fur Day Had A Cutscene Removed From The Game

Conker's Bad Fur Day
via: pinterest.com

Pikachu wasn't the only character cut from Conker's Bad Fur Day at the request of Nintendo. A scene displaying a wounded soldier also had to be removed from the game.

There is an unused cutscene in Conker's Bad Fur Day where Conker would have stumbled across a live soldier being operated on by one of the Tedi monsters. This scene was cut from the final version of the game, but it can still be found in one of the demos shown to the public.

9 Jet Force Gemini Has Graphics Modes That Can Only Be Used With A Cheating Device

via: ign.com

The Nintendo 64 existed in an era when developers first started to implement different resolution options for games. This was actually a major feature of the Expansion Pak, which often offered higher resolution and better textures at the cost of frame rate.

Jet Force Gemini was planned to have several options for higher resolution graphics, but the code that allows you to access them cannot be found in the game. You have to use a cheating device to access the higher resolution modes in Jet Force Gemini.

8 Kamek Was Planned To Appear In Mario Kart 64

via mario.wikia.com

Mario Kart 64 underwent several different changes during development, with its name switching twice. It went from Super Mario Kart R to Mario Kart 64 R, the R was later dropped altogether.

One of the biggest differences between Super Mario Kart R and Mario Kart 64 is that Kamek the wizard was intended to be a playable character, but he was switched out during development for Donkey Kong. It's unknown why he was cut or why he still hasn't appeared in any of the later Mario Kart games.

7 Perfect Dark Was Going To Let You Use The Game Boy Camera To Add Photos Of Your Friends To The Game

Via gamesTM

Perfect Dark was intended to be the successor to GoldenEye 007, which meant that it included lots of multiplayer options.

The early promotional material for Perfect Dark promised something called the "PerfectHead" feature, which would allow players to take photos of people using the Game Boy camera, and upload them into the game with the Nintendo 64 Transfer Pak. This was so that they could be added to the character models in the game.

The people at Rare claimed that PerfectHead was too difficult to implement, so it was left unfinished.

6 Diglett Was Once Able To Use Acid In Pokémon Stadium

2- Diglett
Via: Pokémon Wiki

It's common for Nintendo to distribute Event Pokémon that know exclusive moves. These Pokémon are usually distributed online but they used to be given away at live events, which was the originally the only way you could acquire a Mew.

Pokémon Stadium has an unusual Event Pokémon programmed into the game. There is a Diglett that knows Acid at level one, which suggests that an Acid-using Diglett was planned to be distributed as an Event Pokémon at some point but was scrapped.

5 Final Smash Attacks Were Meant To Debut In The Original Super Smash Bros.

youtube.com (SuperSmashBrosWiki)

Super Smash Bros. Brawl introduced the concept of the Final Smash, which can be used by breaking an orb that randomly appears in stages and that gives you the power to pull off a powerful super move.

The concept of the Final Smash was actually planned for the original Super Smash Bros. game but it couldn't be implemented in time. There are audio files hidden within the game for Captain Falcon, Fox, Kirby, Ness, and Pikachu as they perform their cut Final Smash.

4 Yoshi Was Going To Have A Bigger Role In Super Mario 64

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It's possible to find Yoshi in Super Mario 64, but you need to either find all of the hidden Stars or to pull off some fancy jumping moves in order to reach him at the top of the castle.

Yoshi doesn't have much of a role in Super Mario 64, but that wasn't always the case. There is an unused Yoshi Egg sprite hidden within the files of Super Mario 64 that hint that Yoshi had more to do in the game. Shigeru Miyamoto also confirmed that Yoshi had an event planned for the game but it was cut during development.

3 Turok The Dinosaur Hunter Was Almost Playable In WWF War Zone

via tcrf.net

The WWF/WWE games often feature a lot of cut characters, due to wrestlers leaving the company in real life and needing to be dummied out of the game.

One of the most unusual characters to ever be removed from a WWF/WWE game was Turok the Dinosaur Hunter, who can be found within the files of WWF War Zone. 

WWF War Zone was developed by Iguana Entertainment, who also worked on the Turok games, which is likely how the crossover happened. It's possible that the WWF complained about his inclusion, leading to him being removed.

via.ZeldaGamepedia

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time allowed you to switch between the young version of Link and the adult version of Link. This feature was scrapped in Majora's Mask, in favor of young Link being able to transform into different creatures using masks.

It seems that the adult version of Link was planned to appear in Majora's Mask at some point in development, as concept art for him was released in one of The Legend of Zelda artbooks.

It's likely that Link would also have used a mask to transform into his adult self.

1 An Arwing Can Be Found In The Files Of Ocarina Of Time

via: nintendo.co.uk

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was the first 3D game in the series, which meant that the developers needed to come up with a control scheme for Link to be able to fight and use his ranged weapon in a 3D environment.

One of the ways in which the developers tested the resources for flying enemies (most notably Volvagia) was by adding an Arwing from the Star Fox series as an enemy that Link can fight with his ranged weapons.

The Arwing was never meant to accessible by the player, but you can summon them at any time using a cheating device.