Before there was A Link Between Worlds, there was what you see above. It was the prototype that lead to A Link Between Worlds, but with Spirit Tracks-style Link. On top of that, this prototype was already using the wall-merge painting mechanic!

Miyamoto gave the go-ahead on the project, but just two weeks later the dev team got separated due to demand for devs on Wii U projects. The team members that left made sure to leave a note for the remaining Zelda devs, telling the that this painting idea was too good to pass up!