
The bookstore Hat Adult walks out of is named the “Time’s End bookstore”. Nichols, the games 3D Art Director, revealed that originally, if the player chose to give Mustache Girl the one time piece at the end of the game, an alternate ending would occur where the ship wouldn’t have enough fuel to get back home, Hat Kid would be forced to walk home, becoming Hat Adult by the time she arrived, after which, an adult Mustache Girl would appear and give the one Time Piece back. It would have presumably been used in the Subcon forest if it made it to the final game. It was a placeholder for that part of the game until they could find a more fitting song. this song was a placeholder called "Subcon Forest Masked".
In the files of the Alpha Build, there is an audio track that seems to be Hat Adult singing. If you have not completed the game and prefer to learn the story yourself, it is recommended you not read this section. This page contains spoilers for A Hat in Time. Her model and animations can be found in the final game’s files and even still has some working code, albeit depreciated. After the Beta, it was ultimately decided that Hat Adult just didn’t work and, as a result, she was cut. However, it was a lot of work to get Hat Adult working properly, and when they did and had her tested, playtesters responded negatively, and told the team they “missed” playing as the young Hat kid.
The player would be allowed to play as her along with Hat Kid. Jonas explained that after a “time branching” mechanic was scrapped, the team conceptualized Hat Adult as a way to represent alternate timelines.
In an interview with Beta64, when asked about what happened to Hat Adult and her significant role, Jonas Kærlev confirmed that she was planned and then scrapped. However, Hat Adult was never seen in any further materials, and ultimately never appeared in the final game. Jonas would later tell Zelda Universe in an interview in 2014 that Hat Adult would play a significant role, similar to Adult Link in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and told the interviewer that he hoped to reveal more about her soon. It is unknown whether or not Hat Adult was ever supposed to equip certain hats, as in the brief playable segment there are no hats in the menu.
All Hat Adult can do in this section is walk around. Hat Adult appears in a brief playable section at the end of the playable Alpha and Beta, walking out of a bookstore in a city. Her hat is similar to the rare version of the kid's hat, only significantly shorter. She wears a woman's wool blazer with gold buttons, and a yellow scarf instead of a cape. Hat Adult, of course, resembles an adult Hat Kid. Apphia Yu Hat Adult is an adult version of Hat Kid that was scrapped from the game.