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The Legend of ZeldaCD-i games

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In the 1990s,Philips Interactive Mediapublished threeaction-adventure gamesbased onNintendo'sLegend of Zeldafranchise for itsCompact Disc-Interactive(CD-i) players. The first two,Link: The Faces of EvilandZelda: The Wand of Gamelon,were developed byAnimation Magicand released simultaneously on October 10, 1993,[1]andZelda's Adventurewas developed by Viridis and released on May 10, 1996.[2][3]The two latter entries are the first to featurePrincess Zeldaas the protagonist instead ofLink.Faces of EvilandWand of Gamelonuse theside-scrolling viewintroduced inZelda II: The Adventure of Link(1987), whileZelda's Adventurehas a top-down view reminiscent of theoriginal 1986 game.[1][4]All three arenon-canonto theZeldafranchise.[5]

Faces of Evil,Wand of Gamelon,andZelda's Adventurewere created afterPhilipssecured the rights to use Nintendo characters in CD-i games. They received little funding and development time, with Nintendo providing only cursory input. All three also dealt with the technical limitations of the CD-i due to it not being designed as a game console. On Philips' insistence, the games featured the CD-i's capabilities, includingfull-motion video(FMV) cinematics. The FMVs ofFaces of EvilandWand of Gamelonwere animated, whileZelda's Adventureused live-action FMVs.[4]

Concurrent with the low sales of CD-i consoles, the three games were not commercially successful.Faces of EvilandWand of Gamelonreceived mixed reviews at the time of their release,[6][7]whereas reception toZelda's Adventurewas mostly negative. Retrospective reviews, however,have panned all threefor their unintuitive level design and awkward control schemes. The FMVs ofFaces of EvilandWand of Gamelonalso received renewed criticism for their rough animation quality after they became widely available through video-sharing websites such asYouTube.Edgenoted thatZeldafans consider the CD-i games "tantamount to blasphemy".[8]

History

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Release timeline
CD-i games marked with an asterisk (*)
1986The Legend of Zelda(NES)
1987The Adventure of Link(NES)
1988
1989
1990
1991A Link to the Past(SNES)
1992
1993Link's Awakening(GB, GBC)
Link: The Faces of Evil*
Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon*
1994
1995
1996Zelda's Adventure*
1997
1998Ocarina of Time(N64)

In 1989,Nintendosigned a deal withSonyto begin development of aCD-ROM-based system known as theSNES-CD(also known as the "Nintendo Play-Station", with separated words) to be anadd-onto theSuper Nintendo Entertainment Systemthat would allow forFMVand larger games.[9][10]However, Nintendo broke the agreement and instead signed withPhilipsto make the add-on, which causedSonyto spin off their add-on into its own console called thePlayStation(with "PlayStation" as one word, as Nintendo owned the trademark "Play-Station" ).[4][9][11]After the poor reception of theSega Mega-CD,Nintendo scrapped the idea of making an add-on entirely.[9][10]As part of dissolving the agreement with Philips, Nintendo gave them the license to use several of their characters, includingLink,Princess Zelda,andGanon,for games on Philips's console called theCD-i,after the partnership's dissolution.[12]

Contracting out to independent studios, Philips subsequently used the characters to create three games for the CD-i, with Nintendo taking no part in their development except to give input on the look of the characters[10][13]based on the artwork from Nintendo's original two titles and that of their respective instruction booklets.[14]Philips insisted that the development studios utilize all aspects of the CD-i's capabilities includingFMV,[15]high-resolution graphics, and CD-quality music.[14]Because the system had not been designed as a dedicated video game console, there were several technical limitations, such as laggy controls (especially for the standard infrared controller),[15]and numerous problems in streaming-audio, memory, disc access, and graphics.[14]

The first two games were showcased at the 1993CESand surprised audiences with their degree of animation.[16]All the CD-i games inThe Legend of Zeldaseries were released afterLink's Awakeningbut beforeOcarina of Time,as illustrated in the timeline with the relevant games marked with asterisks.

Casting

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The majority of actors chosen for the series lived inNewburyport, Massachusetts.Jeffrey Rath and Bonnie Jean Wilbur were cast as Link and Zelda, while Mark Berry played Ganon. Wilbur's husband Paul Wann played various characters as well. The recording sessions were done in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts.[17]Rath and Wilbur later acknowledged in interviews that they did not see the finished product until years later.[18]

Video games

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Link: The Faces of Evil

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Main article:Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon

Paired withZelda: Wand of Gamelonin a simultaneous release,Link: The Faces of Evilrepresents the first of theZeldagames to be released by Philips for the CD-i. Following the traditional Link-saves-Zelda plotline,Faces of Evilwas patterned most closely upon Nintendo's previousside-scroller,Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.The game broke new ground in the video game industry by using outsourcedRussian animationto create all cutscenes,[14]and the game received mixed contemporary reception.[6][19]Modern criticism is almost universal in its harsh negativity toward the game and the animated cutscenes have become particular targets of derision.

Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon

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Main article:Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon

Reversing the traditional Link-saves-Zelda plotline,Wand of Gamelonstars Zelda as she adventures to rescue Link and her father the king who have not returned from their quest. As withFaces of Evil,the game was patterned most closely upon Nintendo's previousside-scroller,Zelda II: The Adventure of Link,and again features outsourced Russian animation for all cutscenes.[14]Despite the game's similarly mixed contemporary reception[7]along withFaces of Evil,modern critics have almost unanimously derided and ridiculed the game for its inability to live up to modern expectations with the animated cutscenes again having become a particular target of negative reception.

Zelda's Adventure

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Main article:Zelda's Adventure

Released nearly 8 months after the first twoZeldaCD-i games,Zelda's Adventurewas created by a different third-party developer, Viridis. The game again follows a nontraditional Zelda-saves-Link plotline, but it uses a different game engine thanFaces of EvilandWand of Gamelon.Whereas the first two CD-i games were patterned on the side-scrollingZelda II: The Adventure of Link,Zelda's Adventuretook the top-downThe Legend of Zeldaas its model.Zelda's Adventurefeatured FMV cutscenes, but rather than using drawn animation, the game used live-action scenes. Reception for the game was poor, and whereas some modern critics have given more nuanced reviews of the first two games, modern criticism forZelda's Adventureis unanimously negative.

References

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  1. ^abCowan, Danny (2006-04-25)."CDi: The Ugly Duckling".1UP.Archived fromthe originalon 2012-07-20.Retrieved2008-04-07.
  2. ^"The Scrapped NA Release".RetrievedMay 2,2024.The July 1994 issue of Computer and Video Games included a preview ofZelda's Adventure,where it gave a release date of August of the same year. Likewise, the August 1994 issue of the UK CD-i magazine had a review ofZelda's Adventure,which gave an October release date. Neither of these release dates stuck, and the game would be pushed back to early 1996. Had any of the releases happened, it's likely thatZelda's Adventurewould've been released in North America around the same time.
  3. ^CDi Magazine UK(Magazine). Haymarket Publishing. April 1996. p. 12.Out: 10/05
  4. ^abcKohler, Chris (2008-03-24)."Game|Life The Video, #7: Nintendo and CD-i".Wired.Archived from the original on April 1, 2009.Retrieved2008-04-07.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^McFerran, Damien (20 September 2013)."Surprise! Aonuma Doesn't Consider The CD-i Zelda Games To Be Canon, Either".Nintendo Life.Archivedfrom the original on 6 April 2018.Retrieved5 April2018.
  6. ^abECTS 93: CDi Philips - Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.Joystick. No.38. Pp.43. May 1993.
  7. ^Development Hell.Edge.No.120. Pg.81. February 2003.
  8. ^abcZelda Elements Staff (2008-01-01)."Overview: CDi Series".Zelda Elements. Archived fromthe originalon March 6, 2008.Retrieved2008-04-07.
  9. ^abcGameTrailers Staff (2006-10-22)."The Legend of Zelda Retrospective Zelda Retrospective Part 3".GameTrailers.Archivedfrom the original on 2008-03-19.Retrieved2008-04-07.
  10. ^GameSpy Staff (2008-01-01)."Nintendo: From Hero to Zero".GameSpy.Archived fromthe originalon 2008-04-04.Retrieved2008-04-07.
  11. ^Wilson, Mark (2007-06-05)."This Day in Gaming, June 5th".Kotaku.Archived fromthe originalon 2008-06-08.Retrieved2008-04-07.
  12. ^Zelda Elements Staff (2008-01-01)."Overview: Link: The Faces of Evil".Zelda Elements. Archived from the original on March 14, 2009.Retrieved2008-04-07.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  13. ^abcdeThe Making of... Zelda: 'Wand of Gamelon' & 'Link: Faces of Evil'.Retro Gamer.Issue 27. p. 52-57. August 2006.
  14. ^abZelda Elements Staff (2008-01-01)."Overview: Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon".Zelda Elements. Archived fromthe originalon February 20, 2008.Retrieved2008-04-07.
  15. ^Rodrigues, Iara, ed. "Game Plus: Multimídia - Zelda Ataca CDI".GamePower.No.16. Pg.45. October 1993.
  16. ^Samuel Clemens (July 10, 2022)."The Legend of Zelda: The Voice Behind the Character".Games Reviews.GR Media. Archived fromthe originalon July 11, 2022.RetrievedJuly 10,2022.
  17. ^Retroplayer (November 11, 2010)."An Interview with Jeffrey Rath".The Gaming Liberty.Archived fromthe originalon February 22, 2021.RetrievedJuly 5,2022.
  18. ^CD TESTS: Link The Faces of Evil.Joystick. No.44. Pg.192. December 1993.
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