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The BS Legend of Zelda was a Japanese-only remake of the original Legend of Zelda. It was for a Super Famicom (The Japanese version of the SNES) addon, the Stellaview BS-X. It was unique in which it had certain newly-added visual effects, and also had a day/night system. It also had a special system in which the game changed quite a bit at certain times of the day. Examples include at one time of the day all enemies on screen turn into faries, and at another time, the Octorocks on screen would change into Blue Darknuts. Very interesting. If you notice in our screenshots, Link looks different. This is because the BS-X game didn't have Link (?!), it had their mascot, a baseball cap wearing boy. However, most recent ROMs of the game replace the baseball cap boy with Link. The graphics were amazing for their time! Thanks to Ganon's Tower for the screenshots.

Screenshots

Link getting the sword, and Link being healed by a fairy. Notice the player is a boy wearing a baseball cap.

Link at the starting point, nighttime, and Link preparing to fight Ganon.

Between 1990-1993, Nintendo wanted to create a CD-ROM addon for the SNES, and Phillips stepped in to help, since they already had developed the CD-i system, which stood for Compact Disc Interactive. Nintendo sold them some rights to a few of their characters, and this apparently included Link, Zelda, and Ganon. Bad mistake. When Nintendo realized this, they pulled out of the deal, but forgot about those rights they sold. So, legally, Phillips could create their own Zelda game. Even worse mistake (in most people's opinion). The Zelda CD-i games, as most people believed, were the worst of the games, but some of the rarest as well. There were 3 CD-i games; Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, and Zelda's Adventure. We have info on all three, thankfully.

The Faces of Evil was an odd game in which it had very cheesy animations (in many peoples opinion) that appear as if they were drawn in Microsoft Paint. Cheesy voice acting was also included. This game adapted the sidescrolling style of Zelda II, and ever since that game, Nintendo didn't quite like that, so this game got its terrible criticism probably from the same people who didn't like Zelda II. And a lot more people. But all the same, we move on to the story of the game: Link is bored; he's a hero looking for adventure. He complains to the king who in turn tells him "peace is a good thing..." and says Link should be happy. From this point, a highly predictable plot follows: Zelda goes missing, Link has to kill Ganon to get her back.

Screenshots

A cheesy shot of Link.

A shot of the gameplay in the overworld.

The Wand of Gamelon, released on the same day as The Faces of Evil, was reverse in plot in which you had to save Link from Ganon and you played as Zelda. The problem here is that King Harkinian went to the land of Gamelon to join forces with the Duke of Gamelon to face off with Ganon. The King and Duke are captured by Ganon, and when Link goes off to find him, he disappears as well. Now it's up to Zelda to save the King, and more importantly, Link. It used the same cheesy animation and sound from The Faces of Evil, and had a similar gameplay style.

Screenshots

A shot of Zelda in action

More ridiculous animation

Zelda's Adventure was completely different from the other CD-i games in which it used actual live action animation for the cutscenes, and used a top-down style like the original Zelda game. But when you went to the next screen, sometimes the CD-i would take up to 30 minutes to load it. Suprisingly, this was worth it because the graphics were pretty darn good, but the sound wasn't. It all starts when you get the magical rod, then you can kill the enemies, and this is where the fun begins. From there you can buy items such as the Boomerang and more. This was the rarest of all CD-i games, so if you can get your hands on any CD-i games, they're worth it for the true Zelda fan.

Screenshots

The live action Zelda

A gameplay shot from a shop