The Forgotten Zelda
This opening sequence will explain a LOT of your questions. Note the
live actors in the cinema sequences. The Wizard had some work ahead of himself: playing Link, and doing some of the musical score as well on his keyboard (which was not half bad)
Like many games of the mid 90s photos were taken and cropped out to make the sprites. A practice no longer used since the sega CD i believe. But that's not the only thing that will throw you into a fit of nostalgia.
And for those of you wondering what the philips CD-i was. Nintendo was at one point planning a cd drive for Super Nintendo. Nintendo backed out. Philips had the contract so they made 2 marios (only one was released) and 3 zeldas. However the livense on their videogame adaptation of the Crow was so delayed the system died without a killer app. It was aquired by sony who made a portable version but otherwise no success.
Ah the Philips CD-I Zelda, bane of the fanboy and mystery of the 90s. the other 2 were dramaticly bad childrens games. This was the Zelda for the seasoned Vet of the series. And it wasn't afraid to push limits. In fact it had some nearly freakish ideas implememnted on it the likes of which would make modern games seem simplistic and uninnovative.
Anyway now that you've been introduced let me begin the review.
Some gamers think Viridus is Dutch for Satan. It's actually the company (by company I mean three guys in a garage) who made the game.
It used Live people for the sprites as well, taking pictures of people in costumes
and using that as a sprite sheet. It had Beautiful backgrounds, and even cool
enemys, what they lacked in difficulty they made up for in speed an numbers. It even Had Morpha and some other classic zelda villains (though it was released befor Ocarina of Time so the villains have different names)
It starred Zelda rescuing Link, that's not a typo that IS the plot. What's worse? Link kinda looked like Tingle. The Wizard was a little to chubby to pull off Link convincingly as a sprite. To tell you the truth, It was it was actually a pretty darn good game especailly for it's time. Although it's minor drawbacks like hideous difficulty, bad voice acting, horrid load times that kicked in every time you moved to another area, really didn't hold to much back from it. The positively beautiful prerendered backgrounds you see after the first dungeon, and brillaint classic Zelda style (very reminiscant of, and of you ask me better than LoZ for NES)
I'm gonna insult and poke fun at it all the way through so don't let that deter you from buying it if you have a CD-I player and see the game cheap. Good luck finding it cheap though, the last 4 times it was on Ebay it sold for well over $200 dollars American.
The Story
So it starts out with this old guy (Saharshala or the old man for you fans) reading the Sunday paper.
http://www.quebecgamers.com/impressi...re/debut18.jpg
No news is good news I suppose. Note the misspelling of Ganon as Gannon in a game no less, just like the NES Zeldas. But of course according to
www.gannon-banned.com he is GANNON-BANNED. In case you haven't figured it out Tolemac is Camelot backwards. you'll find medieval refrences all through this game after all it IS European.
http://www.quebecgamers.com/impressi...re/debut19.jpg
So he gets out his trusty Cell Phone....I errr...uhhh...mean crystal, and calls up Zelda to send her on a quest to regain the celestial signs Ganon has stowed away in Dungeons and rescue Link. (She does owe him one)
http://www.quebecgamers.com/impressi...re/debut24.jpg
And he sends Zelda off with her trusty wand (which is basicly a sword) and a necklace so he can communicate with her.
http://www.quebecgamers.com/impressi...re/debut28.jpg
Get used to this loading screen. You'll be seeing lots of it.
SPOILERS
Well the ending I won't ruin with pics. mainly cause I got to wrapped up in it to hit print screen. Essentailly Zelda goes into the final dungeon, fights her way to a point where she must beat all the bosses over, and then fight Gannon himself. Who after he is defeated the Land turns into a lush green place full of happy people and animals that DON'T try and kill you. You really wish you could have explored THAT. And she takes back chubby link and walks hand in hand with Saharshala's thanks.
END SPOILERS
The Gameplay
Aside from the frustrating difficulty of lots of high speed enemies, and hideously unresponsive controls it plays pretty darn good. It's most reminiscant of the origanel 2d Legend of Zeldas.
Here is a bar were Zelda gets some Sais, Something tells me a lot of drinking was involved in making this game. wait...Why is a medeival princess using a Ninja weapon like Sais?
http://www.quebecgamers.com/impressi...verworld13.jpg
Just like All Zeldas talking to everyone is key to your success, they will tell you stories and give you items. And when I say tell you stories I mean OUT LOUD. Yes they speak in a zelda game.
http://www.quebecgamers.com/impressi...illusion36.jpg
A shadow temple of Illusions is next this get's you used to all the wierd enemies you'll see. The Developer actually made some amazing choices of enemies, and not only made it feel like Zelda, but also included European creatures of myth and legend.
http://www.quebecgamers.com/impressi...e/village5.jpg
http://www.quebecgamers.com/impressi.../village12.jpg
Walkin' round town. It's amazing to see and here the rivers flow and the wind blow. The kively towns ful of people to talk to is a welcome change of pace from the overworld which if you ask me is MORE difficult than the Dungeons!
http://www.quebecgamers.com/impressi.../village13.jpg
http://www.quebecgamers.com/impressi.../village14.jpg
Girls love Shopping, and Zelda is no exception. The variety of shopkeeps and Bazaars is only hampered by the fact that not only is Ruppees hard to come by, but every weapon besides your sword/wand and river raft, cost ruppees to use. Yes, even the boomerang.
http://www.quebecgamers.com/impressi...verworld62.jpg
Dungeon crawling is fun too. go ahead and click on the pics and see for yourself. The light flows inside, and the drapes move, waters move realisticly. These prerendered background are FAR ahead of their time, the likes of which you wouldn't expect outside of Resident Evil Remake for Gamecube. say what you will about CD-I, they made some damn good graphics if you don't mind blurriness of characters.
Note the wallmaster, I kinda wonder whose hands they used, and if he kept them to himself outside the game, cause he seems to be kinda touchy feely with the Zelda sprite in the game. remember "No means No" or you get a wand stab in the palm
Look below as Zelda grabs what is either a "celestial sign" or the legendary
missing 4rth triforce piece.
I blame the fact that the Netherlands have legalized weed, would a sober actress make this mistake?
Yes that is a wristwatch.
(these are ALL actual unaltered gameplay pictures)
Okay so the acting ain't great. or the script. but the beautiul backgrounds you won't be able to keep your eyes off of, and the fact that it really does feel like a Zelda despite it's flaws, will keep you playing. at least Link doesn't say "I'm so hungry I could eat an octorok" like he has in other CD-I games.
Gannon looks a little like Satan had a forgotten love child with that bull from Looney Toons.
WHAT HAPPENED TO IT?
There is a good reason (bad sales namely) it was only released in
the Netherlands, it was European exclusive. The rarest of All Zeldas,
it goes on ebay for well over $200 several times a month.
It was only available in PAL regions, in fact only the rare little counrty of the Netherlands to be precise (good thing CD-I has no regional lock-out) The Console itself didn't even come close to selling 10,000 copies. This game was made near the death of the console and it already had a bad rep from the previous 2 Zeldas (and with good cause!). I'd be surprised if 1,000 copies even exist let alone were sold.
*looks around shifty-eyed* If you want a copy ISO-Roms occasionally float around the net. If you have a Philips CD-I 490 and a memory cart, go ahead and burn it and see for yourself. But if anyone asks I was never here *disappears into shadows*
What was missing?
Good controls, decent plot, good budget, good voice acting, actors in place of the hookers dressed in mediaval clothes (Yes, Netherlands legalized that too) and where's live action Tingle?
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Cooler than the other CD-I Zeldas for sure. They were of course based on the sub-par cartoon series so they were meant for little kids were as this is for adult Zelda fans like myself. It's still not nearly as cool as the Link to the Past commercial that aired only in Japan. (in Japan Link to the Past is
called triforce of the Gods, and Super Nintendo is called Super Famicom) I have some screens from that below. Much better actors who can dance as well.
If your in for a laugh view it click it, It's well worth the download
http://www.sulzanti.net/images/notpix/zelda.wmv
sources:
Screenshots:
www.quebecgamers.com
Gannon-banned stuff:
www.gannon-banned.com
LTTP Commercial: Sulzanti.net
Tingle: my photobucket account and EGM for the cosplay pic.
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) for not liking a craptacular show that shits all over my childhood fondess of zelda.
Linear Mode
