In the 1990s,

Philips Interactive Media The Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I, later CD-i) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was mostly developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips. It was created as an extension of CDDA and CD-ROM and specified in the '' Green B ...

published three action-adventure games based on Nintendo's ''

Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-rele ...

'' franchise for its Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-i) players. The first two, ''Link: The Faces of Evil'' and ''Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon'', were developed by Animation Magic and released simultaneously on October 10, 1993, and '' Zelda's Adventure'' was developed by Viridis and released on June 5, 1994. The two latter entries are the first to feature

Princess Zelda is the titular Character (arts), character in Nintendo's ''The Legend of Zelda'' video game series. She was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and introduced in the original 1986 game ''The Legend of Zelda (video game), The Legend of Zelda''. She is on ...

as the protagonist instead of Link. ''Faces of Evil'' and ''Wand of Gamelon'' use the side-scrolling view introduced in '' Zelda II: The Adventure of Link'' (1987), while ''Zelda's Adventure'' has a top-down view reminiscent of the original 1986 game. All three are

non-canon In fiction, canon is the material accepted as officially part of the story in an individual universe of that story by its fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction. The alternative terms mythology, tim ...

to the ''Zelda'' franchise. ''Faces of Evil'', ''Wand of Gamelon'', and ''Zelda's Adventure'' were created after Philips secured 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, including

full-motion video Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information durin ...

(FMV) cinematics. The FMVs of ''Faces of Evil'' and ''Wand of Gamelon'' were animated, while ''Zelda's Adventure'' used live-action FMVs. Concurrent with the low sales of CD-i consoles, the three games were not commercially successful. ''Faces of Evil'' and ''Wand of Gamelon'' received mixed reviews at the time of their release,'' ECTS 93: CDi Philips - Link: The Faces of Evil''. Joystick. No.38. Pp.43-44. May 1993.'' ECTS 93: CDi Philips - Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon''. Joystick. No.38. Pp.43. May 1993. whereas reception to ''Zelda's Adventure'' was mostly negative. Contemporary reviews, however, have panned all three for their unintuitive level design and awkward control schemes. The FMVs of ''Faces of Evil'' and ''Wand of Gamelon'' also received renewed criticism for their rough animation quality after they became widely available through video-sharing websites such as

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. ''

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed ...

'' noted that ''Zelda'' fans consider the CD-i games "tantamount to blasphemy".

History

In 1989, Nintendo signed a deal with

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

to begin development of a CD-ROM-based system known as the

SNES-CD The Super NES CD-ROM System (commonly shortened as the SNES-CD), known as Super Famicom CD-ROM Adapter in Japan, is an unreleased video game peripheral for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The add-on built upon the functionality ...

(also known as the "Nintendo Play-Station", with separated words) to be an add-on to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System that would allow for FMV and larger games. However, Nintendo broke the agreement and instead signed with

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

to make the add-on, which caused

to spin off their add-on into its own console called the PlayStation (with "PlayStation" as one word due to a copyright issue with the trademark "Play-Station" owned by Nintendo). Witnessing the poor reception of the

Sega Mega-CD The Sega CD, released as the in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. It was released on December 12, 1991, in Japan, ...

, Nintendo scrapped the idea of making an add-on entirely. As part of dissolving the agreement with Philips, Nintendo gave them the license to use several of their characters, including Link,

, and Ganon, for games on Philips's console called the CD-i, after the partnership's dissolution. 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 based on the artwork from Nintendo's original two titles and that of their respective instruction booklets.
The Making of... Zelda: 'Wand of Gamelon' & 'Link: Faces of Evil'
'.

Retro Gamer ''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' soon became ...

. Issue 27. p. 52-57. August 2006. Philips insisted that the development studios utilize all aspects of the CD-i's capabilities including FMV, high-resolution graphics, and CD-quality music. 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), and numerous problems in streaming-audio, memory, disc access, and graphics. The first two games were showcased at the 1993 CES and surprised audiences with their degree of animation. All the CD-i games in The Legend of Zelda series were released after ''Link's Awakening'' but before ''Ocarina of Time'', as illustrated in the timeline with the relevant games marked with asterisks.

Casting

The majority of actors chosen for the series lived in Newburyport, 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. Rath and Wilbur later acknowledged in interviews that they did not see the finished product until years later.

Video games

''Link: The Faces of Evil''

Paired with ''Zelda: Wand of Gamelon'' in a simultaneous release, ''Link: The Faces of Evil'' represents the first of the ''Zelda'' games to be released by Philips for the CD-i. Following the traditional Link-saves-Zelda plotline, ''Faces of Evil'' was patterned most closely upon Nintendo's previous

side-scroller '' A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller), is a game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphic ...

, '' Zelda II: The Adventure of Link''. The game broke new ground in the video game industry by using outsourced

Russian animation The history of Russian animation is the visual art form produced by Russian animation makers. As most of Russia's production of animation for cinema and television were created during Soviet times, it may also be referred to some extent as the histo ...

to create all cutscenes, and the game received mixed contemporary reception.'' CD TESTS: Link The Faces of Evil''. Joystick. No.44. Pg.192. December 1993. 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''

Reversing the traditional Link-saves-Zelda plotline, ''Wand of Gamelon'' stars Zelda as she adventures to rescue Link and her father the king who have not returned from their quest. As with ''Faces of Evil'', the game was patterned most closely upon Nintendo's previous

, '' Zelda II: The Adventure of Link'', and again features outsourced Russian animation for all cutscenes. Despite the game's similarly mixed contemporary reception along with ''Faces 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''

Released nearly 8 months after the first two ''Zelda'' CD-i games, ''Zelda's Adventure'' was 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 than ''Faces of Evil'' and ''Wand of Gamelon''. Whereas the first two CD-i games were patterned on the side-scrolling ''Zelda II: The Adventure of Link'', ''Zelda's Adventure'' took the top-down ''

The Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-rele ...

'' as its model. ''Zelda's Adventure'' featured 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 for ''Zelda's Adventure'' is unanimously negative.

References

External links

*
''Link: The Faces of Evil'' and ''Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon''
at Hardcore Gaming 101 {{DEFAULTSORT:Legend of Zelda CD-i games CD-i games Video games developed in the United States Nintendo CD-i games Internet memes The Legend of Zelda spin-off games