BS The Legend of Zelda
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| BS The Legend of Zelda | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Nintendo |
| Publisher(s) | St. GIGA |
| Release date(s) | 1995, 1996 (~MAP 2~) |
| Genre(s) | Action Adventure |
| Mode(s) | time-restricted single player with multiplayer scoreboards |
| Rating(s) | (not rated) |
| Platform(s) | Satellaview |
| Media | pseudo-streaming download via satellite network, saved to either the Satellaview base unit’s flash-RAM or to a BS-X flash-cart |
BS The Legend of Zelda (BSゼルダの伝説 BS Zeruda no Densetsu?) was an expanded version of The Legend of Zelda that was released for the Satellaview attachment for the Super Famicom in Japan.
BS stands for Broadcast Satellaview (commonly referred to as the BS-X). Using this add-on gamers could download the game from the satellite and save it onto either the base unit’s memory or onto a BS-X Special Broadcast Cassette.
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[edit] Gameplay
The gameplay was identical to its predecessor, but the maximum Rupees was increased to allow you more than a thousand (rather than 255 as in The Legend of Zelda), the overworld was altered, and dungeons were completely different. There is some allusion to this game being a “Third Quest”, much like The Legend of Zelda’s Second Quest.
[edit] The clock
The game was played in real-time. An onscreen clock showed the current time, and at various times on the clock certain events would happen. The game pauses for a moment before making a change. Sometimes the enemies are killed or stunned, sometimes a fairy appears, and occasionally the player is granted unlimited quantities of one of their items for a limited time. Bombs, boomerangs and candles can all be auto-upgraded this way, and will never run out of ammunition until the clock reaches the ending value, at which point the player’s bombs are returned to the amount they had before the unlimited amount was activated, or the boomerang will downgrade, or the candle will turn from red back to blue.
[edit] Presentation
The game was divided into four weekly episodes. These episodes were played live, at the same time as a videogame tips show was running on the satellite network (it probably contained ads and such to promote the games currently being played). Due to technical limitations, the download time was a whole seven minutes just for one episode.
[edit] Character selection
The player could configure their name and gender in the Satellaview game-selection interface. This then carried across to the game. This was the third time a female character had been a playable protagonist in a Zelda game--the previous two occurrences having been in Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon and Zelda's Adventure (two of the three Zelda titles released for the Philips CD-I, wherein Princess Zelda herself was the playable character). The characters themselves are nameless in-game. In actuality, they’re Satellaview’s mascots, and “come from another world” in this game. These two characters would later reappear in BS Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban, known as the Heroes of Light.
[edit] Live voice
BS Zelda’s implementation of Live Voice was significantly different to that in BS Zelda: Kodai no Sekiban. When the clock hit certain times the game would pause and display Japanese writing onscreen (that apparently reads “listen”), and the player would hear a narrator (apparently playing the part of the Old Man, and allegedly the same voice actor as Sahasrahla) give a hint or suggestion. It is unknown as to how long these tips were, but under emulation the pauses are about two to three minutes long. After that time the text disappears and gameplay resumes as before.
[edit] Free gifts
In one issue of Nintendo Online Magazine, there is some allusion to players with good scores receiving free gifts (see [1]). The article states that players received a password that recorded the degree of completion of that day’s featured dungeon. Players would then submit this password to the company, with players who completed the most receiving prizes. Due to costs involved, it is assumed that the prizes were Gashapon-style trinkets; many Zelda-themed merchandise items with unknown origins do exist, and some of these may originate from here. As a player had to be subscribed to the St. GIGA network to play, their mailing addresses would be known, and it is quite possible that these gifts were mailed. Still, information on this program has been very difficult to obtain, and its full extent might never be known.
[edit] Broadcast dates
| Date | Chapter Title |
|---|---|
| 09 Aug 1995 | BS Zelda no Densetsu: Dai 1 Hanashi |
| 16 Aug 1995 | BS Zelda no Densetsu: Dai 2 Hanashi |
| 23 Aug 1995 | BS Zelda no Densetsu: Dai 3 Hanashi |
| 30 Aug 1995 | BS Zelda no Densetsu: Dai 4 Hanashi |
- (taken from The Nintendo Database (Waybacked, page no longer exists)
| From... | To... | Chapter Title |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Dec 1995 | 31 Dec 1995 | BS Zelda no Densetsu ~MAP 2~: Dai 1 Hanashi |
| 01 Jan 1996 | 02 Jan 1996 | BS Zelda no Densetsu ~MAP 2~: Dai 2 Hanashi |
| 03 Jan 1996 | 04 Jan 1996 | BS Zelda no Densetsu ~MAP 2~: Dai 3 Hanashi |
| 05 Jan 1996 | 06 Jan 1996 | BS Zelda no Densetsu ~MAP 2~: Dai 4 Hanashi |
- (taken from The Nintendo Database (Waybacked, page no longer exists)
[edit] Emulation
Due to the live nature of the game in its original incarnation, the game’s ROM could not be played properly on emulators. Many hackers have since created patches that removed the game’s download pauses and time limits, pieced together all four episodes and given the game a title screen and file selection screen (both of which are reminiscent of the title screen and file selection screen from the original Legend of Zelda), all of which has ultimately allowed BS Zelda to be played as like a traditional, non-Satellaview game. Some patches have even replaced the game’s protagonist with Link himself, or allow the player to select Link or one of the game’s original characters via the file selection screen.
[edit] External links
- BS Zelda Homepage
- RPGClassics’ BS Zelda Shrine
- Nintendo Online Magazine screenshot and writeup, referring to the free gifts.
