Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon

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Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon

Developer(s)	Animation Magic
Publisher(s)	Philips Media
Release date(s)	October 10, 1993
Genre(s)	Action-Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Platform(s)	CD-i
Media	1 × CD-ROM

Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon is a video game developed by Animation Magic and released for the Philips CD-i in 1993, on the same day as Link: The Faces of Evil. A follow-up to both games, Zelda's Adventure, arrived in 1994. All three CD-i Zelda games were the product of a compromise between Philips and Nintendo after the two companies failed to release a CD-based add-on for the SNES.

1 Plot
2 Gameplay
3 Development
4 Reception
5 Footnotes
6 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story begins with the King of Hyrule going off to fight Ganon. He tells Princess Zelda to send Link to help him if he does not return after a month. An entire month passes without word from the King. As instructed, Zelda sends Link to find him, but he doesn't return either. Zelda then decides to venture forth herself to search for Link and her father.

The story is largely told through animated FMVs, in an attempt to make best use of the CD-ROM format. Sample videos can be watched in YouTube.^[1]^[2] Many backgrounds were taken from the Zelda cartoon and used as backdrops in the game. The cutscenes are notorious for having bad animation, acting, and scripting.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Gameplay

A screenshot from The Wand of Gamelon.

The Wand of Gamelon was the first Zelda game where the player plays as the eponymous princess. It is played using the side-scrolling view introduced in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. For a variety of reasons, it is generally accepted that this game does not play as tightly as Zelda II. These range from the quality of the CD-i controller, to the speed of the gameplay and the jerkiness of the character animations.

[edit] Development

As a result of the early negotiations between Phillips and Nintendo to develop a joint CD-system, Phillips ended up with the rights to develop games around five Nintendo characters. Among those selected by Phillips were Link and Zelda from the popular Legend of Zelda series. Wand of Gamelon and Link: The Faces of Evil were given the relatively low budgets of $600,000 each and it was decided by the Cambridge-based development team, led by Dale DeSharon, to develop the two games in tandem in order to more efficiently use the budget. On this low budget, each aspect of the two games was handled by the same small group of people. The two most maligned mistakes, the full motion video (FMV) animation and voice acting were also the result of cost-cutting and industry inexperience: The FMV sequences demanded by Phillips were outsourced to the newly opened Russian market, and the results, with their Russian style, were disastrous; the voice actors, selected from local AFTRA actors were completely misdirected and amateurish.^[3] As these two areas were considered key benefits to the CD-based technology, their flaws were all the more magnified.

[edit] Reception

A cartoon FMV sequence.

The Wand of Gamelon is considered to be an inferior use of the Legend of Zelda title by most fans who know of its existence (relatively few, since the game did not sell well in the first place), although very few have actually played it. The game is considered non-canon by Zelda fans.

According to Seanbaby's EGM's Crapstravaganza the game was the 6th worst of all time^[4] and when G4TV's Filter held a countdown of the ten worst video games of all time, it was ranked Number One.^[5]

Much of the game's criticism is targeted at its imprecise controls and awkward use of the joystick. For example, Zelda had to inconveniently kneel to open the items menu, and had to strike with her sword in order to pick up rupees or speak to NPCs. The animations have been derided for their frequent use of zoom-ins and exaggerated, jerky body movements, and the script and dialogue were heavily criticized as well.

[edit] Footnotes

^ Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon introduction video. YouTube. Retrieved on 21 April, 2006.
^ Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon end video. YouTube. Retrieved on 21 April, 2006.
^ John Szczepaniak, "Zelda: 'Wand of Gamelon' & 'Link: Faces of Evil'", Retro Gamer, Issue 27, pp. 52-57
^ http://www.seanbaby.com/nes/egm06.htm
^ This particular Filter countdown was the "Top 10 Worst Games of All Time". This countdown is often confused with a similar episode which counted down the "Top 10 Biggest Flops of All Time", whose number one pick was E.T.: The Extraterrestrial for the Atari 2600.